The Government of the People

I will make boys their officials; mere children will govern them.

Isaiah 3:4

In Isaiah 3 we read about what happens when God’s people reject his government. When we reject the kingdom of God, we get what we deserve-a government of the people-just as children get the government they deserve when they reject the government of their father. When the people of Israel rejected the government of God through Samuel, they got the government of Saul, a government that ultimately oppressed them.

The Sovereign God of Israel rules all the earth. His throne is in heaven, but his footstool is on the earth. He alone is majestic in holiness; he alone is the King omnipotent. When God’s people reject the good and caring government of their great God, in judgment they are given the foolish and oppressive government of people.

The Good Government of God

God himself was the King of Israel, although he governed through a human king. This king was to study God’s infallible word and govern in obedience to it. What a blessing it is to hear the word of God and do it! Jesus said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17). In Jesus Christ we see a person who heard and did the word of God to the very end.

The human king of Israel was to trust in the might and power of the great King, who was the covenant and redeemer God. This was the good government God himself designed for his people. God’s plan included giving his people delegated authorities in the persons of kings, priests, prophets, and elders, who were all to function as God’s deputies in submission to his word.

God’s People Rebel Against His Rule

In due course, God’s people sinned, despising and rejecting his word. Refusing to trust in God, the people of Israel wanted to trust in themselves. They wanted to become like other nations. In Isaiah 1:2-4 we find the statement of the King of Israel about this rebellion:

Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.

Why did the people of Israel rebel? Because for over half a century, during the reign of Uzziah, both the northern and southern kingdoms experienced tremendous economic blessing. The result of such great economic prosperity led to a rejection of God and acceptance of anything but God.

In Isaiah 2:6 we read that God’s own people were “full of superstitions from the East. . . .” This describes our state as well, although now we do not have to go to the East for superstitions. Go to any modern university: we can get all the superstition and moral confusion there. We have come of age! We are like children who say, “Mom, you don’t know. Dad, you don’t know. Pastor, you don’t know. You are so ancient: How can you know anything?” We are like intellectuals who cannot stand a God who is angry at sin. We ask incredulously, “Do you really believe in a wrathful Deity?” Christianity is a joke to such modern, sophisticated people who despise the word of God but embrace superstitions. Isaiah said, God’s people were “full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines.”

Moreover, Isaiah said, “Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures.” That is the problem. Too much money makes people independent of God. Then Isaiah said, “Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots.” This speaks about great military power. Finally, Isaiah said, “Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.” We also are full of idols-idols of ideas, idols of metals, idols of gadgets.

All this describes, not the ascent of man, but his descent. Man, who was designed to embrace God’s rule and worship him, becomes a worshiper of the things that he himself makes. What a great fall-all in the name of culture, civilization, fashion, and intellectualism!

Rather than trusting in God, these people were trusting in themselves. But Isaiah told them, “Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?” (2:22). Elsewhere in the Scriptures we are told that man is grass, mist, and flowers. “Don’t be impressed by man,” Isaiah was saying. “Rather, be impressed by the One who spoke, and the universe came into existence; the One who governs it by his providence; the One who is able to save sinners by sending his Son to be a man. Be impressed by him whose wrath will be poured out on every person who treats him with contempt. Be impressed with God!”

But God’s people do not want to be ruled by the Lord Almighty. In Psalm 2:1-3 we see what the princes and kings of the world say about God: “Why do the nations conspire and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord, and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.'” They are declaring their rebellion against God’s government.

Is God afraid of man’s rebellion? In verse 4 we read, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.” If you are even now mocking God’s word, God’s government, and God’s Christ, God is laughing at you. This is God’s world in which he rules everyone and everything. Nothing can happen in history outside of God’s plan.

Additionally, God does not worry about how we feel about his rule. The question in modern times may be, “How do you feel about it?” or “Are you comfortable with that?” but God does not care how we feel about something or whether we are comfortable with it. Our God is not driven by polls.

The Government of the People

When God’s people rejected his government, they got what they deserved: a government of the people. Even in this country, we get what we deserve. Democracy is good as long as the demos are good. But like ancient Israel, our nation has become wicked and so we get the government we deserve, whether it is Supreme Court justices, presidents, representatives, senators, or governors. There has been a general moral decay in this country caused by people moving away from God and his law. We have exalted individualism, autonomy, and corruption. This is what we mean by government of the people.

God alone is good; God alone cares for his creation; and God alone is beneficent to us. But God’s people rejected the government of their good, caring, beneficent God, so through foreign invasions God removed all manner of supply and support from Judah and Jerusalem. This should serve as a sober warning to us. When we reject God, he will also remove all our props and foundations of stability and give us the government we deserve.

In Isaiah 3:1-3 we read,

See now the Lord, the Lord Almighty, is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: all supplies of food and all supplies of water, the hero and warrior, the judge and prophet, the soothsayer and elder, the captain of fifty and man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.

What was God removing? All food and water as well as all the leaders, prophets, elders-honorable people of any consequence, honor, skill and respect. Within one hundred years after the death of Isaiah, these things were literally fulfilled through the invasion of Babylon.

Boys Shall Rule

In verse 4 we read, “I will make boys their officials; mere children will govern them.” “Boys” means people who are without wisdom and experience, people who are simpletons. Such people were chosen to lead because the best leaders had already been taken away.

Why were the best leaders taken away? Because people hate having God rule them. So God said, “I will make boys their officials; mere children will govern them.” This literally happened. Manasseh, who ruled for fifty-five years, was only twelve years of age when he succeeded his father Hezekiah, and he became the most wicked ruler in the history of Judah.

We see this vacuum of leadership all around us today. Recently a question was asked in England: “What was the most important event that took place in England in the last hundred years?” The answer was the death of Princess Diana. People are not thinking in terms of great men like Churchill and others who guided nations through terrible times. When boys rule, we get non-substantial leadership that glories in consensus. We get leaders without wisdom who are poll driven. We get political tacticians who have serious moral problems. We get boys.

Breakdown of Social Order

In verse 6 we read, “A man will seize one of his brothers at his father’s home, and say, ‘You have an cloak, you be our leader. . . .'” Because no one will have much during this time, the man with a cloak will be chosen as leader. It is not his character that matters; it is his external appearance. This is how it is in our television age also. Nobody wants substance; it is all show. This is what we get when we reject God’s good government. So we read that one man will grab his brother and tell him, “‘You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins!’ But in that day he will cry out, ‘I have no remedy. I have no food or clothing in my house; do not make me the leader of the people'” (vv. 6-7). In effect, this man is yelling, “I am not a surgeon! How can I bind up the wounds of this people? This is a heap of ruins. I refuse to be your leader!”

In Isaiah 3:4-5 we see the terrible destruction of all social order: “People will oppress each other-man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the base against the honorable.” Isn’t that what is happening now? Boys and girls are ruling. People on television tell us what to do, even though their only qualification is that they are good-looking. But in our society, appearance is all that matters; who cares for wisdom?

When the word of God is gone and the Lord abandons his people, everything gets confused, social order is destroyed, and we get bad leaders. In verses 14-15 we read, “The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people. . . .” When society rots, it rots from the head. So God tells the leaders, “It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses.”

Look at some of the leaders of today-corporate chieftains, politicians, and others-who all plundered so many people. Once they did not have have any money; now, they have millions of dollars. But such leaders don’t care about people; in fact, they oppress them. Only God cares about his people.

“The plunder from the poor is in your houses,” Isaiah says. These leaders paid low wages and charged high interest so that the poor were crushed. So in verse 15 God says, “What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?” These people didn’t care what they did to the poor. They claimed to be leaders but, in reality, they were materialists who stole from the poor. Their houses were full of the riches they had taken. No wonder we are told that they were full of superstition, full of silver and gold, full of horses and chariots, and full of idols!

In 1 Kings 21 we find an illustration of this type of oppression in the story of King Ahab of Israel and his wife Jezebel, who was a forerunner to modern feminists. Because Ahab had some consciousness of God’s rule, he respected private property. He asked his neighbor, Naboth, to sell his property that adjoined Ahab’s, but Naboth said no because it was his inheritance. Ahab then went home and sulked. When his wife asked, “What is your problem?” Ahab told her, “I asked this man to sell me his land but he doesn’t want to do it.” “Don’t worry about it,” Jezebel said, and took immediate action by writing a letter, putting the seal of Ahab’s signet ring on it, and sending it off. Her solution to the matter was to have Naboth framed and killed so Ahab could take his land. The great injustice of this whole situation did not matter to Jezebel. As a Baal worshiper from Tyre, she believed in her complete sovereignty. She was not interested in the word of God and found it inconvenient to study God’s word and obey it. This is what happens when government is of the people and not of God.

Woman Power

As we said, Jezebel was a forerunner of the modern’s women’s movement. A consequence of the government of the people is the rise of feminism. So we read, “Youths suppress my people, women rule over them” (v. 12) and in verse 16 God says, “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on their ankles.” This is a description of our modern society: Everything is based on external appearance, and if the external is not all that great, we get plastic surgery to improve it. Everything has to do with externalism and impressing others. These well-adorned women were flirting, ogling with their eyes, trying to seduce the husbands of others.

These women were rich because their husbands had oppressed other people. But in Isaiah 3:18-23 we read,

In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, the earrings and bracelets and veils, the headdresses and ankle chains and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, the signet rings and nose rings, the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls. Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-dressed hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding.

Notice how arrogant and haughty these women were. That is what a little money will do to people. There was a time we prayed and worshiped and loved God. We were in first love. But now we have arrived! PGM We are always looking at our faces, trying to figure out how to improve them. We are into dresses and accessories. We are concerned about beauty of fashion, not the beauty of holiness.

We read about such women in Amos 4. In verse 1 we read, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!'” We have seen this behavior most recently on television, but in reality, it has been going on for many years. In fact, Amos’ words sound very modern. Imagine that it is nine in the morning. The wife wakes up and tells her husband, “Go and get me some drinks!” and the man runs to obey his wife.

God deals with these women: “The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness: ‘The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks'” (v. 4:2). These wealthy women who were drinking early in the morning, who had become rich through oppression, and who had used those riches only to enhance their outward beauty and status were being taken away.

What characteristics does God look for in a woman? In 1 Peter 3:4-6 we find God’s point of view in reference to a woman’s beauty,

[I]t should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

God does not pay any attention to a person’s external beauty. He is concerned with the beauty of the heart, a quiet spirit, humility, and reverence for God.

When God sent Samuel to Jesse’s house to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king, Samuel saw Eliab, Jesse’s oldest son, and reasoned that he was the chosen one because he was tall and handsome-a hunk of a man! But God told Samuel, “Don’t do it, Samuel. I have rejected him.” Then God laid down his rule: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Divine Analysis of the Problem

In Isaiah 3 we read that God’s people got the government they deserved: Boys and women were ruling the people. In verse 8 we read, “Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling.” Why were God’s people experiencing such problems? The answer is also in verse 8: “Their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.”

Here we find a clear analysis of why these problems were taking place: “Their words and deeds are against the Lord.” These people hated God and his government. God had put his presence in Jerusalem in the temple, but these people were defying that glorious presence by violating God’s law.

In verse 9 we read, “The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom.” Here we see that God’s people were no longer in the closet sinning privately. This is not speaking about just homosexuality, but the idea of being proud of sin. It is speaking about the attitude, “I want to do what I want to do when I want to do. Who are you to reprove me?”

This is true of us as well. Despite all the wickedness we see in our society, no one is guilt-ridden anymore. No one tries to hide his sin. Modern man has brought everything out in the open. In Philippians 3:19 Paul used the phrase, “Their glory is in their shame.” Those who live contrary to God’s law are proud of their wickedness.

This is what happens when government is by the people. God’s people said they did not want God’s government and they got what they wanted.

God Takes Action

Although God’s people rejected his government, he did not stop governing them. People may want to break away from God, but that does not mean God relinquishes his rule. God does not live by our vote. He is still God and he is still ruling his creation. Isaiah’s vision of God (Isaiah 6) is still true: He is still seated on the throne, and the seraphs are still singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

In Isaiah 3:1 we read, “See now, the Lord. . .” That word “Lord” in Hebrew means “the Sovereign One.” Then Isaiah says, “the Lord Almighty,” to further define who was taking action. He was “about to take away from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support. . . .” This prophecy was fulfilled not only by the Assyrian invasion, but later especially by the Babylonian domination. The cream of society was taken into exile.

Not only was God going to take people away and set up a government of boys, but he was also going to judge his rebellious people. In verse 13 we read, “The Lord takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people.” Oh, these people thought they could defy God and do whatever they wanted. Here we see that not only is God the Judge, but he is also the jury. The people would be convicted. God is the supreme Judge. There is no one above him, and no one gets away with anything. He will convict and condemn, both in history and at the end of time.

In verse 18 we read, “In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery.” Now God was going to deal with the women. These women were glorying in their externalism and great beauty by dressing and walking in a certain way. The idea was, “See me! Look at me!” They were trying to steal other people’s husbands. But God said, “I am going to do something about you. I will snatch away your beauty.”

In verse 24 we find five occurrences of the Hebrew word tachath, which means “instead.” God said, “Instead of fragrance, there will be a stench.” Oh, these women went around with fragrance bottles in their hands, as well as purses, mirrors, and gold jewelry everywhere. These were the fashion models of their time. But God said, “I am still ruling, so instead of fragrance, I am going to give you stench.” Then God said, “Instead of a sash, I am going to give you a rope.” The idea is that of putting a rope around the neck of a person and leading that person away like one leads cattle. Then God said, “I am going to give you sores on your head and make you bald.” These beautiful women became scabrous old hags because they defied God and did not love him with all their heart. Then, instead of fancy robes and fashion garments, they would be clothed with sackcloth. Finally, we are told, these women will be branded.

Then in verse 25 we read, “Your men will fall by the sword, your warriors in battle.” Imagine the devastation! In World War I one million people died in Germany, another million in France, and half a million in Britain, but here six out of seven men will die. Not only does God still rule, but he will pour out his judgment when we kick against his rule.

What was the result of the people’s government for the women of Zion? In Isaiah 4:1 we read, that seven women will run after one man, saying, in essence, “Please, don’t worry about giving us food or clothing. We’ll take care of that. Just give us your name and take away our shame.” Oh, what happened to all the fanciness, the arrogance, the haughtiness, the kicking against the pricks of God’s word? How God humbles us when we choose autonomy, self-sufficiency, independence from God’s rule! We live and move and have our being in God.

Hope for the Righteous

Finally, in Isaiah 3:10, we find a great word of encouragement in the midst of all this judgment. God said to Isaiah, “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.” Who are the righteous? Those who embrace God’s government and delight in it.

Throughout history there has always been a nonconformist remnant. When the majority kicks against God’s rule, there are always a few called the righteous who embrace God’s rule. God was commissioning Isaiah to tell them, “Yes, in God’s judgment, troubles and problems are coming. But it will be well with you, and you will enjoy the fruit of your deeds.”

The righteous are those who are saved by confessing with their mouths, “Jesus is Lord,” and believing in their hearts that God raised him from the dead. They believe God and live by his word.

What about you? Are you righteous by the righteousness of Jesus Christ? Are you righteous by doing what is right by divine enablement? Are you righteous by finding out what is right from God’s word and doing it? If so, God has a promise for you: “Don’t be afraid of what is going to happen in history. I am the Lord of history and I will humble the arrogant. But you are not to worry.” So God told Isaiah to tell the righteous it will be well with them, but the wicked that it would be ill with them (KJV).

What will the righteous enjoy? We find a description of it in Isaiah 61:3. The Messiah will come “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, for the display of God’s splendor.” Instead of curse, there will be blessing.

“Tell the righteous,” God says, “it will be well with you.” In John 10:28 Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” If we have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, it will be well with our souls.

May God help us to embrace his kingdom and be blessed forever. Amen.