Isaiah 03 Society Women

3:1 Look, the sovereign Lord who commands armies is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah every source of security, including all the food and water, 

 

In chapter 2, Isaiah informed Jerusalem that judgment was coming. In chapter 3, Jehovah would remove all of the securities in which the people trusted.

 

First, Jehovah would remove all food and water from Jerusalem. He would bring terrible famine upon the city.

 

3:2 the mighty men and warriors, judges and prophets, omen readers and leaders,

 

Second, Jehovah would remove the leaders from Israel. The soldiers, righteous judges, and false prophets would be removed from Jerusalem. God was not approving of false prophets. He was going to remove them, because Jerusalem looked to these false prophets for security.

 

3:3 captains of groups of fifty, the respected citizens, advisers and those skilled in magical arts, and those who know incantations.

 

Third, Jehovah would remove military leaders, skilled workers, and those involved in the occult.

 

3:4 The Lord says, “I will make youths their officials; malicious young men will rule over them.

 

Fourth, Jehovah would replace the elder leadership with youthful leaders who were foolish, weak, rash, mean, and inexperienced.

 

3:5 The people will treat each other harshly; men will oppose each other; neighbors will fight. Youths will proudly defy the elderly and riffraff will challenge those who were once respected.

 

Fifth, these inexperienced and youthful leaders would not be able to control crime and violence in the city.

 

3:6 Indeed, a man will grab his brother right in his father’s house and say, You own a coat— you be our leader! This heap of ruins will be under your control.’

 

Sixth, mobs would grab anyone who had a jacket and force him to become the next leader. The only thing that these youthful leaders would rule was a city full of broken stones.

 

3:7 At that time the brother will shout, ‘I am no doctor, I have no food or coat in my house; don’t make me a leader of the people!’ ”

 

Seventh, the chosen leaders would desire to step down, because they would not have any solutions to the many shortages of the siege.

 

3:8 Jerusalem certainly stumbles, Judah falls, for their words and their actions offend the Lord; they rebel against his royal authority. 

 

Jerusalem would suffer these judgments, because her words and actions offended Jehovah. Jehovah was King. He established a covenant with His subjects and with His wife, but she rebelled against His authority.

 

3:9 The look on their faces testifies to their guilt; like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin. Too bad for them! For they bring disaster on themselves. 

 

Just as Sodom boasted of her sin, Jerusalem would boast of her sin as well.

 

3:10 Tell the innocent it will go well with them, for they will be rewarded for what they have done. 

 

When God judged Jerusalem with the Babylon Captivity, then He would reward all of those who would be righteous. An example was Daniel and his three friends. They were placed in governmental positions of the new Babylonian Empire.

 

3:11 Too bad for the wicked sinners! For they will get exactly what they deserve. 

 

The wicked sinners of Jerusalem would get what they deserve.

 

3:12 Oppressors treat my people cruelly; creditors rule over them. My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions.

 

The leaders of Israel were not teaching the people the truth.

 

3:13 The Lord takes his position to judge; he stands up to pass sentence on his people. 

 

Jehovah was seated in His courtroom. He was ready to judge His people.

 

3:14 The Lord comes to pronounce judgment on the leaders of his people and their officials. He says, “It is you who have ruined the vineyard! You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor. 

 

From his heavenly courtroom, Jehovah accused the political and religious leaders of Jerusalem of spoiling His vineyard and stealing from the poor.

 

3:15 Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?” The sovereign Lord who commands armies has spoken.

 

Jehovah accused these Jewish leaders of crushing His people and grinding their faces to the ground.

 

3:16 The Lord says, “The women of Zion are proud. They walk with their heads high and flirt with their eyes. They skip along and the jewelry on their ankles jingles.

 

The haughty and wealthy women of Jerusalem were walking down the streets with pride, as though they were really something. These women had coerced their husbands into oppressing the poor so that they could live a prosperous and materialistic lifestyle. 

 

3:17 So the sovereign master will afflict the foreheads of Zion’s women with skin diseases, the Lord will make the front of their heads bald.”

 

Since these wealthy and haughty society women coerced their husbands into fleecing the poor, then Jehovah was going to give these women baldness and sores on their heads. This baldness may refer to the shaving of their heads in mourning, or for medical judgments from the famine.

 

3:18 At that time the sovereign master will remove their beautiful ankle jewelry, neck ornaments, crescent shaped ornaments, 3:19 earrings, bracelets, veils, 3:20 headdresses, ankle ornaments, sashes, sachets, amulets, 3:21 rings, nose rings, 3:22 festive dresses, robes, shawls, purses, 3:23 garments, vests, head coverings, and gowns.

 

The Babylonian soldiers would plunder all of these women’s fine jewelry and wardrobes.

 

3:24 A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, a rope will replace a belt, baldness will replace braided locks of hair, a sackcloth garment will replace a fine robe, and a prisoner’s brand will replace beauty.

 

When the Babylonian soldiers arrived, these society women would no longer smell of expensive sweet perfume. After surviving famine, their sores would cause them to have an awful odor. Instead of wearing a belt, they would be pulled into captivity by Babylonian ropes. Instead of possessing long and beautiful braided hair, they would be bald. Instead of wearing beautiful and expensive dresses, they would be wearing black sackcloth of mourning (from goats hair). Instead of being beautiful, they would be branded painfully like animals.

 

3:25 Your men will fall by the sword, your strong men will die in battle.

 

The husbands, brothers, and male friends of these society women would die in battle. The Jewish male population would be reduced. 

 

3:26 Her gates will mourn and lament; deprived of her people, she will sit on the ground.

 

The women would mourn, because their would be a shortage of men. It was a great reproach in Jewish society to be unmarried and childless.

Zechariah 10 Israel Regathered

 

Zechariah 10

 

Zechariah 10:1 Ask the Lord for rain in the season of the late spring rains—the Lord who causes thunderstorms—and he will give everyone showers of rain and green growth in the field. 

 

During the Millennial Kingdom, the former and latter rains will be restored to Israel. Notice that God is the one who sends thunderstorms. This means that all men depend upon Jehovah for the basic essentials of water. 

 

2 For the household gods have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd.

 

Before the Babylon Captivity, most of the Jews kept household gods in their living rooms. They listened to false prophets. Occultists gave them false dreams. This idolatry caused Israel to be scattered without a shepherd. During the Great Tribulation, Israel will once again fall into this same idolatry system. This idolatry may come through the charismatic churches. Satan could flood the charismatic churches with false prophets, tongue speakers, dreamers, and those who claim to have visions from God. These “words from God” will actually be doctrines of demons. Truth will be mixed with error. This type of activity is already occurring in many of the charismatic churches today. 

 

Note: Charismatics need to study 1 Corinthians 12-14 in the YEBC Study Bible for the Greek exegesis on tongues.

 

3 I am enraged at the shepherds and will punish the lead-goats. For the Lord who rules over all has brought blessing to his flock, the house of Judah, and will transform them into his majestic warhorse. 

 

The shepherds of Israel were the kings and Levitical priests. They had refused to feed their flock sound Bible doctrine. Therefore, Jehovah will punish the religious and political leaders of Israel. At the end of the Great Tribulation, Jehovah will empower the Jews to withstand the Gentile armies of the Antichrist.

 

4 From him will come the cornerstone, the wall peg, the battle bow, and every ruler.

 

The Messiah will be the cornerstone of the Israel of the Millennial Kingdom.  The cornerstone was the foundation stone of the temple. The wall peg was a peg nail which was nailed into the main pole of a tent. The most valuable possessions were hung on this pole. The battle bow is the weapon of God. God is the bowman. Judah is the bow. Ephraim is the arrow. All rulers come from God. God appoints the basest of men to be rulers.

 

5 And they will be like warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle. They will fight, for the Lord will be with them, and will defeat the enemy cavalry. 

 

At the end of the Great Tribulation, Israel will become an energized army who will fight as one mighty man. 

 

6 “I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph and will bring them back because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them. 

 

At the end of the Great Tribulation, Jehovah will bring Israel back into her land. 

 

7 The Ephraimites will be like warriors and will rejoice as if they had drunk wine. Their children will see it and rejoice; they will celebrate in the things of the Lord. 

 

The Ephraimites is another name for Israel. At the end of the Great Tribulation, Israel will be energized as a super army. They will rejoice over their victories. The children who are born to the Jews in the Millennial Kingdom will all be saved. They will all celebrate in Jehovah.

 

8 I will signal for them and gather them, for I have already redeemed them; then they will become as numerous as they were before. 

 

When shepherds call their sheep, they are all mixed together as one big flock. Each shepherd has a distinctive whistle. When the flock hears the whistle of their shepherd, they all follow him. Jehovah will whistle. Israel will recognize the Lord’s voice and call them out of the Great Tribulation and bring them into the Millennial Kingdom. During the Millennial Kingdom, Israel will experience a population explosion. Gentiles will not attempt to perform genocide on them. Gentiles will flock to them and want to learn from them. 

 

9 Though I scatter them among the nations, they will remember in far-off places—they and their children will sprout forth and return. 

 

During the Millennial Kingdom, the Jews will be scattered all over the world. However, it will not be a forced dispersion of judgment. It will be a voluntary dispersion in order to teach the Gentile about God.

 

10 I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon, for there will not be enough room for them in their own land. 

 

At the end of the Great Tribulation, Jehovah will gather many of the Jews from Egypt and Assyria, Israel will become so overcrowded, that many of the Jews will be brought into the land of Gilead and Lebanon. Gilead and Lebanon were two areas of land which Israel never conquered.

 

11 The Lord will cross the sea of storms and will calm its turbulence. The depths of the Nile will dry up, the pride of Assyria will be humbled, and the domination of Egypt will be no more. 

 

The sea of storms is the Red Sea. The Nile River will dry up. During the Millennial Kingdom, the Jews will leave Egypt, cross over the Red Sea and the dried up Nile River, and return to Israel. During the Millennial Kingdom, Assyria and Egypt will not become world powers who persecute Israel.

 

12 Thus I will strengthen them by my power, and they will walk about in my name,” says the Lord.  

 

During the Millennial Kingdom, Jehovah will strengthen Israel. All of Israel will be saved.