WWUTT 1839 When Women Rule and Infants Oppress (Isaiah 3:1-26)

Yahweh had some pretty frightening words for Judah with the judgment that was going to come upon them because they had rebelled against the

Lord. And what we read here could very well be describing our culture today when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Isaiah, and we're in Chapter 3 today.

If you've got a Bible, open it up, and you can follow along with me. But if you're driving or doing something else, that's fine,

I'll read it to you. This chapter is divided up into three parts. So what

I'm going to do is read through Part 1, which is verses 1 through 10. Then I'll give you a basic outline for this chapter, and then we'll do our exposition.

So here is Isaiah 3, beginning in verse 1, out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

This is the word of the Lord. For behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the commander of fifty and the highly respected man, the counselor and the wise craftsman, and the experienced enchanter.

And I will make young men their princes, and capricious children will rule over them.

And the people will be oppressed, each one by another, and each one by his neighbor.

The youth will overwhelm the elder, and the dishonorable against the honorable. When a man grasps his brother in his father's house, saying,

You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler, and these ruins will be under your hand, he will protest on that day, saying,

I will not be your healer, for in my house there is neither bread nor cloak. You should not appoint me ruler of the people.

For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their tongue and their deeds are against Yahweh, to rebel against His glorious presence.

The expression of their faces answers against them, and they declare their sin like Sodom, they do not even conceal it, woe to their soul, for they have dealt out evil on themselves.

Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, for they will eat the fruit of their deeds.

So that's verses 1 -10 of Isaiah chapter 3. Even as I was reading a few of those things there, you probably were thinking, is he describing right now?

Isn't that defining our times at the present? So we have this promise of a curse that is coming upon Judah because of their rebellion against Yahweh.

That's what we just read here in verses 1 -10. And you saw all the different things that God is going to deprive them of, not only supply and support and water, but even the mighty man of war that would help to deliver them from the hands of their enemies.

They will be deprived of reason even. And all of this comes upon Judah because they brought it on themselves.

They have no one to blame but themselves. They're going to have to bear the consequences for their own sin.

So here's the promise of what's coming against Judah because they have sinned against Yahweh. Then in verses 11 -15, that'll be the next section we'll look at a little bit later on,

Yahweh warns those teachers, those that should have been leading Israel, that they will not escape the judgment that will come upon them.

And then Yahweh even has a special word for the women in Judah.

And that will be verses 16 -26. That'll be that third section here of Isaiah chapter 3.

So let's come back to looking at some of these things that the Lord says he is going to bring upon Judah in verses 1 -10.

For behold, the Lord Yahweh of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water.

Now that's quite literal. They're going to experience famine and drought.

That will be some of the consequences that will come upon them because of their rebellion, because of their disobedience.

But there's a spiritual application to this as well. And that's recognized by some of the other things that they'll be deprived of, mentioned here in this first section and then also in the next two, 11 -15, 16 -26.

So that reference to bread is not just material or physical food, but even the spiritual bread, even that word of God that the people of Israel need.

They won't have it. They'll lack understanding when they hear it. They won't be able to eat it or be satisfied by it.

And same goes with the water, the nourishing water that comes from God, that which refreshes, that which purifies and cleans.

They will long for it, but they will not be able to find it, for it will not come from a genuine heart that desires to be cleansed of their sin.

Notice what comes up a little bit later on in verse 9. They declare their sin like Sodom.

So they'll grieve because God is depriving them of certain things, because they're feeling the consequences of their sin.

But their grief will be a worldly grief that will not actually lead to repentance, as the apostle

Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians. So the Lord is saying, I'm going to deprive you of bread and water, verse 2.

The mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, they will not have solid men of God to lead them out of their depravity and out of the judgment that's going to come upon them.

The mighty man who would fight back against the one that is going to come and annihilate them, he will not be found in Judah.

Even the strongest of them will cower and will not fight. They'll run away. They will allow

Judah to be consumed. The judge and the prophet, the one who can discern right and wrong, who issues just judgments, and the prophet, the one who proclaims to Judah those things that are to come, that tells them the right way that they should go, according to what

God has said. The diviner and the elder. Don't think of the diviner as somebody that consults the spirits, like a soothsayer.

Diviner is somebody who can discern the times. They are a wise man who, just like the judge and the prophet, will tell you the right way to go.

And the elder, we know what an elder is, somebody who is well -trained in the word of God, who shepherds

God's people. So you see the similarities of these offices. The judge, the prophet, the diviner, and the elder.

These are wise men who are able to direct the people in the way that they should go.

But God removing his hand of favor from Judah means that there will not be those wise men to guide you.

You will look for them, but they will not be there. You've got that statement that's coming up here in just a little bit in verse 6, when a man grasps his brother in his father's house saying, you have a cloak, you shall be our ruler.

The people will clamor for somebody to lead them and probably will end up selecting some foolish people because there's not a wise man among them.

But they will not be able to find the wise. This is one of the ways that God will judge his people.

It's something that should greatly concern us, even in our present day, as we're watching our culture go in the direction that it's going.

Will God judge us by removing wise men from us? He may very well do so, so that the people don't even know the right way to go.

They will continue to go the wrong way to their destruction and will reap what they have sown.

John Calvin has said that when God wants to judge a people, he gives them wicked rulers.

We see that happening in our land. Where you see men of the word, men who know the

Bible and teach it well, go to where they are, attend those churches, sit under the teaching of the word.

Because it may not be long before a famine strikes this land where God will remove wisdom from the people and even the ability to hear the word and understand it.

As Paul warned Timothy, a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears.

They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. Go where the gospel is preached and go often.

That's a quote from Charles Spurgeon, by the way. So moving on here into verse three, the commander of 50 and the highly respected man, the counselor and the wise craftsman and the experienced enchanter.

All of these men who deal wisely and lead well, they will not be found in a land where God is bringing judgment.

Verse four, and I will make young men, their princes and capricious children will rule over them.

That's a judgment. I'll make young men, their princes, men who are inexperienced, men who do not have wisdom, men who are going to make foolish decisions and it will be worse for that nation than if they had never been there at all.

Now there's a parallelism with that statement and the one that comes right after I'll make young men, their princes and capricious children will rule over them.

That will also be the characteristic of those young princes. What is a capricious child?

It's a child that is very unruly in their behavior, their, their moods and their attitudes change on a whim.

We don't see young people behaving like that in our culture today. Do we following their feelings instead of knowing the truth?

These will be the kinds of leaders and rulers that God will give to a people that he judges. Verse five and the people will be oppressed each one by another and each one by his neighbor.

The youth will overwhelm the elder and the dishonorable against the honorable.

My, when we see this judgment coming upon Judah 1700 years ago and yet that could very well describe our current condition, could it not?

Verse six, when a man grasped his brother in his father's house saying, you have a cloak, you shall be our ruler and these ruins will be under your hand.

And that's like when everything's in disarray and they're clamoring for somebody to lead them. They're going to find somebody with, with any hint of appearing official or qualified.

Well, that guy's got a cloak. He can lead us. And sometimes it doesn't even take a cloak below Demir Zelinsky.

The president of the Ukraine just addressed Congress earlier this week. Guy looked like he was wearing a long sleeve t -shirt.

It didn't even put on a jacket and a tie. Those people that are so easily led, they will clamor for anybody to lead them.

But those persons that they desire lead these ruins, what's left of Judah here, somebody lead us.

And how will such a person respond? Verse seven, he will protest on that day saying,

I will not be your healer because he knows it's, it's a failure. I can't win with this.

I can't advance myself, probably risking his life as well to assume the position of a leader.

What sort of, and you know, how vulnerable is he to the enemy that would strike down the person who is leading the rest?

So he says, I will not be your healer for in my house, there is neither bread nor cloak. You should not appoint me ruler of the people.

Verse eight, for Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because their tongue and their deeds are against Yahweh.

What comes out of their mouth reflects what's in their heart. What they do with their hands reflects what's in their mind, what they say and what they do are against the

Lord to rebel against his glorious presence. They've had his law.

They know the way that they are supposed to go and yet they don't do it instead.

Verse nine, the expression on their faces answers against them. They look guilty and you can even see the deeds that they do and know that they are not of God.

Next part, they declare their sin like Sodom. They're not even embarrassed by it.

They speak openly about what they do. Does that not describe our culture at the present?

They'll fly their flags outside their home. Here's what kind of sinful behavior we're doing in these walls.

They do not even conceal it. Woe to their soul for they have dealt out evil on themselves.

The judgment that comes upon them, they have brought it upon themselves, but the righteous will be spared.

We've had nine verses here of woe, but consider the bright spot here in verse 10, say to the righteous that it will go well with them for they will eat the fruit of their deeds.

Those who have done wickedly, they will reap what they have sown, but those who do righteously, they will eat the good of the land.

My friends, even though we live in a nation that could very well come under the judgment of God any day, is under the judgment of God now, but I'm talking wrathful pouring out like an enemy comes against us and millions upon millions of people die.

Maybe there's plague, maybe there's famine, maybe there's a whole lot of other things. Whatever it might be, the judgment that comes upon this nation, we will be saved.

We who trust in the Lord, who not only put our faith in Christ, but we show that faith by what we do, living righteously before him, we will eat the fruit of our deeds and that fruit will be sweet in the presence of God.

That's been part one. Here's the second part of Isaiah three. Let me go ahead and read through verses 11 to 15.

Woe to the wicked. It will go badly with them for what he has dealt out will be done to him.

Oh my people, their taskmasters are infants and women rule over them.

Oh my people, those who guide you, lead you astray and swallow up the way of your paths.

Yahweh takes his stand to contend and stands to judge the peoples. Yahweh enters into judgment with the elders of his people and his princes.

It is you who have consumed the vineyard. The plunder robbed of the afflicted is in your houses.

What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the face of the afflicted declares

Lord Yahweh of hosts. So this section here, verses 11 to 15, even kind of hinges between verses one through 10 and 16 to 26, because in one through 10, a lot of what was described there about the wicked rulers that would be over Judah as part of their judgment.

Those rulers were described as infants, as young men, as inexperienced, as unqualified.

That's the way they were described there in that section. We've got a rebuke that's coming against women in verses 16 to 26.

So you see kind of this hinge verse in verse 12, oh my people, their taskmasters are infants.

That was what was described in the first section and women rule over them. That's who's going to be rebuked in the next section.

So you see this part right here, verses 11 to 15, that it's kind of the pivot point between the two.

So woe to the wicked, verse 11, the righteous were praised in verse 10, say to the righteous that it will go well with them, but say to the wicked, woe to them.

It will go badly with him for what he has dealt out will be done to him. He will reap what he has sown.

Oh my people, their taskmasters are infants. They are inexperienced and foolish and women rule over them.

It is a judgment of God upon a people when women become their rulers. You know,

I know that in this past election that there were some conservative women. And when

I say election, I'm talking in the context of the US. That's where I live. That was the election we had most recently, just about six weeks ago or so.

There were a lot of conservative women who were running for different offices in these midterm elections.

And you probably voted for some of those conservative women. I don't think there were any women in the district that I was voting in.

But anyway, where you were, there may have been women that you voted for because that was the conservative voice that was running on that particular ticket.

And if I were put in your position, I might have voted for them as well. But it's still not ideal.

What would be ideal is if a man of God was in that particular position. It is the judgment of God upon a people when women are put in positions of authority over them.

Oh, my people, their taskmasters are infants and women rule over them. Now, some have argued against this verse to say, no, no, no, no, no.

God is not really saying that it's a judgment upon a people when he when he puts women as rulers over them.

But you read this in context. There's no other way to read that. That's very clearly what's being said.

When judgment is coming upon a people, they get foolish, young, inexperienced rulers and women who do not have the strength or the bravery to lead this people against a strong and mighty enemy that will come against them.

You don't want a woman leading you into battle. That is a battle you will easily lose.

It doesn't matter if your side is technologically advanced. If your leaders are women and your military has become sissified, the enemies of your nation are looking at you and boy, they are looking forward to that fight.

The Lord says, oh, my people, those who guide you lead you astray and swallow up the way of your paths.

They're not giving the people bold, clear truth. They're winsome and nuanced. Verse 13,

Yahweh takes his stand to contend and stands to judge the people's

Yahweh enters into judgment with the elders of his people and his princes.

It is you who have consumed the vineyard. The plunder robbed of the afflicted is in your houses.

Instead of taking care of those whom they were supposed to feed, they fed themselves.

And this is a rebuke that's going to come up again and not just in Isaiah, but you find it in Jeremiah and Ezekiel as well.

These rebukes toward the shepherds who did not feed the sheep, they fed themselves.

They did not care for the afflicted, but rather they made more afflicted. Now the afflicted in this case certainly directly applies to the poor and the widows.

But it's also speaking spiritually of those who were needing to be fed the spiritual food.

Those that were the hungriest and you did not give to them, you fed yourselves. That which they deserve, that which was collected for their benefit, it's found in your houses.

Verse 15, what do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the face of the afflicted?

Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts. And then Yahweh turns next to say, he will judge the women as well.

This is verses 16 to 26. Moreover, Yahweh said, because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks and seductive eyes and go along with mincing steps and tinkle the bangles on their feet.

Therefore, the Lord will smite the skull of the daughters of Zion with scabs and Yahweh will make their foreheads bare.

What kind of women do we have here in our Western English speaking culture? They go out with outstretched necks and seductive eyes.

They try to entice men with their bodies. That's the reference to the outstretched necks and the seductive eyes, the ways that they seduce men.

Then we're not quite the same way that women try to seduce men now, but that is what's being described here.

And they have made men weak by making them lust after these women.

So the Lord is going to smite the skull of the daughters of Zion with scabs and Yahweh will make their foreheads bare.

These women who are full of themselves and flaunting their good looks,

Yahweh is going to make them look ugly. In that day, the Lord will remove the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, enchanted charms, finger rings, nose rings, festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans, and shawls.

The list goes on and on and on because this is how full of themselves these women are.

You don't have to go far to find that in our Western culture, do you? Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, women posting pictures of themselves.

For men to ogle at them and click those likes and follow them, women who would make horrible wives and even worse mothers.

Though if they were truly committed to the Lord, that's what they would be doing instead. They would be honorable wives and loving mothers.

But instead, they're way too full of themselves. Verse 24, now, it will be that instead of sweet perfume, there will be the smell of rot.

Now, remember, we've talked about this when we were in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs.

A good aroma, a sweet fragrance was a symbol of what?

It was a symbol of good character. And so what's being said here is that these women will be of rotten character.

You will not even be able to find a good woman among them. All you will find is the smell of rot.

Instead of a belt, you know, a nice sash around the waist that accentuates the figure, they'll have a rope.

What does that mean? They'll be enslaved. Instead of well -set hair, a plucked out scalp.

They will have been the victims of violence of their enemies that will come upon them. Instead of fine clothes, a dawning of sackcloth, they will be in mourning.

They will be ugly and gross and branding instead of beauty.

Again, they'll be enslaved to the culture that enslaves them. Your men will fall by the sword and your mighty ones in battle, and her gates will lament and mourn, and deserted she will sit on the ground.

Now chapter four, verse one goes right along with this, but this will be the verse that we'll pick up next week.

Let me go ahead and read it since it's in context with the section we just finished. And seven women will take hold of one man in that day saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes.

Only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach. See the women were so full of themselves.

They didn't find husbands. They didn't become mothers. And so when they're enslaved by an oppressing nation, they'll desire a man to deliver them out of their oppression.

They didn't want men in the days that they could have been married, but then once oppression comes upon them, then they will be seeking a husband.

Then they will seek a strong man who will deliver them from their oppression. So seven women will take a hold of one man and say, take away our reproach, but it will be too late.

My friends, we must heed these warnings of just what we've read here in Isaiah three.

It can come upon your nation as well. Turn from wickedness to the

Lord Jesus Christ, spread the gospel for it is only by faith in Jesus that a person will be forgiven their sins and they will eat the good of the land.

And when I say that, I don't mean the good and plenty of a land that comes into judgment. I mean the good of heaven, the good of Christ, the great reward that we will be given in eternity so that even if judgment comes upon this land, we do not lose hope for our reward is not an earthly things, but in heavenly things.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the things that you need even in this life will be added to you as well.

The only way to be saved from the judgment that is to come is to put your faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ. Heavenly father, forgive us our sins and teach us to repent of our selfishness, that we turn from our ways to your ways, to Yahweh and we do what your word has commanded us to do.

May we repent of our complacency and our laziness and we become active in the fight, the spiritual warfare that we fight every day, resisting temptation and doing what is right before our

God lead us in paths of righteousness for your namesake.

It's in Jesus name we pray, amen. This has been When We Understand the

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