The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Isaiah 4:1,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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"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. Take away our disgrace!'"
In Isaiah 3:25 we read, "Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle." So horrific will be the judgment of God upon his people that there will be few men left. In 4:1 the prophet tells us the women of Israel will be so desperate, they will beg what few men are available to take away their disgrace of being single. In that culture, remaining unmarried was looked down on.
So desperate these women will be that they promise to be no burden whatsoever to the few men they can find - if they would but take them and remove the stigma and disgrace of spinsterhood. What a far cry from the arrogance Judah and Jerusalem had toward the Lord! "The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled)," Isaiah 2:12.
In their arrogance, "They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him." Isaiah 1:4b.
Here is a great quote from John N. Oswalt in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, "The situation would become so desperate that the ratio of men to women would be one to seven. No longer would there be any dependence upon flirtation and allure to 'catch.' Now the women would not even ask for support if they could only have some legal and social identity. Here is the final end of our desire to avoid dependence. We will become dependent in the most degrading and disadvantageous ways. Instead of the exaltation and building-up which comes from glad submission to God and one another (60:1–62:12), our drive to be sufficient in ourselves brings only humiliation, despair, and bondage."
And to think, all of this dependence, humiliation and desperation would be avoided if Israel humbled herself before God.
In Isaiah 3:25 we read, "Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle." So horrific will be the judgment of God upon his people that there will be few men left. In 4:1 the prophet tells us the women of Israel will be so desperate, they will beg what few men are available to take away their disgrace of being single. In that culture, remaining unmarried was looked down on.
So desperate these women will be that they promise to be no burden whatsoever to the few men they can find - if they would but take them and remove the stigma and disgrace of spinsterhood. What a far cry from the arrogance Judah and Jerusalem had toward the Lord! "The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled)," Isaiah 2:12.
In their arrogance, "They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him." Isaiah 1:4b.
Here is a great quote from John N. Oswalt in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, "The situation would become so desperate that the ratio of men to women would be one to seven. No longer would there be any dependence upon flirtation and allure to 'catch.' Now the women would not even ask for support if they could only have some legal and social identity. Here is the final end of our desire to avoid dependence. We will become dependent in the most degrading and disadvantageous ways. Instead of the exaltation and building-up which comes from glad submission to God and one another (60:1–62:12), our drive to be sufficient in ourselves brings only humiliation, despair, and bondage."
And to think, all of this dependence, humiliation and desperation would be avoided if Israel humbled herself before God.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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