Isaiah 4

Isaiah 4:1

The Fear of the LORD Gives Hope

These verses tell of a danger that threatens the young man that causes him to abandon wisdom, but they also tell of what enables him to hold on to it and what it brings him. When envy of sinners arises in his heart (Proverbs 23:17), wisdom is driven out. Wisdom remains in the heart only if it always is focused on “the fear of the LORD”.

There is no verb in the second line of verse – the word “live” is not there – so the thought of the first line of verse continues directly. The thought is that the first line of verse is warning the son not to envy sinners and the second line of verse is urging him to be envious of the fear of the LORD. It is the contrast is between wrong envy and right envy. The wrong envy is sin; the good envy is a spiritual exercise.

Envy sinners results from a comparison between what they have and what he can accomplish or afford (Psalms 73:3-5). Such envy is opposed to trust and always stems from distrust of God. It is a lack of trust in God that He does not give you what you need. It involves doubting God and His love. That is why it is important to envy the fear of the LORD always. If you do that, if you focus on possessing that, you can joyfully accept your fate as something He gives you. You can then count on His blessing and rely on His promises and do that all day and all days.

The word “surely” with which Proverbs 23:18 begins gives the reason for the foregoing. For sinners there is no future. Therefore, it is folly to envy them. There is a future for those who envy the fear of the LORD and remain in it. Those who live in relationship with Him need not envy anyone. How the future is faced depends on fearing God. He is the One Who gives hope.

The Hebrew word for hope is tiqvah which literally means ‘cord’. This word is used for the cord that Rahab had to tie in the window (Joshua 2:17-18). This cord was the symbol of the hope she had that she would be spared when Jericho was captured. Hope is what connects us to the eternity of God. Therefore, it cannot be cut off, ever, whereas the hope of sinners is cut off, because that hope is based on something outside of God and therefore, by definition, without foundation.

Isaiah 4:2

The Fear of the LORD Gives Hope

These verses tell of a danger that threatens the young man that causes him to abandon wisdom, but they also tell of what enables him to hold on to it and what it brings him. When envy of sinners arises in his heart (Proverbs 23:17), wisdom is driven out. Wisdom remains in the heart only if it always is focused on “the fear of the LORD”.

There is no verb in the second line of verse – the word “live” is not there – so the thought of the first line of verse continues directly. The thought is that the first line of verse is warning the son not to envy sinners and the second line of verse is urging him to be envious of the fear of the LORD. It is the contrast is between wrong envy and right envy. The wrong envy is sin; the good envy is a spiritual exercise.

Envy sinners results from a comparison between what they have and what he can accomplish or afford (Psalms 73:3-5). Such envy is opposed to trust and always stems from distrust of God. It is a lack of trust in God that He does not give you what you need. It involves doubting God and His love. That is why it is important to envy the fear of the LORD always. If you do that, if you focus on possessing that, you can joyfully accept your fate as something He gives you. You can then count on His blessing and rely on His promises and do that all day and all days.

The word “surely” with which Proverbs 23:18 begins gives the reason for the foregoing. For sinners there is no future. Therefore, it is folly to envy them. There is a future for those who envy the fear of the LORD and remain in it. Those who live in relationship with Him need not envy anyone. How the future is faced depends on fearing God. He is the One Who gives hope.

The Hebrew word for hope is tiqvah which literally means ‘cord’. This word is used for the cord that Rahab had to tie in the window (Joshua 2:17-18). This cord was the symbol of the hope she had that she would be spared when Jericho was captured. Hope is what connects us to the eternity of God. Therefore, it cannot be cut off, ever, whereas the hope of sinners is cut off, because that hope is based on something outside of God and therefore, by definition, without foundation.

Isaiah 4:3

Again the Call to Listen

Once again the father emphatically addresses his son with the words “my son”. It is about you, my son, whom I love so much to see go a way that is to the glory of God. There is no end of becoming wise on earth. One who is wise will want to become wiser each time. One of the characteristics of someone who is wise is an awareness of the need to keep growing in wisdom. He who says he is perfect in wisdom is lying and is boundlessly haughty.

Listening underlies becoming wise. He who listens can become wise. Listening indicates the attitude of the disciple. The son is a disciple. The direction of the heart is inextricably related to this. The heart should not be directed in one’s own way, but “in the way” of the Lord or of wisdom. All the wisdom we gain is for the purpose of going the right way, the way of wisdom, which is no different from the way of the Lord. It is the way of life in which everything happens under His authority and to His glory.

Isaiah 4:4

Bad Company

The father insistently warns his son not to be in the company of drunkards and gluttons (Proverbs 23:20). These people know no measure. They represent a class of people characterized by a dramatic lack of self-control. They are spineless and characterless addicts. They are a company the son should avoid. If he befriends them, it will have a negative impact on his view of drunkenness and gluttony.

By the way, excessive drinking and eating are often symptoms of deeper problems. Alcohol is known to be primarily a ‘solvent’. It is used to temporarily reduce or forget soul distress and tension (cf. Proverbs 31:6-7). The same is true of too much food. Problems do not drive out to God, but to drink and food. Drunks and gluttons shut God out of their lives.

Proverbs 23:21 begins with the word “for”, meaning that now follows the motivation for the warning of the previous verse. The drunkard and glutton squander their money on their addiction. Their drinking and eating financially ruin them. They often put themselves deep in debt. They also drag their families along to the abyss. The intoxication in which they live continuously can be seen on them. They wear clothes “with rags” or “torn clothes” because every penny goes on drink or food and is not spent on repairing the clothes.

We can apply the ‘torn clothes’ spiritually as well. Drunks and gluttons live a life with “tears”. First, it is a life with tears in the sense of a double life. As long as they can keep the addiction hidden, they live two lives, a life with two faces. But their whole life tears into countless shreds when they can no longer keep their addiction hidden. This happens when they can no longer do their job properly and are fired or when creditors come forward because they are no longer meeting their financial obligations.

Isaiah 4:5

Bad Company

The father insistently warns his son not to be in the company of drunkards and gluttons (Proverbs 23:20). These people know no measure. They represent a class of people characterized by a dramatic lack of self-control. They are spineless and characterless addicts. They are a company the son should avoid. If he befriends them, it will have a negative impact on his view of drunkenness and gluttony.

By the way, excessive drinking and eating are often symptoms of deeper problems. Alcohol is known to be primarily a ‘solvent’. It is used to temporarily reduce or forget soul distress and tension (cf. Proverbs 31:6-7). The same is true of too much food. Problems do not drive out to God, but to drink and food. Drunks and gluttons shut God out of their lives.

Proverbs 23:21 begins with the word “for”, meaning that now follows the motivation for the warning of the previous verse. The drunkard and glutton squander their money on their addiction. Their drinking and eating financially ruin them. They often put themselves deep in debt. They also drag their families along to the abyss. The intoxication in which they live continuously can be seen on them. They wear clothes “with rags” or “torn clothes” because every penny goes on drink or food and is not spent on repairing the clothes.

We can apply the ‘torn clothes’ spiritually as well. Drunks and gluttons live a life with “tears”. First, it is a life with tears in the sense of a double life. As long as they can keep the addiction hidden, they live two lives, a life with two faces. But their whole life tears into countless shreds when they can no longer keep their addiction hidden. This happens when they can no longer do their job properly and are fired or when creditors come forward because they are no longer meeting their financial obligations.

Isaiah 4:6

Honor and Rejoice Your Father and Mother

Soon after Proverbs 23:19, the call for the son to listen is heard again in Proverbs 23:22. Now it is added that he must listen to his father, the motivation being that he was the one who begot him. The son must listen to his father because he owes his natural life to him. This emphasizes not so much the biological relationship but a deeply human relationship. A father must realize the great privilege of having been allowed to beget a son and at the same time the tremendous responsibility (which is also a privilege) to teach his son the fear of the LORD as the beginning of wisdom.

It is one of the great tragedies of our time that more and more children have only a biological father. They have absolutely no human relationship with him, let alone a deeply human one, to say nothing at all about the task of teaching him the fear of God. It is downright shocking to hear that a father seeks contact via Facebook with his son whom he has not looked after for ten years because he ran off with another woman. After ten years, the son suddenly receives a request from his father via Facebook if he wants to become ‘his friend’. I leave it to the reader to think about the son’s reaction.

Solomon also has a word for his son about the mother. The son should not despise her “when she is old”. Not to despise means to have deep respect. Today children know much more intellectually than their parents. Often they also have more abilities. The intellectual knowledge of the parents lags far behind that of the children, and also their physical strengths decline. Diseases of old age may make their appearance, making the mother needy.

There is a great danger that the advice of an old mother will be despised by a child. It takes time to visit her. You already have so little time and the little free time you would like to spend for yourself. And if she then also gives her advice regarding what you are doing or want to do, you don’t want that at all. Such a child shows great ingratitude and insensitivity for the many years his mother has been there for him. She was always there for him.

The instruction not to despise the mother must still sound powerfully today. If the son is a wise son, he will continue to have deep respect for her among other things because of her commitment to him. Her care has allowed him to achieve what he is today. It is a reason to keep listening to his mother. Not that she continues to tell him what he should and should not do in the way she used to. It is about children continuing to listen to the experiences of life that she went through with God. Children still have to go through that. They do wise and honor her when they listen to her. She speaks through her words and through her whole life.

The first expression of honoring parents is to follow them in their holding to the truth. Therefore, in Proverbs 23:23 follows the instruction to buy the truth and not to sell it. He who is eager to have something, buys it and pays the price asked for it. He who sells something prefers the money to what he is selling. He who buys the truth and does not sell it pays the purchase price for it, no matter how high it is, and will not sell it again for any price, no matter how high the bid. It is not about a desire to buy the truth, but about actually purchasing it for the price it is worth.

Truth is not a particular doctrine, but consists of “wisdom and instruction and understanding”. These things are more valuable in life than any material prosperity and are necessary to make life on earth valuable. Their value is eternal and is connected to the knowledge of God in Christ. The ‘purchase price’ is the time we invest, the efforts we make and the resources we purchase to know more of the truth. Buying also means going to Christ and asking Him to give us wisdom, instruction and understanding by His Spirit (cf. Revelation 3:18).

The appreciation for the truth that is evident from buying makes parents happy. Proverbs 23:24-25 describe the exuberant joy of parents whose son reveals himself to be righteous and wise. The father “will greatly rejoice” (Proverbs 23:24). It is again pointed out that he has “sired” him (Proverbs 23:22), emphasizing the profound involvement. It is the son who has come forth from him. He has sired him to make him a wise son.

In Proverbs 23:25, the son is told to make sure that both his father and his mother are glad and rejoice. This will be so when they see that he longs to go his way with the Lord. The father begot, the mother gave birth. Together they have raised the son. When they see that their upbringing has the effect they ardently desired, they have a deep joy (cf. 2 John 1:4; 3 John 1:4). Children must be made aware of the fact that by living a Godly life they will be a joy to their parents.