Signs of a Collapsed Culture

• Scripture: Isaiah 3:1-26
• Vision Problems on the Rise in America

• America Through the Eyes of Isaiah

Transcript

Kerry Duke: Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God in My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible is not just another book, but the book. Join us in a study of the inspired word to strengthen your faith and to share what you’ve learned with others.
What causes a nation to fall apart? What happens when the structure of society crumbles? What are the signs that a nation is in serious trouble? Isaiah Chapter three answers these questions. This is a fascinating chapter. It teaches us that leadership is vital to a country, and it also describes what happens when qualified leaders, especially male leaders, fade away in a culture.
Isaiah talks about Judah in this chapter. This nation was sinful. God had warned them and punished them repeatedly, but they wouldn’t repent. Their worship to God was vain, and their lives were full of greed and drunkenness and idolatry. So in Isaiah chapter three, the prophet says that God will judge these people. In the Old Testament, God often punished his own people with war. Foreign armies attacked the Israelites and they destroyed much of the Jews’ land, and they took what they wanted, whom they wanted, back to their own nation.
Isaiah talks in this book about the Assyrians and later the Babylonians attacking Jerusalem and Judah. These heathen nations killed many of the Jews, but they also took away the Jews that they could use in their country. Why would they do that? They took skilled people: good workers, experienced managers, military and government personnel, educated people, and anyone else that could serve their purpose. For instance, Daniel and his three friends were some of the Jews with ability that the Babylonians later took back to their own country and made government workers and even government officials.
So Isaiah chapter three tells us what happened. Watch this carefully. When these heathen nations took all the men with ability out of the land of Judah, who was left? Who would take their place? It would be people who were not qualified. They were the only ones left. They had no experience, they had no ability to lead, and even worse, they didn’t have the character that they needed to lead.
These were the low-life people and suddenly they’re in charge. Does this sound familiar? It gets even more interesting. Let’s read Isaiah chapter three, verse one, “For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.”
The first thing to notice is that the hand of God was behind this. Why? It says that the Lord takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah. God is involved in this because these people were hardened in sin and they would not change. The Lord takes these things away. What things? Well, he mentions the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the stay of water.
The word stay in the King James version means support. In Psalm 18, verse 18, in a different context, David said, the Lord was “my stay.” That means the Lord was his support. So the New King James version uses the words stock and supply. That is the supply of water, the supply of bread. These people had stored up food and water.
But the war brought chaos. And not only was the food supply diminished, but the people who had organized and managed these supplies are now gone and the people that are left have no knowledge or ability to do this. And what is worse is that they didn’t care. So the reserves that they had were used up quickly.
The people had depended on these supplies and now they’re on their own and there’s no leadership to fix the problem. So the first sign of national decline that he mentions here was a lack of basic necessities. The economy of the nation was in serious trouble.
Let’s read verse two. He also says that the mighty man and the man of war will be taken out of the land. There were no skilled people left. There were no trained experienced leaders. There were no military leaders. There was little national defense because the men of courage and ability, the mighty men were gone. The man of war that is the common soldier was no longer a part of their culture. Now, before all this happened, the people of Judah had depended on the military to protect them, to preserve their comfortable way of life.
But now no one knows how to train a military. No one knows how to organize a military. Perhaps these people had taken their military for granted before this, but now they need them. Does this sound familiar? This means that there was also no law and order on the local level because the chain of command is gone.
No one is in charge. No one is safe. The Bible says that God placed government on earth to keep order, to punish crime and to reward law-abiding citizens. Romans 13, one through seven and I Peter two, 13 and 14. The second indication of a nation in trouble is a weakened national defense and the absence of the rule of law.
Now, remember that God orchestrated this. God, because of the sins of these people, took these things away out of the land, and now you see that the society is disintegrating. And now we come to the third sign of the collapse of order in this civilization. It’s found in verse two as well. After he talks about the mighty man and the man of war, he talks about the disappearance of the role of judge.
This is not of course talking about any one particular person, but the position or the office of judge. This is gone. Why? Because the judges have either been killed or they’ve been taken to a foreign land. God had told the people long before to have judges. Moses said that these judges were to hear cases and be fair and impartial.
And in Deuteronomy chapter one, verses 16 and 17, Moses said these judges were to be men who feared God. Honest men. Men who hated covetousness and men of ability. Think of how important judges are in any land. Anywhere you go, you have people. And when you have people, you have disagreements and you have disputes.
So somebody needs to settle the disagreement if it can be settled at all, and that person needs to see that justice is done. That’s why this person needs to be a man of the highest moral caliber, as well as having natural ability and knowledge that he’s acquired through education and experience. But Isaiah said the day was coming in Judah when the people would need judges to help them settle their differences, but they wouldn’t have any judges.
Now, all this means that the disputes got worse and people tended to take the law into their own hands. So the legal system has been shattered. That is aspect number three of their national decline. Number four, we see that the prophet has disappeared. Another person who suddenly became absent in Judah was the prophet.
God sent prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and others to warn the people. But when the people stopped listening, God stopped sending. Now we see in this passage a lack of leadership in the most important area of all in a country, and that is religion. Sure the people of Jerusalem had a king. The temple was there with the priest at the capital city, but they were corrupt for the most part, except for a few men like Hezekiah and a few others.
Isaiah says the day is coming when they won’t have prophets like himself and others. They won’t have prophets to rebuke them and their leaders. Now you might say, “Well, they didn’t pay much attention to the prophets anyway, so why would they miss them?” But here’s the point. If the people of Judah did evil while they had the prophets, how much worse would they get when there were no prophets in the land?
At least there was some restraint because of the prophets’ preaching. But if those prophets are not there, then the people will become even more rebellious. Do you remember what Moses told the Israelites hundreds of years earlier before his death? Moses told them, “Behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the Lord. And how much more after my death” (Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse 27). The same thing was about to happen in Judah with no prophets. The people would become even more wild, so God said that he was going to take these prophets away. There is a time coming when the prophet would disappear from the land, at least for a time.
A similar verse is found in Amos chapter eight, verse 11. “Behold, the days come saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” So the fourth indication of serious trouble in any nation is a decline in true religion, especially in the decline or even disappearance of men who are willing to preach against the sins of the time.
Then we also look in verse two at what is called in the King James version, the prudent, and in the New King James version, the Diviner. The word diviner is a better translation because every other time the Hebrew word is used in the New Testament, that is translated prudent or diviner.
Here it means someone who pretends to have the ability to tell the future or read people’s mind—something that only God can do and something that God revealed to only certain people. So these diviners were false prophets, and this raises a question. Why does Isaiah list these people beside people that were legitimate leaders that the country needed?
It was because that even though they were not genuine, these diviners were fixtures in the society. They were part of the culture, and they played a role, in a sense, in the stability of the country, even though they deceived the people. What Isaiah is saying is this everything that you’ve depended on. All the people that you’re used to seeing will disappear, even the man like the Diviner who had no right to be there, Isaiah is saying that your whole world will be turned upside down, and then he mentions that the ancient or the elder will be taken out of the land. These are older people that have something that young people don’t have. That is experience because that experience brings wisdom.
That’s why older people are so important to a nation. Younger people need advice. They need direction, and they need correction. Do you remember the story of Rehoboam? He took the advice of young men and he rejected the counsel of the older men, and that caused the nation to divide. First Kings chapter 12 here, Isaiah says, the time is coming when the leadership of older men is missing.
And that happened in part because the older people were killed when the enemies came. But there were some older people who were left in Judah, and we know that because of verse five. So it’s not just that there are no older people who were there, but it’s also the case that the younger people didn’t want the leadership of the older people.
We’ll talk more about this when we get to verse five, but for now, just notice that a sign of national decline, an indication that a country is in trouble, is when you have a lack of older leaders. The next person who’s missing in this leadership is the captain of 50. Now, this was not necessarily a military captain, but a leader or a manager of the nation.
In Deuteronomy chapter one, verse 15, God told Moses to appoint judges as captains over 10. That is 10 people, 50 people, a hundred people, or a thousand people. These captains or judges heard the disputes of the people who were under them. They managed this number of people and they had different abilities.
Some of these judges could oversee 10 people, others could manage 50 people, and still other judges could handle 100 or even a thousand people. These people would no longer be in Judah. So think of it: a nation without managers. Any society needs certain people who have the ability to organize, to make decisions, and to manage the affairs of other people who are citizens.
Without this management, there will be chaos. Next, in verse three, Isaiah says that the honorable man will be missing. This is a man of dignity. Literally, a man of elevated countenance, a distinguished man in the community because of his role. This is a man who is respected. He may be a public official, a successful and hardworking businessman, but now Isaiah envisions a time when respectable people are gone and when you don’t have respect in society, you don’t have anything left.
Isaiah also said the counselor would be missing. This was a person that people looked to for advice. We all need advice, and some people are especially levelheaded and wise. What happens when you can’t find people like this in society? Well, the people make bad decisions, and even worse, they look to the wrong people for advice.
Isaiah said, the time is coming in Judah when you’re not going to be able to find one sensible person to ask direction of. The next class of people that Isaiah mentions, and the next indicator of national decline is the absence of the cunning artificer. The New King James version translates this the skillful artisan.
These were the builders, the craftsmen, the engineers, the carpenters. They were good at their trade and what happened to them? A good commentary is II Kings, chapter 24 verses 14 through 16. Now they’re gone. Imagine a place without skilled workers. The housings and the buildings, and the roads and the farms, the military, and many other aspects of life will decline because there won’t be anybody able to do these things and repair these projects.
The whole country will go to ruins. And then finally he says the “eloquent orator,” the King James says. The New King James says “The expert enchanter” will be gone again like the diviners in verse two. These are false prophets. But Isaiah again is saying that even this stay or this supposed support in society will collapse.
So I ask you to look over these verses more and consider this question. Are these words beginning to describe our country more? When you look at America through the eyes of Isaiah chapter three, you see our nation similar to the way that the prophet saw Judah. The problem in Isaiah chapter three in Judah was lack of leadership.
Male leadership, and in particular, older men as leaders, the men who led the country were gone. There was a lack of leadership in the military, in religion, in the community, in the economy, and in every other part of society that’s in verses one through three. So who was left? Look closely and see if we’re seeing the same situation unfold today.
In verse four, he says, “And I will give children to be their princes and babes shall rule over them.” Verse four tells us who took charge. The young people, children, and babes. Not literal infants, but compared to the men who used to govern, these young men were like babies and children. The older, experienced men no longer led. Inexperienced young people had taken their place.
This is not good. Common sense and experience teach us that the older are more qualified to manage and to lead. Age settles a man. Youth makes us rash. Age makes us stop and consider, but the energy of our youth causes us to act without thinking. Years bring patience. But youth makes us hasty. Age will give you an education from your mistakes, but youth means that you’re bound to make those mistakes.
And in the Bible, there are many instructions and many warnings about this. In I Kings chapter 12, for instance, the new younger king Rehoboam at the age of 41—yes, he was young at the age of 41. This king asked the older men and he asked the younger men about how to rule the people. The older men said, you be a servant to those people. You speak good words to them, and if you do, they’ll follow you. They will serve you. But the Bible says that he rejected the advice which the elders had given to him. Instead, he listened to the young men about his own age in their early forties. They told him to make life even harder on the people. Rehoboam answered the people roughly and because he listened to the young men instead of the older man.
The nation divided in Ecclesiastes 10, verse 16. The Bible says, “Woe to you, old land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning.” Listen to Leviticus chapter 19, verse 32: “You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man and fear your God. I am the Lord.” A nation is in trouble when the older men are gone or when the older men don’t want to lead.
The inevitable result of this breakdown in society is seen in verse five, and that is, it brings anarchy. Verse five says, “And the people shall be oppressed every one by another and every one by his neighbor. The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honorable.”
When there’s no leadership or when there’s no qualified leadership or when people just don’t respect the leaders, then every man does as he pleases. Every man is a law to himself, and if you want to read a complimentary verse which is a great example then look at Judges 21 verse 25. “In those days, there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” In verse five, every person is out for himself. Each man oppresses other people. Does this not sound like America today? And is this not what we see in other countries as well? In verse five, there is a sure sign that a nation is corrupt, and that is when the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient.
That means when the young people disrespect older people. That is a sure indication of a civilization that is in serious trouble. Now, how could that happen? How did that happen? Well, in Judah, the war broke down the family unit. Fathers had to be gone. Many fathers were killed. Some mothers died as well.
You had young people who were left on their own and some became very disrespectful and very rebellious toward older people. Now, the same thing happens today, and it takes place because the devil has turned young people against older people. How has this happened today? It’s happened because too many parents and grandparents have not taught their children respect.
It’s happened because television and movies and even cartoons sometimes belittle parents. It’s happened because in some areas of this country, many young people don’t have a mother. They don’t have a father to hold them accountable. But regardless of the cause, showing disrespect to elders is a sin and it is a sign of a civilization on the verge of collapse.
Verse five also says that the base, and this refers to, sorry, low-life people. These people will be insolent. That is, they will be insulting and disrespectful toward people of dignity, honorable people. In short, people have no respect for anybody or anything.
Now I want you to notice another sign of national decay in verse six. Not only did young people who were inexperienced take the lead, but almost nobody wanted a leadership position. Listen to verse six and seven: “When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house, of his father saying, thou hast clothing. Be thou our ruler and let this ruin be under thy hand in that day, shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer for, in my house is neither bread nor clothing. Make me not a ruler of the people.” So the time is coming, he says, in which people will look to and ask other people to rule and they will not desire that position. Now, is this not what we’re seeing today, especially older men who might be able to serve but they don’t want to?
Today we have too few men who want to be leaders in the home, in the nation, and even in the church. Looking at America through the eyes of Isaiah chapter three is like reading today’s news. Or you might say that if the world stands and let’s say a hundred years from now, somebody writes a truthful history of what happened to America in our time, it would read much like Isaiah three.
In Isaiah chapter three, verse nine, the Bible says that “the show of their countenance does witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.” These people had no shame. Now back in chapter three, verses one through five just a little bit earlier, he showed that these people had no respect.
They had no respect for older people. They had no respect for authority, and they had no respect for each other. Now, the Bible shows that they also had no shame. They were not just open about their sin, they were arrogant about it. You could see it on their faces. They were proud. They were stubborn, they were rebellious.
They had a defiant, belligerent look. Now, sometimes you can’t tell about a person by the look on that person’s face, but some rebels have a certain look. The King James says, the show of their countenance; the New King James says the look on their countenance witnesses against them. In other words, it testifies against them. It betrays them, it tells on them. Now, Isaiah said that they were shameless, just like Sodom. They declare their sin as Sodom. Remember back in chapter one, verse 10 that he already compared the rulers of Judah to Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah chapter one, verse 10 says, “Hear the word of the Lord, Ye rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.” Now he comes back again in Isaiah chapter three, verse nine, and says that they were just as open and just as shameless as the people of Sodom. Now he says that they don’t try to hide their sins: “they hide it not.”
Many people do try to hide their sin. They get drunk, they commit adultery, and they steal and get into all kinds of meanness, but they hide. And that’s why they try to do these things especially at night when they won’t be seen. Now, I ask you when you look at these words, that these people had a certain look of defiance on their face when the Bible says that they declare their sin openly and publicly like Sodom, that they don’t even try to hide it.
I ask you the question: is not this America today? People used to hide their sins more than they do today. Now, some still do, but more and more they talk about it in public. They even brag about it. People cuss and take God’s name in vain in public. More and more men and women talk to people at work about living together instead of getting married.
They should have shame about it. And there was a time when people would’ve been shocked. Not now. People talk about getting drunk and taking drugs like they talk about eating breakfast. Gays and lesbians have come out of the closet and they get in the faces of the public. Every chance they get groups that promote abortion act like they’re doing a service to our country, and they pride themselves in what the Bible calls killing the innocent.
So how different is our country today from what Isaiah said about Judah? Now, sadly, the situation got worse in Judah. Later Jeremiah said this (this is a great companion passage): “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay? They were not at all ashamed. Neither could they blush” (Jeremiah, chapter six, verse 15). And if that doesn’t describe what is going on in America today, then what would?
A major warning sign in this chapter was a lack of seasoned male leaders in Judah, but Isaiah was not silent about the women of Judah. He revealed that the lack of morals and values and spirituality in the women of Judah was a big part of the problem. And this is true in any nation. The strength of a culture depends in large part on the integrity of its women.
Judah was not the nation under God it could have been because the women in it were not the women they should have been. So how does Isaiah describe these women? Let’s listen to Isaiah chapter three, verse 16. “Moreover, the Lord 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 tingling with their feet.”
They were, first of all, arrogant women. They were haughty. They were not humble. They were not, as Peter says in First Peter chapter three verse four, women of a “meek and quiet spirit.” These women prided themselves in how they looked and how they appealed to men. They walked with stretched forth necks.
These women wanted to be seen. They stretched out their necks and made sure that men looked at them. They had wanton eyes. This means that they had sensual, seductive, alluring eyes. These women of Judah had a certain look, the same look that female models and actors and singers oftentimes have today in our society.
He says that they were walking and mincing as they went. The word mincing means that they were tripping or skipping, perhaps dancing, and they made a jingling. They had ankle bracelets on, and they did all this to get attention. So God said that He would bring down their arrogance when the war came. Verses 17 through 26 talks about the punishment and how that these women who were so arrogant and prided themselves in how they looked and how they appealed to men would be sorry for putting the emphasis in the wrong place.