1 Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine! 2 Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand. 3 The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot. 4 The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer; which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it. 5 In that day, Yahweh of Armies will become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the residue of his people; 6 and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. 7 They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness. 9 Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? 10 For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little. 11 But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language; 12 to whom he said, "This is the resting place. Give rest to weary;" and "This is the refreshing;" yet they would not hear. 13 Therefore the word of Yahweh will be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken. 14 Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem: 15 "Because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won't come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.'" 16 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. 17 I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. 18 Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. 19 As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message." 20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. 21 For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act. 22 Now therefore don't be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth. 23 Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech! 24 Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods? 25 When he has leveled its surface, doesn't he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? 26 For his God instructs him in right judgment, and teaches him. 27 For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod. 28 Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses don't grind it. 29 This also comes forth from Yahweh of Armies, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.
This chapter comprises a new prophecy and relates to a new subject. Gesenius supposes that it is to be connected with the following to to the close of Isaiah. 33, and that they relate to the same subject, and were delivered at the same time. Munster supposes that the prophecy here commenced continues to the close of Isaiah 35:1-10, and that it relates to the Assyrian war in which the ten tribes were carried away captive. Doederlin supposes that this chapter and the two following were uttered at the same time, and relate to the same subject; Hensler, that the prophecy closes at Isaiah. 33.
It is not improbable that this chapter and the following were delivered at the same time, and that they relate to the same general subject - the approaching calamities and wars with the Assyrians, which would terminate only in the removal of the people to a distant land, and in the destruction of the entire city and nation. But the prophecy in this chapter has not any necessary connection with those which follow, and it may be regarded as separate.
When it was uttered is not certainly known. It is clear, however, that it was before the carrying away of the ten tribes, or while the kingdom of Ephraim or Samaria was still standing. Yet it would seem that it was when that kingdom was exceedingly corrupt, and was hastening to a fall Isaiah 28:1-4. Perhaps it was in the time of Ahaz, or in the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah, when Samaria or Ephraim had entered into a league with Rezin, king of Damascus, and may therefore synchronize with Isaiah. 7; 8. Whenever it was uttered, it is certain that its purpose was to predict the overthrow of Ephraim or Samaria, and the fact, that when that kingdom should be overthrown, the kingdom of Judah would still survive.
The prophecy consists of two parts:
1. The overthrow of Samaria or Ephraim Isaiah 28:1-4.
2. The fact that Yahweh would preserve and defend a portion of his people - those who comprise the kingdom of Judah Isaiah. 28:5-29.
The following brief view will present an analysis of the prophecy:
I. Ephraim or Samaria, for its sins, particularly for intemperance, would be overthrown Isaiah 28:1-4.
II. God would preserve the residue of his people, yet they also deserved rebuke, and would be also subjected to punishment Isaiah. 28:5-29.
1. He would preserve them Isaiah 28:5-6 and be their glory and strength.
2. Yet they deserved, on many accounts, to be reproved, particularly because many even of the priests and prophets were intemperate Isaiah 28:7-8.
3. They also disregarded the messengers of God, and treated their messages with contempt and scorn, as being vain repetitions and a mere stammering Isaiah 28:9-13.
4. They regarded themselves as safe, since they were firm and united, and had as it were made a league with death Isaiah 28:14-15.
5. God, in view of their sins, threatens them with deserved punishment Isaiah 28:16-21. This would occur in the following manner:
(a) He would lay in Zion a corner stone, tried and precious, and all that regarded that should be safe Isaiah 28:16.
(b) Yet heavy judgments would come upon the guilty and the unbelieving. Judgment would be laid to the line, and the storms of divine vengeance would sweep away their false refuges, and their covenant with death should not avail them Isaiah 28:17-21.
(c) The people are therefore admonished to attend to this, for the destruction was determined upon the whole land Isaiah 28:22.
(d) The whole account of their punishment is concluded by a reference to the conduct of a farmer, and an illustration is drawn from the fact that he takes various methods to secure his harvest. He plows, he sows, and in various ways he thrashes his grain. So in various ways God would deal with his people. He would instruct, admonish, correct, and punish them, in order that he might sect the greatest amount of piety and good fruits from them. Chastisement was just as necessary for them as it was for the farmer in various modes to beat out his grain Isaiah 28:28-29.
This chapter begins with a denunciation of the approaching ruin of the Israelites by Shalmaneser, whose power is compared to a tempest or flood, and his keenness to the avidity with which one plucks and swallows the grape that is soonest ripe, Isaiah 28:1-4. It then turns to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were to continue a kingdom after the final captivity of their brethren; and gives first a favorable prognostication of their affairs under Hezekiah, Isaiah 28:5, Isaiah 28:6; but soon changes to reproofs and threatenings for their intemperance and their profaneness, Isaiah 28:7, Isaiah 28:8. They are introduced as not only scornfully rejecting, but also mocking and ridiculing, the instructions of the prophet, Isaiah 28:9, Isaiah 28:10. To this God immediately retorts in terms alluding to their own mocking, but differently applied, Isaiah 28:11-13. The prophet then addresses these scoffers, Isaiah 28:14; who considered themselves as perfectly secure from every evil, Isaiah 28:15; and assures them that there was no method under heaven but one, by which they could be saved, Isaiah 28:16; that every other vain resource should fail in the day of visitation, Isaiah 28:17, Isaiah 28:18. He then farther adds, that the judgments of God were particularly levelled against them; and that all the means to which they trusted for warding them off should be to no purpose, Isaiah 28:19, Isaiah 28:20; as the Almighty, who, on account of his patience and long-suffering, is amiably described as unacquainted with punishing, had nevertheless determined to punish them, Isaiah 28:21, Isaiah 28:22. The prophet then concludes with a beautiful parable in explanation and defense of God's dealing with his people, Isaiah 28:23-29.
INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 28
In this chapter the ten tribes of Israel and the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, are threatened with divine judgments, because of their sins and iniquities mentioned. The ten tribes, under the name of Ephraim, for their pride and drunkenness, Isaiah 28:1 the means of their destruction, the Assyrian monarch, compared to a hail storm, and a flood of mighty waters, Isaiah 28:2 which destruction, for their sins, is repeated, and represented as sudden and swift; when they would be like a fading flower and hasty fruit, Isaiah 28:3 and then, as for the two tribes, though they had a glorious prince at the head of them, who had a spirit of wisdom and judgment for government, and of valour and courage for war, Isaiah 28:5 yet the generality of the people, led on by the example of priest and prophet, went into the same sensual gratifications as they of the ten tribes did, Isaiah 28:7 and became sottish and unteachable, and were like children just taken from the breast, and to be used as such, Isaiah 28:9 and though the doctrine proposed to be taught them was such as, if received, would be of the greatest advantage to them, for their comfort and refreshment, yet it was refused by them with the utmost contempt; which was to be their ruin, Isaiah 28:12, wherefore the rulers of Jerusalem are threatened with the judgments of God, which should come upon them night and day, the report of which would be a vexation to them; and from which they should not be screened by their covenant with death and hell, or by their shelters and coverings with lies and falsehood, in which they placed their confidence, Isaiah 28:14 in the midst of which account, for the comfort of the Lord's people, stands a glorious prophecy, concerning the sure foundation laid in Zion, on which all that are built are safe and happy, Isaiah 28:16 and the certainty of these judgments is illustrated by the method which the ploughman takes in sowing his corn, and threshing it out; for which he has instruction and direction from the Lord of hosts, Isaiah 28:23.
(Isaiah 28:1-4) The desolations of Samaria.
(Isaiah 28:5-15) The prosperity of Judah; with reproofs for sinfulness and unbelief.
(Isaiah 28:16-22) Christ is pointed out as the sure Foundation for all believers.
(Isaiah 28:23-29) God's dealings with his people.
Book of Woes or Historical Discourses Relating to Asshur and the Egyptian Alliance - Isaiah 28-33 part v
These chapters carry us to the earliest years of Hezekiah's reign, probably to the second and third; as Samaria has not yet been destroyed. They run parallel to the book of Micah, which also takes its start from the destruction of Samaria, and are as faithful a mirror of the condition of the people under Hezekiah, as chapters 7-12 were of their condition under Ahaz. The time of Ahaz was characterized by a spiritless submission to the Assyrian yoke; that of Hezekiah by a casual striving after liberty. The people tried to throw off the yoke of Assyria; not with confidence in Jehovah, however, but in reliance upon the help of Egypt. This Egypticizing policy is traced step by step by Isaiah, in chapters 28-32. The gradual rise of these addresses may be seen from the fact, that they follow the gradual growth of the alliance with Egypt through all its stages, until it is fully concluded. By the side of this casual ground of trust, which Jehovah will sweep away, the prophet exhibits the precious corner-stone in Zion as the true, firm ground of confidence. We might therefore call these chapters (Isaiah 28-33) "the book of the precious corner-stone," just as we called chapters 7-12 "the book of Immanuel." But the prophecy in Isaiah 28:16 does not determine and mould the whole of this section, in the same manner in which the other section is moulded and governed by the prophecy of the Son of the Virgin. We therefore prefer to call this cycle of prophecy "the book of woes;" for censure and threatening are uttered here in repeated utterances of "woe," not against Israel only, but more especially against Judah and Jerusalem, until at last, in chapter 33, the "hoi concerning Jerusalem" is changed into a "hoi concerning Asshur." All the independent and self-contained addresses in this cycle of prophecy commence with hoi ("woe:" chapters 28, 29, 30, 31-32, 33). The section which does not begin with hoi (viz., Isaiah 32:9-20) is the last and dependent part of the long address commencing with Isaiah 31:1. On the other hand, Isaiah 29:15-24 also commences with hoi, though it does not form a distinct address in itself, since chapter 29 forms a complete whole. The subdivisions of the sections, therefore, have not a uniform commencement throughout; but the separate and independent addresses all commence with hoi. The climax of these prophecies of woe is chapter 30. Up to this point the exclamation of woe gradually ascends, but in chapters 31-32 it begins to fall; and in chapter 33 (which contains an epilogue that was only added in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign) it has changed into the very opposite. The prophet begins with hoi, but it is a woe concerning the devastator. This utmost woe, however, was not fulfilled at the point of time when the fulfilment of "the utmost" predicted in chapters 28-32 was apparently close at hand; but Jerusalem, though threatened with destruction, was miraculously saved. Yet the prophet had not merely to look on, as Jonah had. He himself predicted this change in the purpose of God, inasmuch as the direction of the "woe" in his mouth is altered, like that of the wrath of God, which turns from Jerusalem to Asshur, and destroys it.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.