As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
Parallel Translations
-
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
-
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
-
As for My people, a babe is their master, and women rule over them. O My people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Isaiah 3:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 3:4 I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them.
- Nahum 3:13 Behold, your troops among you are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.
- 2 Kings 11:1 Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal offspring.
- Isaiah 28:14-15 Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: “Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’ ”
- Numbers 6:23-27 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is how you shall bless the children of Israel.’ You shall tell them, ‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you. Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’ “So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”
- Isaiah 9:15-16 The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail. For those who lead this people lead them astray; and those who are led by them are destroyed.
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
- Matthew 15:14 Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
- Matthew 23:13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Because the wicked people were more addicted to their…
Because the wicked people were more addicted to their princes, than to the commandments of God, he showeth that he would give them such princes, by whom they should have no help, but that should be manifest tokens of his wrath, because they should be fools and effeminate.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 3:12 [As for] my people, children [are] their…
Isa 3:12 [As for] my people, children [are] their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause [thee] to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
Ver. 12. As for my people.] Now the "people of my wrath, and of my curse"; Loammi, discovenanted, discarded.
Read full note →
Children are their oppressors.] Rulers he calleth them not, as being too good a name for them, but "oppressors"; and these were boys and women - i.e., such as were no wiser than children, nor had any more command of their passions than weak women, and were therefore unfit for government. Brunhild, the wife of Sigebert, king of Metz, Fridegund, the wife of Chilperic, and Katherine Medicis, wife of Henry II, are said to be the furies of France. {a} What work they made in that kingdom in their generations, by abusing their husbands’ love and authority, histories are full. The like did Jezebel in Israel, Athalia in Judah, and Dame Alice Pierce here in England in King Edward III’s days. This woman being the king’s concubine, and presuming on his favour, whom in his old age she had subdued, grew so insolent, that she imprisoned Sir Peter la Mare, Speaker for the Parliament; intermeddled with courts of justice, and other offices, where she herself would sit to effect her desire, {b} which, though in all who are so exalted, are ever excessive, yet in a woman most immoderate, as having less of discretion, and more of greediness. Heliogabalus in a merriment set up a senate of women; but then their ordinances were correspondent, as what attire each woman should use, how they should take place, when salute, &c. But these in the text, working upon their husbands’ impotencies, who were children, in the sense that Shechem, the son of Humor, is so called {Gen 34:19} - neque distulit puer, a lad or a boy, because swayed not by right reason - but by blind affection, exacted of the poor people unreasonable tributes and pensions for the maintenance of their pride and luxury. Est haec ingens plaga, saith one; this is a great mischief to a State, such as Greece and Rome sometimes groaned under. Diophantus, the son of Themistocles, once boasted that he ruled all Greece, because he ruled his mother, she ruled his father, and he ruled Greece. Cato also complained, Mulieres regunt nos, nos Senatum, Senatus Romam, Roma orbem; our women, said he, rule us, we rule the senate, the senate the city, and the city the whole world.
O my people, they which lead thee.] {c} Or, Those that bless thee and pronounce thee happy, saying as do thy false prophets, those flatterers, because thou hast with thee the oracles and ordinances of God, the ceremonies and sacrifices, praising thee therefore, and promising thee all happiness, soothing thee up in thy sins, &c. Qui ducunt te, seducunt; who lead and seduce you, false guides they are, and
Destroy the way of thy paths.] Heb., They swallow up - that is, they hide from thee thy duty, and so harden thee in thy sin.
{a} Heyl. Cosmography.
{b} Dan. Hist., p. 257.
{c} Qui beatificant te. , who blesses you.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Women; either,
Women; either,
1. Properly so called, by their favour and power with the rulers; or,
Read full note →
2. Weak and effeminate rulers, such being called women both in sacred and profane writings.
They which lead thee; thy rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, whose duty it is to show thee the right way. Or, as others, they that bless thee, i.e. thy false prophets, which flatter thee, and speak peace to thee.
Destroy the way of thy paths; keep thee from the knowledge or practice of that way which leads to thy salvation, and mislead thee into evil courses, by their wicked counsels or examples.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain As for my people, children are their oppressors,.... Or…
As for my people, children are their oppressors,.... Or rulers; for in the Ethiopic language, signifies a king: or "exactors", as in Isa 60:17 princes are so called, because they exact tribute of their subjects, and sometimes in a tyrannical and oppressive manner, and so get the name of oppressors. The sense is the same with Isa 3:4. The words may be rendered, "as for my people, everyone of their governors, is a child" (n); not in age, but in understanding:
and women rule over them, or "over him" (o); either over the people of Israel, as Alexandra before Hyrcanus, and Helena queen of the Adiabenes; or over the child their governor, as women had great influence over their husbands, the governors of Judea, in those times, as Herodias, Bernice, and Drusilla; or it may be understood of men, weak, effeminate, and given to pleasure:
Read full note →
O my people, they which lead thee: as the former may design their political governors, this their ecclesiastic rulers, who were to direct and lead them in the paths of religion and truth. Some render the words, "who praise thee", as the Targum; "or bless you", or "call you blessed", as the Septuagint and Arabic versions, though guilty of the most flagitious crimes:
cause thee to err, or wander from the way of God's commandments,
and destroy the way of the paths, by turning them out of the right way; by enjoining them the traditions of the elders; by taking away the key of knowledge from them, and not suffering them to go into the kingdom of heaven, or attend the ministry of the Gospel and ordinances; as did the Scribes and Pharisees, who were blind leaders of the blind.
(n) "exactorum ejus quisque parvulus est", Piscator. (o) "in eum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "in illum", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Women - Weak and effeminate rulers. They - Thy…
Women - Weak and effeminate rulers. They - Thy rulers civil and ecclesiastical.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. Err - "Pervert"] בלעו billeu, "swallow." Among…
Verse 12. Err - "Pervert"] בלעו billeu, "swallow." Among many unsatisfactory methods of accounting for the unusual meaning of this word in this place, I choose Jarchi's explication, as making the best sense. "Read billalu, 'confound.' Syriac." - Dr. Judd. "Read beholu, 'disturb or trouble.'" - Secker. So Septuagint.
This verse might be read, "The collectors of grapes shall be their oppressors; and usurers (noshim, instead of nashim, women) shall rule over them."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 3:12. As for my people — In this…
Isa 3:12. As for my people — In this and the following verses, says Dr. Dodd, “the prophet describes the incapacity and weakness, the ignorance and corruption, the oppression and cruelty of the priests and rulers of the people; such as we learn from history they were before the Babylonish captivity.” Children are their oppressors — Persons young in years, of little experience, and who have not due consideration, but, following the impulse of their passions, without regard to any thing else, have the power in their hands, which they use at their pleasure, of exacting tribute of the people; and women rule over them — Weak and effeminate rulers. Or, perhaps he speaks of the wives and concubines of their kings and great men, who, by their arts, gaining an ascendency over their husbands, induced them to act as they desired, though frequently to the people’s prejudice, and in a manner contrary to all the laws. Thus it was in the reign of Jehoram, king of Judah, whose wife Athaliah, a cruel and weak woman, occasioned great disorders in the state; see 2 Chronicles chap. 21. and 22.; and thus undoubtedly it frequently happened after the time Isaiah uttered this prophecy. They who lead thee — Thy rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, whose duty it is to show thee the right way; or, as מאשׁרין, may be properly rendered, they that bless thee; that is, thy false prophets, who flatter thee, and speak, peace to thee; cause thee to err — From the way of truth and duty, from the way of safety and prosperity. Instead of leading thee to repentance and reformation, they encourage thee to go on in sin and rebellion against him, on whom thou art dependant for all things. Those teachers are indeed impostors, that pronounce a people safe and happy who continue in sin; for it is contrary to the very nature of things, that any people can be happy who are contemners of the divine laws. Their punishment may be delayed, but it is not therefore remitted; and every step they take in such a way is a step toward misery and ruin. And destroy the way of thy paths — Keep thee from the knowledge or practice of those paths which lead to safety and happiness, and mislead thee into evil courses, by their wicked counsels or examples.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain As for my people, children are their oppressors -…
As for my people, children are their oppressors - This refers, doubtless, to their civil rulers. They who “ought” to have been their “protectors,” oppressed them by grievous taxes and burdens. But whether this means that the rulers of the people were “literally” minors, or that they were so in “disposition and character,” has been a question. The original word is in the singular number (מעולל me‛ôlēl), and means a “child,” or an infant. It may, however, be taken collectively as a noun of multitude, or as denoting more than one. To whom reference is made here cannot easily be determined, but possibly to “Ahaz,” who began to reign when he was twenty years old; 2Ki 16:2. Or it may mean that the “character” of the princes and rulers was that of inexperienced children, unqualified for government.
Are their oppressors - literally, ‘are their exactors,’ or their “taxers” - the collectors of the revenue.
Read full note →
And women rule over them - This is not to be taken literally, but it means either that the rulers were under the influence of the “harem,” or the females of the court; or that they were effeminate and destitute of vigor and manliness in counsel. The Septuagint and the Chaldee render this verse substantially alike: ‘Thy exactors strip my people as they who gather the grapes strip the vineyard.’
They which lead thee - Hebrew “They who bless thee, or call thee blessed.” (See the margin.) This refers, doubtless, to the public teachers, and the false prophets, who “blessed” or flattered the people, and who promised them safety in their sins.
Cause thee to err - Lead you astray; or lead you into sin and danger.
And destroy - Hebrew “Swallow up.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Women. "Let no women be our senate, as the…
Women. "Let no women be our senate, as the impious Porphyrius objects." The scribes and Pharisees sought for lucre and pleasure. The teacher approved by the Church must excite tears and not laughter; he must correct sinners, and pronounce no one blessed. (St. Jerome) (Haydock) --- The last kings of Juda were real tyrants, and weak as women. (Calmet) --- Blessed. Protestants’ marginal note, and the text has, "lead thee."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (See Isa 3:4).
(See Isa 3:4).
oppressors--literally, "exactors," that is, exacting princes (Isa 60:17). They who ought to be protectors are exactors; as unqualified for rule as "children," as effeminate as "women." Perhaps it is also implied that they were under the influence of their harem, the women of their court.
Read full note →
lead--Hebrew, "call thee blessed"; namely, the false prophets, who flatter the people with promises of safety in sin; as the political "rulers" are meant in the first clause.
way of thy paths-- (Jer 6:16). The right way set forth in the law. "Destroy"--Hebrew, "Swallow up," that is, cause so utterly to disappear that not a vestige of it is left.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12. Through a vista of years the prophet sees…
12. Through a vista of years the prophet sees the Jews much reduced in power, pusillanimous in character, enslaved to evil-doing, and so helpless in that slavery, that he says, children — that is, men of weakest moral force are allowed to overpower them; and women, women of the royal court, that is, from the royal harem, rule over them. The statement here seems made in a tone of contempt. The law as to the sexes seems reversed. (Gen_3:16.) The divine order was first invaded by Solomon, whose wives prattled to him about Chemosh and Milcom, and prevailed.
They which lead thee cause thee to err — Compromises with idolatry are destructive of moral and civil order.
Read full note →
The way of thy paths — The way appointed for Israel; the guide-marks of which along the whole way become obliterated, in so far as any taint of idolatry infests the heart of the people.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. The threat of Isa_3:4 is already on the…
12. The threat of Isa_3:4 is already on the way to be fulfilled; the conditions of anarchy are present in the childish character of the reigning monarch, Ahaz. Cf. Ecc_10:16. The prophet’s pity for the nation breaks out in the repeated exclamation, “My people!”
children are their oppressors, &c.] Rather, his tyrant (plural of majesty) is a child and women role over him (i.e. the people): the queen-mother and women of the harem attain an undue and dangerous influence under such a régime.
Read full note →
they which lead thee cause thee to err] thy leaders are misleaders, an expression found again in Isa_9:16. The word for “lead” is that used in Isa_1:17, “set right.”
destroy] have swallowed up; according to others: “have confused.” The meaning is that the landmarks of national righteousness have been effaced from the minds of the people by the conduct of its statesmen and guides.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) Children are their oppressors . . .—This points,…
(12) Children are their oppressors . . .—This points, as before (Isa_3:4), to the youth and yet more the character of Ahaz. The influence of the queen-mother or of the seraglio was dominant in his counsels. Cowardly (Isa_7:2), idolatrous, delighting in foreign worships and foreign forms of art (2Ki_16:10), such was the king who then sat on the throne of Judah. And the evil worked downwards from the throne. Those who should have been the leaders of the people were quick only to mislead. Princes, priests, judges were all drifting with the current of debasement.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain As for my people. Return is now made to…
As for my people. Return is now made to the sins of the dwellers in Jerusalem, and the first thing noted is that the people suffer from the childishness and effeminacy of their rulers. The rulers are called "oppressors" by the way here, the sin of oppression being dwelt on later (vers. 14, 15). Here the emphatic words are "children," "women." Children (see ver. 4). The rulers are "children," or rather "babes foolish, capricious, cowardly. It is not clear that any prince in particular is meant; rather, by the plural form, the upper class generally seems to be intended, as in Isa_1:10, Isa_1:17, Isa_1:23, etc. Women; comp. Herod., 8:88, where Xerxes says that "his men have shown themselves women, and his women men;" and see also Virg., "AEneid " O vere Phrygia, neque enim Phryges.
The rulers were womanly, i.e. weak, wavering, timid, impulsive, passionate, and are therefore called actual "women." There is no allusion to female sovereigns. They which lead thee cause thee to err; or, they which direct thee lead thee astray. Professing to point out the right path, they led men away from it. Destroy the way; literally, swallow it up, or obliterate it.
Read full note →
Vers. 12-15. Penalty, natural and supernatural.
We learn
I THAT THE NATURAL RESULT OF FOLLY IS TO BE GOVERNED BY THOSE WHO HAVE NO RIGHT TO RULE.
1. The nation suffers this penalty. As with Judah now (ver. 12), so with each and every country in its turn and in its way. Unmanliness, frivolity, wickedness among the people, will be reflected in the sovereign power. A nation that lives supremely for material enrichment, or for military conquest, or for pleasurable excitement, must expect to see upon the throne in the government men who will represent their evil genius, who will pamper their evil tastes, who will "cause them to err" more wildly, and "destroy them in the way of thy paths." Action and reaction are here as everywhere; the folly of the people expresses itself in the weakness and perversity of the ruler, and these qualities on his part tell in their time and measure upon them.
2. The Church endures the same evil. Unspirituality, discord, unbelief, laxity in the Christian community, will certainly issue in a degenerate ecclesiastical authority, and the ruler, using or abusing his opportunity, will lead astray and destroy.
3. The individual finds the same natural law operating on him and on his life. By his folly he allows passions instead of principles, impulses instead of convictions, men instead of God, to be his rulers, his "oppressors;" and these cause him to err; they pervert the way of his paths.
II THAT THEY WHO ARE GUILTY OF MISRULE AND PERVERSITY MUST LOOK FOR THE RIGHTEOUS VISITATION OF GOD. (Vers. 13-15.) "The Lord standeth up to plead," "to judge the people." He confronts and confounds those who have wronged and oppressed his people. If the usurper, the tyrant, the oppressor, the debauchee, the misleader of the nation (the Church), should not meet with the resentment and feel the blows of those whom he has wronged, he must lay his account with the facts that God takes note of all that passes in our human communities, that he holds those who are in power responsible for the effects of their administration, that he regards with severest indignation those who abuse their trust, that he will visit them in his own time and way, here or hereafter, with proofs of his Divine displeasure. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain As for My people
Isa_3:12
As for My people
Read full note →
A protest
A protest against the influence of women and children, concubines and minions (what we should call the harem influence) in the kings counsels.
(E. H.Plumptre, D. D.)
The rule of corrupt women
The celebrated Aspasia, first the mistress and afterward the wife of Pericles, had from her extraordinary talents a great ascendency over his mind, and was supposed frequently to have dictated his counsels in the most important concerns of the State. She was believed to have formed a society of courtesans, whose influence over their gallants, young men of consideration in the republic, she thus rendered subservient to the political views of Pericles . . . Such were the powers of her mind and the fascinating charms of her conversation, that even before her marriage, and while exercising the trade of a courtesan, her house was the frequent resort of the gravest and most respectable of the Athenian citizens; among the rest, of the virtuous Socrates. (Tytlers History.)
O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to err
The character of rulers to be proved from the principles they inculcate and the policy they pursue
The Divine compassion is not only exercised towards men in reference to the danger of their immortal souls; it is also most strikingly to be witnessed with regard to their temporal miseries The Lord is lamenting, in this chapter, the miseries which were coming upon His professed people as the fruit of their doings; and as the consequence of that course of procedure which He would be constrained to adopt as the only means, devised by infinite wisdom, which could either work for their good, or be consistent with His character and glory. That order of dealing would, in many respects, be exceedingly mortifying and painful How lamentable must be the condition of any nation or people when the words of the text are literally fulfilled in them!
I. IT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE THAT THEY WHO ARE ENTRUSTED WITH THE RULE AND GUIDANCE OF OTHERS SHOULD THEMSELVES BE RULED AND GUIDED BY THE FEAR AND WORD OF THE LORD. The text is not the only passage in which the Lord speaks of the misery and ruin brought on the people by the errors, vices, and mismanagement of their rulers (chap. 9). Here you see, not only who the leaders of this people are, and how they are led astray by them, but what are the consequences of being under such an erring influence. The leaders are the head and the tail; the ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. Under this two-fold guidance, the people are led astray; and the result is, they that are led of them are destroyed. Advert again to the case before us. How came the paths of the people to be destroyed in the days of the prophet? They that led them, caused them to err. Now, could this have taken place if their lying prophets and wicked rulers themselves had been governed in the fear, and guided by the Word, of God? Psa_81:13-16.) Now, does not the same truth apply with equal force to ourselves, to our own rulers and our own people? Should anyone be disposed to object to this statement and say, May not a line of policy be good although not founded upon this principle? or, May not a man be a good ruler who follows no other guidance than his own wisdom or will?--we deny the assertion altogether. We deem nothing to be good which is not done in the fear, or according to the truth, of God. Now, can anyone rule in that fear who does not live under its influence? Can anyone lead others in the right way, who is not himself walking in it! Can anyone enforce on others the maxims and precepts of the Divine Word--the only standard of truth and error, and the only test of good and evil--unless that Word be made the light of his own feet, and the lamp of his own path? Morally speaking, the thing is impossible. Or, if he were to attempt to do so, would not indecision, ignorance, uncertainty, and error characterise all his proceedings?
II. IT IS NO DIFFICULT THING TO ASCERTAIN THE REAL CHARACTER OF SUCH PERSONS, ESPECIALLY IN THEIR PUBLIC CAPACITY, WHETHER THEY ARE UNDER SUCH AN INFLUENCE OR GUIDED BY SUCH A RULE, OR NOT. How are we to ascertain whether they who are entrusted with the rule and guidance of others are men to be confided in, as being themselves under the rule and guidance of the fear and Word of the Lord? We may ask in return, By what means are we to ascertain the true character of any other person or thing, so far as man is authorised and able to judge, which is brought under our notice, and whose real state and condition it may be of importance to determine? By whatever standard we are directed in the one case, by the same should we be guided in the other. We must be guided in our decision by the conduct and actions which are constantly exhibited before our eyes, and not merely by any fair professions which are totally contradicted, or, at least, exceedingly weakened, and continually to be called in question, by the life and conversation.
III. THE MANNER IN WHICH SUCH RULERS AND GUIDES GENERALLY MISLEAD OTHERS IS NOT ONLY PERNICIOUS IN ITSELF, BUT IS OPEN AND MANIFEST TO ALL BEHOLDERS.
1. By the inculcation of dangerous and pernicious principles. A man is what his principles are; and his actions and life will of necessity, be according to the principles by which he is governed. But how are we to ascertain the real character of principles? By the same test as we try men and actions. To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.
2. By the introduction of a crooked and perverse course of policy. Principles and policy in the affairs of nations, like faith and works in the things of God, will always go hand in hand together; or, at least, they will be so intimately blended with each other that they can never remain far asunder, because, in fact, as the one is the fruitful cause, so the other is the native effect produced.
3. By the exhibition of a wicked and contagious example.
4. By an unwarrantable abuse of their power, and by the countenance afforded to unworthy characters, and sanction given to wicked measures. Here, then, is a loud call--
(1) To survey and ponder the imminent peril to which we are exposed.
(2) To be humbled for our sins, and to sue to God for His mercy.
(3) And how does the subject speak to all those who lead the people astray, and destroy the way of their paths! How great must be their guilt! How heavy will be their condemnation! (R. Shittler.)
Ungodly national leaders to be deprecated
Surely it ought to be for a lamentation, when the present and eternal interests of any nation or people are committed to persons who know not the Lord, and are determined not to walk in His paths! If any spark of proper feeling were in exercise, we should grieve over a family placed under the care of such parents! we should mourn over a parish or diocese entrusted to the hands of such a shepherd! we should lament the fate of the crew of that vessel, which, instead of being steered amidst the perils of the storm, by an experienced and careful pilot, into the harbour for safety, should by some rash and unskilful hand be conducted into the quicksands or dashed upon the rock! We should feel the risings of national indignation, if the admirals of our fleets, or the commanders of our armies, instead of resisting an opposing foe, should sully their character, disobey their orders, disregard their king and their country, and, either from incompetency, or fear, or cowardice, or treason, should play into the enemys hand, betray the honour of the nation, abuse the confidence of their prince, and with reckless indifference sacrifice the lives of their men! Everyone would cry out, and that justly, against them. What then ought to be our feelings--how ought we to be affected--when such a dishonour is cast upon the Majesty of heaven; when His fear is disregarded; when His Word is set at nought; when His authority is despised; and the present and eternal welfare of millions is sacrificed by the wickedness or weakness of those who reject the only rule of all safe guidance--who lead a whole nation into sin, and bring down the wrath of God upon a guilty land! (R. Shittler.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Isa_3:12. O my people, they which lead thee [550]…
BLIND LEADERS
Isa_3:12. O my people, they which lead thee [550] cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
Read full note →
[550] The marginal reading, “they which call thee happy” (Mal_3:12; Mal_3:15), represents vividly the method adopted by the false prophets; who, instead of warning the people against the dangers of prosperity, were ever felicitating them upon it, saying, “Peace, peace, when there was no peace.” But the textual rendering appears to be the preferable one.—Kay.
This is at once a lament and a condemnation—a lament over the misfortunes of those who are misguided, a condemnation of their folly and wickedness in permitting themselves to be led astray.
I. Men need to be led.
1. This is our need as individuals. Every day we need an answer to the questions, What ought I to do? Which way should I go In the journey of life, we continually come to crossings at which we are conscious of our need of guidance.
2. Guidance is still more necessary for men collectively. What shall be the belief of a community? What its action? Like the apostolic band (Joh_21:2-3), communities remain idle, undecided, until the born leader says, “I go a-fishing,” and instantly they say to him, “We also go with thee.” Men are naturally gregarious; like a flock of sheep they crowd and inconvenience each other, not knowing which way to turn, until one bolder than the rest breaks away from the flock, and then instantly the flock begins to follow him.
II. As a rule men are misled. Boldness and wisdom do not always go together. Not seldom the courage which prompts men to become the leaders of others, and which goes so far to command the assent of others, is a compound of self-conceit and ignorance. Men are always prone to trust in the self-confident: they will believe the boastful quack rather than the diffident philosopher. Hence in all ages men have been caused to err—the blind have been led by the blind. How true this is to-day in political matters, in social, in commercial, in religious! [Give instances.] On every hand, in all these realms of thought and action, there are those who can only rightly be described as leaders who cause the people to err. Yea, all men carry within them two leaders, in whom they are disposed implicitly to trust, but by whom in the majority of instances they are misled—reason and conscience. How absolute is the confidence placed in these guides, and how seldom it is justified!
III. To be misled is one of the most terrible of evils.
1. It involves the loss of all the good to which right leadership would have conducted men.
2. It involves disappointment, shame, sorrow, and often irretrievable ruin.
3. It plunges men into painful perplexities, so that even when they have begun to suspect that the path they are pursuing is erroneous, they know not how to discover the true one; it seems to them to be “destroyed;” they search for it in vain. They are like travellers who, in the darkness following Will-of-the-Wisp, have strayed from the highway into a morass: to stand still is impossible, and yet to step in any direction, may plunge them into worse perils (Mat_15:14). How criminal is the conduct of those who betray their fellow-men into misery such as this!
In view of these facts,
1. We should not entrust ourselves to the first guide who offers himself to us. Let us examine the credentials of those who ask us to trust ourselves to their care (Mat_24:24; 1Jn_4:1-3; Isa_8:20).
2. In weighing the claims of men to be our leaders, we should have regard supremely to their moral qualifications. Their intellectual competency is, of course, not to be disregarded, but moral character is infinitely more important. Not all good men are fitted to be leaders; but no bad man can safely be followed by others. He is continually apt to be guided by policy, rather than principle, and policy leads to perdition [553] Policy is at the best but guess-work—steering by the current: the man who is governed by principle steers by the stars, and neither can be long misled, nor will he wilfully mislead others. Practical Application.—Never vote for any candidate for a public office, however clever he may be, if his integrity is doubtful.
3. Every man needs guidance more close and intimate than any of his fellow-men can afford him: he needs to be led even in choosing his leaders. Whither shall he look for this guidance? To his reason, his conscience? These guides themselves need instruction [556] in the absence of it, they have led millions to perdition. We need supernatural and sure guidance, and we have it
(1) in God’s Word, and
(2) in God’s Spirit (Pro_3:5-6). The man who follows these guides will be led always in the paths of righteousness and peace.
[553] Men know where they are going when they follow a principle; because principles are rays of light. If you trace a ray of light in all its reflections, you will find that it runs back to the central sun; and every great line of honesty, every great line of honour, runs back towards the centre of God. And the man that follows these things knows that he is steering right Godward. But the man that follows policies, and worldly maxims, does not know where he is steering, except that in general he is steering toward the devil.—Beecher.
[556] Reason is God’s candle in man. But, as a candle must first be lighted, ere it will enlighten, so reason must be illuminated by Divine grace, ere it can savingly discern spiritual things.—Toplady, 1740–1778.
Conscience, as an expression of the law or will and mind of God, is not now to be implicitly depended on. It is not infallible. What was true to its office in Eden, has been deranged and shattered by the fall; and now lies, as I have seen a sun-dial in the neglected garden of an old, desolate ruin, thrown down from its pedestal, prostrate on the ground, and covered by tall, rank weeds. So far from being since that fatal event an infallible directory of duty, conscience has often lent its sanction to the grossest errors, and prompted to the greatest crimes. Did not Saul of Tarsus, for instance, hale men and women to prison; compel them to blaspheme; and imbrue his hands in saintly blood, while conscience approved the deed—he judging the while that he did God service? What wild and profane imaginations has it accepted as the oracles of God? and as if fiends had taken possession of a God-deserted shrine, have not the foulest crimes, as well as the most shocking cruelties, been perpetrated in its name? Read the Book of Martyrs, read the sufferings of our forefathers; and, under the cowl of a shaven monk, or the trappings of a haughty Churchman, you shall see conscience persecuting the saints of God, and dragging even tender women and children to the bloody scaffold or the burning stake. With eyes swimming in tears, or flashing fire, we close the painful record, to apply to Conscience the words addressed to Liberty by the French heroine, when, passing its statue, she rose in the cart that bore her to the guillotine, and throwing up her arms, exclaimed, “O Liberty, what crimes have been done in thy name!” And what crimes in thine, O Conscience! deeds from which even humanity shrinks; against which religion lifts her loudest protest; and which furnish the best explanation of these awful words, “If the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
So far as doctrines and duties are concerned, not conscience, but the revealed Word of God, is our one, only sure and safe directory.—Guthrie.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Vanity of the Women of Jerusalem
The Vanity of the Women of Jerusalem
v. 12. As for My people, still looked upon by the Lord with loving regard, children, incompetent and ruthless youngsters, are their oppressors, and women, subject to whims and moods, rule over them. O My people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, the leaders becoming misleaders, and destroy the way of thy paths, devouring it by their false, erroneous preaching, so that the way of divine truth is no longer visible.
Read full note →
v. 13. The Lord standeth up to plead, to take up the case of the world, and standeth to judge the people, all the nations of the world, to convict them of their wickedness.
v. 14. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of His people, who were supposed to be their leaders, and the princes thereof, to whose guidance He had entrusted Israel; for ye have eaten up the vineyard, crushing the Church of God; the spoil of the poor, of whom the Church largely consists, is in your houses, due to the persecution of the rulers.
v. 15. What mean ye that ye beat My people to pieces, crushing them with the most severe tyranny, and grind the faces of the poor? in trampling them under foot, saith the Lord God of hosts. That is a special sign of the time preceding the Last Judgment: oppression and persecution of the Church of God, and for this the Lord will punish the wicked in full measure. However, it is not only the princes and rulers of the people who have brought God’s judgment upon themselves, but also the women of the land.
v. 16. Moreover, the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretched-forth necks, proudly thrown back, and wanton eyes, winking in feigned innocence, but with hidden invitation, walking and mincing, with affected, tripping steps, as they go and making a tinkling with their feet, the ankle-chains, which brought about the mincing steps, also producing a delicate ringing,
v. 17. therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, where long hair now is decorated handsomely, will be found nothing but loathsome uncleanness, and the Lord will discover their secret parts, exposing them to shame and disgrace before the whole world.
v. 18. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery, the adornment, of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, the ankle-rings with their chains, and their cauls, braided ornaments fastened to the forehead, and their round tires like the moon, half-moon-shaped decorations fastened about the neck,
v. 19. the chains, the ear-pendants, and the bracelets, or chains worn on wrist or arm, and the mufflers, fluttering veils,
v. 20. the bonnets, turban-shaped diadems, and the ornaments of the legs, the step-chains connecting the ankle-bracelets, and the head-bands, beautiful girdles, and the tablets, perfume capsules, the favorite odor being musk, and the earrings, small amulets with verses of magic,
v. 21. the rings, usually seal-rings, and nose-jewels, suspended from the septum of the nose,
v. 22. the changeable suits of apparel, the finest street dresses, and the mantles, roomy tunics with sleeves, and the wimples, costly shawls, and the crispingpins, beautifully worked hand-bags or boxes,
v. 23. the glasses, small metal mirrors, and the fine linen, shirtlike garments of the finest India linen, and the hoods, colored turbans, and the veils, mufflerlike throws for the neck, a total of twenty-one objects being named without special order, to indicate the contempt which the Lord felt for the vanity of women in making such toilet articles their chief concern, to the neglect and detriment of more important matters.
v. 24. And it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell, the delicate perfume of balsam, there shall be stink and instead of a girdle a rent, nothing but a rope to hold the garments together, and instead of well-set hair, such as was artistically curled and built up, baldness, and instead of a stomacher, the splendid mantles now worn, a girding of sackcloth, and burning, a mark such as was branded upon slaves, instead of beauty. The entire passage is surcharged with a holy sarcasm and may therefore well serve to warn many of the modern girls and women who find their greatest delight in objects such as are named here.
v. 25. Thy men shall fall by the sword, the defenders of Jerusalem a prey of war, and thy mighty in the war.
v. 26. And her gates, where the chief. men of the city were wont to discuss the welfare of the city, shall lament and mourn, because the seats of the men are empty; and she, the daughter of Zion, the city itself, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground, a picture of desolation. Chapter 4:1. And in that day, due to the fact that the men have fallen in battle, seven women shall take hold of one man, in an unnatural denial of womanly modesty, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel, not depending upon him for support; only let us be called by thy name, that they might be known as his wives, to take away our reproach, for it was considered a disgrace not to be married and hear children. Such are the scenes which preceded the fall of Jerusalem, and similar scenes will precede the end of the world.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.