For--continuation of Isa 2:22.
Lord of hosts--therefore able to do as He says.
doth--present for future, so certain is the accomplishment.
stay . . . staff--the same Hebrew word, the one masculine, the other feminine, an Arabic idiom for all kinds of support. What a change from the previous luxuries (Isa 2:7)! Fulfilled in the siege by Nebuchadnezzar and afterwards by Titus (Jer 37:21; Jer 38:9).
prudent--the Hebrew often means a "soothsayer" (Deu 18:10-14); thus it will mean, the diviners, on whom they rely, shall in that day fail. It is found in a good sense (Pro 16:10), from which passage the Jews interpret it a king; "without" whom Israel long has been (Hos 3:4).
ancient--old and experienced (Kg1 12:6-8).
honourable--literally, "of dignified aspect."
cunning--skilful. The mechanic's business will come to a standstill in the siege and subsequent desolation of the state; artisans are no mean "stay" among a nation's safeguards.
eloquent orator--rather, as Vulgate, "skilled in whispering," that is, incantation (Psa 58:5). See Isa 8:19, below; and on "prudent," see on Isa 3:2.
babes--in warlike might; antithesis to "the mighty" and "man of war."
base--low-born. Compare the marks of "the last days" (Ti2 3:2).
brother--one having no better hereditary claim to be ruler than the "man" supplicating him.
Thou hast clothing--which none of us has. Changes of raiment are wealth in the East (Kg2 5:5).
ruin--Let our ruined affairs be committed to thee to retrieve.
healer--of the body politic, incurably diseased (Isa 1:6).
neither . . . clothing--so as to relieve the people and maintain a ruler's dignity. A nation's state must be bad indeed, when none among men, naturally ambitious, is willing to accept office.
eyes of his glory--to provoke His "glorious" Majesty before His "eyes" (compare Isa 49:5; Hab 1:13). The Syriac and LOWTH, by a slight change of the Hebrew, translate, "the cloud of His glory," the Shekinah.
witness--literally, "corresponds" to them; their look answers to their inner character (Hos 5:5).
declare-- (Jde 1:13). "Foaming out their own shame"; so far from making it a secret, "glorying" in it (Phi 3:19).
unto themselves--Compare "in themselves" (Pro 1:31; Pro 8:36; Jer 2:19; Rom 1:27).
fruit of doings-- (Pro 1:31) in a good sense (Gal 6:8; Rev 22:14). Not salvation by works, but by fruit-bearing faith (Isa 45:24; Jer 23:6). GESENIUS and WEISS translate, Declare as to the righteous that, &c. MAURER, "Say that the righteous is blessed."
hands--his conduct; "hands" being the instrument of acts (Ecc 8:12-13).
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.
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.
plead--indignant against a wicked people (Isa 66:16; Eze 20:35).
vineyard--the Jewish theocracy (Isa 5:1-7; Psa 80:9-13).
eaten up--"burnt"; namely, by "oppressive exactions" (Isa 3:12). Type of the crowning guilt of the husbandmen in the days of Jesus Christ (Mat 21:34-41).
spoil . . . houses-- (Mat 23:14).
grind--by exactions, so as to leave them nothing.
faces--persons; with the additional idea of it being openly and palpably done. "Presence," equivalent to "face" (Hebrew).
stretched forth--proudly elevated (Psa 75:5).
wanton--rather, "making the eyes to glance about," namely, wantonly (Pro 6:13) [MAURER]. But LOWTH, "falsely setting off the eyes with paint." Women's eyelids in the East are often colored with stibium, or powder of lead (see on Job 42:14; Jer 4:30, Margin).
mincing--tripping with short steps.
tinkling--with their ankle-rings on both feet, joined by small chains, which sound as they walk, and compel them to take short steps; sometimes little bells were attached (Isa 3:18, Isa 3:20).
discover--cause them to suffer the greatest indignity that can befall female captives, namely to be stripped naked, and have their persons exposed (Isa 47:3; compare with Isa 20:4).
tinkling--(See Isa 3:16).
cauls--network for the head. Or else, from an Arabic root, "little suns," answering to the "tires" or neck-ornaments, "like the moon" (Jdg 8:21). The chumarah or crescent is also worn in front of the headdress in West Asia.
mufflers--veils covering the face, with apertures for the eyes, close above and loosely flowing below. The word radically means "tremulous," referring to the changing effect of the spangles on the veil.
ornaments of the legs--the short stepping-chains from one foot to another, to give a measured gait; attached to the "tinkling ornaments" (Isa 3:16).
headbands--literally, "girdles."
tablets--rather, "houses of the breath," that is, smelling boxes [Vulgate].
earrings--rather, amulets suspended from the neck or ears, with magic formulÃ&brvbr; inscribed; the root means to "whisper" or "conjure."
changeable--from a root, "to put off"; not worn commonly; put on and off on special occasions. So, dress-clothes (Zac 3:4).
mantles--fuller tunics with sleeves, worn over the common one, reaching down to the feet.
wimples--that is, mufflers, or hoods. In Rut 3:15, "veils"; perhaps here, a broad cloak, or shawl, thrown over the head and body.
crisping pins--rather, money bags (Kg2 5:23).
hoods--miters, or diadems (Isa 62:3; Zac 3:5).
veils--large enough to cover the head and person. Distinct from the smaller veils ("mufflers") above (Gen 24:65). Token of woman's subjection (Co1 11:10).
girdle--to gird up the loose Eastern garments, when the person walked.
rent--the Septuagint, better, a "rope," an emblem of poverty; the poor have nothing else to gird up their clothes with.
well-set hair-- (Pe1 3:3-4).
baldness-- (Isa 3:17).
stomacher--a broad plaited girdle.
sackcloth-- (Sa2 3:31).
burning--a sunburnt countenance, owing to their hoods and veils being stripped off, while they had to work as captives under a scorching sun (Sol 1:6).
desolate . . . sit upon . . . ground--the very figure under which Judea was represented on medals after the destruction by Titus: a female sitting under a palm tree in a posture of grief; the motto, JudÃ&brvbr;a capta (Job 2:13; Lam 2:10, where, as here primarily, the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar is alluded to).
that day--the calamitous period described in previous chapter.
seven--indefinite number among the Jews. So many men would be slain, that there would be very many more women than men; for example, seven women, contrary to their natural bashfulness, would sue to (equivalent to "take hold of," Isa 3:6) one man to marry them.
eat . . . own bread--foregoing the privileges, which the law (Exo 21:10) gives to wives, when a man has more than one.
reproach--of being unwedded and childless; especially felt among the Jews, who were looking for "the seed of the woman," Jesus Christ, described in Isa 4:2; Isa 54:1, Isa 54:4; Luk 1:25.