God Destroys Our Strongholds - Isaiah 1-6

Isaiah 3:16 - 4:1 (ESV)

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,

therefore the Lord will strike with a scab

the heads of the daughters of Zion,

and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts.

In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; the signet rings and nose rings; the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;

and instead of a belt, a rope;

and instead of well-set hair, baldness;

and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth;

and branding instead of beauty.

Your men shall fall by the sword

and your mighty men in battle.

And her gates shall lament and mourn;

empty, she shall sit on the ground.

And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”

This is quite a long reading for these type of posts.  But the message contained in the above passages is so relevant to our society.   Isaiah is prophesying about the fall of Israel as they lived in the shadows of the Assyrian empire.  God’s people had turned away from the Law and turned to idols. In the above passage Isaiah is prophesying that God’s wrath will be poured out, even onto the women of Israel. 

In a patriarchal society women were subservient to men (as they still our in the Mideast).   Their strength was both the beauty and the fact that had a patriarchal man to care for them.    In the above prophecy, Isaiah is telling them that the things of beauty they relied upon to give them attraction to the man will be taken away.   The outside dressing will be destroyed.   All the tools and paraphernalia that made them look attractive would be destroyed.   But worse, their men would be taken away.  They no longer would have the protection they needed from the man in this type of society.    All the things they relied upon to keep them safe and secure would be stripped away.   They would be so desperate that they would ask any man to take them in, even if he didn’t provide for them.    

When God destroys the strongholds we rely on in our lives it is a devastating moment.   In this long passage God is doing just that.  When we rely on anything other than Him, God stripes those things away.   This is the way God works.   These women hoped that making themselves attractive would bring the security of a male relationship.   Of course, this is foreign to our way of life today.   Women don’t need men.  But these false hopes to rely on false strength is still very prevalent in our society.   We put our trust in all types of things rather than God.   This passage teaches us that God will wipe those things away today, as He did then.   God removes anything we rely upon other than Him.