Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach.”
Parallel Translations
-
Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach.”
-
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
-
And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying: 'We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name; take thou away our reproach.'
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Isaiah 4:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 30:23 She conceived, bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
- Isaiah 2:17 The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the arrogance of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.
- Isaiah 13:12 I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.
- Luke 1:25 “Thus has the Lord done to me in the days in which he looked at me, to take away my reproach among men.”
- Luke 21:22 For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:12 Now those who are that way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they work with quietness and eat their own bread.
- 1 Samuel 1:6 Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because Yahweh had shut up her womb.
- Isaiah 3:25-26 Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn. She shall be desolate and sit on the ground.
- Isaiah 10:20 It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
- Isaiah 2:11 The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the arrogance of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
- Isaiah 17:7 In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (21 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 When God shall execute this vengeance, there shall not…
When God shall execute this vengeance, there shall not be one man found to be the head to many women, and they contrary to womanly shamefacedness, shall seek unto men, and offer themselves to any condition.
Be thou our husband, and let us be called thy wives.
Read full note →
For so they thought it to be without an head and husband.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall…
Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
Ver. 1. And in that day,] sc., That day of desolation. {Isa 3:26}
Read full note →
Seven women,] i.e., Many women. See the like Zec 8:23. The women had been grievously threatened, {Isa 3:16-24} the men also for their sakes, {Isa 3:25-26} and yet the prophet hath not done with them. So heinous is sin in either sex.
Shall take hold of one man.] Who themselves were wont to be sued unto by many men; and perhaps were not content with their own husbands when they had them alive, but were sick of a pleurisy.
We will eat our own bread, &c.] Whereas the husband giveth to his wife food, raiment, and due benevolence: these would crave the last only, which yet they could not do neither in this sort but by laying aside woman-like modesty.
Only let us be called by thy name.] As wives used to be by their husbands’ names, both among the Jews and other nations, as Mary Cleophas, Mary Zebedee, &c. Solomon’s wife was after his name called Shulamite; {Son 6:13} and the Roman ladies were wont to say to their husbands, Ubi tu Caius, ibi ego Caia. Where you are Gaius there I am Gaia.
To take away our reproach.] Of want of husbands and children. See Psa 78:63 Jdg 11:36-37 Jer 30:17.
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 In that day, of which he hath hitherto been…
In that day, of which he hath hitherto been speaking, Isa 2; Isa 3, and still continueth to speak. In that calamitous time.
Seven; many. A certain number for an uncertain. Shall take hold; shall sue to him, and even lay hands upon him, contrary to their custom, and their natural modesty.
Read full note →
Of one man; because few men shall survive that dreadful stroke. They who before were not contented with their own husbands, are now glad of a seventh part of a husband.
We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; we will ease thee of that charge, which otherwise would fall upon thee by God’s law, Exo 21:10.
Let us be called by thy name; own us for thy wives.
Reproach: virginity was esteemed a reproach, especially among that people, because it was a token of contempt from men, and of the curse of God; children, the usual fruit of marriage, being both an honour to their parents before men, and a great blessing of God, especially to that people, from some of whose loins the Messiah was to spring.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain It was threatened (Isa 3:25) that the mighty men…
It was threatened (Isa 3:25) that the mighty men should fall by the sword in war, and it was threatened as a punishment to the women that affected gaiety and a loose sort of conversation. Now here we have the effect and consequence of that great slaughter of men, 1. That though Providence has so wisely ordered that, communibus annis - on an average of years, there is nearly an equal number of males and females born into the world, yet, through the devastations made by war, there should scarcely be one man in seven left alive. As there are deaths attending the bringing forth of children, which are peculiar to the woman, who was first in transgression, so, to balance that, there are deaths peculiar to men, those by the sword in the high places of the field, which perhaps devour more than child-bed does. Here it is foretold that such multitudes of men should be cut off that there should be seven women to one man. 2. That by reason of the scarcity of men, though marriage should be kept up for the raising of recruits and the preserving of the race of mankind upon earth, yet the usual method of it should be quite altered, - that, whereas men ordinarily make their court to the women, the women should now take hold of the men, foolishly fearing (as Lot's daughters did, when they saw the ruin of Sodom and perhaps thought it reached further than it did) that in a little time there would be none left (Gen 19:31), - that whereas women naturally hate to come in sharers with others, seven should now, by consent, become the wives of one man, - and that whereas by the law the husband was obliged to provide food and raiment for his wife (Exo 21:10), which with many would be the most powerful argument against multiplying wives, these women will be bound to support themselves; they will eat bread of their own earning, and wear apparel of their own working, and the man they court shall be at no expense upon them, only they desire to be called his wives, to take away the reproach of a single life. They are willing to be wives upon any terms, though ever so unreasonable; and perhaps the rather because in these troublesome times it would be a kindness to them to have a husband for their protector. Paul, on the contrary, thinks the single state preferable in a time of distress, Co1 7:26. It were well if this were not introduced here partly as a reflection upon the daughters of Zion, that, notwithstanding the humbling providences they were under (Isa 3:18), they remained unhumbled, and, instead of repenting of their pride and vanity, when God was contending with them for them, all their care was to get husbands - that modesty, which is the greatest beauty of the fair sex, was forgotten, and with them the reproach of vice was nothing to the reproach of virginity, a sad symptom of the irrecoverable desolations of virtue.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And in that day seven women shall take hold…
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man,.... Not in the days of Ahaz, when Pekah, son of Remaliah, slew in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand men in one day, Ch2 28:6 as Kimchi thinks; for though there was then such a destruction of men, yet at the same time two hundred thousand women, with sons and daughters, were carried captive by the Israelites, Ch2 28:8 but in the days of Vespasian and Titus, and in the time of their wars with the Jews; in which were made such slaughters of men, that there were not enough left for every woman to have a husband; and therefore "seven", or a great many, sue to one man to marry them, contrary to their natural bashfulness. It is a tradition of the Jews, mentioned both by Jarchi and Kimchi, that Nebuchadnezzar ordered his army, that none of them should marry another man's wife; wherefore every woman sought to get a husband; but the time of this prophecy does not agree with it:
saying, we will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; which used to be provided for wives by their husbands, and that according to law, Exo 21:10 but rather than be without a husband, they promise, in order to engage him to marry them, to provide food and raiment for themselves, by their own labour. The Arabic version adds,
Read full note →
"neither in anything will we be troublesome:''
only let us be called by thy name; let us be married to thee, let us become thy wives; for upon marriage the woman was called by her husband's name:
to take away our reproach: of being unmarried, and having no offspring: or it may be rendered in the imperative, "take away our reproach" (l); so the Targum, Septuagint, and Oriental versions. The words may be accommodated in a spiritual sense to some professors of religion, who lay hold on Christ in a professional way, but spend their money for that which is not bread, and live upon their own duties and services, and not on Christ, and wear their own rags of righteousness, and not his robe; only they desire to be called by the name of Christians, to take away the reproach of being reckoned Pagans or infidels.
(l) "aufer probrum nostrum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "aufer ignominiam nostram", 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 In the extremity of evils, Christ's glorious kingdom should…
In the extremity of evils, Christ's glorious kingdom should appear to those who are left alive, ver. 1, 2. They shall be holy, ver. 3. Purged, ver. 4. A glory and a defense upon them, ver. 5. A sanctuary from evils, ver. 6.
In that day - In that calamitous time. Seven - Many. A certain number for an uncertain. One man - Because few men shall survive that dreadful stroke. Only - Own us for thy wives. Our reproach - Virginity was esteemed a reproach; children, the usual fruit of marriage, being both an honour to their parents, and a blessing of God, especially to that people, from some of whose loins the Messiah was to spring.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The havoc occasioned by war, and those other calamities…
CHAPTER IV
The havoc occasioned by war, and those other calamities which
Read full note →
the prophet had been describing in the preceding chapter, are
represented as so terribly great that seven women should be
left to one man, 1.
Great blessedness of the remnant that shall be accounted worthy
to escape these judgments, 2-4.
The privileges of the Gospel set forth by allusions to the
glory and pomp of the Mosaic dispensation, 5, 6.
NOTES ON CHAP. IV
Verse 1. And seven women] The division of the chapters has interrupted the prophet's discourse, and broken it off almost in the midst of the sentence. "The numbers slain in battle shall be so great, that seven women shall be left to one man." The prophet has described the greatness of this distress by images and adjuncts the most expressive and forcible. The young women, contrary to their natural modesty, shall become suitors to the men: they will take hold of them, and use the most pressing importunity to be married. In spite of the natural suggestions of jealousy, they will be content with a share only of the rights of marriage in common with several others; and that on hard conditions, renouncing the legal demands of the wife on the husband, (see Ex 21:10,) and begging only the name and credit of wedlock, and to be freed from the reproach of celibacy. See Isa 54:4-5. Like Marcia, on a different occasion, and in other circumstances: -
Da tantum nomen inane
Connubii: liceat tumulo scripsisse, Catonis Marcia.
LUCAN, ii. 342.
"This happened," says Kimchi, "in the days of Ahaz, when Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judea one hundred and twenty thousand men in one day; see 2Ch 28:6. The widows which were left were so numerous that the prophet said, 'They are multiplied beyond the sand of the sea,'" Jer 15:8.
In that day] These words are omitted in the Septuagint, and MSS.
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 4:1. In that day — Of which he…
Isa 4:1. In that day — Of which he has hitherto been speaking, chap. 2. and 3., and still continues to speak; in that calamitous time; seven women shall take hold on one man — “The war and captivity shall make such a prodigious scarcity in the male sex, that seven women shall be glad to apply to a single man for protection, preservation, and marriage: and shall importune him, though contrary to the natural modesty of their sex, to consent to take away their reproach — For not barrenness only, but a single state also was reckoned opprobrious among the Jews.” “And in spite of the natural suggestions of jealousy, they will each be content with a share only of the rights of marriage in common with several others; and that on hard conditions, renouncing the legal demands of the wife on the husband, (see Exo 21:10,) and begging only the name and credit of wedlock, to be freed from the reproach of celibacy.” See Vitringa and Bishop Lowth.
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 In that day - The time of calamity referred…
In that day - The time of calamity referred to in the close of the previous chapter. This is a continuation of that prophecy, and there was no reason why these six verses should have been made a separate chapter. That the passage refers to the Messiah, is apparent from what has been stated in the note at the commencement of the prophecy Isa 2:1-4, and from the expressions which occur in the chapter itself; see the notes at Isa 4:2, Isa 4:5-6.
Seven women - The number “seven” is used often to denote a “large” though “indefinite” number; Lev 26:28; Pro 24:16; Zec 3:9. It means that so great should be the calamity, so many “men” would fall in battle, that many women would, contrary to their natural modesty, become suitors to a single man, to obtain him as a husband and protector.
Read full note →
Shall take hold - Shall apply to. The expression, ‘shall take hold,’ denotes the “earnestness” of their application.
We will eat our own bread ... - We do not ask this in order to be maintained. We will forego that which the law Exo 21:10 enjoins as the duty of the husband in case he has more than one wife.
Only let us be called by thy name - Let us be regarded as “thy wives.” The wife then, as now, assumed the name of the husband. A remarkably similar expression occurs in Lucan (B. ii. 342). Marcia there presents a similar request to Cato:
Da tantum nomen inane
Connubii; liceat tumulo scripsisse, Catonis Marcia.
‘Indulge me only with the empty title of wife.
Let there only be inscribed on my tomb, “Marcia, wife of Cato.”’
To take away my reproach - The reproach of being unmarried; compare Gen 30:23; 1Sa 1:6.
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 Seven. Many shall sue for a husband, men shall…
Seven. Many shall sue for a husband, men shall be so scarce. To continue unmarried was reproachful, Deuteronomy vii. 14. (Calmet) --- After the conversion of the Gentiles, pastors will be much wanted. (Worthington)
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).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. The first verse completes the picture of domestic…
1. The first verse completes the picture of domestic desolation on account of the scarcity of male inhabitants, destroyed by war or carried to Babylon as captives.
In that day — That calamitous period described as yet to come to Jerusalem.
Read full note →
Seven women — An indefinite, but a large, full number. Native modesty is laid aside; all sue to become wives to one man, on account of the great reproach of unwedded life among Jewish women. For this, they will even surrender their rights of dowry and support.
The primeval institution of marriage (Gen_2:24) permitted the union only of one man and one woman. But, long before the times of Moses, morals on this subject suffered degradation. Unlimited polygamy became, in the East, the rule, not the exception; nay, worse than this, prostitution of females and boys became a religious institution.* See Whedon’s note on Rev_2:14-15. The disgraceful evil of prostitution Moses required to be punished and rooted out by the severest laws. Polygamy he suffered, because compelled by social necessity; but he aimed so to regulate it that in the end it would virtually cease to exist — a fact near to realization till monarchy reopened the floodgates of the evil. Wars so diminished the number of males, and the reproach of childlessness among females was so great, that in the text above, though the situation was evil, the sentiment in the urgent request of the women was in their own estimation virtuous. “The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.”
[* See “Phoenica and Israel,” published by Phillips & Hunt: an important work in Old Testament exegesis bearing on this subject.]
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 Isa_4:1. “A companion picture to Isa_3:6 … the male…
Isa_4:1. “A companion picture to Isa_3:6 … the male population are in search of a ruler; the women in search of a husband” (Weir, quoted by Cheyne). The verse, therefore, represents an episode in that scene of anarchy which has been the main burden of this prophecy.
let us be called …] let thy name be named over us. The wife bore the husband’s name, but only, it would seem, in such designations as “Sarai, Abram’s wife,” Gen_16:1, &c.
Read full note →
to take away …] take thou away our reproach (R.V.). The disgrace of being unmarried is meant (Jdg_11:37 f.).
Grotius cites a touching parallel from Lucan (Pharsal. II. 342):—
da tantum nomen inane
Connubii: liceat tumulo scripsisse, Catonis Marcia.
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 (1) And in that day seven women . .…
IV.
(1) And in that day seven women . . .—The chapter division wrongly separates this verse from the foregoing. It comes as the climax of the chastisement of the daughters of Zion, as the companion picture to Isa_3:6. As men sought eagerly, yet in vain, a protector, so women should seek for a husband. Those who had been wooed and courted, and had been proudly fastidious, should supplicate in eager rivalry (the seven women to one man implies a land depopulated by war, and so making polygamy natural) for the protection of marriage, and that not on the usual conditions of having food and clothing found for them (Exo_21:10), but as working for their own livelihood.
Read full note →
To take away our reproach.—Better, as an imperative, take thou away. The reproach is that of being childless. From the Jewish standpoint that was not only the great sorrow, but the great shame, of womanhood, implying, as men thought, a sin of which it was the chastisement (Gen_30:23; 1Sa_1:6; Luk_1:25).
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 The-existing division between Isaiah 3. and 4. is scarcely…
The-existing division between Isaiah 3. and 4. is scarcely satisfactory. Ver. 1 of Isaiah 4. belongs to the minatory portion of the section beginning with Isa_2:1 and terminating with Isa_4:6, and so stands connected in subject with Isaiah 3., which is wholly minatory; whereas the remainder of Isaiah 4. (vers. 2-6) is consolatory, consisting of a series of promises. Isa_4:1 is also for-really connected with Isaiah 3. by the vau conjunctive, while the absence of any such link at the opening of ver. 2 indicates the commencement of a new paragraph at that point.
Seven women shall take hold of one man. This verse has been well called a "companion picture to Isa_3:6, Isa_3:7." As there, in the evil time of God"s judgment, the despairing men are represented as" taking hold" of a respectable man to make him their judge, so now the despairing women "take hold" of such a man and request him to allow them all to be regarded as his wives. There has been such a destruction men are become so scarce that no otherwise can women escape the shame and reproach of being unwedded and childless. Our own bread will we eat. They do not ask him to support them; they are able and willing to support themselves. To take away; rather, take thou away the imperative mood, not the infinitive. Our reproach. Children were regarded as such a blessing in the ancient times that to be childless was a misfortune and a subject of reproach. Hagar "despised" the barren Sarai. (Gen_16:4) Her "adversary provoked Hannah sore, because the Lord had shut up her. (1Sa_1:6) Compare the lament of Antigone, who views it as a disgrace that she descends to the tomb unwed (Soph., "Antig.," 11. 813-816). Among the Jews childlessness was a special reproach, because it took away all possibility of the woman being in the line of the Messiah"s descent. (comp. Isa_54:1-4)
Read full note →
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Ver. 1. Depopulation and its doctrine.
This passage belongs to the two concluding verses of the last chapter; but as it is the most striking of the three, we may allow it to be our starting-point in gleaning the thoughts which the whole scene suggests. These are
I EXTREME DESOLATION WROUGHT IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF. GOD. The land is stripped by war of its male population; (Isa_3:25) those who gather at the gates bewail the humiliation under which they smart, the privation to which they are reduced. "Her gates shall lament," etc. (Isa_3:26) Jerusalem can no longer stand in her strength and honor; she is prostrate in weakness and in her shame; desolate, she sits upon the ground. Such is the havoc which war has made, that the virgin daughters of the land, instead of waiting modestly to be addressed, go out in numbers to find themselves husbands under any unnatural condition, so that the reproach of perpetual virginity and childlessness may be somehow removed (text). In the righteous rule of God, sin ends in utter desolation. It may be the history of the nation, as in this instance. Its stages are these: departure from the will and Word of God; luxury and corruption; effeminacy and weakness; strife and defeat; exile, poverty, loneliness, attempts to gratify hope and ambition by unnatural and pitiable methods. But this may be the experience of the individual. "Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate". (Psa_34:21) Sin is likely, if indeed it is not sure, to lead down to this sad estate. It manifests itself in folly and, through folly, conducts to loss, privation, loneliness, desolation. And the last scene of all is one like this of the text; it resorts to unnatural and wholly unsatisfactory means to fill its heart and restore its life.
II A SIGNIFICANT PROVISION ORDERED IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. The abnormal circumstance suggests the normal. In the absence of such a scourge as that of ward and for this our sin is entirely responsible there would be found to be a virtual equality in the number of the sexes. For nearly every son of man a daughter is born into the world. Surely this points to the Divine intention that man and wife should dwell together in bonds of conjugal affection. It places no stigma on single life, but it indicates the purpose of our kind Creator, that one human heart should comfort and sustain another, with reciprocated love and complementary succor, along the path of human life. It says to those who have ears to hear it that polygamy is not according to the Divine will; that the celibacy of a class, or order, or community is not of Divine appointment; that the home where one husband and one wife dwell in undisturbed and ever-deepening attachment the providing hand of the one clasping the dispensing hand of the other is the realization of the Divine design.
III AN HONORABLE INSTINCT PLANTED BY THE HAND OF GOD. Similar passages (Gen_30:23 1Sa_1:6 Luk_1:25) suggest that the "reproach" which the women desired to have removed was that of childlessness rather than that of virginity. Jewish women, we know, earnestly desired to be mothers; they may have cherished the hope that of them the Messiah would be born. In any case it was an honorable ambition. The real reproach rests with those who wish to be childless that they may be saved the anxieties, responsibilities, and labors that devolve on the faithful mother. There cannot be a more desirable or excellent aspiration for the parent to indulge than that of so training her (his) children that they shall become men and women whom the Lord will love, and for whom the Church and nation will give thanks. C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1. Immortality in a continued race.
"Take thou away our reproach." This verse has been much misconceived. Its figures are Eastern, and their interpretation depends on our knowledge of the condition and sentiments of Eastern women. It is simply a forcible description of the calamities brought upon a nation by continued war. The men were to fall by the sword; and the slaughter was to be so great that the number of women should far exceed the number of men who should survive. Now, to be unmarried and childless is an occasion of the greatest reproach in the East; from the Jewish standpoint this was not only a great sorrow, but a great shame, implying, as was then thought, some sin of which it was the chastisement. And there was a yet deeper sentiment concerning childlessness which needs to be taken into account. Immortality was, in those older days, thought of as a family rather than a personal privilege. A man lived on, lived again, in his descendants. LaRuge says, "In its most ancient parts the Old Testament knows no other genuine life than that on this earth, and thus no other continuation of living after death than by means of children. To be childless was, then, the same as being deprived of continuance after death. It corresponded to the being damned of the New Testament." In their distress and wretchedness the young women who had minced and flirted through Jerusalem with their gay clothing and fine trinkets, contrary to their natural modesty, would become suitors to the men, and under the hardest conditions seek the name and credit of wedlock, to be free from the reproach that would otherwise be their portion. Kimchi, the Jewish commentator, says this happened in the days of Ahaz, when Pekah, the son of Remaliah, slew in Judaea one hundred and twenty thousand men in one day. The widows which were left were so numerous that the prophet said, "Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas". (Jer_15:8) The idea that man"s immortality is the continuance of the race has been revived and set attractively before the people in modern poetry and literature; and though it is only a small piece of the truth concern-inn man"s future, a mere beginning in the revelation of man"s immortality, we need not hesitate to recognize it as a partial truth, and to set before ourselves those views of the responsibility of our present lives which it suggests. We know that "life and immortality" for the individual have been "brought to light by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ," and in this failer and higher and more satisfying revelation we heartily rejoice; but still we may learn something by occupying for a moment the older standpoint.
I THE IMMORTALITY OF A NATION IS ITS PERMANENCY AS A FREE PEOPLE. This is illustrated by the anxiety of Eastern kings to secure heirs to their thrones and continuance to their dynasties. Divine judgments cut off kingly races, as that of Saul, Omri, etc. Divine promises assured that David"s and Solomon"s kingdoms should endure forever. Nations, as such, have no immortality in a future state.
II THE IMMORTALITY OF A GENERATION IS ITS REPRODUCTION IN SUCCESSIVE GENERATIONS. "One generation passeth, and another cometh," and in a very true sense the next generation is the old one restored, under somewhat varying conditions. The genius of a generation is immortal only in the generations that follow it.
III THE IMMORTALITY OF A MAN IS THE FAMILY HE STARTS. This explains the ambition to "found a family," which is not merely man"s monument, but the man himself living again, and living on through the ages. He puts his personal impress upon his children, and the children"s children keep alive the idiosyncrasy of the parent. Illustrate from the Abrahamic race, which is, in a sense, the immortality of Abraham.
IV THE PRACTICAL BEARING OF SUCH A VIEW OF IMMORTALITY. It fills with seriousness the position of all parents. "What manner of persons ought they to be," if they are thus to be perpetuated? A nation must be righteous if it is to be worth continuing. A generation must be physically and morally healthy, if its impress on the coming generations is to be a blessing. The father, the mother, must bear pure, true, worthy characters if their family is to be an honor. He who seeks an immortality in his race is bound to see to it that he only perpetuates goodness, integrity, truth, faith, and all things that are noble. From this lower position the preacher may easily advance to argue how much more solemn life has become for us now that nobler views of the future are revealed by him who came forth out of the eternal mysteries, and has passed again within them, that we might henceforth read our earth-lives in the light of that sublime personal immortality which he has disclosed. R.T.
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 And in that day seven women shall take hold…
Isa_4:1
And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man
Read full note →
The climax of Zions ruin
This verse should be part of the preceding chapter, the very climax, indeed, of the ruin which Zion has brought upon herself.
(Read Isa_3:25-26.) In this verse the course of nature is inverted. This is the ruin which sin always works. The picture is that of a country desolated by war, and when the census comes to be taken it is found that there are seven women to one man. The men are murdered, the strong have been taken away, the mighty men have gone down in the shock of war. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Social anarchy
A companion picture to Isa_3:6;--the male population are in search of a ruler; the women in search of a husband. (R. Weir.)
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_3:16, Isa_4:1. Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters…
FEMALE PRIDE AND LUXURY
Isa_3:16, Isa_4:1. Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, &c.
Read full note →
We have here a terrible denunciation of female pride and luxury. Consider—
I. ITS COMMONNESS. In almost every age and country there have been women such as are here described.
II. ITS CAUSES. There must be powerful causes to produce such a wide-spread effect. Like all things that are wrong, these evil things—the pride and luxury of so many women—are due to perversions of things that are right,—mainly, to certain things which are among the differentia of the female sex, such as—
1. A keener love of beauty than is common among men. The love of many women for soft textures and bright colours is as innocent, and free from all trace of personal vanity, as is the love of children for flowers.
2. A stronger yearning for admiration than is common among men. There are vain men, always on the outlook for indications of admiration, and they are simply contemptible. But it is an instinct of the true woman-nature to desire to be loved, and to value highly all things that tend to win love.
3. A recognition of the gifts of personal beauty. As a rule, women have more to be proud of in this respect than have men. If a woman is fair, she is simply a hypocrite if she pretends not to know it. Then there come in,
4. Rivalry, which in itself is a right thing, but becomes a harmful thing when women set themselves to out-dress each other.
5. Timidity, one of the graces of the female character, but that often leads to great evils. Few men have the courage to be singular, and fewer women sufficient self-reliance not to follow the fashion. But the pride and luxury of women is largely due also to the folly of men:—
(1.) Most men esteem and reward clothes more than character. Men are taken by such things as are mentioned in our text, and the fisher is not much to be blamed for adapting the bait to the taste of the fish.
(2.) Even of those men who condemn female luxury in the abstract, few have the courage to banish it from their own homes.
(3.) The lips of many men are sealed on this question by their own vices. They have their indulgences, and one of the prices which they pay for peace in their pursuit is silence as to this indulgence on the part of their wives and daughters. There is an unexpressed but wicked compromise on this matter.
III. ITS CONSEQUENCES.
1. The intellectual degradation of woman, the concentration of nearly all her thoughts on the question of dress.
2. The moral debasement of many women. For the means of gratifying their craving for luxury and display, how many have sold their virtue!
3. The destruction of that female influence which should always be exerted, and when exerted, is so powerful in aid of moral nobility. Sensual grossness in men is at once a cause and consequence of licentious vanity in women.
4. Commercial frauds, to which men resort to provide the means for the maintenance of the luxury of their homes.
Men and women are thus partakers in this sin, and as such, in the days of visitation, they shall suffer together (Isa_3:17; Isa_3:25; Isa_4:1) [568]
[568] Isa_4:1. The Jewess, like the ancient Roman, or modern Englishwoman, was called by her husband’s name; and she prized the honour of wedlock, and dreaded the reproach of childlessness, at least as much as either of these; but we most contrast the dignified expression of these feelings by Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth, nay, even that of the jealous and petulant Rachel, with the exhibition which the prophet now contemplates in his mind’s eye, in order to see the picture of social disorganisation which he sees. If a harem of wives and concubines was still a part of the king’s state in Isaiah’s time, though we have no proof of this, it is quite improbable that polygamy was the common custom of the nation, or that they had not long passed out of the half-civilised condition and habits for which Moses had provided in his laws for the protection of the female slaves whom a man might take at the same time for his wives; but now Isaiah says that these women, whose luxury and pride he has just described, will abandon even the natural reserve of their sex, and not only force themselves several upon one man, but declare that they will be content to share with each other a legalised concubinage in which they will not claim the concubine’s ancient right of bread and apparel, which the old law (Exo_21:10) had in express terms secured to her, if only they may bear his name. It need not be supposed that Isaiah anticipated the literal fulfilment of his words; we shall probably understand him better by taking this as an instance of that poetic or rhetorical hyperbole, which he so delights to use for the more forcible expression of his moral and political teaching. The mystery which some commentators have seen in the numbers “seven” and “one” in this passage, and which is even said to have occasioned the separation of this portion of the prophecy into a distinct chapter, perhaps makes worth while the obvious remark that it is nothing more than the wide-spread idiom of modern as well as ancient languages, by which a definite or round number is put for an indefinite. Seven is thus generally used by the Hebrews for any considerable number, as it was among the Egyptians and Persians, and is still said to be in the East. The Moguls are said to employ nine in like manner. So, in English, we put five or ten for any small, and a hundred for a large number, in conversation; though the genius of our language forbids such idioms in graver discourse.—Strachey, pp. 55, 56.
THE DESOLATING AND DISORGANISING POWER OF WAR
Isa_4:1. And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will at our own bread and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach [571]
[571] See note to preceding outline.
This verse gives us a vivid picture of the desolating and disorganising power of war. The 25th and 26th verses of the previous chapter say “Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit on the ground.” This righteous chastisement has come. So often have the men been called into the field, so exterminating has been the carnage, as that now few men remain. The natural proportion of the sexes is disturbed. This disorganisation invades woman’s nature. Her natural modesty departs. With violent importunity seven women press marriage on one man. They will be no expense to him; they will earn their own food and raiment, if he will only give them his name in marriage. The writer of this outline has recently travelled in a land [Mexico] whose revolutions during the last fifty years have been so frequent as that he found parts of the country where the prophet’s words are true to-day. The men have been killed in battle. In some districts there are seven women to one man.
I. The tendency of sin is to produce war and to degrade women. The apostle James has described the genesis of war (Isa_4:1). Nations are but the aggregate of individuals. If the lusts of selfishness, greed, malice, &c., nestle like vipers in the hearts of individual men, they will be manifest in the nation.
1. Sin deteriorates man’s intellectual faculties. In its present unpurified condition, the human intellect is not inventive enough to discover those commercial relationships which will eventually bind in bonds of amity the nations of the world together.
2. Sin intensifies human selfishness. One of the most desolating wars of modern times originated in that gross selfishness which was too blind to see that it was a sin to hold property in man.
3. Sin intensifies human greed. “Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark,” is a despised threat. Again and again has war originated in greed of territory and lust of plunder.
4. Sin intensifies human ambition. In the heart of all great conquerors, from Nimrod to Napoleon, has lain the lust of unholy ambition. Their motto has ever been “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”
5. Side by side with these lusts of selfishness, greed, ambition, &c, there has been a lack of justice and mercy. No mind having these latter sentiments healthily developed could “cry havock and let slip the dogs of war.” When the leaders of nations learn “to do justly and love mercy,” wars will be less common.
6. With war have come numerous evils to woman. The text describes some of them. Others come to the surface every day. Her husband has been forced from her side, or her sons have died on the battlefield; very bitter have been woman’s sorrows,—“Yea, a sword hath pierced through her own soul also.” And always where soldiers are multiplied in a land, and taken away from useful employment, women have been polluted and degraded. War and womanly degradation are inseparable evils.
II. It is the tendency of Christianity to produce peace and elevate woman.
1. To produce peace in its loftiest and widest sense Christ came into the world. The prophet Isaiah predicted Him as the Prince of Peace (Isa_9:6). At His birth angels sang, “Peace on earth, good-will to man” (Luk_2:14).
2. By His atoning work He has laid the foundation of peace between man and God, and consequently between man and man.
3. The direct influence of Christ’s religion is to restrain and destroy those evil propensities out of which wars originate—lust of greed, ambition, malice, &c. What is in the individual comes out in the community. As individuals and nations become truly Christian and form the majority, wars will cease.
4. Prophecy speaks of a time coming when the principles of Christianity shall be in the ascendant, and then men shall beat their swords into ploughshares, &c., &c. (chap. Isa_2:4).
5. As the gospel of peace advances in a land woman’s condition is always elevated. The Christian man honours woman as no other man does. As he grows into the stature of Christ, woman’s lot is always happier. Compare woman’s status in pagan, Mohammedan, and barbarous lands, with her status in Christendom.
III. Hence while the Gospel claims as its advocate every Christian man, it has special claims on the service of every pious woman.—Every good man is called upon to spread the blessings of Christianity as widely as possible. But there are some evils whose removal appeals specially to pious women. Every good woman should throw her influence into the aggregate of the peace spirit, as against that war spirit which in certain stages of civilisation seems so natural to man. All women should join together to make up an army of peace promoters, outnumbering the men of the sword. To relieve their sisters from sorrow and save them from degradation, should be the aim of all good women.—William Parkes.
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.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain Isa 4:2-5
Isa 4:2-5
I. Notice, first, the preparation for the promise. In the earlier verses of this chapter two things are presented as antecedent to the gifts of blessing—that is, the coming of the Divine Saviour, and His discipline for holiness within His Church.
Read full note →
II. The promise itself. There is: (1) The presence of God with His Church. (2) The presence of God for counsel. This was the primary purpose for which the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were given. For guidance in the perplexities of life, God’s presence is promised in the churches of today. (3) The presence of God for defence. Many a time lyers-in-wait have attacked the Church, and empires have undertaken to destroy her, and have called up the secret resources of power for her overthrow, and yet she lives; while the names of her oppressors are forgotten or remembered only with accusation and with shame; and it must be so as long as God lives to protect and bless the Church that He has chosen and redeemed.
W. Morley Punshon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 372.
References: Isa 5:1.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iv., p. 289; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 272; H. Thompson, Concionalia: Outlines for Parochial Use, 2nd series, p. 5; F. Delitzsch, Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 60.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain 1. The women do not claim to be kept…
1. The women do not claim to be kept as the man's wives, but only pray that he will remove from them the reproach of being childless (cp. Gen_30:23), so depopulated has the land become. The v. belongs to Isaiah 3.
In that day] i.e. when the Day of God's judgment (Isa_2:12; Isa_3:18) is over.
Read full note →
2. Branch] not here a title of Messiah (the word is not the same in Isa_11:1) but referring to the verdure of the land. Fertility of the soil is often a feature of the ideal future in the prophets (Isa_30:23; Amo_9:13; Zec_9:16-17). For the expression 'branch of Jehovah' cp. 'cedars of God,' Psa_80:10; 'trees of Jehovah,' Psa_104:16.
Escaped] referring to the godly remnant (Isa_61:3).
3. Shall be called holy] i.e: as actually being so: cp. Isa_1:26. Written] i.e. enrolled as a citizen.
4. Spirit] RM 'blast.'
5. Upon every dwelling place] RV 'over the whole habitation.' A cloud, etc.] the sign of God's protecting presence; the imagery is from the exodus (Exo_13:21-22; Exo_14:19-20). Upon all, etc.] 'over all the glory shall be spread a canopy,' i.e. for shadow and refuge, as explained in the next v.
6. Tabernacle] RV 'pavilion.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Inviting Comeliness of the Branch of Jehovah
The Inviting Comeliness of the Branch of Jehovah
v. 2. In that day, in the Messianic period preceding the end of the world, shall the Branch of the Lord, the great Son of David, the Messiah Himself, Isa 11:1; Isa 53:2; Zec 3:8, be beautiful and glorious, literally, "ornament and glory," emphasizing these attributes as essential in the miraculous person of Christ, and the Fruit of the earth, the Savior Himself, product of the human race, growing up out of the house of David according to the counsel of God, shall be excellent and comely, literally, "splendor and brilliant glory," for them that are escaped of Israel, included in the great deliverance which came through Jesus Christ.
Read full note →
v. 3. And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, the elect of the Lord, shall be called holy, consecrated to the Lord and serving Him in a holy life, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem, those who are appointed by God unto eternal life, Act 13:48, whether they be of Jews or Gentiles,
v. 4. when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, namely, the moral uncleanness and sinfulness which no amount of outward ornament can cover before His eyes, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem, the outstanding acts of wickedness and guilt, from the midst thereof by the Spirit of judgment and by the Spirit of burning, His Holy Spirit both rebuking the evil and destroying all wickedness by a thorough winnowing and sifting, for conversion is entirely and alone His work.
v. 5. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies, wherever there are congregations of believers, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night, these being the vehicle and sign of the merciful presence of Jehovah in the midst of His people; for upon all the glory, in every place of glory where believers are assembled in His name, shall be a defense, a covering, or canopy, the Lord Himself, as the King of Grace, having His throne in every congregation and causing it, by the gifts of His mercy, to be a glory, a place where His glory shines forth.
v. 6. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, Christ Himself dwelling in their midst, and for a place of refuge and for a covert, where one may hide in safety, from storm and from rain; for Christ is the Protector of His Church against the manifold dangers with which it is surrounded. In this way the Branch of the Lord serves for glory to His elect, and the believers cheerfully trust themselves to His keeping.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 let us take your name
let us take your name
This phrase means "let us marry you." (See: Idiom)
Read full note →
the branch of Yahweh will be beautiful
Possible meanings are 1) "branch" is a synecdoche that represents the crops Yahweh will cause to grow in the land of Israel. AT: "Yahweh will cause the crops in Israel to be beautiful" or 2) "branch" is a metaphor that refers to the Messiah. (See: Synecdoche and Metaphor)
will be beautiful and glorious
"will be full of beauty and glory"
the fruit of the land will be tasty and delightful for those survivors in Israel
"Fruit" sometimes simply represents food produced in the land, and sometimes it represents spiritual blessings. Possible meanings here are 1) God will cause the land to produce good food again. AT: "the people who are still in Israel will enjoy the best food from the land" or 2) the future Messiah will bring spiritual blessings to the people in the land. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
day of the Lord
name
Yahweh
glory
fruit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:1 During Isaiah’s ministry, Jerusalem’s population was so decimated…
4:1 During Isaiah’s ministry, Jerusalem’s population was so decimated through war, famine, and disease (3:1-3; 6:13; 14:30; 22:2; 37:4) that there were few men left, creating an absence of leadership (see 3:1-12). Even worse conditions lay ahead with the approaching war between Judah and the alliance of Syria and Israel in 734–732 BC (2 Chr 28) and eventually the conquest and fall of Jerusalem (605–586 BC).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.