Isaiah 3:7

7 He lifteth up, in that day, saying: `I am not a binder up, And in my house is neither bread nor garment, Ye do not make me a ruler of the people.'

Isaiah 3:7 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 3:7

In that day shall he swear
Or "lift up", that is, his hand ^F5, which was a gesture used in swearing, and therefore is so rendered; the meaning is, that he shall at once immediately give an answer, and for the solemn confirmation of it shall say an oath with it, saying, I will not be a healer,
or "a binder"; that is, of wounds, of political wounds, made in the nation, and which were incurable. See ( Isaiah 1:6 ) for the meaning is, that he neither was fit to be, nor could he be, a healer of the distempered state of the nation, it was so desperately bad. The Targum is,

``I am not fit to be a head or governor;''

and so Kimchi explains it of a governor, who, he says, is so called, because he binds and imprisons those that transgress his commands; and to this sense Jarchi and Abarbinel: for in my house [is] neither bread nor clothing;
not a sufficiency of either to support such grandeur and dignity; not enough to keep a proper table, and a suitable equipage: make me not a ruler of the people;
this shows that the state of the nation must be very bad indeed, that men, who are naturally ambitious of power and honour, should refuse government when offered to them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (avy) "attollet manum", Piscator.

Isaiah 3:7 In-Context

5 And the people hath exacted -- man upon man, Even a man on his neighbour, Enlarge themselves do the youths against the aged, And the lightly esteemed against the honoured.

6 When one layeth hold on his brother, [Of] the house of his father, [by] the garment, `Come, a ruler thou art to us, And this ruin [is] under thy hand.'

7 He lifteth up, in that day, saying: `I am not a binder up, And in my house is neither bread nor garment, Ye do not make me a ruler of the people.'

8 For stumbled hath Jerusalem, and Judah hath fallen, For their tongue and their doings [are] against Jehovah, To provoke the eyes of His glory.

9 The appearance of their faces witnessed against them, And their sin, as Sodom, they declared, They have not hidden! Wo to their soul, For they have done to themselves evil.