All that Jerusalem/Judah Depend On Is To Be Taken Away So That Society Will Disintegrate Towards Even More Evil (Isaiah 3:1-9 a).
Having covered world judgment Isaiah now brings it home to the local situation. He points out that things are about to go from bad to worse in Judah and Jerusalem even in the near future, and that days of disaster are coming on them which will result in loss of leadership, removal of those who are the stays of society, and the general disintegration of authority, and of society, with life reaching rock bottom. Men will long for leadership and will not be able to find it. There will be no one to rely on. And all because they have forsaken Yahweh. That is why things are looking dismal for them.
‘For, behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts,
Is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah,
Stay and staff,
The whole stay of bread,
And the whole stay of water,
The mighty man and the man of war,
The judge and the prophet,
And the diviner and the elder,
The captain of fifty, and the honourable man,
And the counsellor, and the clever craftsman,
and the skilful spiritist.'
From final judgment Isaiah moves back to present judgment. All earthly things that Jerusalem/Judah rely on are to be taken away by their Sovereign Lord, Yahweh of hosts (for, whatever the secondary cause, and these were the very types removed into exile, it will be Yahweh Who has done it). The whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water is possibly figurative for the people on whom they depend as described in Isaiah 3:2, seen as essential to survival. They are seen as like life's essentials. Or it may signify the loss of the actual basic things of life, the very bread and water which are essential for life, the very basic stuff on which they rely (see Isaiah 3:7-8). Both would be true.
Note how those described are leaders whom the people will themselves come across. The military protectors, the judges, those who give guidance, including the professional prophets, the local rulers, and those involved in magic, diviners, fortune tellers, seekers to the dead, and the like. The mention of the latter reveals the true state of Jerusalem. They are no longer looking to Yahweh but to the occult.
It was such leaders that were taken into captivity from Samaria in 722 BC, and if that had already happened Isaiah may well have had that in mind as an example. The same will one day happen to Judah and Jerusalem if they do not mend their ways.
‘And I will give children to be their princes,
And the ruthless (or ‘babes') will rule over them.'
This may signify that their wise rulers will die leaving the country literally ruled by children overseen by regents, or alternatively that their princes will begin to behave like children in their behaviour and decisions (compare Isaiah 3:12). Most probably the latter. The word translated ‘ruthless' is of uncertain meaning. The parallel suggests babes, but the root suggests ruthlessness. Either way the point is that leadership will be undependable, and even bad, and certainly not wise.
‘And the people will be oppressed,
Every one by another,
And everyone by his neighbour.
The child will behave himself arrogantly against the elder,
And the base against the honourable.'
The fabric of society is about to disintegrate. People will be free to behave as they like, oppressing each other. Children will run wild, and children and base, unworthy people will be able to flout those worthy of authority. Life will become undisciplined and uncertain.
‘When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, and says, “You have clothing. You be our ruler and let this ruin be under your hand.” In that day he will lift up his voice and say, “I will not be the one who binds up, for in my house is neither bread nor clothing. You shall not make me a ruler of the people.” '
Wherever the people turn to find someone to take the responsibility of leadership, those called on will find any excuse to decline. They will claim not to be qualified.
‘You have clothing.' That is ‘you wear the kind of clothes which indicate that you are of leadership potential', that is, those of the elder or favoured brother or of the more sophisticated. Or it may suggest that so low have things become that fine clothes are themselves to be seen as a sufficient recommendation for leadership. They indicate that at least this man has something to distinguish him, some measure of success, a sad way of selecting a leader but necessary because there is no other.
‘This ruin'. They recognise the state that things have come to. The man is to rule over a ruin.
The reply, a mere excuse, is that he does not have the qualifications or resources for the task. He is no better than anyone else. It is not his position to make things right, ‘to heal'. Nor does he have the resources to give the people what they need. He has no bread or clothing to dispense.
Thus all confidence in themselves will be lost. Their proud boasting will be no more. Alternately the reference to ‘neither bread nor clothing' may have in mind conditions of extreme poverty where he himself is destitute.
‘For Jerusalem is ruined,
And Judah is fallen,
Because their tongue and their doings are against Yahweh,
To provoke the eyes of his glory (his glorious eyes).'
Ruin is coming on Jerusalem and Judah, and all because they have turned away from Yahweh, a condition revealed by their words (their tongue) and their behaviour. They continually speak and act in such a way as to provoke Yahweh in His glory, and judgment must necessarily follow.
‘The eyes of His glory.' His full glory may not yet have been revealed (Isaiah 2:21) but His eyes see them, and they are eyes which look out from the glory of what He is. Thus His ‘glorious' eyes are provoked.
‘What their faces reveal witnesses against them,
And they declare their sin like Sodom.
They do not hide it.'
The faces and behaviour of the people give them away completely. They do not even try to hide it. They have sinned so much that they openly reveal what they are by the evil and selfish look stamped on their faces, a look which they then carry out into practise, just as Sodom had, and they are simply bringing woe on themselves, and rewarding themselves with evil. The principle established here is that it is the nature of society with weak leadership to disintegrate towards evil and selfishness. And this is what has come on them because of their failure to look constantly to God. Men tend to get the leadership that they deserve.