Text -- Isaiah 28:15-29 (NET)

28:15 For you say, “We have made a treaty with death, with Sheol we have made an agreement. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by it will not reach us. For we have made a lie our refuge, we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” 28:16 Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says: “Look, I am laying a stone in Zion, an approved stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. The one who maintains his faith will not panic. 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line, fairness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place. 28:18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, you will be overrun by it. 28:19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you; indeed, every morning it will sweep by, it will come through during the day and the night.” When this announcement is understood, it will cause nothing but terror. 28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself. 28:21 For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, to accomplish his work, his peculiar work, to perform his task, his strange task. 28:22 So now, do not mock, or your chains will become heavier! For I have heard a message about decreed destruction, from the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, against the entire land. 28:23 Pay attention and listen to my message! Be attentive and listen to what I have to say! 28:24 Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground? 28:25 Once he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter the seed of the caraway plant, sow the seed of the cumin plant, and plant the wheat, barley, and grain in their designated places? 28:26 His God instructs him; he teaches him the principles of agriculture. 28:27 Certainly caraway seed is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin seed. Certainly caraway seed is beaten with a stick, and cumin seed with a flail. 28:28 Grain is crushed, though one certainly does not thresh it forever. The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it, but his horses do not crush it. 28:29 This also comes from the Lord who commands armies, who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Isa 28:15

In your hearts.

Wesley: Isa 28:15

We are as safe from death, and hell, or the grave, as if they had entered into covenant with us.

Wesley: Isa 28:15

The judgment of God.

Wesley: Isa 28:15

The land.

Wesley: Isa 28:15

We shall secure ourselves by lying and dissimulation.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

Because your refuges are so vain, and deceitful; therefore I will direct you to a surer refuge, which God hath laid in Zion. But if you despise that refuge; then know, that I will lay judgment to the line, &c.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

I have promised it, and will, in the fulness of time, perform it.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

In my church.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

Upon which I will build my church.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

The Messiah.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

Which I have tried, and approved as every way sufficient.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

stone - Uniting the several parts of the building together.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

Upon whom you may securely rest.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

This promise.

Wesley: Isa 28:16

Hastily catch at any way of escaping danger, but shall patiently wait upon God in his way, 'till he deliver him.

Wesley: Isa 28:17

I will execute just judgment, as it were by a line and plummet annexed to it; that is, with exactness and care: I will severely punish, and utterly destroy all who reject that stone. For the line and plummet, or the plumb - line, was not only used in erecting buildings, but also in pulling them down; those parts of the building being thus marked out, which were to be demolished.

Wesley: Isa 28:19

It shall not only come to you, but it shall abide upon you; and when it hath passed over you, it shall return again to you, morning after morning; and shall follow you day and night, without giving you the least respite.

Wesley: Isa 28:19

So dreadful shall the judgment be, that it shall strike you with horror, when you only hear the rumour of it.

Wesley: Isa 28:20

For those lying refuges, to which you trust, will not be able to give you that protection, which you expect from them; no more than a man can stretch himself upon a bed that is too short for him.

Wesley: Isa 28:21

Where he fought against the Philistines, 2Sa 5:20.

Wesley: Isa 28:21

Where he fought against the Canaanites, Jos 10:10, &c. and afterwards against the Philistines, 1Ch 14:16.

Wesley: Isa 28:21

For this work of bringing total destruction upon Israel, was contrary to the benignity of his own nature, and to the usual way of dealing with his people.

Wesley: Isa 28:22

Lest thereby you make the judgments of God sure and unavoidable.

Wesley: Isa 28:22

God hath assured me, that he will utterly destroy the people of Israel.

Wesley: Isa 28:24

The plowman doth not spend all his time in plowing the ground; but he has several times for several works. And so God has his times and seasons for several works, and his providence is various at several times, and towards several people. Therefore those scoffing Israelites were guilty of great folly, in flattering themselves, because of God's long patience towards them; for God will certainly take a time to thresh, and break them with his judgments, as at present he plowed and harrowed them, and so prepared them for it by his threatenings.

Wesley: Isa 28:24

Understand, all day.

Wesley: Isa 28:24

Which they used to do with a kind of harrow.

Wesley: Isa 28:25

By breaking the clods.

Wesley: Isa 28:25

The best which he chuses for seed.

Wesley: Isa 28:25

That proportion of barley which he appointed.

Wesley: Isa 28:25

Heb. in his border; each seed in a several place.

Wesley: Isa 28:27

This then was made like a sledge shod with iron, which was drawn by men or beasts, over the sheafs of corn, to bruise them, and tear the grain out of them.

Wesley: Isa 28:27

A lower wheel than a cart wheel, but of the same form, upon which possibly the threshing instrument was drawn.

Wesley: Isa 28:28

With a threshing instrument.

Wesley: Isa 28:28

Understand, forever.

Wesley: Isa 28:28

This was another way of threshing out the corn, by driving horses, or other cattle, over the sheaves to tread it.

Wesley: Isa 28:29

This part of the husbandman's discretion. These words contain the application of the similitude. The husbandman manages his affairs with common discretion; but God governs the world, and his church, with wonderful wisdom: he is great and marvellous, both in the contrivance of things, and in the execution of them.

JFB: Isa 28:15

Virtually, in your conduct, if not in words.

JFB: Isa 28:15

There may be a tacit reference to their confidence in their "covenant" with the Assyrians in the early part of Hezekiah's prosperous reign, before he ceased to pay tribute to them, as if it ensured Judah from evil, whatever might befall the neighboring Ephraim (Isa 28:1). The full meaning is shown by the language ("covenant with death--hell," or sheol) to apply to all lulled in false security spiritually (Psa 12:4; Ecc 8:8; Jer 8:11); the godly alone are in covenant with death (Job 5:23; Hos 2:18; 1Co 3:22).

JFB: Isa 28:15

Two metaphors: the hostile Assyrian armies like an overwhelming flood.

JFB: Isa 28:15

Namely, through Judea on their way to Egypt, to punish it as the protector of Samaria (2Ki 17:4).

JFB: Isa 28:15

They did not use these words, but Isaiah designates their sentiments by their true name (Amo 2:4).

JFB: Isa 28:16

Literally, "Behold Me as Him who has laid"; namely, in My divine counsel (Rev 13:8); none save I could lay it (Isa 63:5).

JFB: Isa 28:16

Jesus Christ; Hezekiah [MAURER], or the temple [EWALD], do not realize the full significancy of the language; but only in type point to Him, in whom the prophecy receives its exhaustive accomplishment; whether Isaiah understood its fulness or not (1Pe 1:11-12), the Holy Ghost plainly contemplated its fulfilment in Christ alone; so in Isa 32:1; compare Gen 49:24; Psa 118:22; Mat 21:42; Rom 10:11; Eph 2:20.

JFB: Isa 28:16

Both by the devil (Luk 4:1-13) and by men (Luke 20:1-38), and even by God (Mat 27:46); a stone of tested solidity to bear the vast superstructure of man's redemption. The tested righteousness of Christ gives its peculiar merit to His vicarious sacrifice. The connection with the context is, though a "scourge" shall visit Judea (Isa 28:15), yet God's gracious purpose as to the elect remnant, and His kingdom of which "Zion" shall be the center, shall not fail, because its rests on Messiah (Mat 7:24-25; 2Ti 2:19).

JFB: Isa 28:16

Literally, "of preciousness," so in the Greek, (1Pe 2:7). He is preciousness.

JFB: Isa 28:16

(1Ki 5:17; 1Ki 7:9; Job 38:6); the stone laid at the corner where two walls meet and connecting them; often costly.

JFB: Isa 28:16

Flee in hasty alarm; but the Septuagint has "be ashamed"; so Rom 9:33, and 1Pe 2:6, "be confounded," substantially the same idea; he who rests on Him shall not have the shame of disappointment, nor flee in sudden panic (see Isa 30:15; Isa 32:17).

JFB: Isa 28:17

The measuring-line of the plummet. HORSLEY translates, "I will appoint judgment for the rule, and justice for the plummet." As the corner-stone stands most perpendicular and exactly proportioned, so Jehovah, while holding out grace to believers in the Foundation-stone, will judge the scoffers (Isa 28:15) according to the exact justice of the law (compare Jam 2:13).

JFB: Isa 28:17

Divine judgment (Isa 30:30; Isa 32:19).

JFB: Isa 28:18

Obliterated, as letters traced on a waxen tablet are obliterated by passing the stylus over it.

JFB: Isa 28:18

Passing from the metaphor in "scourge" to the thing meant, the army which treads down its enemies.

JFB: Isa 28:19

Rather, "As often as it comes over (that is, passes through), it shall overtake you" [HORSLEY]; like a flood returning from time to time, frequent hostile invasions shall assail Judah, after the deportation of the ten tribes.

JFB: Isa 28:19

Rather, "It shall be a terror even to hear the mere report of it" [MAURER], (1Sa 3:11). But G. V. SMITH, "Hard treatment (HORSLEY, 'dispersion') only shall make you to understand instruction"; they scorned at the simple way in which the prophet offered it (Isa 28:9); therefore, they must be taught by the severe teachings of adversity.

JFB: Isa 28:20

Proverbial, for they shall find all their sources of confidence fail them; all shall be hopeless perplexity in their affairs.

JFB: Isa 28:21

In the valley of Rephaim (2Sa 5:18, 2Sa 5:20; 1Ch 14:11), there Jehovah, by David, broke forth as waters do, and made a breach among the Philistines, David's enemies, as Perazim means, expressing a sudden and complete overthrow.

JFB: Isa 28:21

(1Ch 14:16; 2Sa 5:25, Margin); not Joshua's victory (Jos 10:10).

JFB: Isa 28:21

As being against His own people; judgment is not what God delights in; it is, though necessary, yet strange to Him (Lam 3:33).

JFB: Isa 28:21

Punishing the guilty (Isa 10:12).

JFB: Isa 28:22

A sin which they had committed (Isa 28:9-10).

JFB: Isa 28:22

Their Assyrian bondage (Isa 10:27); Judah was then tributary to Assyria; or, "lest your punishment be made still more severe" (Isa 24:22).

JFB: Isa 28:22

Destruction (Isa 10:22-23; Dan 9:27).

JFB: Isa 28:23

Calling attention to the following illustration from husbandry (Psa 49:1-2). As the husbandman does his different kinds of work, each in its right time and due proportion, so God adapts His measures to the varying exigencies of the several cases: now mercy, now judgments; now punishing sooner, now later (an answer to the scoff that His judgments, being put off so long, would never come at all, Isa 5:19); His object being not to destroy His people any more than the farmer's object in threshing is to destroy his crop; this vindicates God's "strange work" (Isa 28:21) in punishing His people. Compare the same image, Jer 24:6; Hos 2:23; Mat 3:12.

JFB: Isa 28:24

Emphatic; he is not always ploughing: he also "sows," and that, too, in accordance with sure rules (Isa 28:25).

JFB: Isa 28:24

Supply "always." Is he always harrowing?

JFB: Isa 28:25

The "surface" of the ground: "made plain," or level, by harrowing.

JFB: Isa 28:25

Rather, "dill," or "fennel"; Nigella romana, with black seed, easily beaten out, used as a condiment and medicine in the East. So the Septuagint, "cummin" was used in the same way.

JFB: Isa 28:25

Rather, plant the wheat in rows (for wheat was thought to yield the largest crop, by being planted sparingly [PLINY, Natural History, 18.21]); [MAURER]; "sow the wheat regularly" [HORSLEY]. But GESENIUS, like English Version, "fat," or "principal," that is, excellent wheat.

JFB: Isa 28:25

Rather, "barley in its appointed place" [MAURER].

JFB: Isa 28:25

Rather, "in its (the field's) border" [MAURER].

JFB: Isa 28:26

In the due rules of husbandry; God first taught it to man (Gen 3:23).

JFB: Isa 28:27

The husbandman uses the same discretion in threshing. The dill ("fitches") and cummin, leguminous and tender grains, are beaten out, not as wheat, &c., with the heavy corn-drag ("threshing instrument"), but with "a staff"; heavy instruments would crush and injure the seed.

JFB: Isa 28:27

Two iron wheels armed with iron teeth, like a saw, joined together by a wooden axle. The "corn-drag" was made of three or four wooden cylinders, armed with iron teeth or flint stones fixed underneath, and joined like a sledge. Both instruments cut the straw for fodder as well as separated the corn.

JFB: Isa 28:27

Used also where they had but a small quantity of corn; the flail (Rth 2:17).

JFB: Isa 28:28

Corn of which bread is made.

JFB: Isa 28:28

Threshed with the corn-drag (as contrasted with dill and cummin, "beaten with the staff"), or, "trodden out" by the hoofs of cattle driven over it on the threshing-floor [G. V. SMITH], (Deu 25:4; Mic 4:13).

JFB: Isa 28:28

Rather, "but" [HORSLEY]; though the corn is threshed with the heavy instrument, yet he will not always be thus threshing it.

JFB: Isa 28:28

"drive over it (continually) the wheel" [MAURER].

JFB: Isa 28:28

Threshing-drag.

JFB: Isa 28:28

Rather, "horses"; used to tread out corn.

JFB: Isa 28:29

The skill wherewith the husbandman duly adjusts his modes of threshing is given by God, as well as the skill (Isa 28:26) wherewith he tills and sows (Isa 28:24-25). Therefore He must also be able to adapt His modes of treatment to the several moral needs of His creatures. His object in sending tribulation (derived from the Latin tribulum, a "threshing instrument," Luk 22:31; Rom 5:3) is to sever the moral chaff from the wheat, not to crush utterly; "His judgments are usually in the line of our offenses; by the nature of the judgments we may usually ascertain the nature of the sin" [BARNES].

This chapter opens the series of prophecies as to the invasion of Judea under Sennacherib, and its deliverance.

Clarke: Isa 28:15

A covenant with death - To be in covenant with, is a kind of proverbial expression to denote perfect security from evil and mischief of any sort: -

"For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field

And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

Job 5:23

"And I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field. And with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground.

Hos 2:18

That is, none of these shall hurt them. But Lucan, speaking of the Psylli, whose peculiar property it was to be unhurt by the bite of serpents, with which their country abounded, comes still nearer to the expression of Isaiah in this place: -

Gens unica terra

Incolit a saevo serpentum innoxia mors

Marmaridae Psylli . -

Pax illis cum morte data est

Pharsal. 9:891

"Of all who scorching Afric’ s sun endure

None like the swarthy Psyllians are secure

With healing gifts and privileges graced

Well in the land of serpents were they placed

Truce with the dreadful tyrant death they have

And border safely on his realm the grave.

Rowe

Clarke: Isa 28:15

We have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement - עשינו חזה asinu chozeh , we have made a vision, we have had an interview, struck a bargain, and settled all preliminaries. So they had made a covenant with hell by diabolic sacrifice, כרתנו ברית carathnu beritth . "We have cut the covenant sacrifice;"they divided it for the contracting parties to pass between the separated victim; for the victim was split exactly down the middle, so that even the spinal marrow was exactly divided through its whole length; and being set opposite to each other, the contracting parties entered, one at the head part, the other at the feet; and, meeting in the center, took the covenant oath. Thus, it is intimated, these bad people made an agreement with שאול sheol , with demons, with whom they had an interview; i.e., meeting them in the covenant sacrifice! To such a pitch had the Israelitish idolatry reached at that time!

Clarke: Isa 28:16

Behold, I lay in Zion - See the notes on Gen 49:32; Psa 118:22 (note); Mat 21:42 (note); Act 4:11 (note); Rom 9:33 (note); Rom 10:11 (note); Eph 2:20 (note); 1Pe 2:6-8 (note). Kimchi understands this of Hezekiah; but it most undoubtedly belongs to Jesus Christ alone; and his application of it to himself, even the Jews could not contest.

Clarke: Isa 28:18

Your covenant with death shall be disannulled "Your covenant with death shall be broken"- For כפר caphar , which seems not to belong to this place, the Chaldee reads תפר taphar , which is approved by Houbigant and Secker. See Jer 33:21, where the very same phrase is used. See Prelim. Dissert. p. l.

Clarke: Isa 28:20

For the bed is shorter - A mashal or proverbial saying, the meaning of which is, that they will find all means of defense and protection insufficient to secure them, and cover them from the evils coming upon them. מסך massek , Isa 22:8, the covering, is used for the outworks of defense, the barrier of the country; and here, in the allegorical sense, it means much the same thing. Their beds were only mattresses laid on the floor; and the coverlet a sheet, or in the winter a carpet, laid over it, in which the person wrapped himself. For כהתכנס kehithcannes , it ought probably to be מהתכנס mehithcannes . Houbigant, Secker.

Clarke: Isa 28:21

As in Mount Perazim - כהר kehar ; but בהר bahar , In the mount, is the reading of two of Kennicott’ s, one of De Rossi’ s, and one of my own MSS.

Clarke: Isa 28:22

The Lord God - אדני יהוה Adonai Jehovah . Adonai is omitted by four of Kennicott’ s MSS., and in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic.

Clarke: Isa 28:23

Give ye ear, and hear my voice "Listen ye, and hear my voice"- The foregoing discourse, consisting of severe reproofs, and threatenings of dreadful judgments impending on the Jews for their vices, and their profane contempt of God’ s warnings by his messengers, the prophet concludes with an explanation and defense of God’ s method of dealing with his people in an elegant parable or allegory; in which he employs a variety of images, all taken from the science of agriculture. As the husbandman uses various methods in preparing his land, and adapting it to the several kinds of seeds to be sown, with a due observation of times and seasons; and when he hath gathered in his harvest, employs methods as various in separating the corn from the straw and the chaff by different instruments, according to the nature of the different sorts of grain; so God, with unerring wisdom, and with strict justice, instructs, admonishes, and corrects his people; chastises and punishes them in various ways, as the exigence of the case requires; now more moderately, now more severely; always tempering justice with mercy; in order to reclaim the wicked, to improve the good, and, finally, to separate the one from the other.

Clarke: Isa 28:26

For his God doth instruct him - All nations have agreed in attributing agriculture, the most useful and the most necessary of all sciences, to the invention and to the suggestions of their deities. "The Most High hath ordained husbandry, "saith the son of Sirach, Ecclus. 7:15

Namque Ceres fertur fruges, Liberque liquori

Vitigeni laticem mortalibus instituisse

Lucretius, 5:14

"Ceres has taught mortals how to produce fruits; and Bacchus has taught them how to cultivate the vine.

Ὁ δ ’ ηπιος ανθρωποισ

Δεξια σημαινει, λαους δ ’ επι εργον εγειρε

Μιμνησκων βιοτοιο· λεγει δ ’ ὁτε βωλος αριστ

Βουσι τε και μακελῃσι· λεγει δ ’ ὁτε δεξιαι ὡρα

Και φυτα γυρωσαι, και σπερματα παντα βαλεσθαι.

Aratus, Phantom. v

"He, Jupiter, to the human rac

Indulgent, prompts to necessary toi

Man provident of life; with kindly sign

The seasons marks, when best to turn the gleb

With spade and plough, to nurse the tender plant

And cast o’ er fostering earth the seeds abroad."

Clarke: Isa 28:27-28

Four methods of threshing are here mentioned, by different instruments; the flail, the drag, the wain, and the treading of the cattle. The staff or flail was used for the infirmiora semina , says Jerome, the grain that was too tender to be treated in the other methods. The drag consisted of a sort of strong planks, made rough at the bottom, with hard stones or iron; it was drawn by horses or oxen over the corn sheaves spread on the floor, the driver sitting upon it. Kempfer has given a print representing the manner of using this instrument, Amaen. Exot. p. 682, fig. 3. The wain was much like the former; but had wheels with iron teeth, or edges like a saw: Ferrata carpenta rotis per medium in serrarum modum se volventibus . Hieron. in loc. From this it would seem that the axle was armed with iron teeth or serrated wheels throughout. See a description and print of such a machine used at present in Egypt for the same purpose in Niebuhr’ s Voyage en Arabie, Tab. 17 p. 123; it moves upon three rollers armed with iron teeth or wheels to cut the straw. In Syria they make use of the drag, constructed in the very same manner as above described; Niebuhr, Description de l’ Arabie, p. 140. This not only forced out the grain, but cut the straw in pieces for fodder for the cattle; for in the eastern countries they have no hay. See Harmer’ s Observ. 1 p. 425. The last method is well known from the law of Moses, which "forbids the ox to be muzzled, when he treadeth out the corn;"Deu 25:4.

Clarke: Isa 28:28

The bread-corn - I read ולהם velahem , on the authority of the Vulgate and Symmachus; the former expresses the conjunction ו vau , omitted in the text, by autem ; the latter by δε

Bruise it with his horsemen "Bruise it with the hoofs of his cattle"- For פרשיו parashaiv , horsemen or teeth, read פרסיו perasaiv , hoofs. So the Syriac, Syrnmachus, Theodotion, and the Vulgate. The first is read with ש shin , the latter with ס samech , the pronunciation is nearly the same.

Calvin: Isa 28:15

15.Because ye have said The Prophet next assigns the reason why he called them “scorners;” it was because they had thrown off all fear of God. He likewise describes the manner in which they acted, by saying that they promised to themselves that they would escape punishment amidst all their crimes and enormities, and became the more daring, and, as if they had obtained greater liberty to pursue wicked courses, rushed forward without dread wherever their unruly passions carried them.

We have struck a league with death, and with hell have we made a compact This is what he means by the league into which they had entered with death and the grave; for by despising and boldly ridiculing all God’s threatenings and chastisements, they thought that they were out of all danger. חזה ( chōzĕh) means what he had formerly expressed by ברית , ( bērīth,) for it is a repetition of the same statement. Literally it signifies seeing, ²³⁰ and denotes what is conveyed by the French phrase, avoir intelligence , or by the English phrase, “to have a mutual understanding.” There appears to be also an implied contrast between prophetic visions and that deceitful craftiness on which veterans in wicked arts value themselves.

We have made lies our refuge It is certain that those cunning men never broke out into such boasting as to utter those offensive words, for that would have been childish and absurd. ²³¹ Besides, though they despised God and set at nought all his admonitions, they undoubtedly wished to be held in some estimation by the people, and would never have confessed that they “made lies their refuge;” but the Prophet looked at their feelings and aims, and not at their pretexts, and took into account their actions and dispositions, and not their words. Whoever, then, flatters himself and his vices, and fearlessly despises God’s threatenings, declares that he has “entered into a league with death,” which he does not at all dread, notwithstanding the Lord’s threatenings.

The Prophet, therefore, reproves in general that carnal presumption by which men are led to forgetfulness of the judgment of God, and willingly deceive themselves, as if they could escape the arm of God: but chiefly he attacks Lucianists ²³² and censorious men, who place their wisdom in nothing else than in irreligious contempt of God; and the more eager they are to conceal their dishonor, the more earnestly does the Prophet expose them, as if he had dragged forth to the light, from a deep concealment, their cunning wiles, and as if he had said, “This is the dexterity, skill, and cunning of the wise men of this world, who are exposed on every hand to troubles and afflictions, and yet imagine that they are concealed and safe. They unquestionably deserve to seek salvation from falsehood, for they disregard God’s salvation, and despise and ridicule him.” Their tricks, and cunning, and imposture, are indeed concealed by them under plausible names, and they do not think that they are falsehoods; but the Prophet calls them by their proper names.

When the overflowing scourge shall pass through As to “the overflowing scourge,” the Prophet here includes two metaphors; for he compares the calamities and afflictions by which God chastises the transgressions of the world to a “scourge,” and then says, that they are so rapid and violent that they resemble a “flood.” Against those calamities, however severe and distressing, wicked men of this description think that they are fortified by lying and deceit, and hope that they shall be able to escape them, though they overflow far and wide over the whole world. They perceive the judgments of God, and the calamities to which men are exposed; but, because they do not observe the hand and providence of God, and ascribe everything that happens to fortune, they therefore seek to obtain such defences and safeguards as may drive such “scourges” away from them.

Calvin: Isa 28:16

16.Therefore thus saith the Lord God Isaiah now comforts the godly, and threatens against the wicked such punishment as they deserved. In the first instance, he brings forward consolation, because the godly were a laughingstock to those crafty men, as we see at the present day that irreligious men laugh at our simplicity, and reckon us to be fools, because amidst such deep adversity and sore afflictions we still hope that it will turn out to our advantage. In opposition to this insolence of the reprobate, the Prophet encourages and supports the hearts of the godly to pass by with indifference, and reckon of no account their jeers and reproaches, and to believe firmly that their hope will not be confounded or vain.

Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a stone of trial The demonstrative particle behold expresses certainty; as if he had said, “Though wicked men despise my words, and refuse to believe them, yet I will perform what I have promised.” The pronoun I is emphatic, that the prophecy may be more firmly believed. As to the words, the genitive בחן , ( bōchăn,) of trial, which is used instead of an adjective along with stone, may be taken both in an active and in a passive sense, either for a stone by which the whole building is “tried,” or examined as by a standard, or for a “tried stone.” The former meaning appears to me to be more appropriate, and undoubtedly the usage of the Hebrew language requires us to interpret it rather in an active sense. He calls it therefore a trying stone, or a trier, on account of the effect produced; because by this stone the whole building must be squared and adjusted, otherwise it must unavoidably totter and fall.

A precious corner-stone, a sure foundation He calls it a corner-stone, because it supports the whole weight of the building, and by this name, which is also given to it in Psa 118:22, he commends its force and strength. Lastly, he calls it a “foundation,” and, so to speak, a “fundamental foundation,” proceeding gradually in the commendation of it; for he shews that it is not an ordinary stone, or one of many which contribute to the building, but that it is a highly valuable stone, on which the whole weight of the building exclusively rests. It is a stone, but a stone which fills the whole corner; it is a corner-stone, but the whole house is founded on it. As “another foundation cannot be laid,” so on it alone must the whole Church, and every part of it, rest and be built. (1Co 3:11.)

He that believeth shall not make haste This clause is interpreted by some as an exhortation, “He that believeth, let him not make haste.” But I prefer to take it in the future tense, both because that meaning agrees best with the context, and because it is supported by the authority of the Apostle Paul. I do acknowledge that the Apostles followed the Greek translation, ²³³ and used such liberty, that while they were satisfied with giving the meaning, they did not quote the exact words. Yet they never changed the meaning, but, taking care to have it properly applied, they gave the true and genuine interpretation. Whenever, therefore, they quote any passage from the Old Testament, they adhere closely to its object and design.

Now, Paul, when he quotes this prophecy, adopts the Greek version, “He that believeth shall not be ashamed.” (Rom 9:33.) And certainly the design of the Prophet is to shew, that they who believe will have peace and serenity of mind, so that they shall not desire anything more, and shall not wander in uncertainty, or hasten to seek other remedies, but shall be fully satisfied with this alone. That is not a departure from the meaning, for the word signifying to make haste conveys the idea of eagerness or trembling. In short, the design of the Prophet is, to extol faith on account of this invaluable result, that by means of it we enjoy settled peace and composure. Hence it follows that, till we possess faith, we must have continual perplexity and distress; for there is but one harbour on which we can safely rely, namely, the truth of the Lord, which alone will give us peace and serenity of mind.

This fruit of faith is elsewhere described by the same Apostle Paul, when he says that, “being justified by faith, we obtain peace with God.” (Rom 5:1.) The Apostles and evangelists shew that this “stone” is Christ, because the Church was actually settled and founded at the time when he was presented to the view of the world. (Mat 21:42; Act 4:11; Rom 9:33; 1Pe 2:6.) First, in him the promises have their firmness; secondly, the salvation of men rests on him alone, and therefore if Christ be taken away, the Church will fall down and be ruined. The state of the fact therefore shews, that these statements must undoubtedly be referred to Christ, without whom there is no certainty of salvation; and therefore at every moment ruin is at hand. Next, we have the authority of evangelists and Apostles; and indeed the Holy Spirit conveys that instruction by their mouth.

But it will be proper to examine it more closely, that we may see in what manner these things are applied to Christ. First, it is not without good reason that Isaiah represents God as speaking, whose peculiar work it is to found the Church, as we have already seen elsewhere, and as the Prophet will afterwards declare; and this statement occurs very frequently in the Psalms. For if all men devote their labor to it, they will not be able to lay the least stone. It is God alone, therefore, who founds and builds his Church, though he employs for this purpose the labors and services of men. Now, by whom was Christ given, but by the Father? So then it was the heavenly Father who did and accomplished these things, and who appointed Christ to be the only foundation on which our salvation rests.

But was not this stone laid before? Did not the Church always rest on this foundation? I acknowledge that it did, but only in hope; for Christ had not yet been revealed, and had not fulfilled the office of a Redeemer. On this account the Prophet speaks of it as a future event, that believers may be fully persuaded that the Church, which they saw not only tottering and falling, but grievously shaken and almost laid in ruins, will yet be made firm by a new support, when it shall rest on a stone laid by the hand of God.

I lay in Zion He says that it is “in Zion;” because Christ must come out of it, which contributes greatly to confirm our faith, when we see that he came out of that place which was appointed for this purpose so long before. Now, at the present day, “Mount Zion” is everywhere; for the Church has spread to the ends of the world.

Christ is truly “the stone of trial,” for by him must the whole building be regulated, and we cannot be the building of God, if we are not adapted to him. Hence also Paul exhorts us to

“grow in him who is the head, from whom the whole body must be joined and united.” (Eph 4:15.)

Our faith must be wholly applied to Christ, that he may be our rule. He is also the “corner-stone,” on which rests not only one part of the building, but its whole weight, and the foundation itself.

“No man,” as Paul says, “can lay any other foundation than Jesus Christ.”
(1Co 3:11.)

This is the reason why, when the Lord promises by the mouth of Isaiah the restoration of his Church, he reminds us of the foundation; for it was wasted in such a manner that it resembled a ruin, and there was no way in which it could be restored but by Christ. As to Christ being called also the “stone of stumbling,” this is accidental; for the fault lies on ungrateful men, who, having rejected him, find him to be altogether different from what he would have been to them. But on this subject we have spoken at Isa 8:14. ²³⁴

Calvin: Isa 28:17

17.And I will lay judgment to the line The ruinous condition of the Church being such that believers hardly ventured to hope that it would be improved, he shews that God has in his hand the ready means of forming the Church entirely anew. As he lately mentioned a building, so now, by a different metaphor, he shews that there is no reason to fear that God will not at length finish the work of building which has been begun. Yet indirectly he reproves the pride and insolence of those who wished to be accounted pillars of the Church, while they were endeavoring, as far as lay in their power, to raze it to the foundation. Although, in consequence of an almost total extinction of the light of faith, and a frightful corruption of the worship of God, the state of the people was hideous, yet they boasted of their royal priesthood, in the same manner as we see the Papists at the present day shamelessly utter similar boasting, though lamentable confusion cries aloud that the form of the Church has utterly perished among them. For this reason the Prophet describes what will be the reformation of the Church.

Judgment to the line, and righteousness to the measure or plummet It is probable that קו , ( kāv,) a line, and משקלת , ( mĭshkōlĕth,) a plummet, mean the same thing, as may be inferred with greater certainty from another passage:

“I will stretch over Jerusalem the rope or line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab.” (2Kg 21:13.)

Yet I do not deny that he alludes to the examination of weights; but both metaphors are taken from buildings, in which the master-builders and masons try everything by a rule, in order to preserve a due proportion in every part. Thus it is said that the Lord administers equal judgment, when he restores the Church, in which otherwise everything is disordered and confused, as in a hideous ruin, when the ungodly are exalted and enjoy prosperity, while the godly are despised and sorrowful.

He makes the same statement concerning “righteousness,” that he will measure or try it by his weights, and will regulate everything by a rule; for by righteousness and judgment he means a proper and lawful administration of the Church, as contrasting with the masks and disguises boasted of by those who fear the title of Bishops. The meaning is, that this foundation is laid, not only that the Church may be commenced, but that it may be perfectly restored, to use a common phrase, “from top to bottom” ( De fonds en comble.)

The hail shall sweep away the reliance of falsehood This second part of the metaphor denotes also a very exact equality. Nothing then will be wanting to the building, if Christ be laid for the foundation; and, on the other hand, if he be not there, all will be vanity and confusion. Now since there was no room for “judgment and righteousness,” but by sweeping away the false confidences, he declares that they shall be all swept away, because the violence of God’s anger shall cast down all loftiness, and the flood shall penetrate all the hiding-places of thoughtless indifference. He therefore threatens that hypocrites, with all their boasting, shall nevertheless perish, even though the Lord preserve the Church; for he does not speak of chastisements, as if the wicked would be corrected by them, because, on the contrary, they become hardened and more obstinate. The cleansing, therefore, he shews, will be such as to drag them forth from their hiding-places and strip them of false and empty confidence; for wicked men think that they are so thoroughly concealed by their falsehood and deceit, that they shall never feel strokes, and therefore they please and flatter themselves amidst their iniquities and crimes; but the waters will easily reach them; that is, the wrath of God, which shall rush down upon them like a deluge, will easily break through their lurking-places.

Calvin: Isa 28:18

18.And your covenant with death shall be disannulled Formerly he directed his reproof against hypocrites, who obstinately mocked at God and all his threatenings; and he checked their thoughts in imagining that “they had made a covenant with death,” (Isa 28:15,) that is, in promising to themselves that all their transgressions would pass unpunished; as if by jeers and laughter they could escape the arm of God. He now threatens that, when they shall be fully aware that they must render an account to God, they shall be struck with fear and dread, whether they will or not; ²³⁵ for that state of ease and indifference into which they are sunk, arises from a kind of lethargy or drunkenness, which hinders them from perceiving the alarming nature of their disease; but the Lord will arouse them from their sleep, however profound, and will annul their imaginary compacts.

In short, he means that that peace which the wicked enjoy, while they slumber in their sins, will not be perpetual; for they shall be compelled, even against their will, to acknowledge that God is their judge, and, when they shall wish to enjoy repose, and while they are careless and unprepared, they shall be suddenly seized and agitated by strange terrors and anguish of mind. Their case is similar to that of malefactors, who, if they have broken out of prison and escaped, mock their judges, and utter reproachful and forward and insolent language against them, but, when they see the officers of justice close at their heels, suddenly tremble, and find that all their joy is turned into mourning, and that their condition is far worse than if they had not broken out of prison. Thus the wicked enjoy some momentary gladness, which they obtain by forgetfulness of their guilt; but the Lord immediately lays his hand on them, and terrifies their consciences in such a manner that they can find no rest.

Calvin: Isa 28:19

19.From the time that it shall pass He expresses more in this verse than in the preceding one; for he declares that the destruction of the reprobate is close at hand, though they promise to themselves everlasting happiness. Wicked men indeed perceive that they are liable to many calamities, but yet they flatter and stupefy themselves, and imagine that in this way they can ward off their calamities. They have in their mouth proverbs of this sort, “Let us not distress ourselves before the time: Let us enjoy the season while it lasts: Let us be cheerful, and not give ourselves uneasiness when we can avoid it.” But he threatens that there hangs over their heads a hidden destruction, ²³⁶ and adds:

It shall seize you every morning, and shall pass every day by day and night By “every morning” is meant “quickly and continually;” for it is only when they feel distress that wicked men are touched with the fear of God. Frequently indeed they are afraid when there is no danger; but it is a blind terror, for they do not understand whence their alarm proceeds. While God threatens, they are unconcerned, because they do not acknowledge him to be their judge, and thus they have no serious thoughts about God till they feel his hand. When he again repeats “in the morning,” and afterwards adds, “by day and by night,” he means, as I have said, that the scourge will be constant and daily; that they may not persuade themselves that it will be a light calamity, or deceive themselves by the hope of any mitigation; for, while the wrath of God against believers is momentary, against unbelievers it is eternal, for it never ceases to pursue them to the end.

Terror alone shall cause them to understand the report ²³⁷ Here commentators differ. Jerome’s translation is, “Terror shall give understanding to the report.” But they come nearer to the meaning of the Prophet who give this interpretation, “The report alone shall make you understand,” that is, “The men to whom the messenger shall come will be rendered obedient to God by the report alone.” For my own part, I adopt a simpler view, though I do not choose to refute the expositions given by others. “It will come to pass that terror alone shall enable you to understand doctrine.” As if he had said, “Hitherto I have not succeeded in my exhortations to you, but the Lord will find out a new method of instructing you, that is, chastisements and calamities, by which he will terrify you in such a manner that you shall know with whom you have to do.” It is as if a grieved and sorrowful father were thus to remonstrate with a disobedient and incorrigible son, “Since you despise my advices, you must one day be taught by the executioner.” ²³⁸

Thus Isaiah threatens wicked men, who mocked at all his threatenings, and tells them that they do not care for the assistance of prophets, but that one day they will actually know with what sincerity and truth they addressed them, and yet that it will be of no advantage to them, because knowledge so late will leave no room for repentance. We must “seek the Lord while there is time.” (Isa 55:6.) Pharaoh was made no better by the chastisements which he received, (Exo 8:15,) and Esau gained nothing by his tears, when he saw that he had been stripped of his birthright, (Gen 27:38; Heb 12:17;) for they were not followed by any repentance or any amendment of life. By the word “terror” he shews how “dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God,” (Heb 10:31,) and that they who despise his word are never allowed to pass unpunished. He employs the word שמועה ( shĕmūgnāh) to denote what is heard, that is, doctrine.

Calvin: Isa 28:20

20.For the bed shall be short By this metaphor he adorns the former statement; for he compares the reprobate, who are pressed down by the hand of God, to those who have concealed themselves in a “short and narrow bed,” in which they can scarcely stretch their limbs or lift their head, and where, in short, instead of rest, they feel sharp pains. He means that the Jews will be shut up in such a manner that they shall be overwhelmed with the severity of their distresses, and that the “bed,” which is given to man for rest, will be an instrument of torture.

If they seek a “covering,” he says that “it will be too short to wrap themselves in it,” and that it is an addition to their former distress, that amidst those heavy calamities they will want all necessary comforts. He chose to express this by the metaphor of a “narrow covering,” that they may know that their condition will be in the highest degree wretched; because the vengeance of God will pursue them on all sides, both above and below, so that they shall have no abatement or mitigation, and shall find no relief. The Lord employs these metaphors, in order to accommodate himself to our weakness; because otherwise we cannot understand how dreadful is the judgment of God. Hence therefore we learn how dreadful are the terrors which shake and confine wicked men, when the Lord pursues them; they search eagerly for places of concealment, and would willingly hide themselves in the center of the earth; but the Lord drags them forth to light, and confines and hems them in, so that they cannot move.

Calvin: Isa 28:21

21.For as in Mount Perazim Since he speaks here of the reprobate, the Prophet holds out nothing but terrors and cruel punishment; for while the Lord deals kindly and gently with his children, he shews that he will be an object of terror to the reprobate. For this purpose he produces examples, in which the Lord displayed his arm in defense of his people, as when he routed the Philistines in the valley of Perazim, when David pursued them, (2Sa 5:20; 1Ch 14:11,) and at another time, when the Amorites and other enemies were slain by the Israelites in the valley of Gibeon, with Joshua as their leader, to whom the Lord granted that the “sun and moon should stand still,” that they might more easily pursue their enemies. (Jos 10:10.)

Shall Jehovah rise up By the word “rise up” he points out the power of God, because we think that he is lazy and indolent, when he does not punish the reprobate. It is therefore said that he “rises up” or stands erect, when he openly exhibits to us proofs of his power, and such as especially manifest the great care which he takes of his Church. Although the manner was different, (for in ancient times he “rose up” in defense of his chosen people against foreigners, but now he threatens war against the Jews,) yet Isaiah skillfully applies these examples; for by driving out internal enemies God will promote the advantage of his Church not less than if he directed his strength and arms against foreigners. He would thus reckon them in the number of enemies, though they falsely boasted that they were his people.

His strange work ²³⁹ Some think that this “work” is called “strange,” because nothing corresponds better to the nature of God than to be merciful and to pardon our sins; and that when he is angry, he acts against his will, and assumes a character that is foreign to him and that is contrary to his nature. By nature he is gentle, compassionate, patient, kind, slow to anger, as Scripture declares by many words and by a variety of expressions his infinite compassion. (Exo 34:6; Psa 103:8.) Others explain it to mean that the “work” is “strange,” because formerly he was wont to defend his people, and that it is monstrous that he now proceeds to attack and exterminate them, as if they were enemies.

For my own part, I consider “strange” to mean simply what is uncommon or wonderful; for this appellation is given to what is rare and unusual among men, and we know that they almost always view with astonishment whatever is new. It is as if he had said, “The Lord will punish you, and that not in a common or ordinary way, but in a way so amazing that at the sight or hearing of it, all shall be struck with horror.” It is certain that all the works of God are so many proofs of his power, so that they ought justly to excite our admiration; but because, through constant habit and looking at them, they are despised by us, we think that he does nothing unless he adopt some extraordinary methods. On this account Isaiah quotes ancient examples, in order that we may know that, though to men this vengeance be new and amazing, yet to God it is far from being new, since for a long period he has given proofs of his power and ability not less remarkable than these. Yet I willingly admit that the Prophet contrasts the wicked Israelites with the Philistines and Canaanites, as if he had said, “The Lord formerly performed miracles when he wished to save his people; he will now perform them in order to destroy that people; for since the Israelites have degenerated, they shall feel the hand of God for their destruction which their fathers felt for their salvation.”

Calvin: Isa 28:22

22.Now therefore He again reminds those wicked men, whom he had formerly called “scorners,” (Isa 28:14,) that their cunning, and contempt, and jeers, and mockery, will avail them nothing, because all their ingenuity will be thwarted; and he exhorts them to repentance, if there still be any of them that are capable of being cured. For this reason he repeats the same threatenings, in order to arouse them.

Lest your chains be more firmly fastened He says that all that they will gain by resistance will be to draw themselves more firmly into their nets. Instead of “chains,” there are some who render מוסרים ( mōsĕrīm) “chastisements;” but this does not agree with the context. The metaphor of “chains” is highly appropriate in this passage; for, as the fox which has fallen into a snare, fastens the knot more firmly by his attempts to extricate himself and escape, so wicked men by their disobedience entangle and fasten themselves more and more. They desire to escape the hand of God, and kick against the spur, like an unruly horse which bends all its strength to shake of its rider; but all that they accomplish by their obstinacy and stubbornness is to receive heavier and severer blows.

Be ye not mockers This shews us how we ought to deal with wicked men, when we see that they are altogether destitute of the fear of God. All that remains for us to do is, to warn them that their jeers and scorn will be attended by no success in resisting the vengeance of God which hangs over them. We are also reminded that we ought not to sport with God, since we see, as in a mirror, what has been the end of those who despised the warnings and threatenings of the prophets since the beginning of the world.

For I have heard a consumption That his prediction may be firmly believed, he declares that he brings nothing forward which God did not reveal. כלה ( chālāh) sometimes signifies “perfection,” and sometimes “consumption,” as we formerly stated ²⁴⁰ (Isa 10:23.) Here it must denote “consumption,” for the Prophet means nothing else than that God has determined speedily to destroy the whole earth by a general slaughter. This includes two things; first, that dreadful and grievous destruction is about to overtake the world, (unless it be thought better to limit the word “earth” to Judea, to which I do not object,) and, secondly, that the day is fixed and is not distant. The word hearing is here used to denote Revelation. He says that it has been made known to him; for, as the Lord determined to make use of the ministry of the prophets, so he revealed to them his secrets, that they might be, as it were, interpreters of them.

Upon the whole earth As if he had said, “The whole world abounds with shocking impiety, reprobate men have grown wanton in their wickedness, as if there would be no judgment of God; but throughout the whole world, or in every part of Judea, God will shew that he is judge and avenger, and not a corner of the earth will be exempted from troubles and calamities, because they have despised the word.” Now, although these things were revealed in the age of Isaiah, yet they belong not less to other times, in which God shews that he is always like himself, and is wont to execute his judgments by the same method and rule. ²⁴¹

Calvin: Isa 28:23

23.Give ear and hear my voice Isaiah makes use of a preface, as if he were about to speak of something important and very weighty; for we are not wont to demand attention from our hearers, unless when we are about to say what is very important. And yet he seems here to speak of common and ordinary subjects, as for example, about agriculture, sowing, thrashing, and such like operations. But the Prophet intended to direct the minds of his hearers to higher matters; for when he discourses about the judgments of God, and shews with what wisdom God governs the world, though wicked men think that everything moves by chance and at random, he intended to lay down and explain a difficult subject, in a plain style, by metaphors drawn from objects which are well known and understood. We often complain that God winks too much at the crimes of wicked men, because he does not immediately punish them agreeably to our wish; but the Prophet shews that God appoints nothing but what is just and proper.

The design of this preface therefore is, that men may perceive their stupidity in carping at the judgments of God, and putting an unfavourable construction on them, while even in the ordinary course of nature they have a very bright mirror, in which they may see them plainly. There is an implied expostulation with men who shut their eyes amidst so clear light. He shews that they are dull and stupid in not understanding the works of God which are so manifest, and yet are so rash and daring that they presume to judge and censure what is hidden. In like manner Paul also, when speaking of the resurrection, pronounces that those who do not perceive the power of God in the seeds which are thrown into the earth are madmen.

“Thou fool, that which thou sowest does not grow or vegetate till it has rotted.”
(1Co 15:36.)

Thus Isaiah here declares that those who do not see the wisdom of God in things so obvious are stupid, and, in short, that men are blind and dull in beholding the works of God.

Calvin: Isa 28:24

24.Doth the ploughman plough every day ²⁴² to sow? This passage is commonly explained as if the Lord reproached his people for ingratitude, because he had cultivated the field as a husbandman, and had spent on it all his care and industry, and yet did not reap such fruit as it ought to have yielded. Such is the interpretation given by the Jews, who have been followed also by the Greek and Latin commentators; but Isaiah’s meaning was quite different. He connects this doctrine with his former statement, that the destruction of Judea, or of the whole world, had been revealed to him; and therefore he adds, that still God does not always display his hand, or constantly punish the wickedness of men; for he often appears as if he did not see it, and delays the punishment of it for a time. The Lord’s forbearance and slowness to punish, which is thus manifested, is abused by wicked men for leading them to greater lengths in wickedness, as Solomon remarks that men are encouraged to commit wickedness by observing that

“all things happen alike to the good and to the bad,” (Ecc 8:14,)

that all the worst and basest men enjoy prosperity, while the godly are liable to distresses not less and even greater than those of other men. ²⁴³

In short, when the wicked perceive no difference in outward matters, they think either that there is no God, or that everything is governed by the blind violence of fortune. To such thoughts therefore Isaiah replies, “Do you not know that God has his seasons, and that he knows what he ought to do at the proper time?” If ploughmen do not “every day” cleave the earth or break the clods, this ought not to be attributed to their want of skill; for, on the contrary, their skill requires them to desist. ²⁴⁴ What would they gain by continually turning over the soil, but to weary themselves to no purpose, and prevent it from yielding any fruit? Thus God does not act with bustle or confusion, but knows the times and seasons for doing his work. ²⁴⁵

Calvin: Isa 28:25

25.When he hath levelled its surface He now speaks about sowing. The sower will not put into the earth as much as he can, nor will he throw it in at random, but will measure the ground, and give to it as much as is necessary; for otherwise the superfluous mass would rot, and not a single grain would take root.

Wheat in measure, and barley measured ²⁴⁶ He will not mix various seeds, but will allot one part of the field for “wheat,” another for “vetches,” and another for “cummin.” He will do this in measure, for that I consider to be the proper interpretation of שורה ( sōrāh.) ²⁴⁷ It does not mean excellent or good; for he is speaking about measurement. Similar statements are made about reaping and thrashing; for all kinds of grain are not thrashed in the same manner. Wheat is thrashed with the wheel of a cart or wagon, vetches with a staff, and cummin with a thicker rod. He speaks according to the custom of the country. This mode of thrashing is unknown in any part of France, except Provence. ²⁴⁸ In short, he means that the manner of thrashing which is suitable to the grain does not apply equally to all. Besides, the husbandman is not constantly or incessantly employed in thrashing, but exercises moderation, that he may not bruise the grain.

Calvin: Isa 28:26

26.His God instructeth and teacheth him what is right From whom did the husbandman learn these things but from God? If they are so well educated and taught in the smallest matters, what ought we to think of so great a teacher and instructor? Does he not know how to apply a fixed measure and equity to his works? Does he not see the time for executing his judgment; when he ought to cut down the people, and, as we may say, to harrow ²⁴⁹ them; when he ought to thrash; what strokes, what kind of chastisements he ought to inflict; in short, what is most suitable to each time and to each person? Will not he who appointed the universal order of nature regulate these things also by a just proportion? Are men so headstrong that they will venture to remonstrate with him, or to impugn his wisdom? The general meaning is, that we ought not to judge rashly, if God does not immediately punish the wickedness of men.

This shews that we ought to restrain the presumption of men, who, even in the smallest matters, often fall into mistakes. If a person ignorant of agriculture should see a husbandman cutting fields with a plough, making furrows, breaking clods, driving oxen up and down and following their footsteps, he would perhaps laugh at it, imagining that it was childish sport; but that man would be justly blamed by the husbandman, and convicted of ignorance and rashness; for every person of great modesty will think that those things are not done idly or at random, though he does not know the reason. When the seed is committed to the ground, does it not appear to be lost? If ignorant men find fault with these things, as ignorance is often rash and presumptuous in judging, will not intelligent men justly blame and pronounce them to have been in the wrong? If this be the case, how shall the Lord deal with us, if we dare to find fault with his works which we do not understand?

Let us therefore learn from this how carefully we ought to avoid this rashness, and with what modesty we ought to restrain ourselves from such thoughts. If we ought to act modestly towards men, and not to condemn rashly what exceeds our understanding or capacity, we ought to exercise much greater modesty towards God. When we consider therefore the various calamities with which the Church is afflicted, let us not complain that loose reins are given to the wicked, ²⁵⁰ and that consequently she is abandoned to her fate, or that all is over with her; but let us believe firmly, that the Lord will apply remedies at the proper time, and let us embrace with our whole heart his righteous judgments.

If any person carefully examining those words shall infer from them that some are punished more speedily and others more slowly, and shall pronounce the meaning to be, that punishment is delayed, such a view is not merely probable, but is fully expressed by the Prophet. We draw from it a delightful consolation, that the Lord regulates his thrashing in such a manner that he does not crush or bruise his people. The wicked are indeed reduced by him to nothing and destroyed; but he chastises his own people, in order that, having been subdued and cleansed, they may be gathered into the barn.

Calvin: Isa 28:29

29.This also hath proceeded from Jehovah of hosts This passage is explained by some, as if The Prophet had said that the science of agriculture proceeded from the Lord; but I consider it to be the application of what goes before. Having pointed out the wisdom of God, even in the smallest matters, he bids us, in like manner, raise our eyes to higher subjects, that we may learn to behold with greater reverence his wonderful and hidden judgments. A passing observation on the 26^th verse may be made, and indeed ought to be made, that not only agriculture, but likewise all the arts which contribute to the advantage of mankind, are the gifts of God, and that all that belongs to skillful invention has been imparted by him to the minds of men. Men have no right to be proud on this account, or to arrogate to themselves the praise of invention, as we see that the ancients did, who, out of their ingratitude to God, ranked in the number of the gods those whom they considered to be the authors of any ingenious contrivance. Hence arose deification and that prodigious multitude of gods which the heathens framed in their own fancy. Hence arose the great Ceres, and Triptolemus, and Mercury, and innumerable others, celebrated by human tongues and by human writings. The Prophet shews that such arts ought to be ascribed to God, from whom they have been received, who alone is the inventor and teacher of them. If we ought to form such an opinion about agriculture and mechanical arts, what shall we think of the learned and exalted sciences, such as Medicine, Jurisprudence, Astronomy, Geometry, Logic, and such like? Shall we not much more consider them to have proceeded from God? Shall we not in them also behold and acknowledge his goodness, that his praise and glory may be celebrated both in the smallest and in the greatest affairs?

Defender: Isa 28:16

This prophecy is fulfilled in Christ (1Pe 2:6; Rom 10:11).

Defender: Isa 28:16

Christ is the only true foundation (1Co 3:11; Eph 2:20).

Defender: Isa 28:16

Another rendering of this phrase is "shall not suddenly have to flee [from an attack].""

Defender: Isa 28:18

God thus considers a compromise with paganism (evolutionary pantheism) to be an actual covenant with death and hell. Those who attempt such a compromise in order to escape the wrath of the pagans who promote it (whether the ancient Assyrian invaders or modern humanistic intellectuals) will find it deadly in the long run, for this is part of Satan's war against God."

TSK: Isa 28:15

We have : To be in covenant with a thing, says Bp. Lowth, is a proverbial expression to denote perfect security from mischief or evil of which it is the cause. Isa 5:18, Isa 5:19; Ecc 8:8; Job 5:23, Job 15:25-27; Jer 44:17; Eze 8:12; Hos 2:18; Zep 1:12

when : Isa 8:7, Isa 8:8; Dan 11:22

we have made : Isa 30:10; Jer 5:31, Jer 14:13, Jer 16:19, Jer 28:15-17; Eze 13:16, Eze 13:22; Amo 2:4; Jon 2:8; 2Th 2:9-11

TSK: Isa 28:16

Behold : Isa 8:14; Gen 49:10,Gen 49:24; Psa 118:22; Zec 3:9; Mat 21:42; Mar 12:10; Luk 20:17, Luk 20:18; Act 4:11, Act 4:12; Rom 9:33, Rom 10:11; 1Co 3:11; Eph 2:20; 1Pe 2:6-8

he that : Isa 30:18; Psa 112:7, Psa 112:8; Hab 2:3, Hab 2:4; Jam 5:7, Jam 5:8

TSK: Isa 28:17

Judgment : Isa 10:22; 2Ki 21:13; Psa 94:15; Amo 7:7-9; Rom 2:2, Rom 2:5, Rom 9:28; Rev 19:2

and the hail : Isa 28:2, Isa 28:15, Isa 25:4, Isa 32:2, Isa 32:18, Isa 32:19; Exo 9:18, Exo 9:19; Jos 10:11; Jer 7:4-8, Jer 7:14, Jer 7:20; Jer 23:19, Jer 30:23, Jer 30:24; Eze 13:10-16, Eze 38:22; Rev 8:7, Rev 11:19, Rev 16:21

and the waters : Isa 30:28; Job 22:16; Dan 11:22; Mat 7:27; 2Pe 3:6, 2Pe 3:7

TSK: Isa 28:18

your covenant : Isa 7:7, Isa 8:10; Jer 44:28; Eze 17:15; Zec 1:6

shall be disannulled : For kuppar Houbigant, Archbp. Secker, and Bp. Lowth, would read tuppar ; but the former may well have the sense ascribed to it here, as it signifies in Chaldee and Syriac, abstersit , diluit , abolevit .

when : Isa 2:15, Isa 8:8; Jer 47:2; Dan 8:9-13, Dan 9:26, Dan 9:27, Dan 11:40; Rev 12:15, Rev 17:15

trodden down by it : Heb. a treading down to it, Isa 28:3; Mal 4:1-3

TSK: Isa 28:19

the time : Isa 10:5, Isa 10:6; 2Ki 17:6, 2Ki 18:13; Eze 21:19-23

and it : Isa 33:7, Isa 36:22, Isa 37:3; 1Sa 3:11; 2Ki 21:12; Jer 19:3; Dan 7:28, Dan 8:27; Hab 3:16; Luk 21:25, Luk 21:26

to understand the report : or, when he shall make you to understand doctrine

TSK: Isa 28:20

the bed : Isa 57:12, Isa 57:13, Isa 59:5, Isa 59:6, Isa 64:6, Isa 66:3-6; Jer 7:8-10; Rom 9:30-32; 1Co 1:18-31

TSK: Isa 28:21

in mount Perazim : 2Sa 5:20; 1Ch 14:11

the valley : Jos 10:10,Jos 10:12; 2Sa 5:25, Geba, 1Ch 14:16

his strange : Isa 28:19; Deu 29:21-24; Jer 30:14; Lam 2:15, Lam 3:33; Eze 33:21; Luk 19:41-44

TSK: Isa 28:22

be ye : Isa 28:15; 2Ch 30:10, 2Ch 36:16; Jer 15:17, Jer 20:7; Mat 27:39, Mat 27:44; Act 13:40,Act 13:41; Act 17:32

lest : 2Ch 33:11; Psa 107:16; Jer 39:7; Lam 1:14; Rev 22:18, Rev 22:19

a consumption : Isa 10:22, Isa 10:23, 24:1-23, Isa 32:12-14; Jer 25:11; Dan 9:26, Dan 9:27; Luk 21:24

TSK: Isa 28:23

Isa 1:2; Deu 32:1; Jer 22:29; Rev 2:7, Rev 2:11, Rev 2:14, Rev 2:29

TSK: Isa 28:24

break : Jer 4:3; Hos 10:11, Hos 10:12

TSK: Isa 28:25

in the principal : etc. or, the wheat in the principal place, and the barley in the appointed place. rye. or, spelt. Exo 9:31, Exo 9:32; Eze 4:9

place : Heb. border

TSK: Isa 28:26

For his God : etc. or, And he bindeth it in such sort as his God doth teach him, Exo 28:3, Exo 31:3-6, Exo 36:2; Job 35:11, Job 39:17; Psa 144:1; Dan 1:17; Jam 1:17

TSK: Isa 28:27

threshed : Isa 41:15; 2Ki 13:7; Amo 1:3

the fitches : Isa 27:7, Isa 27:8; Jer 10:24, Jer 46:28

TSK: Isa 28:28

Bread : Isa 21:10; Amo 9:9; Mat 3:12, Mat 13:37-43; Luk 22:31, Luk 22:32; Joh 12:24; 1Co 3:9; 1Co 9:9, 1Co 9:10

the wheel : Isa 28:27

TSK: Isa 28:29

cometh : Isa 28:21, Isa 28:22, Isa 9:6; Job 5:9, Job 37:23; Psa 40:5, Psa 92:5; Jer 32:19; Dan 4:2, Dan 4:3; Rom 11:33

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Isa 28:15

We have made a covenant with death - We are not to suppose that they had formally said this, but that their conduct was as if they had said it; they lived as securely as if they had entered into a compact with death not to destroy them, and with hell not to devour them. The figure is a very bold one, and is designed to express the extraordinary stupidity of the nation. It is most strikingly descriptive of the great mass of people. They are as little anxious about death and hell as if they had made a compact with the king of terrors and the prince of darkness not to destroy them. They are as little moved by the appeals of the gospel, by the alarms of God’ s providence, by the preaching of his word, and by all the demonstrations that they are exposed to eternal death, as though they had proved that there was no hell, or had entered into a solemn covenant that they should be unmolested. A figure similar to this occurs in Job 5:23 :

For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field;

And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

Compare Hos 2:18.

And with hell - Hebrew, ‘ Sheol’ - the land of shades, or of departed spirits (see the note at Isa 5:14). It is nearly synonymous here with death.

When the overflowing scourge shall pass through - There is here, in our translation, a little confusion of metaphor, since we speak usually of an overflowing "stream,"and not of an overflowing "scourge."The word ‘ scourge’ ( שׁיט shayiṭ ) means usually "a whip, a scourge,"the same as שׁוט shôṭ , and then means any punishment or calamity (see the note at Isa 10:26; compare Job 9:23; Job 5:21. Here its means severe judgments or calamities, as overflowing like water, or inundating a people.

We have made lies ... - That is, they acted as if they had a safe refuge in falsehood. They sought security in false doctrines, and regarded themselves as safe from all that the prophets had denounced.

Barnes: Isa 28:16

Therefore thus saith the Lord - God. This verse is introductory to the solemn threatening which follows. Its design seems to be this. The prophet was about to utter an awful threatening of the judgment of God upon the nation. It might be supposed, perhaps, that the intention was completely to sweep them, and destroy them - that the threatened calamity would remove every vestige of the Jewish people and of the true religion together. To meet this supposition, God says that this should not occur. Zion was founded on a rock. It should be like an edifice that was reared on a firm, well-tried cornerstone - one that could endure all the storms that should beat around it, and be unmoved. The general sentiment of the verse is, therefore, that though a tempest of calamity was about to beat upon the people for their sins; though the temple was to be destroyed, the city laid in ashes, and many of the people slain; yet it was the purpose of God that his empire on earth should not be destroyed. A foundation, a cornerstone was to be laid that would be unshaken and unmoved by all the assaults of the foes of God, and all who were truly resting on that should be safe. The perpetuity of his kingdom, and the safety of his true people, is, therefore, the essential idea in this passage. That it refers to the Messiah, and is designed to show that his kingdom will be perpetual because it is reared on him, we shall see by an examination of the words which occur in the verse.

In Zion - (see the note at Isa 1:8). Zion here is put for his empire, kingdom, or church in general on earth. To lay a cornerstone in Zion, means that his kingdom would be founded on a rock, and would be secure amidst all the storms that might beat upon it.

For a foundation a stone - That is, I lay a firm foundation which nothing can move; I build it on a rock so that the storms and tempests of calamity cannot sweep it away (compare Mat 7:24-25). The Targum renders this, ‘ Lo! I appoint in Zion a king, a strong, mighty, and terrible king.’ That the passage before us has reference to the Messiah there can be no doubt. The writers of the New Testament so understood and applied it. Thus it is applied by Peter 1Pe 2:6, ‘ Wherefore, also, it is contained in the Scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded’ (see the notes at Rom 9:33; compare Rom 10:11; Mat 21:42; Luk 20:17-18; Luk 2:34; Eph 2:20). Such a reference also exactly suits the conection. The stability of the kingdom of God on earth rests on the Messiah. God had determined to send him; and, consequently, amidst all the agitations and revolutions that could take place among his ancient people, this promise was sure, and it was certain that he would come, and that his church would be preserved.

A tried stone - The word which is used here is applied commonly to "metals"which are tried in the fire to test their quality (see Job 23:10; Psa 66:10; Jer 9:6; Zec 13:9). The idea is, that God would lay for a foundation not a stone whose qualities are unknown, and whose stability might be doubtful, but one whose firmness and solidity were so fully known, that the foundation and the superstructure would be secure.

A precious cornerstone - The word ‘ precious’ (Septuagint, and 1Pe 2:6, ἔμτιμον entimon ) refers to the fact that the most solid stone would be used to sustain the corner of the edifice. The principal weight of the superstructure rests on the corners, and hence, in building, the largest and firmest blocks are selected and placed there.

He that believeth - He that confides in that; he that believes that that foundation is firm, and that he is secure in trusting in that, shall not make haste. The great doctrine of faith in the Messiah as a ground of security and salvation, on which so much stress is laid in the New Testament, is here distinctly adverted to. The sense is, that confidence in him should keep the mind firm, and preserve him that believes in safety.

Shall not make haste - The Septuagint renders it, Ου ̓ μὴ καταισχυνθῆ Ou mē kataischunthē - ‘ Shall not be ashamed.’ So Peter, 1Pe 2:6; and Paul, Rom 9:33. The Hebrew word יחישׁ yachiysh , from חוּשׁ chôsh , means properly "to make haste;"and then to urge on; and then to be afraid, to flee. The idea is derived from one who is alarmed, and flees to a place of safety. The specific thought here is that of a man on whose house the tempest beats, and who apprehends that the foundation is insecure, and leaves it to seek a more safe position. The prophet says here, that the foundation on which Zion was reared would be so firm that if a man trusted to that he would have no cause of alarm, however, much the storms should beat around it. The same idea essentially is conveyed in the version of the Septuagint, and by Paul and Peter, where it is rendered ‘ shall not be ashamed,’ or ‘ confounded.’ That is, he shall have no reason to be ashamed of his confidence in the firm foundation; he shall not flee from it as a man does who puts his trust in that which fails him in the day of trial.

Barnes: Isa 28:17

Judgment also will I lay to the line - The sense of this is, I will judge them according to the exact rule of law, as an architect frames everything according to the rule which he uses. In other words, there shall be no mercy intermingled. The line is used by a carpenter for measuring; the plummet consists of a piece of lead attached to a string, and is also used by carpenters to obtain a perpendicular line. A carpenter works exactly according to the lines which are thus indicated, or his frame would not be properly adjusted. So God says that he would judge the people of Jerusalem according to the exact rule, without any intermingling of mercy.

And the hail ... - (see the note at Isa 28:2). Hail, hailstones, and floods of waters are frequent images of the divine vengeance and wrath Psa 105:32; Isa 22:19; Isa 30:30; Eze 13:13; Eze 38:22; Rev 8:7; Rev 11:19; Rev 16:21.

Barnes: Isa 28:18

And your covenant with death - (see the note at Isa 28:15).

Shall be disannulled - The word rendered ‘ shall be disannulled,’ ( וכפר v^e kupar from כפר kâphar ), properly means "to cover, overlay;"then to pardon, forgive; then to make atonement, to expiate. It has the idea of blotting out, forgiving, and obliterating - because a writing in wax was obliterated or "covered"by passing the "stylus"over it. Hence, also, the idea of abolishing, or rendering nought, which is the idea here. "When the overflowing scourge"(see the note at Isa 28:15).

Then ye shall be trodden down by it - There is in this verse a great intermingling of metaphor, not less than three figures being employed to denote the calamity. There is first the scourge, an instrument of punishment; there is then the idea of inundating waters or floods; then there is also the idea of a warrior or an invading army that treads down an enemy. All the images are designed to denote essentially the same thing, that the judgments of God would come upon the land, and that nothing in which they had trusted would constitute a refuge.

Barnes: Isa 28:19

From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you - It shall not delay, or be hindered, or put back. As soon as the judgment is sent forth from God it shall come upon you.

For morning by morning - Continually; without intermission. It shall be like floods and tempests that have no intermission; that are repeated every day, and continued every night, until everything is swept before them.

And it shall be a vexation - It shall be an object of alarm, of agitation, of distress - זועה z^e vâ‛âh from זוע zûa‛ , "to move oneself;"to tremble with alarm; to be troubled Ecc 12:3; Dan 5:19; Dan 6:27; Heb 2:7. Here it means that the calamity would be so great that it would fill the mind with horror only to hear of it. For similar expressions denoting the effect of hearing a report of the judgments of God, see 1Sa 3:11; 2Ki 21:12; Jer 19:3.

The report - Margin, ‘ Doctrine’ (see the note at Isa 28:9).

Barnes: Isa 28:20

For the bed is shorter ... - This is evidently a proverbial saying, and means that they would find all their places of defense insufficient to secure them. They seek repose and security - as a man lies down to rest at night. But they find neither. His bed furnishes no rest; his scanty covering furnishes no security from the chills of the night. So it would be with those who sought protection in idols, in the promises of false prophets, and in the aid which might be obtained from Egypt. So it is with sinners. Their vain refuges shall not shield them. The bed on which they seek rest shall give them no repose; the covering with which they seek to clothe themselves shall not defend them from the wrath of God.

Barnes: Isa 28:21

For the Lord shall rise up - To rise up is indicative of going forth to judgment, as when one rises from his seat to accomplish anything.

As in mount Perazim - There is reference here, doubtless, to the event recorded in 2Sa 5:20-21, and 1Ch 14:11, where David is said to have defeated the Philistines at Baal-Perazim. This place was near to the valley of Rephaim 2Sa 5:19, and not far from Jerusalem. The word ‘ Perazim’ is from פרץ pârats , to tear, or break forth, as waters do that have been confined; and is indicative of sudden judgment, and of a complete overthrow. It was on that account given to the place where David obtained a signal and complete victory 2Sa 5:20; and it is here referred to, to denote that God would come forth in a sudden manner to destroy Jerusalem and Judea. He would come upon them like bursting waters, and sweep them away to a distant land.

As in the valley of Gibeon - In 1Ch 14:16, it is said that after the victory of Baal-Perazim, ‘ David smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gaza.’ This victory is doubtless referred to here, and not the victory of Joshua over the Gibeonites Jos 10:10, as Vitringa and others suppose.

That he may do his work, his strange work - This is called his strange work because it would be inflicted on his people. He had destroyed their enemies often, but now he was about to engage in the unusual work of coming forth against his own people, and sweeping them away to a distant land. The work of judgment and punishment may be called the "strange"work of God always, inasmuch as it is not that in which he delights to engage, and is foreign to the benevolence of his heart. It is especially so when his own people are the objects of his displeasure, and when their sins are such as to demand that he should visit them with the tokens of his wrath.

Barnes: Isa 28:22

Now therefore - In view of the certain judgment which God will bring upon you.

Be ye not mockers - This was the prevailing sin Isa 28:9-14, and on account of this sin in part the judgment of God was about to come upon the guilty nation.

Lest your bands be made strong - Lest your confinement should be more severe and protracted. God would punish them according to their sins, and if they now ceased to mock and deride him it would greatly mitigate the severity of their punishment (compare Isa 24:22).

For I have heard ... - I, the prophet, have heard Yahweh of hosts threaten a consumption.

A consumption ... - (see this phrase explained in the note at Isa 10:23)

Upon the whole earth - The whole land of Judea (see the note at Isa 24:1).

Barnes: Isa 28:23

Give ye ear - In this verse the prophet introduces an important and striking illustration drawn from the science of agriculture. It is connected with the preceding part of the chapter, and is designed to show the propriety of what the prophet had said by an appeal to what they all observed in the cultivation of their lands. The previous discourse consists mainly of reproofs and of threatenings of punishment on God’ s people for their profane contempt of the messengers of God. He had threatened to destroy their nation, and so remove them for a time to a distant land. This the prophet had himself said Isa 28:21 was his ‘ strange work.’ To vindicate this and to show the propriety "of God’ s adopting every measure, and of not always pursuing the same course in regard to his people,"he draws an illustration from the farmer. He is not always doing the same thing. He adopts different methods to secure a harvest.

He adapts his plans to the soil and to the kind of grain; avails himself of the best methods of preparing the ground, sowing the seed, collecting the harvest, and of separating the grain from the chaff. He does not always plow; nor always sow; nor always thresh. He does not deal with all kinds of land and grain in the same way. Some land he plows in one mode, and some in another; and in like manner, some grain he threshes in one mode, and some in another - adapting his measures to the nature of the soil, and of the grain. Some grain he beats out with a flail; some he bruises; but yet he will be careful not to break the kernel, or destroy it in threshing it. However severe may appear to be his blows, yet his object is not to crush and destroy it Isa 28:28, but it is to remove it from the chaff, and to save it. In all this he acts the part of wisdom, for God has taught him what to do Isa 28:26, Isa 28:29. So, says the prophet, God will not deal with all of his people in the same manner, nor with them always in the same mode. He will vary his measures as a farmer does. When mild and gentle measures will do, he will adopt them. When severe measures are necessary, he will resort to them. His object is not to destroy his people, anymore than the object of the farmer in threshing is to destroy his grain. The general dedicate the propriety of God’ s engaging in what the prophet calls his ‘ strange act,’ and ‘ strange work,’ in punishing his people. The allegory is one of great beauty, and its pertinency and keeping are maintained throughout; and it furnishes a most important practical lesson in regard to the mode in which God deals with his people.

Barnes: Isa 28:24

Doth the plowman ... - The question here asked implies that he does "not"plow all the day. The interrogative form is often the most emphatic mode of affirmation.

All day - The sense is, does he do nothing else but plow? Is this the only thing which is necessary to be done in order to obtain a harvest? The idea which the prophet intends to convey here is this. A farmer does not suppose that he can obtain a harvest by doing nothing else but plow. There is much else to be done. So it would be just as absurd to suppose that God would deal with his people always in the same manner, as it would be for the farmer to be engaged in nothing else but plowing.

Doth he open ... - That is, is he always engaged in opening, and breaking the clods of his field? There is much else to be done besides this. The word ‘ open’ here refers to the furrows that are made by the plow. The earth is laid open as it were to the sunbeams, and to the showers of rain, and to the reception of seed. The word rendered ‘ break’ ( ישׁדד yshadēd ) properly means "to harrow,"that is, to break up the clods by harrowing Job 39:10; Hos 10:11.

Barnes: Isa 28:25

When he hath made plain ... - That is, when he has leveled, or made smooth the surface of the ground by harrowing, or rolling it.

Doth he not scatter abroad - He does not sow one kind of grain merely, but different species according to the nature of the soil, or according to his wishes in regard to a crop.

The fitches - ( קצח qetsach ). Vulgate, Gith; a kind of cockle (Nigella Romana), an herb of sweet savor. Septuagint, Μικρόν μελάνθιον Mikron melanthion . The word ‘ fitch’ denotes a small species of pea. The Hebrew word, however, which occurs nowhere else but here, probably denotes fennel, or dill, an herb whose seed the ancients mixed with their bread in order to give it a more agreeable relish.

And scatter the cummin - ( כמן kammôn ). Vulgate, Cyminum - ‘ Cummin.’ Septuagint, Κύμινον Kuminon - also ‘ Cummin.’ The word properly denotes an annual plant whose seeds have a bitterish warm taste with an aromatic flavor (Webster). The seeds of this plant were used as a condiment in sauces.

And cast in the principal wheat - Margin, ‘ The wheat in the principal place.’ Vulgate, Per ordinem - ‘ In its proper order, place, proportion.’ So Lowth, ‘ In due measure.’ So Aben Ezra and Kimchi render it, ‘ By measure;’ and they suppose it means that if too much wheat be sown on the land, it will grow too thick, and that the spires will crowd and suffocate each other. Our translators have rendered the word שׂורה s'ôrâh , ‘ principal,’ as if it were derived from שׂרה s'ârâh , "to rule,"and seem to have supposed that it denoted wheat that was especially excellent, or distinguished for its good qualities. Gesenius supposes that it means ‘ fat wheat,’ from an Arabic signification of the word. Probably the word is designed to denote "quality,"and to convey the idea that wheat is the principal, or chief grain that is sown; it is that which is most valued and esteemed.

And the appointed barley - The barley is a well-known grain. The word rendered ‘ appointed’ ( נסמן nis^e mân ), occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. Castellio, Taylor, Grotius, Calvin, our translators, and others, suppose that it is derived from a Hebrew word which does not now occur - סמן sâman , "to designate, to mark, to seal;"and that it means barley that had been put aside and marked as especially excellent, or seed-barley. In Chaldee, the word סמן simman occurs in the sense of "to seal, to mark, to designate"(Chaldee Par. Num 17:3; 2Ki 9:13; Est 5:1). The Septuagint, translated it κέγχρον kengchron , and the Vulgate, Aquila, and Theodotion, understand the word as denoting a species of grain, the millet. The idea is probably that expressed by Grotius, and in our version - of barley that had been selected as seed-barley on account of its excellent quality.

And the rye - Margin, ‘ Spelt.’ The word usually denotes "spelt"- a kind of wheat now found in Flanders and Italy, called German wheat. It may, however, denote rye.

In their place - literally, ‘ In the border.’ Septuagint, Ἐν τοῖς ὁρίοις σου En tois horiois sou - ‘ In thy borders.’ The idea seems to be that the spelt or rye was sown in the borders of the field while the wheat was sown in the middle; or that the rye was sown in its "proper bounds,"or in the places which were adapted to it, and best suited to promote its growth.

Barnes: Isa 28:26

For his God doth instruct him ... - Margin, ‘ He bindeth it in such sort as his God doth teach him.’ The more correct idea is conveyed in the text. The word יסרו yis^e rô , properly means, he instructs, admonishes, or teaches him. The idea that skill in agriculture is communicated by God is not one that is discordant to reason, or to the general teachings of the Bible. Thus the achitectural and mechanical skill of Bezaleel and Aholiab, by which they were enabled to make the tabernacle, is said expressly to have been imparted to them by God Exo 31:2-6. Thus also Noah was taught how to build the ark Gen 6:14-16. We are not, indeed, to suppose that the farmer is inspired; or that God communicates to him by special revelation where, and when, and how he shall sow his grain, but the sense is, that God is the author of all his skill. He has endowed him with understanding, and taught him by his providence. It is by the study of what God teaches in the seasons, in the soil, in the results of experience and observation, that he has this art. He teaches him also by the example, the counsel, and even by the failures of others; and all the knowledge of agriculture that he has is to be traced up to God.

Barnes: Isa 28:27

For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument - The word used here ( חרוּץ chârûts ) denotes properly that which is pointed or sharp, and is joined with מורג môrag in Isa 41:15 - meaning there the threshing dray or sledge; a plank with iron or sharp stones that was drawn by oxen over the grain (compare 2Sa 24:22; 1Ch 21:23). In the passage before us, several methods of threshing are mentioned as adapted to different kinds of grain, all of which are at the present time common in the East. Those which are mentioned under the name of the ‘ threshing instrument,’ and ‘ a cart wheel,’ refer to instruments which are still in use in the East. Niebuhr, in his "Travels in Arabia,"says, (p. 299,) ‘ In threshing their grain, the Arabians lay the sheaves down in a certain order, and then lead over them two oxen dragging a large stone.’ ‘ They use oxen, as the ancients did, to beat out their grain, by trampling on the sheaves, and dragging after them a clumsy machine.

This machine is not a stone cylinder; nor a plank with sharp stones, as in Syria; but a sort of sledge consisting of three rollers, fitted with irons, which turn upon axles. A farmer chooses out a level spot in his fields, and has his grain carried thither in sheaves, upon donkeys or dromedaries. Two oxen are then yoked in a sledge; a driver then gets upon it, and drives them backward and forward upon the sheaves; and fresh oxen succeed in the yoke from time to time. By this operation the chaff is very much cut down; it is then winnowed, and the grain thus separated.’ ‘ This machine,’ Niebuhr adds, ‘ is called Nauridj. It bas three rollers which turn on three axles; and each of them is furnished with some irons which are round and flat. Two oxen were made to draw over the grain again and again the sledge above mentioned, and this was done with the greatest convenience to the driver; for he was seated in a chair fixed on a sledge.’ See the illustration in the book to get an idea of this mode of threshing, and of the instruments that were employed.

Neither is a cart wheel - This instrument of threshing is described by Boehart (Hieraz. i. 2. 32. 311), as consisting of a cart or wagon fitted with wheels adapted to crush or thresh the grain. This, he says, was used by the Carthagenians who came from the vicinity of Canaan. It appears to have been made with serrated wheels, perhaps almost in the form of circular saws, by which the straw was cut fine at the same time that the grain was separated from the chaff.

But the fitches are beaten out with a staff - With a stick, or flail. That is, pulse in general, beans, pease, dill, cummin, etc., are easily beaten out with a stick or flail. This mode of threshing is common everywhere. It was also practiced, as with us, in regard to barley and other grain, where there was a small quantity, or where there was need of special haste (see Rth 2:17; Jdg 6:11).

Barnes: Isa 28:28

Bread corn - Hebrew, לחם lechem - ‘ Bread.’ But the word evidently denotes the material from which bread is made. The word is used in the same sense in Isa 30:23.

Is bruised - That is, is more severely bruised than the dill and the cummin; it is pressed and crushed by passing over it the sledge, or the wain with serrated wheels. The word דקק dâqaq means often to break in pieces; to make small or fine. It is, however, applied to threshing, as consisting in beating, or crushing (Isa 41:15 : ‘ Thou threshest the mountains, and beatest them small’ - ותדק v^e tâdoq .

Because he will not ever be threshing it - The word rendered ‘ because’ ( כי kı̂y ) evidently here means "although"or "but"; and the sense is, that he will not always continue to thresh it; this is not his only business. It is only a part of his method by which he obtains grain for his bread. It would be needless and injurious to be always engaged in rolling the stone or the sledge over the grain. So God takes various methods with his people. He does not always pursue the same course. He sometimes smites and punishes them, as the farmer beats his grain. But he does not always do it. He is not engaged in this method alone; nor does he pursue this constantly. It would crush and destroy them. "He, therefore, smites them just enough to secure, in the best manner, and to the fullest extent, their obedience; just as the farmer bruises his sheaves enough to separate all the grain from the chaff."When this is done, he pursues other methods. Hence the various severe and heavy trials with which the people of God are afflicted.

Nor bruise it with his horsemen - Lowth renders this, ‘ With the hoofs of his cattle;’ proposing to read פרסין instead of פרשׁיו pârâshâyv by a change of a single Hebrew letter ס ( s ), instead of the Hebrew letter שׁ ( sh ). So the Syriac and the Vulgate; and so Symmachus and Theodotion. But the word פרשׁ pârâsh may denote not only a "horsesman,"but the "horse"itself on which one rides (see Bochart, Hieroz. i. 2, 6. p. 98. Compare the note at Hab 1:8; 2Sa 1:6; Isa 21:7, Isa 21:9). That horses were used in treading out grain there can be no doubt. They are extensively used in this country; and though in Palestine it is probable that oxen were chiefly employed Deu 25:4 in the early times, yet there is no improbability in supposing that in the times subsequent to Solomon, when horses abounded, they were preferred. Their more rapid motion, and perhaps the hardness of their hoofs, makes them more valuable for this service (see Michaelis’ "Commentary on the Laws of Moses,"vol. ii. App. pp. 430-514, Lond. Ed. 1814). There are here, therefore, four modes of threshing mentioned, all of which are common still in the East.

1. The sledge with rollers, on which were pieces of iron, or stone, and which was dragged over the grain.

2. The cart or wain, with serrated wheels, and which was also drawn over the grain.

3. The flail, or the stick.

4. The use of cattle and horses.

Barnes: Isa 28:29

This also cometh ... - That is, these various devices for threshing his grain comes from the Lord no less than the skill with which he tills his land. (see Isa 28:26).

And excellent in working - Or rather, who magnifies ( חגדיל chigdiyl ) his wisdom ( תוּשׁיה tûshı̂yâh ). This word properly means wisdom, or understanding Job 11:6; Job 12:16; Job 26:3; Pro 3:21; Pro 8:14; Pro 18:1. The idea of the prophet is, that God, who had so wisely taught the farmer, and who had instructed him to use such various methods in his husbandry, would also be himself wise, and would pursue similar methods with his people. He would not always pursue the same unvarying course, but would vary his dispensations as they should need, and as would best secure their holiness and happiness. We see:

1. The reason of afflictions. It is for the same cause which induces the farmer to employ various methods on his farm.

2. We are not to expect the same unvarying course in God’ s dealings with us. It would be as unreasonable as to expect that the farmer would be always plowing, or always threshing.

3. We are not to expect always the same kind of afflictions. The farmer uses different machines and modes of threshing, and adapts them to the nature of the grain. So God uses different modes, and adapts them to the nature, character, and disposition of his people. One man requires one mode of discipline, and another another. At one time we need one mode of correction to call us from sin and temptation; at another another. We may lay it down as a general rule, that "the divine judgments are usually in the line of our offences;"and by the nature of the judgment we may usually ascertain the nature of the sin. If a man’ s besetting sin is "pride,"the judgment will usually be something that is suited to humble his pride; if it be covetousness, his property may be removed, or it may be made a curse; if it be undue attachment to children or friends, they may be removed.

4. God will not crush or destroy his people. The farmer does not crush or destroy his grain. In all the various methods which he uses, he takes care not to pursue it too far, and not to injure the grain. So with God’ s dealings with his people. His object is not to destroy them, but it is to separate the chaff from the wheat; and he will afflict them only so much as may be necessary to accomplish this. He will not be always bruising his people, but will in due time remit his strokes - just as the thresher does.

5. We should, therefore, bear afflictions and chastisements with patience. God deals with us in mercy - and the design of all his dispensations toward us in prosperity and adversity; in sickness and in health; in success and in disappointment, is to produce the richest and most abundant fruits of righteousness, and to prepare us to enter into his kingdom above.

Poole: Isa 28:15

Because ye have said in your hearts,

We have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement; we are as safe from death , and hell , or the grave , as if they had entered into covenant with us, that they would not invade us. The word rendered hell most commonly signifies the grave; which also seems most proper in this place, that so the same thing may be repeated in. other words, as is most usual in prophetical writings.

The overflowing scourge the judgment of God, Which is called a scourge , for its sharpness and severity; and overflowing, for its universality; two differing metaphors being joined together; which is not unusual, both in Scripture and in other authors. Shall pass through, to wit, the land.

We have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves we shall secure ourselves by lying and dissimulation, by compliance with our enemies, and with their religion too, if it be necessary, and many crafty devices. Or by lies and falsehood he means their riches and strength, to which they trusted, to which he giveth these titles, not that they called or thought them such, but that he might signify what they really were, and would appear to be: See Poole "Pro 1:11" .

Poole: Isa 28:16

Therefore: the coherence is something obscure and difficult. It may be made either,

1. Thus, Therefore I will bring most terrible judgments upon you; which are fully expressed, Isa 28:17-21 . But before he comes to the commination, to which therefore properly belongs, he first propoundeth a comfortable promise concerning the sending of the Messiah, partly for the support of believers, who are apt to tremble at God’ s word, and might otherwise be apt to despond at the prediction of such dreadful things; and partly to aggravate their misery, by comparing it with the safety and happiness which the godly and believing Jews, whom they despised and mocked, should find in Zion; and by signifying that that blessed and sure Foundation laid in Zion should yield them no support nor benefit, nor secure them from the vengeance of God. Or,

2. Thus, Because your refuges are so mean, and vain, and deceitful; therefore I will direct you to a better and surer Refuge, which will never fail those that trust to it, which God hath made in Zion. But if you shall despise and reject that Refuge, which I now offer to you all, if you will believe, then know that I will lay judgment to the line, &c., as it follows, Isa 28:17 . And this seems to me to be the most natural and easy connexion.

I lay I have purposed and promised it, and will, in the fulness of time, actually perform it.

In Zion in my church, which is commonly called Zion; and in Jerusalem, where this Stone shall be first laid, which afterwards spread further, and filled the whole earth, as it is said of it, Dan 2:35 . For a Foundation , upon which I will build my church, consisting both of Jews and Gentiles, the Foundation of all the hopes, and comfort, and happiness of my people; the Foundation of my covenant made with my church, and of all my promises.

A Stone not Hezekiah, but the Messiah, as appears,

1. From those Scriptures of the Old Testament, in which Christ is called a Stone, as Psa 118:22 Isa 8:14 Dan 2:34,35,45 Zec 3:9 .

2. From the New Testament, where this text is directly expounded of Christ, as Rom 9:32,33 1Pe 2:4 .

3. From the last clause, wherein he requires faith in this Stone, which is not to be given to any mere man, Jer 17:5 ; and wherein he implies that this Stone was not yet come, nor to come speedily, into the world; whereas Hezekiah was king at the time of this prophecy.

4. From the usual practice of the prophets, and especially of this prophet, which is to comfort and fortify God’ s people against the dread of approaching calamities by that great and fundamental promise of the Messiah, in whom alone all other promises are yea and amen; whereof we have seen some instances already, and shall see more hereafter.

A tried Stone which I have tried, and approved as every way sufficient to be a Corner-stone, and a Foundation-stone. Such stones in buildings use to be chosen with care, and to be thoroughly examined by the builder.

Precious giving not only strength, but beauty and glory, to the building, as corner-stones frequently do, Psa 144:12 .

Corner-stone uniting the several parts of the building together, making Ephraim and Judah, now sadly divided, one stick, Eze 37:19,24 ; and Jews and Gentiles, now implacable enemies, one church and people, Eph 2:14 , &c.

A sure Foundation upon whom you may securely rest; one who will not fail nor deceive you, as your lying refuges will.

He that believeth to wit, this promise, or in this Stone, as it is explained, 1Pe 2:6 ,

shall not make haste shall not make more haste than he ought, or, as we say, more haste than good speed; shall not hastily and greedily catch at any way of escaping his danger, whether it be right or wrong, but shall patiently wait upon God in his way till he deliver him. Withal, here is a plain intimation that the mercy here promised was not to be given presently, but after some considerable time; and therefore that they should quietly and patiently submit to God’ s will under their present difficulties, and expect the accomplishment of it in God’ s due time: compare Hag 2:3 . The word here rendered make haste, is by the seventy interpreters rendered be confounded , whom the apostles follow, Rom 9:33 1Pe 2:6 , either because they thought it most convenient, in a matter where the difference was not considerable, to follow that translation which was most used and best understood by the generality of Jewish and Gentile Christians; or because the same word hath both these significations in the Eastern languages, as the most learned and worthy Dr. Pocock hath proved; or because the one follows upon the other, and precipitation or haste commonly exposeth men to shame and confusion; which also is implied in the following verses, wherein the dreadful judgments of God are denounced against those who should not believe, and would make haste to prevent or remove their dangers by any means whatsoever.

Poole: Isa 28:17

Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet I will execute just judgment, as it were by a line and plummet annexed to it, i.e. with exactness and care. And this may be understood either,

1. That God would so order and settle things in his church, that justice and judgment should prevail, and not iniquity, as hitherto it had done; or rather,

2. That as God would build up and preserve all believers upon that Foundation-stone, so he would severely punish and utterly destroy all those unbelieving Jews who should reject that Stone. For

the line and

plummet or the plumb-line , was not only used in erecting buildings, but also in pulling them down; those parts of the building being thus marked out which were to be demolished; and therefore is used in Scripture to signify the destruction of a place or people, as is evident from 2Ki 21:13 Isa 34:11 Lam 2:8 Amo 7:7,8 . And this sense agrees best with the following clause and verse.

The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place my judgments, which in Scripture are compared to a storm of hail or rain, shall discover the vanity of all your crafty and wicked devices, and shall sweep you away with the besom of destruction in spite of them.

Poole: Isa 28:18

Disannulled made void, or of none effect; it shall stand you in no stead.

Ye shall be trodden down by it which you flattered yourselves that it should not come unto you, Isa 28:15 .

Poole: Isa 28:19

From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you as soon as this overflowing scourge or judgment shall go forth from me into the land, it shall assuredly, and with the first, take or seize upon you scoffers, or carry you away , which agrees well, both with the Hebrew word, which is frequently taken in that sense, and with the metaphor of a flood, which is here used. Morning by morning it shall pass over ; it shall not only come to you, contrary to your presumption, Isa 28:15 , but it shall abide upon you; and when it hath passed over you, it shall return again to you, morning after morning; and shall follow you day and night, without giving you the least respite.

It shall be a vexation only to understand the report so dreadful shall the judgment be, that it shall strike you with great honor when you only hear the rumour of its approach, or of the sad effects of it upon other persons or parts of the land.

Poole: Isa 28:20

For those lying refuges to which you trust will not be able to give you that protection and comfort which you expect from them, no more than a man can stretch himself (as these luxurious Israelites used to do, Amo 6:4 ) upon a bed which is too narrow for him, or wrap or keep himself warm with a covering or bed-clothes which are not large enough for him.

Poole: Isa 28:21

Shall rise up to act and fight against you; as he is said to sit still , when he doth forbear to act.

Mount Perazim where he fought against the Philistines, 2Sa 5:20 . The valley of Gibeon ; where he fought against the Canaanites, Jos 10:10 , &c, and afterwards against the Philistines, 1Ch 14:16 .

His strange work the execution of his judgment against Israel, which he calleth his strange work, to intimate either,

1. That God would punish them not with ordinary punishments, but in a most dreadful, and singular, and extraordinary manner; such a judgment being called

a marvellous work Isa 29:14 , although the Hebrew word there used be not the same with this, but of a much differing signification. Or rather,

2. That this work of bringing total and irrecoverable destruction upon Israel was contrary to the benignity of his own nature, and to the usual way of dealing with his people, whom he used and delighted to protect, and spare, and bless; and whom, even when he is angry with them, and punisheth them, he handleth more gently than he doth other persons, in judgment remembering mercy to them, as was noted, Isa 27:7,8 : see also Isa 26:11 .

Poole: Isa 28:22

Be ye not mockers for your own sakes do not make a mock of God’ s word and threatenings, as you use to do.

Lest your bands be made strong lest thereby you make the judgments of God, which are oft compared to bands, as Psa 66:11 73:4 , and elsewhere, more sure and unavoidable, and more severe and terrible, as bands are when they are tied faster and more strongly upon a prisoner.

I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth God hath assured me that he will utterly root out and destroy the people of Israel; as indeed he did in Hezekiah’ s reign.

Poole: Isa 28:23

Observe what I say, and do you judge if it be not reasonable.

Poole: Isa 28:24

Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? the ploughman doth not spend all his time in ploughing the ground, in order to the sowing it, or, as it follows, in opening it, and breaking its clods; but he hath several times for several works, a time for ploughing, and a time for sowing and harrowing, and a time for reaping, and a time for threshing, or beating, and bruising the corn for his own use; which wisdom God hath put into him. This is the sum of the similitude propounded here and in the following verses; the design and meaning whereof seems to be this, to teach them that God had his times and seasons for several works, and that the methods of his providence were various at several times, and towards several persons or people; and therefore that those scoffing Israelites were guilty of great folly, in flattering themselves, and despising God’ s threatenings, because of God’ s long patience towards them, and because of their present impunity and prosperity; for God would certainly and speedily take a time to thresh and break them with his judgments, as at present he ploughed and harrowed them, and so prepared them for it by his threatenings.

Doth he open understand, all day, or continually, out of the foregoing clause.

And break the clods of his ground which they used to do with a kind of harrow, or other proper instrument. See Jer 4:3 Hos 10:11,12

Poole: Isa 28:25

Made plain the face thereof by breaking the clods, which made it ragged and uneven.

The principal wheat either,

1. The wheat, which is the principal or chief of all these grains; or,

2. The best wheat, which he prudently chooseth for seed.

The appointed barley that proportion of barley which he appointed. Or, as others, the marked barley ; or, the choice barley , which they laid aside in a sack for seed; and therefore set aside with a peculiar mark upon it. In their place , Heb. in his border ; each seed in a several and proper place.

Poole: Isa 28:26

The sense of the words thus rendered is this, All this he performeth by that discretion which God hath put into him; and therefore be assured that God will order all his affairs with judgment, and will in due season execute the punishments which now he threatens, and will perfect his own works. But the words by some are rendered otherwise.

And he beateth it out (as this word may be rendered, 1Ki 12:11 Pro 19:18 29:17 ) in such sort as his God doth teach him ; in a discreet manner, which being generally mentioned here, is particularly described in the following verse.

Poole: Isa 28:27

A threshing instrument which then and there was made like a sled shod with iron, which was drawn by men or beasts over the sheafs of corn, to bruise them, and beat the grain out of them.

A cart wheel a lesser and lower wheel than a cart wheel, but of the same form, upon which possibly the threshing instrument was drawn.

The fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod as being unable to bear harder usage.

Poole: Isa 28:28

Bread corn is bruised with a threshing instrument, by comparing this with the foregoing verse and the following words.

Because or rather, but , or nevertheless , as the word is frequently used. The sense is, The husbandman doth indeed thresh the bread corn, but he doth it with moderation, and only for a time, not for ever.

Nor break it understand, for ever , out of the foregoing clause, as is usual in Scripture.

With his horsemen which governed the horse or horses that drew the threshing instrument. Or, with horses ; for it is evident, and hath been observed before, that this Hebrew word signifies horses as well as horsemen . And this was another way of threshing out the corn, by driving horses, or other cattle, over the sheaves to tread it out; of which see Deu 25:4 Mic 4:13 .

Poole: Isa 28:29

This also this part of the husbandman’ s discretion, expressed Isa 28:27,28 , as well as that expressed Isa 28:24,25 .

Which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working: these words contain the application of the similitude. The husbandman manageth all his affairs with common discretion; but God governs the world and his church with wonderful wisdom; he is great and marvellous, both in the design or contrivance of things, and in the execution of them.

Haydock: Isa 28:15

Protected. Their conduct spoke this language. They would not fail to make alliances with Egypt, and to trust in idols, whatever the prophets might say to dissuade them. (Calmet)

Haydock: Isa 28:16

Stone. Christ. (Challoner) ---

The Jews and Grotius would apply it to Ezechias. But he was already on the throne, and never could realize these glorious promises. The people were not to believe in him, &c. (Calmet) ---

Hasten. Let him expect his coming with patience. (Challoner) ---

It would be delayed some time. Hebrew may also signify "stagger;" (Calmet) in which sense the Septuagint and the authors of the New Testament seem to have taken it. "Whosoever believeth in him, shall not be confounded." See Romans ix. 33. (Haydock) ---

Isaias promises a Redeemer, though these people were unworthy; and then returns to his own times. (Menochius)

Haydock: Isa 28:17

Measure. In the days of the Redeemer, they shall lead a virtuous life, (Calmet) or the scorners shall be treated with rigour. ---

Protection. The wall, (Menochius) or lies, (ver. 15.; Calmet) on which you depend, shall turn to your confusion. (Haydock)

Haydock: Isa 28:19

Hear. Under the last kings of Juda, the misery was continual. Captivity opened the eyes of the people, and they were afterwards more docile. The murder of Christ, and the subsequent evils which befell the nation, seem to have had a quite different effect. They will at last submit to his yoke. (Calmet)

Haydock: Isa 28:20

Straitened. It is too narrow to hold two: God will have the bed of our heart all to himself. (Challoner) (1 Corinthians x. 20., and 2 Corinthians vi. 14.) (St. Jerome, &c.) ---

The Jews explain it of the utmost distress, to which the people would be reduced, so that they would not be able to assist a friend, Amos iii. 12. (Forcr.[Forerius?]) (Calmet)

Haydock: Isa 28:21

As in, &c. As the Lord fought against the Philistines in Baal Pharisim, (2 Kings v.) and against the Chanaanites, in the valley of Gabaon, Josue x. (Challoner) ---

Strange. He punished unwillingly. (Calmet) ---

"It is not God's work to ruin what he has created." (St. Jerome) ---

He will punish in an extraordinary manner those scoffers, ver. 15., and Numbers xvi. 29. (Piscator)

Haydock: Isa 28:22

Earth. Nabuchodonosor will take a complete and speedy vengeance, chap. x. 22.

Haydock: Isa 28:24

Sow. The works of the husbandman vary, so will God's punishments be inflicted with measure, according to each one's deserts, ver. 27., and Wisdom vi. 7. (Calmet)

Haydock: Isa 28:25

Gith. Heberw ketsach. Septuagint, Greek: melanthion. (Haydock) (Pliny, [Natural History?] xx. 17.) (Menochius) ---

Septuagint have not expressed all the terms of the original, (Haydock) being perhaps ignorant of their meaning. (St. Jerome)

Haydock: Isa 28:26

God. From him proceeds every useful invention. The pagans attributed the discovery of corn, &c., to their idols.

Haydock: Isa 28:27

Saws, or heavy instruments. It would be thus crushed too much. (Calmet)

Haydock: Isa 28:28

But. Septuagint, "it shall be eaten with bread. For I will not be angry with you for ever, nor shall the sounds of my bitter wrath trample upon you." (Haydock)

Haydock: Isa 28:29

This also, &c. Such also is the proceeding of the Lord with his land, and the diverse seeds he sows therein. (Challoner)

Gill: Isa 28:15

Because ye have said,.... Within themselves; they thought so, if they did not say it in express words; and their conduct and behaviour showed that these were the sentiments and presumptions of their minds:

We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement: as safe from death, and secure from hell, or the grave, as if a covenant and compact had been formally entered into between them. The phrases are expressive of their being fearless of them, and of their confidence and assurance that they should not be hurt by them. Some interpret this of their deadly enemies, as Sennacherib king of Assyria particularly, with whom they had made peace, and had entered into a covenant of friendship and alliance, and so had nothing to fear from the threatenings of the Lord by the prophet; but Vitringa, better, of the covenant and agreement with the Romans, which the Jewish rulers were careful to observe, and thought themselves safe on account of it; see Rev 6:8,

when the overflowing scourge shall pass through; when the judgments of God shall come upon the earth, and pass through the whole world, as a chastisement and correction of men for their sins, and as a punishment for them, like a mighty torrent spreading itself, and carrying all before it; or particularly when the Assyrian monarch with his army shall pass through the land of Judea, signified, in Isa 28:2, by a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, a flood of mighty waters overflowing; or rather the Roman army invading Judea:

it shall not come unto us; who were in the city of Jerusalem:

for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves; not what they themselves reckoned so, but what the prophet Isaiah, or the Lord by him, called so, whose words they used, and in whose language they spoke; meaning either their lying prophets, as Kimchi, and the false doctrines they delivered to them, promising them peace when destruction was at hand; or their idols, as Jarchi, which are falsehood, lying vanities, and work of errors; or their carnal policy, arts of dissimulation, sinful compliances, and crafty methods of acting with their enemies, by which they hoped to deceive them, and secure themselves from destruction, as others; or else their wealth and riches, got by lying and fraud, which is the sense of some interpreters; and perhaps all may be intended in which they might put their trust and confidence, and on account of them expect security from threatened evils, though no other than lies and falsehood; and the same may be observed of all outward acts of religion, rites and ceremonies, and works of righteousness done by men, in which they place their trust, and hope to be saved by them from wrath to come.

Gill: Isa 28:16

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD,.... In order to show what is the true foundation of hope and trust for security from death and hell, and to convince men of their vain and false confidence, as well as to comfort the people of God, such as truly feared him in Jerusalem; who, bearing the judgment denounced, might conclude that they were going to be cut off from being a nation, and that the family and kingdom of David would be at an end, and then where was the promise of the Messiah? wherefore, to relieve the minds of such, a promise of him is delivered out in the midst of a denunciation of judgment upon the wicked:

Behold, (a note of attention and admiration, as well as asseveration,)

I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone; which the Targum interprets of a king; and Jarchi of the King Messiah, who undoubtedly is meant, as is clear from Rom 9:33 and not Hezekiah, as Kimchi, and others, who was now king, when this prophecy was made, and therefore cannot respect him; but Christ, who is frequently spoken of, under the simile of a stone, Gen 49:24 and may be compared to one for his usefulness in the spiritual building, being both foundation and cornerstone, and for his great strength and durableness; and this is a stone of the Lord's laying, which he had been laying in his eternal purposes and decrees, as the Mediator, Saviour, and Redeemer of his people; and whom he was about to lay, by sending him forth, in the fulness of time, to be incarnate, suffer, and die for them: and whom he lays as the foundation in the effectual calling of his people, to build their faith and hope upon; and this is done in Zion, in the church, which is built upon him, and where he is revealed and made known to be what he is, and as here described:

a tried stone; by the Old Testament saints, and by saints in all ages, who have ventured their souls on him, and laid the whole stress of their salvation upon him, and have been saved by him; and by Satan, and his principalities and powers, by his temptations of him in the wilderness, and by his attacks upon him in the garden, and on the cross, and found him to be an immovable stone, and were broken by him; and by his divine Father, who tried his faithfulness by trusting him with all his elect, and the salvation of them; and his great strength, by laying upon him all their sins, and the punishment due unto them. Some render it, "a stone of trial", or "a trying stone" ^t; by which men are tried, and discovered to be what they are, whether believers or unbelievers, sincere Christians or hypocrites; which may be known by their conduct and behaviour to Christ; if they come to him as a living stone, and he is precious to them, they are true believers; but if he is to them a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, they are unbelievers, and reprobate persons, 1Pe 2:4,

a precious corner stone; which, as it is both for the beauty and strength of the building, so it knits, cements, and keeps the parts together; and of this use is Christ in the spiritual building; angels and men are knit together in him, Jews and Gentiles, Old and New Testament saints, saints above and saints below, saints in all ages, times, and places: and a "precious" stone he is, a pearl of great price; precious to his Father, who loves him, and delights in him, and has chosen and laid him as the foundation of his church, and of every true believer; to whom also he is precious, his person, names, offices, and relations, his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, his word, ordinances, and people, and everything belonging to him:

a sure foundation; a well founded one ^u; which will never give way; a rock on which the church is built, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it; a sure foundation of faith and hope, of peace, joy, and comfort, and of eternal happiness, to all that build upon it; a foundation firm and strong, immovable and everlasting; and so is every thing that is laid or depends upon it, the covenant of grace, and the promises of it, the persons of the Lord's people, and their salvation:

he that believeth; either those things, as the Targum adds, this promise and prophecy, and the things contained therein; or in Christ, the foundation laid, the tried and precious cornerstone, so it is explained in 1Pe 2:6,

shall not make haste; or be impatient for the fulfilment of this prophecy, but patiently wait for it, knowing that it is for an appointed time, and will not tarry; and that God will hasten it in his own time; or will not make haste to lay any other foundation, being satisfied with this that is laid; nor make haste to a strange god, to another Saviour, knowing there is salvation in him, and in no other. The Targum is,

"shall not be moved when trouble comes;''

being founded upon this Rock of ages, which is proof against all storms and tempests; see Mat 7:24. The Apostles Paul and Peter, agreeably to the Septuagint version, render it, "shall not be ashamed", or "confounded"; See Gill on Rom 9:33, 1Pe 2:6.

Gill: Isa 28:17

Judgment also will I lay to the line,.... A metaphor taken from builders, who in building use the line and plummet to carry on their work even and regular, retaining such stones as agree thereunto, and rejecting such as do not; signifying, that in the spiritual building, where Christ is the foundation and cornerstone, such as are built thereon shall continue and grow up regularly into a holy temple; but those that set at nought this precious stone, and build upon the sandy foundation of their own righteousness, betake themselves to a refuge of lies, and cover themselves in their own hiding places, as well as all such who go on in their sins, shall be rejected by the righteous judgment of God:

and righteousness to the plummet; meaning the same as before; or, "I will lay judgment by the line, and righteousness by the plummet" ^w; the rule of the divine law, by which it will appear whether their actions are agreeable to it, or the righteousness they trust in answerable to it; or the sense is, that at the same time that God would preserve and secure his own people upon the sure foundation Christ, he would punish others, according to the strict rules of justice, as his righteous law required, and according to the just demerit of sin. Kimchi interprets it, but very wrongly, of the justice and equity that should take place in the reign of Hezekiah, which were wanting at the time of this prophecy; but the preceding prophecy regards Christ, and not Hezekiah; and therefore is rather to be understood of the right and equal distribution of justice and judgment in the administration of government by him:

and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies; the lies they made their refuge, Isa 28:15 their lying prophets, their idols, their riches, their righteousness, and everything in which they placed their confidence; for all refuges, be they what they will, are lying ones, and will deceive, excepting Christ and his righteousness; all which are easily and at once swept away, with the besom of avenging justice, when God takes it in hand. The phrase denotes the facility and suddenness of the destruction, and the entirety of it, which should be brought about by means of a "hail" storm, the same with that in Isa 28:2 which designs the Assyrian, or rather the Roman army, since the prophecy preceding relates to the times of Christ; and it may be, by the refuge of lies may be meant the temple, in which the Jews greatly placed their confidence, as Cocceius thinks:

and the waters shall overflow the hiding place; the city of Jerusalem, where they hid, and thought themselves safe: a mighty army rushing into a city, and putting the inhabitants to the sword, or to flight, or obliging them to surrender, may be fitly signified by an inundation of water; see Isa 8:7 very probably the army of the Romans under Vespasian.

Gill: Isa 28:18

And your covenant with death shall be disannulled,.... Or, "be besmeared" ^x, or daubed over, as the ark was with pitch, Gen 6:14 where the same word is used as here; so that it shall not be legible, as any writing that is blotted out by ink, or any other liquor, so that it cannot be read; in like manner this their covenant with death should be so obliterated, that the articles of it could not be made out, and so of no force; thus the Targum renders it,

"shall be made void;''

See Gill on Isa 28:15,

and your agreement with hell shall not stand; or "vision", or "provision" ^y; which they had made by compact, with the greatest care, caution, and foresight, to secure themselves from destruction, would be found insufficient. The Targum is,

"and our peace, which was with the destroyer, shall not stand;''

See Gill on Isa 28:15,

when the overflowing scourge shall pass through: the land of Judea and the city of Jerusalem; See Gill on Isa 28:15,

then shall ye be trodden down by it: though they flattered themselves it should not come near them, yet it would; and they would not be able to stand before it, but would be thrown down, and trampled upon by it as the mire of the streets; see Luk 21:24.

Gill: Isa 28:19

From the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you,.... Or, "as soon as it passeth through" ^z, "it shall take you away"; as soon as it begins to overflow, and as it goes along, it shall make clear work, and carry you away with it; you will not be able to resist it, to withstand its motion, and stop its progress; but will be borne down by it, and carried away with it, either destroyed by it at once, or carried into captivity; so the Targum,

"in the time of its passing over, it shall carry you captive:''

for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night; signifying that it should come very early, before they were aware of it and prepared for it, and should be constant and incessant, day after day, day and night, continually, until it had done its work thoroughly, in the utter destruction of them; which was true of the Assyrian, but especially of the Roman army:

and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report; the fame, the rumour of the enemy's coming, of his invasion of the land, of the devastation he makes everywhere, and of his progress and near approach to Jerusalem; the bare report of this only being made and confirmed, so that there was reason to believe it, would produce anguish and distress of mind, cause a commotion, a fear and trembling, and shaking of the joints, as the word ^a signifies; and therefore, how dreadful must the calamity itself be! or else this may be meant of the report of the prophecy of the Lord, which before they would not believe; but now the judgments threatened coming upon them, they would be made to understand it; so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "and only vexation alone shall give understanding to the report"; and to this sense the Targum,

"and it shall be, before the time of the curse comes, that ye shall understand the words of the prophets;''

and, when it was come, should know to their sorrow, and by sad experience, the truth of what they had said.

Gill: Isa 28:20

For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it,.... When a bed is short, a man cannot lie at his full length, and at ease:

and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it; when the bedclothes are narrow a man cannot cover himself with them, so as to be warm and comfortable. These proverbial expressions are interpreted by Kimchi of Jerusalem, when besieged by the Assyrian army, when the inhabitants of it were much straitened, distressed, and made uncomfortable; perhaps it may be better understood of the same city when besieged by the Romans, to which the Jews flocked from all parts, in such numbers, for shelter, that there was not room enough for them, at least not provision, and which was the cause of that great distress and miserable condition they were reduced to: in general, the design of the words may be to show that all refuges and shelters, all means made use of for safety and protection, by which they endeavoured to cover and secure themselves, would be insufficient; and particularly such that laid themselves at ease on the bed of their own righteousness, not submitting to Christ and his righteousness, and covered themselves with the rags of their own doings, and not with the garments of his salvation, would find themselves in a very uncomfortable and unsafe state.

Gill: Isa 28:21

For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim,.... Where the Lord broke forth on David's enemies the Philistines, as the breach of waters; see Isa 28:17 and destroyed them, from whence the place had the name of Baalperazim, 2Sa 5:20. The Targum is,

"for as the mountain which moved when the glory of the Lord was revealed in the days of Uzziah the king;''

referring to the earthquake in his time, Amo 1:1,

he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; Josephus Ben Gorion ^b makes mention of the valley of Gibeon, where a battle was fought between Cestius the Roman general and the Jews, in which the latter got the victory, and says it was about six miles from Jerusalem: here the Philistines were smitten, returning again after they had been vanquished before, 1Ch 14:16 though it is more generally thought that this refers to the discomfiture of the Canaanites in the times of Joshua, when also hailstones fell upon them, and destroyed many; see Isa 28:17 and when the sun and moon stood still till Israel were avenged on their enemies, and which showed the power and presence of God with them, Jos 10:10 and so the Targum, which adds,

"and in the miracles which he (the Lord) did for Joshua, in the valley of Gibeon;''

and these instances are mentioned as proofs of the divine power and vengeance, and to assure the Jews that the Lord would rise up in the same wrath and indignation against them, and consume them:

that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act; which may be called so, because in the above mentioned instances he fought for his people Israel, but in this he would fight against them; and because this was a work and act of strict justice and awful severity, and not so agreeable to him as acts of mercy, grace, and goodness, in which he delights; or rather, because it was an unusual one, marvellous and surprising, and would be so to the Jews themselves, and even to their enemies, and to all the world, as the destruction of Jerusalem was, especially as by the Romans; see Hab 1:5. Vitringa, besides this, adds the calling of the Gentiles, the seizing of the inheritance of the world, and the destruction of the kingdom of Satan in the Roman empire. The Targum interprets this in a very contrary sense, of such as do strange works, idolatry, for which they are consumed.

Gill: Isa 28:22

Now therefore be ye not mockers,.... At the words of the prophets, and the judgments denounced by them, which is very common, when they are deferred, and not immediately executed: this was the case before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and one cause of it, 2Ch 36:16 and also by the Romans; see Act 13:41,

lest your bands be made strong; punishment become heavier, and more grievous; and so the Syriac version renders it; as prisoners that attempt to make their escape have their bonds and fetters made faster, and so are put to more pain and distress; to which the allusion seems to be, signifying, that by scoffing and mocking at the word of God they would bring upon themselves greater and sorer punishments, Heb 10:29,

for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts; in a vision from him, by a spirit of prophecy, as a secret communicated by him; for whatever the Lord did he usually made it known to his prophets; and it might be depended upon what they said, as being what the Lord had declared in their hearing; see Amo 3:7,

a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth: or, "on the whole land", the land of Judea; for this destruction seems only to respect that; and is the same with "the consummation, and that determined", that should be "poured upon the desolate", Dan 9:27 which manifestly designs the destruction of the Jews by the Romans, which was an affair determined by the Lord, whose counsel shall stand, and therefore would surely come to pass.

Gill: Isa 28:23

Give ye ear, and hear my voice,.... So said the prophet, as the Targum introduces the words; and because what he was about to say was of importance, and delivered in a parabolical manner, and required attention, he makes use of a variety of words to the same purpose, to engage their attention:

hearken, and hear my speech; now about to be made; listen to it, and get the understanding of it.

Gill: Isa 28:24

Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow?.... Or, "every day"; he ploughs in order to sow; by ploughing he prepares the ground for sowing, that is his end in ploughing; and he may plough a whole day together when he is at it, but he does not plough every day in the year; he has other work to do besides ploughing, as is later mentioned; such as breaking of clods, sowing seed, and threshing the grain after it is ripe, and reaped, and gathered. The prophet signifies that the Lord, like a ploughman, had different sorts of work; he was not always doing one and the same thing; and particularly, that he would not be always admonishing and threatening men, and making preparation for his judgments, but in a little time he would execute them, signified by after metaphors:

doth he open and break the clods of his ground? he does, with a mallet or iron bar, or with the harrow; whereby the ground is made even, and so more fit for sowing. The Targum interprets the whole in a mystical sense, of the instructions of the prophets, thus,

"at all times the prophets prophesy to teach, if perhaps the ears of sinners may be opened to receive instruction;''

and it may be applied to the work of the Spirit of God upon men's hearts, by the ministry of the word: the heart of man is like the "fallow ground", hard and obdurate, barren and unfruitful; the ministry of the word is the "plough", and ministers are the "ploughmen"; but it is the Spirit of God that makes their ministrations useful, for the conviction of the mind, the pricking of the heart, and breaking it in pieces; see Jer 4:3.

Gill: Isa 28:25

When he hath made plain the face thereof,.... By harrowing it, after it is ploughed:

doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin; in sowing them in the ground, prepared for them; the former of these does not seem to be the same we so call, but something else. The Septuagint version calls it the little "melanthion" ^c, the same with the "nigella" ^d of the Latins, and is sometimes called "gith" ^e, as in the Vulgate Latin version here. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it "anise", which is mentioned along with "cummin", as common with the Jews, and which, in Christ's time, were tithed, Mat 23:23 and both these in the text are by Kimchi said to be the food of man:

and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their place? each in their proper place, or in soil suitable for them; some land being more suitable for the one than for the other, which the husbandman understands: "wheat" is the choicest and most excellent grain, and therefore called "principal"; or else because it is "first" sown, or sown in the best and "principal" ground: "barley" is said to be "appointed", or to be sowed in a place appointed for it; or "marked" ^f, referring either to places marked in the field, where it should be sown; which sense the Targum and the Jewish commentators favour; or to sacks of it marked, in which the best seed for sowing was put: "and the rye in its border" ^g; appointed for that Jarchi thinks this refers to the different places of sowing; the wheat was sown in the middle of the field; barley round about the mark or sign for that purpose; and rye upon the borders. The Targum is,

"as wheat is sown in an uncultivated field, and barley by the signs, and rye by the borders;''

but the whole is intended to express the wisdom of the husbandman, in sowing different seeds, not in the same field, which was forbidden by the law, Lev 19:19 but in ground suitable to each of them; and in the mystical sense designs the execution of divine judgments on men, in proportion to their sins, after they have been admonished of them, and reproved for them; and may be applied also to the sowing of the seed of the word in the hearts of men, and illustrated by the parable of the sower in Mat 13:19.

Gill: Isa 28:26

For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. God gives the husbandman instruction and discretion how to sow his seed, at what time, and in a proper place; for this refers to what goes before; though some think a new act is here intended, namely, threshing or beating out of corn, rendering the words, "and he" (the husbandman) "beateth it out, according to the discretion", or "judgment, his God teaches him" ^h; which is expressed in general terms here, and is next particularly insisted on in the following verses Isa 28:27.

Gill: Isa 28:27

For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument,.... A wooden sledge, dray, or cart, drawn on wheels; the bottom of which was stuck with iron teeth, and the top filled with stones, to press it down with the weight thereof, and was drawn by horses, or oxen, to and fro, over the sheaves of corn, laid in proper order, whereby the grain was separated from the husk: See Gill on 1Co 9:9 but fitches, the grain of them being more easily separated, such an instrument was not used in threshing them:

neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; the cart wheel of the above instrument was not turned upon the cummin, that being also more easily threshed, or beaten out, and therefore another method was used with these, as follows:

but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod: in like manner as corn is with us threshed out with a flail; so the Lord proportions the chastisement, and corrections of his people to the grace and strength that he gives them; he afflicts them either more gently, or more severely, as they are able to bear it; with some he uses his staff and rod, and with others his threshing instrument and cart wheel; some being easier and others harder to be wrought upon by the afflictive dispensations of Providence; see 1Co 10:13 or this may point out the difference between the punishment of wicked men and the chastisement of the saints.

Gill: Isa 28:28

Bread corn is bruised,.... The corn which bread is made of is bruised and ground in a mill:

because he will not always be threshing it; for there is another way of bringing it to flour, that so it may be made bread, namely, by grinding it in a mill; and therefore the husbandman uses his discretion in threshing it; he will not thresh it too much, nor too long, no more than what is necessary to get out the grain, but will take care that he does not bruise and break it; as follows:

nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen; though he makes use of the above threshing instrument, drawn upon wheels by horses, or oxen, for the threshing out of wheat, barley, or rye, corn of which bread is made; yet he takes care that it is not crushed and spoiled by the wheels of the cart, or the feet of the horses, or oxen, going too often over it; by all which may be signified the tender regard of God in afflicting his own people; he will not always be chiding, striving, and contending with them, or be always angry, and ever afflicting, and, when he does afflict, it is in a tender and careful manner, Psa 103:9.

Gill: Isa 28:29

This also cometh from the Lord of hosts,.... All this wisdom the husbandman has, in manuring his ground, in sowing it with proper seed, and in threshing it out in a manner suitable to it. Agriculture or husbandry, even among the Heathens, is always ascribed to God, as an invention of his, and it was the first work which God put man to, and instructed him in, Gen 3:23 and as this, so all other arts, and sciences, and manufactures, come from God, even all things in nature, providence, and grace, and the knowledge of them; wherefore he himself must be infinitely wise and knowing; see Psa 94:9 and be as he is next described:

which is wonderful in counsel: in giving counsel to man, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual; and whose counsel is always wise and good, and for the best; and, when taken, infallibly succeeds. See an instance of his wonderful counsel, Rev 3:18 and also he is "wonderful" in forming wise plans and schemes of operation; the wise plan of his works of creation and providence was formed in his vast and infinite mind from eternity; the wise scheme of our redemption and salvation by Christ was concerted by him, wherein he has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence; and the manner, means, time, and place, of his gathering and the effectual calling of his people, are all wisely fixed by him; and he does all things after "the counsel of his will", Eph 1:11 and therefore it follows:

and excellent in working; both as to the matter or things wrought by him, which are the most excellent things in nature, providence, and grace, wrought out either by the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit; and as to manner of working, all being done well and wisely; and likewise with respect to the end, his own glory, and the good of his people.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 28:15

¹ sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.

² tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.

³ tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).

⁴ sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.

NET Notes: Isa 28:16

¹ tc The Hebrew text has a third person verb form, which does not agree with the first person suffix that precedes. The form should be emended to יֹסֵד (yosed), a Qal active participle used in a present progressive or imminent future sense.

² tn Traditionally “tested,” but the implication is that it has passed the test and stands approved.

³ sn The reality behind the metaphor is not entirely clear from the context. The stone appears to represent someone or something that gives Zion stability. Perhaps the ideal Davidic ruler is in view (see 32:1). Another option is that the image of beginning a building project by laying a precious cornerstone suggests that God is about to transform Zion through judgment and begin a new covenant community that will experience his protection (see 4:3-6; 31:5; 33:20-24; 35:10).

⁴ tn Heb “will not hurry,” i.e., act in panic.

NET Notes: Isa 28:17

¹ tn Heb “[the] refuge, [the] lie.” See v. 15.

NET Notes: Isa 28:18

¹ tn On the meaning of כָּפַר (kafar) in this context, see HALOT 494 s.v. I כפר and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:515, n. 9.

² tn Normally the noun חָזוּת (khazut) means “vision.” See the note at v. 15.

³ tn Or “will not stand” (NIV, NRSV).

⁴ tn See the note at v. 15.

⁵ tn Heb “you will become a trampling place for it.”

NET Notes: Isa 28:19

¹ tn Or “for” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

² tn The words “it will come through” are supplied in the translation. The verb “will sweep by” does double duty in the parallel structure.

NET Notes: Isa 28:20

¹ sn The bed and blanket probably symbolize their false sense of security. A bed that is too short and a blanket that is too narrow may promise rest and protection from the cold, but in the end they are useless and disappointing. In the same way, their supposed treaty with death will prove useless and disappointing.

NET Notes: Isa 28:21

¹ sn This probably alludes to David’s victory over the Philistines at Baal Perazim. See 2 Sam 5:20.

² sn This probably alludes to the Lord’s victory over the Canaanites at Gibeon, during the days of Joshua. See Josh 10:10-11.

³ sn God’s judgment of his own people is called “his peculiar work” and “his strange task,” because he must deal with them the way he treated their enemies in the past.

NET Notes: Isa 28:22

¹ tn Or “the whole earth” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NCV).

NET Notes: Isa 28:23

¹ tn Heb “to my voice.”

² tn Heb “to my word”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “hear my speech.”

NET Notes: Isa 28:24

¹ tn Heb “All the day does the plowman plow in order to plant?” The phrase “all the day” here has the sense of “continually, always.” See BDB 400 s.v. יוֹם.

NET Notes: Isa 28:25

¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “place wheat [?], and barley [?], and grain in its territory.” The term שׂוֹרָה (shorah) is sometimes translated “[in] its place,” but the word is unattested elsewhere. It is probably due to dittography of the immediately following שְׂעֹרָה (sÿo’rah, “barley”). The meaning of נִסְמָן (nisman) is also uncertain. It may be due to dittography of the immediately following כֻסֶּמֶת (kussemet, “grain”).

NET Notes: Isa 28:26

¹ tn Heb “he teaches him the proper way, his God instructs him.”

NET Notes: Isa 28:27

¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB).

² sn Both of these seeds are too small to use the ordinary threshing techniques.

NET Notes: Isa 28:29

¹ sn Verses 23-29 emphasize that God possesses great wisdom and has established a natural order. Evidence of this can be seen in the way farmers utilize divinely imparted wisdom to grow and harvest crops. God’s dealings with his people will exhibit this same kind of wisdom and order. Judgment will be accomplished according to a divinely ordered timetable and, while severe enough, will not be excessive. Judgment must come, just as planting inevitably follows plowing. God will, as it were, thresh his people, but he will not crush them to the point where they will be of no use to him.

Geneva Bible: Isa 28:15

Because ye have said, We have made a ^{( p )} covenant with death, and with hell are we in agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not reach us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under ^{( q )} falsehood have we hid ourselves:

^{( p )} They thought they had shifts to avoid God's judgments, and that they could escape though all others perished.

^{( q )} Though the prophets condemned their idols and vain fruit of falsehood and vanity, yet the wicked thought in themselves that they would trust in these things.

Geneva Bible: Isa 28:16

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a ^{( r )} tried stone, a precious corner [stone], a sure foundation: he that believeth ^{( s )} shall not make haste.

^{( r )} That is, Christ, by whom all the building must be tried and upheld, (Psa 118:22; Mat 21:42; Act 4:11; Rom 9:33; 1Pe 2:6).

^{( s )} He will be quiet, and seek no other remedies, but be content with Christ.

Geneva Bible: Isa 28:17

Judgment also will I lay to the line, and ^{( t )} righteousness to the plummet: and the ^{( u )} hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow ^{( x )} the hiding place.

^{( t )} In the restitution of his Church, judgment and justice will reign.

^{( u )} God's corrections and affliction.

^{( x )} Affliction will discover their vain confidence, which they kept secret to themselves.

Geneva Bible: Isa 28:19

From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a ^{( y )} vexation only [to] understand the report.

^{( y )} Terror and destruction will make you learn that which exhortations and gentleness could not bring you to.

Geneva Bible: Isa 28:20

For the bed is ^{( z )} shorter than that [a man] can stretch himself [on it]: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself [in it].

^{( z )} Your affliction will be so sore, that you are not able to endure it.

Geneva Bible: Isa 28:21

For the LORD shall rise as [on] mount ^{( a )} Perazim, he shall be angry as [in] the valley ^{( b )} of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

^{( a )} When David overcame the Philistines, (2Sa 5:20; 1Ch 14:11).

^{( b )} Where Joshua discomfited five kings of the Amorites, (Jos 10:12).

Geneva Bible: Isa 28:25

When he hath made ^{( c )} even the face of it, doth he not cast abroad the black cummin, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the wheat in rows and the appointed barley and the rye in their place?

^{( c )} As the plowman has his appointed time, and various instruments for his labour, so has the Lord for his vengeance: for he punishes some at one time, and some at another, some after one sort, and some after another, so that his chosen seed is beaten and tried, but not broken as are the wicked.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Isa 28:1-29

1 The prophet threatens Ephraim for their pride and drunkenness.

5 The residue shall be advanced in the kingdom of Christ.

7 He rebukes their error;

9 their untowardness to learn;

14 and their security.

16 Christ the sure foundation is promised.

17 Their security shall be tried.

23 They are incited to the consideration of God's discreet providence.

Maclaren: Isa 28:16

The Foundation Of God

O Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.'--Isaiah 28:16.

THEREFORE thus saith the Lord.' Then these great words are God's answer to something. And that something is the scornful defiance by the rulers of Israel of the prophet's threatenings. By their deeds, whether by their words or no, they said that they had made friends of their enemies, and that so they were sure that, whatsoever came, they were safe. To this contemptuous and false reliance God answers, not as we might expect, first of all, by a repetition of the threatenings, but by a majestic disclosure of the sure refuge which He has provided, set in contrast to the flimsy and false ones, on which these men built their truculent confidence; I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone.' And then, after the exhibition of the great mercy which has been evoked by the very blasphemy of the rulers, and not till then, does He reiterate the threatenings of judgment, against which this foundation is laid, that men may escape; God first declares the refuge, and then warns of the tempest.

Without entering at all upon the question, which for all believing and simple souls is settled by the New Testament, of the Messianic application of the words before us, I take it for granted. There may no doubt be an allusion here to the great solid blocks which travellers tell us may still be seen at the base of the encircling walls of the Temple hill. A stone so gigantic and so firm God has laid for man to build upon.

I. Note, then, first, the foundation, which is Christ.

There are many aspects of the great thought on which I cannot touch even for a moment. For instance, let me remind you how, in a very deep sense, Jesus Christ is the foundation of the whole of the divine dealings with us; and how, in another aspect, historically, since the day on which He appeared on earth, He has more and more manifestly and completely been the foundation of the whole history of the world. But passing these aspects, let us rather fix upon those which are more immediately in the prophet's mind.

Jesus Christ is the foundation laid for all men's security against every tempest or assault. The context has portrayed the coming of a tremendous storm and inundation, in view of which this foundation is laid. The building reared on it then is, therefore, to be a refuge and an asylum. Have not we all of us, like these scornful men in Jerusalem, built our refuges on vain hopes, on creatural affections, on earthly possessions, on this, that, and the other false thing, all of which are to be swept away when the storm comes? And does there not come upon us all the blast of the ordinary calamities to which flesh is heir, and have we not all more or less consciousness of our own evil and sinfulness; and does there not lie before every one of us at the end of life that solemn last struggle, and beyond that, as we most of us believe, a judgment for all that we have done in the body? I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone.' Build upon that, and neither the tempest of earthly calamities, changes, disappointments, sorrows, losses, nor the scourge that is wielded because of our sins, nor the last wild tempest that sweeps a man on the wings of its strong blast from out of life into the dark region, nor the solemn final retribution and judgment, shall ever touch us. And when the hail sweeps away the refuge of lies, and the waters overflow the hiding-place, this foundation stands sure--

And lo I from sin and grief and shame I hide me, Jesus, in Thy name.

Brethren, the one foundation on which building, we can build secure, and safe as well as secure, is that foundation which is laid in the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Son of God. The foundation of all our security is Jesus Christ.

We may look at the same thought under somewhat different aspects. He is the foundation for all our thinking and opinions, for all our belief and our knowledge. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,' and whatsoever of solid fact men can grasp in their thinkings in regard to all the most important facts and truths with which they come into relation, is to be found in the life and death of Jesus Christ, and in the truths which these reveal. He is the foundation of all our knowledge of God, and of all our true knowledge of ourselves, of all our true knowledge of duty, and all our true knowledge of the relations between the present and the future, between man and God.

And in His life, in the history of His death and resurrection, is the only foundation for any real knowledge of the awful mysteries that lie beyond the grave. He is the Alpha from whom all truth must be deduced, the Omega to which it all leads up. Certitude is in Him. Apart from Him we are but groping amid peradventures. If we know anything about God it is due to Jesus Christ. If we know anything about ourselves it is due to Him. If we know anything about what men ought to do, it is because He has done all human duty. And if, into the mist and darkness that wraps the future, there has ever travelled one clear beam of insight, it is because He has died and risen again. If we have Him, and ponder upon the principles that are involved in, and flow from, the facts of His life and death, then we know; and the truth as it is in Jesus' is the truth indeed. To possess Him is to hold the key to all mysteries, and knowledge without Him is but knowledge of the husk, the kernel being all unreached. That Stone is the foundation on which the whole stately fabric of man's knowledge of the highest things must ever be reared.

He is the foundation of all restful love. A Czar of Russia, in the old days, was mad enough to build a great palace upon the ice-blocks of the Neva. And when the spring came, and the foundations melted, the house, full of delights and luxury, sank beneath the river. We build upon frozen water, and when the thaw comes, what we build sinks and is lost to sight. Instead of love that twines round the creature and trails, bleeding and bruised, along the ground when the prop is taken away, let us turn our hearts to the warm, close, pure, perfect changeless love of the undying Christ, and we shall build above the fear of change. The dove's nest in the pine-tree falls in ruin when the axe is laid to the root. Let us build our nests in the clefts of the rock and no hand will ever reach them. Christ is the foundation on which we may build an immortal love.

He is the foundation for all noble and pure living. He is the fixed pattern to which it may be conformed. Otherwise man's notions of what is virtuous and good are much at the mercy of conventional variations of opinion. This class, that community, this generation, that school, all differ in their notions of what is true nobleness and goodness of life. And we are left at the mercy of fluctuating standards unless we take Christ in His recorded life as the one realised ideal of manhood, the pattern of what we ought to be. We cannot find a fixed and available model for conduct anywhere so useful, so complete, so capable of application to all varieties of human life and disposition as we find in Him, who was not this man or that man, in whom the manly and the feminine, the gentle and the strong, the public and the private graces were equally developed. In Christ there is no limitation or taint. In Christ there is nothing narrow or belonging to a school. This water has no taste of any of the rocks through which it flowed. You cannot say of Jesus Christ that He is a Jew or a Gentile, that He is man or woman, that He is of the ancient age or the modern type, that He is cut after this pattern or that. All beauty and all grace are in Him, and every man finds there the example that he needs. So, as the perfect pattern, He is the foundation for all noble character.

As the one sufficient motive for holy and beauteous living, He is the foundation. If ye love Me, keep My commandments.' That is a new thing in the world's morality, and that one motive, and that motive alone, has power, as the spring sunshine has, to draw beauty from out the little sheaths of green, and to tempt the radiance of the flowers to unfold their lustre. They that find the reason and the motive for goodness and purity in Christ's love to them, and their answering love to Christ, will build a far fairer fabric of a life than any others, let them toil at the building as they may. So, dear brethren, on this foundation God has built His mercy to all generations, and on this foundation you and I may build our safety, our love, our thinkings, our obedience, and rest secure.

II. Note next the tried preciousness of the foundation.

The language of the text, a stone of proof,' as it reads in the original, probably means a stone which has been tested and stood the trial. And because it is thus a tested stone, it therefore is a precious stone. There are two kinds of testing--the testing from the assaults of enemies, and the testing by the building upon it of friends. And both these methods of proof have been applied, and it has stood the test.

Think of all the assaults that have been made from this side and the other against Christ and His gospel, and what has become of them all? Travellers tell us how they often see some wandering tribes of savage Arabs trying to move the great stones, for instance, of Baalbec--those wonders of unfinished architecture. But what can a crowd of such people, with all their crowbars and levers, do to the great stone bedded there, where it has been for centuries? They cannot stir it one hair's-breadth. And so, against Jesus Christ and His gospel there has stormed for eighteen hundred years an assaulting crowd, varying in its individuals and in its methods of attack, but the same in its purpose, and the same in the fruitlessness of its effort. Century after century they have said, as they are saying to-day, Now the final assault is going to be delivered; it can never stand this.' And when the smoke has cleared away there may be a little blackening upon the edge, but there is not a chip off its bulk, and it stands in its bed where it did; and of all the grand preparations for a shattering explosion, nothing is left but a sulphurous smell, and a wreath of smoke, and both are floating away down into the distance. Generation after generation has attacked the gospel; generation after generation has been foiled; and I do not need to be a prophet, or the son of a prophet, to be quite sure of this, that all who to-day are trying to destroy men's faith in the Incarnate Son of God, who died for them and rose again, will meet the same fate. I can see the ancient and discredited systems of unbelief, that have gone down into oblivion, rising from their seats, as the prophet in his great vision saw the kings of the earth, to greet the last comer who had fought against God and failed, with Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?' The stone will stand, whosoever tries to blow it up with his dynamite, or to pound it with his hammers.

But there is the other kind of testing. One proves the foundation by building upon it. If the stone be soft, if it be slender, if it be imperfectly bedded, it will crumble, it will shift, it will sink. But this stone has borne all the weight that the world has laid upon it, and borne it up. Did any man ever come to Jesus Christ with a sorrow that He could not comfort, with a sin that He could not forgive, with a soul that He could not save? And we may trust Him to the end. He is a tried stone.' This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles,' has been the experience of nineteen centuries.

So, being tried, it is precious,--precious to God who laid it there at a great and real cost to Himself--having given up His only begotten Son'; precious, inasmuch as building upon it is the one safety from the raging tempest and flood that would else engulf and destroy us.

III. Note, next, the process of building.

The metaphor seems to be abandoned in the last words of our text, but it is only apparently so. He that believeth shall not make haste.' So, then, we build by believing. The act of building is simple faith in Jesus Christ. We come to Him, as the Apostle Peter has it in his quotation of this text--come to Him as unto a living stone, and the coming and the building are both of them metaphors for the one simple thing, trust in the Lord. The bond that unites men on earth with Christ in Heaven, is the exercise of simple faith in Him. By it they come into contact with Him, and receive from Him the security and the blessing that He can bestow. Nothing else brings a man into living fellowship with Him. When we trust in the Lord we, as it were, are bedded into Him; and resting upon Him with all our weight, then we are safe. That confidence involves the abandonment of all the refuges of lies.' There must be utter self-distrust and forsaking and turning away from every dependence upon anything else, if we are to trust ourselves to Jesus Christ. But the figure of a foundation which gives security and stability to the stones laid upon it, does not exhaust all the blessedness of this building upon Christ. For when we really rest upon Him, there comes from the foundation up through all the courses a vital power. Thus Peter puts it: To whom, coming as unto a living stone, ye also as living stones are built up.' We might illustrate this by the supposition of some fortress perched upon a rock, and in the heart of the rock a clear fountain, which is guided by some pipe or other into the innermost rooms of the citadel. Thus, builded upon Christ, our defence shall be the munitions of rocks, and our waters shall be sure.' From Him, the foundation, there will rise into all the stones, built upon Him, the power of His own endless life, and they, too, become living stones.

IV. So note, lastly, the quiet confidence of the builders.

He that believeth shall not; make haste: The word is somewhat obscure, and the LXX., which is followed by the New Testament, renders it,' Shall not be confounded or put to shame,' But the rendering of our text seems to be accurate enough. He shall not make haste.' Remember the picture of the context--a suddenly descending storm, a swiftly rising and turbid flood, the lashing of the rain, the howling of the wind. The men in the clay-built hovels on the flat have to take to flight to some higher ground above the reach of the inundation, on some sheltered rock out of the lashing of the rain and the force of the tempest. He who is built upon the true foundation knows that his house is above the water-level, and he does not need to be in a hurry. He can remain quietly there till the flood subsides, knowing that it will not rise high enough to drown or even disturb him. When all the other buildings are gone, his stands. And he that thus dwells on high may look out over the wild flood, washing and weltering to the horizon, and feel that he is safe. So shall he not have to make haste, but may wait calm and quiet, knowing that all is well.

Dear friends, there is only one refuge for any of us, only one from the little annoyances and from the great ones; from to-day's petty troubles, and from the day of judgment; from the slight stings, if I may so say, of little sorrows, cares, burdens, and from the poisoned dart of the great serpent. There is only one refuge for any of us, to build upon Jesus Christ, as we can do by simple faith.

And oh! remember, He must either be the foundation on which we build, or the stone of stumbling against which we stumble, and which one day will fall upon us and grind us to powder. Do you make your choice; and when God says, as He says to each of us: Behold! I lay in Zion a foundation,' do you say, And, Lord, I build upon the foundation which Thou hast laid.'

Maclaren: Isa 28:21

God's Strange Work

That He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act.'--Isaiah 28:21.

How the great events of one generation fall dead to another! There is something very pathetic in the oblivion that swallows up world-resounding deeds. Here the prophet selects two instances which to him are solemn and singular examples of divine judgment, and we have difficulty in finding out to what he refers. To him they seemed the most luminous illustrations he could find of the principle which he is proclaiming, and to us all the light is burned out of them. They are the darkest portion of the verse. Several different events have been suggested. But most probably the historical references here are to David's slaughter of the Philistines (2 Sam. 5., and 1 Chron. 14.). This is probable, but by no means certain. If so, the words are made still more threatening by asserting that He will treat the Israelites as if they were Philistines. But the point on which we should concentrate attention is this remarkable expression, according to which judgment is God's strange work. And that is made more emphatic by the use of a word translated act,' which means service, and is almost always used for work that is hard and heavy--a toil or a task.

I. The work in which God delights.

It is here implied that the opposite kind of activity is congenial to Him. The text declares judgment to be an anomaly, out of His ordinary course of action and foreign to His nature.

We may pause for a moment on that great thought that God has a usual course of action, which is usual because it is the spontaneous expression and true mirror of His character. What He thus does shows that character to His creatures, who cannot see Him but in the glass of His works, and have to infer His nature, as they best may, from His works. The Bible begins with His nature and thence interprets His work.

The work in which God delights is the utterance of His love in blessing.

The very essence of love is self-manifestation.

The very being of God is love, and all being delights in its own self-manifestation, in its own activity.

How great the thought is that He is glad when we let Him satisfy His nature by making us glad!

The ordinary course of His government in the world is blessing.

II. The Task in which He does not delight, or His Strange Work.

The consequences of sin are God's work. The miseries consequent on sin are self-inflicted, but they are also God's judgments on sin. We may say that sin automatically works out its results, but its results follow by the will of God on account of sin.

That work is a necessity arising from the nature of God. It is foreign to His heart but not to His nature. God is both' the light of Israel' for blessing, and a consuming fire.' The two opposite effects are equally the result of the contact of God and man. Light pains a diseased eye and gladdens a sound one. The sun seen through a mist becomes like a ball of red-hot iron. The whole revelation of God becomes a pain to an unloving soul.

But God's very love compels Him to punish.

Some modern notions of the love of God seem to strike out righteousness from His nature altogether, and substitute for it a mere good nature which is weakness, not love, and is cruelty, not kindness.

There is nothing in the facts of the world or in the teachings of the gospel which countenances the notion of a God whose fondness prevents Him from scourging.

What do you call it when a father spares the rod and spoils the child?

Even this world is a very serious place for a man who sets himself against its laws. Its punishments come down surely and not always slowly. There is nothing in it to encourage the idea of impunity.

That work is to Him an Unwelcome Necessity. Bold words. I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner.' He doth not willingly inflict.' The awful power of sin to divert the current of blessing. Christ's tears over Jerusalem. How unwelcome that work is to them is shown by the slowness of His judgments, by multiplied warnings. Rising up early,' He tells men that He will smite, in order that He may never need to smite.

That work is a certainty. However reluctantly He smites, the blow will fall.

III. The Strange Work of Redemption.

The mightiest miracle. The revelation of God's deepest nature. The wonder of the universe.

Maclaren: Isa 28:23-29

The Husbandman And His Operations

Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. 24. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? 25. When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? 26. For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. 27. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. 28. Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. 29. This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.'--Isaiah 28:23-29.

THE prophet has been foretelling a destruction which he calls God's strange act. The Jews were incredulous, scornful men.' They did not believe him; and the main reason for their incredulity was that a divine destruction of the nation was so opposite to the divine conservation of it as to amount to an impossibility. God had raised up and watched over the people. He had planted it in the mountain of His inheritance, and now was it going to be thrown down by the same hand which had built it up? Impossible.

The prophet's answer to that question is this par.-able of the husbandman, who has to perform a great variety of operations. He ploughs, but that is not all. He lays aside the plough when it has done its work, and takes up the seed-basket, and, in different ways, sows different seeds, scattering some broadcast, and dropping others carefully, grain by grain, into their piece--dibbling' it in, as we should say. But seedtime too, passes, and then he cuts down what he had so carefully sown, and pulls up what he had so sedulously planted, and, in different ways, breaks and bruises the grain. Is he inconsistent because he ploughs in winter and reaps in harvest? Does his carrying the seed-basket at one time make it impossible that he shall come with flail and threshing-oxen at another? Are not all the various operations co-operant to one end? Does not the end need them all? Is not one purpose going steadily forward through ploughing, sowing, reaping, threshing? Is not that like the work of the great Husbandman, who changes His methods and preserves His plan through them all, who has His time to sow' and His time to reap,' and who orders the affairs of men and kingdoms, for the one purpose that He may gather His wheat into His garner, and purge from it its chaff?

This parable sets forth a philosophy of the divine operations very beautiful and true, and none the less impressive for the simple garb in which it is clothed.

I. All things come from one steady, divine purpose.

We may notice in passing how reverentially the prophet believes that agriculture is taught by God. He would have said the same of cotton-spinning or coal-mining. Think how striking a figure that is, of all the world as God's farm, where He practises His husbandry to grow the crops which He desires.

What a picture the parable gives of sedulous and patient labour for a far-off result!

It insists on the thought of one steady divine purpose ever directing the movements of the divine hand.

That is the negation of the godless theory that the affairs of men are merely the work of men, or are merely the result of impersonal causes. The world is not a jungle where any or every plant springs of itself, but it is cultivated ground which has an Owner who looks after it.

It is the affirmation that God's action is regulated by a purpose which is intelligent, unchanging, all-embracing to us because revealed.

II. That steady purpose is man's highest good.

The end of all the farmer's care is the ripening of the seed. God's purpose is our moral, intellectual, and spiritual perfecting.

Neither His own glory' nor man's happiness,' which are taken by different schools of thought to be the divine aim in creation and providence, is an object worthy of Him or adequate to explain the facts of every man's experience, unless both are regarded as needing man's perfecting, for their attainment. God's glory is to make men godlike. Man's happiness cannot be secured without His holiness.

God has larger and nobler designs for us than merely to make us happy.

This is the will of God concerning you, even your sanctification.'

Nothing short of that end would be worthy of God, or would explain His methods.

III. That purpose needs groat variety of processes.

This is true about nations and about individuals.

Different stages of growth need different treatment. The parable names three operations:-Ploughing, which is preparation;

Sowing, or casting in germinating principles; Threshing, which is effected by tribulation, a word which means driving a tribulum' or threshing-sedge over ears of grain.

So sorrow is indispensable for our perfecting.

By it earthly affections are winnowed away, and our dependence on God increased. A certain refinement of spirit results, like the pallor on the face of a chronic invalid, which has a delicate beauty unattainted by ruddy health. A capacity for sympathy, too, is often the result of one's own trials. Rightly borne, they tend to bend or break the will, and they teach how great it is to suffer and be strong.

But sorrow is not enough; joy is indispensable too. The crop is threshed in tribulation, but is grown mostly in sunshine. Calm, uneventful hours, continuous possession of blessings, have a ministry not less than afflictions have. The corn in the furrow, waving in the western wind, and with golden sunlight among its golden stems, is preparing for the loaf no less than when bound in bundles and lying on the threshing-floor, or cut and bruised by sharp teeth of dray or heavy hoofs of oxen, or blows of swinging flails.

So do not suppose that sorrow is the only instrument for perfecting character, and see that you do not miss the sanctifying and ripening effect of your joyous hours.

Again, different types of character require different modes of treatment. In the parable, the fitches are sown in one fashion, and the cummin' in another the wheat' and' barley' in still another; and similar variety marks the methods of separating the grain from the husk, one kind of crop being threshed, another having a wheel turned upon it. Thus each of us gets the kind of joys and pains that will have most effect on us. God knows where is the tenderest spot, and makes no mistakes in His dealing. He sends us' afflictions sorted, sorrows of all sizes.'

Let us see that we trust to His loving and wise adaptation of our trials to our temperaments and needs. Let us see that we never let clouds obscure the clearness of our perception, or, failing perception, the serenity of our trust, that all things work together, and all work for our highest good--our being made like our Lord. We should less often complain of the mysteries of Providence if we had learned the meaning of Isaiah's parable.

IV. All the processes end in garnering the grain.

There is a barn or storehouse for the ripened and threshed crops. The farmer's toil and careful processes would be absurd and unintelligible if, after them all, the crop, so sedulously ripened and cultivated and cleansed, was left to rot where it fell. And no less certainly does the discipline of this life cry aloud for heaven and a conscious personal future life, if it is not to be all set down as grim irony or utterly absurd. There must be a heaven if we are not to be put to intellectual bewilderment.

What was needed for growth here drops away there, as blossoms fall when their work is done. Sunshine and rain are no more necessary when the fields are cleared and the barn-yard is filled. Much in our nature, in our earthly condition, in God's varying processes, will drop away. When school-time is done the rod is burned. But nothing will perish that can contribute to our perfecting.

So let us ask Him to purge us with His fan in His hand now, lest we should be found at last fruitless cumberers of the ground or chaff which is rootless, and fit only to be swept out of the threshing-floor.

MHCC: Isa 28:5-15

The prophet next turns to Judah, whom he calls the residue of his people. Happy are those alone, who glory in the Lord of hosts himself. Hence his people get wisdom and strength for every service and every conflict. But it is only in Christ Jesus that the holy God communicates with sinful man. And whether those that teach are drunk with wine, or intoxicated with false doctrines and notions concerning the kingdom and salvation of the Messiah, they not only err themselves, but lead multitudes astray. All places where such persons have taught are filled with errors. For our instruction in the things of God, it is needful that the same precept and the same line should be often repeated to us, that we may the better understand them. God, by his word, calls us to what is really for our advantage; the service of God is the only true rest for those weary of the service of sin, and there is no refreshment but under the easy yoke of the Lord Jesus. All this had little effect upon the people. Those who will not understand what is plain, but scorn and despise it as mean and trifling, are justly punished. If we are at peace with God, we have, in effect, made a covenant with death; whenever it comes, it cannot do us any real damage, if we are Christ's. But to think of making death our friend, while by sin we are making God our enemy, is absurd. And do not they make lies their refuge who trust in their own righteousness, or to a death-bed repentance? which is a resolution to sin no more, when it is no longer in their power to do so.

MHCC: Isa 28:16-22

Here is a promise of Christ, as the only foundation of hope for escaping the wrath to come. This foundation was laid in Zion, in the eternal counsels of God. This foundation is a stone, firm and able to support his church. It is a tried stone, a chosen stone, approved of God, and never failed any who made trial of it. A corner stone, binding together the whole building, and bearing the whole weight; precious in the sight of the Lord, and of every believer; a sure foundation on which to build. And he who in any age or nation shall believe this testimony, and rest all his hopes, and his never-dying soul on this foundation, shall never be confounded. The right effect of faith in Christ is, to quiet and calm the soul, till events shall be timed by Him, who has all times in his own hand and power. Whatever men trust to for justification, except the righteousness of Christ; or for wisdom, strength, and holiness, except the influences of the Holy Ghost; or for happiness, except the favour of God; that protection in which they thought to shelter themselves, will prove not enough to answer the intention. Those who rest in a righteousness of their own, will have deceived themselves: the bed is too short, the covering too narrow. God will be glorified in the fulfilling of his counsels. If those that profess to be members of God's church, make themselves like Philistines and Canaanites, they must expect to be dealt with as such. Then dare not to ridicule the reproofs of God's word, or the approaches of judgements.

MHCC: Isa 28:23-29

The husbandman applies to his calling with pains and prudence, in all the works of it according to their nature. Thus the Lord, who has given men this wisdom, is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in his working. As the occasion requires, he threatens, corrects, spares, shows mercy, or executes vengeance. Afflictions are God's threshing instruments, to loosen us from the world, to part between us and our chaff, and to prepare us for use. God will proportion them to our strength; they shall be no heavier than there is need. When his end is answered, the trials and sufferings of his people shall cease; his wheat shall be gathered into the garner, but the chaff shall be burned with unquenchable fire.

Matthew Henry: Isa 28:14-22

The prophet, having reproved those that made a jest of the word of God, here goes on to reprove those that made a jest of the judgments of God, and set them at defiance; for he is a jealous God, and will not suffer either his ordinances or his providences to be brought into contempt. He addressed himself to the scornful men who ruled in Jerusalem, who were the magistrates of the city, Isa 28:14. It is bad with a people when their thrones of judgment become the seats of the scornful, when rulers are scorners; but that the rulers of Jerusalem should be men of such a character, that they should make light of God's judgments and scorn to take notice of the tokens of his displeasure, is very sad. Who will be mourners in Zion if they are scorners? Observe,

I. How these scornful men lulled themselves asleep in carnal security, and even challenged God Almighty to do his worst (Isa 28:15) You have said, We have made a covenant with death and the grave. They thought themselves as sure of their lives, even when the most destroying judgments were abroad, as if they had made a bargain with death, upon a valuable consideration, not to come till they sent for him or not to take them away by any violence, but by old age. If we be at peace with God, and have made a covenant with him, we have in effect made a covenant with death that it shall come in the fittest time, that whenever it comes, it shall be no terror to us, nor do us any real damage; death is ours if we be Christ's (1Co 3:22, 1Co 3:23): but to think of making death our friend, or being in league with it, while by sin we are making God our enemy and are at war with him, is the greatest absurdity that can be. It was fond conceit which these scorners had, " When the overflowing scourge shall pass through our country, and others shall fall under it, yet it shall not come to us, not reach us, though it extend far, not bear us down, though it is an overflowing scourge."It is the greatest folly imaginable for impenitent sinners to think that either in this world or the other they shall fare better than their neighbours. But what is the ground of their confidence? Why, truly, We have made lies our refuge. Either, 1. Those things which the prophets told them would be lies and falsehood to them and would deceive, but which they themselves looked upon as substantial fences. The protection of their idols, the promises with which their false prophets soothed them, their policy, their wealth, their interest in the people; these they confided in, and not in God; nay, these they confided in against God. Or, 2. Those things which should be lies and falsehood to the enemy, who was flagellum Dei - the scourge of God, the overflowing scourge; they would secure themselves by imposing upon the enemy with their stratagems of war, or their feigned submissions in treaties of peace. The rest of the cities of Judah were taken because they made an obstinate defence; but the rulers of Jerusalem hope to succeed better. They think themselves greater politicians than those of the country towns; they will compliment the king of Assyria with a promise to surrender their city, or to become tributaries to him, with a purpose at the same time to shake off his yoke as soon as the danger is over, not caring though they be found liars to him, as the expression is, Deu 33:29. Note, Those put a cheat upon themselves that think to gain their point by putting cheats upon those they deal with. Those that pursue their designs by trick and fraud, by mean and paltry shifts, may perhaps compasss them, but cannot expect comfort in them. Honesty is the best policy. But such refuges as these are those driven to that depart from God, and throw themselves out of his protection.

II. How God, by the prophet, awakens them out of this sleep, and shows them the folly of their security.

1. He tells them upon what grounds they might be secure. He does not disturb their false confidences, till he has first shown them a firm bottom on which they may repose themselves (Isa 28:16): Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone. This foundation is, (1.) The promises of God in general - his word, upon which he has caused his people to hope - his covenant with Abraham, that he would be a God to him and his; this is a foundation, a foundation of stone, firm and lasting, for faith to build upon; it is a tried stone, for all the saints have stayed themselves upon it and it never failed them. (2.) The promise of Christ in particular; for to him this is expressly applied in the New Testament, 1Pe 2:6-8. He is that stone which has become the head of the corner. The great promise of the Messiah and his kingdom, which was to begin at Jerusalem, was sufficient to make God's people easy in the worst of times; for they knew well that till he came the sceptre should not depart from Judah. Zion shall continue while this foundation is yet to be laid there. " Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, for the comfort of those that dare not make lies their refuge, Behold, and look upon me as one that has undertaken to lay in Zion a Stone, "Jesus Christ is a foundation of God's laying. This is the Lord's doing. He is laid in Zion, in the church, in the holy hill. He is a tried stone, a trying stone (so some), a touch-stone, that shall distinguish between true and counterfeit. He is a precious stone, for such are the foundations of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:19), a corner-stone, in whom the sides of the building are united, the head-stone of the corner. And he that believes these promises, and rests upon them, shall not make haste, shall not run to and fro in a hurry, as men at their wits' end, shall not be shifting hither and thither for his own safety, nor be driven to his feet by any terrors, as the wicked man is said to be (Job 18:11), but with a fixed heart shall quietly wait the event, saying, Welcome the will of God. He shall not make haste in his expectations, so as to anticipate the time set in the divine counsels, but, though it tarry, will wait the appointed hour, knowing that he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. He that believes will not make more haste than good speed, but be satisfied that God's time is the best time, and wait with patience for it. The apostle from the Septuagint explains this, 1Pe 2:6. He that believes on him shall not be confounded; his expectations shall not be frustrated, but far out-done.

2. He tells them that upon the grounds which they now built on they could not be safe, but their confidences would certainly fail them (Isa 28:17): Judgment will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. This denotes,

(1.) The building up of his church; having laid the foundation (Isa 28:16), he will raise the structure, as builders do, by line and plummet, Zec 4:10. Righteousness shall be the line and judgment the plummet. The church, being grounded on Christ, shall be formed and reformed by the scripture, the standing rule of judgment and righteousness. Judgment shall return unto righteousness, Psa 94:15. Or,

(2.) The punishing of the church's enemies, against whom he will proceed in strict justice, according to the threatenings of the law. He will give them their deserts, and bring upon them the judgments they have challenged, but in wisdom too, and by an exact rule, that the tares may not be plucked up with the wheat. And when God comes thus to execute judgment,

[1.] These scornful men will be made ashamed of the vain hopes with which they had deluded themselves. First, They designed to make lies their refuge; but it will indeed prove a refuge of lies, which the hail shall sweep away, that tempest of hail spoken of Isa 28:2. Those that make lies their refuge build upon the sand, and the building will fall when the storm comes, and bury the builder in the ruins of it. Those that make any thing their hiding place but Christ shall find that the waters will overflow it, as every shelter but the ark was over-topped and overthrown by the waters of the deluge. Such is the hope of the hypocrite; this will come of all his confidences. Secondly, They boasted of a covenant with death, and an agreement with the grave; but it shall be disannulled, as made without his consent who has the keys and sovereign command of hell and death. Those do but delude themselves that think by any wiles to evade the judgments of God. Thirdly, They fancied that when the overflowing scourge should pass through the land it should not come near them; but the prophet tells them that then, when others were falling by the common calamity, they should not only share in it, but should be trodden down by it: "You shall be to it for a treading down; it shall triumph over you as much as over any other, and you shall become its easy prey."They are further told (Isa 28:19), 1. That it shall begin with them; they shall be so far from escaping it that they shall be the first that shall fall by it: " From the time it goes forth it shall take you, as if it came on purpose to seize you."2. That it shall pursue them closely: " Morning by morning shall it pass over; as duly as the day returns you shall hear of some desolation or other made by it; for divine justice will follow its blow; you shall never be safe nor easy by day nor by night; there shall be a pestilence walking in darkness and a destruction wasting at noonday."3. That there shall be no avoiding it: "The understanding of the report of its approach shall not give you any opportunity to make your escape, for there shall be no way of escape open; but it shall be only a vexation, you shall see it coming, and not see how to help yourselves."Or, "The very report of it at a distance will be a terror to you; what then will the thing itself be?"Evil tidings are a terror and vexation to scorners, but he whose heart is fixed, trusting in God, is not afraid of them; whereas, when the overflowing scourge comes, then all the comforts and confidences of scorners fail them, Isa 28:20. (1.) That in which they thought to repose themselves reaches not to the length of their expectations: The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself upon it, so that he is forced to cramp and contract himself. (2.) That in which they thought to shelter themselves proves insufficient to answer the intention: The covering is narrower than that a man can wrap himself in it. Those that do not build upon Christ as their foundation, but rest in a righteousness of their own, will prove in the end thus to have deceived themselves; they can never be easy, safe, nor warm; the bed is too short, the covering is too narrow; like our first parents' fig-leaves, the shame of their nakedness will still appear.

[2.] God will be glorified in the accomplishment of his counsels, Isa 28:21. When God comes to contend with these scorners, First, He will do his work, and bring to pass his act, he will work for his own honour and glory, according to his own purpose; the work shall appear to all that see it to be the work of God as the righteous Judge of the earth. Secondly, He will do it now against his people, as formerly he did it against their enemies, by which his justice will appear to be impartial; he will now rise up against Jerusalem as, in David's time, against the Philistines in Mount Perazim (2Sa 5:20), and as, in Joshua's time, against the Canaanites in the valley of Gibeon. If those that profess themselves members of God's church by their pride and scornfulness make themselves like Philistines and Canaanites, they must expect to be dealt with as such. Thirdly, This will be his strange work, his strange act, his foreign deed. It is work that he is backward to: he rather delights in showing mercy, and does not afflict willingly. It is work that he is not used to as to his own people; he protects and favours them. It is a strange work indeed if he turn to be their enemy and fight against them, ch. 63:10. It is a work that all the neighbours will stand amazed at (Deu 29:24), and therefore the ruins of Jerusalem are said to be an astonishment, Jer 25:18.

Lastly, We have the use and application of all this (Isa 28:22): " Therefore be you not mockers; dare not to ridicule either the reproofs of God's word or the approaches of his judgments." Mocking the messengers of the Lord was Jerusalem's measure-filling sin. The consideration of the judgments of God that are coming upon hypocritical professors should effectually silence mockers, and make them serious: " Be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong, both the bands by which you are bound under the dominion of sin"(for there is little hope of the conversion of mockers) "and the bands by which you are bound over to the judgments of God."God has bands of justice strong enough to hold those that break all the bonds of his law asunder and cast away all his cord from them. Let not these mockers make light of divine threatenings, for the prophet (who is one of those with whom the secret of the Lord is) assures them that the Lord God of hosts has, in his hearing, determined a consumption upon the whole earth; and can they think to escape? or shall their unbelief invalidate the threatening?

Matthew Henry: Isa 28:23-29

This parable, which (like many of our Saviour's parables) is borrowed from the husbandman's calling, is ushered in with a solemn preface demanding attention, He that has ears to hear, let him hear, hear and understand, Isa 28:23.

I. The parable here is plain enough, that the husbandman applies himself to the business of his calling with a great deal of pains and prudence, secundum artem - according to rule, and, as his judgment directs him, observes a method and order in his work. 1. In his ploughing and sowing: Does the ploughman plough all day to sow? Yes, he does, and he ploughs in hope and sows in hope, 1Co 9:10. Does he open and break the clods? Yes, he does, that the land may be fit to receive the seed. And when he has thus made plain the face thereof does he not sow his seed, seed suitable to the soil? For the husbandman knows what grain is fit for clayey ground and what for sandy ground, and, accordingly, he sows each in its place - wheat in the principal place (so the margin reads it), for it is the principal grain, and was a staple commodity of Canaan (Eze 27:17), and barley in the appointed place. The wisdom and goodness of the God of nature are to be observed in this, that, to oblige his creatures with a grateful variety of productions, he has suited to them an agreeable variety of earths. 2. In his threshing, Isa 28:27, Isa 28:28. This also he proportions to the grain that is to be threshed out. The fitches and the cummin, being easily got out of their husk or ear, are only threshed with a staff and a rod; but the bread-corn requires more force, and therefore that must be bruised with a threshing instrument, a sledge shod with iron, that was drawn to and fro over it, to beat out the corn; and yet he will not be ever threshing it, nor any longer than is necessary to loosen the corn from the chaff; he will not break it, or crush it, into the ground with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it to pieces with his horsemen; the grinding of it is reserved for another operation. Observe, by the way, what pains are to be taken, not only for the earning, but for the preparing of our necessary food; and yet, after all, it is meat that perishes. Shall we then grudge to labour much more for the meat which endures to everlasting life? Bread-corn is bruised. Christ was so; it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that he might be the bread of life to us.

II. The interpretation of the parable is not so plain. Most interpreters make it a further answer to those who set the judgments of God at defiance: "Let them know that as the husbandman will not be always ploughing, but will at length sow his seed, so God will not be always threatening, but will at length execute his threatenings and bring upon sinners the judgments they have deserved; but in wisdom, and in proportion to their strength, not that they may be ruined, but that they may be reformed and brought to repentance by them."But I think we may give this parable a greater latitude in the exposition of it. 1. In general, that God who gives the husbandman this wisdom is, doubtless, himself infinitely wise. It is God that instructs the husbandman to discretion, as his God, Isa 28:26. Husbandmen have need of discretion wherewith to order their affairs, and ought not undertake that business unless they do in some measure understand it; and they should by observation and experience endeavour to improve themselves in the knowledge of it. Since the king himself is served of the field, the advancing of the art of husbandry is a common service to mankind more than the cultivating of most other arts. The skill of the husbandman is from God, as every good and perfect gift is. This takes off somewhat of the weight and terror of the sentence passed on man for sin, that when God, in execution of it, sent man to till the ground, he taught him how to do it most to his advantage, otherwise, in the greatness of his folly, he might have been for ever tilling the sand of the sea, labouring to no purpose. It is he that gives men capacity for this business, an inclination to it, and a delight in it; and if some were not by Providence cut out for it, and mad to rejoice (as Issachar, that tribe of husbandmen) in their tents, notwithstanding the toil and fatigue of this business, we should soon want the supports of life. If some are more discreet and judicious in managing these or any other affairs than others are, God must be acknowledged in it; and to him husbandmen must seek for direction in their business, for they, above other men, have an immediate dependence upon the divine Providence. As to the other instance of the husbandman's conduct in threshing his corn, it is said, This also comes forth from the Lord of hosts, Isa 28:29. Even the plainest dictate of sense and reason must be acknowledged to come forth from the Lord of hosts. And, if it is from him that men do things wisely and discreetly, we must needs acknowledge him to be wise in counsel and excellent in working. God's working is according to his will; he never acts against his own mind, as men often do, and there is a counsel in his whole will: he is therefore excellent in working, because he is wonderful in counsel. 2. God's church is his husbandry, 1 Co. 3. 9 If Christ is the true vine, his Father is the husbandman (Joh 15:1), and he is continually by his word and ordinances cultivating it. Does the ploughman plough all day, and break the clods of his ground, that it may receive the seed, and does not God by his ministers break up the fallow ground? Does not the ploughman, when the ground is fitted for the seed, cast in the seed in its proper soil? He does so, and so the great God sows his word by the hand of his ministers (Mat 13:19), who are to divide the word of truth and give every one his portion. Whatever the soil of the heart is, there is some seed or other in the word proper for it. And, as the word of God, so the rod of God is thus wisely made use of. Afflictions are God's threshing-instruments, designed to loosen us from the world, to separate between us and our chaff, and to prepare us for use. And, as to these, God will make use of them as there is occasion; but he will proportion them to our strength; they shall be no heavier than there is need. If the rod and the staff will answer the end, he will not make use of his cart-wheel and his horsemen. And where these are necessary, as for the bruising of the bread-corn (which will not otherwise be got clean from the straw), yet he will not be ever threshing it, will not always chide, but his anger shall endure but for a moment; nor will he crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth. And herein we must acknowledge him wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 28:14-17

The prophet now directly attacks the great men of Jerusalem, and holds up a Messianic prophecy before their eyes, which turns its dark side to them, as chapter 7 did to Ahaz. "Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scornful lords, rulers of this people which is in Jerusalem! For ye say, We have made a covenant with death, and with Hades have we come to an agreement. The swelling scourge, when it cometh hither, will do us no harm; for we have made a lie our shelter, and in deceit have we hidden ourselves. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am He who hath laid in Zion a stone, a stone of trial, a precious corner-stone of well-founded founding; whoever believes will not have to move. And I make justice the line, and righteousness the level; and hail sweeps away the refuge of lies, and the hiding-place is washed away by waters." With lâkhēn (therefore) the announcement of punishment is once more suspended; and in Isa 28:16 it is resumed again, the exposition of the sin being inserted between, before the punishment is declared. Their sin is lâtsōn , and this free-thinking scorn rests upon a proud and insolent self-confidence, which imagines that there is no necessity to fear death and hell; and this self-confidence has for its secret reserve the alliance to be secretly entered into with Egypt against Assyria. What the prophet makes them say here, they do not indeed say exactly in this form; but this is the essential substance of the carnally devised thoughts and words of the rulers of the people of Jerusalem, as manifest to the Searcher of hearts. Jerusalem, the city of Jehovah, and such princes as these, who either proudly ignore Jehovah, or throw Him off as useless, what a contrast! Chōzeh , and c hâzūth in Isa 28:18, signify an agreement, either as a decision or completion (from the radical meaning of the verb c hâzâh ), or as a choice, beneplacitum (like the Arabic ray ), or as a record, i.e., the means of selecting (like the talmudic c hâzı̄th , a countersign, a ra'ăyâh , a proof or argument: Luzzatto). In shōt shōtēph ("the swelling scourge," chethib שׁיט ), the comparison of Asshur to a flood (Isa 28:2, Isa 28:8, Isa 28:7), and the comparison of it to a whip or scourge, are mixed together; and this is all the more allowable, because a whip, when smacked, really does move in waving lines (compare Jer 8:6, where shâtaph is applied to the galloping of a war-horse). The chethib עבר in Isa 28:15 (for which the keri reads יעבר , according to Isa 28:19) is to be read עבר (granting that it shall have passed, or that it passes); and there is no necessity for any emendation. The Egyptian alliance for which they are suing, when designated according to its true ethical nature, is sheqer (lie) and kâzâb (falsehood); compare 2Ki 17:4 (where we ought perhaps to read sheqer for qesher , according to the lxx), and more especially Eze 17:15., from which it is obvious that the true prophets regarded self-willed rebellion even against heathen rule as a reprehensible breach of faith.

The lâkhēn (therefore), which is resumed in Isa 28:16, is apparently followed as strangely as in Isa 7:14, by a promise instead of a threat. But this is only apparently the case. It is unquestionably a promise; but as the last clause, "he that believeth will not flee,"i.e., will stand firm, clearly indicates, it is a promise for believers alone. For those to whom the prophet is speaking here the promise is a threat, a savour of death unto death. Just as on a former occasion, when Ahaz refused to ask for a sign, the prophet announced to him a sign of Jehovah's own selection; so here Jehovah opposes to the false ground of confidence on which the leaders relied, the foundation stone laid in Zion, which would bear the believing in immoveable safety, but on which the unbelieving would be broken to pieces (Mat 21:44). This stone is called 'ebhen boochan, a stone of proving, i.e., a proved and self-proving stone. Then follow other epithets in a series commencing anew with pinnath = 'ebhen pinnath (compare Psa 118:22): angulus h. e. lapis angularis pretiositatis fundationis fundatae . It is a corner-stone, valuable in itself (on yiqrath , compare 1Ki 5:17), and affording the strongest foundation and inviolable security to all that is built upon it ( m ūsâd a substantive in form like m ūsâr , and m ūssâd a hophal participle in the form of those of the verba contracta pe yod ). This stone was not the Davidic sovereignty, but the true seed of David which appeared in Jesus (Rom 9:33; 1Pe 2:6-7). The figure of a stone is not opposed to the personal reference, since the prophet in Isa 8:14 speaks even of Jehovah Himself under the figure of a stone. The majestically unique description renders it quite impossible that Hezekiah can be intended. Micah, whose book forms the side piece of this cycle of prophecy, also predicted, under similar historical circumstances, the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem Ephratah (Mic 5:1). What Micah expresses in the words, "His goings forth are from of old,"is indicated here in the preterite yissad connected with hin^e ni (the construction is similar to that in Oba 1:2; Eze 25:7; compare Isa 28:2 above, and Jer 49:15; Jer 23:19). It denotes that which has been determined by Jehovah, and therefore is as good as accomplished. What is historically realized has had an eternal existence, and indeed an ideal pre-existence even in the heart of history itself (Isa 22:11; Isa 25:1; Isa 37:26). Ever since there had been a Davidic government at all, this stone had lain in Zion. The Davidic monarchy not only had in this its culminating point, but the ground of its continuance also. It was not only the Omega, but also the Alpha. Whatever escaped from wrath, even under the Old Testament, stood upon this stone. This (as the prophet predicts in יסהישׁ לא המּאמין יחישׁ׃ the fut. kal ) would be the stronghold of faith in the midst of the approaching Assyrian calamities (cf., Isa 7:9); and faith would be the condition of life (Hab 2:4). But against unbelievers Jehovah would proceed according to His punitive justice. He would make this (justice and righteousness, m ishpât and ts^e dâqâh ) a norm, i.e., a line and level. A different turn, however, is given to qâv , with a play upon Isa 28:10, Isa 28:11. What Jehovah is about to do is depicted as a building which He is carrying out, and which He will carry out, so far as the despisers are concerned, on no other plan than that of strict retribution. His punitive justice comes like a hailstorm and like a flood (cf., Isa 28:2; Isa 10:22). The hail smites the refuge of lies of the great men of Jerusalem, and clears it away ( יעה , hence יע , a shovel); and the flood buries their hiding-place in the waters, and carries it away (the accentuation should be סתר tifchah , מים m ercha ).

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 28:18-20

And the whip which Jehovah swings will not be satisfied with one stroke, but will rain strokes. "And your covenant with death is struck out, and your agreement with Hades will not stand; the swelling scourge, when it comes, ye will become a thing trodden down to it. As often as it passes it takes you: for every morning it passes, by day and by night; and it is nothing but shuddering to hear such preaching. For the bed is too short to stretch in, and the covering too tight when a man wraps himself in it." Although b^e rı̄th is feminine, the predicate to it is placed before it in the masculine form (Ges. §144). The covenant is thought of as a document; for khuppar (for obliterari (just as the kal is used in Gen 6:14 in the sense of oblinere ; or in Pro 30:20, the Targum, and the Syriac, in the sense of abstergere ; and in the Talmud frequently in the sense of wiping off = qinnēăch , or wiping out = m âchaq - which meanings all go back, along with the meaning negare , to the primary meaning, tegere , obducere ). The covenant will be "struck out,"as you strike out a wrong word, by crossing it over with ink and rendering it illegible. They fancy that they have fortified themselves against death and Hades; but Jehovah gives to both of these unlimited power over them. When the swelling scourge shall come, they will become to it as m irmâs , i.e., they will be overwhelmed by it, and their corpses become like dirt of the streets (Isa 10:6; Isa 5:5); והייתם has the mercha upon the penult ., according to the older editions and the smaller Masora on Lev 8:26, the tone being drawn back on account of the following לו . The strokes of the scourge come incessantly, and every stroke sweeps them, i.e., many of them, away. מדּי (from דּי , construct דּי , sufficiency, abundance) followed by the infinitive, quotiescunque irruet ; lâqach , auferre , as in Jer 15:15, and in the idiom lâqach nephesh . These scourgings without end - what a painful lecture Jehovah is reading them! This is the thought expressed in the concluding words: for the meaning cannot be, that "even ( raq as in Psa 32:6) the report (of such a fate) is alarming,"as Grotius and others explain it; or the report is nothing but alarming, as Gussetius and others interpret it, since in that case שׁמועה שׁמע (cf., Isa 23:5) would have been quite sufficient, instead of שׁמוּעה הבין . There is no doubt that the expression points back to the scornful question addressed by the debauchees to the prophet in Isa 28:9, "To whom will he make preaching intelligible?"i.e., to whom will he preach the word of God in an intelligible manner? (as if they did not possess bı̄nâh without this; שׁמוּעה , ἀκοή , as in Isa 53:1). As Isa 28:11 affirmed that Jehovah would take up the word against them, the drunken stammerers, through a stammering people; so here the scourging without end is called the sh^e mū‛âh , or sermon, which Jehovah preaches to them. At the same time, the word hâbhı̄n is not causative here, as in Isa 28:9, viz., "to give to understand,"but signifies simply "to understand,"or have an inward perception. To receive into one's comprehension such a sermon as that which was now being delivered to them, was raq - z^e vâ‛âh , nothing but shaking or shuddering ( raq as in Gen 6:5); זוּע (from which comes זועה , or by transposition זעוה ) is applied to inward shaking as well as to outward tossing to and fro. Jerome renders it "tantummodo sola vexatio intellectum dabit auditui ," and Luther follows him thus: "but the vexation teaches to take heed to the word,"as if the reading were תּבין . The alarming character of the lecture is depicted in Isa 28:20, in a figure which was probably proverbial. The situation into which they are brought is like a bed too short for a man to stretch himself in ( min as in 2Ki 6:1), and like a covering which, according to the measure of the man who covers himself up in it (or perhaps still better in a temporal sense, "when a man covers or wraps himself up in it,"cf., Isa 18:4), is too narrow or too tight. So would it be in their case with the Egyptian treaty, in which they fancied that there were rest and safety for them. They would have to acknowledge its insufficiency. They had made themselves a bed, and procured bed-clothes; but how mistaken they had been in the measure, how miserably and ridiculously they had miscalculated!

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 28:21

It would be with them as it was with the Philistines when David turned their army into water at Baal-perazim (2Sa 5:20; 1Ch 14:11), or when on another occasion he drove them before him from Gibeon to Gezer (1Ch 14:13.). "For Jehovah will rise up as in the mountain of Perazim, and be wroth as in the valley at Gibeon to work His work; astonishing is His work; and to act His act: strange is His act." The Targum wrongly supposes the first historical reminiscence to refer to the earthquake in the time of Uzziah, and the second to Joshua's victory over the Amorites. The allusion really is to the two shameful defeats which David inflicted upon the Philistines. There was a very good reason why victories over the Philistines especially should serve as similes. The same fate awaited the Philistines at the hands of the Assyrians, as predicted by the prophet in Isa 14:28. (cf., Isa 20:1-6). And the strangeness and verity of Jehovah's work were just this, that it would fare no better with the magnates of Judah at the hand of Asshur, than it had with the Philistines at the hand of David on both those occasions. The very same thing would now happen to the people of the house of David as formerly to its foes. Jehovah would have to act in opposition to His gracious purpose. He would have to act towards His own people as He once acted towards their foes. This was the most paradoxical thing of all that they would have to experience.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 28:22

But the possibility of repentance was still open to them, and at least a modification of what had been threatened was attainable. "And now drive ye not mockeries, lest your fetters be strengthened; for I have heard from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a judgment of destruction, and an irrevocable one, upon the whole earth." It is assumed that they are already in fetters, namely, the fetters of Asshur (Nah 1:13). Out of these fetters they wanted to escape by a breach of faith, and with the help of Egypt without Jehovah, and consequently they mocked at the warnings of the prophet. He therefore appeals to them at any rate to stop their mocking, lest they should fall out of the bondage in which they now ere, into one that would bind them still more closely, and lest the judgment should become even more severe than it would otherwise be. For it was coming without fail. It might be modified, and with thorough repentance they might even escape; but that it would come, and that upon the whole earth, had been revealed to the prophet by Jehovah of hosts. This was the sh^e mū‛âh which the prophet had heard from Jehovah, and which he gave them to hear and understand, though hitherto he had only been scoffed at by their wine-bibbing tongues.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 28:23-26

The address of the prophet is here apparently closed. But an essential ingredient is still wanting to the second half, to make it correspond to the first. There is still wanting the fringe of promise coinciding with Isa 28:5, Isa 28:6. The prophet has not only to alarm the scoffers, that if possible he may pluck some of them out of the fire through fear (Jdg 5:23); he has also to comfort believers, who yield themselves as disciples to him and to the word of God (Isa 8:16). He does this here in a very peculiar manner. He has several times assumed the tone of the mashal , more especially in chapter 26; but here the consolation is dressed up in a longer parabolical address, which sets forth in figures drawn from husbandry the disciplinary and saving wisdom of God. Isaiah here proves himself a master of the mashal. In the usual tone of a mashal song, he first of all claims the attention of his audience as a teacher of wisdom. V. 23 "Lend me your ear, and hear my voice; attend, and hear my address!" Attention is all the more needful, that the prophet leaves his hearers to interpret and apply the parable themselves. The work of a husbandman is very manifold, as he tills, sows, and plants his field. Vv. 24-26 "Does the ploughman plough continually to sow? to furrow and to harrow his land? Is it not so: when he levels the surface thereof, he scatters black poppy seed, and strews cummin, and puts in wheat in rows, and barley in the appointed piece, and spelt on its border? And He has instructed him how to act rightly: his God teaches it him." The ploughing ( c hârash ) which opens the soil, i.e., turns it up in furrows, and the harrowing ( siddēd ) which breaks the clods, take place to prepare for the sowing, and therefore not interminably, but only so long as it necessary to prepare the soil to receive the seed. When the seed-furrows have been drawn in the levelled surface of the ground (shivvâh ), then the sowing and planting begin; and this also takes place in various ways, according to the different kinds of fruit. Qetsach is the black poppy ( nigella sativa , Arab. habbe soda , so called from its black seeds), belonging to the ranunculaceae . Kammōn was the cummin ( c uminum cyminum ) with larger aromatic seeds, Ar. kammūn , neither of them our common carraway ( Kümmel , carum ). The wheat he sows carefully in rows (sōrâh , ordo ; ad ordinem , as it is translated by Jerome), i.e., he does not scatter it about carelessly, like the other two, but lays the grains carefully in the furrows, because otherwise when they sprang up they would get massed together, and choke one another. Nismân , like sōrâh , is an acc. loci : the barley is sown in a piece of the field specially marked off for it, or specially furnished with signs (sı̄mânı̄m ); and kussemeth , the spelt ( ζειά , also mentioned by Homer, Od . iv 604, between wheat and barley), along the edge of it, so that spelt forms the rim of the barley field. It is by a divine instinct that the husbandman acts in this manner; for God, who established agriculture at the creation (i.e., Jehovah, not Osiris), has also given men understanding. This is the meaning of v'yiss^e rō lammishpât : and (as we may see from all this) He (his God: the subject is given afterwards in the second clause) has led him (Pro 31:1) to the right (this is the rendering adopted by Kimchi, whilst other commentators have been misled by Jer 30:11, and last of all Malbim Luzzatto, "Cosi Dio con giustizia corregge ;" he would have done better, however, to say, con moderazione ).

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 28:27-29

Again, the labour of the husbandman is just as manifold after the reaping has been done. "For the black poppy is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cummin; but black poppy is knocked out with a stick, and cummin with a staff. Is bread corn crushed? No; he does not go on threshing it for ever, and drive the wheel of his cart and his horses over it: he does not crush it. This also, it goeth forth from Jehovah of hosts: He gives wonderful intelligence, high understanding." Ki (for) introduces another proof that the husbandman is instructed by God, from what he still further does. He does not use the threshing machine ( c hârūts , syn. mōrag , Ar. naureg , nōreg ), or the threshing cart (agâlâh : see Winer's Real-Wörterbuch , art. Dreschen ), which would entirely destroy the more tender kinds of fruit, but knocks them out with a staff ( baculo excutit : see at Isa 27:12). The sentence lechem yūdâq is to be accentuated as an interrogative: Is bread corn crushed? Oh no, he does not crush it. This would be the case if he were to cause the wheel (i.e., the wheels, gilgal , constr. to galgal ) of the threshing cart with the horses harnessed in front to rattle over it with all their might (hâmam , to set in noisy violent motion). Lechem, like the Greek sitos , is corn from which bread is made (Isa 30:23; Psa 104:14). אדושׁ is metaplastic (as if from אדשׁ ) for דושׁ (see Ewald, §312, b ). Instead of וּפרשׁיו , the pointing ought to be וּפרשׁיו (from פרשׁ with kametz before the tone = Arab. faras , as distinguished from פרשׁ with a fixed kametz , equivalent to farras , a rider): "his horses,"here the threshing horses, which were preferred to asses and oxen.Even in this treatment of the fruit when reaped, there is an evidence of the wonderful intelligence ( הפלא ) , as written הפלא ) and exalted understanding (on תּוּשׁהיה , from ושׁי , see at Job 26:3) imparted by God. The expression is one of such grandeur, that we perceive at once that the prophet has in his mind the wisdom of God in a higher sphere. The wise, divinely inspired course adopted by the husbandman in the treatment of the field and fruit, is a type of the wise course adopted by the divine Teacher Himself in the treatment of His nation. Israel is Jehovah's field. The punishments and chastisements of Jehovah are the ploughshare and harrow, with which He forcibly breaks up, turns over, and furrows this field. But this does not last for ever. When the field has been thus loosened, smoothed, and rendered fertile once more, the painful process of ploughing is followed by a beneficent sowing and planting in a multiform and wisely ordered fulness of grace. Again, Israel is Jehovah's child of the threshing-floor (see Isa 21:10). He threshes it; but He does not thresh it only: He also knocks; and when He threshes, He does not continue threshing for ever, i.e., as Caspari has well explained it, "He does not punish all the members of the nation with the same severity; and those whom He punishes with greater severity than others He does not punish incessantly, but as soon as His end is attained, and the husks of sin are separated from those that have been punished, and the punishment ceases, and only the worst in the nation, who are nothing but husks, and the husks on the nation itself, are swept away by the punishments"(compare Isa 1:25; Isa 29:20-21). This is the solemn lesson and affectionate consolation hidden behind the veil of the parable. Jehovah punishes, but it is in order that He may be able to bless. He sifts, but He does not destroy. He does not thresh His own people, but He knocks them; and even when He threshes, they may console themselves in the face of the approaching period of judgment, that they are never crushed or injured.

Constable: Isa 7:1--39:8

III. Israel's crisis of faith chs. 7--39

This long section of the book deals with Israel's major decision in Isaiah's day. Would she trust in Yahweh or in other nations? The decision was a matter of faith; who is more trustworthy, God or strong people? God promised that trust in the nations would result in destruction (ch. 34) but trust in Him would bring abundance (ch. 35). Israel's decision would also determine whether she had a message for the nations or not and whether she would fulfill her mission to the nations or not. This decision is, of course, one that the people of God of all ages continually face.

Constable: Isa 13:1--35:10

B. God's sovereignty over the nations chs. 13-35

This major section of the book emphasizes the folly of trusting in the nations rather than in Yahweh. The section preceding it shows how King Ahaz trusted in Assyria and experienced destruction (chs. 7-12). The section following it shows how King Hezekiah trusted in the Lord and experienced deliverance (chs. 36-39). In this section the prophet expanded his perspective from Israel to include the world. The God of Israel is also Lord of the nations.

Constable: Isa 28:1--33:24

3. The folly of trusting the nations chs. 28-33

Chapters 28-35 are somewhat similar to chapters 13-27 in content and form. The same general pattern of argument unfolds, but the historical context is generally later. The historical context of chapters 13-27 was mainly Ahaz's reign in which Judah faced temptation to trust in Assyria for her safety rather than in the Lord.²⁶⁴ The historical context of chapters 28-35 was mainly Hezekiah's reign in which Judah faced temptation to trust in Egypt.²⁶⁵ Also different is the emphasis in chapters 13-27 on Yahweh's sovereignty over the nations compared with the emphasis in chapters 28-35 on Judah's choice to trust Him or not. This is a matter of emphasis, however, since both sections deal with both issues.

The first part of the present section, chapters 28-33, serves the same general function as chapters 13-23: they focus on the particular situation in Isaiah's day to warn Judah against trusting neighbor nations. The second part, chapters 34-35, like chapters 24-27, again project farther into the future and deal more with Israel's eschatological hope.

The presence of six "woes" also marks off chapters 28-33 as a distinct unit of Isaiah's prophecy (28:1; 29:1, 15; 30:1; 31:1; 33:1; cf. 5:8-10, 18-23; Matt. 23:13-39; Rev. 8:13; 9:12; 12:12; 11:14). This section is divisible into three parts. Chapters 28-29 paint the picture of Judah's foolish leaders concluding that something must be done at once, other than trusting God, to save the people from their enemy. Here the principles involved in Judah's situation emerge clearly. Chapters 30-31 focus on the proposed solution, trust in Egypt, and the folly of that option. Chapters 32-33 stress the proper solution, namely, acknowledgment of Israel's true King and trust in Him. In these last four chapters the application of the principles in history and in the eschaton receive more attention.

"Principles	Applications
28:1-29 When God's people reject his word (9-13) and covenant (14-15), destruction follows (18-22), held within divine purposes (23-29)	30:1-33 Refuge is sought in Egypt (1-7), rejecting the Lord's word (8-12), but his ultimate (13-26) and immediate (27-33) purposes are settled
29:1-14 There is disaster and deliverance (1-8) but historical deliverance does not change people spiritually. This needs a further divine action (9-14), which is already planned	31:1-32:20 Divine deliverance scorns both Egypt's help and Assyria's enmity (31:1-9). Beyond lies the perfect kingdom with true king (32:1) and transformed people (3:8). The pattern of history will be repeated: overthrow (9-14) and transformation (15-20)
29:15-24 People may think to run the world without God (15), but he is the sovereign and his transforming purposes (16-17) will work out spiritually (18-19), morally and socially (20-21), fulfilling what began in Abraham (22) and establishing a truly renewed people (23-24)	33:1-35:10 Treacherous people (33:1, 8) may seem to rule but divine sovereignty remains (33:3, 10). The perfect kingdom (33:13-24), morally and socially (33:15) and spiritually (33:24), will come. The enemy will finally be destroyed (chapter 34) and the redeemed will gather to Zion (chapter 35)"266

In chapters 28-29 Isaiah pointed out that the situations in the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms were quite similar. Both nations faced threats to their security from a strong foreign enemy, and unworthy leaders who urged trust in man rather than in God ruled both nations. Judah was in a more dangerous position, however, because her leaders were cynical; they believed nothing and trusted no one.

Constable: Isa 28:1-29

The woe against Ephraim and Judah ch. 28

"The section begins (1-6) and ends (23-29) with double illustrations drawn from nature and agriculture. Between lies a meditation in eight broadly equal parts on how Jerusalem's leaders refused the word of invitation and inherited the word of wrath (7-22)."²⁶⁷

The prophet began by exposing the folly of the leaders of the Northern Kingdom. He condemned them for their proud scoffing. The "woe" appears at first to be against them alone, but as the chapter unfolds it becomes clear that Isaiah was pronouncing woe on the leaders of the Southern Kingdom even more.

28:1 "Woe" (Heb. hoy), as mentioned earlier (cf. 5:8, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22; 6:5), is a term of lament and threat. It expresses emotion, summons others, and connotes sympathy. Here the object of the prophet's "woe" was the leaders of Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The reason for his "woe" was the pride of these representatives that was their outstanding mark and that resulted in their complacent revelry (cf. Amos 4:1; 6:1, 6). This nation and its leaders had been objects of admiration, but now their glory was fading, like the flowers they wore in garlands on their heads as they indulged in drunken revelry. Ephraim's capital, Samaria, stood like a crown at the eastern end of the fertile Shechem Valley that drained into the Mediterranean Sea to the west. A false sense of security led these leaders to spend too much time drinking wine, which now controlled them.

28:2 Ephraim was in danger because the Lord had an irresistible agent who would humble her pride, as a storm overwhelms the unprepared. Assyria was that agent, but the prophet did not name it, perhaps because he wanted to emphasize the principles involved in the judgment.

28:3 With prophetic perfect tenses, Isaiah predicted the overthrow of Ephraim and its leaders. It was as good as accomplished. With hand (v. 2) and foot (v. 3) God would throw down and trample His people.

28:4 Ephraim's pride (v. 3) made her ripe for judgment. Her enemy would pluck her and consume her as greedily and as easily as a person who sees a ripe fig on a tree at the beginning of the fig season picks it, pops it into his mouth, and swallows it (cf. Hos. 9:10; Mic. 7:1).

28:5-6 "In that day," when Ephriam would fall, the Lord would also preserve a remnant of the Northern Kingdom. He would be the true crown (king, cf. 11:1-9) of His people and a source of glory for them, in contrast to their present fading garlands (cf. v. 1; 4:2-6). He would also become the standard and facilitator of justice for their judges and the strength of their soldiers (cf. 11:2). This does not mean that the faithful Ephraimites would turn on their enemies and defeat them but that they would find in the Lord all that they had looked for in the wrong places before. Note that this note of mercy concludes a pronouncement of judgment.

Isaiah now compared the pride and indulgence of the Ephraimite leaders to that of their Southern Kingdom brethren. The leaders of Judah were even worse.²⁶⁸

28:7-8 The priests and the false prophets in Judah also drank so much that their visions and judgments were distorted, and they degraded themselves by throwing up all over their tables.

28:9-10 These drunken leaders mocked Isaiah for the simplicity and repetition with which he presented the Lord's messages.

"Verses 9, 10 give us the jeering reply of the pro-Assyrian party of King Ahaz, who resisted the impact of Isaiah's words recorded in the previous paragraph. They scoffed at his remarks as Sunday School moralizing,' appropriate for infants but quite irrelevant to grown men who understand the art of practical politics."²⁶⁹

"His [God's] laws are like little petty annoyances, one command after another, or one joined to another, coming constantly."²⁷⁰

They accused him of proclaiming elementary teaching and of speaking to them like small children (cf. 6:9-10). What Isaiah advocated was trust in the Lord rather than reliance on foreign alliances for national security. Isaiah built his hearers' knowledge bit by bit adding a little here and a little there. This is, of course, the best method of teaching, but it has never appealed to proud intellectuals who consider themselves beyond the simplicity of God's truth. Similarly today many modern university professors of religion ridicule those who believe we should take the Bible at face value.

"There is no more hardened nor cynical person in the world than a religious leader who has seared his conscience. For them, tender appeals which would move anyone else become sources of amusement. They have learned how to debunk everything and to believe nothing (Heb. 10:26-31), all the while speaking loftily of matters of the spirit (Jas. 3:13-18)."²⁷¹

"How odd that the more correction we need, the less we think we need it."²⁷²

28:11-12 Isaiah turned his critics' words back on themselves; what they had said about his words in mockery would overtake them. If God's people refused to listen to words spoken in simple intelligibility, He would give them unintelligibility as a judgment (cf. Matt. 23:37). Since they refused to learn from a prophet who appealed to them in their own language, He would teach them with plunderers whose language (Akkadian) they would not understand but whose lances they would. They would learn to rest on Yahweh from their foreign foe's treatment of them if they refused to learn that lesson from Isaiah.²⁷³

28:13 The Lord would continue to teach them bit by bit, and a little here and a little there, through hardship, but the result would be retrogression, brokenness, entrapment, and captivity.

". . . in order for maturity to be reached, the child must be allowed to suffer the consequences of its actions. For the parent to intervene constantly and to nullify the results is to give the child a wholly misshapen understanding of life."²⁷⁴

28:14-15 The rulers in Jerusalem scoffed at the Lord's word, but Isaiah called on them to listen to it.²⁷⁵ They had made a covenant with some nation (probably Egypt) that involved deception and falsehood (probably against Assyria).²⁷⁶ They thought that as a result the scourge of their dreaded enemy (Assyria) would not touch them. But Isaiah sarcastically told them that their covenant was really with death and Sheol; death would be the outcome of their pact. They were the naive ones, not he (cf. vv. 9-10).

28:16 "In contrast to this supposedly clever diplomacy of power politics, God declares the true basis of Israel's safety: the person and work of the Messianic Redeemer."²⁷⁷

The Lord God's response to His people's lack of faith in Him was to reveal that He was doing something too. He was laying a firm foundation in Jerusalem that they could and should build on. This huge "stone" was tested, planted securely, and a sound basis for security.²⁷⁸ What was it? I believe it was Messiah (cf. Ps. 118:22; Zech. 3:9; 10:4; Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Rom. 9:33; 10:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6).²⁷⁹ God was doing something that would make possible a stable edifice (Israel), namely, preparing for Messiah. Those in Isaiah's day who believed that God was working for His people would not panic. Perhaps Isaiah's hearers did not recognize this as messianic prophecy when the prophet gave it (cf. 7:14; 9:6). Perhaps they thought that Isaiah just meant that God was doing something hidden that would result in the security of their nation and they should trust Him.

28:17 The rulers had made a covenant in which they hoped (v. 15), but God would make justice and righteousness the measuring standards by which He would act and judge His people. They thought they could avoid the "overwhelming scourge" (cf. 10:22, 26) of their enemy by taking refuge in a treaty (v. 15), but God would allow them to be swept away by an adversary (cf. v. 2).

28:18-19 Their signed agreements would prove meaningless. Their boast of immunity from catastrophe would prove hollow. They mocked a message leading to rest and chose to embrace a message resulting in terror. The scourge God would send would be like a marauding beast as well as a hailstorm and a flood.

"The Assyrian annals report numerous returns to the same areas, each return being accompanied by vast slaughter and pillage. The steady hammer blows of such an attack spread out over years, whether calculatedly so, or as a result of political exigencies elsewhere, could be expected to reduce a people to shivering terror, as the prophet noted here."²⁸⁰

28:20 The resting place and the cover the Judahites had chosen for themselves (v. 12) would prove disappointingly uncomfortable.

28:21 A second reason for the Jerusalemites' terror (cf. vv. 18-19) would be divine hostility. The Lord would rise up against His people to defeat them as He formerly rose up to defeat the Philistines at Mount Perazim (lit. breaking forth) "like the break-through of waters" (2 Sam. 5:20; 1 Chron. 14:11). He had also defeated the Canaanites in the valley of Gibeon with hailstones (Josh. 10:11). Defeating the Israelites was strange work for the Lord because He customarily defended them. Judgment is His "strange work," especially judgment of His own people, a work foreign to what He usually does, namely, bless.

28:22 Isaiah called on the rulers to stop being scoffers (cf. v. 14) or their punishment would be worse. It was unavoidable, but by repenting they could lessen it. Thus this section of the "woe" that describes judgment coming on Judah ends with a note of mercy just as the section describing judgment coming on Ephraim did (vv. 5-6).

How would the leaders of Judah respond? Would they continue in their chosen course of action and so suffer the fate of the Northern Kingdom, or would they repent and experience a milder judgment? Isaiah ended this "woe" by illustrating the alternatives and urging repentance (cf. chs. 5-6).

28:23 The prophet appealed to his audience to listen to him (cf. Mark 4:3, 9), even though some of them were scoffers. What he had to say was very important for them. Failure to listen to God's word had been the fatal flaw of the leaders, but they could still hearken and respond. The prophet used two illustrations.

28:24-26 A wise farmer follows a plan in his plowing and planting so each type of seed will grow best. Some seed requires planting under the ground and other seed on top. God teaches the farmer this discrimination just as God Himself practices discrimination in dealing with people. Earlier in this chapter Isaiah offered a promise of blessing (vv. 5-6), but later he promised blasting (vv. 14-22). God would use both instruments to deal with His people. Using both was not inconsistent.

28:27-29 Likewise a farmer threshes dill, cummin, and grain different ways. This is also wisdom that Yahweh of armies teaches. A simple farmer learns how to plow, plant, thresh, and grind from God, by studying nature, and as he applies what God teaches there is blessing. How much more should the sophisticated leaders of Judah learn from Him to trust Him.

". . . God measures the instruments of His purpose to the condition of His people; He employs what will best carry out His holy will."²⁸¹

"The farmer does not plow for the sake of plowing, but rather to prepare for his intended crop. So also God prepares his garden for the crop he wishes to reap--the crop of righteousness from a holy people. To this end God must employ the cutting and crumbling force of disciplinary judgments, perfectly adjusted to Israel's spiritual needs, just as the farmer (using the intelligence God gave him) uses the proper threshing instruments for each type of grain."²⁸²

An implication of these two parables (vv. 24-25 and 27-28), not stated, is that God would deal differently with the Southern Kingdom than He dealt with the Northern Kingdom. The Jerusalemites should not conclude that because God would allow the Assyrians to defeat the Ephraimites the same fate would necessarily befall them. A change of attitude could mitigate their judgment. So this whole "woe" ends with an implied offer of grace.

As things worked out, of course, God did allow an invading army to take the Judahites into captivity as another invading army had taken the Israelites captive. But that did not happen at the same time. Sennacherib destroyed Samaria but not Jerusalem. God postponed Judah's judgment because He found a measure of repentance there.

Guzik: Isa 28:1-29

Isaiah 28 - A Word to Drunkards

Isaiah 28 begins an eight-chapter section (28-35) mostly directed to the southern kingdom of Judah. Since it is often most effective to address a sin present in a third party, and then apply it directly to the person, Isaiah will first speak of the sin of Israel, then switch the focus to Judah.

A. The sinful state of the drunkards of Ephraim.

1. (1-4) A flood of judgment upon the drunkards of Ephraim.

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one, like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who will bring them down to the earth with His hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot; and the glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valley, like the first fruit before the summer, which an observer sees; he eats it up while it is still in his hand.

a. To the drunkards of Ephraim: In Ephraim (another name for the northern nation of Israel, because the tribe of Ephraim was a prominent tribe in that nation), drunkenness was a significant enough problem that the LORD directed Isaiah to directly address the drunkards of Ephraim.

i. This is one of several passages of Scripture that speaks to drunkards. Proverbs 23:29-35 speaks of the folly of drunkenness. Ephesians 5:18 tells us to be filled with the Spirit instead of being drunk. Romans 13:13, 1 Corinthians 5:11, 6:10, 11:21, Galatians 5:21, and 1 Peter 4:3 each contain commands against drunkenness. Jesus specifically warned against drunkenness in the last days (Luke 21:34-36).

ii. Our society pays a terrible price for drunkenness; the direct effect on the drunkard is bad enough, but the extended costs are staggering. Yearly, in the United States, alcohol is responsible for almost 100,000 deaths (25,000 by drunk drivers alone), 6 million non-fatal injuries, and more than $100 billion in economic losses such as unemployment and loss of productivity.

iii. Drunkenness is behind many other crimes and sins. Many drunkards either commit violent or sexual crimes, or become victims violent or sexual crimes. 75% of the men and 55% of the women involved in date-rape situations had been drinking or taking drugs just before the attack. The FBI says that 50% of all rapes involve alcohol.

iv. Drunkenness is heavily promoted in our culture, and advertising often targets young people, recruiting them to a future of heavy drinking. The average television viewer sees 90,000 incidents of drinking on TV by age 21, and 100,000 beer commercials by age 18. Many of the commercials use cute animals and upbeat music that appeal to young audiences.

b. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim: Like any other sin, drunkenness is connected to pride, so much so that Isaiah likens the drunkards of Ephraim to a crown of pride. Much of the self-hatred and self-despising drunkards feel is rooted in too much focus upon one's self, which is the essence of pride.

c. Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower: Drunkenness makes everything beautiful and good in our lives fade away. Many men and women have gone from the top to skid row because of drunkenness.

d. To those who are overcome with wine: When alcohol overcomes us, we are in sin. When it impairs our senses, our thinking, our judgment, or our reflexes, we are overcome with wine and it is sin.

i. One might wish that there was a strict prohibition against drinking alcohol in the Bible, but there isn't. Jesus made wine (John 2:1-10) and drank wine (Mark 14:22-26), and was even unjustly accused of being a drunkard (Matthew 11:19). Paul recommended the use of wine to Timothy, knowing that is was more pure to drink than plain water (1 Timothy 5:23). The Bible regards drink, moderately used, as a gift from God (Psalm 104:15). So, while the Bible allows the moderate use of alcohol, it strictly condemns drunkenness.

ii. What is drunkenness? Some only consider a person drunk if they are "passed-out drunk." But whenever alcohol impairs our senses, our thinking, our judgment, or our reflexes, we are overcome with wine and it is sin. Whenever we feel compelled to drink, or have difficulty not drinking, we are overcome with wine and it is sin. If we have to hide our drinking, or are secretly ashamed of our drinking, we are overcome with wine and it is sin.

iii. Overcome is the Hebrew word halam, which literally means "to strike down" and by implication means "to hammer, to conquer, to beat down, to overcome, to hit with a hammer." The same word is translated pounded in Judges 5:26, describing when Jael pounded a tent peg through the head of Sisera. When you get drunk, that's what you are doing to yourself.

e. Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one: The drunkard needs to know that God is stronger than the drunkard, stronger than the power of alcohol, stronger than anything. If the drunkard is powerless to stop his drinking, God has the power to help him stop - or the power to judge him (the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot).

f. Like the first fruit before the summer, which an observer sees; he eats it up while it is still in his hand: The drunkard needs to learn the value of delayed gratification. The gratification of drinking may be intense and immediate, but it fades quickly and crashes hard. The drunkard must learn the value delaying immediate gratification for a future benefit, instead of eating the fruit . . . while it is still in his hand.

i. The importance of appreciating the value of delayed gratification has been measured in what has been called the marshmallow test. A researcher gave this choice to a four year old: "I am leaving for a few minutes to run an errand and you can have this marshmallow while I am gone, but if you wait until I return, you can have two marshmallows." Researchers at Stanford did this test in the 1960s, and a dozen years later they found that the kids who grabbed the single marshmallow tended to be more troubled as adolescents, and the one-marshmallow kids also scored an average of 210 points less on SAT tests. Learning to delay gratification is important!

2. (5-6) The beauty of the LORD replaces the faded beauty of Ephraim.

In that day the LORD of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people, for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

a. The LORD of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty: Sometimes when we see the faded glory that comes with sins like drunkenness, we can grow discouraged or depressed. But even if all the glory of man fades because of disobedience and sin, God's glory remains. When we are completely "ungloried" because of the wreckage of sin, we can set our focus on the glory of the LORD.

b. For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment: When our glory has faded because of our sin, we may lose our judgment and discernment. But then we can receive them from the LORD.

c. And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate: When our glory has faded because of our sin, we may lose our strength and ability to fight. But then we can receive them from the LORD.

3. (7-8) The corruption of drunkenness in Judah.

But they also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through intoxicating drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filth; no place is clean.

a. They also: Since Isaiah mentions the priest and the prophet in this section, it seems that they also refers to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. If the people of Ephraim had a problem with drunkenness, so did they also.

i. "Judah had caught this disease of Ephraim . . . Sin is more contagious and catching than the plague." (Trapp)

b. They also have erred through wine and through intoxicating drink are out of the way: Drunkenness always leads to error and takes us out of the way - the way of wisdom and God's will.

c. The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink: Drunkenness is something that can touch any person, at any stage of life. Even the priest and the prophet can find themselves under the tyranny of drunkenness (swallowed up by wine).

d. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that no place is clean: Drunkenness leads to this kind of degradation and disgrace. This is because of the way alcohol works. Alcohol is a depressant; it "loosens" people because it depresses their self-control, their wisdom, their balance and judgment.

i. This makes the idea of being "drunk in the Holy Spirit" especially unbiblical and offensive. The Holy Spirit does not depress us; He has the exact opposite effect. The Holy is a stimulant, and He moves every aspect of our being to better and more perfect performance. Of those who act silly or crazy claiming to be "drunk in the Holy Spirit," the most charitable thing to say is that they are simply acting in their own flesh, because they certainly are not being led by the Holy Spirit of God.

B. God's message to those who are ripe for judgment.

1. (9-10) The simple message is mocked.

"Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."

a. Whom will he teach knowledge? These are the words of the drunk, ungodly prophets and priests described in Isaiah 28:7-8. They ask Isaiah, the godly prophet, Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? In their mocking minds, Isaiah's message is fit only for children (Those just weaned from milk).

i. "Verses 9 and 10 portray the sarcastic reaction these Judean leaders had to Isaiah's words of rebuke. They were tired of Isaiah's strictness and of his recurring application of God's laws. The string of monosyllables in verse 10 may mean that the Judean leaders regarded Isaiah's message as meaningless or as child's play." (Wolf)

ii. "Many commentators have been puzzled by verse 10 and have wrestled to make sense of the Hebrew. The truth of the matter seems to be, as the NIV margin suggests, that it is not meant to make sense. Isaiah's words had hardly penetrated the alcohol-impregnated atmosphere that surrounded his hearers." (Grogan)

iii. "Thus this good prophet became the drunkard's song. Any man may be witty in a biting way, and those that have the dullest brains have commonly the sharpest teeth to that purpose." (Trapp)

b. Precept upon precept: With this, the drunk, ungodly prophets and priests mock Isaiah's teaching. "It is too simple. It is simply precept upon precept . . . line upon line . . . here a little, there a little. We are so smart and spiritually sophisticated and advanced that we can go on to deeper things."

i. In their mocking of Isaiah's message, they actually pay him a great compliment. It is a beautiful thing for God's truth to be presented precept upon precept . . . line upon line . . . here a little, there a little. When the word of God is properly presented, there is something for both the simple and immature to receive, and also something for the great saint to rejoice in and be fed.

2. (11-13) Isaiah warns of the consequences of rejecting the simple message of the LORD.

For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest," and, "This is the refreshing"; yet they would not hear. But the word of the LORD was to them, "Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little," That they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.

a. With stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people: If the simple, straightforward message is rejected, God will find another way to communicate to the hard-hearted. He will send unusual messengers to bring the word.

b. The message of rest and deliverance (this is the rest . . . this is refreshing) will be rejected (they would not hear). But it wasn't the fault of the word of the LORD - the word of the LORD was to them, "Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."

i. This is the blessed way to present God's word: precept upon precept, line upon line. Isaiah takes the taunt of the drunkards and receives it as a compliment. God's messengers are to present all of God's word (without skipping a line), and to present it simply.

ii. This also implies that we can't receive all aspects of God's message at once. "It is an excellent thing that the gospel is taught us by degrees. It is not forced home upon men's minds all at once, but it comes thus, 'Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.' God does not flash the everlasting daylight on weak eyes in one blaze of glory, but there is at first a dim dawn, and the soft incoming of a tender light for tender eyes, and so by degrees we see." (Spurgeon)

c. In fact, the result of the faithful presentation of the word of the LORD for those who reject isn't good for them: That they might go and fall backward and be broken and snared and caught.

3. (14-15) The false confidence of sinful leaders.

Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves."

a. You scornful men, who rule this people who are in Jerusalem: Sadly, some of the simple and immature were those who rule this people. They needed to hear the word of the LORD just as everyone did.

i. There is no one too high, too exalted, too mature, too advanced for the word of the LORD, and to hear it precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.

b. We have made a covenant with death: The rulers of Jerusalem were extreme in their rejection of God, and felt they had an "agreement" with death and the grave (Sheol). They proudly believed the overflowing scourge of God's judgment and correction would not come against them.

i. They had no fear of death, and thought they had made friends with death and the grave. This same way of thinking is common in our modern world. The ungodly should fear death, because with death ends all opportunity for repentance, and their eternal doom is sealed. Satan has a significant interest in making the wicked feel that death is their friend.

ii. A 1996 Los Angeles Times article told the story of Heidi, a 15-year-old who lived in Rancho Palos Verdes. She attended one of the nation's finest public schools, where she played soccer as a sophomore. She loved horses, and had recently been baptized into the Mormon Church. Chris was a 16-year-old surfer from San Pedro, who got A's and B's, took college prep courses, and had a part time job working a gas pump. His grandfather said he was a well-adjusted kid. Chris played guitar in a garage band, and was deeply affected by the suicide of grunge singer Kurt Cobain, and how he had devoted a creative writing project to the subject of suicide. A friend of Chris' said: "He was kind of death-happy. Not sad, but more like, 'The other side is gonna be so much more fun.' More like, 'I can't wait to die.'" On Saturday, March 16, Heidi swiped the keys to her mom's white Plymouth Horizon, sneaked out and met Chris in San Pedro. Late that night, Heidi and Chris hiked 100 feet down a rugged path, then ducked through a hole in the chain-link fence to get to a narrow concrete spillway known as "the diving board." On the ledge, they set down a blue cigarette lighter, and cigarette butts arranged in an arrow point to the sea, which lay 150 feet below. Then they both jumped to their deaths. Chris and Heidi were both deceived into thinking that death could be their friend, but the moment they passed into eternity, they would have given anything to go back to the world where they could repent and get right with God.

c. We have made lies our refuge: This is their strength! This is their protection! What slender confidence!

i. In his sermon titled Refuges of Lies and What Will Become Of Them, Charles Spurgeon lists six lies that men try to take refuge in: 1. The lie that we are, or can be good enough. 2. The lie that fate or predestination determines all, so there is nothing for us to do. 3. The lie that places confidence in new, false teachings. 4. The lie that religious profession is enough. 5. The lie that one can have a saved soul and an unchanged life. 6. The lie that trusts an old experience instead of an ongoing relationship.

4. (16-19) The security of the Messiah and the precarious place of sinners.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet; the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it goes out it will take you; for morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night; it will be a terror just to understand the report."

a. Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation: In contrast to the weak, narrow foundation of the wicked (we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves), God has a solid foundation for our lives - a stone for a foundation.

i. What is this foundation? 1 Peter 2:6 applies this passage directly to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He is the foundation for our lives, and only with a secure, stable foundation can anything lasting be built. Anything "added on" to the house, not built upon the foundation, is sure to end up in wreckage.

ii. Who lays this stone? Behold, I lay in Zion. It is God's work. We are unable to provide the right kind of foundation for our lives, but God can lay a foundation for us. We are asked to behold God's foundation, appreciate it, wonder at it, value it, and build our lives upon it.

b. A tried stone: Our Messiah was tried, was tested, and was proven to be the glorious, obedient Son of God in all things.

c. A precious cornerstone: Our Messiah is precious, and a cornerstone. The cornerstone provides the lines, the pattern for all the rest of the construction. The cornerstone is straight and true, and everything in the entire building lines up in reference to the cornerstone.

d. A sure foundation: Our Messiah is a sure foundation, and we can build everything on Him without fear.

e. Justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet: In God's building, it isn't just as if He establishes the cornerstone and then walks away and allows the building to be built any way it pleases. Instead, He keeps the building straight with justice and righteousness.

f. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place: The ungodly leaders of Jerusalem made lies their refuge, and found a hiding place under falsehood (Isaiah 28:15). But the storms of life and God's judgment would sweep away their refuge of lies and their hiding place. They had built on the wrong foundation, and would therefore see destruction.

g. Your covenant with death will be annulled: The ungodly leaders of Jerusalem thought they made a "deal with death," but will find that God will annul their covenant with death. When His scourge of judgment comes, they will surely be trampled down by it.

i. And the scourge of judgment will not touch them lightly. Morning by morning and by day and by night they will feel the sting of God's correction.

5. (20-22) Advice to those ripe for judgment.

For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it. For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon; that He may do His work, His awesome work, and bring to pass His act, His unusual act. Now therefore, do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, a destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

a. The bed is too short . . . the covering so narrow: The rulers of Jerusalem had to realize that their present place was precarious, and they could find no refuge where they were at right then.

i. Their rejection of God gave them no peace, no rest, and no warmth. What can be worse than trying to sleep in a bed that is too short? With trying to keep warm with something so narrow that he cannot wrap himself in it? Yet this is a picture of the world, working, striving, longing for their bed - and when they gain it, it is too short and has no proper blankets! The child of God, on the other hand, is given rest and peace and covering by Jesus Christ. We shouldn't long for the short beds and narrow coverings of the world; we should thank God for the place He gives us in Jesus Christ and enjoy it!

b. For the LORD will rise up: The rulers of Jerusalem had to realize that fighting against God was always a losing proposition. There was no way they could win that battle, because God would always do His work, His awesome work.

c. At Perazim, the LORD accomplished a great victory for Israel in the days of David (2 Samuel 5:20). At Gibeon, the LORD accomplished a great victory for Israel in the days of Joshua (Joshua 10:11). In those cases, the LORD fought for Israel, but if her leaders did not repent, they would soon find the LORD fighting against Israel. This use of God's strength against His people is surely His awesome work, or as the King James Version puts it, His strange work.

d. Now therefore, do not be mockers: The rulers of Jerusalem had to realize the danger of mocking God with their "deals with death" and haughty words against God.

6. (23-29) The timing of the farmer and the timing of God.

Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech. Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods? When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cummin and scatter the cummin, plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place? For He instructs him in right judgment, his God teaches him. For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; but the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, and the cummin with a rod. Bread flour must be ground; therefore he does not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel, or crush it with his horsemen. This also comes from the LORD of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.

a. Give ear and hear my voice: The rulers of Jerusalem had to listen to God's word, and pay attention to His voice.

b. Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? The end of Isaiah 28 is a poem relating the work of God to the work of a farmer. A farmer doesn't only plow; he knows when to stop plowing and when to level the ground, when to plant, and what to plant where. He uses different tools at different times, and works them all together to produce crops. In the same way, God knows what instruments to use in our life, and what time to use them. We don't have to doubt or despair at what God is doing in our lives, because He is an expert farmer, working on us with all His wisdom.

i. "He used the proper instrument and procedure at the proper time to accomplish His purposes among His stubborn people." (Wolf)

c. Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance: The phrase wonderful in counsel is the same words used to describe the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6 (Wonderful Counselor). It reminds us of the perfect timing and wisdom of God's work in our lives.

© 2001 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

ISAIAH, son of Amoz (not Amos); contemporary of Jonah, Amos, Hosea, in Israel, but younger than they; and of Micah, in Judah. His call to a higher degree of the prophetic office (Isa 6:1-13) is assigned to the last year of Uzziah, that is, 754 B.C. The first through fifth chapters belong to the closing years of that reign; not, as some think, to Jotham's reign: in the reign of the latter he seems to have exercised his office only orally, and not to have left any record of his prophecies because they were not intended for all ages. The first through fifth and sixth chapters are all that was designed for the Church universal of the prophecies of the first twenty years of his office. New historical epochs, such as occurred in the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah, when the affairs of Israel became interwoven with those of the Asiatic empires, are marked by prophetic writings. The prophets had now to interpret the judgments of the Lord, so as to make the people conscious of His punitive justice, as also of His mercy. Isa. 7:1-10:4 belong to the reign of Ahaz. The thirty-sixth through thirty-ninth chapters are historical, reaching to the fifteenth year of Hezekiah; probably the tenth through twelfth chapters and all from the thirteenth through twenty-sixth chapters, inclusive, belong to the same reign; the historical section being appended to facilitate the right understanding of these prophecies; thus we have Isaiah's office extending from about 760 to 713 B.C., forty-seven years. Tradition (Talmud) represents him as having been sawn asunder by Manasseh with a wooden saw, for having said that he had seen Jehovah (Exo 33:20; 2Ki 21:16; Heb 11:37). 2Ch 32:32 seems to imply that Isaiah survived Hezekiah; but "first and last" is not added, as in 2Ch 26:22, which makes it possible that his history of Hezekiah was only carried up to a certain point. The second part, the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters, containing complaints of gross idolatry, needs not to be restricted to Manasseh's reign, but is applicable to previous reigns. At the accession of Manasseh, Isaiah would be eighty-four; and if he prophesied for eight years afterwards, he must have endured martyrdom at ninety-two; so Hosea prophesied for sixty years. And Eastern tradition reports that he lived to one hundred and twenty. The conclusive argument against the tradition is that, according to the inscription, all Isaiah's prophecies are included in the time from Uzziah to Hezekiah; and the internal evidence accords with this.

His WIFE is called the prophetess [Isa 8:3], that is, endowed, as Miriam, with a prophetic gift.

His CHILDREN were considered by him as not belonging merely to himself; in their names, Shearjashub, "the remnant shall return" [Isa 7:3, Margin], and Maher-shalal-hash-baz, "speeding to the spoil, he hasteth to the prey" [Isa 8:1, Margin], the two chief points of his prophecies are intimated to the people, the judgments of the Lord on the people and the world, and yet His mercy to the elect.

His GARMENT of sackcloth (Isa 20:2), too, was a silent preaching by fact; he appears as the embodiment of that repentance which he taught.

His HISTORICAL WORKS.--History, as written by the prophets, is retroverted prophecy. As the past and future alike proceed from the essence of God, an inspired insight into the past implies an insight into the future, and vice versa. Hence most of the Old Testament histories are written by prophets and are classed with their writings; the Chronicles being not so classed, cannot have been written by them, but are taken from historical monographs of theirs; for example, Isaiah's life of Uzziah, 2Ch 26:22; also of Hezekiah, 2Ch 32:32; of these latter all that was important for all ages has been preserved to us, while the rest, which was local and temporary, has been lost.

The INSCRIPTION (Isa 1:1) applies to the whole book and implies that Isaiah is the author of the second part (the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters), as well as of the first. Nor do the words, "concerning Judah and Jerusalem" [Isa 1:1], oppose the idea that the inscription applies to the whole; for whatever he says against other nations, he says on account of their relation to Judah. So the inscription of Amos, "concerning Israel" [Amo 1:1], though several prophecies follow against foreign nations. EWALD maintains that the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters, though spurious, were subjoined to the previous portion, in order to preserve the former. But it is untrue that the first portion is unconnected with those chapters. The former ends with the Babylonian exile (Isa 39:6), the latter begins with the coming redemption from it. The portion, the fortieth through forty-sixth chapters, has no heading of its own, a proof that it is closely connected with what precedes, and falls under the general heading in Isa 1:1. JOSEPHUS (The Antiquities of the Jews, 11. 1, sec. 1, 2) says that Cyrus was induced by the prophecies of Isaiah (Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1, Isa 45:13) to aid the Jews in returning and rebuilding the temple Ezr 1:1-11 confirms this; Cyrus in his edict there plainly refers to the prophecies in the second portion, which assign the kingdoms to him from Jehovah, and the duty of rebuilding the temple. Probably he took from them his historical name Cyrus (Coresh). Moreover, subsequent prophets imitate this second portion, which EWALD assigns to later times; for example, compare Jer. 50:1-51:64 with Isaiah's predictions against Babylon [Isa. 13:1-14:23]. "The Holy One of Israel," occurring but three times elsewhere in the Old Testament [2Ki 19:22; Psa 78:41; Psa 89:18; Jer 50:29; Jer 51:5], is a favorite expression in the second, as in the first portion of Isaiah: it expresses God's covenant faithfulness in fulfilling the promises therein: Jeremiah borrows the expression from him. Also Ecclesiasticus 48:22-25 ("comforted"), quotes Isa 40:1 as Isaiah's. Luk 4:17 quotes Isa 61:1-2 as Isaiah's, and as read as such by Jesus Christ in the synagogue.

The DEFINITENESS of the prophecies is striking: As in the second portion of isaiah, so in Mic 4:8-10, the Babylonian exile, and the deliverance from it, are foretold a hundred fifty years before any hostilities had arisen between Babylon and Judah. On the other hand, all the prophets who foretell the Assyrian invasion coincide in stating, that Judah should be delivered from it, not by Egyptian aid, but directly by the Lord. Again Jeremiah, in the height of the Chaldean prosperity, foretold its conquest by the Medes, who should enter Babylon through the dry bed of the Euphrates on a night of general revelry. No human calculation could have discovered these facts. EICHORN terms these prophecies "veiled historical descriptions," recognizing in spite of himself that they are more than general poetical fancies. The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah was certainly written ages before the Messiah, yet it minutely portrays His sufferings: these cannot be Jewish inventions, for the Jews looked for a reigning, not a suffering, Messiah.

Rationalists are so far right that THE PROPHECIES ARE ON A GENERAL BASIS whereby they are distinguished from soothsaying. They rest on the essential idea of God. The prophets, penetrated by this inner knowledge of His character, became conscious of the eternal laws by which the world is governed: that sin is man's ruin, and must be followed by judgment, but that God's covenant mercy to His elect is unchangeable. Without prophetism, the elect remnant would have decreased, and even God's judgments would have missed their end, by not being recognized as such: they would have been unmeaning, isolated facts. Babylon was in Isaiah's days under Assyria; it had tried a revolt unsuccessfully: but the elements of its subsequent success and greatness were then existing. The Holy Ghost enlightened his natural powers to discern this its rise; and his spiritual faculties, to foresee its fall, the sure consequence, in God's eternal law, of the pride which pagan success generates--and also Judah's restoration, as the covenant-people, with whom God, according to His essential character, would not be wroth for ever. True conversion is the prophet's grand remedy against all evils: in this alone consists his politics. Rebuke, threatening, and promise, regularly succeed one another. The idea at the basis of all is in Isa 26:7-9; Lev 10:3; Amo 3:2.

The USE OF THE PRESENT AND PRETERITE in prophecy is no proof that the author is later than Isaiah. For seers view the future as present, and indicate what is ideally past, not really past; seeing things in the light of God, who "calls the things that are not as though they were." Moreover, as in looking from a height on a landscape, hills seem close together which are really wide apart, so, in events foretold, the order, succession, and grouping are presented, but the intervals of time are overlooked. The time, however, is sometimes marked (Jer 25:12; Dan 9:26). Thus the deliverance from Babylon, and that effected by Messiah, are in rapid transition grouped together by THE LAW OF PROPHETIC SUGGESTION; yet no prophet so confounds the two as to make Messiah the leader of Israel from Babylon. To the prophet there was probably no double sense; but to his spiritual eye the two events, though distinct, lay so near, and were so analogous, that he could not separate them in description without unfaithfulness to the picture presented before him. The more remote and antitypical event, however, namely, Messiah's coming, is that to which he always hastens, and which he describes with far more minuteness than he does the nearer type; for example, Cyrus (compare Isa 45:1 with Isa 53:1-12). In some cases he takes his stand in the midst of events between, for example, the humiliation of Jesus Christ, which he views as past, and His glorification, as yet to come, using the future tense as to the latter (compare Isa 53:4-9 with Isa 53:10-12). Marks of the time of events are given sparingly in the prophets: yet, as to Messiah, definitely enough to create the general expectation of Him at the time that He was in fact born.

The CHALDÆISMS alleged against the genuineness of the second portion of Isaiah, are found more in the first and undoubted portion. They occur in all the Old Testament, especially in the poetical parts, which prefer unusual expressions, and are due to the fact that the patriarchs were surrounded by Chaldee-speaking people; and in Isaiah's time a few Chaldee words had crept in from abroad.

His SYMBOLS are few and simple, and his poetical images correct; in the prophets, during and after the exile, the reverse holds good; Haggai and Malachi are not exceptions; for, though void of bold images, their style, unlike Isaiah's, rises little above prose: a clear proof that our Isaiah was long before the exile.

Of VISIONS, strictly so called, he has but one, that in the sixth chapter; even it is more simple than those in later prophets. But he often gives SIGNS, that is, a present fact as pledge of the more distant future; God condescending to the feebleness of man (Isa 7:14; Isa 37:30; Isa 38:7).

The VARIETIES IN HIS STYLE do not prove spuriousness, but that he varied his style with his subject. The second portion is not so much addressed to his contemporaries, as to the future people of the Lord, the elect remnant, purified by the previous judgments. Hence its tenderness of style, and frequent repetitions (Isa 40:1): for comforting exhortation uses many words; so also the many epithets added to the name of God, intended as stays whereon faith may rest for comfort, so as not to despair. In both portions alike there are peculiarities characteristic of Isaiah; for example, "to be called" equivalent to to be: the repetition of the same words, instead of synonyms, in the parallel members of verses; the interspersing of his prophecies with hymns: "the remnant of olive trees," &c., for the remnant of people who have escaped God's judgments. Also compare Isa 65:25 with Isa 11:6.

The CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT favors the opinion that Isaiah himself collected his prophecies into the volume; not Hezekiah's men, as the Talmud guesses from Pro 25:1. All the portions, the dates of which can be ascertained, stand in the right place, except a few instances, where prophecies of similar contents are placed together: with the termination of the Assyrian invasion (the thirty-sixth through thirty-ninth chapters) terminated the public life of Isaiah. The second part is his prophetic legacy to the small band of the faithful, analogous to the last speeches of Moses and of Jesus Christ to His chosen disciples.

The EXPECTATION OF MESSIAH is so strong in Isaiah, that JEROME To Paulinus calls his book not a prophecy, but the gospel: "He is not so much a prophet as an evangelist." Messiah was already shadowed forth in Gen 49:10, as the Shiloh, or tranquillizer; also in Psalms 2, 45, 72, 110. Isaiah brings it out more definitely; and, whereas they dwelt on His kingly office, Isaiah develops most His priestly and prophetic office; the hundred tenth Psalm also had set forth His priesthood, but His kingly rather than, as Isaiah, His suffering, priesthood. The latter is especially dwelt on in the second part, addressed to the faithful elect; whereas the first part, addressed to the whole people, dwells on Messiah's glory, the antidote to the fears which then filled the people, and the assurance that the kingdom of God, then represented by Judah, would not be overwhelmed by the surrounding nations.

His STYLE (HENGSTENBERG, Christology of the Old Testament,) is simple and sublime; in imagery, intermediate between the poverty of Jeremiah and the exuberance of Ezekiel. He shows his command of it in varying it to suit his subject.

The FORM is mostly that of Hebrew poetical parallelism, with, however, a freedom unshackled by undue restrictions.

JUDAH, the less apostate people, rather than Israel, was the subject of his prophecies: his residence was mostly at Jerusalem. On his praises, see Ecclesiasticus 48:22-25. Christ and the apostles quote no prophet so frequently.

JFB: Isaiah (Outline)

• PARABLE OF JEHOVAH'S VINEYARD. (Isa. 5:1-30)
• SIX DISTINCT WOES AGAINST CRIMES. (Isa. 5:8-23) (Lev 25:13; Mic 2:2). The jubilee restoration of possessions was intended as a guard against avarice.
• VISION OF JEHOVAH IN HIS TEMPLE. (Isa 6:1-13)
• PREDICTION OF THE ILL SUCCESS OF THE SYRO-ISRAELITISH INVASION OF JUDAH--AHAZ'S ALLIANCE WITH ASSYRIA, AND ITS FATAL RESULTS TO JUDEA--YET THE CERTAINTY OF FINAL PRESERVATION AND OF THE COMING OF MESSIAH. (Isa. 7:1-9:7)
• FATAL CONSEQUENCES OF AHAZ' ASSYRIAN POLICY. (Isa 7:17-25)
• THE COMING DESOLATE STATE OF THE LAND OWING TO THE ASSYRIANS AND EGYPTIANS. (Isa 7:21-25)
• CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY IN THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. (Isa 9:1-7)
• PROPHECY AS TO THE TEN TRIBES. (Isa. 9:8-10:4) Heading of the prophecy; (Isa 9:8-12), the first strophe.
• THANKSGIVING HYMN OF THE RESTORED AND CONVERTED JEWS. (Isa 12:1-6)
• THE THIRTEENTH THROUGH TWENTY-THIRD CHAPTERS CONTAIN PROPHECIES AS TO FOREIGN NATIONS.--THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, AND TWENTY-SEVENTH CHAPTERS AS TO BABYLON AND ASSYRIA. (Isa. 13:1-22)
• CONFIRMATION OF THIS BY THE HEREFORETOLD DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIANS UNDER SENNACHERIB. (Isa 14:24-27)
• A CHORUS OF JEWS EXPRESS THEIR JOYFUL SURPRISE AT BABYLON'S DOWNFALL. (Isa 14:4-8)
• THE SCENE CHANGES FROM EARTH TO HELL. (Isa 14:9-11)
• THE JEWS ADDRESS HIM AGAIN AS A FALLEN ONCE-BRIGHT STAR. (Isa 14:12-15)
• THE PASSERS-BY CONTEMPLATE WITH ASTONISHMENT THE BODY OF THE KING OF BABYLON CAST OUT, INSTEAD OF LYING IN A SPLENDID MAUSOLEUM, AND CAN HARDLY BELIEVE THEIR SENSES THAT IT IS HE. (Isa 14:16-20)
• GOD'S DETERMINATION TO DESTROY BABYLON. (Isa 14:21-23)
• A FRAGMENT AS TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIANS UNDER SENNACHERIB. (Isa 14:24-27) In this verse the Lord's thought (purpose) stands in antithesis to the Assyrians' thoughts (Isa 10:7). (See Isa 46:10-11; 1Sa 15:29; Mal 3:6).
• PROPHECY AGAINST PHILISTIA. (Isa 14:28-32)
• THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CHAPTERS FORM ONE PROPHECY ON MOAB. (Isa 15:1-9)
• CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY AS TO MOAB. (Isa 16:1-14)
• CONTINUATION OF THE SUBJECT OF THE NINETEENTH CHAPTER, BUT AT A LATER DATE. CAPTIVITY OF EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA. (Isa 20:1-6)
• REPETITION OF THE ASSURANCE GIVEN IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CHAPTERS TO THE JEWS ABOUT TO BE CAPTIVES IN BABYLON, THAT THEIR ENEMY SHOULD BE DESTROYED AND THEY BE DELIVERED. (Isa 21:1-10)
• A PROPHECY TO THE IDUMEANS WHO TAUNTED THE AFFLICTED JEWS IN THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY. (Isa 21:11-12)
• PROPHECY THAT ARABIA WOULD BE OVERRUN BY A FOREIGN FOE WITHIN A YEAR. (Isa 21:13-17)
• PROPHECY AS TO AN ATTACK ON JERUSALEM. (Isa 22:1-14)
• PROPHECY THAT SHEBNA SHOULD BE DEPOSED FROM BEING PREFECT OF THE PALACE, AND ELIAKIM PROMOTED TO THE OFFICE. (Isa 22:15-25)
• PROPHECY RESPECTING TYRE. (Isa. 23:1-18)
• THE LAST TIMES OF THE WORLD IN GENERAL, AND OF JUDAH AND THE CHURCH IN PARTICULAR. (Isa. 24:1-23)
• CONTINUATION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH CHAPTER. THANKSGIVING FOR THE OVERTHROW OF THE APOSTATE FACTION, AND THE SETTING UP OF JEHOVAH'S THRONE ON ZION. (Isa 25:1-12)
• CONNECTED WITH THE TWENTY-FOURTH AND TWENTY-FIFTH CHAPTERS. SONG OF PRAISE OF ISRAEL AFTER BEING RESTORED TO THEIR OWN LAND. (Isa. 26:1-21)
• CONTINUATION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH, TWENTY-FIFTH, AND TWENTY-SIXTH CHAPTERS. (Isa 27:1-13)
• COMING INVASION OF JERUSALEM: ITS FAILURE: UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS. (Isa. 29:1-24)
• THE THIRTIETH THROUGH THIRTY-SECOND CHAPTERS REFER PROBABLY TO THE SUMMER OF 714 B.C., AS THE TWENTY-NINTH CHAPTER TO THE PASSOVER OF THAT YEAR. (Isa. 30:1-32)
• THE CHIEF STRENGTH OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMIES LAY IN THEIR CAVALRY. (Isa 31:1-9)
• MESSIAH'S KINGDOM; DESOLATIONS, TO BE SUCCEEDED BY LASTING PEACE, THE SPIRIT HAVING BEEN POURED OUT. (Isa. 32:1-20)
• JUDGMENT ON IDUMEA. (Isa. 34:1-17) All creation is summoned to hear God's judgments (Eze 6:3; Deu 32:1; Psa 50:4; Mic 6:1-2), for they set forth His glory, which is the end of creation (Rev 15:3; Rev 4:11).
• CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY IN THE THIRTY-FOURTH CHAPTER. (Isa 35:1-10)
• SENNACHERIB'S INVASION; BLASPHEMOUS SOLICITATIONS; HEZEKIAH IS TOLD OF THEM. (Isa. 36:1-22)
• CONTINUATION OF THE NARRATIVE IN THE THIRTY-SIXTH CHAPTER. (Isa. 37:1-38)
• HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS; PERHAPS CONNECTED WITH THE PLAGUE OR BLAST WHEREBY THE ASSYRIAN ARMY HAD BEEN DESTROYED. (Isa. 38:1-22)
• HEZEKIAH'S ERROR IN THE DISPLAY OF HIS RICHES TO THE BABYLONIAN AMBASSADOR. (Isa 39:1-8)
• SECOND PART OF THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH. (Isa. 40:1-31)
• ADDITIONAL REASONS WHY THE JEWS SHOULD PLACE CONFIDENCE IN GOD'S PROMISES OF DELIVERING THEM; HE WILL RAISE UP A PRINCE AS THEIR DELIVERER, WHEREAS THE IDOLS COULD NOT DELIVER THE HEATHEN NATIONS FROM THAT PRINCE. (Isa. 41:1-29) (Zec 2:13). God is about to argue the case; therefore let the nations listen in reverential silence. Compare Gen 28:16-17, as to the spirit in which we ought to behave before God.
• MESSIAH THE ANTITYPE OF CYRUS. (Isa. 42:1-25)
• CONTINUATION OF THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER. (Isa. 44:1-28)
• BABYLON'S IDOLS COULD NOT SAVE THEMSELVES, MUCH LESS HER. BUT GOD CAN AND WILL SAVE ISRAEL: CYRUS IS HIS INSTRUMENT. (Isa 46:1-13)
• THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON IS REPRESENTED UNDER THE IMAGE OF A ROYAL VIRGIN BROUGHT DOWN IN A MOMENT FROM HER MAGNIFICENT THRONE TO THE EXTREME OF DEGRADATION. (Isa. 47:1-15)
• THE THINGS THAT BEFALL BABYLON JEHOVAH PREDICTED LONG BEFORE, LEST ISRAEL SHOULD ATTRIBUTE THEM, IN ITS "OBSTINATE" PERVERSITY, TO STRANGE GODS. (Isa 48:1-5). (Isa. 48:1-22)
• SIMILAR TO CHAPTER 42. (Isa 49:1-9). (Isa. 49:1-26)
• THE JUDGMENTS ON ISRAEL WERE PROVOKED BY THEIR CRIMES, YET THEY ARE NOT FINALLY CAST OFF BY GOD. (Isa 50:1-11)
• ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE FAITHFUL REMNANT OF ISRAEL TO TRUST IN GOD FOR DELIVERANCE, BOTH FROM THEIR LONG BABYLONIAN EXILE, AND FROM THEIR PRESENT DISPERSION. (Isa. 51:1-23)
• FIRST THROUGH THIRTEEN VERSES CONNECTED WITH FIFTY-FIRST CHAPTER. (Isa. 52:1-15)
• MAN'S UNBELIEF: MESSIAH'S VICARIOUS SUFFERINGS, AND FINAL TRIUMPH FOR MAN. (Isa 53:1-12)
• THE FRUIT OF MESSIAH'S SUFFERINGS, AND OF ISRAEL'S FINAL PENITENCE AT HER PAST UNBELIEF (Isa 53:6): HER JOYFUL RESTORATION AND ENLARGEMENT BY JEHOVAH, WHOSE WRATH WAS MOMENTARY, BUT HIS KINDNESS EVERLASTING. (Isa. 54:1-17)
• THE CALL OF THE GENTILE WORLD TO FAITH THE RESULT OF GOD'S GRACE TO THE JEWS FIRST. (Isa 55:1-13)
• THE PREPARATION NEEDED ON THE PART OF THOSE WHO WISH TO BE ADMITTED TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (Isa 56:1-12)
• THE PEACEFUL DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS FEW: THE UNGODLINESS OF THE MANY: A BELIEVING REMNANT SHALL SURVIVE THE GENERAL JUDGMENTS OF THE NATION, AND BE RESTORED BY HIM WHO CREATES PEACE. (Isa. 57:1-21)
• REPROOF OF THE JEWS FOR THEIR DEPENDENCE ON MERE OUTWARD FORMS OF WORSHIP. (Isa 58:1-14)
• THE PEOPLE'S SIN THE CAUSE OF JUDGMENTS: THEY AT LAST OWN IT THEMSELVES: THE REDEEMER'S FUTURE INTERPOSITION IN THEIR EXTREMITY. (Isa. 59:1-21)
• ISRAEL'S GLORY AFTER HER AFFLICTION. (Isa. 60:1-22)
• MESSIAH'S OFFICES: RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. (Isa 61:1-11)
• INTERCESSORY PRAYERS FOR ZION'S RESTORATION, ACCOMPANYING GOD'S PROMISES OF IT, AS THE APPOINTED MEANS OF ACCOMPLISHING IT. (Isa 62:1-12)
• MESSIAH COMING AS THE AVENGER, IN ANSWER TO HIS PEOPLE'S PRAYERS. (Isa. 63:1-19)
• TRANSITION FROM COMPLAINT TO PRAYER. (Isa 64:1-12)
• GOD'S REPLY IN JUSTIFICATION OF HIS DEALINGS WITH ISRAEL. (Isa. 65:1-25)
• THE HUMBLE COMFORTED, THE UNGODLY CONDEMNED, AT THE LORD'S APPEARING: JERUSALEM MADE A JOY ON EARTH. (Isa. 66:1-24)

TSK: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

Isaiah has, with singular propriety, been denominated the Evangelical Prophet, on account of the number and variety of his prophecies concerning the advent and character, the ministry and preaching, the sufferings and death, and the extensive and permanent kingdom of the Messiah. So explicit and determinate are his predictions, as well as so numerous, that he seems to speak rather of things past than of events yet future; and he may be rather called an evangelist than a prophet. Though later critics, especially those on the continent, have expended much labour and learning in order to rob the prophet of his title; yet no one, whose mind is unprejudiced, can be at a loss in applying select portions of these prophecies to the mission and character of Jesus Christ, and to the events in his history which they are cited to illustrate by the sacred writers of the New Testament. In fact, his prophecies concerning the Messiah seem almost to anticipate the Gospel history; so clearly do they predict his Divine character. (Compare Isa 7:14 with Mat 1:18-23, and Luk 1:27-35; see Isa 6:1-13; Isa 9:6; Isa 35:4; Isa 40:5, Isa 40:9, Isa 40:19; Isa 42:6-8; compare Isa 61:1, with Luk 4:18; see Isa 62:11; Isa 63:1-4); his miracles (Isa 35:5, Isa 35:6); his peculiar character and virtues (Isa 11:2, Isa 11:3; Isa 40:11; Isa 43:1-3); his rejection (Compare Isa 6:9-12 with Mar 13:14; see Isa 7:14, Isa 7:15; Isa 53:3); his sufferings for our sins (Isa 50:6; Isa 53:4-11); his death and burial (Isa 53:8, Isa 53:9); his victory over death (Isa 25:8; Isa 53:10, Isa 53:12); his final glory (Isa 49:7, Isa 49:22, 33; Isa 52:13-15; Isa 53:4, Isa 53:5); and the establishment, increase, and perfection of his kingdom (Isa 2:2-4; Isa 9:2, Isa 9:7; Isa 11:4-10; Isa 16:5; Isa 29:18-24; Isa 32:1; Isa 40:4, Isa 40:5; Isa 42:4; Isa 46:13; Isa 49:9-13; Isa 51:3-6; Isa 53:6-10; Isa 55:1-3; Isa 59:16-21; 60; Isa 61:1-5; Isa 65:25); each specifically pointed out, and pourtrayed with the most striking and discriminating characters. It is impossible, indeed, to reflect on these, and on the whole chain of his illustrious prophecies, and not be sensible that they furnish the most incontestable evidence in support of Christianity. The style of Isaiah has been universally admired as the most perfect model of elegance and sublimity; and as distinguished for all the magnificence, and for all the sweetness of the Hebrew language.

TSK: Isaiah 28 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Isa 28:1, The prophet threatens Ephraim for their pride and drunkenness; Isa 28:5, The residue shall be advanced in the kingdom of Christ; Isa 28:7, He rebukes their error; Isa 28:9, their untowardness to learn; Isa 28:14, and their security; Isa 28:16, Christ the sure foundation is promised; Isa 28:17, Their security shall be tried; Isa 28:23, They are incited to the consideration of God’s discreet providence.

Poole: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

THE ARGUMENT

THE teachers of the ancient church were of two sorts:

1. Ordinary, the priests and Levites.

2. Extraordinary, the prophets. These were immediately called by God, and inspired, as with other singular gifts and graces, so particularly with a supernatural knowledge of Divine mysteries, and of future things, and invested by God with an authority superior not only to the ordinary teachers of the church, but in some sort even to the civil powers of the nation. These holy prophets, whose writings are contained in the sacred Scripture, are sixteen. Of these Isaiah is first in place, and, as may seem probable, in time also. But undoubtedly he was contemporary with Hosea, whom others suppose to have been before him. Compare Isa 1:1 , with Hos 1:1 . The Jews tell us that he was of the blood royal of Judah, which is uncertain. But undoubtedly he was the prince of all the prophets, whether we consider the great extent and variety of his prophecies, the excellency and sublimity of those mysteries which were revealed to him and by him, the majesty and elegancy of his style, or the incomparable liveliness and power of his sermons. He doth so evidently and fully describe the person, and offices, and sufferings, and kingdom of Christ, that some of the ancients called him the fifth evangelist. And it is observed, that there are more testimonies and quotations in the New Testament taken out of Isaiah than out of all the other prophets.

Poole: Isaiah 28 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 28

The drunkenness of Ephraim bringeth destruction on them: a remnant shall be honourable, Isa 28:1-8 . Their unteachableness, Isa 28:9-13 . Their mock at God’ s threatenings, Isa 28:14,15 . Christ prophesied for a sure foundation to believers, Isa 28:16 , and destruction to the mockers, who are exhorted to amend, Isa 28:17-22 . God’ s providence, its work and seasons towards the church set out by a husbandman, Isa 28:23-29 .

MHCC: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

Isaiah prophesied in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He has been well called the evangelical prophet, on account of his numerous and full prophesies concerning the coming and character, the ministry and preaching, the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and the extent and continuance of his kingdom. Under the veil of the deliverance from Babylon, Isaiah points to a much greater deliverance, which was to be effected by the Messiah; and seldom does he mention the one, without alluding at the same time to the other; nay, he is often so much enraptured with the prospect of the more distant deliverance, as to lose sight of that which was nearer, and to dwell on the Messiah's person, office, character, and kingdom.

MHCC: Isaiah 28 (Chapter Introduction)

(Isa 28:1-4) The desolations of Samaria.

(Isa 28:5-15) The prosperity of Judah; with reproofs for sinfulness and unbelief.

(Isa 28:16-22) Christ is pointed out as the sure Foundation for all believers.

(Isa 28:23-29) God's dealings with his people.

Matthew Henry: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of The Book of the Prophet Isaiah

Prophet is a title that sounds very great to those that understand it, though, in the eye of the world, many of those that were dignified with it appeared very mean. A prophet is one that has a great intimacy with Heaven and a great interest there, and consequently a commanding authority upon earth. Prophecy is put for all divine revelation (2Pe 1:20, 2Pe 1:21), because that was most commonly by dreams, voices, or visions, communicated to prophets first, and by them to the children of men, Num 12:6. Once indeed God himself spoke to all the thousands of Israel from the top of Mount Sinai; but the effect was so intolerably dreadful that they entreated God would for the future speak to them as he had done before, by men like themselves, whose terror should not make them afraid, nor their hands be heavy upon them, Job 33:7. God approved the motion ( they have well said, says he, Deu 5:27, Deu 5:28), and the matter was then settled by consent of parties, that we must never expect to hear from God any more in that way, but by prophets, who received their instructions immediately from God, with a charge to deliver them to his church. Before the sacred canon of the Old Testament began to be written there were prophets, who were instead of Bibles to the church. Our Saviour seems to reckon Abel among the prophets, Mat 23:31, Mat 23:35. Enoch was a prophet; and by him that was first in prediction which is to be last in execution - the judgment of the great day. Jud 1:14, Behold, the Lord comes with his holy myriads. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. God said of Abraham, He is a prophet, Gen 20:7. Jacob foretold things to come, Gen 49:1. Nay, all the patriarchs are called prophets. Psa 105:15, Do my prophets no harm. Moses was, beyond all comparison, the most illustrious of all the Old Testament prophets, for with him the Lord spoke face to face, Deu 34:10. He was the first writing prophet, and by his hand the first foundations of holy writ were laid. Even those that were called to be his assistants in the government had the spirit of prophecy, such a plentiful effusion was there of that spirit at that time, Num 11:25. But after the death of Moses, for some ages, the Spirit of the Lord appeared and acted in the church of Israel more as a martial spirit than as a spirit of prophecy, and inspired men more for acting than speaking. I mean in the time of the judges. We find the Spirit of the Lord coming upon Othniel, Gideon, Samson, and others, for the service of their country, with their swords, not with their pens. Messages were then sent from heaven by angels, as to Gideon and Manoah, and to the people, Jdg 2:1. In all the book of judges there is never once mention of a prophet, only Deborah is called a prophetess. Then the word of the Lord was precious; there was no open vision, 1Sa 3:1. They had the law of Moses, recently written; let them study that. But in Samuel prophecy revived, and in him a famous epocha, or period of the church began, a time of great light in a constant uninterrupted succession of prophets, till some time after the captivity, when the canon of the Old Testament was completed in Malachi, and then prophecy ceased for nearly 400 years, till the coming of the great prophet and his forerunner. Some prophets were divinely inspired to write the histories of the church. But they did not put their names to their writings; they only referred for proof to the authentic records of those times, which were known to be drawn up by prophets, as Gad, Iddo, etc. David and others were prophets, to write sacred songs for the use of the church. After them we often read of prophets sent on particular errands, and raised up for special public services, among whom the most famous were Elijah and Elisha in the kingdom of Israel. But none of these put their prophecies in writing, nor have we any remains of them but some fragments in the histories of their times; there was nothing of their own writing (that I remember) but one epistle of Elijah's, 2Ch 21:12. But towards the latter end of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, it pleased God to direct his servants the prophets to write and publish some of their sermons, or abstracts of them. The dates of many of their prophecies are uncertain, but the earliest of them was in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and Jeroboam the second, his contemporary, king of Israel, about 200 years before the captivity, and not long after Joash had slain Zechariah the son of Jehoiada in the courts of the temple. If they begin to murder the prophets, yet they shall not murder their prophecies; these shall remain as witnesses against them. Hosea was the first of the writing prophets; and Joel, Amos, and Obadiah, published their prophecies about the same time. Isaiah began some time after, and not long; but his prophecy is placed first, because it is the largest of them all, and has most in it of him to whom all the prophets bore witness; and indeed so much of Christ that he is justly styled the Evangelical Prophet, and, by some of the ancients, a fifth Evangelist. We shall have the general title of this book (Isa 1:1) and therefore shall here only observe some things,

I. Concerning the prophet himself. He was (if we may believe the tradition of the Jews) of the royal family, his father being (they say) brother to king Uzziah. He was certainly much at court, especially in Hezekiah's time, as we find in his story, to which many think it is owing that his style is more curious and polite than that of some other of the prophets, and, in some places, exceedingly lofty and soaring. The Spirit of God sometimes served his own purpose by the particular genius of the prophet; for prophets were not speaking trumpets, through which the Spirit spoke, but speaking men, by whom the Spirit spoke, making use of their natural powers, in respect both of light and flame, and advancing them above themselves.

II. Concerning the prophecy. It is transcendently excellent and useful; it was so to the church of God then, serving for conviction of sin, direction in duty, and consolation in trouble. Two great distresses of the church are here referred to, and comfort prescribed in reference to them, that by Sennacherib's invasion, which happened in his own time, and that of the captivity in Babylon, which happened long after; and in the supports and encouragements laid up for each of these times of need we find abundance of the grace of the gospel. There are not so many quotations in the gospels out of any, perhaps not out of all, the prophecies of the Old Testament, as out of this; nor such express testimonies concerning Christ, witness that of his being born of a virgin (ch. 7) and that of his sufferings, Isa 53:1-12. The beginning of this book abounds most with reproofs for sin and threatenings of judgment; the latter end of it is full of wood words and comfortable words. This method the Spirit of Christ took formerly in the prophets and does still, first to convince and then to comfort; and those that would be blessed with the comforts must submit to the convictions. Doubtless Isaiah preached many sermons, and delivered many messages to the people, which are not written in this book, as Christ did; and probably these sermons were delivered more largely and fully than they are here related, but so much is left on record as Infinite Wisdom thought fit to convey to us on whom the ends of the world have come; and these prophecies, as well as the histories of Christ, are written that we might believe on the name of the Son of God, and that, believing, we might have life through his name; for to us is the gospel here preached as well as unto those that lived then, and more clearly. O that it may be mixed with faith!

Matthew Henry: Isaiah 28 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter, I. The Ephraimites are reproved and threatened for their pride and drunkenness, their security and sensuality (Isa 28:1-8). But, in the midst of this, here is a gracious promise of God's favour to the remnant of his people (Isa 28:5, Isa 28:6). II. They are likewise reproved and threatened for their dulness and stupidity, and unaptness to profit by the instructions which the prophets gave them in God's name (Isa 28:9-13). III. The rulers of Jerusalem are reproved and threatened for their insolent contempt of God's judgments, and setting them at defiance; and, after a gracious promise of Christ and his grace, they are made to know that the vain hopes of escaping the judgments of God with which they flattered themselves would certainly deceive them (Isa 28:14-22). IV. All this is confirmed by a comparison borrowed from the method which the husbandman takes with his ground and grain, according to which they must expect God would proceed with his people, whom he had lately called his threshing and the corn of his floor (Isa 21:10) (Isa 28:23-29). This is written for our admonition, and is profitable for reproof and warning to us.

Constable: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title and writer

The title of this book of the Bible, as is true of the other prophetical books, comes from its writer. The book claims to have come from Isaiah (1:1; 2:1; 7:3; 13:1; 20:2; 37:2, 6, 21; 38:1, 4, 21; 39:3, 5, 8), and Jesus Christ and the apostles quoted him as being the writer at least 21 times, more often than they quoted all the other writing prophets combined.¹ The name of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, is the only one connected with the book in any of the Hebrew manuscripts or ancient versions. Josephus, the Jewish historian who wrote at the end of the first century A.D., believed that Isaiah wrote this book. He said that Cyrus read the prophecies that Isaiah had written about him and wished to fulfill them.²

There is no record of any serious scholar doubting the Isaianic authorship of the entire book before the twelfth century when Ibn Ezra, a Jewish commentator, did so. With the rise of rationalism, however, some German scholars took the lead in questioning it in the late eighteenth century. They claimed that the basis for their new view was the differences in style, content, and emphases in the various parts of the prophecy. Many scholars have noted that it is not really the text itself that argues for multiple authorship as much as the presence of predictive prophecy in chapters 40-66, which antisupernaturalistic critics try to explain away.³ At first, there seemed to these critics to have been two writers whose respective emphases on judgment in chapters 1-39 and consolation in chapters 40-66 pointed to two separate writers, Isaiah and "Deutero-Isaiah." With further study, a theory of three writers ("Trito-Isaiah") emerged because of the differences between chapters 40-55 and 56-66. These critics sensed addresses to three different historical settings in these three parts of the book: Isaiah's lifetime (ca. 739-701 B.C.; chs. 1-39), the Babylonian exile (ca. 605-539 B.C.; chs. 40-55), and the return (ca. 539-400 B.C.; chs. 56-66).⁴

"Along with what is known as the JEDP theory of the origins of the Pentateuch, the belief in the multiple authorship of the book of Isaiah is one of the most generally accepted dogmas of biblical higher criticism today."⁵

However, internal and external evidence points to the unity of authorship. The title for God, "holy one of Israel," which reflects the deep impression that Isaiah's vision in chapter 6 made on him, occurs 12 times in chapters 1-39 and 14 times in chapters 40-66 but only seven times elsewhere in the entire Old Testament. Other key phrases, passages, words, themes, and motifs likewise appear in both parts of the book. Jewish tradition uniformly attributed the entire book to Isaiah as did Christian tradition until the eighteenth century. The Isaiah Dead Sea Scroll, the oldest copy of Isaiah that we have, dating from the second century B.C., has chapter 40 beginning in the same column in which chapter 39 ends.⁶

Isaiah was arguably the greatest of four prophets who lived and wrote toward the end of the eighth century. Amos and Hosea ministered in the northern kingdom of Israel at this time, and Micah and Isaiah served in Judah.⁷ Isaiah's name, "The Lord (Yahweh) is salvation," meaning the Lord is the source of salvation, symbolized his message.

". . . in that one name is compressed the whole contents of the book!"⁸

Isaiah lived in Jerusalem, and that capital city features prominently in his prophecies. His easy access to the court and Judah's kings, revealed in his book, suggests that he ministered to the kings of Judah and may have had royal blood in his veins. Jewish tradition made him the cousin of King Uzziah. His communication gifts and his political connections, whatever those may have been, gave him an opportunity to reach the whole nation of Judah. The prophet was married and had at least two sons to whom he gave names that also summarized major themes of his prophecies (8:18): Shearjashub (a remnant shall return, 7:3), and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (hastening to the spoil, 8:3).

Isaiah received his call to prophetic ministry in the year that King Uzziah died (740 B.C.; ch. 6). He responded enthusiastically to this privilege even though he knew from the outset that his ministry would be fruitless and discouraging (6:9-13). His wife was a prophetess (8:3) probably in the sense that she was married to a prophet; we have no record that she prophesied herself. Isaiah also trained a group of disciples who gathered around him (8:16). His vision of God, which he received at the beginning of his ministry, profoundly influenced Isaiah's whole view of life as well as his prophecies, as is clear from what he wrote.⁹

The prophet had a very broad appreciation of the political situation in which he lived. He demonstrated awareness of all the nations around his homeland. Judah and Jerusalem were the focal points of his prophecies, but he saw God's will for them down the corridors of time as well as in his own day. He saw that the kingdom that God would establish through His Messiah would include all people. He was a true patriot who denounced evils in his land as well as giving credit where that was due. He condemned religious cults yet remained neutral politically. His understanding of theology was profound. He set forth the wonder and grandeur of Yahweh more ably than any other biblical writer. As a writer, Isaiah is without a peer among the Old Testament prophets. He was a poetic artist who employed a large vocabulary and many literary devices to express his thoughts beautifully and powerfully. Most of his prophecies appear to have been messages that he delivered, which means that he was probably also a powerful orator.

There is no historical record of Isaiah's death. Jewish tradition held that he suffered martyrdom under King Manasseh (697-642 B.C.) because of his prophesying. The early church father Justin Martyr (ca. A.D. 150) wrote that the Jews sawed him to death with a wooden saw (cf. Heb. 11:37).¹⁰ Another ancient source says he took refuge in a hollow tree, but his persecutors discovered and extracted him. This may account for the unusual method of his execution.

Historical Background and Date

Isaiah ministered during the reigns of four Judean kings (1:1): Uzziah (792-740 B.C.), Jotham (750-732 B.C.), Ahaz (735-715 B.C.), and Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.).¹¹ The prophet began his ministry in the year that King Uzziah (or Azariah) died, namely, 740 or 739 B.C. (6:1).

During Uzziah's reign Judah enjoyed peace because of her surrounding nations' lack of antagonism and hostility. However, in 745 B.C. Tiglath-pileser III mounted the throne of Assyria and began to expand his empire. His three successors (Shalmaneser V, Sargon II, and Sennacherib) proved equally ambitious. Aram (Syria) and Israel (Ephraim) felt the pressure of Assyrian expansion before Judah did, but in King Ahaz's reign Judah had to make a crucial decision regarding her relationship to Assyria. Isaiah played a major role in that decision.

A second major crisis arose during the reign of King Hezekiah. By this time Babylon had defeated Assyria, and it was also expanding aggressively in Judah's direction. Again Isaiah played a major part in the decision about how Judah would respond to this threat.

". . . Isaiah exercised his prophetic ministry at a time of unique significance, a time in which it was of utmost importance to realize that salvation could not be obtained by reliance upon man but only from God Himself. For Israel it was the central or pivotal point of history between Moses and Christ. The old world was passing and an entirely new order of things was beginning to make its appearance. Where would Israel stand in that new world? Would she be the true theocracy, the light to lighten the Gentiles, or would she fall into the shadow by turning for help to the nations which were about her?"¹²

Sennacherib outlived Hezekiah, who died in 686 B.C., and Isaiah recorded the death of Sennacherib in 681 B.C. (37:38). Just how long the prophet ministered after that event is impossible to determine, but he must have prophesied for at least 60 years. However the bulk of the material in his book derives from the first 50 of those years (ca. 740-690 B.C.).

Important dates for Isaiah
Years	Events
745	Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria begins his reign
740	Uzziah of Judah dies; Isaiah begins his ministry
735	Ahaz of Judah begins his co-regency with Jotham; Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Aramea ally against Assyria
733-32	Tiglath-pileser invades Aramea and Israel
732	Damascus falls; Pekah and Rezin die; Jotham dies
727	Tiglath-pileser dies
722	Samaria falls; Shalmaneser V of Assyria dies and Sargon II begins to reign
715	Ahaz dies and Hezekiah begins his reign
711	Sargon attacks Ashdod and returns to Assyria
710	Sargon attacks Babylon
705	Sargon dies
701	Sennacherib of Assyria defeats Egypt at Eltekah and departs from Jerusalem; Merodach-baladan of Babylon sends messengers to visit Hezekiah
697	Manasseh of Judah begins his co-regency
690	Tirhakah of Egypt begins his reign
689	Sennacherib of Assyria defeats Babylon
686	Hezekiah dies
681	Sennacherib of Assyria dies and Esarhaddon begins to reign
671	Esarhaddon imports foreigners into Israel and defeats Egypt
612	Nineveh falls to Babylon
609	Nabopolassar of Babylon defeats Assyria and Assyria falls
605	Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats Egypt at Carchemish; first deportation of Judahites to Babylon
597	Second deportation of Judahites to Babylon
586	Jerusalem falls to Nebuchadnezzar
559	Cyrus II of Persia begins to reign
539	Cyrus overthrows Babylon
538	Cyrus issues his decree allowing Jews to return to Palestine
530	Cyrus dies
518	Darius Hystaspes of Persia destroys Babylon

Audience and purpose

Isaiah ministered and wrote to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. His task was to explain to these chosen people that the old world order was passing away and that the new order, controlled by Gentile world empires that sought to swallow Judah up, required a new commitment to trust and obey Yahweh as His servant. The Assyrian threat called for this new dedication. This was a theological even more than a historical and political crisis for Judah. It raised many questions that Isaiah addressed.

"Is God truly the Sovereign of history if the godless nations are stronger than God's nation? Does might make right? What is the role of God's people in the world? Does divine judgment mean divine rejection? What is the nature of trust? What is the future of the Davidic monarchy? Are not the idols stronger than God and therefore superior to him?"¹³

The far-reaching nature of these questions called for reference to the future, which Isaiah revealed from the Lord. The Northern Kingdom had made the wrong commitment, which Amos announced, but the Southern Kingdom still had an opportunity to trust Yahweh and live.

"Stated briefly, the purpose of Isaiah is to display God's glory and holiness through His judgment of sin and His deliverance and blessing of a righteous remnant."¹⁴

Theology

The Book of Isaiah, the third longest book in the Bible after Psalms and Jeremiah, deals with as broad a range of theology as any book in the Old Testament. In this respect it is similar to Romans. However, there are four primary doctrines, all arising out of the prophet's personal experience with God in his call (ch. 6), that receive the most emphasis. These are God, man and the world, sin, and redemption.

Isaiah presented God as great, transcendently separate, authoritative, omnipotent, majestic, holy, and morally and ethically perfect. In contrast, he described sarcastically the stupidity of idolatry. God creates history as well as the cosmos, and He has a special relationship with Israel among the nations. The adjective "holy" (Heb. qadosh) describes God 33 times in Isaiah and only 26 times in the rest of the Old Testament. It is the primary attribute of God that this prophet stressed.

Isaiah showed the tremendous value that God places on humanity and the world but also the folly of pride and unbelief. Assuming pretensions to significance leads to insignificance for the creation, but giving true significance to God results in glory for humanity and the world. As all the other eighth-century prophets, Isaiah condemned injustice.

Sin is rebellion for Isaiah that springs from pride. The book begins and ends on this note (1:2; 66:24). All the evil in the world results from man's refusal to accept Yahweh's lordship. The prophet repeatedly showed how foolish such rebellion is. It not only affects man himself but also his environment. God's response to sin is judgment if people continue to rebel against Him, but He responds with redemption if they abandon self-trust and depend on Him. Sin calls for repentance, and forgiveness for the penitent is available.

God's judgment, the outworking of the personal rage of offended deity, takes many forms: natural disaster, military defeat, and disease being a few, but they all come from God's hand ultimately. The means of salvation can only be through God's activity. Substitutionary atonement makes possible God's announcement of pardon and redemption. This redemption comes through the promised Messiah ultimately, the Lord's anointed king. The goal of redemption is not just deliverance from sin's guilt but the sharing of God's character and fellowship. Salvation could only come to God's people as they accepted the role of servant. Deliverance cannot come to man through his own effort, but he must look to God alone for it. His emphasis on salvation has earned Isaiah the title of evangelist of the Old Testament.

Isaiah is strongly eschatological. In many passages the prophet dealt with the future destiny of Israel and the Gentiles. He wrote more than any other prophet of the great kingdom into which the Israelites would enter under Messiah's rule.

"We stand precisely on 56:1, looking back to the work of the Servant (now fulfilled in the person, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus) and looking forward to the coming of the Anointed Conqueror."¹⁵

Isaiah's emphasis on the coming Messiah is second only to the Psalms in the Old Testament in terms of its fullness and variety. God revealed more about the coming Messiah to Isaiah than He did to any other Old Testament character. Messianic themes in Isaiah include the branch, the stone (refuge), light, child, king, and especially servant. In some of the passages in Isaiah, Israel is the servant of the Lord that is in view, in others the faithful remnant in Israel is the servant, and in still others a future individual, the Messiah, must be in view. As Matthew clarified, Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of what God intended the Israelites to be (Matt. 2:15; cf. Hos. 11:1-2).

"What is the overarching theme of OT theology? Perhaps it is the covenant. Here in Isaiah, God's special relationship with Israel is presupposed throughout. Perhaps it is the kingdom of God. The whole structure of the book brings out the implications of God's sovereign control of things in the interests of his kingdom. Perhaps it is promise and fulfillment. Here we see time and again the word of divine authority being fulfilled and further fulfillment thereby pledged. Perhaps it is simply God himself, Israel's Holy One. This book is one long exposition of the implications--for Israel and the world--of who and what he is. So this great prophecy--its whole structure unified by its teaching about the Holy One of Israel, who is true to his word, faithful to his covenant, and pursues the establishment of his kingdom--is a classic disclosure of the very heart of the OT faith."¹⁶

"The theological message of the book may be summarized as follows: The Lord will fulfill His ideal for Israel by purifying His people through judgment and then restoring them to a renewed covenantal relationship. He will establish Jerusalem (Zion) as the center of His worldwide kingdom and reconcile once hostile nations to Himself."¹⁷

Genre and interpretation

The book is a compilation of the visions that Isaiah received from the Lord. He presented this revelation as messages and compiled them into their present form. His disciples may have put finishing touches on the collection under divine inspiration. Most of the book is poetic in form, the prophet having been lifted up in his spirit as he beheld and recorded what God revealed to him. Much of the content is eschatological and therefore prophetic, though most of the ministry of the prophets, including Isaiah, was forth telling rather than foretelling. Much of what is eschatological is also apocalyptic, dealing with the final climax of history in the future. These portions bear the marks of that type of literature: symbols, analogies, and various figures of speech.¹⁸

Students of Isaiah have difficulty understanding the eschatological portions of the book. Some believe that we should look for a literal fulfillment of everything predicted. Others believe that when Isaiah spoke of Israel and Jerusalem he was referring to the church. More literal interpretation results in a premillennial understanding of prophecy whereas spiritualization results in an amillennial or postmillennial understanding. The problem with taking every prophecy literally is that in many places the prophet used metaphors and other figures of speech to describe his meaning; what he wrote does not describe exactly what he meant. The problem with spiritualizing all the prophecies is that the New Testament teaches that Israel will have a future in God's plans as Israel (Rom. 11:26-27). The church will not replace Israel though the church does participate in some of the blessing promised to Israel. The most satisfying position, for me, is to interpret Isaiah as literally as seems legitimate in view of other divine revelation while at the same time remembering that some of what appears to be literal description may in fact be metaphorical. This is the approach taken by most premillennialists.

"Surely God may be expected to have one basic meaning in what he says. This is true, but just as human speech, especially when it is poetical, may suggest further levels of significance beyond the meaning conveyed by the passage in its context, so may the Word of God."¹⁹

Structure

Occasional time references scattered throughout the book indicate that Isaiah arranged his prophecies in a basically chronological order (cf. 6:1; 7:1; 14:28; 20:1; 36:1; 37:38). However, they are not completely chronological. More fundamentally, Isaiah arranged his prophecies as an anthology in harmony with a unifying principle. That organizing principle seems to be that God's people should view all of life in the light of God's reality and should therefore orient themselves to Him appropriately, namely, as His servants.

Isaiah built a huge mosaic out of his prophecies and used pre-exilic material to serve pre-exilic, exilic, post-exilic, and eschatological ends. It is not unreasonable to assume that after Isaiah had completed what we now have in chapters 1-39 he received new revelations from God along a different line that led him to adopt the somewhat different style that is characteristic of the last part of the book. The first part deals primarily with the threat of Assyria and the second (chs. 40-66) with that of Babylonia, with chapters 36-39 forming a transition. Chapters 1-5 are an introduction to the whole collection of messages. Chapters 6 and 53 are the key chapters because they provide the most concise answers to the great questions raised in the book. The book contains many extended doublets: repetition of the same truth in the same consecutive steps.

Message²⁰

In contrast to the New Testament prophets, Isaiah had very little to say about an individual's relationship with God. His concern was more the relationship of God's people as a whole to the Lord, specifically the nation of Israel's relationship to God. This is true of most of the Old Testament writing prophets. Isaiah focused on Israel's past, her present, her near future, and her distant future. He also gave considerable attention to the fate of the Gentile nations.

In the first section of the book, Isaiah insists that judgment is necessary before there can be peace. He was not referring to judgment beyond this life, judgment when we die. He was dealing with judgment here and now, repentance and divine intervention. Peace on earth requires repentance and divine intervention.

In the last section of the book, Isaiah also stressed the importance of righteousness before there can be peace, righteousness here and now before there can be peace on earth in the future. Thus this emphasis on righteousness and peace acts as bookends and frames the content of Isaiah's prophecies.

The great value of Isaiah is its revelation of the throne of God. This book clarifies the principles by which God rules the universe. In chapter six, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne. This vision of God impacted the rest of Isaiah's ministry and the rest of his book. In chapter 53, the prophet revealed the Servant of the Lord in whom and through whom God reigns. Isaiah balanced the transcendence of God with the immanence of God. These great revelations of Isaiah come together in the Revelation of John, 5:6: "And I saw between the throne and the elders a Lamb standing." Revelation gives more revelation along the same lines that Isaiah gave earlier. God reigns through people, especially one crucial person. Isaiah had much to say about the coming Messiah throughout this book.

Isaiah lived the early part of his life under the reign of King Uzziah. Uzziah was a good king, and he provided stability for the kingdom of Judah. But when Uzziah died, everyone had questions about the direction Judah would go. It was in the year that King Uzziah died that Isaiah saw his vision of the throne in heaven (6:1). He realized in a deeper way than ever before that the true king of Judah was Yahweh and that Yahweh was still firmly on His throne.

There are two things that mark God's throne: government and grace. Isaiah's contemporaries needed a deeper appreciation of God's government and His grace, and so do all the readers of this book. The fact that Yahweh rules and that He rules graciously were truths that were very familiar to God's people in Isaiah's time. In fact, when Isaiah spoke of God's government and His grace the Israelites mocked him for presenting such a simple message. Their taste ran to the more esoteric, and Isaiah's repetition of basic truth bored them. God told his prophet to expect rejection, and that proved to be Israel's characteristic response to Isaiah's ministry.

We also need a reminder of the basic principles of God's government and His grace. It is not because they are unknown to us but because people do not heed these truths that they are so needful today.

Let's consider first what Isaiah revealed about the government of God.

There are three principles by which God governs. These are holiness, righteousness, and justice. Holiness is the inspiration, righteousness the activity, and justice the result of God's government.

The most outstanding characteristic of God that this book reveals is His holiness. The title "the Holy One of Israel" was Isaiah's hallmark. The angelic beings that Isaiah saw assembled around God's heavenly throne ascribed perfect holiness to Him: "Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of Hosts" (6:3). The holiness of God describes His "otherliness" from all His creation. God is different in His essence; He is spirit, whereas the creation is material. He is also different in His morality; He is absolutely upright, in contrast to the creation that has suffered from the Fall and its contacts with sin. When Isaiah saw the Lord, in chapter 6, what impressed him was his own uncleanness and the uncleanness of his people. All of God's government, how He governs, derives from His holiness. His holiness inspires all His government.

Because God is holy, He always does what is right. Conduct issues from and reflects character. Because God is holy in His character, He conducts Himself in righteousness. He always does what is right. There is a strong emphasis on righteousness in Isaiah, God's righteousness and the need for human righteousness. Isaiah's emphasis on righteousness is one of the reasons his book has been called the Romans of the Old Testament.

The result of righteous conduct is justice. God deals with His own people and all other people in justice. A holy God can do nothing else. He will do what is fair, what is straight, what is proper. We can see the justice of God in God's call to His people to reason with Him (1:18). Because God is just, sin inevitably brings punishment. Much of this prophecy is designed to help the people of God know how to avoid sin and its punishment and how to manage sin and its punishment. Justice in interpersonal and international affairs is an important motif in Isaiah.

Whereas the principles of God's government are holiness, righteousness, and justice, the methods by which He governs are revelation, explanation, and prediction.

According to Isaiah, the outstanding characteristic of God that distinguishes Him from all false gods (idols) is that He has revealed Himself; He has spoken. Isaiah referred to three primary revelations of God to humankind: general revelation, special revelation, and incarnate revelation. God has built a revelation of Himself into His creation so that everyone can see that a true God does exist (cf. Rom. 1). Second, He revealed His will as well as His existence. The revelation of His will came to the Israelites through what God taught them, the Torah (instruction). This revelation is what we have in Scripture, and it came to Israel for Israel to share with the world for the world's blessing, not to hoard to herself for her own blessing. Third, God revealed Himself through a person: the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, the Divine Warrior. The revelation of how God would deal with the sin problem came through this person. Isaiah reveals that God would deliver Israel from destruction, from captivity, and from sin. He would make her in the future the servant of His that He always intended her to be but which she failed to become because of her sin.

God went beyond just giving revelations, however. He also provided explanations. This was one of the major ministries of the prophets in general and of Isaiah in particular. God explained through Isaiah why the Israelites and their neighbor nations were experiencing what they were going through. He gave these explanations so they could learn from their past, walk in His ways in the present, and enjoy His blessings in the future. God explained that He not only had the ability to save Israel, but He also had the desire to do so.

Not only did God explain the past, He also predicted the future. He did this to prove that He is the only true God. In order to predict the future accurately, one must be able to control the future. Yahweh is the only true God. He is the only God who can create history in time as well as creating the material world in space. His ability to predict the future is the great testimony to His unique sovereignty. The outstanding predictions in this book concern those whom God would anoint for special ministries in the future. These individuals were Cyrus, who would be Israel's redeemer from Babylon's captivity, and the Servant, who would be Israel's redeemer from sin's captivity. The exodus motif is strong throughout Isaiah looking back to the Exodus from Egypt and forward to future exoduses.

The characteristics of God's government as revealed in Isaiah are also three: patience, persistence, and power.

God deals with people patiently. He allows them the opportunity to repent and to return to Himself. There is much emphasis in this book on the importance of returning to God. God had been very patient with Judah, but the day of His patience would end, so she needed to repent while there was still opportunity. The day of salvation would not last forever.

Second, God deals with people persistently. He does not disregard people's sin after a time, but He always deals with it righteously. Likewise He persists in blessing those who faithfully follow Him even though they live among a nation of apostates. God has a plan for Israel as a nation, and He also had a plan for the faithful among the apostates in the nation. His faithfulness to His promises is the mainspring that keeps the hands of His providence moving persistently.

Third, God ever demonstrates His supernatural power. What is natural does not bind Him. He can and does intervene to provide power that overcomes His sinful people and holds them in captivity. The expectation of more exoduses is strong throughout this book. Isaiah's audience looked forward to captivity in Babylon, but beyond that there was the promise of liberation, and beyond that there was the promise of liberation from sin. Fire is a fitting symbol of all these characteristics of God's government. It consumes patiently, it persists until it has run its full course, and it has great power. Isaiah pictured Yahweh as a consuming fire in relation to His people as well as in relation to unbelieving nations.

Parallel to these emphases on the government of God is an equally strong emphasis on the grace of God in Isaiah.

Along with the holiness, righteousness, and justice of God, we have an equally strong emphasis on the love, mercy, and goodness of God. Isaiah wrote that God's children had rebelled against Him. His wife had been unfaithful to Him. Those He had chosen to bless uniquely among all the nations of the earth had grieved His Holy Spirit. The breaking heart of God is as clear a revelation in Isaiah as are the broken commandments of God.

Similarly, God's revelations, His explanations, and His predictions arise out of His mercy. God has revealed Himself in nature so everyone can enter into relationship with a gracious God. He has explained Himself so His people can understand His dealings with them as being gracious. He has predicted the future so everyone will appreciate that His plans for humanity are gracious plans involving redemption from captivity and sin.

God's grace is the reason He is patient with people. His grace is the inspiration for His persistence with people. And His grace is the passion of His power on behalf of people. In short, all the outstanding characteristics of God in Isaiah trace back to His goodness. The Servant Songs, particularly the third one (52:13-53:12), overflow with the grace of God for His helpless and hopeless people. He is the key to their justification, sanctification, and glorification. Note again the similarity with Romans.

The living message of this book is that acknowledgment of God's sovereign rule is the key to successful human life on every level: individually, nationally, and historically. The only hope for human failure caused by enslavement to sin is divine redemption that a God of grace provides. God is not only able but also willing to save.

To enjoy the benefits of God's grace, people must submit to His government. To submit to His government, they must receive the benefits of His grace. Israel failed to enjoy the benefits of God's grace because she failed to submit to His rule. She failed to submit to His rule because she failed to trust His grace. God brings us into right relationship with His government through His grace. In order to enjoy the benefits of His grace, we must submit to His government. Both government and grace find their source in Yahweh and their expression in Jesus Christ.

Constable: Isaiah (Outline)

Outline

I. Introduction chs. 1-5

A. Israel's condition and God's solution ch. 1

1. The title of the book 1:1

2. Israel's condition 1:2-9

3. God's solution 1:10-20

4. Israel's response 1:21-31

B. The problem with Israel chs. 2-4

1. God's desire for Israel 2:1-4

2. God's discipline of Israel 2:5-4:1

3. God's determination for Israel 4:2-6

C. The analogy of wild grapes ch. 5

1. The song of the vineyard 5:1-7

2. The wildness of the grapes 5:8-25

3. The coming destruction 5:26-30

II. Isaiah's vision of God ch. 6

A. The prophet's vision 6:1-8

B. The prophet's commission 6:9-13

III. Israel's crisis of faith chs. 7-39

A. The choice between trusting God or Assyria chs. 7-12

1. Signs of God's presence 7:1-9:7

2. Measurement by God's standards 9:8-10:4

3. Hope of God's deliverance 10:5-11:16

4. Trust in God's favor ch. 12

B. God's sovereignty over the nations chs. 13-35

1. Divine judgments on the nations chs. 13-23

2. Divine victory over the nations chs. 24-27

3. The folly of trusting the nations chs. 28-33

4. The consequences of Israel's trust chs. 34-35

C. Tests of Israel's trust chs. 36-39

1. The Assyrian threat chs. 36-37

2. The Babylonian threat chs. 38-39

IV. Israel's calling in the world chs. 40-55

A. God's grace to Israel chs. 40-48

1. The Lord of the servant ch. 40

2. The servant of the Lord chs. 41:1-44:22

3. The Lord's redemption of His servant chs. 44:23-47:15

4. The servant's attention to her Lord ch. 48

B. God's atonement for Israel chs. 49-55

1. Anticipation of salvation 49:1-52:12

2. Announcement of salvation 52:13-53:12

3. Invitation to salvation chs. 54-55

V. Israel's future transformation chs. 56-66

A. Recognition of human inability chs. 56-59

1. The need for humility and holiness chs. 56-57

2. The relationship of righteousness and ritual chs. 58-59

B. Revelation of future glory chs. 60-62

1. Israel among the nations ch. 60

2. Israel under the Lord chs. 61-62

C. Recognition of divine ability chs. 63-66

1. God's faithfulness in spite of Israel's unfaithfulness 63:1-65:16

2. The culmination of Israel's future 65:17-66:24

Constable: Isaiah

Isaiah

Bibliography

Alexander, Joseph Addison. Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah. 1846, 1847. Revised ed. 2 vols. in 1. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971.

Allen, Kenneth W. "The Rebuilding and Destruction of Babylon." Bibliotheca Sacra 133:529 (January 1976):19-27.

Allis, Oswald T. The Unity of Isaiah: A Study in Prophecy. Reprint ed. Nutley, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1974.

Archer, Gleason L., Jr. "Isaiah." In The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, pp. 605-54. Edited by Charles F. Pfeiffer and Everett F. Harrison. Chicago: Moody Press, 1962.

_____. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction. Chicago: Moody Press, 1964. Revised ed. 1974.

Baldwin, Joyce G. "Semah as a Technical Term in the Prophets." Vetus Testamentum 14 (1964):93-97.

Barbieri, Louis A., Jr. "The Future for Israel in God's Plan." In Essays in Honor of J. Dwight Pentecost, pp. 163-79. Edited by Stanley D. Toussaint and Charles H. Dyer. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986.

Batto, Bernard F. "The Covenant of Peace: A Neglected ancient Near Eastern Motif." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 49 (1987):187-211.

Beecher, Willis J. "The Prophecy of the Virgin Mother." In Classical Evangelical Essays in Old Testament Interpretation, pp. 179-85. Compiled and edited by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972.

_____. "The Servant." In Classical Evangelical Essays in Old Testament Interpretation, pp. 187-204. Compiled and edited by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972.

Bergey, Ronald. "The Rhetorical Role of Reiteration in the Suffering Servant Poem (Isa 52:13-53:12)." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:2 (June 1997):177-88.

Berghuis, Kent D. "A Biblical Perspective on Fasting." Bibliotheca Sacra 158:629 (January-March 2001):86-103.

Bright, John. A History of Israel. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1959.

Bullock, C. Hassell. "Entrée to the Pentateuch Through the Prophets: A Hermeneutics of History." In Interpreting the Word of God: Festschrift in honor of Steven Barabas, pp. 60-77. Edited by Samuel J. Schultz and Morris A. Inch. Chicago: Moody Press, 1976.

Camus, Albert. The Plague. Translated by Stuart Gilbert. New York: Random House, The Modern Library, 1948.

Carroll, Robert P. "Twilight of Prophecy or Dawn of Apocalyptic?" Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 14 (1979):3-35.

Chisholm, Robert B., Jr. "Divine Hardening in the Old Testament." Bibliotheca Sacra 153:612 (October-December 1996):410-34.

_____. "A Theology of Isaiah." In A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, pp. 305-40. Edited by Roy B. Zuck. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.

_____. "Structure, Style, and the Prophetic Message: An Analysis of Isaiah 5:8-30." Bibliotheca Sacra 143:569 (January-March 1986):46-60.

Christensen, Duane L. "A New Israel: The Righteous from among All Nations." In Israel's Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, pp. 251-59. Edited by Avraham Gileadi. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

Clines, David J. A. I, He, We and They: A Literary Approach to Isaiah 53. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplemantary Volume 1. Sheffield, Eng.: JSOT Press, 1976.

Crockett, William Day. A Harmony of the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1951.

Cundall, Arthur E. Proverbs-Isaiah 1-39. London: Scripture Union, 1968.

Day, John N. "God and Leviathan in Isaiah 27:1." Bibliotheca Sacra 155:620 (October-December 1998):423-36.

Delitzsch, Franz. Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah. 3rd ed. Translated by James Martin. 1877. Reprint ed. 2 vols. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d.

Duhm, Berhard. Das Buch Jesaja. Handkommentar zum Alten Testament series. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1892.

Dyer, Charles H. The Rise of Babylon: Sign of the End Times. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1991.

Dyer, Charles H., and Eugene H. Merrill. The Old Testament Explorer. Nashville: Word Publishing, 2001.

Everson, A. Joseph "The Days of Yahweh." Journal of Biblical Literature 93:3 (September 1974):329-37.

Feinberg, Charles Lee. "The Virgin Birth in the Old Testament and Isaiah 7:14." Bibliotheca Sacra 119:475 (July 1962):251-58.

Freeman, Hobart E. An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets. Chicago: Moody Press, 1968.

Fullerton, Kemper. "Isaiah's Earliest Prophecy against Ephraim." The American Journal of Semitic Languages 3:3 (1916):9-39.

Gileadi, Avraham. "The Davidic Covenant: A Theological Basis for Corporate Protection." In Israel's Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, pp. 157-63. Edited by Avraham Gileadi. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

Grogan, Geoffrey W. "Isaiah." In Isaiah-Ezekiel. Vol. 6 of The Expositor's Bible Commentary. 12 vols. Edited by Frank E. Gaebelein and Richard P. Polcyn. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986.

Guillaume, A. "Is 44:5 in the Light of the Elephantine Papyri." Expository Times 32 (1920-21):377-79.

Harrison, R. K. Introduction to the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1969.

Hays, J. Daniel. "The Cushites: A Black Nation in the Bible." Bibliotheca Sacra 153:612 (October-December 1996):396-409.

Heater, Homer, Jr. "Do the Prophets Teach that Babylonia Will Be Rebuilt in the Eschaton?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41:1 (March 1998):23-43.

Hiebert, D. Edmond. Working with God: Scriptural Studies in Intercession. New York: Carlton Press, 1987.

Holmyard, Harold R., III. "Does Isaiah 33:23 Address Israel or Israel's Enemy?" Bibliotheca Sacra 152:607 (July-September 1995):273-78.

Jennings, F. C. Studies in Isaiah. New York: Loizeaux Brothers, Bible Truth Depot, n.d.

Josephus, Flavius. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by William Whiston. Antiquities of the Jews. London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1866.

Kaiser, Otto. Isaiah 13-39. London: SCM, 1973.

Keown, Gerald. "A History of the Interpretation of Isaiah 14:12-15." Ph.D. dissertation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1979.

Kidner, F. Derek. "Isaiah." In The New Bible Commentary Revised, pp. 588-625. Edited by Donald Guthrie and J. Alec Motyer. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970.

Kitchen, Kenneth A. Ancient Orient and Old Testament. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1966.

Kline, Meredith G. "Death, Leviathan, and the Martyrs: Isaiah 24:1-27:1." In A Tribute to Gleason Archer, pp. 229-49. Edited by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Ronald F. Youngblood. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986.

Lang, G. H. Histories and Prophecies of Daniel. London: Oliphants, 1942.

Lichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature. 3 vols. Berkeley: University of California, 1975-80.

Lindsey, F. Duane. "The Call of the Servant in Isaiah 42:1-9." Bibliotheca Sacra 139:553 (January-March 1982):12-31.

_____. "The Career of the Servant in Isaiah 52:13-53:12." Bibliotheca Sacra 139:556 (October-December 1982):312-29, and 140:557 (January-March 1983):21-39.

_____. "The Commission of the Servant in Isaiah 49:1-13." Bibliotheca Sacra 139:554 (April-June 1982):129-45.

_____. "The Commitment of the Servant in Isaiah 50:4-11." Bibliotheca Sacra 139:555 (July-September 1982):216-27.

MacRae, Allan A. "The Servant of the Lord in Isaiah." Bibliotheca Sacra 121:483 (July 1964):218-27.

Martin, Alfred. Isaiah: "The Salvation of Jehovah." Moody Colportage Library series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1956.

Martin, John A. "Isaiah." In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, pp. 1029-1121. Edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1985.

McNicol, Allan J. "The Heavenly Sanctuary in Judaism: A Model for Tracing the Origin of an Apocalypse." Journal of Religious Studies 13:2 (1987):66-94.

Merrill, Eugene H. Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987.

_____. "Literary Genres in Isaiah 40-55." Bibliotheca Sacra 144:574 (April-June 1987):144-55.

_____. "Pilgrimage and Procession: Motifs of Israel's Return." In Israel's Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, pp. 261-72. Edited by Avraham Gileadi. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

_____. "Survey of a Century of Studies on Isaiah 40-55." Bibliotheca Sacra 144:573 (January-March 1987):24-43.

Morgan, G. Campbell. Living Messages of the Books of the Bible. 2 vols. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1912.

Motyer, J. Alec. The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Muilenberg, J. Isaiah 40-66. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1956.

The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed. S.v. "Archaeology," by D. J. Wiseman, pp. 60-76.

Newsome, James D., Jr. ed. A Synoptic Hrmony of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles with Related Passages from Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezra. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1986.

Niessen, Richard. "The Virginity of the almah in Isaiah 7:14." Bibliotheca Sacra 137:546 (April-June 1980):133-50.

Oswalt, John N. The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1-39. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986.

_____. The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998.

Pentecost, J. Dwight. Thy Kingdom Come. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1990.

Pritchard, James B., ed. The Ancient Near East in Pictures. 2nd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.

_____, ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts. 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.

Reichenback, Bruce R. "By His Stripes We Are Healed.'" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41:4 (December 1998):551-60.

Ringgren, Helmer. "Behold Your King Comes." Vetus Testamentum 24:2 (April 1974):207-11.

Robinson, George L. The Book of Isaiah. 1910. 2nd revised ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1954.

Rowley, H. H. "The Servant of the Lord in the Light of Three Decades of Criticism." In The Servant of the Lord and other Essays on the Old Testament, pp. 3-60. N.c.: Lutterworth Press, 1952. Second edition, revised. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1965.

Sailhamer, John H. "Evidence from Isaiah 2." In A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus, pp. 79-102. Edited by Donald K. Campbell and Jeffrey L. Townsend. Chicago: Moody Press, 1992.

Schoors, A. I Am God Your Savior: A Form-Critical Study of the Main Genres in Is. XL--LV. Vetus Testamentum Supplement 24. Leiden: Brill, 1973.

Smith, George Adam. The Book of Isaiah. 2 vols. The Expositor's Bible series. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1904.

Sprinkle, Joe M. "Old Testament Perspectives on Divorce and Remarriage." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:4 (December 1997):529-50.

Strickland, Wayne G. "Isaiah, Jonah, and Religious Pluralism." Bibliotheca Sacra 153:609 (January-March 1996):24-33.

Stuart, Douglas K. "The Prophetic Ideal of Government in the Restoration Era." In Israel's Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, pp. 283-92. Edited by Avraham Gileadi. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

Thiele, Edwin R. A Chronology of the Hebrew Kings. Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives series. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1977.

_____. The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1965.

von Rad, Gerhard. "The Origin of the Concept of the Day of Yahweh." Journal of Semitic Studies 4:2 (1959):97-108.

Walvoord, John F. Israel in Prophecy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House,1962.

Ward, James M. "The Servant's Knowledge in Isaiah 40-55." In Israelite Wisdom: Theological and Literary Essays in Honor of Samuel Terrien, pp. 121-36. Edited by John G. Gammie, et al. New York: Scholars Press, Union Theological Seminary, 1978.

Watts, John D. W. "Babylonian Idolatry in the Prophets As a False Socio-Economic System." In Israel's Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, pp. 115-22. Edited by Avraham Gileadi. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

_____. Isaiah 1-33. Word Biblical Commentary series. Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1985.

_____. Isaiah 34-66. Word Biblical Commentary series. Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1987.

Westermann, Claus. Isaiah 40-66. London: SCM, 1966.

Wolf, Herbert M. "The Relationship Between Isaiah's Final Servant Song (52:13-53:12) and Chapters 1-6." In A Tribute to Gleason Archer, pp. 251-59. Edited by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Ronald F. Youngblood. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986.

_____. "A Solution to the Immanuel Prophecy in Isaiah 7:14-8:22." Journal of Biblical Literature 91 (1972):449-456.

Wood, Leon J. The Prophets of Israel. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.

_____. A Survey of Israel's History. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970.

Xenophon. Cyropaedia. 2 vols. With an English translation by Walter Miller. The Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1960.

Yates, Gary. "The Use of Isaiah 61:1 (and 58:6) in Luke 4:18-19." Exegesis and Exposition 2:1 (Summer 1987):13-27.

Young, Edward J. The Book of Isaiah. 3 vols. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1965, 1969, 1972.

_____. My Servants the Prophets. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1952.

Youngblood, Ronald. "A Holistic Typology of Prophecy and Apocalyptic." In Israel's Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, pp. 213-21. Edited by Avraham Gileadi. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

@pict rend=gs.pixel ent=p23isa-2@

@pict rend=gs.pixel ent=p23isa-3@

@pict rend=gs.pixel ent=p23isa-4@

Haydock: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAS.

INTRODUCTION.

This inspired writer is called by the Holy Ghost, (Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 25.) the great prophet; from the greatness of his prophetic spirit, by which he hath foretold, so long before, and in so clear a manner, the coming of Christ, the mysteries of our redemption, the calling of the Gentiles, and the glorious establishment, and perpeutal flourishing of the Church of Christ: insomuch that he seems to have been rather an evangelist than a prophet. His very name is not without mystery: for Isaias in Hebrew signifies the salvation of the Lord, or, Jesus is the Lord. He was, according to the tradition of the Hebrews, of the blood royal of the kings of Juda; an after a most holy life, ended his days by a glorious martyrdom; being sawed in two, at the command of his wicked son-in-law, king Manasses, for reproving his evil ways. (Challoner) --- He began to prophesy ten years before the foundation of Rome, and the ruin of Ninive. His style is suitable to his high birth. He may be called the prophet of the mercies of the Lord. Under the figure of the return from captivity, he foretells the redemption of mankind (Calmet) with such perspicuity, that he might seem to be an evangelist. (St. Jerome)

Gill: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH

This book is called, in the New Testament, sometimes "the Book of the Words of the Prophet Esaias", Luk 3:4 sometimes only the "Prophet Esaias", Act 8:28 and sometimes, as here, the "Book of the Prophet Esaias", Luk 4:17. In the Syriac version the title is, "the Prophecy of Isaiah the Son of Amos": and in the Arabic version, "the Beginning of the Prophecy of Isaiah the Prophet". It stands first of all the prophets; though the order of the prophets, according to the Jews ^a, is, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the twelve. But it is here placed first, not because Isaiah prophesied before the other prophets; for Joel, Jonah, Hosea, and Amos, begun before him, namely, in or before the days of Jeroboam the Second; but because of the excellency of the matter contained in it. Isaiah is called by Ben Syra ^b the great prophet, and by Eusebius ^c the greatest of the prophets; and Jerom ^d a says, he should rather be called an evangelist than a prophet, since he seems rather to write a history of things past, than to prophesy of things to come; yea, he styles him an apostle, as well as an evangelist ^e: and certain it is that no one writes so fully and clearly of the person, offices, grace, and kingdom of Christ; of his incarnation and birth of a virgin; of his sufferings and death, and the glory that should follow, as he does. John, the forerunner of Christ, began his ministry with a passage out of him concerning himself, Mat 3:3. Our Lord preached his first sermon at Nazareth out of this book, Luk 4:17 and it was in this the eunuch was reading when Philip came up to him, who from the same Scripture preached to him Christ, Act 8:28. And there are more citations in the New Testament made out of this prophecy than any other book, excepting the book of Psalms, as Musculus observes. To which may be added, as another reason, the elegance and sublimity of his style in which he exceeds the greatest of orators, Demosthenes among the Greeks, and Tully among the Romans; and this is observed both by Jews and Christians. Abarbinel ^f says, that the purity, and elegance of his diction is like that of kings and counsellors, who speak more purely and elegantly than other men: hence their Rabbins, he says, compare Isaiah to a citizen, and Ezekiel to a countryman. And Jerom ^g observes, that Isaiah is so eloquent and polite, that there is nothing of rusticity in his language; and that his style is so florid, that a translation cannot preserve it. Moreover, another reason of this book being placed first may be the bulk of it; it being larger, and containing more chapters, than any of the greater prophets, and almost as many as all the lesser prophets put together. That Isaiah was the writer of this book is not to be questioned; many of the prophecies in it are by name ascribed to him, Mat 13:14 though some others might be the compilers of it, collect his prophecies, and digest them in order: so the Jews say ^h, that Hezekiah and his company wrote Isaiah, &c. At what time, and in whose days he prophesied, may be learnt from Isa 1:1 by which it appears that he prophesied long, and lived to a good old age. He began to prophesy about A. M. 3236, and about seven hundred and seventy years before Christ. Abulpharagius, an Arabic writer, says ⁱ, he lived an hundred and twenty years, eighty five of which he prophesied. It is a generally received tradition with the Jews, that he lived to the time of Manasseh, and that he was sawn asunder by him; and which has been embraced by the ancient Christian writers, and is thought to be referred to in Heb 11:37. See Gill on Heb 11:37. But Aben Ezra on Isa 1:1 observes, that had he lived to the time of Manasseh, it would have been written, and is of opinion that he died in Hezekiah's time. According to the Cippi Hebraici ^k, he was buried at Tekoah, over whose grave a beautiful monument was erected; though Epiphanius ^l, or the author of the Lives of the Prophets that go by his name, says he was buried under the oak of Rogel, near the fountain of Siloam; and it is a tradition with the Syriac writers, that his body lay hid in the waters of Siloah; See Gill on Joh 5:4 but these are things not to be depended on; and alike fabulous are all other writings ascribed to him, besides this prophecy; as what are called the ascension of Isaiah, the vision of Isaiah, and the conference of Isaiah. This book contains some things historical, but chiefly prophetic; of which some relate to the punishment of the Jews, and other nations; but for the most part are evangelical, and concern the kingdom and grace of Christ; of which some are delivered out more clearly and perspicuously, and others more obscurely, under the type of the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity.

Gill: Isaiah 28 (Chapter Introduction)

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, Isa 28:1 the means of their destruction, the Assyrian monarch, compared to a hail storm, and a flood of mighty waters, Isa 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, Isa 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, Isa 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, Isa 28:7 and became sottish and unteachable, and were like children just taken from the breast, and to be used as such, Isa 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, Isa 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, Isa 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, Isa 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, Isa 28:23.