The folly of Judah’s leaders 28:7-22Isaiah now compared the pride and indulgence of the Ephraimite leaders to that of their Southern Kingdom brethren. The leaders of Judah were even worse. There is some debate among scholars about where reference to Ephraim’s rulers ends and where reference to Judah’s leaders begins. It seems to me that the context favors the change occurring between Isaiah 28:6-7. read more
These drunken leaders mocked Isaiah for the simplicity and repetition with which he presented the Lord’s messages (cf. Acts 17:18)."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." [Note: Archer, p. 628.] "His [God’s] laws are... read more
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. Matthew 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 take in. They would learn... read more
Warnings to JudahThese chapters refer to the state of affairs during the reign of Hezekiah, when Palestine was threatened by Assyria, and an influential party in Judah favoured resistance, relying on the support of Egypt; a line of policy consistently opposed by Isaiah. read more
This chapter must be assigned (Isaiah 28:1) to a date prior to the capture of Samaria by the Assyrians (722 b.c.) and fall of the northern kingdom.1-6. Samaria’s luxury and self-indulgence pave the way to ruin. 7-10. Judah likewise is given up to indulgence and heeds not the prophet’s warning, 11-13. Therefore Jehovah will teach the people by means of foreign invasion and disaster. 14-22. Judah’s safety lies not in faithless diplomacy, but in trust in Jehovah. 23-29. A parable of Jehovah’s way... read more
(11) With stammering lips and another tongue . . .—The “stammering lips” are those of the Assyrian conquerors, whose speech would seem to the men of Judah as a barbarous patois. They, with their short sharp commands, would be the next utterers of Jehovah’s will to the people who would not listen to the prophet’s teaching. The description of the “stammering tongue” re-appears in Isaiah 33:19. (Comp. Deuteronomy 28:49.) In 1 Corinthians 14:21, the words are applied to the gift of “tongues,”... read more
(12) To whom he said, This is the rest . . .—The prophet vindicates himself against the charge of being a repeater of wearisome messages of rebuke. Rather had he pointed the way to a time of repentance, and therefore of rest and refreshment. But to this also they closed their ears. They had but one formula of derision, whatever might be the subject of the prophet’s teaching; and the prophet, with all the scorn of irony, repeats that formula in the words that follow. read more
The Verifying Faculty Isaiah 28:12 The Bible is always talking in our mother tongue. The oldest and greatest of the Prophets spoke in language which almost children can understand and appreciate. Take such words as 'weary'; the child knows what it means when it sees its father returning from the fields and stretching himself in token of fatigue. And 'rest,' the little word needs no translation; and 'refreshing,' the very word which an apostle uses in later times when he speaks of 'times of... read more
CHAPTER VIIIGOD’S COMMONPLACEABOUT 725 B.C.Isaiah 28:1-29THE twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Isaiah is one of the greatest of his prophecies. It is distinguished by that regal versatility of style, which places its author at the head of Hebrew writers. Keen analyses of character, realistic contrasts between sin and judgment, clever retorts and epigrams, rapids of scorn, and "a spate" of judgment, but for final issue a placid stream of argument banked by sweet parable-such are the literary... read more
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Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 28:12
12. Rather, "He (Jehovah) who hath said to them." this . . . the rest—Reference may be primarily to "rest" from national warlike preparations, the Jews being at the time "weary" through various preceding calamities, as the Syro-Israelite invasion ( :-; compare Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 22:8; Isaiah 39:2; Isaiah 36:1; 2 Kings 18:8). But spiritually, the "rest" meant is that to be found in obeying those very "precepts" of God (2 Kings 18:8- :) which they jeered at (compare Jeremiah 6:16; Matthew... read more