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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 3:1 - 3:11
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God's Threat of Punishment
v. 1. For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, a most solemn designation of the almighty Ruler of the universe, doth take away from Jerusalem, as the capital and center, and from Judah, the entire southern kingdom, the stay and the staff, He is engaged in this act, it is a judgment which is continuing, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water, the heaping of synonyms indicating the seriousness of the situation and the Lord's responsibility for sending famine and depriving the people of the things upon which they depended,
v. 2. the mighty man and the man of war, the military power of the nation, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, the diviner, and the ancient, those whose counsel was based upon experience,
v. 3. the captain of fifty, the. smallest unit of the Jewish army, and the honorable man, the preferred favorite of the king, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, the state engineer and inventor, one versed in mechanical and military arts, and the eloquent orator, the expert enchanter. No definite order is observed in the enumeration of these officers, the specific Jewish being named together with the heathen, in order to show, how easily the Lord can overthrow all their pomp and power.
v. 4. And I will give children to be their princes, weak and inexperienced young men, and babes shall rule over them, incompetent and wanton youngsters, exercising power as they please.
v. 5. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor, all respect for the God-given rights of others having vanished; the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, without the slightest regard for his superiors, and the base against the honorable, not only by ignoring all distinction of rank, but by setting aside the government instituted by God. In other words, tyranny is followed by mob-rule, and this, in turn, by anarchy, so that everything is in a turmoil, every semblance of governmental control has vanished.
v. 6. When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, Thou hast clothing, having saved at least a decent suit of clothes in the general overthrow, be thou our ruler and let this ruin, what is left of the former nation, be under thy hand, in order to see whether there is still some chance of relief in this great emergency,
v. 7. in that day shall he, refusing to take this obligation upon himself, swear, saying, calling out loudly in protest, I will not be an healer, in trying to save the wreck; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing, he is just as poor and ragged as the others; make me not a ruler of the people, rather, with greater emphasis, "You shall not make me a ruler. " The entire description sets forth the disintegration, the decay, of the nations preceding the end.
v. 8. For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, outward and inward decay is evident, because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, their apostasy and blasphemy have reached the limit, to provoke the eyes of His glory, the glorious appearance of His holy essence, for they challenge the wrath of the Lord by deliberately planning and executing evil.
v. 9. The show of their countenance, their whole appearance, the boldness expressed in their entire conduct, doth witness against them, their vices being imprinted upon their foreheads; and they declare their sin as Sodom, boasting of it without the slightest evidence of shame, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves, they are bound to bring punishment upon themselves. With a few strokes the prophet draws a picture of wantonness and moral filth, which fills the reader with loathing of such depths of wickedness.
v. 10. Say ye to the righteous, to the few who are still found in the midst of the general decay, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings, their good works, the fruit of their faith, do follow them, Rev_14:13.
v. 11. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him, his will be a lamentable fate; for the reward of his hands, that which he earned by his evil deeds, shall be given him. The godless will have no one to blame but themselves when everlasting destruction comes upon them.