God’s Image Study • Commandment 7: You Shall Not Commit Adultery
Our previous post examined the invitations of Wisdom and Folly. Now we bring another passage alongside that comparison: a request to bear someone’s name while supplying one’s own bread and clothing.
What Is Being Requested?
Isaiah 4:1 describes seven women taking hold of one man. They offer to provide their own food and apparel, then ask:
“only let us be called by thy name; take thou away our reproach.”
— Isaiah 4:1, ASV, excerpt
The Hebrew preserves the distinction:
לַחְמֵנוּ — laḥmēnû: our bread.
שִׂמְלָתֵנוּ — simlātēnû: our garment.
שִׁמְךָ — shimkha: your name.
Notice the movement from our provision to your name. Their stated request is for the removal of reproach through bearing his name. Read Isaiah 4:1 in Hebrew.
For our examination of spiritual allegiance, this raises a question worth carrying into Revelation: Can we desire association with Christ’s name while failing to recognize our need for what he provides?
A Name That Does Not Match the Condition
Christ tells Sardis:
“you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”
— Revelation 3:1, LSB, excerpt
He directs them to remember what they received and heard, keep it, and repent. Their reputation does not settle their standing before God. Read Revelation 3:1–3.
Who Provides the Clothing?
Laodicea claims wealth and sufficiency, yet Christ describes its poverty, blindness, and nakedness. He directs it to obtain from him refined gold, white garments, and eye salve.
The correction reaches beyond appearance: they must recognize their need and respond to his loving discipline. Read Revelation 3:17–19.
Placed alongside Isaiah’s wording, this becomes a searching comparison. Am I seeking the name while assuming that my own provision is sufficient? Am I willing to receive correction, even when it exposes something I thought was already settled?
Continue Reading Isaiah
Isaiah’s account moves beyond the request in verse 1. Verses 2–6 describe the branch of Jehovah, those remaining in Jerusalem being called holy and recorded among the living, cleansing, and protection.
YHWH (יהוה) provides the covering. Washing and holiness remain part of the passage’s movement toward restoration. Read Isaiah 4:2–6.
Our comparison therefore brings the name, provision, cleansing, and life into view together.
As we examine unfaithfulness toward God, we must examine more than the identity we claim. What teaching nourishes us? What are we accepting as our covering? Whose correction are we willing to receive?
Threads to Follow
Bread and life: Examine what Jesus teaches about receiving the bread from heaven in John 6.
Clothing and readiness: Revisit the Bride’s preparation and the clothing given to her in Revelation 19:7–8.
Hearing and allegiance: Follow the repeated call to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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