The Book of Isaiah
The Filthy Rags of Isaiah 64.6

The purpose of this work is to guide you in Spirit Filled interpretation of this "Selected Study". As necessary we will provide outlines, historical backgrounds, note the purpose and focus of the text, and also provide the original hebrew language definitions for the key words in the highlighted text. The English translation used is the King James (Authorized) Version, not because it is the best translation available, but because I just plain prefer it for study!

All Scripture text will be presented in normal cased lettering, and all notes within the text will be in TRUE TYPE FONT, as shown. This (I hope) will allow you to avoid confusion between God's Word and my notes. As I update this website, I will continue to embellish the text so that anyone using NETSCAPE 3.0 or MICROSOFT 3.0 or higher will be able to read the document easier.
 

An excellent site to study Biblical Hebrew is by Lee R. Martin, Biblical Hebrew. The following are excerpts from his Hebrew Dictionary (if you want more, go to his site):

ABSOLUTE: In Hebrew Greek grammar, a word is absolute when it stands independently and has no grammatical relation to other elements in the sentence. The most common instance in Greek is the genitive absolute.

ABSOLUTE STATE: The Hebrew absolute together with a word in the construct state expresses the genitive. Do not confuse with the infinitive absolute. Heb: king (absolute); horse of (construct) the king (absolute), i.e., the king's horse (genitive).

ACCIDENCE: That part of grammar that treats inflection; a subcategory of morphology.

ACCUSATIVE CASE: A substantive used as the direct object of a transitive verb is said to be in the accusative case. In Greek, the accusative is the case of extension. Heb: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Gk: "He gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

ACCUSATIVE ENDING: In Hebrew see DIRECTIVE h.

ACTIVE VOICE: In the active voice, the subject is the doer of the action that is expressed by the verb.

AKTIONSART: German for "kind of action."

ANARTHROUS: A word that appears without the article is anarthrous.

ARAMAIC: A branch of the northwest Semitic languages that is closely related to Hebrew. In the OT Masoretic text, Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Dan. 2:4b-7:28; and Jer. 10:11 are in Aramaic rather than Hebrew. Aramaic had become the common language of the Jewish people by NT times.

CASE: Case shows the grammatical relation of inflected forms such as nouns and pronouns to other words (nominative, possessive, objective cases).

CAUSATIVE VERB: A transitive verb that can be said to cause the action depicted in a corresponding intransitive verb. Ex: lay ("cause to lie") is the causative of lie; raise, the causative of rise.

DIRECT OBJECT: The word, phrase, or clause that is the primary goal or result of the action of the verb (cf. accusative case); the person or thing is directly affected by the action of the verb. Heb: "God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Gr: "He grabbed him and began to choke him" (Matt. 18:28).

GENITIVE: The case that expresses possession or specifies a relationship that can be expressed in English by "of." In Hebrew this is called a construct relationship. The Greek genitive is the specifying case answering the question "What kind?" Heb: "the expanse of the sky" (Gen. 1:21). Gk: "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4).

GUTTURALS: The mute consonants whose sounds are produced when the front of the tongue approaches the palate of the mouth. Four letters in Hebrew, a h j and [ are the guttural letters (r has some guttural characteristics). Hebrew gutturals cannot be doubled, prefer a-class vowels, and composite shevas. In Greek, the guttural letters are g k and c also called velars, laryngeals, or palatals.

HITHPAEL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action (classified by some grammars as causative action) and reflexive voice. For this emphasis in Greek, middle voice. Heb: "A group of adventurers gathered around [lit., gathered themselves around] him" (Judg. 11:3).

HOPHAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses causative action and passive voice. Heb: "Let seven of his male descendants be given [hophal] to us" (2 Sam. 21:6).

IMPERATIVE: A verb or verbal mood that expresses command or makes a request.

IMPERFECT: In Hebrew, the form of the verb used to express action that is incomplete or unfinished. Heb: "What if they do not believe me" (Exod. 4:1). The Greek imperfect tense expresses incomplete, linear action in past time. Gk: "People were eating and drinking..." (Luke 17:28). Other regular uses of the tense include iterative, frequentative, inceptive, and conative.

INFINITIVE: A verbal noun that has characteristics of both verbs and nouns. In English usually introduced by to. Hebrew has both infinitive absolute and infinitive construct forms. Heb: "I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land" (Gen. 15:7). The Greek infinitive is used as a substantive, in subordinate clauses, with prepositions, and in epexegesis. Gk: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).

INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE: A form of the Hebrew infinitive that may function in a number of ways: to express certainty or intensification ("you will surely die," Gen. 2:17); to express repeated or continued action ("Be ever hearing," Isa. 6:9); as a finite verb ("They...broke the jars," Judg. 7:19); to express an emphatic imperative ("Remember the Sabbath day," Exod. 20:8).

MASORETIC TEXT: The vocalized text of the Hebrew Bible, prepared by a group of Jewish scholars around A.D. 700 to preserve the oral pronunciation of the Hebrew words.

MOOD: Mood indicates the manner in which the action is conceived (or its relation to reality). Moods are indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and optative. Mood may be expressed by finite verbs in Greek and by various means (form, words, or context) in Hebrew. Mode.

NIPHAL: A verbal form (stem) in Hebrew that expresses simple action and passive or reflexive voice. Heb: "She was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah" (1 Sam. 18:19).

OPTATIVE MOOD: The mood of possibility and more doubtful assertion that expresses wish or desire. See also jussive and cohortative. Heb: "If only we had died in Egypt!" (Num. 14:2). Gk: "Maythe Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance" (2 Thess. 3:5).

PARTICIPLE: A verbal form that has characteristics of both noun and verb. In Hebrew it represents characteristic, continual, uninterrupted action. Heb: "The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Gen. 1:2). The Greek participle is widely used as a substantive, adjective, and adverb in phrases and clauses. Gk:"...in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him" (1 Peter 1:21).

PARTICLE: A unit of speech that is ranked as an uninflected word but expresses some kind of syntactical relationship or some general aspect of meaning. Some grammarians classify all conjunctions, prepositions, and negatives as particles.

PASSIVE VOICE: A voice form of the verb that represents the subject as receiver of the action. Heb: "This land was given to us as our possession" (Ezek. 11:15). Gk: "You were marked in him with a seal" (Eph. 1:13).

PERFECT/PERFECT TENSE: In Hebrew, this form of the verb is used to express completed action, whether in reality or in the thought of the speaker or writer. Heb: rm'v; is a perfect form of the verb and would be translated "he guarded." The Greek perfect tense, by contrast, represents a state of completion with abiding results and is often translated as a present perfect. Gk: The perfect leluke would be rendered "he has released."

PIEL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action and active voice. Heb: "They destroyed the high places and the altars" (2 Chron. 31:1).

PREPOSITION: A word that shows relationships between its object and some other word in the sentence. Some common English prepositions are in, to, from, with, above, for, by.

PRETERITE: A Latin name for the past tense; it is the equivalent of the perfect in Hebrew and the aorist indicative in Greek.

PUAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses intensive or emphatic action and passive voice. Heb: "There was Baal's altar, demolished" (Judg. 6:28).

QAL: A verbal form in Hebrew that expresses simple action and active voice; it is sometimes spelled Kal. Ex:"Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew" (Gen.25:34).

REFLEXIVE VOICE: Denotes an action that is directed back upon the agent or subject; expressed in Hebrew by the niphal and the hithpael, in Greek by the middle voice.Heb: "I have...kept myself from sin" (Ps. 18:23). Gk: "Then he went away and hanged himself" (Matt. 27:5).

ROOT: That part of a word left when all affixes are removed; the morpheme that carries the minimal unit of meaning in a word and can be common to several different words. The three consonants in Hebrew that ordinarily compose the basic uninflected spelling of a word are called the root letters. Occasionally a Hebrew word may have two or four root letters. Gk: the root dik- is common to dikaio", "righteous," dikh, "justice," and dikaiow, "to acquit." Also called "Lexeme."

STATIVE VERB, STATIC VERB: A stative verb is one that indicates a state of being or relationship rather than action. In Hebrew, its vowel pattern is different from that of verbs of action or motion. Greek statives include eijmi, ginomai, and uJparcw. Heb: "the hands...will be strengthened (2 Sam. 16:21). Gk: "Who, being in very nature God" (Phil. 2:6).

STEM: The noun or verb base formed by the addition of derivational affixes to the root. Thus, in Greek, doro- is the stem of the noun doron, "gift"; do- is the root, ro is the affix (in this case, a suffix). Also called base in recent grammars. In Hebrew, the term is used to designate verb forms that express certain kinds of action and voice; the major Hebrew verbal stems are qal, niphal, piel, pual, hithpael, hiphil, and hophal.

STRONG VERB: In Hebrew, the regular verb whose stem consonants do not change, i.e., remain unmodified in conjugation, in contrast to the weak verb. In Greek, a tense stem formed from the verb stem or root itself by vowel gradation.

VOICE: Voice is a modification of a verb that tells whether the subject of the verb acts or is acted upon. There are three voices in English, Hebrew, and Greek: active, passive, and reflexive.

WEAK VERB: In Hebrew, the verbs with gutturals or weak letters ( n in first root position, y and w in first or second root position, identical second and third root letters) as radicals, which produce modifications in the conjugation, in contrast to the strong verb. In Greek, a tense stem formed by adding a suffix to the verb stem or root.

If you discover obvious errors (as I am human, and do make mistakes), please let me know. Do not contact me to argue about the doctrinal differences that you may have with my teaching. I do not argue Theology with anyone, so all Legalists, cultists, and others with extremist views, please save your (and my) time. If you want to discuss your doctrinal differences, or share a viewpoint, please contact me at Didaskalos Ministries. I am not so arrogant as to think I know it all, or even 1% of what the scripture teaches.

Isaiah 64:6  "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

Rarely has God made a statement more profound than that of Isaiah 64.6, and yet rarely has a passage been more misinterpreted or ignored in all of Scripture. Years ago, in one of the first Sermons I ever preached, I preached out of this passage. While I preached the sermon certain Pharisees sat in the crowd and plotted my overthrow, maligned my character, and did everything within their power to drive me from God's ministry. Of course, they did not succeed, but this in itself is a testament to the all protecting hand of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Why such a fuss over the preaching of this one verse? Well, because God uses specifically harsh language in this text. Also, each of us, no matter how well meaning, have a sense that we are intrinsically righteous in and of ourselves. We think we're pretty good people, pretty moral people, pretty fine people. Yet God, in this one verse, shows how terribly inefficient and disgusting our righteousnesses are when compared to His holy, pure state of being. Our righteousnesses have led us to several evils that have hindered the Church of Christ.

1. We believe that we are so righteous that we have the authority to pick and choose which Scriptural texts we will support. If a Scriptural text fails to conform to our idea of how God should be, we have no problem (for we are righteous) with modifying it, adding to or taking away from it.

a. For instance, we believe that we have the right to modify this text:

1 Timothy 2:11-3.2   "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.   But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.   For Adam was first formed, then Eve.  And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.   Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.  This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.  A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant ..."

Oh, how this verse has been tortured in recent days. How dare Paul suggest that only men be offered the Office of Bishop in the Church? How dare he? Doesn't he know that women are just as capable as men, that women have proven they can do everything that a man can do? Let's modify this verse. Let's invent reasons to ignore the context, and presume on God to tell HIM what HE should have said.

Let me hasten to say that these verses were not written to disparage women (if you think Paul hated women, please refer to Romans 16), but to explain that God designed men and women for specific purposes. No, God never intended women to take authority over the man in the Church, and Paul even explains why in the context. BUT let us depart, and tell God how HE should have said it. No, no, women should be Pastors just as well as men. Right?

Well, no, that's wrong. When the woman finds the way to righteously become the "husband of one wife" as the Scripture states, then and only then can the woman become a Pastor of a Church. The Greek text is very specific: "husband" is the Greek ANER, man, not GUNE, which would be "woman", and "wife" is GUNE, meaning, you guessed it, "woman". Literally, the Bishop or Pastor must be a "the man of one woman", or in the vernacular of today, "a one woman man". God could have worded that differently if He wanted, but He worded the text exactly the way He meant it. Yes, Virginia, unless the woman can become the "husband" in marriage, then she is not authorized by God to be the Senior Pastor or Bishop.

b. But wait, Virginia, there is a way that this can happen. Let's modify this text:

Leviticus 18:22  "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."

You see, when God was forbidding homosexuality in the Old Testament, He was forbidding only those who were not born homosexuals to practice homosexuality. At least, this is what the Liberal tells me. You see, God really didn't mean that it was wrong for man to lie with man as he would a woman. No, what God really meant was that this is wrong for people who weren't (sic) born homosexuals. all right, now I see! Homosexuality is only a sin if you're not genetically predisposed to it. In other words, according to Liberal Theology, homosexuals who were born homosexuals can be that way righteously. This verse:

1 Corinthians 6:9  "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves (ARSENOKOITES = sodomites, those who have sexual intercourse anally) with mankind"

Obviously only refers to Sodomites or Homosexuals who are NOT this was genetically. Well, if that's the case, then I guess that a woman CAN be the "husband of one wife". For when we twist the Scripture till all of God is banished from its text, we can make homosexuality (if its "genetically fine") permissible. If we do that, a woman can marry another woman and become the husband of one wife, and in so doing she can Pastor a Church. It all interconnects, right?

The only thing that interconnects is that lies and deceit can demolish God's Word, and destroy a life. Unless you repent, you can NOT be saved. Which brings us to point #2:

2. Some people have the idea that their innate goodness will get them a free ride into Heaven. No, it won't. Jesus told the story of two men who stood before God. One said:

Luke 18:11-12  "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.   I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess."

Yes, there are many like this Pharisee in our world today, in our Churches, in our clubs. They assume that, because they are "good", they shall automatically go to Heaven. No, dear friend, unless you repent and turn your life over to Jesus, you will see that Lake of Fire one day. The publican stood before God and said:

Luke 18:13-14  "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

The publican was justified, saved because he repented and asked God for forgiveness. He did not rely on his own righteousness, which are as filthy rags.

O.K., back to Isaiah 64.6. The verse has two words that must be interpreted if you are to understand its import. First, the word "filthy". There are eight Biblical words used to denote filthiness:

1. 'ALACH = To turn morally corrupt
2. 'ED = The bodily fluids from the woman's menstrual cycle
3. MARA = To be filthy, to lift up self, to maltreat
4. TSOW = Clothing that is soiled from excrement
5. TUM'AH = Religious impurity, unclean, filthy
6. NeCHOSHETH = Rusted filthy metal
7. TSOW'AH = Excrement, dung, filthy pollution from the body
8. NIDDAH = A menstruating woman

God could have used any word for "filthy", but chose to use the most shocking word of the group. Yes, He used 'ED, the "bodily fluids from the woman's menstrual cycle". If you doubt me, look it up. The word is key #5708 in the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. The Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon further states, "an appointed time, specially to the monthly courses of women, a menstrous cloth". The other word, "rags", is the Hebrew BEGED (Strong's #899), and means "a rag or garment". What was God literally saying? He was saying that our righteousnesses are like soiled feminine hygiene products!

Now, I have had people get up and walk out of Church on hearing this truth, and you feel free to do so if you want - but frankly, God's Word is God's Word. God had a specific reason for using such shocking language. You see, God specified in the Mosaic Code:

Leviticus 15. 19-27  "And if a woman have an issue, [and] her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until the even. And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until the even. And if it [be] on [her] bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she [shall be] unclean. Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until the even."

That when a woman was in her menstrual cycle, everything she touched was considered unclean. Whoever touched her was unclean (verse 19), her bed was unclean (vs 20), and man was not to lie with her sexually while she was in this cycle. Why did God use the illustration of the soiled menstrual clothing to describe our human righteousness? There are several reasons for this.

First, God knew that His people, Israel, understood (though they did not obey) the Laws of cleanliness He established in Leviticus. Many of these Laws were health codes that prevented the spread of disease in the ancient Nomadic Tribes of Israel. These were Laws that insured Israel's continuing survival. Self Righteousness, much like the condition of the soiled menstrual clothing, is disease carrying. When people bring a self righteous attitude into Church they push out the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ:

Romans 3:21-26  "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;   Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:   For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;   Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:   Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;   To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

To ignore the provided salvation in Christ for your own righteousness is as filthy, before God, as menstrually stained clothing was to the average Jew. When we set ourselves up over God's Word or His chosen Pastor, we are indeed filthy in God's eyes - as filthy as used and soiled clothing (2 Thes 3.10-15).

Second, just as the orthodox Jew would not touch a woman in her season, we should refuse to allow self righteousness in our periphery. We are all sinners, and by the saving power of Jesus alone become clean enough to enter into God's presence. There is nothing we can do of ourselves to make ourselves acceptable - our righteousnesses are as menstrually stained clothing!

Third, the Pastor who teaches and preaches cleanliness outside of Christ allows abomination into the Church. We are called to preach Christ's righteousness to the unsaved, salvation by faith in the Son who died for us, then rose again to sit on the right hand of God the Father. We must avoid the "I", and point to the "He". We must reject our word, and fully rely on His.

If not, one day you will stand before Him only to hear:

Matthew 7:22-23  "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

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