Lame Leaders & Their Licentious Women | Isaiah 3:13-25

A message on the power of women

Welcome to Gateways, where you experience the Nevi’im—the Prophets—through the teachings of Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, distilled into easy-to-follow lessons.

In today’s lesson we’ll study one of the most stinging rebukes Isaiah had for the inept leadership who preyed on the people and their licentious women.

My additions here are in italics. I’ve used bold to highlight key ideas and make the content easier to follow. As usual, this is a slightly abridged version.

I’ve included a brief overview, the verses, Abarbanel’s questions and his answers. I’ll conclude with a short takeaway of my own.

Jeff

Overview

The overall intent of this prophecy is to foretell the punishments of the people of Judah and Jerusalem for the two transgressions of which they were guilty: the first, the wickedness of the leaders; and the second, the haughtiness and foolishness of the licentious women.

Leighton, Frederic - Jezabel and Ahab - c.1863 via Wikimedia Commons.

Verses

13. The Lord is ready for His case to be heard: He stands up now to judge nations.

14. The Lord is coming to trial with His people’s elders, its princes: “It is you who have ragged the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your homes.

15. By what right do you crush My people, grinding the faces of the poor?” So speaks the Lord God of Hosts.

16. The Lord says: Because the daughters of Zion are proud, walking with their heads poised, casting their eyes around them, walking their dainty walk, their feet ringing with anklets,

17. the Lord will scab over the skulls of the daughters of Zion; the Lord will lay their heads bare.

Questions

We’ll cover Abarbanel’s fourth and fifth questions on this prophecy, as well as one of my own.

The fourth question concerns his statement, “The Lord is ready for His case to be heard: He stands up now to judge nations.” For if the “peoples” here refers to the nations, the entire verse becomes difficult, as it would be out of place… Why mention the other nations in a passage directly about the people of Israel?

But if “peoples” refers to Israel, then the statement “The Lord is coming to trial with His people’s elders” becomes redundant after he has already said “and stands up now to judge nations.” So who is God judging, the nations or the leaders of Israel?

The fifth question concerns his statement, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud…,” for the style of the passage indicates that because the daughters of Zion grew haughty, all the calamities mentioned will come upon them—including what is stated immediately afterward: “Your men shall fall by the sword, and your warriors in battle, and her gates shall lament and mourn.” This is very difficult, for such a severe punishment does not correspond to the sin.

Their sin was quite minor: that the daughters of Zion became haughty in their foolishness, walked with an affected gait, and made their steps tinkling. How can we say that because of this Jerusalem and Judah will be desolated, and its men will fall by the sword, until seven women will take hold of one man? It would have been fitting that the punishment fall upon the women who sinned, not on the men who did not sin.

And for one of my own, why are these seemingly unrelated crimes described in the same prophecy?

Answers

I believe, however, that the verse does not come to inform us that God judges the ends of the earth and judges the nations, for this has already been stated earlier, and this is not the proper place for it. Rather, “the LORD is ready for His case to be heard” serves as a prelude to what follows—as if to say:

Since the LORD is ready for His case to be heard to judge peoples, because He is the Judge of all the earth who gives to each person according to his ways and the fruit of his deeds, then all the more so the LORD must enter into judgment with the elders of His people and its officers.

For it is more proper—and prior—for a good judge to judge and correct the people of his own household before he judges and corrects others. And it is more fitting that He judge the elders and officers, upon whom disgrace and wrongdoing are more serious and blameworthy—particularly since their sin involved taking advantage of the poor—than to judge the common people.

This, then, is the meaning of “the LORD is ready for His case to be heard.”

….With all this, the text now answers the earlier statement “My people—its oppressors are children,”—people without understanding acting in their self interest—and this resolves the fourth question.

….And after this, he returns to rebuke the women who ruled over them because of their licentiousness, as it is said, “And women ruled over him.”

The women at this time took advantage of the leaders by being seductive and hence—controlling them. And now it makes sense why these two crimes are indeed related. The men were crushing the common people at the behest of the women who drove them further into moral decrepitude.

Takeaway

Sadly, the trope of weak men being controlled by evil women predates the time period Isaiah was discussing. The picture above depicts Ahab and Jezebel being visited by Eliyahu. Jezebel is defiant, confident that she was right to coerce her husband to steal what didn’t belong to him.

I think there is a modern—and perhaps more secular—critique of the Bible that goes like this: women get the blame for everything. Starting with Eve, we find that the תנ״ך is full of examples of women who cause their men to sin.

But I see another perspective. The Bible’s narrative is almost exclusively about sins, since those are the times when we can learn how to be better. So there is a powerful message here. Women are not evil. They have power. They can use that power to advance their husbands and influence future generations, like Sarah, Rivkah, Leah, and Rachel. Or they can use their sway for evil.

Forgive me for taking a small tangent here that illustrates the point of this lesson in a small way. I’d like to share a video I came across that was just published this past week. In it, Israeli singer Bini Landau sings an absolutely lovely Shabbat song, God I Yearn, written by Rabbi Aharon of Karlin. It is dedicated in memory of Teferit Lapidot ה״יד, a girl who was seeking God in her own way and was killed on October 7 at the Nova festival. In the video, family and friends join the song.

Here are the lyrics, loosely translated:

~~~
God, I yearn for the sweetness of Shabbat—

the Shabbat that harmonizes and unites with Your treasured people.

Draw down the pleasantness of Your awe upon the nation that seeks Your will.

Sanctify them with the holiness of Shabbat,

the Shabbat that joins together with Your Torah.

Open for them delight and favor,

so they may open the gates of Your favor.

The One who was and is—

guard those who keep and eagerly await Your holy Shabbat.

“As a deer longs for streams of water,”

so their souls long to receive the sweetness of Shabbat,

the Shabbat united with Your holy Name.

Protect those who delay separating from Shabbat,

so that the six days—

which receive their holiness from Your holy Shabbat—

not be closed off from them.

Purify their hearts in truth and with faith,

so they may serve You.

May Your mercies overflow upon Your attributes,

and may Your mercies overflow upon Your holy people—

to give drink to those thirsty for Your kindness

from the river that flows out of Eden,

to crown Israel with the splendor

of those who glorify You through Your holy Shabbat

all six days of the week,

bequeathing to them the heritage of Jacob, Your chosen one.

Shabbat is the delight of souls,

the seventh day is the pleasure of spirits,

and Eden for the inner beings—

to be refined in Your love and Your awe.

Holy Shabbat—my soul is lovesick for You.

Holy Shabbat—

the souls of Israel, in the shade of Your wings,

find shelter and are satiated

from the richness of Your house.

~~~

Watch it for yourself all the way till then end, on YouTube, or here:

And finally, one of the viewers, @imalele, left this comment on the video. I think this captures it all.

A shiver of excitement, sorrow, pride, and joy —
fortunate is the nation whose daughters are like her,
fortunate is the nation whose children are like these.

Tiferet’s radiant smile in the video at the end,
when she sings with her eyes closed from some far edge of the world,
accompanies me every Shabbat.
It reminds me what simplicity of longing is,
what purity without theatrics looks like,
what love is, in its own way.

Thank you for a child who brought light into the world.
We are moved for you — that you were blessed to accompany her here,
that she chose you and no one else
for this short yet immense journey,
and what an incredible job you did protecting her light.

We love you with all our hearts. ❤

Tiferet — wondrous, radiant, longing and beloved —
may her soul be bound in the bond of life. 🙏🏼