A Heap of Ruins

Isaiah 3:1-7

“For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water; the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician and the expert in charms.  And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.  And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.” For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: “You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule”; in that day he will speak out, saying: “I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; you shall not make me leader of the people.”

So shall we go back to a time when a large city had more than one newspaper and the reporter that worked for them were out looking for a new story, if it was a big story they would stop the presses’ and out would come a new edition, sometime the front page would be replaced and when the story hit the street newsboys would cry out “Extra, Extra read all about it” to draw attention to the story.

Is that not what these prophets of God like Isaiah were doing, the Holy Spirit was showing them the latest news of what God was up to, and yet it seemed most turned a deaf ear to the new edition that was hitting the streets of Judah and Jerusalem.  As I read these five verses, this thought came to mind, my Dad often said, “In that we do not learn from history, we are destined to repeat it.”  Is that what we the American Church and the United States of America is doing?

Is not Isaiah proclaiming this headline; when you as a people trust in man rather than in God, He will remove all that you hope in, all that you trust.  And that is in your military, your leaders, and even in the staples of bread and water.  Always when a void comes in leadership, someone is going to fill it and Isaiah tells the people it will be the younger, the inexperienced, and it will lead to social chaos and loss of freedom. 

In such a time of such social unrest it does not take much to be a leader among men, and in verses 6-7, we get a grasp of the unwilling and the unfit who are talked into leadership roles because they had a cloak.  In our time it would be for their looks and ability to speak or con the people.  But Isaiah makes the statement what will they have left to lead, but a heap of ruins.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice