What does Isaiah chapter 4 verse 1 mean?

Answer 1

Isaiah 4:1: "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. "

The context is clear, but the verse itself is enigmatic. Isaiah is talking of times of war. First Isaiah wrote during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah. Israel, the northern Hebrew kingdom, had only just been destroyed and some had escaped from Israel and fled south into Judah (Isaiah 4:2), and there was despair that Judah would be next.

It is easy to imagine such heavy losses of manpower that six out of every seven men are killed. Only the bravest or most desperate would go to war on those terms. But for the survivors, there will be many women, life will be good and they will be called holy in Jerusalem: (Isaiah 4:2-3) "In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem".

The enigmatic nature of Isaiah also lends itself to other interpretations. Burton L Mack says that one can ask any question of The Bible and get some kind of - even his own students at the School of Theology at Claremont, if at the first study of a text it does not seem to support a traditional Christian conviction, or the one hopes to find in the Bible, can look for another to the same question, until the right appears. So, I have even seen interpretations of Isaiah 4:1 that claim it to be a prophecy of Jesus Christ.