In this edition of Righteousness, I want to point out three separate text that deal with the condition of Jerusalem, its people, and the interesting thought in Isaiah 4:4. These same thoughts are started in Psalm 103 by David more than 250+ years before Isaiah.

In Repeats and Upgrades, I laid a foundation about the period that Isaiah prophesied in; I will add to these thoughts. His time of ministry is more than 250 years after the Temple was finished. The Northern Tribes were being attacked by Assyria, so Amos, Micah, Hosea, and others were helping the children of Jacob. Jerusalem has had good and bad periods, but he worked with Hezekiah and was probably killed, as an old man, by Manasseh. Manasseh was just bad news and did not follow the Lord at all.

The Land the Lord promised to Abraham is important to Him. Melchizedek is associated with Jerusalem and the sacrifice of Issac was on Mount Zion or Moriah. It is referenced/understood in the three passages below that there was a problem and that it would be corrected and “the city of Jerusalem” would be changed. Righteousness, justice, and salvation are in these references; it has the “legal” side of righteousness covered, but there is also the personal relationship part that needs to be recognized. Are all of these texts referring to the New Jerusalem in Revelations? There are many verses with a wide range of emotions talking about the earthly city of Jerusalem. (That is a great study for you to do.) So, are they talking about the people in Jerusalem at those times or the houses inside the four walls?  

These references are from the New American Standard Bible from Bible Gateway.

1:26 Then I will restore your judges as at first,
And your counselors as at the beginning;
After that you will be called the city of righteousness,
A faithful city.”

4:2 – On that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the beauty of the survivors of Israel. ³ And it will come about that the one who is left in Zion and remains behind in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. ⁴ When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, ⁵ then the Lord will create over the entire area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. ⁶ And there will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.

62: 11 Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation is coming;
Behold His reward is with Him, and His compensation before Him.”
¹² And they will call them, “The holy people,
The redeemed of the Lord”;
And you will be called, “Sought Out, A City Not Abandoned.”

The spirit of burning

Isaiah 4:4 Hebrew Text Analysis (biblehub.com)

Strong’s Hebrew: 1197. בָּעַר (ba’ar) — brutish (biblehub.com)

This phrase caught my attention. “The spirit of burning” that cleans Jerusalem. In the NASB (Bible Gateway) this is used only once, the second reference is Revelations 4:5 with the focus of that verse talking about the Seven Spirits of God. The word for burning (H1197) will show you the verses of Moses talking to God in the burning bush. Great connection for Isaiah 4:4. (I will say again, God bless translators.) Put this phrase in with the prophecy that there will be no more global floods, just a consuming fire.