"Moreover the Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are
haughty, and walk with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes,
walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their
feet: in that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their
tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their
round tires like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and
the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and
the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, the rings, and
nose-jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles,
and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the
fine linen, and the hoods, and the veils,"--ISAIAH 3:16,
18-23.[2]
This is a Jerusalem fashion plate. It puts us two thousand six hundred
years back, and sets us down in an ancient city. The procession of men
and women is moving up and down the gay streets. It is the height of
the fashionable season. The sensible men and women move with so much
modesty that they do not attract our attention. But here come the
haughty daughters of Jerusalem! They lean forward; they lean very much
forward--so far forward as to be unnatural--teetering, wobbling,
wriggling, flirting, or, as my text describes it, they "walk with
stretched-forth necks, walking and mincing as they go."
See! That is a princess. Look! That is a Damascus sword-maker. Look!
That is a Syrian merchant. The jingling of the chains, and the lashing
of the headbands, and the exhibitions of universal swagger attract the
attention of the Prophet Isaiah, and he brings his camera to bear upon
the scene, and takes a picture for all the ages. But where is that
scene? Vanished. Where are those gay streets? Vermin-covered
population pass through them. Where are the hands, and the necks, and
the foreheads, and the shoulders, and the feet that sported all that
magnificence? Ashes! Ashes!