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Chapter 14: "Slut Reproaching"

 

Chapter Summary:

Zion and her daughters will be redeemed and cleansed in the millennial day--Compare Isaiah 4. About 559–545 B.C.

 

 

 

 

 

For the most part this chapter is uninteresting, harping on the same points as before: wickedness is bad, god and religion are good. You know the drill. Isaiah says that churches will be safe havens for righteous people during storms, both metaphorically and literally.

 

Those who survive and remain in Jerusalem during the end times will be considered holy--everyone. It should be noted that Mormons infer that Isaiah is talking about the end times. However, based on the text, it is not clear to me that Isaiah is talking about something that far in the future. Isaiah's prophecies seem to be more immediate and relevant to his generation.

 

By far the most interesting point made in this chapter comes in the first verse: women will plead for polygamist relationships to save themselves from the shame of being single:

 

"And in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach."

 

Independent, self-sufficient women out numbering men 7 to 1. Those are high odds. Perhaps Isaiah is simply pointing out a common war tactic in Bronze Age Palestine: kill the men, spare the women and children. Perhaps Joseph included this chapter to set up a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby he could justify his own polygamist relationships.

 

At any rate, Isaiah's prophecy reflects the patriarchal sexism of his culture. Women were dependent on men for their livelihood. The fact that women would flock to men, seeking only their name and supporting themselves, shows desperation to avoid "reproach" or cultural shame. In Isaiah's day, single women were commonly harlots and prostitutes--a crime punishable by death in god's inspired Law of Moses. This is primitive slut-shaming. 

 

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