Isaiah 3 - 5

In chapter 3 we find Isaiah is looking ahead about 150 years to the time when the Babylonians will invade Jerusalem and take many of the Jews into captivity for seventy years. The situation in the country is not good. Verses 1-2 tells us that its leaders, military, judicial as well as those who are highly skilled will be removed, taken by either death or deportation. The poor, less educated people who are left in Judah will seek someone to lead them, almost anyone. Verse 6, “A man will seize one of his brothers . . . and say, ‘you have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!” But in that day, he will cry out, ‘I have no remedy.”

All it will take to get chosen to lead is a cloak, in other words, “He looks like a leader, let’s choose him.” Wasn’t Saul chosen as the first King of Israel, in part, because he looked the part? Sometimes a person is elected to public office based more on looks and charisma than on competence.

The people will find it difficult to get someone to take on the leadership role of a defeated nation with its most talented people taken away. Who would want to be the mayor of Berlin in the summer of 1945 or of Hiroshima in September?

No one seems willing to take over the leadership of Judah. The situation seems so hopeless. Have you wondered why some people want to become president or prime minister of some nations? Do they really believe that they can do what no one else has been able to do? Should anyone who seeks elected office in some countries be automatically considered unqualified based on mental illness? What if we chose our leaders based on a lottery? Names could be drawn from a list of the top 100 most accomplished citizens. Imagine a Chief Executive Officer of a major corporation getting a “draft notice” to serve as president or prime minister. And best of all, we won’t have to endure watching campaign commercials for months before an election.

Verses 8-9 give a vivid description of the nation. “Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the Lord. . . they parade their sin like Sodom.” They parade their sin as if it was a source of pride and a cause for celebration. They have lost the ability to feel ashamed or able to blush.

But not all is lost. Verse 10 mentions that there were some, though not the majority, who remained faithful to God. “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.” This is much like the time of the Judges where the nation went through repeated cycles of obedience, rebellion, oppression and then liberation. Yet, in spite of the overall sad spiritual state of the nation, there were still godly people like Boaz and Ruth.

Verse 12, “Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. O my people, your guides lead you astray; they turned you from the path.” The elders and leaders ruined God’s vineyard; “the plunder from the poor is in your houses” (verse 14).

So many of the experienced, powerful leaders will be taken into captivity that governing will be taken over by young, inexperienced people and women who probably had very little training or experience in leadership.

Verse 16 is a passage that some misuse to condemn the wearing of jewelry. “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on their ankles.”

Another passage that is sometimes misused is 1 Tim. 2:9-10, “I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.”

Wearing jewelry and nice clothing is not wrong nor is it condemned. But immodest and expensive clothing and jewelry used for the wrong purpose is frowned upon. In Scripture we find both jewelry and nice clothing being used for godly purposes.

In Ex. 28 the high priest wore a breastplate covered with jewels which represented the twelve tribes of Israel.

In Gen. 24 Rebeccah was given jewelry as a symbol of her future status as the wife of Isaac.

In Gen. 41:42 we see Joseph was given a signet ring as a sign of his position and authority.

In Ezek. 16:12 it says, “I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown upon your head.” Here we have a metaphorical description of God’s care for his people. But Israel misused her beauty. Verse 16, “But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute.”

In Luke 15:22, when the prodigal son returned home, his father gave him a robe and a ring to signify his restoration to a position of privilege and authority.

In Isa. 3:18-23 God says that he will strip away the “finery, the bangles, headbands, necklaces, earrings, bracelets. perfume bottles charms, signet rings, nose rings, fine robes, purses and mirrors, linen garments, and shawls.” Does this mean that we shouldn’t use headbands, perfumes, signet rings, robes, purses, mirrors and shawls?

Scripture does not condemn the wearing of jewelry, or nice linen, perfumes, charms or mirrors. But these things, along with alcohol, food, automobiles, or money can be misused.

Chapter 3 ends on a dismal note, verse 25-26 and 4:1, “Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle. The gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground. Chapter 3 should have continued into chapter 4, verse 1 which reads, “In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, ‘We will eat our own food, and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name.’”

So many men will be lost in battle or taken into captivity that women widowed and childless, will be desperate to find a man.

In Chapter 4 the writer jumps ahead in time to the millennium. Verse 2, “In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel”. The “Branch of the Lord” is a Messianic term, a ‘family tree’ motif indicating the Messiah’s ancestry. This idea is further developed in Isaiah 11:1 where it says, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him . . .” The passage goes onto to describe the Messiah reigning during the millennium. During that time there will be, “a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy” (verse 5). This reminds us of Israel’s desert wanderings when God guided and protected his people with his unique GPS and Security System which we know as The Shechinah glory.

After hearing all this, Isaiah thought, “I’ll put this lesson to music and take out my fiddle I’ll sing my newest song entitled The Song of the Vineyard,” which is in chapter 5.

Chapter 5:1, “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard; My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.” He (God) prepared the soil, planted the best of vines, built a watchtower and a winepress. He invested a lot in this project and had every right to expect great grapes to be harvested. Verse 2, “Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.”

Disappointed, God then decided to tear it all down. Verse 5, “I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland.”

Back then, a vineyard had two barriers around it. A stone wall to keep animals out and a hedge of sharp thorns outside or on top of the stone wall to prevent people from climbing over it. It would be the ancient equivalent of a chain linked fence with concertina wire on top.

In case Isaiah’s audience didn’t understand what was being said, he explained the song in verse 7. “The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice (good grapes), but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress (bad grapes).”

Verse 8 lists six “woes” or judgements that will befall the people.

Woe number one: verse 8 deals with selling land. “Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.” This refers to the practice of the rich who took the land of the poor to repay a debt. But that land was to return to the people on the Jubilee Year when all land was to be returned to its original owners (Lev. 25). Today you might see the rich moving into an area, rebuilding it, and this leads to higher property taxes for the original, long-term property owners. The rich Israelites didn’t need all this land, and it would lead to individuals becoming isolated from others.

The result of this greedy practice would be the depopulation of the land, mansions will be abandoned, and the cultivated land will revert back to its original natural state (verses 9-10). This occurred during the seventy years of Babylonian captivity.

Woe number two: verse 11 deals with drunkenness. “Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine, but they have no regard for the Lord. Verse 13, Therefore, they will go into exile.”

Several religious groups will not observe birthdays because there were two such celebrations in Scripture, Egyptian Pharaoh in Joseph’s time (Gen. 40:20) and King Herod in Jesus’ time (Matt. 14:6; Mark 6:21). In both instances people were killed (the chief baker and John the Baptist). Just because an evil was committed during the celebration doesn’t mean that the celebration of a birthday is wrong. In this passage in Isaiah, we find drunkenness along with the use of musical instruments. Do these groups who ban birthday celebrations also ban the use of musical instruments?

Verse 13, “. . . their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst. Verse 14, “Therefore the grave enlarges its appetite and opens its mouth without limit; into it will descent their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers.” The party is over for Judah.

Verse 17, “Then sheep will graze as in their own pastures; lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.” I picture a land where the neighborhoods of the rich and powerful are ghostly silent, the buildings are in ruins and the animals grazing is the only activity in the area. Meanwhile, the rich and corrupt are willfully disobedient and mock these threats.

Woe number three: Verse 18, deals with deceitfulness. “Woe to those who “draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes, to those who say, ‘let God hurry, let him hasten his work so we may see it.’”

Woe number four: verse 20, deals with evil in general. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” This sounds like some aspects of our own society.

Woe number five: verse 20, deals with arrogance. “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” Perhaps this refers to those who cleverly cheat others or use the legal system to their advantage in a corrupt manner.

Woe number six: Verse 22, deals with corruption of the legal system. “Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.”

Verses 24b and on give us the cause and consequences of their disobedience. First the cause: “For they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.” Then the consequences. “Therefore, the Lord’s anger burns against his people.” He then describes the swiftly moving army of the Babylonians (verse 26). Their roar is like a lion as they seize their prey and carry if off with no one to rescue” (verse 29).

These events in the first five chapters lead to the calling of Isaiah.