Sometimes our greatest difficulty in understanding the best of ancient Hebrew literature is the relative lack of equivalence in cultural imagery. Some things are pretty easy to grasp: Do you want to be ruled by petulant children? Other things are much more subtle, and difficult to translate into our modern Western culture. We simply lack the symbolic logic so necessary to grasp the impact of the imagery. As Isaiah continues his list of penalties for rejecting God's ways, we find ourselves in a mixture of literal and symbolic warnings, with no clear boundaries at times between them. Some sections are both.
The very God of Creation and of Israel Himself will act to judge. There will come a time when the entire nation will find their whole food supply confiscated. It is impossible to overstate the seriousness of such a threat. Worse, He will remove everyone from the nation who matters at all. The list of important national leaders ends with a disconcerting reminder which symbolizes why this will happen. The whole laundry list of who's who will be taken along with the pagan conjurers who seem to have made a very good living as respectable professionals. Isaiah uses terms which are somewhat ambiguous because the leaders of Judah can no longer tell the difference between honest advisers and snake-charmers. To some degree, this came true literally when Babylon exiled the cream of society.
That these social and political leaders should be replaced by children is not quite so literal. Rather, they would foolishly cling to rulers who were childish, immature idiots. Worse, the implication is Judah will call them good men, not knowing the difference. They will no longer understand virtue, and so mistake tyranny and harsh treatment for being socially responsible. The natural endpoint of such a trend is the nit-picking busybodies called Pharisees who essentially ruled society in Jesus' day. The Hellenized corruption of Hebrew religion called "Judaism" is so taken with externals, there was but a thin veneer of lip-service paid to deeper moral concerns. Judaism was a religion designed by immature brats who have zero respect for ancient Near Eastern mystical depth.
It would become so bad, so utterly chaotic, it's hard to imagine. So picture it in terms of a land devoid of any real nobility. In those days it was the norm to find several generations of extended family living inside the same walls, where the extended household was the fundamental unit of social structure. So lost and completely bereft of leadership will the nation be, any household where such a family remains intact will be the de facto "nobility class." Should they be reduced to awnings attached to ruins, they would be petty kings. So any group of brothers who finds among them one who can afford more than the basic tunic and pants, and actually owns a cloak, he's qualified to rule. This, in a world where the public badge of importance was wearing a long outer garment unsuitable for working men. A man would wear a long and expensive robe to prove he didn't have to work for a living. Yet, here we have a man with something even poor men usually could afford -- the standard, all purpose cloak, little more than a blanket with sleeves, virtually necessary to survive in that part of the world. Things would get so bad, such a man would be distinguished as "noble," even though he lacked the basic supplies you might find in even the poorest cottage. The ruling class typically kept an emergency food supply for those who lived in their area, along with what served as first aid supplies.
Isaiah compares the elite of the capitol city with the rulers of Sodom, who advertised their filthy sexual practices as a prominent feature in their favor among those considering moving to another city. "Come to Sodom, where there is no such thing as sin!" The civic leaders didn't even have the sense to keep silent about their wretched practices, but considered them worthy of boast. Fine; you will reap what you sow. The righteous will do well, but the wicked will harvest evil against themselves. They preferred the counsel of brats and school girls to show them the paths of wisdom.
Rather bluntly, Isaiah points the finger at the leaders of Judah for a complete lack of even the most primitive level of justice. Instead of taking the tax in kind from a vineyard, they eat the whole thing. They steal from the poor to fund their wealthy lifestyles. Did they not know it was like grinding God's own face in the dirt? God did not place leaders over the peasants so they could enslave the population of their lands. Those were His people. This level of arrogance showed itself all over the place. Women had completely forgotten the old ways. While we might find it demeaning women were expected to avoid drawing attention to themselves, that was the cultural expectation for God's People. Honorable women avoided eye contact with any non-family male unless they had important business with him. The women of Jerusalem openly flirted with any man which caught their eye. Instead of modest clothing, they dressed like show girls on a Vegas stage. So very close to being prostitutes, this is the same underlying fault of justice for sale. Whether men or women, the big shots in Jerusalem manifested their complete rejection of God's ways. They wanted the adoration of other humans, so God would make them utterly detestable. Just like stripping a hooker of her wealth and finery, shaving her head and infesting her with odious, smelly diseases, the same sort of thing would come on the men leading the nation.
In a sense, anyone who saw all this horrendous behavior through God's eyes would react the same as to being accosted by a prostitute with no hair, ragged clothing, smelling worse than a sewer and appearing leprous. And for all this, the leaders of Judah were just so proud of themselves.
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By Ed Hurst
05 June 2008
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