Isaiah 61:3 English Standard Version (ESV) to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.^{[that he may display his beauty]}

Picking up where we left off yesterday and the acquisition of blessings that are written here, the next is the oil of gladness. The Hebrew word for oil here is šemen, pronounced sheh’-men, which is rendered fat.

Isaiah 10:27 English Standard Version (ESV) And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”

While this is difficult to understand initially we should look to the sacrifices for understanding.

Leviticus 3:9a English Standard Version (ESV) Then from the sacrifice of the peace offering he shall offer as a food offering to the Lord its fat;

Fat as a sacrifice is fast burning, high heat, and quickly consumed. Our blessing of gladness are an exchange of mourning for a joyful release of energy. What a stark contrast where our tears are changed to something useful and energizing. In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, it lights our lamps so that we might keep watch for our Lord.

The next blessing received is the garments of praise.

Revelation 7:13-14, 17 English Standard Version

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁷ For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Praise God.

Isaiah 61:3 English Standard Version (ESV) to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.^{[that he may display his beauty]}

Once again we refer to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and those who mourn for Him. Let’s begin here with Zion. Zion is said to be Jerusalem, by adding Zion to the list we are pointing to the Jews in particular, not just all who mourned.

We can relate to that as we attested to yesterday. Those same blessing granted to those people at that time are ours to claim. In that sense we can now look at each of the items as ours.

“A beautiful headdress; The Hebrews do not appear to have regarded a covering for the head as an essential article of dress. Hats were unknown. The earliest notice we have of such a thing is in connection with the sacerdotal vestments.” Source Smith’s bible Dictionary

This is a reference to our priestly service to the gospel.

Romans 15:15-16 English Standard Version

¹⁵ But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Interestingly when discussing this in emotional terms most of us look at this as the bride’s headdress. In terms of biblical references, the bride had no headdress. The closest we can come to see scripture in relation to marriage is Jacob’s first marriage to Laban’s daughter, Leah. Jacob did not know he was marrying Leah until after the wedding was performed and her veil removed.

Ashes signifies our relationship with death, ashes to ashes, but it is not until the wedding is finished that everyone gets to see who is under the veil.

“But then, we will see Him face to face.”