Isaiah 3:1 - Meaning and Application

At the end of the last chapter, the prophet warned everyone not to trust in people or in any created thing. He had already given the broad reason: human life is fragile, and human strength is weak. Here he gives a more specific reason. God was about to destroy every support they leaned on, so their hopes would end in disappointment (Isaiah 3:1).

“The stay and the staff” mean every kind of support, everything they trusted to bring help and relief. Their church and kingdom had grown old and were beginning to fail, like an old person leaning on a walking stick (Zechariah 8:4). Now God says he will take away that staff, and then they will fall. This applies to both the city and the country, to Jerusalem and Judah, which depended on each other.

The one who does this is the Lord, the Lord of hosts, that is, the ruler with full authority and the power to carry it out. If he withdraws his support, every other support breaks down under us, because he is the strength behind them all. Jerome applied this to the clear decline of the Jewish nation after they crucified our Savior (Romans 11:9, Romans 11:10). I take it more broadly as a warning to every nation not to provoke God, because if people make him their enemy, he can make them miserable.

Was their plenty a support to them? It is for any people, since bread is the staff of life. But God can take away the whole support of bread and water, and he is right to do so when full bellies become a cause of sin (Ezekiel 16:49), and what was meant for life is turned into a means for lust. He can withhold rain and so remove bread and water altogether (Deuteronomy 28:23, 24). Or, even if the food remains, he can take away its power to sustain us by withholding his blessing, for man lives by God’s word and not by bread alone, which is why bread is called a staff (Matthew 4:4). Then bread does not nourish and water does not refresh (Haggai 1:6). Christ is the bread of life and the water of life. If he is our support, we have a good portion that cannot be taken away (John 4:14, John 6:27).

Was their army a support to them, their generals, commanders, and soldiers? These too would be removed, either killed in battle, worn down by repeated defeats, disabled by sickness, or made unwilling and unfit for service. The mighty man, the soldier, and even the lesser officer, the captain of fifty, would all be taken away. It is a bad sign for any people when their brave men are lost. So let the strong not boast in their strength, and let no nation trust too much in its warriors. Instead, let the strong people glorify God, and let the city of powerful nations fear him, because he can make them weak and small (Isaiah 25:3).

Were their state officials a support to them, their educated men, politicians, clergy, and skilled advisers? These also would be taken away, the judges who knew the law and handled justice, the prophets whom people consulted in hard cases, the prudent men known for insight and good sense, the diviners, if the word is taken in a good sense as men who claim wisdom, the elders, the honorable men whose age and experience made them fit to advise, the skilled craftsmen, and finally the eloquent speaker, the man skilled in speech, who may still be useful even if he is not one of the wise or the old. Moses could not speak well, but Aaron could.

God threatens to remove these men in two ways. First, he can disable them for the service of their country, making judges foolish and taking away the speech of the trustworthy and the understanding of the aged (Job 12:17 and following). Every creature is only what God makes it to be, and we cannot assume that useful people will always remain useful. Second, he can simply end their lives. That is one reason princes are not to be trusted, because their breath goes out (Psalm 146:3, 4). The loss of useful men, especially when they die in the middle of their service, is a serious warning to any people.

Was their government a support to them? It should have been. It is the duty of the ruler to hold up the pillars of the land (Psalm 75:3). But here God threatens that this support would fail. When the mighty men and the wise men are gone, children will rule over them. This means children in age, who must be guided by guardians, and who will quarrel with one another and plunder the young king and his kingdom. It also means childish men, people who are foolish and immature, no better fit to rule than infants in the cradle. They will govern with all the folly, changefulness, and stubbornness of children. Woe to the land when its king is like that (Ecclesiastes 10:16).

Was the unity of the people among themselves a support to them, their good order and harmony? When a people live that way, they can sometimes do better even if their rulers are flawed. But here God threatens to send an evil spirit among them too, as in Judges 9:23. That would make them wrong one another. The people would oppress each other, and because their princes were children, no one would restrain the oppressors or help the oppressed. It would be useless to appeal to them, and that would tempt everyone to become his own avenger. Soon they would bite and devour each other until they were consumed by each other.

It would also make them rude and disorderly toward their superiors. Nothing is a worse sign for a people than when the younger generation is generally stubborn, rough, and ungovernable, when a child acts proudly against an older person, even though God had commanded them to rise before gray hair and honor the face of the old man (Leviticus 19:32).

When young people are proud, pushy, and disrespectful to their superiors, their behavior hurts more than themselves. It weakens public order, loosens the discipline of government, and makes leaders less able to govern. A people is also in trouble when honorable men cannot uphold their authority, and the lowest and most reckless people insult them. It is a serious thing for judges to be mocked and for their authority to be openly ignored by the crowd.

There is some comfort in hoping that, even if things are badly managed now, others may be raised up who will do better. But that hope will also fail here, because the situation is so desperate that no sensible or responsible man will take it on. The government will have to go begging, as Isaiah 3:6 says. This assumes that the only real way to fix such disorders is through good magistrates, that is, public officials who are given power by common agreement and use it for the good of all. This is likely how government began in many places, as people saw they must either be ruled or ruined.

The case is described as deeply miserable. When children are their princes, every man will think himself fit to choose a magistrate, and each will favor his own relatives. If rulers were what they should be, the choice of officials would be left to them alone, as it ought to be. But here people will be driven to force power into the hands of those they think are fit for it. One man will seize another and urge him to become ruler, even though the other resists. People often do not want their equals above them, as seen in the envy of Joseph’s brothers.

Things will be so bad that a man’s good clothes will be treated as a reason to make him ruler. That is a very poor qualification for a place of trust in government. It showed how poor the country had become when it was unusual to find a man with fine clothes, or one who could afford an alderman’s gown or a judge’s robes. It also showed how foolish the people were when they showed so much respect for a man in fine clothing and a gold ring (James 2:2-3) that they would make him their ruler. It would have made sense to say, “You have wisdom, honesty, and experience, be our ruler.” But to say, “You have clothing, be our ruler,” was almost a joke. A poor wise man, even in shabby clothes, delivered a city (Ecclesiastes 9:15). This also reminds us how desperate fallen humanity was when the Lord Jesus was willing to become our brother and, though no one courted him, offer himself as our ruler and Savior, and take this ruin under his care.

Those who are pressed to take office will refuse it, because even if they seem to have some means, they know they cannot bear the expense or meet the expectations of the people who choose them (Isaiah 3:7). He will swear, lifting up his hand in the old oath-taking ceremony, “I will not be a healer. Do not make me a ruler.” Good rulers should be healers. They should work to unite their people, not deepen their divisions. Only those with a gentle, quiet, and healing spirit are fit for government. They must also heal the wounds done to the people’s interests by giving proper help.

He refuses because “in my house is neither bread nor clothing.” If he spoke truthfully, it shows how badly people’s estates had fallen, when even those who looked well off were really short of necessities. That is a common and sad condition. Some people live fashionably and put on a good outward appearance, but in truth they are in great need and go with heavy hearts for lack of bread and clothing. If he did not tell the truth, then his conscience was terribly corrupted, because he would rather take an oath to escape the cost of office. It is complete madness to destroy one’s soul in order to save money (Matthew 16:26). In either case, it showed the nation was in very bad shape when no one wanted a place in government, fearing they would gain neither honor nor profit from it.

This sad condition came from the people’s own sin, even among God’s own people, whether the prophet said it or the man who refused office said it (Isaiah 3:8). Jerusalem is ruined and Judah has fallen, and they brought it on themselves. Their tongue and their deeds were against the Lord. In both speech and action they broke God’s law and meant to insult him by doing so. They openly offended him, showing contempt for his authority and defiance of his justice. Their tongue was against the Lord because they argued against his prophets, and their actions matched their words. It made their guilt worse that God’s eye was on them and his glory was displayed among them, yet they provoked him right in his face. The more they knew of his glory, the more pride they took in despising it and bringing shame on it. This is why Jerusalem is ruined. The ruin of both people and nations comes from their sins. If they did not provoke God, he would do them no harm (Jeremiah 25:6).