End Time Judgment of Men and Women: Isaiah 3-4

Before we begin our study of Isaiah chapters 3 and 4, let’s review briefly the hierarchy that Paul describes in I Corinthians 11:3:

But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Christ

I Corinthians 11:3

Or as we draw it in the form of a word diagram:

YHVH <- Yeshua <- Man <- Woman

What happens if there is no man between Yeshua and the woman? Then the woman looks to Yeshua and that’s not always good as we read in Numbers chapter five.

¹⁴ if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself— ¹⁵ then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance.

¹⁶ ‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord. ¹⁷ The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸ Then the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy.

Numbers 5:14-18 NKJV

The essential thing is that the woman is under the husband’s authority. If necessary, the husband can bring the woman to the priest, and the priest stands the woman before Yeshua, uncovering her head.

Isaiah 3:1-4 describes a time when the wisdom of the ancient and honorable is lost and children are set as rulers. The result of this inverted state of affairs is oppression and chaos as verses 5-11 describe.

The next verse illustrates what happens when the proper hierarchy is overturned.

My people—children are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O my people, your leaders mislead you,
    and confuse the course of your paths.

Isaiah 3:12 NRSV

When things get bad enough, YHVH judges the men first, especially the older men who are supposed to serve in leadership and guidance for the people and who, ultimately, are the cause of all of this.

¹³ The Lord rises to argue his case;
   he stands to judge the peoples.
¹⁴ The Lord enters into judgment
    with the elders and princes of his people:
It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
    the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵ What do you mean by crushing my people,
    by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.

Isaiah 3:13-5

Since the women have been elevated to leadership, and there is no man between them and YHVH, they are exposed to his direct judgment, and it is terrible.

¹⁶ The Lord said:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty
    and walk with outstretched necks,
    glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
    tinkling with their feet;
¹⁷ the Lord will afflict with scabs
    the heads of the daughters of Zion,
    and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; ¹⁹ the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarfs; ²⁰ the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; ²¹ the signet rings and nose rings; ²² the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; ²³ the garments of gauze, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

²⁴ Instead of perfume there will be a stench;
    and instead of a sash, a rope;
and instead of well-set hair, baldness;
    and instead of a rich robe, a binding of sackcloth;
    instead of beauty, shame.

Isaiah 3:16-24

The judgment of the women is to make them experience and realize their shame. They have been operating outside of the covering of a man.

And what has been going on with the men? They die, and the city falls down.

²⁵ Your men shall fall by the sword
    and your warriors in battle.

Isaiah 3:25 NRSV

Once the women are shamed and the unworthy men are dead, the people have hit rock bottom. What is the way upwards? Isaiah tells us in the first verse of the next chapter.

Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying,

“We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes;
just let us be called by your name;
    take away our disgrace.”

Isaiah 4:1 NRSV

Food and clothing are two of the things a husband gives to his wife or wives as directed by Exodus 20:10.

¹⁰ If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.

Exodus 21:10 NRSV

What we are seeing here is that the shamed women realize they are in disgrace being outside of a man’s covering of authority. They are directly exposed to YHVH and it is terrifying. With so many men dead, they are tacitly willing to share a husband to get rid of the shame and be covered.

Once the proper hierarchy has been restored, then the prophet paints out a beautiful picture of Zion being covered by the Branch of the Lord via a canopy. Actually, if verse 5 is read carefully, the whole site of Mount Zion and its places of assembly (plural) parallels the picture of 7 wives and 1 husband.

² On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. ³ Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, ⁴ once the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. ⁵ Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed over all the glory there will be a canopy. ⁶ It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

Isaiah 4:2-6 NRSV

This is how Paul can say that the relationship between Yeshua and His body is the same as the relationship between a husband and his wife/wives. As the husband covers his wife, so Messiah covers the ekklesia. In fact notice the language that Paul uses about how a husband makes his wife holy by washing her with water is similar to the language of Isaiah where YHVH washes away the filth of the daughters of Zion.

²² Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. ²⁴ Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶ in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish

Ephesians 5:22-27 NRSV

If we ponder the necessity of men covering the women like Yeshua covers the daughters of Zion, then we understand why Paul so forcefully tells Timothy that forbidding marriage is a doctrine of devils when pushed by apostates when they depart from the faith. Indeed if marriage is forbidden, then the only covering women have is their fathers. Forbidding marriage robs the women of the covering of husbands!

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, ² through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. ³ They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving; 

I Timothy 4:1-4 NRSV

If our people only realized how intimately our faith is bound up and pictured by marriage, then getting biblical marriage right and men covering one or more women will lead to the glory of Zion as Isaiah described.