Isaiah Chapter 3

(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,

• God is the Provider and Sustainer, ultimately

• The staff was a support for leaning and a way to guide sheep

• Food and water make Him the life-giver as well

• Therefore, the support to walk and the support for basic needs...gone

• The military, the judicial, the religious, the careful, the old, the wise, the artist and the politician/speaker

• The immature over the older, barely more mature

• Had they acted mature, they could have rightly led

• The very oppression that they practiced upon others will return upon their own heads

• It is one thing to be humbled by someone greater, but to be humbled by someone lesser is even more so.

• Jesus is the Creator of all of mankind, yet He humbled Himself enough to be subject to and subsequently crucified by His own creation

• Crucifixion was the most humble death available, to be tortured

• "Every one" is repeated here, indicating that this will indeed be universal

• In desperation, people will take another leader-anything but a child will work for them

• Today we  say, "I am the judge here; I wear the robes"

The people  want the responsibility to be laid upon the ruler they choose to blame for the ruin, instead of themselves.

"If someone else is in charge (no matter who), someone else is to blame for this mess!"

• They lacked the wisdom to choose properly, so they choose improperly, just to shift the blame

• The father will say, "Hey, I am in the same boat as you, don't pin this on me!".

• Actions speak louder than words but, in this case, both actions and words are against their own Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer.......their own God 

• Just the look on their faces alone-the prideful look, gives them away

• It is the first of the things listed in God's list of what He hates.

• This is a repeated theme in Scripture: rewards for the just and also the wicked

• The leadership being humbled under women and children is a sign of

• God standing up............not common. This is serious

• This is all part of the oppression, which ruins any country

• The vineyard here being themselves, their country

• Burning the vineyard was something your enemy would do in conquest

• 1 Kings 21 records the stealing by Jezebel of Naboth's vineyard by murdering him, which led to Jezebel being eaten by dog's fulfilling God's prophecy to Elisha

(Isaiah 5:1)

• Oppression can be so brutal as to be like (or even include) physical violence, assault

• These princesses are in their supreme arrogance, thinking that they are better than others

• They were not chosen because they were better than others, better than the Gentiles

• God specifically TOLD them this

• Necks, eyes, feet, for the eyes and the ears

• Women with scabs on their heads......no a pretty sight

• Their privates will also have problems,  indicating judgment on their physical relations

• Bravery=showiness

• Cauls were used to encase the head (hair sp.) or the face as a veil

• Golden chains, and bracelets-jewelry

• Mufflers-scarves for the face and neck

• Fine suits, cloaks and capes (mantles), hoods, veils, curling pins (crisping pins)

• The glasses would have to be mirrors, due to the context of external physical appearance and personal examination of one's beauty

• Out with the perfumes

• Girdles to rags

• Hair falling out.......even in the women (v.17)

• Bras gone as well, exposing the breasts, replaced with mourning sackcloths

• Faces very ugly with permanent damage

STOMACHER, n. An ornament or support to the breast, worn by females. Isa 3.

• Judgment on the military, and captivity

• The gates were the entering in, the hangout place for the rich, etc. and protection of the city

• Sackcloths above for the mourning about to come

• The strength of the gate of any city was part of its strength, fortress, entrance

STAY, n.

 1. Continuance in a place; abode for a time indefinite; as, you make a short stay in this city.

 Embrace the hero, and his stay implore.

 2. Stand; stop; cessation of motion or progression.

 Affairs of state See md rather to stand at a stay.

 [But in this sense, we now use stand; to be at a stand.]

 3. Stop; obstruction; hinderance from progress.

 Grievd with each step, tormented with each stay.

 4. Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.

 With prudent stay, he long deferrd the rough contention.

 5. A fixed state.

 Alas, what stay is there in human state!

 6. Prop; support.

 Trees serve as so many stays for their vines.

 My only strength and stay!

 The Lord is my stay. Psa 18.

 The stay and the staff, the means of supporting and preserving life. Isa 3.

 7. Steadiness of conduct.

 8. In the rigging of a ship, a large strong rope employed to support the mast, by being extended from its upper end to the stem of the ship. The fore-stay reaches from the foremast head towards the bowsprit end; the main-stay extends to the ships stem; the mizen-stay is stretched to a collar on the main-mast, above the quarter deck, _c.

 Stays, in seamanship, implies the operation of going about or changing the course of a ship, with a shifting of the sails. To be in stays, is to lie with the head to the wind, and the sails so arranged as to check her progress.

 To miss stays, to fail in the attempt to go about.

(Isaiah 3:2-3)

The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.

(Isaiah 3:4)

And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

(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.

Philippians 2:5-8

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

(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:

(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.

(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.

(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.

Proverbs 6:16-19

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,  An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,  A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

(Isaiah 3:10-11)

Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

THE REWARDS

(Matthew 16:27)

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

(Job 34:11)

For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.

Romans 2:6-11

Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.

Revelation 20:12-14  

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

(Daniel 7:10)

A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

Romans 14:11-12

For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

(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.

(Isaiah 3:13)

The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.

(Genesis 28:13)

And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

(Ezekiel 3:23)

Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.

 (Acts 7:55)

But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

(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.

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:

1 Kings 21:1-29

And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.

And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.

And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?

And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.

And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.

And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people:

And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.

And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.

They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.

And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.

Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.

And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.

And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

(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.

(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:

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 (KJV)

For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

(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.

(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,

BRA'VERY, n. Courage; heroism; undaunted spirit; intrepidity; gallantry; fearlessness of danger; often united with generosity or dignity of mind which despises meanness and cruelty, and disdains to take advantage of a vanquished enemy.

 The duelist, in proving his bravery, shows that he thinks it suspected.

 1. Splendor; magnificence; showy appearance.

 The bravery of their tinkling ornaments. Isa 3.

 2. Show; ostentation; fine dress.

 3. Bravado; boast.

 4. A showy person.

 [In the last four senses, this word is nearly antiquated.]

CAUL, n.

 1. In anatomy, a membrane in the abdomen, covering the greatest part of the lower intestines, called from its structure, reticuluim, a net, but more generally, the omentum; also, a little membrane sometimes encompassing the head of a child when born.

 2. A kind of net in which females inclose their hair; the hinder part of a cap.

 3. Any kind of net.

(Isaiah 3:19)

The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers,

MUF'FLER, n. A cover for the face; a part of female dress.

(Isaiah 3:20)

The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,

·        Bonnets-hats

·        Tablets-finely made boxes of wood, marble, porcelain, etc., perhaps for jewelry or perfumes

TAB'LET, n. A small table or flat surface.

 1. Something flat on which to write, paint, draw or engrave.

 Through all Greece the young gentlemen learned to design on tablets of boxen wood.

 The pillar'd marble, and the tablet brass.

 2. A medicine in a square form. Tablets of arsenic were formerly worn as a preservative against the plague.

 A solid kind of electuary or confection, made of dry ingredients, usually with sugar, and formed into little flat squares; called also lozenge and troche.

(Isaiah 3:21)

The rings, and nose jewels,

·        Jewelry for the fingers and noses-any place jewelry could hang they hung it for show

(Isaiah 3:22)

The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,

WIMPLE, n. [G., a pendant.] A hood or vail. Isa 3.

 v.t. To draw down, as a vail.

CRISPING, ppr. Curling; frizzling.

(Isaiah 3:23)

The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails.

GL`ASS, n. [L. glastum; glesid, blueness. Greenness is usually named from vegetation or growing, as L. viridis, from vireo.]

 1. A hard, brittle, transparent, factitious substance, formed by fusing sand with fixed alkalies.

 In chimistry, a substance or mixture, earthy, saline or metallic, brought by fusion to the state of a hard, brittle, transparent mass, whose fracture is conchoidal.

 2. A glass vessel of any kind; as a drinking glass.

 3. A mirror; a looking-glass.

 4. A vessel to be filled with sand for measuring time; as an hour-glass.

 5. The destined time of man's life. His glass is run.

 6. The quantity of liquor that a glass vessel contains. Drink a glass of wine with me.

 7. A vessel that shows the weight of the air.

 8. A perspective glass; as an optic glass.

 9. The time which a glass runs, or in which it is exhausted of sand. The seamen's watch-glass is half an hour. We say, a ship fought three glasses.

 10. Glasses, in the plural, spectacles.

 GL`ASS, a. Made of glass; vitreous; as a glass bottle.

 GL`ASS, v.t. To See as in a glass. [Not used.]

 1. To case in glass. [Little used.]

 2. To cover with glass; to glaze.

 [In the latter sense, glaze is generally used.]

(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.

(Isaiah 3:25)

Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.

(Isaiah 3:26)

And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.

GATE, n.

 1. A large door which gives entrance into a walled city, a castle, a temple, palace or other large edifice. It differs from door chiefly in being larger. Gate signifies both the opening or passage, and the frame of boards, planks or timber which closes the passage.

 2. A frame of timber which opens or closes a passage into any court, garden or other inclosed ground; also, the passage.

 3. The frame which shuts or stops the passage of water through a dam into a flume.

 4. An avenue; an opening; a way.

 In scripture, figuratively, power, dominion. ""Thy Seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;"" that is, towns and fortresses. Gen 22.

 The gates of hell, are the power and dominion of the devil and his instruments. Mat 16.

 The gates of death, are the brink of the grave. Psa 9.

(Genesis 22:17)

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

(Genesis 24:60)

And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.