Isaiah 28:1-29 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 28:1-29. Let’s go!
Isaiah chapters 28-33 represent a new section in the book of Isaiah. Scholars believe that this section relates to the time when Judah was considering forming an alliance with Egypt in order to help defend against the threat of Assyria. The ongoing message from Isaiah is that this alliance will only hurt Judah, not help them, and that Judah’s only true hope is trusting in the LORD.
Isaiah 28:1-8 (NIV)
1 Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley– to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!
2 See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground.
3 That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, will be trampled underfoot.
4 That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like a fig ripe before harvest– as soon as someone sees it and takes it in his hand, he swallows it.
5 In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people.
6 He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions.
8 All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.
On verses 1-8: In the first 6 verses Isaiah paints the picture of two wreaths. The first wreath is the political leaders of Israel, who like a “fading flower” (v1, 4), will be plucked and trampled on (v3). Their “glorious beauty” (v1, 4) will be taken away. The second wreath is the LORD Himself (v5). He is described as “a glorious crown” and “a spirit of justice” for the willing leader, “a source of strength” to Israel’s soldiers (v5-6).
In verses 7-8 Isaiah describes a situation where even the priests and the prophets of the land are so into their wine and beer that it has affected the way they see visions and make decisions.
What can we learn from this? Who is your source of strength? Either we can look to wine and other substances for strength, courage and comfort, or we can look to the LORD for strength, courage and comfort. One will confuse and hamper our decision making, the other will strengthen and clarify our decision making.
Isaiah 28:9-13 (NIV)
9 “Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?
10 For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there.”
11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people,
12 to whom he said, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”; and, “This is the place of repose”– but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the LORD to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there– so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.
On verses 9-13: Here Isaiah writes about how the drunken leaders of God’s chosen people mock Isaiah’s preaching, basically saying, “Does Isaiah think we’re mere children (v9)? Whenever he preaches it’s nothing special. It’s all just ‘do and do, rule on rule, a little here, a little there’ (v10).” Isaiah’s critics thought Isaiah’s teaching was not sophisticated enough for their intellectual ears (v9-10).
So Isaiah responds to his critics by saying, “Very well then. Since you refuse to listen to me, the lessons I’m trying to teach you will become useless to you because of your stubborn and prideful attitude (v13). Instead you will learn those same lessons the hard way through “foreign lips and strange tongues” (v11). In other words, all that I have been trying to teach you you will instead learn when a foreign people defeats you and takes you over. Then you will see the wisdom of the words I have been saying to you all along.”
What can we learn from this? When we have a prideful, unteachable attitude toward the teaching of God’s Word, we’re asking for defeat. The result is that we will “fall backward, be injured and snared and captured” by our own pride and by the lies that our prideful hearts choose to believe.
Isaiah 28:14-15 (NIV)
14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
On verses 14-15: Isaiah rebukes the leaders of Jerusalem. (At what point Isaiah turns his attention from Israel to Judah has been debated. Some scholars think Isaiah starts talking to Judah in verse 7, others in verse 9, and others still in verse 14. In any event, by verse 14 Isaiah is definitely speaking to Judah.) He calls the leaders of Jerusalem scoffers, people who reject the truth and mock it (v14). These leaders had been boasting about how their alliance with Egypt would protect them from any Assyrian threat. So in verse 15, Isaiah mimics them in a mocking, sarcastic way, calling their alliance with Egypt “a covenant with death” and saying that they have taken refuge in a lie.
Isaiah 28:16-20 (NIV)
16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.
17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through.” The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.
20 The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
On verses 16-20: In contrast to this untested alliance with Egypt, God says that He is laying before His people a stone that is tested, trustworthy and valuable. That stone is God Himself, as God in verse 17 goes on to say that He will make justice and righteousness the measuring stick (v17a). At the same time God, who is the measuring stick himself, will show how faulty is this lie that Judah has trusted in about how an alliance with Egypt can save them (v17b-19). The people of Judah will find that their alliance with Egypt was unhelpful, like a bed “too short to stretch out on”, or a “blanket too narrow to wrap around you.” (v20)
What can we learn from this? When it comes to the storm of God’s wrath, trusting in ourselves is a dead end, like a blanket too narrow to wrap around, like a bed too short to stretch on. It is only when we trust in the Lord that we will be truly safe.
In fact, the words “justice and righteousness”, which Isaiah so often associates with the Messiah, is also a hint that this stone which rules in “justice and righteousness” is a reference later to God’s promised Messiah. In the New Testament Peter would pick up on this, quoting Isaiah 28:16 when talking about Jesus in 1 Peter 4:4-6.
Isaiah 28:21-22 (NIV)
21 The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon– to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.
22 Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.
On verses 21-22: In verse 21 Isaiah promises that just as God gave David and his troops victory over the Philistines at Mount Perazim (2 Samuel 5:17-25), just as God rained down hail to defeat the Amorites at Gibeon (Joshua 10:11), so God will do a miraculous work and help the people of Judah against the threat of Assyria. So Isaiah tells the people of Judah to stop mocking him and God, lest their chains become even heavier (v22).
Isaiah 28:23-29 (NIV)
23 Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?
25 When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?
26 His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.
27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a stick.
28 Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it, his horses do not grind it.
29 All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.
On verses 23-29: Isaiah shares this parable about how God teaches farmers how to farm to communicate this simple but often disregarded point: wisdom comes from God so look to God for wisdom. Rather than following the corrupt example of the northern kingdom of Israel (v1-4), rather than following their drunk priests and prophets (v7-13), rather than relying on an alliance with Egypt (v14-22), they should look to God for wisdom. It’s as if Isaiah is questioning, “How is it that farmers look to God for wisdom on what to do, but the leaders of Judah do not?”
Father, thank You that the wisdom I need for today is in You. May I not put my trust in anything or anyone in place of trusting in You. May I have a humble and hungry attitude toward Your Word which gives me wisdom for every season. Jesus, thank You for being our precious cornerstone – tested, trustworthy and true. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
