Isaiah 3:24 - Exposition

Instead of sweet smell ; literally, spice (comp. Exodus 35:28 ; 1 Kings 10:10 , etc.). Stink ; rather, rottenness , as translated in Isaiah 5:24 (compare the cognate verb in Le 26:39). Instead of a girdle a rent. So Lowth and Kay; but most moderns prefer the meaning given by the Septuagint and Vulgate, "instead of a girdle, a rope ." The word used occurs only in this place. Instead of well-set hair baldness (compare above, Isaiah 5:17 ). By "well-set hair" seems to be meant "hair arranged with such exactness and order as to look like a work of art." The exact arrangement of the hair is very remarkable, both in the Egyptian and the Assyrian sculptures. Instead of such elaborate attempts to improve their looks, the daughters of Jerusalem would soon pluck their hair out by the roots, or shave it off, in mourning. A girding of sackcloth (comp. Genesis 37:34 ; 2 Samuel 3:31 , etc.; and for the adoption of the custom by women, see 2 Samuel 21:10 ; Joel 1:8 ). Burning instead of beauty . This meaning is now generally acknowledged, the sense of "burning" being borne out by the cognate verb used in Proverbs 6:28 ; Isaiah 43:2 , and the cognate noun used in Exodus 21:25 . The" burning" intended is probably branding by a barbarous enemy.