Isaiah 3:15

What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts. WHAT MEAN YE (THAT) YE BEAT MY PEOPLE TO PIECES? - What right have ye to beat? etc (; Micah 3:2.) GRIND - by exactions, so as to leave them nothing. THE FACES OF THE POOR. "Faces," the persons, with the additional idea of it being openly and palpably done. Presence is expressed by 'face.'...

15._What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces? _He mentions also other particulars, from which it is evident that they ruled in a haughty, cruel and oppressive manner. It was not necessary that the Prophet should describe minutely everything deserving reproof in the princes; for from these few circumstances it is evident with what injustice and cruelty and tyranny they ruled. But to whom shall the poor betake themselves but to the magistrate, who ought to be the father of his country and the protector of the wretched? On this account he employs a vehement interrogation, _What? _as if he had said, “What effrontery is this! What cruelty and barbarity, to abuse the mean condition of the poor, so as to have no compassion on them!” By two comparisons he describes their cruel oppression mingled with pride. _Saith the Lord Jehovah of hosts. _That the reproof may have all the weight that it...

10-15 The rule was certain; however there might be national prosperity or trouble, it would be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked. Blessed be God, there is abundant encouragement to the righteous to trust in him, and for sinners to repent and return to him. It was time for the Lord to show his might. He will call men to a strict account for all the wealth and power intrusted to and abused by them. If it is sinful to disregard the necessities of the poor, how odious and wicked a part do they act, who bring men into poverty, and then oppress them!...

Verse Isaiah 3:15. _AND GRIND THE FACES_] The expression and the image is strong, to denote grievous oppression but is exceeded by the prophet Micah, Micah 3:1: - "Hear, I pray you, ye chiefs of Jacob, And ye princes of the house of Israel: Is it not yours to know what is right? Ye that hate good and love evil: Who tear their skins from off them, And their flesh from off their bones; Who devour the flesh of my people; And flay from off them their skin; And their bo

WHAT MEAN YE - What is your object? Or, What advantage is it to you? Or, By what right or pretence do you do this? BEAT MY PEOPLE TO PIECES - That is, that you trample on them; or cruelly oppress them; Psalms 94:5. AND GRIND THE FACES OF THE POOR - This is an expression also denoting great oppression. It is taken from the act of grinding a substance on a stone until it is worn away and nothing is left. So, by their cruel exactions, by their injustice to the poor, they exhausted their little property until nothing was left. The word “faces” here is synonymous with “persons” - or with the poor themselves. The word “face” is often used in the sense of “person;” Exodus 33:14;...

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 3:1 GOD'S JUDGMENT UPON JERUSALEM. The general denunciations against Israel of the two preceding chapters are here turned especially against Jerusalem. God will deprive her of all her superior and more honorable classes (Isaiah 3:1); and will give her "children" for her rulers (Isaiah 3:4). There will be continued oppression, and the rise of an insolent and undutiful spirit (Isaiah 3:5). Those fit to bear rule will refuse to do so (Isaiah 3:6,...

WHAT MEAN YE, [THAT] YE BEAT MY PEOPLE TO PIECES,.... Reduce them to the utmost poverty; so the Targum, "wherefore do ye impoverish my people?'' as they did by exacting tithes of all that they possessed; by requiring large sums for their long prayers; and by various traditions they enjoined them to observe: AND GRIND THE FACES OF THE POOR? either by smiting them on the cheek, as Christ, who became poor for our sakes, was smitten by them; or by bringing them into such low circumstances, by their exorbitant demands, that they had not sufficiency of food to eat; by which means their faces became pale, thin, and meagre: SAITH THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS: who saw all their actions, and was able to plead his people's cause, and take vengeance on their oppressors....

CHAPTER 3 Judgments upon the Rulers and the Daughters Of Zion 1. _The judgment against the rulers (Isaiah 3:1)_ 2. _Jerusalem's sad condition (Isaiah 3:8)_ 3. _Jehovah's message (Isaiah 3:10)_ 4. _The worldliness of the daughters of Zion (Isaiah 3:16)_ 5. _Their humiliation in judgment (Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 4:1)_ This chapter describes the corrupt conditions among the professing people of God in Isaiah's day. A similar corruption and worldliness pr

YAHWEH JUDGES THE RULERS. Probably an independent oracle, presumably, though not certainly, uttered early in Isaiah's career. Yahweh has taken up the cause of the wronged, and calls elders and princes to account. They are the keepers of the vineyard (Isaiah 5:1), but they have abused their position to their own profit; they crush Yahweh's people, and grind between the millstones the faces of the poor. ISAIAH 3:13. Isaiah would hardly speak of a judgment of the nations. Read his people (LXX)....

BEAT. crush. SAITH. is the oracle of. the Lord....