28:1. “Woe to
the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a
fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are
overcome with wine!”
It is instructive to note
that pride heads the list of things which God hates, see Proverbs 6:16-17,
“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto
Him: a proud look ....” And the reason? Pride automatically credits the
individual, and thereby robs God of the glory that is rightly His.
Ephraim means double
ash-heap: I shall be doubly fruitful. The reference is generally
understood to be to Samaria, the capital city of Ephraim. The size of a
city’s ash-heap indicated the wealth of the city itself, and it was God’s
intention that Ephraim should have been rich spiritually as well as
temporally, but regrettably the people, to their undoing, had pursued
wealth, power, and pleasure, to the neglect of spiritual riches, and as
always, the pursuit of these things had brought spiritual penury.
Forgetting that it was God
Who had promoted and enriched them, Ephraim and Judah had presumed to
believe that their riches were the product of their own astuteness, with the
result that they were lifted up with pride, and neglected to give God the
glory; and surely honesty will compel us to admit that we ourselves have
often walked all to faithfully in their proud and fatuous footsteps.
Wine is described as that
“that maketh glad the heart of man,” Psalm 104:15, but like everything else
it is to be used in moderation, so that the description of the Ephraimites
as drunkards, declares them to have been inordinately fond of wine, and sets
them before us as types of pleasure-lovers in general. It is scarcely
necessary to comment that the description fits perfectly the men of this
present generation, for only the spiritually blind will deny that today’s
world is pleasure-crazed.
The reference to the
fading flower of her glorious beauty sounds the warning that her day of
glory was soon to end; and again there can be no question that the same
description fits this present evil world, for everything points to the
imminence of the Tribulation judgments that will leave the earth a desolate
ruin.
We are however, missing
the point of the lesson if we fail to apply it personally, for the corporate
body simply reflects the lives of the individuals who comprise it.
28:2. “Behold,
the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a
destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down
to the earth with the hand.”
The “mighty and strong
one” is generally understood to have been Shalmaneser of Assyria, whom God
was going to use as His agent in the devastation of Israel. As with many of
these OT types however, Assyria’s past destruction of Israel foreshadows the
desolation of His rebellious people, and of the world, that will ensue from
the activity of the Beast in the Great Tribulation.
28:3. “The
crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet.”
The majority of exegetes
understand the description to be of Samaria’s destruction at the hand of the
Assyrians.
28:4. “And the
glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading
flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh
upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.”
This continues the
metaphoric description of Assyria’s destruction of Israel, Taylor’s
translation being, “Once glorious, her fading beauty surrounded by a fertile
valley will suddenly be gone, greedily snatched away as an early fig is
hungrily snatched and gobbled up.”
The warning to Samaria of
impending destruction is applicable to all men, God’s admonition being,
“Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke: then
a great ransom cannot deliver thee,” Job 36:18.
Every minute over 700
people die, most of them plunging into hell, for it was the Lord Himself who
responded to the question “Are there few that be saved?” by declaring,
“Strive to enter in at the strait (narrow) gate: for many, I say unto you,
will seek to enter in, and shall not be able,” Luke 13:23-24, and again in
Matthew 7:14, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
28:5. “In that
day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of
beauty, unto the residue of his people,”
When the Great Tribulation
judgments will have brought a remnant of Israel to repentance, then Jehovah
Himself will be their crown of glory and diadem of beauty. On that day,
i.e., in the Millennium, they will be occupied not with their own beauty and
glory, but with His. Believers of this present dispensation are privileged
to see by faith the Christ Who hung on the cross crowned with thorns now
seated at the Father’s right hand crowned with glory and honor.
Concerning His glory
The Bible Knowledge Commentary states, “He, not a prosperous beautiful
city, should be honored.”
28:6. “And for
a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to
them that turn the battle to the gate.”
In the Millennium judges
will be endowed with wisdom so that fair decisions will be handed down at
every trial; and the guardians of the cities will be endued with power to
repel every attempted attack by the ungodly so that every enemy will be
turned back to his own city gate. Righteousness will reign world-wide
during that glorious era. That same aid is available to the elders of the
churches today, the measure of that power being governed only by the degree
of their obedience.
28:7. “But
they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the
way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are
swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err
in vision, they stumble in judgment.”
This was the condition of
many of the priests and prophets in the OT age, and is characteristic of all
too many of their present-day pleasure loving counterparts: the elders and
teachers of the assemblies, for it is to be remembered that wine here
symbolizes the love of pleasure, and the Lord’s condemnation of such men is
that they are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away,” 2 Timothy
3:4-5.
To “err in vision” seems
to relate to their failure to discern the deeper spiritual meaning lying
beneath the surface of the Bible’s literal language; and their stumbling in
judgment may be their failure to rightly divide the Word of truth and apply
it correctly. Christendom’s pulpits swarm with men whose interpretations of
Scripture would be ludicrous were it not that they are so erroneous and
deadly, leading multitudes of their duped congregations down the path to
hell.
28:8. “For all
tables are full of vomit, and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.”
The picture continues to
be not only of the past but also of the present, the tables here
representing today’s pulpits, the very “tables” from which people are to be
fed, i.e., taught truth; but instead they, the pulpits, are “full of vomit,”
food that has been ejected from the stomach, and which in the present
context represents the Word loathed and rejected while error is taught and
believed. One has only to listen to some of the nonsense preached to
realize the fitness of the metaphor used in the verse we are studying.
28:9. “Whom
shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?
Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.”
Taylor’s translation of
this verse reads, “Who does Isaiah think he is,” the people say, “to speak
to us like this? Are we little children, barely old enough to talk?” And
little has changed since the prophet’s day: the majority of congregations
will not tolerate sound preaching and teaching.
28:10. “For
precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line
upon line; here a little, and there a little:”
This is also rendered by
Taylor, “He tells us everything over and over again, a line at a time and in
such simple words!” The people’s mockery of the prophet, and their
rejection of his message, are emphatically announced here - and reflect the
attitude of the average congregation today towards the truth of Scripture.
28:11. “For
with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.”
The AAT translation of
this verse reads, “Yes, through barbaric lips, and an alien tongue, will He
speak to this people,” and Taylor’s translation is, “But they won’t listen;
the only language they can understand is punishment! So God will punish them
by sending against them foreigners, who speak strange gibberish! Only then
will they listen to Him.” The foreigners were the Assyrians.
The ultimate fulfillment
of this is that for over 2,000 years the hated Gentiles are the only people
from whom the Jews can hear the Biblical gospel, for they themselves have
blinded their eyes and stopped their ears against it.
28:12. “To
whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and
this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”
Had they been willing to
receive the Gospel, the Jews, instead of having to wander over the face of
the earth as fugitives for over two thousand years, could have been dwelling
in peace and blessing in their own land; but with the exception of a tiny
minority, they refuse to see that in the Lord Jesus Christ is fulfilled
every scriptural designation of their long promised Messiah. It will take
the terrible judgments of the Great Tribulation to open the blinded eyes of
a small minority of Jews, but that minority will be the nucleus of the
nation that will inherit Millennial blessing.
28:13. “But
the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon
precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little;
that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and
taken.”
The KJ translation here is
ambiguous and misleading. It does not mean that God wanted them to
“fall backward ... be broken ... snared and taken.” It was their rejection
of His straightforward simple invitation to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
and be blessed that precipitated all the calamities that have befallen them
during the past two thousand years. It grieves God that men, by refusing to
trust in Christ as Savior, make themselves heirs of eternal torment, see
Ezekiel 33:11, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the
death of the wicked: but that the wicked turn from his way and live ....”
28:14.
“Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people
which is in Jerusalem.”
Those scornful rulers are
prototypes of many who take the place of leaders amongst God’s people today:
men with theological degrees and impressive high-sounding titles, but who
don’t accept the Bible as a Divinely inspired book, nor believe in the
existence of hell and the lake of fire, and the imperative of trusting in
Christ as Savior to fit them for heaven and save them from the eternal
torment of that terrible lake.
28:15.
“Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are
we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have
we hid ourselves:”
This satire was the
prophet’s way of denouncing the folly of the people in having turned away
from Jehovah to put their trust in Egypt and their false gods. “... the
covenant with death” refers to the foolish belief of the people that their
covenant with Egypt, and their worship of false gods would preserve them
from death at the hand of the Assyrians.
Many see in this evil
covenant a foreshadowing of that which Israel will make with the Beast in
the Great Tribulation, see Daniel 9:27.
28:16.
“Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation
stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that
believeth shall not make haste.”
The stone here is the Lord
Jesus Christ, those who accept Him as Savior being assured that they will
never be ashamed of having trusted Him with the safe-keeping of their
souls. Christ crucified and risen again is the foundation upon which rests
God’s ability to pardon and bless every repentant sinner, the Father’s
assessment of the Son’s worth being declared in the word “precious.” We who
know Him as Savior hold Him in the same high esteem as does the Father, as
declared by Peter, “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious,” 1
Peter 2:7.
“... shall not make haste”
is also translated “shall not be ashamed, shaken, moved, need never run
away.”
28:17.
“Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and
hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the
hiding place.”
The line is connected with
horizontal measurements; and the plummet or plumb-line, with vertical, so
that the truth being stated is that God will take account of the people’s
dealings with others (horizontal measurement), and also of their conduct
towards Him (the vertical measurement). By death-dealing hail, and
overwhelming waters He destroyed all those whose works were evil. In the
coming day of judgment only those in Christ will survive unscathed; all
others will first suffer the torment of hell, and eternally that of the lake
of fire. Man’s only safe hiding place is in Christ, entered the moment we
confess ourselves sinners, and trust in Him as Savior.
28:18. “And
your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell
shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye
shall be trodden down by it.”
For Israel of that day the
threat was fulfilled by God’s delivering them into the hand of the
Assyrians; and in the impending Great Tribulation it will be fulfilled again
by His delivering them into the hand of the Beast.
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 vexation only to
understand the report.”
“... morning by morning
... by day and by night” is the assurance that the chastisement will be of
long duration; and Taylor translates the latter part of the verse “until at
last the unmixed horror of the truth of My warnings will finally dawn on
you.” The past fulfillment of this was experienced when Israel came under
the dominion of Assyria, but the misery of that enthrallment simply
foreshadows the even more terrible trial that she will suffer at the hand of
the Beast. Then the mere report of her suffering will strike terror into
the hearts of those not yet become his victims.
28:20. “For
the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the
covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.”
As a bed too short, and a
covering too narrow prevent sleep, and produce extreme discomfort, so was it
with the Israel addressed by the prophet: she learned by bitter experience
that her imprudence in having trusted in man rather than in God, had brought
no deliverance, but had simply multiplied her misery. And so is it with all
who duplicate her folly.
28:21. “For
the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the
valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to
pass his act, his strange act.”
In mount Perazim, and in
the valley of Gibeon (both near Jerusalem), God had fought for Israel in the
past, delivering her out of the enemy’s hand; but now, because of their
rebellion, He would do the exact opposite, and deliver them into the hand of
those who sought their destruction. He who exhausts God’s patience, and
makes the Almighty his enemy instead of his ally puts himself in a terrible
position from which there is no hope of deliverance.
The strange work and act
were God’s destruction of His own people! Well indeed has the author of
Hebrews written, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God,” Hebrews 10:31.
28:22. “Now
therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have
heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the
whole earth.”
He who has the temerity to
mock God is of all fools the greatest, for such audacity will result in the
tightening of the bands which already bind him to the fatal service of Satan
and of death.
Israel had been guilty of
this folly, with the result that God’s patience had come to an end, and He
was now determined to destroy “the whole earth,” i.e., the whole land of
Palestine, not the whole world; “destroy” being used here in the sense of
devastating rather than annihilating. No spiritual mind will have
difficulty seeing in this the foreshadowing of the terrible judgments of the
Great Tribulation that will leave this present world a devastated ruin.
28:23. “Give
ye ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech.”
This admonition to heed
the warning was because of the certainty of the coming of the foretold
judgments; and only fools will fail to see the same need to heed the
warnings given in relation to the now impending judgments of the Great
Tribulation, past judgments being but precursors of those now imminent.
The sense of urgency
pervading this warning is too obvious to miss, and we are missing the point
of the exhortation if we fail to understand that similar urgency ought to
impel our proclamation of the gospel.
28:24. “Doth
the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break the clods of his
ground?”
28:25. “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 rye in their place?”
The question is
hypothetical, for clearly the farmer ploughs for a purpose: to break up the
ground and thus make it ready to receive the seed he is about to sow, the
fruit of which he later expects to harvest.
The spiritual application
is to the judgments by which God sought to bring His rebellious people to
repentance and blessing, the same truth being applicable to His dealings
with sinners in every age. Sadly however, His chastisement all too often
simply hardens their hearts and increases their defiance, as for example in
Revelation 16:9-11, 21 relative to the judgments of the Great Tribulation,
“And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God,
which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory
.... and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of
heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their
deeds .... and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the
plague thereof was exceeding great.”
28:26. “For
his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.”
The farmer’s activity is
because in the beginning God taught man that this was what must be done so
as to have the earth produce the food he needs in order to live.
28:27. “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.”
28:28. “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
There are also various
methods of harvesting and preparing the different types of grain, it being
the responsibility of the farmer to use the grinding method best suited to
the nature of the grain, the lesson presented in all of this seeming to be
that God uses many and varied methods in accomplishing His purposes, and it
is man’s responsibility relative to all the different circumstances of his
life to be careful to discern God’s will for him as an individual who must
one day render account to God.
28:29. “This
also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and
excellent in working.”
The ASV translation of
this verse reads, “This also cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts, who is
wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.”
