Isaiah 4:5,6

The cloud and fire that God creates will remind people of his protection in the days of Moses (see Exodus 13:21-22).

foundation ~ something strong that you can trust in order to establish something else firmly.
Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible. In the original language, God’s names mean ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah.
fiery ~ something that seems like fire.

Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

Isaiah Begins to *Prophesy

Isaiah Chapter s 1 to 6

Gordon Churchyard

The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

Chapter 4

v1 In those days, 7 women will [find] one man [and they will] hold [him]. They will say, ‘We will eat our own bread. And we will wear our own clothes. But let us call ourselves by your name. Take away our shame.’

Notes

Verse 1 The enemies had killed the women’s husbands, or they had taken those men away. This means that these women had no husbands. The result was that these women felt ashamed. So a lot of women would find the few men that remained in Judah. They would look after themselves, if only they could seem to be married women.

Something to do

1. Make a list of kings of Judah. Start from Uzziah (called Azariah in some translations). And end with Josiah. Add these details:

• How old they were when they became king;

• How long a time they ruled;

• Whether they were good or bad kings.

You will need to look in the Book of 2 Kings. Look at 2 Kings 15:1-3; 2 Kings 15:2 Kings 15:32-34; 2 Kings 16:1-2; 2 Kings 16:2 Kings 18:1-3; 2 Kings 20:21 to 21:2; and 2 Kings 21:26 to 22:2.

2. Pray for your friends that do not love God. Pray that they will start to love God. Pray that they will start to obey him.

More good news

v2 In those days, the Branch of the *LORD will be beautiful. It will be like adornment (something that people wear to make themselves beautiful). And it will be like *glory. And the fruit from the land will be like pride. And it will be like beauty. [Some people] in Israel [will escape]. [Those things will be] for [those] people [there] that escape.

v3 Everyone that remains in Zion (Jerusalem) will be called *holy. Also, [everyone] that stays in Jerusalem [will be called *holy]. All their names will be on a list. [It will be a list] of people that are living in Jerusalem.

v4 The *Lord will wash away the dirt from the *Daughters of Zion. [All those things will happen] at that time. [Then] also, the *Lord will clean away the bloody marks that remain in Jerusalem. [He will do that] by a spirit that will [do the work of] a judge. And [he will do it] by a spirit [that is like a] fire.

v5 [This is what] the *LORD will create over all the mountain [called] Zion. And [it will be over] all the people that gather there. [It will be] a cloud of smoke in the daytime. And [it will be] a fire whose flames glow in the night. The *glory will be a cover over everything.

v6 It will be a shade from the heat in the daytime. And it will be a place to hide from storms and rain.

Notes

Verse 2 The description of the ideal Jerusalem starts here. It is not just what Isaiah thinks. Neither is it what is happening. It is what God will do ‘in those days’. The *Hebrew text has ‘in that day’. Isaiah often wrote about ‘that day’ (those days). Sometimes he meant a time in the history of Israel and Judah. Sometimes he meant a time in the future. And sometimes he actually meant a time when the world will end. Often in Isaiah, words have two or three meanings. For us, ‘that day’ (those days) means firstly when Jesus came to the Earth. He came the first time as a baby in Bethlehem. But also, most importantly, it means the time when Jesus will return. That will happen before the end of the world. Afterwards, there will be a New Jerusalem. It will be the ideal Jerusalem. It will come down out of heaven (the place where God lives) (Revelation 21:2). God’s people from all time will live on the New Earth (Revelation 21:3-5). That is part of the good news that we call ‘the gospel’. Much of Isaiah Chapter s 1 to 5 is bad news. But among the bad news, there is some good news. It is good news for those people who believe God.

*LORD is a special name for God. It probably means ‘always alive’. Many Bible students think that ‘the Branch of the *LORD’ is a name for the *Messiah. The *Messiah is a great leader whom God promised to send. Christians believe that Jesus is that *Messiah. ‘Family tree’ means a list of people in a family (parents, children, children’s children and so on). When a tree grows, branches grow from it. And from those branches, more branches grow, and so on. Similarly, a family grows when its different members have children. Then those children grow up and they have children, and so on. So we can say that the family’s members are like the branches of a tree. In this verse, the writer reminds us that God (the *LORD) is in Jesus’ family tree. And Jesus is a Branch of the *LORD’s family tree! That is because Jesus is God’s son. It is possible that ‘fruit from the land’ also means the *Messiah. But then the writer would be referring to the *Messiah’s family tree as it was here on Earth. What we read in Isaiah 28:5 seems to give evidence for that idea.

Therefore four special words that Isaiah uses in this verse probably describe the *Messiah. Those words are ‘adornment’ (something to make people beautiful), ‘*glory’, ‘pride’ and ‘beauty’. They were qualities that the people tried to have themselves (Isaiah 2:11; Isaiah 2:12 and Isaiah 3:18). But now, they will have all those qualities because they receive them from the *Messiah. That is why this verse has ‘for those people’. Then verse 3 tells us who those people are.

In the list below we can see what those qualities are like.

word	what it means
*adornment	something that people wear to make themselves beautiful
*glory	something that makes people great
pride	something that satisfies people
beauty	something that attracts people

Christians believe that Jesus has all those qualities. Also, they believe that he gives them to Christians too.

Verse 3 The word ‘holy’ is a special word. It means that the person never does anything wrong. Really, only God is holy. But he calls his people holy also. As in verse 2, they receive that quality from God. Isaiah did not say in verse 2 what the people escaped from. But their names are on God’s list. Many other verses in the Bible refer to a similar list. Among them are Exodus 32:32; Psalms 69:28; Daniel 12:1; Malachi 3:16; Luke 10:20 and Philippians 4:3.

Verse 4 ‘*Lord’ is a word that means ‘master’. Or it means ‘someone with authority’. Here it is another name for God. In the *Hebrew Bible it is not the same word that we translate as ‘*LORD’. The ‘Daughters of Zion’ may be the women in Jerusalem whose only interest was in sex. Or it may mean all the people in Judah. The ‘dirt’ came from inside them when they were sick (Isaiah 28:8). The ‘bloody marks’ were outside them. It was the blood of poor people. The bad leaders had been very cruel to them (Isaiah 1:15). Probably, God’s Holy Spirit will be the ‘judge’ here. The spirit that will burn like a fire will be God’s Holy Spirit.

Verse 5 The *Jews left Egypt about 700 years before Isaiah wrote this. They travelled to the Promised Land (the country that God had promised to them). And God went with them. The Promised Land is another name for Judah and Israel. The *Jews knew that God was with them on their journey. As they travelled, there was a cloud of smoke in the daytime. Also, there was a column of fire at night. Those things went in front of them as they travelled through the desert called Sinai (Exodus 13:21-22). Now Isaiah says that it will happen again! This cloud and fire will show to the people that God is with them. The *Hebrew word for ‘cover’ here is not the usual *Hebrew word for ‘cover’. This word means the place where a bridegroom took his bride. It was like a tent. The same *Hebrew word is in these verses:

• Psalms 19:5 ‘And he is like a bridegroom who comes out of his cover (tent).’

• Joel 2:16 ‘Let the bridegroom leave his cover (tent).’

That special word has a connection with marriage in Isaiah 49:17-18; Jeremiah 2:2-3; Hosea 2:14-20; Revelation 21:2 and many other places. Isaiah does not say exactly whose *glory it is. It may be God’s *glory or it may be the people’s *glory. Or it may be both.

Verse 6 The cloud and the fire will protect God’s people. They will protect the people from the sun’s heat. And they will protect the people from danger in storms. In their lives, people meet many enemies and dangers. The hot sun and storms are probably special descriptions that mean all those things. At the time when Isaiah was alive, the enemy was the nation called Assyria. There will be no enemy in the New Jerusalem. And there will be no enemy on the New Earth. That is really good news! That is part of the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ!

Something to do

1. Study Psalms 87 in the Psalms in Easy English.

2. Compare how the writer uses the name ‘Branch’ in Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5 and Jeremiah 33:15; Zechariah 3:8 and Zechariah 6:12. Notice that only Isaiah 4:2 describes the Branch as part of God’s family tree. (The note about Isaiah 4:2 explains what ‘family tree’ means.) In all those other verses here, the Branch is part of David’s human family tree.

3. Pray that God will wash your *sin away to make you clean from it. ‘Sin’ means all the wrong things that you have done. Then God will write your name in his list of people (verse 3). Then you will live in the New Jerusalem on the New Earth!

heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean the place where God lives and the skies above us.
prophesy ~ tell people what God is saying.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
LORD ~ a special name for God that only his servants should use. It is not a translation. It represents the Hebrew word YHWH. It probably means that God is always alive.
lord ~ master. When it has a capital L (that is, ‘Lord’) it is a name for God.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
glory ~ something that shines and is wonderful. Especially, it is God’s splendid beauty.
holy ~ very, very good. Only God is really holy. He is so holy that he is separate from everybody else.
LORD ~ a special name for God that only his servants should use. It is not a translation. It represents the Hebrew word YHWH. It probably means that God is always alive.
lord ~ master. When it has a capital L (that is, ‘Lord’) it is a name for God.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
messiah ~ a special leader. With a capital M (that is, ‘Messiah’) it means Jesus to Christians.
adornment ~ something that people wear to make themselves beautiful.
Jews ~ the people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
sin ~ not to obey God. Or, what you do when you do not obey God.