Isaiah 3:12-4:1

Verses 12-15 continue to describe the failed leadership of Judah. Spiritual leaders should never forget just whose ”vineyard” they are tending (14), and whose ”people” they are leading (15). We have the privilege and responsibility of overseeing God’s church; the Lord’s people. Knowing that they are essentially His and not mine should shape my approach to ministry. The leaders of Judah should have protected the poor. Instead they abused their privileges and took advantage of them: ”You’ve played havoc with this country. Your houses are stuffed with what you’ve stolen from the poor. What is this anyway? Stomping on my people, grinding the faces of the poor into the dirt?” The Message

The proud and wealthy women of Jerusalem (16-23) were one big example of the decadence that was eating into the core of national life. The problem wasn’t so much that they were well off, but that they were proud, and did not care about the poor. It was also that they had got some, at least, of their riches unjustly, at the expense of the poor. (See Amos 4:1ff for a similar tirade against the women in Samaria, capital of the northern kingdom.) ”GOD says, ”Zion women are stuck-up, prancing around in their high heels, Making eyes at all the men in the street, swinging their hips, Tossing their hair, gaudy and garish in cheap jewelry.” The Master will fix it so those Zion women will all turn bald -Scabby, bald-headed women. The Master will do it. The time is coming when the Master will strip them of their fancy baubles – the dangling earrings, anklets and bracelets, combs and mirrors and silk scarves, diamond brooches and pearl necklaces, the rings on their fingers and rings on their toes, the latest fashions in hats, exotic perfumes and aphrodisiacs, gowns and capes, all the world’s finest in fabrics and design.” The Message. ”Isaiah was especially grieved because the women of the land had become addicted to wealth and fashion and were more interested in social status than spiritual character. The day would come when their artificial glamour would be gone and they would be sitting in the dust. (See 1 Pet.3:1-6).” Warren W. Wiersbe: With the Word, p.454.

Things can change! They can, let it be said, change for the worse as well as for the better (24 – 4:1). Isaiah foresaw that a calamitous reversal of fortune would come to the citizens of Jerusalem. After living in luxury they would be taken captive as slaves. Their men would die in battle (25). In fact, so many of Judah’s men would be lost in battle that the women would outnumber the men by seven to one (4:1). The war widows would seek to marry the few men who remained in order to have the security of a family name, and also bear children. (In ancient societies it was considered a ”disgrace” to remain childless: Gen.30:22, 23; Lk.1:24, 25) They would also be bereft of the leaders who used to sit in council at the ”gates” (26). ”Instead of wearing seductive scents, these women are going to smell like rotting cabbages; Instead of modeling flowing gowns, they’ll be sporting rags; Instead of their stylish hairdos, scruffy heads; Instead of beauty marks, scabs and scars. Your finest fighting men will be killed, your soldiers left dead on the battlefield. The entrance gate to Zion will be clotted with people mourning their dead – A city stooped under the weight of her loss, brought to her knees by her sorrow. ” The Message.

If we are living through days of prosperity, let’s ensure that it has all been gained justly and that it is used wisely, so that good stewards of what the Lord has entrusted to us. Let us always put the spiritual above the material. Let’s remember that care for the poor and needy is not optional.

Prayer: Lord, you have blessed us with much. May we never lose sight of our responsibility to use our wealth wisely in ways that fully please you. May we carry a great ambition to give all we can.