ISAIAH 3:16

     "The Lord says, 'The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on thier ankles.'"  (NIV)

The famous Isaiah scroll is one of the best-preserved manuscripts found when the Dead Sea scrolls were
discovered;  it contains the entire text of the book of Isaiah.   (Photo by John C.Trever)

      The prophet Isaiah wrote this book;  there is some debate that part of it may have been written by another author, but it  can't be proven one way or the other.  The book of Isaiah has been called the"Reader's Digest Condensed Version"  of the Bible... pretty amazing, since it was written thousands of years prior to the New Testament books, and years before most of the prophets as well.   The first section of Isaiah consists of 39 chapters;  the Old Testament has 39 books.  The second section of Isaiah consists of 27 chapters, mirroring the 27 books of the New Testament.  And, of course, its' total number of chapters is 66 - the same number of books in the Bible.  Some have also called the book of Isaiah "the fifth gospel", because, like the New Testament gospels, it gives such a clear portrayal of God's character as well as His plan of salvation.  The book of Isaiah provides more insight into the nature of God than any book in the Old Testament. And no other book of the Bible contains as many references to the coming Messiah.
  

painting from religiousreading.blogspot.com

      This "3:16" has a definite message: Open your eyes, repent, and be renewed... Judgement is coming... God will punish His people because of their rebellion and worship of false gods. This verse isn't a condemnation of wearing makeup, jewelry, or pretty clothes.  Rather it is a judgement against those who place more importance on those things than they do on God.  (Self-worship).
      In this section,  Isaiah was asking, "Why is it more important to you to gain approval based on your looks than on what you do with your life?  And, how can you possibly think that your trinkets and jewelry even matter when you are walking past human beings who are homeless or starving or abused?  How can you be so self-centered as to not see the suffering? Will you EVER open your eyes?"

     Pretty good question for us today, too, isn't it?