5 And the people shall be oppressed one by the other, and each by his neighbour; the child will be insolent against the elder, and the base against the honourable.
And they bend their tongue, their bow of falsehood, and not for fidelity are they valiant in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith Jehovah. Take ye heed every one of his friend, and confide not in any brother; for every brother only supplanteth, and every friend goeth about with slander. And they act deceitfully every one with his neighbour, and speak not the truth: they teach their tongue to speak falsehood, they weary themselves with perverse dealing. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith Jehovah. Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how else could I do for the daughter of my people? Their tongue is a murderous arrow; it speaketh deceit. [A man] speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart he layeth his ambush.
And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know judgment? Ye who hate the good, and love evil; who pluck off their skin from them, and their flesh from off their bones; and who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces as for the pot, and as flesh within the cauldron.
But *ye* have despised the poor [man]. Do not the rich oppress you, and [do not] *they* drag you before [the] tribunals?
and covering him up, asked him saying, Prophesy, who is it that struck thee?
and having taken off his garment, put on him a scarlet cloak; and having woven a crown out of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and, bowing the knee before him, they mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And having spit upon him, they took the reed and beat [him] on his head.
Then they spit in his face, and buffeted him, and some struck him with the palms of their hand,
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hired servant in [his] wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew loving-kindness and mercies one to another, and oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the stranger and the afflicted; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and turned a rebellious shoulder, and made their ears heavy, that they should not hear.
Both hands are for evil, to do it well. The prince asketh, and the judge [is there] for a reward; and the great [man] uttereth his soul's greed: and [together] they combine it. The best of them is as a briar; the most upright, [worse] than a thorn-fence. The day of thy watchmen, thy visitation is come; now shall be their perplexity. Believe ye not in a companion, put not confidence in a familiar friend: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: a man's enemies are the men of his own household.
Before the hoary head thou shalt rise up, and shalt honour the face of an old man; and thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah.
Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink:
Behold, the princes of Israel have been in thee to shed blood, each according to his power. In thee have they made light of father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger; in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
But thine eyes and thy heart are only on thine extortion, and on the blood of the innocent, to shed it, and on oppression and on violence, to do it.
Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts is the land burned up, and the people is as fuel for fire: a man spareth not his brother; and he snatcheth on the right hand, and is hungry, and eateth on the left hand; and they are not satisfied. They eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh; [and] they together are against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that corrupt themselves! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they are turned away backward.
But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. Yea, whereto [should] the strength of their hands [profit] me, [men] in whom vigour hath perished? Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert: They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food. They are driven forth from among [men] -- they cry after them as after a thief -- To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks: They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together: Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land. And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword. They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face. For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me. At [my] right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways;
And he went up from thence to Bethel, and as he went up by the way, there came forth little boys out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, bald head; go up, bald head!
And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out from thence a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed, and cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David; and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei as he cursed: Away, away, thou man of blood and man of Belial! Jehovah has returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and Jehovah has given the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son; and behold, thou art [taken] in thine own evil, for thou art a man of blood. And Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 3
Commentary on Isaiah 3 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 3
Isa 3:1-26.
1. For—continuation of Isa 2:22.
Lord of hosts—therefore able to do as He says.
doth—present for future, so certain is the accomplishment.
stay … staff—the same Hebrew word, the one masculine, the other feminine, an Arabic idiom for all kinds of support. What a change from the previous luxuries (Isa 2:7)! Fulfilled in the siege by Nebuchadnezzar and afterwards by Titus (Jer 37:21; 38:9).
2. Fulfilled (2Ki 24:14).
prudent—the Hebrew often means a "soothsayer" (De 18:10-14); thus it will mean, the diviners, on whom they rely, shall in that day fail. It is found in a good sense (Pr 16:10), from which passage the Jews interpret it a king; "without" whom Israel long has been (Ho 3:4).
ancient—old and experienced (1Ki 12:6-8).
3. captain of fifty—not only captains of thousands, and centurions of a hundred, but even semi-centurions of fifty, shall fail.
honourable—literally, "of dignified aspect."
cunning—skilful. The mechanic's business will come to a standstill in the siege and subsequent desolation of the state; artisans are no mean "stay" among a nation's safeguards.
eloquent orator—rather, as Vulgate, "skilled in whispering," that is, incantation (Ps 58:5). See Isa 8:19, below; and on "prudent," see on Isa 3:2.
4. children—in ability for governing; antithesis to the "ancient" (see Isa 3:12; Ec 10:16).
babes—in warlike might; antithesis to "the mighty" and "man of war."
5. The anarchy resulting under such imbecile rulers (Isa 3:4); unjust exactions mutually; the forms of respect violated (Le 19:32).
base—low-born. Compare the marks of "the last days" (2Ti 3:2).
6. Such will be the want of men of wealth and ability, that they will "take hold of" (Isa 4:1) the first man whom they meet, having any property, to make him "ruler."
brother—one having no better hereditary claim to be ruler than the "man" supplicating him.
Thou hast clothing—which none of us has. Changes of raiment are wealth in the East (2Ki 5:5).
ruin—Let our ruined affairs be committed to thee to retrieve.
7. swear—literally, "lift up," namely, his hand; the gesture used in solemn attestation. Or, his voice, that is, answer; so Vulgate.
healer—of the body politic, incurably diseased (Isa 1:6).
neither … clothing—so as to relieve the people and maintain a ruler's dignity. A nation's state must be bad indeed, when none among men, naturally ambitious, is willing to accept office.
8. Reason given by the prophet, why all shrink from the government.
eyes of his glory—to provoke His "glorious" Majesty before His "eyes" (compare Isa 49:5; Hab 1:13). The Syriac and Lowth, by a slight change of the Hebrew, translate, "the cloud of His glory," the Shekinah.
9. show—The Hebrew means, "that which may be known by their countenances" [Gesenius and Weiss]. But Maurer translates, "Their respect for person"; so Syriac and Chaldee. But the parallel word "declare" favors the other view. Kimchi, from the Arabic, translates "their hardness" (Job 19:3, Margin), or impudence of countenance (Jer 3:3). They have lost not only the substance of virtue, but its color.
witness—literally, "corresponds" to them; their look answers to their inner character (Ho 5:5).
declare—(Jude 13). "Foaming out their own shame"; so far from making it a secret, "glorying" in it (Php 3:19).
unto themselves—Compare "in themselves" (Pr 1:31; 8:36; Jer 2:19; Ro 1:27).
10. The faithlessness of many is no proof that all are faithless. Though nothing but croaking of frogs is heard on the surface of the pool, we are not to infer there are no fish beneath [Bengel]. (See Isa 1:19, 20).
fruit of doings—(Pr 1:31) in a good sense (Ga 6:8; Re 22:14). Not salvation by works, but by fruit-bearing faith (Isa 45:24; Jer 23:6). Gesenius and Weiss translate, Declare as to the righteous that, &c. Maurer, "Say that the righteous is blessed."
11. ill—antithesis to "well" (Isa 3:10); emphatic ellipsis of the words italicized. "Ill!"
hands—his conduct; "hands" being the instrument of acts (Ec 8:12, 13).
12. (See Isa 3:4).
oppressors—literally, "exactors," that is, exacting princes (Isa 60:17). They who ought to be protectors are exactors; as unqualified for rule as "children," as effeminate as "women." Perhaps it is also implied that they were under the influence of their harem, the women of their court.
lead—Hebrew, "call thee blessed"; namely, the false prophets, who flatter the people with promises of safety in sin; as the political "rulers" are meant in the first clause.
way of thy paths—(Jer 6:16). The right way set forth in the law. "Destroy"—Hebrew, "Swallow up," that is, cause so utterly to disappear that not a vestige of it is left.
13. standeth up—no longer sitting in silence.
plead—indignant against a wicked people (Isa 66:16; Eze 20:35).
14. ancients—Hence they are spoken of as "taken away" (Isa 3:1, 2).
vineyard—the Jewish theocracy (Isa 5:1-7; Ps 80:9-13).
eaten up—"burnt"; namely, by "oppressive exactions" (Isa 3:12). Type of the crowning guilt of the husbandmen in the days of Jesus Christ (Mt 21:34-41).
spoil … houses—(Mt 23:14).
15. What right have ye to beat, &c. (Ps 94:5; Mic 3:2, 3).
grind—by exactions, so as to leave them nothing.
faces—persons; with the additional idea of it being openly and palpably done. "Presence," equivalent to "face" (Hebrew).
16. Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, &c.—Luxury had become great in Uzziah's prosperous reign (2Ch 26:5).
stretched forth—proudly elevated (Ps 75:5).
wanton—rather, "making the eyes to glance about," namely, wantonly (Pr 6:13) [Maurer]. But Lowth, "falsely setting off the eyes with paint." Women's eyelids in the East are often colored with stibium, or powder of lead (see on Job 42:14; Jer 4:30, Margin).
mincing—tripping with short steps.
tinkling—with their ankle-rings on both feet, joined by small chains, which sound as they walk, and compel them to take short steps; sometimes little bells were attached (Isa 3:18, 20).
17. smite with a scab—literally, "make bald," namely, by disease.
discover—cause them to suffer the greatest indignity that can befall female captives, namely to be stripped naked, and have their persons exposed (Isa 47:3; compare with Isa 20:4).
18. bravery—the finery.
tinkling—(See Isa 3:16).
cauls—network for the head. Or else, from an Arabic root, "little suns," answering to the "tires" or neck-ornaments, "like the moon" (Jud 8:21). The chumarah or crescent is also worn in front of the headdress in West Asia.
19. chains—rather, pendants, hanging about the neck, and dropping on the breast.
mufflers—veils covering the face, with apertures for the eyes, close above and loosely flowing below. The word radically means "tremulous," referring to the changing effect of the spangles on the veil.
20. bonnets—turbans.
ornaments of the legs—the short stepping-chains from one foot to another, to give a measured gait; attached to the "tinkling ornaments" (Isa 3:16).
headbands—literally, "girdles."
tablets—rather, "houses of the breath," that is, smelling boxes [Vulgate].
earrings—rather, amulets suspended from the neck or ears, with magic formulæ inscribed; the root means to "whisper" or "conjure."
21. nose jewels—The cartilage between the nostrils was bored to receive them; they usually hung from the left nostril.
22. Here begin entire articles of apparel. Those before were single ornaments.
changeable—from a root, "to put off"; not worn commonly; put on and off on special occasions. So, dress-clothes (Zec 3:4).
mantles—fuller tunics with sleeves, worn over the common one, reaching down to the feet.
wimples—that is, mufflers, or hoods. In Ru 3:15, "veils"; perhaps here, a broad cloak, or shawl, thrown over the head and body.
crisping pins—rather, money bags (2Ki 5:23).
23. glasses—mirrors of polished metal (Ex 38:8). But the Septuagint, a transparent, gauze-like, garment.
hoods—miters, or diadems (Isa 62:3; Zec 3:5).
veils—large enough to cover the head and person. Distinct from the smaller veils ("mufflers") above (Ge 24:65). Token of woman's subjection (1Co 11:10).
24. stink—arising from ulcers (Zec 14:12).
girdle—to gird up the loose Eastern garments, when the person walked.
rent—the Septuagint, better, a "rope," an emblem of poverty; the poor have nothing else to gird up their clothes with.
well-set hair—(1Pe 3:3, 4).
baldness—(Isa 3:17).
stomacher—a broad plaited girdle.
sackcloth—(2Sa 3:31).
burning—a sunburnt countenance, owing to their hoods and veils being stripped off, while they had to work as captives under a scorching sun (So 1:6).
25. Thy men—of Jerusalem.
26. gates—The place of concourse personified is represented mourning for the loss of those multitudes which once frequented it.
desolate … sit upon … ground—the very figure under which Judea was represented on medals after the destruction by Titus: a female sitting under a palm tree in a posture of grief; the motto, Judæa capta (Job 2:13; La 2:10, where, as here primarily, the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar is alluded to).