EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)
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I will give children to be their princes.—Better,
youths.The words may point obliquely to Ahaz, who had ascended the throne at the age of twenty (
2Chronicles 28:1). Manasseh was but twelve when he became king; Josiah but eight (
2Chronicles 33:1;
2Chronicles 34:1). In an Eastern monarchy the rule of a young king, rash and without experience, guided by counsellors like himself, was naturally regarded as the greatest of evils, and the history of Rehoboam had impressed this truth on the mind of every Israelite. (Comp.
Ecclesiastes 10:16.)
Isaiah 3:4-5.
And I will give children to be their princes— Either, 1st, Children in age, whose minority corrupt ministers of state commonly abuse, to the producing of much evil: or, 2d, In understanding and experience. When all the eminent persons, mentioned
Isaiah 3:2-3, were removed, the necessary consequence must be, that persons of no qualifications for government must succeed in their places. This also was fully accomplished in the succession of weak and wicked princes, from the death of Josiah to the destruction of the city and temple.
And the people shall be oppressed— By the command or permission of such childish rulers.
The child shall behave himself proudly,&c. — The child in understanding, or the young and inexperienced;
and the base against the honourable— “The usual effects,” says Lowth, “of a weak and unsettled government, where faction grows too hard for justice, and seditious men become so bold as openly to insult those that are in authority.”
3:1-9 God was about to deprive Judah of every stay and support. The city and the land were to be made desolate, because their words and works had been rebellious against the Lord; even at his holy temple. If men do not stay themselves upon God, he will soon remove all other supports, and then they must sink. Christ is the Bread of life and the Water of life; if he be our Stay, we shall find that is a good part not to be taken away, Joh 6:27. Here note, 1. That the condition of sinners is exceedingly woful. 2. It is the soul that is damaged by sin. 3. Whatever evil befals sinners, be sure that they bring it on themselves.
And I will give children - Not children in respect to age so much as in regard to talent for governing. I will commit the land to the government of weak and imbecile princes. This would naturally occur when the wise and great were removed; compare
Ecclesiastes 10:16 : 'Wo to thee, O land, when thy king is a child;' compare
Isaiah 3:12.
And babes shall rule ... - That is, babes in experience and knowledge. This was fully accomplished in the succession of weak and wicked princes that succeeded Isaiah, until the time of Zedekiah, the last of them, when the temple was taken by Nebuchadnezzar. - "Lowth."
4. children—in ability for governing; antithesis to the "ancient" (see Isa 3:12; Ec 10:16).
babes—in warlike might; antithesis to "the mighty" and "man of war."
Children; either,
1. In age, whose minority corrupt ministers of state commonly abuse to great mischiefs; or,
2. In understanding, experience, and manners; foolish, froward, unteachable, &c.
And I will give children to be their princes,.... Either in age, or in understanding, who are really so, or act like such; and in either sense, when this is the case, it is an unhappiness to a nation,
Ecclesiastes 10:16,
and babes shall rule over them; which is the same as before. The Targum is,
"the weak shall rule over them;''
such who are weak in their intellectuals, or are of mean pusillanimous spirits, "effeminate", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; and so as "children" are opposed to the "ancient", that should be taken away, these are opposed to "men of might" and courage, who would now be wanting: or "men of illusions", as in the margin; such as were subtle as foxes, and should deceive them, and impose upon them, and were audacious and impudent, and would mock at them, and despise them. So Jarchi and Abarbinel; and according to this sense of the word the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "mockers shall rule over them".
And I will give{d} childrento be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.(d) Not only in age: but in manners, knowledge and strength.
