Isaiah 4:1
1 And in that day [yowm] seven [sheba`] women ['ishshah] shall take hold [chazaq] of
one ['echad] man, ['iysh] saying, ['amar] We will eat
['akal] our own bread, [lechem] and wear [labash] our own
apparel: [simlah] only let us be called [qara'] by thy name, [shem] to take
away ['acaph] our reproach. [cherpah] KJV-Interlinear
1 For
seven women will take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat
our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name;
take away our reproach!" NASB
Isaiah’s prophecy
continues and shows the absolute devastation and humiliation and poverty that
society has fallen into.
Throughout history, there
has always been a sort of balance between men and women in the world. Even in times of adversity from war, disease,
or natural catastrophe, the end result was such that neither gender was so decimated
that future prospects of mates would have been difficult if not impossible.
However, here is defined
a period in history, ‘in that day,’ when society will have been so decimated,
that its future prospects will be virtually eliminated.
The number seven is often
used in scripture to designate a completed action from God. In seven days God completed the restoration
of the world, from the Genesis account.
He rested on the seventh day. His
restoration had been completed. No
further work was required for the sustaining or support of humanity and human
history.
And here, the judgment of
the previous verses from the previous chapter, and in this first verse, has
been completed. This will be the state
of humanity at the end of the Tribulation.
This is not a giving of permission to each man to have seven wives, but
is a description of the total and complete devastation of humanity.
Shall take hold, ‘chazaq,’
refers to the panic seizing of, to fasten hold, to bind, repair, retain. And indicates a situation of total
helplessness, wherein one grasps at anything and everything in order to
survive, but cannot.
And the reason why is
that no men are available. And the
symbolism of no men being available is that in this world, the masculine gender
is used to refer to the production and support of this world. That ability, on which everyone relied, has
vanished. It has been judged and is not
gone. Search as you may, there is
nothing out there to search for, much less find, much less restart society.
At the end of the
Tribulation, will be a judgment so great, that humanity will be virtually
non-existent or extinct.
Jesus said that if those
days were not cut short, then no human being would remain alive.
So, from the worlds
perspective, the restart of humanity has been all but lost, and this is the
picture being painted and concluded with this verse.
The remainder of the
verse shows the total devastation and humiliation of humanity. Given in feminine terms and from the feminine
perspective, women would be so helpless that they would do anything such as
cook their own food, get their own clothes, do all that they need for
themselves, just to have the name of some husband such that their own self-image
would not be a reproach to society or the public view.
This simply means that
society will have fallen so low, and is in such dire shape, having rejected
God, that society will continue to look to themselves for a solution, rather
than to God. Their arrogance and
stubbornness will be so great, that even in the virtually near annihilation of
humanity, people will still refuse to turn to God.
People got themselves
into this mess by their rejection of God, and even when all is lost, they will
continue to reject God. That picture
continues in the book of Revelation as society receives judgment after judgment
and continues relentlessly in their rejection of God.
And no, this verse is not
the giving of permission for having multiple wives. And no, this verse does not suggest that the
Millennium will restart with just a few men and many women. The context
continues from the previous chapter, and ends in this verse with the total and
completed judgment of God, on humanity.
The rest of the chapter
paints a very different picture, of Gods restoration, in proper form, of
society, even after what will appear to have been the total destruction of
humanity.
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