Isaiah 3

Chap. III. Ver. 1—26. Judgments on the wickedness of the men, and the pride and folly of the women.—The whole of this chapter, with the first verse of the following, is a prophecy of the Babylonian invasion and captivity, in which all ranks of society were involved. These calamities are represented as so great, and so general, that even the honour of government should be declined, from the desperate state of the country, as affording no ground to hope the return of its prosperity. Its governors are declared to be weak as women, capricious as children, and corrupt as Sodom, whereby they had brought these evils upon themselves. Amidst all the evils denounced, however, an exception is made in favour of good men—“Say ye to the righteous, that it is, and shall be well!”

The latter part of the chapter is a particular amplification of the distress of the delicate daughters of Zion, whose deplorable situation is finely contrasted with their former luxury and [prosperity]. Some think that this prophecy may likewise refer to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; and it is remarkable, that on a medal struck by Vespasian on that occasion, Jerusalem is represented in the very posture described by the last words of this chapter, under the figure of a disconsolate mother bewailing the unhappy fate of her children. (See Psalm Chap. IV. Ver. 1—6.)

A prophecy of Christ, the Branch; and the blessings to spring from him.—The first verse of this chapter (which ought not to have been separated from the preceding) represents the havock occasioned by war, and other calamities which the Prophet had been describing, so great, that seven women should be left to one man; in consequence of which, they, instead of being courted, shall be compelled to become suitors, and that, upon any terms, to take away their reproach.

The following verses promise to the remnant that should escape those severe trials, a restoration to the divine favour, and a share in the blessings of the man whose name is The Branch, one of the appropriated names of the Messiah. (See (Zechariah 2:8); vi. 12.) The great blessings of the gospel are frequently set forth (as in ver. 5.) by allusions to the glory and pomp of the Mosaic dispensation; so the protection and glory afforded by Messiah shall be equal to that of the divine Shechinah, under the Mosaic dispensation: nay more, for it shall not only be a pillar of fire and of cloud, but also the new tabernacle, or Christian Church, shall be a place of refuge from every danger, and a covert from every storm.