Isaiah 3:25-4:1 A Shortage of Men
Isaiah 3:25-4:1 Your men will fall by the sword and your mighty ones in battle. And her gates will lament and mourn, and deserted she will sit on the ground. 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!”
The last piece of the judgment is noted in the above verses. The loss of life will be devastating, especially to the men of the city. War will devastate the male population. The women and the city will sit in lonely isolation. An extreme sense of sadness and mourning are noted in the Hebrew grammar.
Look at the change of attitude with the women of Jerusalem. The women of Jerusalem previously focused on how they presented themselves. “We want more, more, more…”, material possessions (verses 18-24). They lusted for stuff more than they valued a legitimate relationship.
If you were a man and happened to survive, odds were definitely in your favor. There were seven women for every man. I am sure this lead to another set of issues and abuses. It would stand to reason some of the men may have taken advantage of the situation. I am sure there were reminders and leverages towards women. “Hey, you can always go somewhere else”. If this were today, women would likely be more tolerant of their man leaving the lid up on the toilet.
Women had gone from high maintenance with excessiveness to being more than willing to accommodate any man. In Jewish culture, the husband is to provide food, shelter, and clothing for his family. Women were willing to excuse the responsibilities of food and clothing being provided by the husband. Women are now willing to be responsible for their own clothing and food. A childless woman would be ridiculed by other women. An example of this is 1 Samuel 1:6-7, 10 with Hannah and Peninnah. These are the wives of Elkanah. Her rival (Peninnah), however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her (Hannah), because the LORD had closed her womb. It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she (Peninnah) would provoke her; so she (Hannah) wept and would not eat. She (Hannah), greatly distressed, prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. Culturally, it was a curse for a woman to be without a husband and childless.
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