Isaiah 3:16-4:6.  This part of Isaiah continues the warning from the beginning of chapter 3.  In that part Isaiah was warning the people that God would remove the leaders from the Judah.  In today’s reading rich prideful women are dealt with.  They are stuck up and their lives have been all about show, personal appearance and personal glory.  Verse 25 gives a series of contrasts, the contrasts show that the way God will deal with them fits the way they are.  But remember there is more to this situation than just a bad attitude by some of the women, as we saw yesterday everyone in the society had become self centered and self-reliant.  It wasn’t jus the women who needed a lesson in humility it was almost the whole society.  There are some hints in chapter three that indicate that God will use a war to get the attention of his people.  In Isaiah 3:2 God said he would remove the mighty man and the man of war, today in verse 25 he tells us that they will die by the sword, in a battle.  Also notice that it says ““your” men”, that links the men to the women.  The women will lose their husbands.

Chapter 3 ends with the women mourning and chapter 4 begins with the next step, the women become desperate.  Men were an important part of society, ancient cultures were very physical, there was manual labor to be done, farm work, masonry, carpentry (and they couldn’t go to Lowe’s and by a few boards or bricks they had to chop the wood and cut the rocks out of the mountain.).  the work of preparing meals took a lot of time.  Meat had to be prepared each day, grain too had to be ground and the bread had to be baked.  The was no fast food and markets would have been pretty basic, think just the produce section, maybe a meat market (but then it would have been the men doing the slaughtering and butchering).  The women had plenty of work to keep the family fed and clothed and the men kept it protected and supplied.  Normally in life men outnumber the women but in this situation the women will outnumber the men 7 to 1 and the women will become desperate to find a partner; the once proud women strutting through the streets will be throwing themselves at an guy they can.  Proverbs 16:18 (which would have been written before the time of Isaiah) tells us that pride leads to destruction and stuck up people often trip.

But there is hope.  This section of Isaiah began at the beginning of chapter two.  In that part we were given a glimpse of the future, a future in which the nation of Israel and Jerusalem in particular, would be the center of the world.  All the people of the earth will come there to learn about God, actually be taught by Him.  The word used for nations or people in that verse is usually used for non-Jewish people.  According to Isaiah 2:4 thee will be no more war once God becomes king of the earth.  Here in the end of chapter 4, the end of the section, in “that day”, that future time, we see that some of the Israelites will have a part too.  In Psalms 132:11 we see God talking about this future time and promising that an offspring of David would wit on the throne in this future kingdom, the Jewish people called this person the messiah or anointed.  According to Daniel 9:25-26 there was a specific time when Messiah would appear, this timing lines up with the life of Jesus exactly.  In that same Psalm (Psalms 132:17) that promised descendant of David is called the Horn of David and he “springs forth” from David.  That phrase “springs forth” is one word in Hebrew and it is the same word that is translated “branch” in Isaiah 4:2.  The branch of the LORD refers to Jesus and he is the hope for theses people.  The land will be productive, people will be cared for physically, but more importantly they will be cared for spiritually.  The sin and rebellion will be washed away.

In Isaiah 4:5 we see a cloud of smoke and a fire.  For the Jewish people these would immediately make them remember the time in their history when they were traveling from Egypt back to the promised land, a time which also included a whole generation of exile in the dessert east and south of Israel.  During that time they were led by God.  God used a cloud of smoke in the day and a pillar of fire in the night to lead them.  Those two things represented God’s presence.  Here at the end of chapter 4 we again see the presence of God with the Israelites “in that day”.  The future kingdom of God which will be shared by all people on the earth.  The chapter ends with the provision and protection which the women were looking for being restored but not by human hands, it is god who will be the refuge and who will provide.

Jesus was not just for the Jewish people, he came from them but God always had all the nations of the world in mind when he set up his plan of to fix our relationship with himself.  “In that day” all the nations will seek to lean about God and honor him with their lives.  God will clean us up (by the way that word for filth in verse 4 is about as disgusting as it can get, it means dirt, poop, or vomit) and call us holy (special, dedicated, separate), and our names will be recorded in his book of life (See Exodus 32:32-33, Psalms 69:28, Daniel 12:1, Malachi 3:16, Revelation 20:15; 21:27).  Jesus is the only hope for a restored relationship with God no human action can fix the damage we have done (John 14:6).  Our pride will only make the relationship worse, if we try to clean ourselves we will just smear the filth around.  God thank you for giving us hope. Thank you for having a plan that included as many people as would come to you (John 1:12).  Thank you for providing the soap that our relationship needs and the hands to clean us up.  Thank for Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith who endured the cross so we could live (Hebrews 12:2). God help remember always that it’s all you, all from you and all about you.  Teach me your ways so I can walk in your paths.

Isaiah 3:1-15.  Well that didn’t happen but I’m getting closer to being back on schedule.  Since I haven’t finished the introduction to this book yet I’d like to make a little note here.  Much of Isaiah’s book contains messages that he gave to the people.  Some people call these oracles (from a Latin word which means “speak”), others sermons, but they were messages to the people from God.  That was the job of a prophet, to help the people see their life and actions from God’s view (In Isaiah 1:1 he calls what he is writing about a “vision”).  He also told us that he was talking to the people of Jerusalem and Judah during the reign of four kings; Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.  It appears that the messages in chapters 2-4 were originally given to the people during the reign of Uzziah.  According to 2 Chronicles 26 Uzziah (also called Azariah in 2 kings 14-15) was very successful militarily and there was great prosperity in Judah during much of his reign.  This fits with the pride and self confidence we see in chapters 2-4 of Isaiah.

Chapter two started with a glimpse of God’s coming kingdom.  Then Isaiah challenged the people to “walk in the light of the LORD”, to live with an understanding of what is coming.  After the challenge he listed the ways in which they were not living for God and he assured them that God would deal with their actions.

Chapter two ended with, what I thought, was a challenge to quit putting people on a pedestal.  Chapter three seems to continue these thoughts by telling us what will happen to all those people whom they were idolizing and what would happen to all of the riches they had trusted in.  God would allow immature people to take control.  The response would be that everyone would desperately look for someone to be a leader, all you needed to be considered was a coat, but everyone would make excuses,, “Hey I don’t have a coat.”  In verses 8-9 we see that things were going to fall apart because the people were rebellious and worse; there was no shame about their disobedient lifestyles.  Verse 11 tells us that the consequences of their actions are deserved.  Verses 12-15 return to the bad example of the leaders who are described as children (selfish and immature) and women (considered physically weaker and maybe not considered spiritual leaders).  In verse 13 we see what looks like a courtroom scene, the people are on trial but the leaders are blamed, the leaders have set the example of selfishness and unfairness.

There is a lot here that can apply to us today.  There is an old saying, “There are no atheists in foxholes.”  When there is trouble and danger most people default back to God or god, but when things are going good or even ok we rely on ourselves or others.  The problem is God will not be forgotten and through out history has found ways to remind us of His existence.  Chapter 2 reminds us that there is a kingdom of God coming and verse 20 talks about a “day” of judgment.  The fact that God uses trouble in life to make us look to Him is a sign of His mercy.  Uzziah reigned for 52 years starting when he was 16.  But he became proud because of all of his military conquests.  At one point he broke God’s law and entered the temple to make an offering for himself rather than letting the priest do it as the Law of God prescribed.  God punished him with leprosy and for the last 12 years of his reign he had to live in exile and act through his son, Jotham.  There is debate about exactly what the disease was which is called leprosy in the Bible.  If it was the same as our modern disease of leprosy (Hanson’s Disease) that would be an interesting contrast.  One symptom of Hanson’s Disease (or leprosy) is that a person looses feeling in their fingers and toes, hand and feet, ears, and other body parts.  As a result these people do not feel pain which warns them of injuries, often these people will loose these parts from injury without even knowing it (In a recent animated movie “Pirates” a scene was deleted because one of the pirates declared that he was a leper and then his arm fell off).   Uzziah was numb spiritually and lived like there were no consequences for disobeying God, as a consequence God made him numb physically so he could see the results of that kind of life, destruction of the body, slowly.  We need to be careful not to let our pride make us forget God.  We need to remember there are consequences.  And there is no room for pride.  Lord help me be humble. Help me remember that ll I am or have or can do is from you and for your honor.  Let me be careful to reflect back to you any honor I get.  Also Lord help me remember the great responsibility it is to be a leader.  Help me be a mature leader not a selfish or childish one.  Let me seek the welfare of others; let me care for their needs.  Help me cease to do evil and learn to do good.