Oct. 8, 2024
Joshua Lytle
The confusion around Isaiah 4:1 results from misunderstanding Isaiah’s structural patterns and from neglecting to interpret 4:1 in context of the totality of Isaiah’s message. We must connect several key words and concepts to properly interpret Isaiah 4:1.
The four verses contained in Isaiah 3:25-4:2 are often assumed to provide all the necessary context to completely understand Isaiah 4:1. Several incorrect interpretations occur because of this mistake. This discussion attempts to correct the errors in two common misinterpretations by considering the whole vision of Isaiah. We will use Avraham Gileadi’s translation of Isaiah, unless the King James Version contains important key words that we might otherwise miss.
Isaiah 3:25-4:2
25 Your men shall be felled by the sword,
your might overthrown in war.
26 Her gateways shall lie bereaved and forlorn;
she shall sit on the ground destitute.
1 Seven women will take hold of one man
in that day, and say,
We will eat our own food,
wear our own clothes,
only let us be called by your name—
take away our reproach!
2 In that day the plant of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious, and the earth’s fruit the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel.
During the Lord’s day of judgment Zion’s men shall be felled by the sword. Only righteous men and women are left alive after the judgment, and apparently the ratio of righteous women to righteous men is seven to one. Since in that day the plant of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious, and the earth’s fruit the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel, a common interpretation of Isaiah 4:1 states that polygamy is the mechanism whereby the Lord’s posterity is made beautiful and glorious. The self-sufficiency of these seven women demonstrates their righteousness, since they are well supplied with their own food and clothing. Their desire to bear children—take away our reproach!—is also a righteous desire.
Zion, or the church of God, is often symbolized in scripture by a woman. The seven women represent seven churches (like those mentioned in Revelation), with the one man representing Jehovah. Since the number seven in Hebrew represents fullness, wholeness, and completeness, in Isaiah 4:1 the woman Zion is giving herself completely and wholeheartedly to the Lord in the covenant relationship of marriage. By faithful observance of the covenant, her posterity will be beautiful and glorious in the last day. This contrasts sharply with her shameful state prior to turning to her Lord. Notice that this interpretation does not involve polygamy, although some individuals may put their faith in both interpretations.
It turns out that the second interpretation mentioned earlier needs some correction, and the first interpretation involving polygamy is entirely false. Isaiah has no intent to endorse polygamy. To understand Isaiah 4:1 we must start reading as early as the last verse of chapter two. In fact, it is worth noting that the Joseph Smith translation of Isaiah places 4:1 at the end of chapter three. This suggests that Joseph Smith thought that Isaiah 4:1 was more immediately connected with the subject matter of chapter three.
Zion, Jerusalem, the church of God, or the people of God are often represented in the scriptures as a woman, and the number seven in Hebrew represents wholeness and completeness. This meaning comes through in Revelation, where Jesus commands John the Beloved to record his vision and send it to the churches of Asia. This symbolism also appears in Mosiah, where Mormon records that there were seven churches in the land of Zarahemla, and they were all one church.
Revelation 1:11
11 … Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia…
Mosiah 25:22-23
22 And thus, notwithstanding there being many churches they were all one church, yea, even the church of God; for there was nothing preached in all the churches except it were repentance and faith in God.
23 And now there were seven churches in the land of Zarahemla…
In Isaiah 2:22-4:1 the Lord is very unhappy with his people. He commands them to desist from the things of man, and in the last day pushes his people to repent by depriving them of all food supply and water supply. When he arises to judge the nations, he accuses the rulers of his people of devouring the vineyard and making themselves rich by depriving the needy, oppressing [his] people, and humbling the faces of the poor.
Isaiah 2:22
22 Desist from the things of man,
in whose nostrils is but breath!
For of what consideration is he?
Isaiah 3:1
1 Even now, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts,
deprives Judea and Jerusalem
of both staff and crutch—
all food supply and water supply,
Isaiah 3:13-15
13 Jehovah will take a stand and contend with them;
he has arisen to judge the nations.
14 He will bring to trial the elders of his people
and their rulers, and say to them,
It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
you fill your houses by depriving the needy.
15 What do you mean by oppressing my people,
humbling the faces of the poor?
says Jehovah of Hosts.
In verse twelve the Lord states that women wield authority over [his people]. The women of Zion are the churches among the Lord’s people, their ecclesiastical rulers. Similar to how an incumbent president seeking reelection is made responsible for everything happening in his country over his term of office, good and bad, the Lord is now going to use the sins of the women of Zion, the rulers of his people, to describe the sins of his people in Isaiah 3:16-4:1.
Isaiah 3:12
12 As for my people, babes subject them;
women wield authority over them.
O my people, your leaders mislead you,
abolishing your traditional ways.
The Lord states that the women of Zion are haughty, and that he will strip away their finery (3:16-17). This theme is repeated later in Isaiah. Because of their sins, their men shall be felled by the sword (3:25).
Isaiah 3:16-18
16 Jehovah says, moreover,
Because the women of Zion are haughty
and put on airs, painting their eyes,
ever flirting when they walk
and clacking with their feet,
17 my Lord will afflict the scalps
of the women of Zion with baldness;
Jehovah will expose their private parts.
18 In that day my Lord will strip away their finery…
Isaiah 32:11
11 Be alarmed, you complacent women;
be perturbed, O careless daughters!
Strip yourselves bare;
put sackcloth around your waists.
Isaiah 3:25-26
25 Your men shall be felled by the sword,
your might overthrown in war.
26 Her gateways shall lie bereaved and forlorn;
she shall sit on the ground destitute.
Arriving at Isaiah 4:1, we find seven women of Zion seeking to establish a covenant with one man. The phrase only let us be called by your name indicates that this is the marriage covenant. Traditionally the marriage covenant requires the husband to provide food, clothing, and shelter for his wife. While we might wish these women to be righteous because they are self-sufficient with food and clothing and have a desire to remove their reproach, the marriage covenant requires that they receive food and clothing from Jehovah and not from the world.
Isaiah 4:1
1 Seven women will take hold of one man
in that day, and say,
We will eat our own food,
wear our own clothes,
only let us be called by your name—
take away our reproach!
After hearing that the Lord intends to deprive Jerusalem of all food supply and water supply, and that he will strip away their finery (fine clothes and ostentatious adornments), these seven women of Zion are still insisting that they wear their own clothes and eat their own food (3:1, 18-24). These seven women are not righteous. Instead they are determined to dictate the terms of their covenant with Jehovah. They are unrighteous, and the number seven indicates that at the last day all of the Christian churches they represent will be corrupted, prideful, neglecting the poor, depriving the needy, and rich at the expense of the people they claim to serve.
Isaiah reminds us of the requirements of the marriage covenant earlier in 3:6-7 when, as the Lord brings ruin to Jerusalem, individuals seek to find a leader capable of saving them from their afflictions.
Isaiah 3:6-7
6 Then will a man apprehend a kinsman
of his father’s house, and say,
You have a tunic: be our leader
and take charge of this ruination!
7 But he will raise his hand in that day
and swear, I am no physician.
There is neither food nor clothing in my house;
you cannot make me a leader of the people.
The statement he will raise his hand…and swear…There is neither food nor clothing in my house; you cannot make me a leader of the people indicates that this individual is being sought to make a covenant, that the individual knows his responsibility under the terms of the covenant is to provide food and clothing, and solemnly refuses in like manner to make this covenant because he knows he is incapable of fulfilling its terms. At the last day, the only one able to make this covenant with the Lord’s people will be the Lord himself.
The seven women are suffering from covenant curses, the effect of their covenant-breaking. This can be seen in three ways. First, Zion’s men have been felled by the sword. Second, they are suffering shame and reproach. Third, they wish to enter into a marriage covenant but they want to dictate the terms of the covenant. Zion is in a wicked and polluted state, and until she is cleansed she cannot receive the blessings of the covenant. Worse, Zion’s inhabitants think they are righteous: these people approach me with the mouth and pay me homage with their lips, while their heart remains far from me—their piety toward me consisting of commandments of men learned by rote (29:13).
Isaiah 48:1-2
1 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
you who are named Israel—
though you stem from the lineage of Judah—
who take oaths in the name of Jehovah
and invoke the God of Israel,
though not in truth or in righteousness,
2 who call yourselves of the holy city,
upheld by the God of Israel,
whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.
Isaiah 24:5-6
5 The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants:
they have transgressed the laws,
changed the ordinances,
set at nought the ancient covenant.
6 The curse devours the earth,
for those who dwell on it have incurred guilt;
because of it the population of the earth
shall be diminished
and little of mankind remain.
To summarize, the seven women represent the seven churches looking for a relationship with the Lord, but they wish to dictate the terms of their relationship. The number seven indicates that at the last day the Christian church as a whole will be polluted and suffering the effects of covenant curses. The seven women can also represent that all the institutions of the Gentile nations will be corrupt at the time Christ comes again. In particular, they will no longer rely for safety and security on the former covenants under which Jehovah had previously blessed them.
Although collectively the Gentile nations will be wicked and suffering covenant curses at the last day, righteous individuals will be looking for the coming of Jesus and seeking to honor the terms of his covenant with them. These individuals are exceptions to Isaiah’s description of the Gentile nations and their instititutions. However, in general these nations, institutions and churches reflect the knowledge and attitudes of their individual members.
Isaiah 27:12
In that day Jehovah will thresh out his harvest from the torrent of the River to the streams of Egypt. But you shall be gleaned one by one, O children of Israel.
Jeremiah 3:13-14
13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord.
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
To help us remove all doubt regarding the meaning of food and water in Isaiah 3:1 and Isaiah 4:1, Isaiah explicitly mentions later that food and drink are tokens of Jehovah’s covenant with his people. From Him as Lord and master all people who come may receive food and drink at no cost. It is the only food and drink which can satisfy the soul, and by partaking our souls shall enjoy abundance. He promises that he will abolish Death forever!
Isaiah 55:1-3
1 Attention, all who thirst; come for water!
You who have no money,
come and buy food, that you may eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
with no money and at no cost.
2 Why do you spend money on what is not bread,
your labor on what does not satisfy?
Hear me well: Eat what is good,
and your souls shall enjoy abundance.
3 Give ear and come unto me;
pay heed, that your souls may live!
And I will make with you an everlasting covenant.
Isaiah 25:6-7
6 In this mountain will Jehovah of Hosts prepare
a sumptuous feast for all peoples,
a feast of leavened cakes, succulent and delectable,
of matured wines well refined.
7 In this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
the shroud that shrouds all nations,
8 by abolishing Death forever.
My Lord Jehovah will wipe away
the tears from all faces;
he will remove the reproach of his people
from throughout the earth.
Jehovah has spoken it.
The following passage in Isaiah begins with the Lord’s righteous servant stating that he will not keep silent until a purified, righteous Zion is gathered in preparation to meet Christ. He then speaks directly to Zion, likening her to the bride of Christ.
Isaiah 62:1-3, 5
1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent;
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain still
till her righteousness shines like a light,
her salvation like a flaming torch.
2 The nations shall behold your righteousness
and all their rulers your glory;
you shall be called by a new name
conferred by the mouth of Jehovah.
3 Then shall you be a crown of glory
in the hand of Jehovah,
a royal diadem in the palm of your God.
5 …as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
Remember that Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. As Isaiah received his visions from Jehovah and wrote them down, he was recording covenants and imagery that Jesus would later explain during his own mortal ministry among the Jews. To a Samaritan woman he met at a well, he spoke of his ability to provide living water.
John 4:10
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Near the time of Passover, as Jesus was healing many people a great multitude was following him. On this occasion Jesus performed a miracle by feeding five thousand with five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus used this miracle to explain his mission to his people as Jehovah:
John 6:32-33, 35, 53-54, 66
32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
On a later occasion, Jesus elaborated on Isaiah’s allegory of a sumptuous feast for all peoples (25:6). The feast is for a wedding that a certain king makes for his son, the bridegroom. The king sends out servants to gather guests. The first guests which were bidden were not worthy, so he sends out his servants again, saying go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. Those who attend the wedding put on the wedding garment which is provided to them, symbolizing their participation in the marriage covenant which Jehovah makes with Zion.
Matthew 22:1-14
1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
In this allegory, the love that Jehovah has for his bride Zion should give us confidence. The call to gather Zion goes out to all people. The joy and glory which a purified Zion brings to the Lord brings honor to those who participate in the covenant and should fill us with joy and gratitude.
The scriptures are very clear that we must serve the Lord. We are commanded that we should not have any other gods before him, to desist from the things of man, and that cursed is he that putteth his trust in man. Food and clothing are covenantal tokens that reveal which master we are serving. Regarding food and clothing, at the Sermon on the Mount Christ said that your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Exodus 20:3
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Isaiah 2:22
22 Desist from the things of man,
in whose nostrils is but breath!
For of what consideration is he?
2 Nephi 28:31
31 Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 6:24-25, 32-34
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Recall that mammon is the riches of the world. By implication, if we are not serving God then we are serving the world for the riches thereof. Food and clothing are things that we receive from our Lord and master. Either we seek for the God of Israel for these things or we look to the institutions, precepts, and idols of the Gentiles.
Matthew 4:1-4
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
It should be enough for us to receive everything that the Father gives to us. At times we are asked to abstain from the bread of this world. Recall that Christ is the bread of life, and he is also the word. When we fast, our task is to sanctify ourselves, separating ourselves from the cares of the flesh so as to better hear the word of the Lord. Our sanctification becomes more complete when we take what we would have consumed and give it to the hungry.
St John 1:1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Isaiah 58:2-7, 9-11
2 Yet they importune me daily,
eager to learn my ways,
like a nation practicing righteousness
and not forsaking the precepts of its God.
They inquire of me concerning correct ordinances,
desiring to draw nearer to God:
3 Why, when we fast, do you not notice?
We afflict our bodies and you remain indifferent!
It is because on your fast day you pursue your own ends
and constrain all who toil for you.
4 You fast amid strife and contention,
striking out savagely with the fist.
Your present fasts are not such
as to make your voice heard on high.
5 Is this the manner of fasting I have required,
just a time for men to torment themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and making one’s bed of sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call that a fast,
a day of Jehovah’s good graces?
6 Is not this the fast I require:
To release from wrongful bondage,
to untie the harness of the yoke,
to set the oppressed at liberty
and abolish all forms of subjection?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry,
to bring home the wretchedly poor,
and when you see men underclad to clothe them,
and not to neglect your own kin?
9 Then, should you call, Jehovah will respond;
should you cry, he will say, I am here.
Indeed, if you will banish servitude from among you,
and the pointing finger and offensive speech,
10 if you will give of your own to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then shall your light dawn amid darkness
and your twilight become as the noonday.
11 Jehovah will direct you continually;
he will satisfy your needs in the dearth
and bring vigor to your limbs.
And you will become like a well-watered garden,
like a spring of unfailing waters.
At the last day there will be many people who know of God and his covenant. Some will directly reject the Lord, despite inheriting great wealth and prosperity from those who did keep the terms of the covenant. Others will grow complacent and careless, not noticing their iniquities or the Lord’s displeasure. Isaiah characterizes these people as complacent women and careless daughters [of Zion]. They have forgotten their Lord. Their prided self-sufficiency will be taken away from them during the Lord’s day of judgment; their produce shall fail to arrive when the harvest is over. God takes away from them the blessings of the covenant, hoping that they will turn and remember him.
Isaiah 32:9-13
9 Up, and listen to my voice, O complacent women;
you careless daughters, hear my words!
10 In little more than a year
you shall be in anguish, O carefree ones,
for when the harvest is over,
the produce shall fail to arrive.
11 Be alarmed, you complacent women;
be perturbed, O careless daughters!
Strip yourselves bare;
put sackcloth around your waists.
12 Beat your breasts for the choice fields
and flourishing vines,
13 for my people’s land
shall be overgrown with briars and thorns. …
Isaiah 17:10-11
10 For you have forgotten your God, your salvation,
and not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you plant choice crops
and sow hybrid seed,
11 and though you make them thrive
the day you plant them,
causing them to sprout
the very morning you sow them,
yet shall the harvest vanish
in a day of diseases and incurable pain.
To those in Zion who turn to the Lord when he calls them to repentance, he will soon take away those covenant curses. Notice that when the Lord’s people break their covenants their food and drink becomes bitter. Nevertheless, when the Lord’s people cleanse themselves of their iniquities it is their tormentors who experience the cursings.
Isaiah 30:20
20 Though my Lord give you the bread of adversity
and the water of affliction,
yet shall your Teacher remain hidden no longer,
but your eyes shall see the Master.
Isaiah 51:17, 21-23
17 Rouse yourself; awaken and rise up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from Jehovah’s hand
the cup of his wrath,
drinking to the dregs the bowl of stupor.
21 Now therefore hear this, O wretched one,
drunk, though not with wine.
22 Thus says Jehovah, your Lord and God,
who defends the cause of his people:
I am taking the cup of stupor from your hand;
you shall drink no more from the bowl of my wrath.
23 And I give it into the hand of your tormentors,
those who said of your life,
Lie prostrate that we may go over you—
so that you made your back as the ground,
a mere thoroughfare to passers-by.
Those who fight against Zion serve a different master. The food and drink they consume cannot satisfy, its effect as fleeting as a dream seen in the night.
Isaiah 29:7-8
7 And the nations amassed to fight against Ariel,
all who congregate at her stronghold
to distress her,
shall be as a dream seen in the night:
8 like a hungry man who dreams he eats
but awakens famished,
or like a thirsty man who dreams he drinks
but wakes up faint and craving.
So shall be all the nations
that amass to fight against Mount Zion.
Ignorance, foolishness, blindness, and insensibility—these are the consequences of getting drunk on the food and drink of a different master. Most of Jehovah’s own people, the elite and common man alike—even their watchmen—no longer perceive his hands at work. As their wicked condition progresses, they become like the wild beasts of the forest who know little more than devouring. If this continues, eventually they will consume themselves.
Isaiah 5:11-15
11 Woe to those who go after liquor
as soon as they arise in the morning,
who linger at night parties, inflamed by wine!
12 There are harps and lyres,
drums, flutes, and wine at their banquets,
but they regard not what Jehovah does,
nor perceive his hands at work.
13 Therefore are my people exiled
without knowing why;
their best men die of famine,
their masses perish with thirst.
14 Sheol becomes ravenous,
opening its mouth insatiably;
into it descend their elite with the masses,
their boisterous ones and revelers.
15 Mankind is brought low
when men debase themselves,
causing the eyes of the high-minded to be downcast.
Isaiah 56:9-12
9 All you wild beasts, you animals of the forest,
come and devour!
10 Their watchmen are altogether blind and unaware;
all of them are but dumb watchdogs unable to bark,
lolling seers fond of slumber.
11 Gluttonous dogs, and insatiable,
such indeed are insensible shepherds.
They are all diverted to their own way,
every one after his own advantage.
12 Come, they say, let us get wine
and have our fill of liquor.
For tomorrow will be like today, only far better!
Isaiah 49:26
26 I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh;
they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
And all flesh shall know that I Jehovah am your Savior,
that your Redeemer is the Valiant One of Jacob.
Just as food and water are covenantal tokens, clothing is also a token of the covenant. At the beginning of the Lord’s day of judgment, because the ancient covenant is broken the earth lies polluted under its inhabitants and a curse devours the earth (24:5-6). During the judgment the moth shall consume [the wicked] like a garment.
Isaiah 51:6, 8, 17
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens;
look on the earth beneath:
the heavens shall vanish as by smoke,
the earth wear out like a garment—
its inhabitants shall die in the manner of vermin.
But my salvation shall be everlasting;
my righteousness shall never fail.
8 For the moth shall consume them like a garment;
moths shall devour them like wool.
But my righteousness shall endure forever,
my salvation through endless generations.
17 Rouse yourself; awaken and rise up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from Jehovah’s hand
the cup of his wrath,
drinking to the dregs the bowl of stupor.
As his people ripen in iniquity the Lord brings to trial the elders of his people (Isaiah 3:12-14, 18). At that day he will strip away their finery – symbolic of their right to rule – and commision other servants who are righteous. These new servants will be given authority and clothed in the robes of the priesthood.
Isaiah 22:19-21
19 I will thrust you out of office;
you will be expelled from your post.
20 In that day I will commission my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
21 I will clothe him with your robe and bind your girdle on him; I will appoint him your jurisdiction. And he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
As covenant curses spread throughout the world, God will command his servants to gather the repentant to Zion. The inhabitants of a restored Zion will keep God’s covenants. The blessings they receive from keeping the covenant are likened to be clothed with power, glory, and salvation. God’s servants who mourned for Zion’s wickedness and afflictions and sacrificed to help her gather again are then made holy and are given robes of righteousness. These garments are likened to a bride clothed for her wedding, and symbolize the Lord’s covenant relationship with them.
Isaiah 51:1-2
1 Awake, arise; clothe yourself with power, O Zion!
Put on your robes of glory, O Jerusalem, holy city.
No more shall the uncircumcised and defiled enter you.
2 Shake yourself free, rise from the dust;
sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.
Loose yourself from the bands around your neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion.
Isaiah 61:3, 10
3 to endow those who mourn in Zion,
bestowing upon them a priestly headpiece
in place of ashes,
the festal anointing in place of mourning,
a resplendent robe in place of a downcast spirit.
They shall be called oaks of righteousness,
planted by Jehovah for his glory.
10 I rejoice exceedingly in Jehovah;
my soul delights in my God.
For he clothes me in garments of salvation,
he arrays me in a robe of righteousness—
like a bridegroom dressed in priestly attire,
or a bride adorned with her jewels.