'Leaders Are Causing You to Wander'

For a human society to be stable, it must have its "support and stay"-such necessities as food and water and, more important, trustworthy leaders who are able to guide the people and maintain social order.  Concerning ancient Israel, though, Isaiah foretells:  "Look! The true Lord, Jehovah armies, is removing from Jerusalem and from Judah support and stay, the whole support of bread and the whole support of water, mighty man and warrior, judge and prophet, and practice of divination and elderly man, chief of fifty and highly respected man and counselor and expert in magical arts, and the skilled charmer." (Isaiah 3:1-3)   Mere boys will become princes and rule capriciously.  Not only will the rulers oppress the people but "the  people will actually tyrannize one over the other. .  . They will storm, the boy against the old man, and the lightly esteemed one against the one to be honored."  (Isaiah 3:4, 5)  Children "storm" against their elders, lacking respect for them.  So low will the condition of life that one will say to another who has not qualifications for rulership: "You have a mantle. A dictator you ought to become to us, and this overthrown mass should be under your hand."  (Isaiah 3:6)  But the ones thus invited will refuse, insisting that they have neither the ability to heal the wounded land nor the wealth to handle the responsibility.  They will say:  I shall not become a wound dresser; and in my house there is neither bread nor a mantle. You men must not set me as  dictator over the people." -Isaiah 3:7.

Isaiah continues:  "Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah itself has fallen, because their tongue and their dealings are against Jehovah, in behaving rebelliously in the eyes of his glory.  The very expression of their faces actually testifies against them, and of their sin like that of Sodom they do tell.  They have not hidden it.  Woe to their soul!   For they have dealt out to themselves calamity."  (Isaiah 3:8, 9)   God's  people have rebelled against the true God in words and deeds.  Even the shameless and unrepentant expressions on their faces expose their sins, which are as disgusting as those of Sodom.  They are in a covenant with Jehovah God, yet he will not change his standards for them.  "It will be well with the righteous one, for they will eat the very fruitage of their dealings.  Woe to the wicked one! - Calamity; for the treatment rendered by his own hands will be rendered to him!  As for my people, its task assigners are dealing severely, and mere women actually rule over it.  O my people, those leading you are causing you to wander,  and the way of your paths they have confused." -Isaiah 3:10-12.

To the elders and the princes in Judah, Jehovah 'passes sentence' and 'enters into judgment": "Your yourselves have burned down the vineyard.  What was taken by robbery from the afflicted one is in your houses.  What do you men mean in that you crush my people, and that you grind the very faces of the afflicted ones?" (Isaiah 3:13-15) Instead of working for the welfare of the people, leaders engage in deceitful practices.  They misuse their authority by enriching themselves and depriving the poor and needy.  But these leaders must answer to Jehovah of armies for their oppression of the afflicted.  What a warning this is to those in position of responsibility today!  May they be ever careful not to misuse their authority.

Christendom - particularly her clergy and principal ones -has fraudulently acquired much that should belong to the common people, whom she has oppressed and continues to  oppress.  She has also beaten, persecuted, and maltreated the people of God and has brought great reproach upon Jehovah's name.  In his due time, Jehovah will certainly enter into judgment against her.

Next time: "A Brand Mark Instead of Prettiness"

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind