Isaiah says that Judah’s body politic has been beaten from head to foot (1:5-6). There is no health in it, only a fourfold wounding – wounds, stripes, fresh/putrefying, sores; there is also a fourfold lack – the wounds are not closed, not bandaged, not softened, no oil.
Two of these terms appear in Proverbs 20:30, but the Proverb gives hope that the wounding is disciplinary. Wounds and stripes cleanse away evil. Intriguing, the word for “cleanse” in that passage is used only three other times in the OT, all in Esther 2, where the word refers to the purification rites of the virgins who are going to appear before Ahasuerus (Esther 2:3, 9, 12).
Putting all this back into Isaiah: Yahweh wounds His people, but that wounding is will ultimately be for cleansing, purifying, and beautifying a bride.
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