Context Matters!

When we interpret Scripture the most important thing to remember is the context! Often times we pull verses of Scripture out of the Bible and use them apart from their intended meaning, this usually isn’t intentional, it’s just the way we've learned to read the Bible. Ignorance of this is no excuse for poor Biblical Exegesis, as students of the Word, it is our responsibility to ensure that we are handling the Scriptures correctly. One mistake we often make is thinking that the Scriptures are about us. 

This sounds silly because it was written so long ago but how often have you seen someone insert themselves, their generation, or the current social climate back into the text as if it was written specifically for that reason? While there are certain things in Scripture that will help us address current issues we must remember that while the Bible was written FOR us, it was not written TO us. That is a big distinction!

I’d like to give you a pretty important example of this approach. When we misuse the Scriptures to teach something that isn’t right, or when we use it out of context we are doing damage to the text and we risk hurting people in the process. Look at this excerpt from a United Pentecostal Minister,

THE APOSTATE SPIRIT OF THE LAST DAYS WILL REJECT HOLINESS TEACHING! 

Isaiah 4:1 “And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.”

• The last days church is represented by seven candlesticks in Revelation chapters 1-3. 

• The seven would-be brides of Isaiah 4:1 are a prophetic picture of the church in the last days. 

• All seven women seek to take hold of one man (i.e. seven churches seek the Lord Jesus Christ). 

• Just as the characteristics of all seven churches in Revelation are in evidence today, this type of “apostate attitude” is also found throughout the church world. 

• Many Christians today want to eat their own bread, their own interpretation of God’s Word. But this bread is polluted and unacceptable to God! 

2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”

Malachi 1:7 “Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.”

• Many Christians today want to wear their own apparel, rejecting separation from the world, reproof, holiness preaching, spiritual authority, and anything they think is “negative.” 

• These “women” want to be the Bride of Christ, but only on their own terms! They have no desire to submit to the authority of a husband; they are not interested in his needs or his concerns. They want an arrangement that benefits them without intimacy, love or devotion. 

• They want nothing more than forgiveness, to have the reproach of sin removed. THIS IS THE APOSTATE SPIRIT OF RELIGION IN THE LAST DAYS!

That sounds very compelling, doesn’t it? But is this really what Isaiah was writing? An important thing to remember when interpreting Scripture is this, “The Scripture can never mean to me what it could not have meant to the original audience.”

This is an important principle, the Scriptures we read were written to specific people in specific situations, we must understand the INTENDED meaning of the text and not what we want it to mean.

So let’s look at this text again,

Isaiah 4:1 ESV “And seven women shall 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.”

Notice right away, this verse begins with “And”. This tells you that this verse is a continuation of whatever chapter 3 was saying. In order for us to understand the proper context of this verse, we need to go back to chapter 3 and see if we can see the context.

Isaiah 3 begins with Judgment being declared on Judah and Jerusalem, 

Isaiah 3:1 “For behold, the Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water,”

Verse 8 “For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.”

Then when we get towards the end of chapter 3, the same prophecy is still going forward (I’d encourage everyone to read the entire chapter to see that I am not misrepresenting the text), in verses 25 & 26 conclude chapter 3 with this, “Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle. And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground.”

This is where chapter 4 picks up. “And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day,”

What day is this talking about? Is the context referring to the church in the last days? No! The days this is referring to are the days of judgment on Jerusalem and Judah! Notice they say “We will eat their own bread and wear their own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”

Isaiah 4:1 is considered a companion verse to Isaiah 3:6-7 which says, “For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule; in that day he will speak out, saying: I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor load; you shall not make me leader of the people.”

So we have despairing men taking hold of a respectable man to make him their judge, and now we have despairing women taking hold of one man to have them as wives. There had been such destruction that the men were scarce, the women had no other way to escape the shame and reproach of being unwedded and childless. Among the Jews, childlessness was a special reproach, because it took away all possibility of the woman being in line of the Messiah’s descent (Pulpit Commentary).

We can see from the context that these women aren’t representing churches in the last day who want to eat their own bread (pick and choose which Scripture to take seriously), wear their own clothes (Ignore God’s commandments for clothing), but wish to have his name (the name of Jesus). 

I want to be clear, these women are not arrogant and demanding at all! They are despairing and desperate. They are subjecting themselves to humiliation in order to preserve themselves in a time of destruction and judgment. To pretend that this is prophesying about a rebellious church age is crazy, to prop this verse up to promote your own ideas about clothing and Biblical interpretations is even worse.

But couldn’t it be possible that while that wasn’t the original meaning that God could be using this passage now? Possible? Anything is possible with God. Possible isn’t the correct question. The correct question is, is this logical? The answer to that is no.

Isaiah chapters 2-4 are dealing with a prophecy concerning Jerusalem and Judah. It is irresponsible to strip Isaiah 4:1 from its context and try to use it as a manipulation tactic to scare people into thinking that if they don’t hold your position on holiness standards that they are apostate.