20150720 Monday, July 20 2015
Isaiah 32: What Did Liberal Mean Before Liberals Changed It?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"The vile person shall be no more called liberal"

The term "liberal" is today based upon a political philosophy that may be summed up by the definition "Not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition" (The WordWeb Dictionary from Princeton University). On the political and religious spectrum (see also Which Way Is Right And Left?), liberalism may be found at the opposite end of conservatism (which simply means to conserve what has been proven to be successful - conservatives do not oppose progress; they oppose self-inflicted stupidity that will bring down a nation and its civilization) and at the same end as anarchy ("A state of lawlessness and disorder") and rebellion ("Refusal to accept authority, code or convention").

That's not to say that liberalism has no law. Indeed, it does have many "laws" that support and enforce their ways of iniquity (i.e. declaring that vile and filthy behavior is a "legal right"; see the Fact Finder question below), decadence (i.e. moral decay; see the Fact Finder question below) and violence (a term, as used in the Bible, that means violation of God's Law i.e. "violence against the Law").

Adolf Hitler was a prime example. He was a liberal who, along with his National Socialist Party (abbreviated in German as "Nazi"), passed many laws that made his heinous crimes, wars and atrocities, including the Holocaust, "legal" in the country in which he had usurped power (Hitler wasn't even qualified to be Germany's leader because he was born in a foreign country, Austria - but he got a liberal law passed that revoked the existing conservative law that required that a German must be the leader of the German nation; see also he Holy Roman Empire Of The German Nation).

As has been the case with many terms over time, meanings of some words have been distorted to signify something other than what they originally meant. "Liberal," at the time that the King James Version was written, meant being a productive, generous, respectable citizen who was loyal to and supportive of his or her nation - it did not mean someone who wanted to foolishly "move forward," in the wrong direction, against the successful established order.

Consider the very different statements presented in these translations of the Isaiah 32:5 verse in which, in the iniquity of that time in ancient Israel, evildoers and fools were regarded as respectable - what "liberal" meant at that time, but when the principle was twisted, while the word was still straight (see also Strait And Straight).

"32:5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal" (King James Version)

"32:5 The fool will no more be called noble" (Revised Standard Version)

"32:5 The mean person will no longer be called generous" (The Complete Jewish Bible)

The first and ultimate liberal was and is Satan (see What Is Satan's Real Name?). While he was originally a conservative servant of God, he went insane from liberalism and so now wants to tear down pervert everything that is good and wise. It began with his rebellion, and has continued by deceived humanity ever since. We live in a very liberal world. But that is going to end when the Messiah returns to establish the Kingdom of God.

As the LORD stated through Isaiah:

"2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:2-4 KJV)

What about political and personal "freedom" in the world as it is? The LORD (see The LORD God Our Saviour) guarantees each person's God-given right to live any way that they please. The LORD will deliver the reward of both the righteous and the liberal - according to the choice that they personally make for themselves.

"22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Revelation 22:11-15 KJV)

The King James Version translators used "liberal" frequently in this chapter (and elsewhere), but keep in mind that actual meaning of the word at the time, not only when Isaiah originally wrote it, but when the King James scholars translated it as it was published in 1611. They did not mean what many people today have declared it to mean for themselves.

"32:1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. 32:2 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

32:3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. 32:4 The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. 32:5 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. 32:6 For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. 32:7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. 32:8 But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

32:9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. 32:10 Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come. 32:11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. 32:12 They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. 32:13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: 32:14 Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; 32:15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. 32:16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. 32:17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. 32:18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; 32:19 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place. 32:20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass." (Isaiah 32:1-20 KJV)

Fact Finder: How do iniquity and decadence fuel their downward spiral?
See Iniquity In History And Prophecy and Decadence In History And Prophecy