21 How the faithful city has become a harlot,
She who was full of justice!
Righteousness once lodged in her,
But now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross,
Your drink diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves a bribe
And chases after rewards.
They do not [h]defend the [i]orphan,
Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.24 Therefore the Lord [j]God of hosts,
The Mighty One of Israel, declares,
“Ah, I will be relieved of My adversaries
And avenge Myself on My foes.
25 “I will also turn My hand against you,
And will smelt away your dross as with lye
And will remove all your alloy.
26 “Then I will restore your judges as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
After that you will be called the city of righteousness,
A faithful city.”27 Zion will be redeemed with justice
And her [k]repentant ones with righteousness.
28 But [l]transgressors and sinners will be crushed together,
And those who forsake the Lord will come to an end.
29 Surely [m]you will be ashamed of the [n]oaks which you have desired,
And you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen.
30 For you will be like an [o]oak whose leaf fades away
Or as a garden that has no water.
31 The strong man will become tinder,
His work also a spark.
Thus they shall both burn together
And there will be none to quench them.
The scathing rebuke continues, and we see quite the contrast between two groups of people. Though I’m not speaking of the ones you’d expect, transgressors vs. sinners (v. 28). Rather, in v. 23 the wicked are chastised for not defending the widow or the orphan.
Time and again, God tells us to look to the interests of others, and especially widows and orphans. For all the world’s propaganda about the Bible denigrating women, God sure takes a special interest in protecting them. But that’s somewhat beside the point… Why must they be defended?
If you don’t already know, the answer will come pretty quickly with the contrast. Who will burn, along with their works, in v. 31? God prophecies that the strong man will be destroyed, with nothing to put out the fire. So we have the weak and the strong, and it reminds me of a passage our pastor read yesterday (Rom. 8:26), “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words…”
Why does God help the weak? Because they admit they need Him. And why does the strong man burn? Because he refuses to admit the truth, that he is also weak, and needs someone outside of himself. It isn’t that the fire could not be quenched, for God is all powerful. It is that in their pride, the strong do not ask for the fire to be put out.
Instead, they, and we, insist that we can put out the fire on our own. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only do we, most importantly, need God, but we need other people. Even capitalism (gasp) is built on this foundation, that everyone is serving somebody to earn money and provide food, housing, and everything their family needs. When it gets bent out of shape, when people get into business only to serve their own interests, it is destined to fail.
At any rate, God knows that we are weak already, this is no secret, it does not surprise him. After all, why should Paul also say “all have sinned”? The foregone conclusion is that all of us have weakness, and we need God to rescue us. If we find ourselves feeling a bit too strong, then we need to repent of it, for in truth it is pride that has snuck into our hearts, and that is a nasty virus indeed.
Confess your faults to God openly, and ask him to smelt away your dross, and your alloy (all the impurities). It may not be very much fun, but the result will always be worth it. He will refine you like silver, so that you will once more see His image, and find His heart reborn in you. Then you will be fit to look after widows and orphans, and to be a vessel that glorifies your Creator.