{"id":25412,"date":"2023-03-03T22:00:48","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-27_2-13-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-02-21T00:06:07","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T07:06:07","slug":"isaiah-28_1-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-28_1-29\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Two Wreaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 28:1-29 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 28:1-29.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah chapters 28-33 represent a new section in the book of Isaiah.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The ongoing message from Isaiah is that this alliance will only hurt Judah, not help them, and that Judah\u2019s only true hope is trusting in the LORD.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 28:1-8 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Woe 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!
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0See, 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.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, will be trampled underfoot.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0That 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.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In that day the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He 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.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And 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.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0 In the first 6 verses Isaiah paints the picture of two wreaths.\u00a0 The first wreath is the political leaders of Israel, who like a \u201cfading flower\u201d (v1, 4), will be plucked and trampled on (v3).\u00a0 Their \u201cglorious beauty\u201d (v1, 4) will be taken away.\u00a0 The second wreath is the LORD Himself (v5).\u00a0 He is described as \u201ca glorious crown\u201d and \u201ca spirit of justice\u201d for the willing leader, \u201ca source of strength\u201d to Israel\u2019s soldiers (v5-6).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Who is your source of strength?\u00a0 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.\u00a0 One will confuse and hamper our decision making, the other will strengthen and clarify our decision making.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 28:9-13 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“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?
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there.”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people,
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0to whom he said, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest”; and, “This is the place of repose”– but they would not listen.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So then, the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0to 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 9-13:\u00a0 Here Isaiah writes about how the drunken leaders of God\u2019s chosen people mock Isaiah\u2019s preaching, basically saying, \u201cDoes Isaiah think we\u2019re mere children (v9)? Whenever he preaches it\u2019s nothing special.\u00a0 It\u2019s all just \u2018do and do, rule on rule, a little here, a little there\u2019 (v10).\u201d Isaiah\u2019s critics thought Isaiah\u2019s teaching was not sophisticated enough for their intellectual ears (v9-10).<\/p>\n

So Isaiah responds to his critics by saying, \u201cVery well then.\u00a0 Since you refuse to listen to me, the lessons I\u2019m trying to teach you will become useless to you because of your stubborn and prideful attitude (v13).\u00a0 Instead you will learn those same lessons the hard way through \u201cforeign lips and strange tongues\u201d (v11).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Then you will see the wisdom of the words I have been saying to you all along.\u201d<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When we have a prideful, unteachable attitude toward the teaching of God\u2019s Word, we\u2019re asking for defeat.\u00a0 The result is that we will \u201cfall backward, be injured and snared and captured\u201d by our own pride and by the lies that our prideful hearts choose to believe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 28:14-15 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore hear the word of the\u00a0LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You 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.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 14-15:\u00a0 Isaiah rebukes the leaders of Jerusalem.\u00a0 (At what point Isaiah turns his attention from Israel to Judah has been debated.\u00a0 Some scholars think Isaiah starts talking to Judah in verse 7, others in verse 9, and others still in verse 14.\u00a0 In any event, by verse 14 Isaiah is definitely speaking to Judah.)\u00a0 He calls the leaders of Jerusalem scoffers, people who reject the truth and mock it (v14).\u00a0 These leaders had been boasting about how their alliance with Egypt would protect them from any Assyrian threat.\u00a0 So in verse 15, Isaiah mimics them in a mocking, sarcastic way, calling their alliance with Egypt \u201ca covenant with death\u201d and saying that they have taken refuge in a lie.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 28:16-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So this is what the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: “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.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I 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.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Your 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.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As 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.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-20:\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That stone is God Himself, as God in verse 17 goes on to say that\u00a0He<\/em>\u00a0will make justice and righteousness the measuring stick (v17a).\u00a0 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).\u00a0 The people of Judah will find that their alliance with Egypt was unhelpful, like a bed \u201ctoo short to stretch out on\u201d, or a \u201cblanket too narrow to wrap around you.\u201d (v20)<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When it comes to the storm of God\u2019s wrath, trusting in ourselves is a dead end, like a blanket too narrow to wrap around, like a bed too short to stretch on.\u00a0 It is only when we trust in the Lord that we will be truly safe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact, the words \u201cjustice and righteousness\u201d, which Isaiah so often associates with the Messiah, is also a hint that this stone which rules in \u201cjustice and righteousness\u201d is a reference later to God\u2019s promised Messiah.\u00a0 In the New Testament Peter would pick up on this, quoting Isaiah 28:16 when talking about Jesus in 1 Peter 4:4-6.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 28:21-22 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will 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.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 21-22:\u00a0 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.\u00a0 So Isaiah tells the people of Judah to stop mocking him and God, lest their chains become even heavier (v22).<\/p>\n

Isaiah 28:23-29 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When 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?
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Caraway 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.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Grain 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.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All this also comes from the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 23-29:\u00a0 Isaiah shares this parable about how God teaches farmers how to farm to communicate this simple but often disregarded point:\u00a0wisdom comes from God so look to God for wisdom<\/strong>.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It\u2019s as if Isaiah is questioning, \u201cHow is it that farmers look to God for wisdom on what to do, but the leaders of Judah do not?\u201d<\/p>\n

Father, thank You that the wisdom I need for today is in You.\u00a0 May I not put my trust in anything or anyone in place of trusting in You.\u00a0 May I have a humble and hungry attitude toward Your Word which gives me wisdom for every season.\u00a0 Jesus, thank You for being our precious cornerstone \u2013 tested, trustworthy and true.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 28:1-29.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!
\n\u00a0
\nIsaiah chapters 28-33 represent a new section in the book of Isaiah.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The ongoing message from Isaiah is that this alliance will only hurt Judah, not help them, and that Judah\u2019s only true hope is trusting in the LORD.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 28:1-8 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Woe 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!
\n2\u00a0\u00a0See, 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.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, will be trampled underfoot.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0That 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.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0 In the first 6 verses Isaiah paints the picture of two wreaths.\u00a0 The first wreath is the political leaders of Israel, who like a \u201cfading flower\u201d (v1, 4), will be plucked and trampled on (v3).\u00a0 Their \u201cglorious beauty\u201d (v1, 4) will be taken away.\u00a0 The second wreath is the LORD Himself (v5).\u00a0 He is described as \u201ca glorious crown\u201d and \u201ca spirit of justice\u201d for the willing leader, \u201ca source of strength\u201d to Israel\u2019s soldiers (v5-6).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25412"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25415,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25412\/revisions\/25415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}