Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Isaiah 30:22b

Copyright Ó 2015 J. Neely
Isaiah 30:22b

22 Ye shall defile [tame'] also the covering [tsippuwy] of thy graven images [paciyl] of silver [keceph], and the ornament ['ephuddah] of thy molten images [maccekah] of gold [zahab]: thou shalt cast them away [zarah] as a menstruous cloth [daveh]; thou shalt say ['amar] unto it, Get thee hence [yatsa'].   KJV-Interlinear

22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”  ESV

When you overlay something with gold or silver, you are attempting to make that thing into a valuable thing. In this verse the subject is the idol. An idol, in the general sense, is anything on which value is placed, and treated as something more important than God, Christ, or the spiritual life.

God is truth, and when God is rejected, and your idol thing, whatever it might be, is preferred, then truth is being replaced with untruth. Untruth is a false thing or a lie. All idols therefore are lies.

To cover a lie with gold and silver, is an attempt to compromise or cover that life, by somehow making it no longer a lie. And that cannot be done. If something is a lie, then it is always a lie.

When people place more importance on false things in life, then they are severely lacking in truth. And when lacking in truth, then trouble is just around the corner.

When society rejects truth, then society on the whole is in trouble, because society will lack a clear insight towards life, will lack understanding, will draw conclusions that are wrong, and make decisions that are wrong.

That is a recipe for disaster in the world. Humanity brings problems onto itself, because it has rejected truth.

In order to realize the failures of one’s way, trouble and suffering enters into the picture. We studied this yesterday.

And any attempt to cover over a wrong thing with gold or silver, with good intentions, with sincere intentions, with do-gooder attitudes, do not and never will make a wrong thing, right.

Isaiah takes the idols, or the wrong thing, or the wrong attitude, or the wrong beliefs, which are all the same as rejecting truth and rejecting the criteria laid out in the Bible, by substituting false beliefs, and compares them to used dirty worthless menstrual rags.

Isaiah uses the same word to describe mans righteousness, in Isaiah 64:6. And the word used for rags, devah, is a reference to rags that are used when someone is miserably sick. And when someone is miserably sick they are losing puke out both ends. Needless to say that is the disgusting concept. So the rags in question are miserably disgusting filthy rags.  And the menstrual cycle is a thing that is repeated over and over again.

And the idols, which are no better than the filthy rags, are covered with gold and silver, or something of value, in order to make them valuable, rather than the filthy things that they are.

When people place their trust and priorities in things other than truth, then they are placing their trust in priorities on disgusting things.  And doing this repeatedly is a pattern of life that is a false lifestyle.

And when a sufficient amount of suffering enters their life, then hopefully they will see the degree of disgust that they have been embracing, and turn away from it, and turn back to God and Christ and doctrine.

And when there is a sufficient amount of pressure that will help open the eyes of people such that they see the futility of their life, then hopefully they will throw away those discussing things, just as they would throw away filthy rags.

Who among us, would prefer to save and worship filthy rags?

And of course the answer should be obvious, however, people by refusing to pursue a daily study, by refusing to listen and learn, are in fact choosing for filthy rags.

Now, isn’t that something to be proud of !





These studies are a part of the massive daily study web site at DailyBibeStudy.Org, and are written, so that you can come to Christ if you have not done so already, and therefore not be lost forever. 

And if you have already believed in Christ, then these studies are written so you can learn and understand and grow in your spiritual life, so that you can come to the full knowledge of Christ, so that you can fulfill your meaning and purpose in life as God intended for you, and so you can qualify for a phenomenal eternal reward which you will have forever. 

To ignore this opportunity to pursue a daily study means you will be incomplete, unfulfilled and you will lose out, big time.

The Daily Bible Study is online, making it possible as never before in all of human history, to advance in ones relationship with God, through Christ, and to complete yourself beyond your imagination.

But you have to decide to make that commitment.  No one else can study for you.  You have to do that yourself.