Isaiah 28:1-35:10

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 28:1-8

Here, I. The prophet warns the kingdom of the ten tribes of the judgments that were coming upon them for their sins, which were soon after executed by the king of Assyria, who laid their country waste, and carried the people into captivity. Ephraim had his name from fruitfulness, their soil being very fertile and the products of it abundant and the best of the kind; they had a great many fat valleys (Isa. 28:1, 4), and Samaria, which was situated on a hill, was, as it were, on the head of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 28:1

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim ,.... Or, "of the drunkards of Ephraim": or, "O crown of pride, O drunkards of Ephraim F12 הוי עטרת גאות שכרי אפרים "vae coronae erectionis ebriorum Ephraimi", Cocceius, Gataker. "; who are both called upon, and a woe denounced against them. Ephraim is put for the ten tribes, who were drunk either in a literal sense, for to the sin of drunkenness were they addicted, Hosea 7:5 , Amos 6:6 . The Jews say F13 T. Bab.... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 28:1

Wo to the crown of pride - By the crown of pride, etc., Samaria is primarily understood. "Sebaste, the ancient Samaria, is situated on a long mount of an oval figure, having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running round about it;" Maundrell, p. 58. " E regione horum ruderum mons est peramoenus, planitie admodum frugifera circumseptus, super quem olim Samaria urbs condita fuit ;" Fureri Itinerarium, p. 93. The city, beautifully situated on the top of a round hill, and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 28:1

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkard ; rather, of the drunkards , The "drunkards of Ephraim," or of the ten tribes, were at once intoxicated with wine ( Amos 4:1 ; Amos 6:6 ) and with pride ( Amos 6:13 ). As the external aspect of affairs grew mere and more threatening through the advances of Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser, they gave themselves up more and more to self-indulgence and luxury, lay upon beds of ivory, drank wine from bowls, feasted to the sound of the viol, and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 28:1

The woe of the drunkard. On this subject there is grave danger of saying extravagant, unqualified, and unreasonable things. The abstract rightness or wrongness of using strong drinks must be decided by the individual judgment. Enough now to say that no man with the spirit of a patriot, much less with the spirit of a Christian—who is his brother's keeper,—can observe the growth of drinking habits in modern society without serious alarm; no mothers without grave anxiety for their sons; no... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 28:1-3

The drunkards of Ephraim. While Scripture, from first to last, upholds the moderate use of wine as cheering and "making glad the heart of man," it is distinct and severe in its denunciations of drunkenness and unrestrained revelry. The son who was "stubborn and rebellious, a glutton and a drunkard," was to be brought by his parents before the ciders under the Jewish Law, and "stoned with stones that he might die" ( Deuteronomy 21:20 , Deuteronomy 21:21 ). Nabal's drunkenness and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 28:1-4

A WARNING TO SAMARIA . The prophet has now east his eagle glance over the whole world and over all time. He has denounced woe upon all the principal nations of the earth (Isaiah 13-23.), glanced at the destruction of the world itself ( Isaiah 24:17-20 ), and sung songs over the establishment of Christ's kingdom, and the ingathering of the nations into it (Isaiah 25-27.). In the present chapter he returns to the condition of things in his own time and among his own people. After a brief... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 28:1-6

Condition of Samaria. I. DENUNCIATION OF WOE . The condition of Samaria was like that of Jerusalem. And judgment must first fall upon Samaria, and then upon Jerusalem ( Isaiah 8:6 ; cf. Micah 1:6 ). Drunkenness is named," not as the root of the national evil, but rather as its flower. The appalling thing is that when all is on the point of collapsing, those responsible for the state should be given up to careless self-indulgence" (Cheyne). Samaria is described as the city of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 28:1-8

The evil of excess: a sermon on intemperance. The allusion here is to the prevalent baneful vice of intemperance. The evils which are connected with it, and which constitute its condemnation, are such as belong to other kinds of excess, but especially and emphatically to it . I. HONOR IS HUMILIATED BY IT . "The crown of pride is trodden under feet" ( Isaiah 28:1 , Isaiah 28:3 ). The proud city, which was, alas! a city given up to drunkenness, should be brought down to the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 28:1

Wo - (see the note at Isaiah 18:1). The word here is used to denounce impending judgment.To the crown of pride - This is a Hebrew mode of expression, denoting the proud or haughty crown. There can be no doubt that it refers to the capital of the kingdom of Ephraim; that is, to Samaria. This city was built by Omri, who purchased ‘the hill Samaria’ of Shemer, for two talents of silver, equal in value to 792 British pounds, 11 shillings, 8d., and built the city on the hill, and called it, after... read more

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