Isaiah 3:12
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
The verse describes a disordered condition among God's people in which immature and unfit rulers are in charge, with children acting as oppressors and women ruling over them, while those who lead cause the people to err and destroy the way of their paths. It was literally true in the reign of Ahaz, who followed idolatrous ways, made images for false worship, offered incense in forbidden places, and even made his son to pass through the fire after heathen abominations. It also applied to mistaken religious teachers whose hopes of national rule and worldly power led them to reject the humble Messiah and kept the people from recognizing the truth about him. The prophecy belongs to the perilous last days, when children are unrestrained and indulged in pride because parents will not restrain them, so that the children's wishes govern the parents and whole unconsecrated households are led imperceptibly away from God. Parents, ministers, and teachers are therefore charged to train children in the Lord's way in modesty and godly character rather than letting worldly display govern them, and God's people are not to trust human rulers for help but to look to God for guidance.
Oppressive Misleading Leadership
The verse describes a disordered condition in which children act as oppressors of God's people and women rule over them. It is a state of immature and unfit rulership, in which those in charge oppress the people instead of guiding them rightly. Such rule by children and women exerts an influence that oppresses, leads astray, and ruins the right path.
Those who lead in this condition cause God's people to err, distorting their understanding, turning them from the right path, and destroying the way of their paths. Corrupt leaders, governors and teachers who depart from God's way misdirect those in their care and ruin the right course their lives should follow. Therefore God's people are not to trust human rulers for help but to look to God for guidance.
This was literally true during the reign of Ahaz, who walked in the ways of the kings of Israel in idolatry. He made molten images for Baal and Baalim, burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and sacrificed and burned incense in high places and on hills and under every green tree. He made his son to pass through the fire after the abominations of the heathen in imitation of heathen practices, and by such leadership led the nation astray into error and ruin of their way.
It also applied to the Jewish religious teachers whose mistaken expectations of national rule and worldly power led them to reject the humble Messiah. Their leadership distorted understanding and turned the Lord's people from the right path. By that influence they helped keep the people from recognizing the truth about him.
Last-Days Family Disorder
The prophecy belongs to the last days of peril, and its reproofs are directed to the daughters of Zion who care only for appearance and display. In those days children are unrestrained and indulged in pride. They are left to do as they please because parents will not restrain them or firmly refuse their demands, so that the children's wishes govern the parents. Letting children's wishes and fashionable standards govern their upbringing instead of teaching them God's way fulfills the warning that when children and women rule God's people their influence leads astray and ruins the right path.
In such an unconsecrated household the children's wishes influence the mother, and the mother's sympathy joins with that influence to sway the father. Whole families are thus led imperceptibly away from God. God must set things in order where women and children exert influence that leads in the wrong direction and where those responsible for leading cause others to go astray.
The warning describes a people whose profession of faith does not match their conduct. Their acts, works, and fruits show that they serve the world, follow fashion, and give weight to the opinions of unbelievers. Those with moral courage and a living principle choose instead to be distinct from the world and to stand firmly.
Charge to Parents and Leaders
Isaiah 3:12 describes a disordered condition in which children act as oppressors and women rule over God's people, to the harm of the church when children are raised in worldly ways rather than taught the Lord's way. Parents and ministers are charged to train children in modesty and godly character instead of fashionable display. The warning falls on parents who let children's wishes and fashionable standards for display govern their upbringing instead of teaching them God's way. Ministers fail in this same charge when they do not guide their own families by godly example.
The verse shows that those who lead God's people can mislead them and ruin the right course they should follow, and this applies to teachers whose conduct and discipline lead students astray instead of guiding them rightly. It warns that God's people can suffer under misguided, immature and unfit rulers who oppress them and lead them into error. Professed spiritual leaders come under this warning when they claim loyalty to God but disregard His voice. Their disobedience is shown by worldly associations, self-glorification, yielding to worldly influence, and desire for popularity, proving they are not obeying Him and are unable to guide the people faithfully.
Those who govern or teach can cause God's people to go astray and ruin the right course of their lives when they depart from God's way and misdirect those in their care. For this reason God's people are not to trust human rulers for help but to look to God for guidance.