Isaiah 28:1

DIVISION IV (Isaiah 28-35)

These four chapters constitute almost one continuous prophecy regarding (1) the destruction of Ephraim; (2) the impiety and folly of Judah; (3) the danger of alliances with Egypt; and (4) the straits to which they would be reduced by the Assyrians.[1]

The date of these chapters is most likely that proposed by Dummelow: "This chapter must be assigned to a date prior to the capture of Samaria by the Assyrians (722 B.C.) and the fall of the northern kingdom."[2] Even many of the critical commentators agree that the date may not be placed "any later than just prior to the fall of Samaria (722 B.C.)."[3] Here, therefore, is an undisputed example of predictive prophecy.

The chapter may be divided thus: (1) Samaria's luxury, drunkenness, and infidelity pave the way for their ruin (Isaiah 28:1-6). (2) Even the rulers and the religious leaders are no more than filthy drunkards (Isaiah 28:7,8). (3) The nobility of Ephraim mock Isaiah (Isaiah 28:9-10). (4) Isaiah gives God's response to their mockery (Isaiah 11:13). (5) Judah joins Ephraim in their scoffing rejection of the Lord and takes refuge in a "refuge of lies" (Isaiah 28:14,15). (6)The true refuge is laid by God in Zion, "the stone," tried, precious, comer, etc. (Isaiah 28:16-19). (7) Human measures of security are inadequate; victory is with Jehovah only; therefore be not scoffers (Isaiah 28:20-22). (8) An agricultural parable is used to teach the wisdom of God's plans (Isaiah 28:23-29).

Isaiah 28:1-6

"Woe to the pride of the crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of them that are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one; as a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, as a tempest of mighty waters over-flowing, will he cast down to the earth with the hand. The crown of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot: and the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, which shall be as the first-ripe fig before the summer, which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. In that day shall Jehovah of hosts become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people; and a spirit of justice to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that turn back the battle at the gate."

It would be well for America, especially her congressmen and other officials to heed the warning of God in this passage for Ephraim, whose drunken leaders led to the total destruction of their nation and to its disappearance from among the nations. We saw at Pearl Harbor what liquor can do for the defenses of a nation; but in spite of what must be obvious to every thoughtful person, the whiskey barons continue to corrupt the people.

The strange mingling of severe warnings and gentle promises of hope, especially noted in this chapter, is the result of Isaiah's discrimination between the leaders who are principally to blame for the approaching disaster and the rank and file of the people who are being misled. "He varies his tone and manner,"[4] accordingly as he addresses first one group, then another.

The city of Samaria on a hill, crowned with a wall around the summit, sat like a crown on the city dominating a fertile valley. The behavior of their leading men, being a group of sorted drunkards and practicing in their revels the social custom of crowning the head of a drunk with a garland, might also have suggested some of Isaiah's terminology here.

Verse two identifies God's instrument of destruction as the empire of the Assyrians, metaphorically described here as (1) a hail, (2) a destroying storm, and (3) as a devastating flood. The Assyrians were ready and would soon destroy Ephraim; but the Ephraimites continued to lead lives of, "libertinism and debauchery, in which even the clergy participated with disgusting excess."[5] Their egotistical and boastful over-confidence was noted by Rawlinson: "They said in their hearts, `We have taken to ourselves horns by our own strength' (Amos 6:4,5). They persisted in regarding themselves as secure."[6]

The practical interpretation of Isaiah 28:3 means that when the king of Assyria sees Samaria he will immediately take it and eat it up. It also indicates the ease with which Samaria would be taken. Its siege lasted less than three years (2 Kings 18:9,10); whereas the siege of Ashdod, according to Herodotus lasted 29 years, and that of Tyre lasted 13 years.[7]

"The residue of God's people ..." (Isaiah 28:5). This applies to the era afterward from the return of that "residue" from captivity, and ultimately to the establishment of the kingdom of Christ in the Messianic age. This meant that God would be by no means defeated by the debaucheries and rebellions of his people; but that God's purpose of blessing "all the families of the earth" in the "seed singular" of Abraham, the Messiah, would finally be accomplished no matter what Israel did (Genesis 12:3).

Such a joyful reference, however, was not dwelt upon by Isaiah. He turned his attention at once to the same shameful conduct in Judaea that existed in Ephraim. This was Lowth's position on Isaiah 28:5.[8] However, it seems to us that if there was indeed a focus upon Jerusalem, rather than Ephraim here it would have been announced, as in Isaiah 28:14.

Isaiah 28:6 is an additional promise of the righteousness that shall prevail in the days of Messiah.