kjv@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,
kjv@Isaiah:3:2@ The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
kjv@Isaiah:3:3@ The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
kjv@Isaiah:3:4@ And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
kjv@Isaiah:3:5@ 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.
kjv@Isaiah:3:6@ 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:
kjv@Isaiah:3:7@ 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.
kjv@Isaiah:3:8@ 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.
kjv@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.
kjv@Isaiah:3:10@ Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
kjv@Isaiah:3:11@ Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
kjv@Isaiah:3:12@ 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.
kjv@Isaiah:3:13@ The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.
kjv@Isaiah:3:14@ 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.
kjv@Isaiah:3:15@ What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
kjv@Isaiah:3:16@ Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
kjv@Isaiah:3:17@ Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts.
kjv@Isaiah:3:18@ In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,
kjv@Isaiah:3:19@ The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,
kjv@Isaiah:3:20@ The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
kjv@Isaiah:3:22@ The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,
kjv@Isaiah:3:23@ The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.
kjv@Isaiah:3:24@ And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
kjv@Isaiah:3:25@ Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
kjv@Isaiah:3:26@ And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
These prophecies do not seem to be in chronological order. The day of the LORD in the previous chapter appears to me to be an end time prophecy and this a dispersion era.
Like a child it would be quiet normal for a child to run from it's scolding parent. This people is attempting to run to Egypt, they wont however run away from the Lord there. Often in the Bible we see a top down view of the people from the king's rebellious heart down. Here we are seeing the heart of the people out on the streets asking to have the Holy One of Israel removed from their midst. The end of this judgment, the reward as described, does not appear to have come even now or is just now coming to Israel; it may even be for the millennial kingdom.
An interesting new character type is identified here - women at ease. I don't recall this type elsewhere such as the Proverbs where so many traits are profiled. I can imagine though where this trait would be dangerous being disconnected from the urgent religious and political matters at hand, disinterested in the catastrophic events happen all around, disassociating them selves from the poor/needy/oppressed/struggling/upright, attentive only perhaps to their own social rank and cultural standing. There is the sin of calling evil good and good evil but this almost the sin of not calling it anything at all.
There are those that can take advantage of others even in desperate times. Tragedy, catastrophe, evacuation, desperation always brings out those treacherous scheming thieves to prey upon the unfortunate and transitional souls.
This may sound easy to do now, but, who knows how they will react in times of great national fear and desperation, when the difference might mean food on ones napkin or a shelter for a cold night versus not. If it were easy during these times more people would be able to do it.
We tend to imagine the worst. If this enemy was strong enough to do this or that to the others than what chance do I have. The other nations stuck to their flase gods; God was using Assyria to clean their house. Judah had their false gods but, there was also a remnant of those committed to Jehovah; God was using Assyria as a means of cleansing and correction. What a tremendous testimony especially being that the Assyrian defeat was prophicied. God also used a false messenger from Ethiopia. All things work for God's purposes, the more open, the harder we look for that common thread, the sooner we will see the events and circumstances in our lives in their truer light.
Is this a common occurance? Is the kings life extended because he asked for it? or was it extended because in this time and place against Assyria Hezekiah's life meant more to God's plan than starting over with a new king in Judah? If so, then why did God allow his health to deteriorate in the first place? To affect the kings judgements from here on out?
The king was suffering from some disease causing the skin to boil. Indications are that it was making him to be bitter towards God. Hezekiah had been a good godly king, the right man for the times at hand in Judah, but, not even that keeps one from suffering deadly illness, the curse of Adam. We cannot say that bitterness caused this cancer. We cannot say that the illness was intended to bring to light a hidden bitterness that then could be dealt with. We can not say that Hezekiah's illness was intended to stir the faith of the others around him. For then we would have to say the same about anyone of us. Though these things may have resulted, we can say that God dealt with everything that happened with the good of His plan and love for His servant in mind. The same would have been true if Hezekiah would have been called back into the Lord's rest.
The text doesn't exactly say that because he showed them all that God was going to send them back to take all. The taking was because of the national sins of Judah and the prophecies of the previous chapters. Hezekiah was shown that there would at least be peace during his remaining fifteen or fewer years on earth. Why he would show them all his treasures for simply expressing concern about his prior health is to me a puzzle.
2012 - pBiblx2 Field Wise Bible System Version 2.0.9d - GPL3
