Isaiah 3:1 ¶
For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem
and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole
stay of water, 2 The mighty man, and the
man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
3 The captain of fifty, and the
honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent
orator. 4 And I will give children to
be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. 5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one
by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself
proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable. 6 When a man shall take hold of his brother of
the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler,
and let this ruin be under thy hand: 7 In that day shall he swear, saying, I will
not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me
not a ruler of the people. 8 For
Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings
are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
My point of view is that this passage
outlines judgment in visiting a famine on Jerusalem and Judah, with forcible
removal or ending the lives of the leadership, the captains, the judges, the
prophets, the wise, and the old, reducing the leadership to children, and
causing civil and social war and desolation.
As predicted;
Leviticus 26:26 And when I have broken the staff of your
bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you
your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
Suffering under Nebuchadnezzar’s assault;
Jeremiah 52:6
And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was
sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
The point is the total destruction of Judah
and Jerusalem is threatened and it does come about. Read the book of the
prophet, Jeremiah.
With the people of value in society being
removed or eliminated consider a warning from Solomon;
Ecclesiastes 10:16 ¶ Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a
child, and thy princes eat in the morning!
Isaiah 3:9 ¶
The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they
declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for
they have rewarded evil unto themselves. 10
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him:
for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with
him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 12 As for my people, children are
their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee
cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. 13 The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth
to judge the people. 14 The LORD will
enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof:
for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your
houses. 15 What mean ye that ye
beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD
of hosts.
This could be paraphrased, I think, as,
“their guilt flies in their face.” They openly declare their wickedness and
boast in it. They don’t even make a pretense of hiding it. They are going to
bring disaster and judgment on themselves because they deserve it.
The righteous man or woman should not lament,
though, or fear because they will be justified by their works and obedience to
God under the Law or, for the Christian, by their faith and by Christ’s
actions. The wicked, however, will get what they deserve.
The leadership of Judah and Jerusalem are not
just corrupt, but are weak and effeminate, naïve and immature. They cause the
people to go the wrong way, leading them into idolatry and wickedness, and away
from God, our Creator. But God, our Creator, stands like a prosecutor and a
judge of their evil doings. He will judge the elders and the leaders because
they have devoured God’s vineyard and the bounty of their thefts they have
kept.
He will judge them for their oppressions and
abuse of those without power, those on the bottom of the proverbial food chain.
They oppress the people, God’s people, and He will judge them.
See where Israel is likened to God’s
vineyard.
Isaiah 5:1 ¶
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his
vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones
thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst
of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring
forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men
of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4 What could have been done more to my
vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should
bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do
to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up;
and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be
pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also
command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the
house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for
judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
When I read this I think of the cultural
elite who have run our governmental bureaucracies, our corporations, our
federal judiciary, and our universities. When we look clearly at what has been
happening in America over the last century we see a likeness to ancient Israel.
America is under judgment. That is clear to me.
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