Watchman's Teaching Letter #199 November 2014

This is my one hundred and ninety-ninth monthly teaching letter and continues my seventeenth year of publication. Since WTL #137, I have been continuing a series entitled The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, and have been expanding on its seven stages ever since: (1) the courtship, (2) the marriage, (3) the honeymoon, (4) the estrangement, (5) the divorce, (6) the reconciliation, and (7) the remarriage.

THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD, Part 58,

THE RECONCILIATION (i.e., Redemption):

Before we become too enthused about the “reconciliation”, we really need to look into the past when the greater part of Israel and Judah became so pagan that the Almighty Yahweh pronounced a death penalty on all the twelve tribes, save a small remnant. It is repeated at Jer. 15:1-3, where it is written:

“¹ Then said Yahweh unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. ² And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith Yahweh; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. ³ And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith Yahweh: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.”

Jeremiah was prophesying about Judah and Jerusalem, and so is Isaiah in his chapters 3 and 4. Therefore, I would like to zero-in on Isaiah 4:1 where it states:

“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.”

From Adam Clarke’s 6-volume Commentary, vol. 4, p. 39 we read: “Verse 1. And seven women] The division of the chapters has interrupted the prophet’s discourse and broken it off almost in the midst of the sentence. ‘The numbers slain in battle shall be so great, that seven women shall be left to one man.’ The prophet has described the greatness of this distress by images and adjuncts the most expressive and forcible. The young women contrary to their natural modesty, shall become suitors to the men: they will take hold of them, and use the most pressing importunity to be married. In spite of the natural suggestions of jealousy, they will be content with a share only of the rights of marriage in common with several others; and that on hard conditions renouncing the legal demands of the wife on the husband (see Exod. xxi. 10,) and begging only the name and credit of wedlock, and to be freed from the reproach of celibacy ... ‘This happened,’ says Kimchi[?] [Clarke’s reference; not mine], ‘in the days of Ahaz, when Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judea one hundred and twenty thousand men in one day; see 2 Chron. xxviii. 6. The widows which were left were so numerous that the prophet said, ‘They are multiplied beyond the sand of the sea’,’ Jer. xv. 8.”

Clarke’s reference to Exod. 21:10 above reads: “If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.”

“In that day] These words are omitted in the Septuagint, and MSS.” This is in reference to Isa. 4:1. Inasmuch as the phrase “in that day” is used forty plus times in the book of Isaiah, it doesn’t appear to be critical at Isa. 4:1, as it is a continuation of Isa. chapter 3 where “in that day” is established at Isa. 3:18. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible by Abegg, Flint & Ulrich have the following on Isa. 4:1:

“Seven women will take hold of one man on 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 disgrace.”

Since the chapter division at Isaiah 4 interrupts the prophet’s message, we will now read from Isaiah 3:12 to and including Isaiah 4:1: “¹²As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. ¹³ Yahweh standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. ¹⁴ Yahweh will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. ¹⁵ What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith Yahweh Elohim of hosts. ¹⁶ Moreover Yahweh saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: ¹⁷ Therefore Yahweh will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Yahweh will discover their secret parts. ¹⁸In that day Yahweh will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, ¹⁹ The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, ²⁰ The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, ²¹ The rings, and nose jewels, ²² The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, ²³ The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the veils. ²⁴ And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. ²⁵ Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. ²⁶ And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground; ^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.”

From this passage it would appear Isaiah may be prophesying both a near and last-day prophecy. There are several reasons for believing this as there are several aspects of this prophecy that don’t fit ancient times. More on that later, and each Bible researcher will have to determine this matter for himself.

A center reference “to take away our reproach” is found at Luke 1:25 where it reads at vv. 23-25 thusly:

“²³ And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his (i.e., Zacharias’) ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. ²⁴ And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, ²⁵ Thus hath Yahweh dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.”

Surely, these seven women who take hold of one man at Isa. 4:1 are demanding him to father children to take away their reproach among men! [See also 1 Samuel 1:11.] Be that as it may, let’s take a look at Clarke’s reference at vol. 2, p. 686, 2 Chr. 28:6, and reading vv. 1-15 to get the context:

“¹ Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of Yahweh, like David his father: ² For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. ³ Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom Yahweh had cast out before the children of Israel. ⁴ He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. ⁵ Wherefore Yahweh his Elohim delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. ⁶ For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken Yahweh Elohim of their fathers. ⁷ And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king’s son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the king. ⁸ And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because Yahweh Elohim of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven. ¹⁰ And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against Yahweh your Elohim? ¹¹ Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of Yahweh is upon you. ¹² Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war, ¹³ And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended against Yahweh already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel. ¹⁴ So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. ¹⁵ And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.”

Comment on 2 Chron. 28:1-4: Ahaz co-reigned for four years with Jotham (see 2 Chron. 27:1-9). So, as the historian noted, Ahaz reigned (alone) for 16 years. Unlike David his father (i.e. ancestor), Ahaz was evil, walking in the pattern of the kings of Israel (those in the Northern Kingdom, all of whom were wicked). He made Baal idols, offered sacrifices in his Valley of Ben Hinnom, which included human victims (even his own sons), and practiced the Canaanite cult on the high places and in the sacred groves. Human sacrifice was particularly associated with the Ammonite god Molech and was vehemently condemned in the Law (cf. Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut. 12:31). It was practiced especially in the Hinnom Valley, just south of Jerusalem, a place later known as Gehenna. Because of the fires which burned there both in these sacrificial orgies and to consume garbage, Gehenna became a term for “hell”. (See The Bible Knowledge Commentary OT, pp. 640-641, by Walvoord & Zuck).

Comment on 2 Chron. 28:5-8: Because of Ahaz’s gross sins against Yahweh, he fell into the hands of the Arameans (whose king was Rezin, 2 Ki. 16:5), who took many Judeans as prisoners to Damascus. This was the third time the Arameans fought Judah. Ahaz also suffered defeat by the armies of Israel under their king Pekah, who killed 120,000 Judean soldiers in one day. These included several casualties within Ahaz’s own family and court. Also Ten-tribed Northern Israel took 200,000 wives, sons, and daughters of Judah off to Samaria. (See The Bible Knowledge Commentary OT, p. 641, by Walvoord & Zuck).

Comment on 2 Chron. 28:9-15: As 2 Kings 16:5 indicates, Ahaz was not totally overcome but he clearly was in great jeopardy. Meanwhile Oded, a prophet in Samaria of the Northern Kingdom persuaded the leaders of Ten-Tribed Israel that Yahweh was displeased (angry) with them for taking these 200,000 prisoners of Judah to make them slaves. The leaders (four of whom are named in 2 Chron. 28:12) therefore ordered the returning army of Northern Israel not to bring the prisoners to Samaria. So the Northern Israel leaders gave the prisoners food and clothing and led the prisoners to Jericho where they could be repatriated to their own Northern Ten-tribed country. Ironically Northern Israel listened to Oded, whereas the Southern Two-tribed Kingdom of Judah did not. (See The Bible Knowledge Commentary OT, p. 641, by Walvoord & Zuck).

All of this begs the question: Is this incident the reason why Judaea suddenly had an imbalance of population of seven women to each eligible male? If this is true, it was an awful price to pay to put the women of Judaea – and other women like them since then – back in their Yahweh-given place! It should also be noted that this battle between the house of Judah and the house of Israel took place before all of the house of Israel was taken captive by Assyria. What we see here is some of the prophecy at Jer. 15:2-3 starting to be fulfilled:

“² And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith Yahweh; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. ³ And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith Yahweh: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.”

In other words, Yahweh had the 120,000 Judahite soldiers scheduled for death by the sword, and the 200,000 Judahite prisoners captured by Israel scheduled for eventual captivity! A similar passage is found at Ezek. 5:1-17:

“¹ And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. ² Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them. ³ Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. ⁴ Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel. ⁵ Thus saith Yahweh Elohim; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. ⁶ And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. ⁷ Therefore thus saith Yahweh Elohim; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; ⁸ Therefore thus saith Yahweh Elohim; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. ⁹ And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations. ¹⁰ Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. ¹¹ Wherefore, as I live, saith Yahweh Elohim; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. ¹² A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. ¹³ Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I Yahweh have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. ¹⁴ Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. ¹⁵ So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I Yahweh have spoken it. ¹⁶ When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread: ¹⁷ So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I Yahweh have spoken it.”

I would point out there was another incident that happened in Israel that nearly annihilated the entire tribe of Benjamin which I addressed in WTL #177 thusly:

Using Benjamin’s gross sexual-impropriety as an example, and his subsequent nearly complete annihilation by his brother tribes, we can begin to comprehend how dangerous idol worship was in Hosea’s day, and still is today. Today idol worship consists of watching nonwhites running up and down football fields and basketball courts, and a thousand other types of interracial activities, especially in bedrooms. Whenever White Israelites engage in such gross sexual impropriety – and cheering for nonwhites at ball games encourages gross sexual impropriety – the judgment of Yahweh is not far behind. A case in point is when Benjamin was fighting his brother tribes, and on the third day of battle, the men of Benjamin looked behind them and saw their cities entirely engulfed in flames, completely consuming their homes, along with their families. No doubt, the Canaanite-jews of their day taught the Benjamite tribe the art of gross sexual impropriety, like the jewess, Dr. Ruth, promotes sexual impropriety on television in our day!

Upon seeing their cities burning, the Benjamites lost heart to continue the battle, and turned their backs on their pursuers, who in turn decisively defeated them with great slaughter (cf. Judges ch. 20).

Coming Desolation: After reminding Israel’s priests of the incident with the tribe of Benjamin, Hosea predicted the downfall of the ten tribes of Israel as well as the two tribes of Judah, at Hos. 5:2-6:

“² And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. ³ I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. ⁴ They will not frame their doings to turn unto their Elohim: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known Yahweh. ⁵ And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. ⁶ They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Yahweh; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.”

For those who still claim that Yahweh never divorced Judah, [after the errors “British Israel”], here is adequate evidence that Yahweh divorced both the house of Israel and the house of Judah, so stop being a turkey and acting the part of a clown! Enough already! What else does Hosea 5:5 mean where it states, “And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them”?

Back to our subject of seven women taking hold of one man at Isaiah 4:1, I will compare Charles Thomson’s rendering of the Septuagint at Isaiah 3:25 through 4:1 to see if it reveals something different:

“[25] And thy son the most beautiful whom thou lovest shall fall by the sword; and your mighty men shall fall by the sword and be laid low; [26] and your wardrobes shall mourn; and thou shalt be left solitary and shalt sit on the ground. [4:1] And seven women shall lay hold on one man, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own raiment, let us only be called by thy name: take thou away our reproach.”

The very first thing that should be noticed here is the “in that day” as rendered by the KJV is not there, as Adam Clarke advised, so the “in that day” of Isa. 3:18 has to apply in both the KJV and the Septuagint! If one will peruse Isa. 3:1 very carefully, one will discover “... the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water ...” was already in effect, so the “in that day” at Isa, 3:18 has to be speaking of a somewhat later day!

Of equal importance, at Isa. 3:26, we find these seven women “... and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground ...” Evidently, this actually happened during Isaiah’s day, but is also prophesied to happen again at some future time, although the details may be a little different. In Isaiah’s day, the breadwinners were White Israelite men, while by-and-large today the breadwinners for White women are nonwhites on foods stamps, with the White taxpayer picking up the bill! However, Yahweh has proclaimed that the Edomite-jew tax collectors masquerading as Israel and all the nonwhite welfare recipients will all disappear in one day at Obadiah 15-18 thusly:

“¹⁵ For the day of Yahweh is near upon all the [nonwhite leeching goy]: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. ¹⁶ For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain [of the Israel nations], so shall all the [nonwhite leeching goy] drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. ¹⁷ But upon mount Zion [pure White Israel nations] shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. ¹⁸ And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for Yahweh hath spoken it.”[brackets mine]

And that is going to leave a lot of White Israelite women with no living children from their illicit unions with alien nonwhite men, and the loss of food stamps, ADC, and other unworthy benefits, sitting on their posteriors that brought about such an appropriate judgment! Yahweh speed the day! On the other hand, we must have some sympathy for these women, as their sin was/is no greater than that of our mother Eve in the Garden of Eden, who was seduced by the same serpent.

PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN IN ANCIENT TIMES ALMOST NIL

If one will simply pause for a moment and explore this subject thoroughly, one will be compelled to admit that when any people became overpopulated with women, those women were in serious trouble once their parents had passed away. It is true that Scripture does record a few isolated women who did operate a limited number of enterprises, but they were in most cases an exception to the rule. It is only in more recent times that some of the professions have opened up for the women to engage in. Basically, this period started with the Women’s Suffrage Movement, which is a long and sordid story in itself. Along with the Women’s Suffrage Movement was the Prohibition Movement, and while they solved some of the women’s problems, in the end they caused them greater problems. This, however, is not the scope of our subject here, so let’s repeat Isaiah 4:1 in part:

“... 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.”

This begs the question: How do 120,000 (single, divorced or widowed) women suddenly find a new profession in Isaiah’s day? If we will really take a long, hard look at the conditions existing at that ancient time, we will begin to comprehend the idiocy of it all. When Isaiah made this prophecy, the Israelites of the tribe Judah surely thought that Isaiah was out of his mind! But apply this passage to the conditions of our present day, it all begins to make some sense. Now the prophecy must link to a war which causes the casualties to result in a seven women to one man imbalance among our people.

WE ARE IN THAT WAR! IT’S A RACE WAR! Every birth of a mongrel child to a pure White parent contributes to mass-murder, producing innumerable tainted offspring, who further jeopardize any goodly White Yahweh-like lineage. Any wonder, then, that Almighty Yahweh in the flesh, as Yahshua, is mad as hell?

The more that I contemplate Isaiah 4:1-2, the more I am persuaded that it is primarily a prophecy for our present day, and may have little at all to do with a fulfillment for the twelve tribes of pre-captive ancient Israel, as at verse 2, the “BRANCH” enters the picture thusly:

“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. ² In that day shall the BRANCH (i.e., Yahshua Christ) of Yahweh be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.”

From The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, by Pfeiffer & Herrison, p. 615, we read in part::

“Isa. 3:16-26.The fashionable society women of Jerusalem had given themselves over to flirtation and coquetry, to allure other women’s husbands. They had devoted themselves to the latest fads in jewelry, hair style, and dress. They were wholly taken up with self-adornment, having no concern for God’s law or their holy mission in life. But all the tawdry baubles for which they had sold their souls were to be stripped away from them in the coming invasions (from Assyria and Babylon). Their nakedness would be uncovered when they were led away as miserable slaves by their conquerors (v. 17). Or they would crouch in some wretched corner, filled with despair and covered with sackcloth and ashes. All their earthly possessions would be destroyed or snatched away from them, and their men would be slain. (The Qumran Isaiah Scroll reads in 3:24: “... a girding of sackcloth; surely instead of beauty there shall be shame.’) So scarce would be the male population (4:1) after the slaughter of war, that each surviving man would be importuned by several unmarried women to marry them as self-supporting wives.

“C. Ultimate Blessedness of Revived Israel Under Messiah. [Isa.] 4:2-6.

“2.In that day does not refer to the period just described, except insofar as that Assyrian and Chaldean devastation prefigured the tribulation of the ‘last days.’ Rather, it refers to the final age, when the Messiah shall come to rule the earth. This is the usual force of the phrase, ‘in that day,’ throughout the prophetic books of the OT. The branch(semah) of Jehovah [sic Yahweh] (ASV) refers to Christ himself as the descendant of the promised line of David. The same word, literally, sprout, is used with reference to Messiah in Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zec. 3:8; 6:12. In him will be found the true beauty and glory of Israel (as contrasted with the false and worldly beauty of the society women of Jerusalem). Note that the ultimate prosperity is promised only to the escaped (p^elētâ of Israel. Although the nation as a whole must be rejected for disobedience, the Lord [sic Yahweh] would continue to work out his purpose with the remnant of true believers (as Paul later pointed out in Rom. 11:5). Only those who have been sanctified by the new birth [sic from above] and inwardly transformed to mirror forth Christ’s holiness will be enrolled (Isa. 4:3)as citizens of spiritual [sic Covenant] Jerusalem. Cleansed of carnality and worldliness, the women of that holy city will stand in complete contrast to those of Isaiah’s generation. But this new order will not prevail until God’s Spirit shall have purged the city of its wickedness and idolatry by the fires of judgment and of suffering (v. 4). In that future day the presence of Jehovah [sic Yahweh] will once again be granted to Israel as in the days of the Exodus, and the Lord [sic Yahweh] will shield his godly children from all calamities and adversity. (This sermon concludes, as it began back in 2:2, with a glowing picture of the final fulfillment of God’s covenant plan for Israel).

“Sermon III. Judgment and Exile in Store for Israel. 5:1-30.

“A. Evil Yield of the Lord’s [sic Yahweh’s] Vineyard. 5:1-7.

“This is the first appearance, chronologically, of the vineyard as a symbol of Israel. In the OT the figure recurs in Jeremiah 12:10 and Psalm 80, [A post-captivity psalm of Asaph]. In the NT it appears in the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (Synoptic Gospels), and, with a special adaptation, in Christ’s discourse on the vine and the branches (Jn. 15). My beloved (RSV) perhaps refers, not to God (for this term, dôd, is never so applied elsewhere), but to some friend of Isaiah’s who had suffered this disappointment in his vineyard. Yet the way in which the prophet becomes identified with this ‘beloved’ in Isa. 5:4 indicates a mystical unity between them that best befits the relationship of a prophet to the God whose mouthpiece he is. What inexcusable guilt was Israel’s, to produce such evil fruit when God had given them every possible advantage in a fair and fertile land! Their inevitable penalty must be the removal of his protective hedge and their devastation by invaders ....”

While this Wycliffe Bible Commentary, by Pfeiffer & Herrison isn’t perfect, at least it sheds some light on the general time-period when it would be fulfilled. By bringing “the BRANCH” into the picture, Isaiah showed it couldn’t have taken place before the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of Yahshua the Christ. Only since the women have been encouraged to become equal with the men in the general work-force could they purchase their own food and procure their own wardrobes at their own expense. This didn’t start suddenly, but was brought on gradually in the 1920s, and has been increasing ever since. Until then, women were limited to more gender-specific fields of employment such as school teachers, business bookkeepers or secretaries, nurses, waitresses and seamstresses. It was quite common in the 1920s and 30s for a woman to cut out from patterns and sew together her own clothing, not only for herself, but her children and even to some extent for her husband. It wasn’t until the time we were gearing up for WW II that women started to enter the factories, like the famous “Rosy The Riveter”. At that time, the women even took employment in the shipyards. But, after the war was over, Rosy never returned home again, and soon it became necessary to have two paychecks coming in each week to keep up with the out-of-control inflation. With our homemakers thus burdened, the family had to rely on baby-sitters and preschool services, and the morals of the family went to hell!

If all of this wasn’t bad enough, with the coming of Pavlovian music accompanied with hard drugs, it soon became popular for a White-Caucasian-European to date, have a sexual encounter, and have half-breed children, violating Yahweh’s law of “kind after kind”! At Yahshua’s 2nd Advent, all nonwhites will perish, leaving only White- Caucasian-European heterosexuals to mate with! (Isa. 4:1?)