Reflections on Isaiah 3

Isaiah 03 (Contemporary English Version)
1. The mighty LORD All-Powerful is going to take away from Jerusalem and Judah everything you need-- your bread and water, *
   
2. soldiers and heroes, judges and prophets, leaders and army officers,
   
3. officials and advisors, fortunetellers and others who tell the future.
   
4. He will let children and babies become your rulers.
   
5. You will each be cruel to friends and neighbors. Young people will insult their elders; no one will show respect to those who deserve it.
   
6. Some of you will grab hold of a relative and say, "You still have a coat. Be our leader and rule this pile of ruins."
   
7. But the answer will be, "I can't do you any good. Don't make me your leader. There's no food or clothing left in my house."
   
8. Jerusalem and Judah, you rebelled against your glorious LORD-- your words and your actions, made you stumble and fall.
   
9. The look on your faces shows that you are sinful as Sodom, and you don't try to hide it. You are in for trouble, and you have brought it all on yourselves.
   
10. Tell those who obey God, "You're very fortunate-- you will be rewarded for what you have done."
    
11. Tell those who disobey, "You're in big trouble-- what you did to others will come back to you."
    
12. Though you are God's people, you are ruled and abused by women and children. You are confused by leaders who guide you down the wrong path.
    
13. The LORD is ready to accuse and judge all nations.
    
14. He will even judge you rulers and leaders of his own nation. You destroyed his vineyard and filled your houses by robbing the poor.
    
15. The LORD All-Powerful says, "You have crushed my people and rubbed in the dirt the faces of the poor."
    
16. The LORD says: The women of Jerusalem are proud and strut around, winking shamelessly. They wear anklets that jingle and call attention to the way they walk.
    
17. But I, the LORD, will cover their heads with sores, and I will uncover their private parts.
    
18. When that day comes, I will take away from those women all the fine jewelry they wear on their ankles, heads, necks, ears, arms, noses, fingers, and on their clothes. I will remove their veils, their belts, their perfume, their magic charms, their royal robes, and all their fancy dresses, hats, and purses.
    
19. (SEE 3:18)
    
20. (SEE 3:18)
    
21. (SEE 3:18)
    
22. (SEE 3:18)
    
23. (SEE 3:18)
    
24. In place of perfume, there will be a stink; in place of belts, there will be ropes; in place of fancy hairdos, they will have bald heads. Instead of expensive clothes, they will wear sackcloth; instead of beauty, they will have ugly scars.
    
25. The fighting men of Jerusalem will be killed in battle.
    
26. The city will mourn and sit in the dirt, emptied of its people.

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Judah had turned to idols, placing her trust in them, despite the fact that it was God who had brought them to a land of their own and protected them against enemy after enemy in the process. God had prospered the people but they were crediting their prosperity to themselves and their idols. They were proud of themselves as any of us tend to be when we prosper. During prosperity we tend to become smug, crediting ourselves for what we have. But when we lose that prosperity we tend to blame God.

Too often, though, we prosper at the expense of others, and this was the case with Judah. Many of the rich had plundered the poor. And yet, they were smug about their riches and flaunted it. The women in particular went around "with heads held high and seductive eyes, going along with prancing steps, jingling their ankle bracelets." (3:16) We should not conclude, however, that the problem was prosperity. Rather, the problem was pride. Pride does not look to God but to self. God had prospered Judah/Israel in the past and He had done so without oppressing anyone. But Judah had not credited God for her prosperity. Instead she exchanged the security of what God provided for the uncertainty of what they could do for themselves. Now Isaiah says, "The Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah every kind of security."

All of this is pointing to Judah's overthrow by the Babylonians. When the Babylonians attack all will be gone: "the entire supply of bread and water, the hero and warrior, the judge and prophet, the fortune-teller and elder, the commander of 50 and the dignitary, the counselor, cunning magician, and necromancer." (3:1-3) Judah will be thrown into disarray. The leaders who led them away from God will be taken away and the nation will be led by the unstable. Leadership will be turned over to anyone who will take it. In the end the people will be led away into exile. Instead of fine clothes and jewelry and perfumes, they will be led away in sackcloth with bald heads instead of fine hair, and with ropes around them in place of nice belts and jewelry. Instead of perfume they will have a stench.

This is the outcome of going our own way and doing our own thing. We speak of "controlling our own destiny," as if we could, and think that the only thing we can depend on is ourselves. Instead, this is a very uncertain way to live. As difficult as it may be for some to trust themselves to another, especially to God who they are not even sure exists, it is the only sure way to live. God's provision is certain. What we can provide for ourselves is not.