You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
23 The
glasses, [gillayown] and the fine linen, [cadiyn]
and the hoods, [tsaniyph] and the vails. [radiyd]KJV-Interlinear
23 hand
mirrors, undergarments, turbans, and veils. NASB
Glasses, 'gillayown,' means to make apparent, to reveal, a mirror or reflection. This can apply to a hand mirror which is used to correct or to check ones appearance. It can also apply to the image of fine clothing, a shining, or glistening so as to draw attention with bright colors or even reflective material.
Fine linen, is just that. These are fine clothing made from the best of the best of materials, be it silk or some other linen of high quality, and especially the clothing that is worn underneath the outer clothing, and worn next to the skin or directly in contact with the skin of the individual. This material provides a comfort both physically and psychologically.
Turbans are hats or hoods.
Veils, refer to scarves or clothing that is worn about the head and neck to protect or to hide or to conceal the persons head and face.
Throughout this chapter, Isaiah has shown that evil people turn to things that enhance the outward appearance of themselves, to other people. The inward or the soul or the actual person is virtually ignored.
And yet people will ignore truth and the quality and nature of the content of their soul and trade that away for the quality and content of things, or things as they perceive their quality. Emphasis is placed on things that are external to the person, rather than on the substance of the individual.
Self-perception is not limited to clothing and jewelry, but also is reflected in ones work or career or abilities or status in society. And, inevitably your self-perception comes down to comparing oneself to others, meaning that you are better than they, in a variety of ways.
In reality you are made up of several things, namely dust, a soul, imputed human life into that soul, a human spirit (if you are a believer) with eternal life imputed into that spirit, and then information. Information is what you have learned throughout your life from experience, from academics and so forth.
And, if you really think about it, none of these things originated from you. You did not form yourself. You did not create yourself, and you did not originate any information that you have perceived. Even your volition that enables you to do or not do, to learn of not learn, to choose or to not choose, did not come from you.
So, people really do not have any basis for boasting.
In life there is truth, which simply means the correct matching up of facts with reality.
And then there are the lies of life, which is the misapplication of facts to reality. That is where the many philosophies and theories and religions come into play. They all create an obscure and ambiguous and invented view of life.
The ability to perceive truth requires the mechanism that allows the accurate perception of truth, and that mechanism is found in the spiritual life or the spiritual apparatus that, again, only God provides, not you. That apparatus is found in salvation first, for that enables the spiritual apparatus within you, and then the fellowship sphere, which is obtained by means of confession, and that makes the spiritual apparatus operational and functional. To this you need only add your positive volition and desire to study and learn, and that leads to growth and eventually to the production of ones life. A very simple process.
And yet people will choose the lies or misinformation over truth. And the result means disaster for ones life. And that is what is covered in the last three verses of this chapter.
To receive notice of each days Bible Study, please go to my twitter page and sign up.
