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.
