Isaiah 4:4 - Exposition

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion (see Isaiah 3:16-24 ). Sin must not be merely repented of and pardoned; it must be put away. There could be no Jerusalem, in which all should be "called holy," until the moral defilement of the daughters of Zion was swept away. Purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst (comp. Isaiah 1:15 ; Isaiah 59:3 ). It is possible, however, that the murder of infants in sacrifice to Moloch may be in the prophet's mind. Ahaz " burnt his children in the fire after the abominations of the heathen" ( 2 Chronicles 28:3 ). Manasseh did the same ( 2 Chronicles 33:6 ): and the practice was probably widespread among the people long before Isaiah's time (see Psalms 106:38 ; Isaiah 57:5 ). By the spirit of burning ; or, by a blast of burning ; i.e. a fiery blast which shall destroy everything (comp. Isaiah 1:31 ).