Isaiah 3:9 - Meaning and Application

Here God goes on with his case against his people. The reason for his complaint is their sin. If they trouble themselves, they need only look deeper and see that they have brought it on themselves: “Woe to their souls, for they have brought evil on themselves” (Isaiah 3:9). That means sinners are in a sad and miserable condition. Sin harms the soul, even when a person’s outward life seems to do well.

Whatever trouble comes to sinners, they have brought it on themselves (Jeremiah 2:19). Here they are charged, first, with throwing off the shame that should have held them back from sin. They had become bold and shameless in evil, and that only hardened them more against repentance. Their looks showed what was in them. “Their eyes declare it plainly, they cannot stop sinning” (2 Peter 2:14). You could look at them and tell the deep wickedness in their hearts.

They “declare their sin like Sodom.” Their lusts were so fierce and so unchecked that they could not bear even the slightest rebuke. All the remaining signs of virtue had been shut out. The people of Sodom showed their sin not only by how great it was, but by openly owning what was shameful (Genesis 13:13; Genesis 18:20; Genesis 19:5). Judah and Jerusalem did the same. They did not hide their sin. They were proud of it, and they even bragged about their victories over conscience. They had a “forehead like a prostitute” and could not blush (Jeremiah 3:3; Jeremiah 6:15). Those who have lost all shame in sin are ripe for ruin. When people are past shame, they are past grace, and then past hope.

Second, their guides, who should have led them rightly, led them astray (Isaiah 3:12). Those who guided them, the princes, priests, and prophets, caused them to wander. Either they taught false and corrupt things, or they lived in a way that contradicted what they preached. People are usually quicker to follow a bad example than a good warning. So they destroyed the paths they should have been building up. Some read it this way: “Those who call you blessed lead you astray.” Their priests praised them as if nothing were wrong. They kept saying peace, peace, when there was real danger, and so they helped the people stay in their errors.

Third, their judges, who should have defended the oppressed, were themselves the worst oppressors (Isaiah 3:14-15). The elders and princes knew better. They had learning, wealth, and honor, so they had no excuse. Yet they had “eaten up the vineyard,” God’s vineyard, the people they were supposed to guard and care for. The word also suggests they burned it. They treated it as badly as any enemy could have done (Psalm 80:16). They also took the vineyards of the poor, like Jezebel did with Naboth’s vineyard, or they devoured its fruit and fed their lusts with food that should have sustained needy families.

The spoil of the poor was stored in their houses. When God searched, he found it there, and it stood as evidence against them. They could have returned it, but they would not. God asks these great men, “What do you mean by crushing my people? What have they done to you? Do you think power was given to you for this?” Nothing is more hard to explain, and yet nothing will more surely be answered for, than the wrongs done to God’s people by those who oppress them. “You grind the faces of the poor,” as if you crushed them in a mill. You reduce them to dust by one wrong after another. Or, their faces are bruised and broken by the blows you have given them. You have not only ruined their property, but you have also abused them personally. Our Lord Jesus was struck on the face (Matthew 26:67).

Now the way God handles this case is shown. God himself is the one bringing the charge (Isaiah 3:13). The Lord stands up to plead his case, and he takes his place to judge the people, especially those who were oppressed. He will also bring the princes into judgment (Isaiah 3:14). The greatest people cannot escape God’s scrutiny or keep his court from judging them.

The charge is proved by clear and open evidence. Look at the oppressors, and their very appearance speaks against them (Isaiah 3:9). Look at the oppressed, and you see how their faces are battered and crushed (Isaiah 3:15). The case is already underway in the change of rulers. To punish those who used their power badly, God gives them rulers who are too weak and foolish to use power well. “Children are their oppressors, and women rule over them” (Isaiah 3:12). These are people with weak judgment and strong passions, like children and women were commonly thought to be in that culture. That was their sin, that such rulers were over them, and it also became their punishment.

A clear difference will be made between people as this judgment moves forward (Isaiah 3:10-11). “Tell the righteous that it shall be well with him. Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him.” God had already said they had brought evil on themselves, and here he shows that he will repay each person according to what he has done. If they had been righteous, it would have gone well with them. If it goes badly for them, it is because they are wicked and remain that way. God had dealt with Cain in the same way to show him he had no reason to be angry (Genesis 4:7).

He will have God's help and comfort, and these will grow as his troubles grow. So even when all food fails, the righteous will still be satisfied in the day of famine. They will enjoy the fruit of their actions, because their consciences will testify that they kept themselves clean from the common sin around them. For that reason, the same public trouble will not feel the same to them as it does to others. They did not help feed the fire, so they will not be burned by it.

Some wicked people may hope they will escape that ruin, so God tells the prophets to strip away those false hopes. “Woe to the wicked,” he says. “It will go badly for him” (Isaiah 3:11). Judgment will taste bitter to them, full of sorrow and pain. There is a woe for wicked people, and even if they think they can hide from public judgments, it will still go badly with them. If they do not repent, things will only grow worse, and the worst will be at the end. They will receive what their own deeds have earned, on the day when every person is judged for what they did in the body.