Damage Control
For seven women will take hold of one man on that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our disgrace!” Isaiah 4:1 NASB
Disgrace – What will happen once God begins His judgment of Israel. Well, a whole lot of men are going to die. In fact, so many men will die that there won’t be enough males left to repopulate the society. This will lead to a very difficult moral and societal problem. Seven women will come after each available man in order to become pregnant. Of course, it’s hyperbole, but the point is made. In the aftermath of war, many women will not bear children. And in the ancient society of Israel, childlessness was a disgrace. This shouldn’t surprise you. Remember Hannah? Sarah? Naomi? In ancient Israel, propagation of the family name was of tantamount importance. If children are not born, the civilization will collapse. Israel will be no more.
It’s interesting that the modern Western world faces essentially the same crisis, but not because of war. It faces the same crisis because of ego. Let me explain. Most countries in the West no longer have enough children to replace the population. The required family fertility rate for replacement is 2.1 children per woman. In Europe, today the average ranges between 1.13 in Malta to 1.84 in France. In contrast, the poorest African nations run between 6.6 and 3.0.[1] Central and South America have fertility rates capable of replacing the population, but no country in Europe, North America, the Westernized Arab states, or China produces enough children to maintain the society. In other words, one day there will no longer be French, British, Italians, Germans, Saudis, Canadians, Americans, or Chinese. They will simply die out and be replaced by African, South Americans, Central Americans and undeveloped Arabians.
This is not the result of a lack of men due to war. This is a result of personal decisions making life style and financial income more important than having children (and also, of course, millions of abortions). Today there is a certain social status for not having children. “You’re saving the planet.” “You’re deciding not to bring a child into this terrible world.” “You’re making the hard choice.” What a shift in thinking! The West will bury itself in its addiction to consumption. The poor will inherit the earth simply by procreation. There is a point where no matter what happens later the population cannot recover from the downward spiral. Most Western and Westernized countries have reached that point. There is an important exception: Israel.
Isaiah’s prophecy wasn’t about the TFR (Total Fertility Rate). It was about the public shame of not bearing children. But that tells us something amazing about the difference between our world and the world of ancient Israel. It demonstrates the logical end of a civilization focused entirely on self. Modern Israel is an exception for exceptional reasons. It still retains the idea of an obligation to national identity. Most of the West lost that years ago—and the result will be the demise of Western manifest destiny.
Topical Index: fertility rate, children, Western civilization, Isaiah 4:1
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_total_fertility_rate
About 10 years ago I was listening to a Colorado radio station. The Christian talk show host was bemoaning the reality of the huge local population of Muslims. I suddenly realized that it is the direct result of Christians refusing to obey the very first commandment “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” while Islam takes it seriously. When I called in and made my comment, he was speechless for a long several seconds. Then he acknowledged that this was something he’d never heard of nor considered before but that it was a good point.
The 1970’s experienced a huge influx of eastern and middle eastern “refugees” and it didn’t take any time at all in the whole scope of things to utterly obliterate the American culture through simple obedience to the first commandment. What a surprise.
Why is there disgrace/shame in childlessness for the women of Israel? Because at that time, following the fall and preceding the incarnation of the Word, the form of the work of God’s advancement of His Kingdom in the world was given to his people Israel in the context of their covenant relationship with God (YHVH), the King who is Sovereign over all things. It was not merely that Israel as a nation would collapse, but that the entire creation— to include all of the civilizations of mankind— would also collapse. In short, without the people of God there is no advance of the work of God— that is, God’s Heavenly Kingdom— present in the world.
Was this also the perspective and understanding of God’s people, Israel? Undoubtably, among many Israelites, it was; (although before the indwelling Spirit of God was made present it was largely understood as a work of human obedience and effort, even requiring a a military capacity and function). And while the fine line of distinction between national identity and God’s work of the advancement of His Kingdom was less clear in the world of ancient Israel— it was made possible— but only by God’s presence among them in the exclusive context of his covenant relationship with them.
Christians would do well to consider and reflect on the difference of our world and the world of ancient Israel. If one is a true person of faith— faith in God’s own faithfulness to Himself as he is in himself— we now, each and all, have the very indwelling presence of the Spirit, whose power to perform the work of God’s desire for a new creation (in which righteousness can and does dwell) far surpasses the ideals of Western manifest destiny. This is the supernal destiny to be made manifest as the new creation whereby God’s work for an abiding/eternal presence among his people is fully and finally/eternally obtained. So let’s get on with making our calling and election certain/sure— being the temple of God by whom God may abide among his people— and, moreover, without the shame of disgrace.
“Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘It is necessary for you to be born again— from above.’ “ (Cf. John 3:7)