Isaiah 28:4 - Exposition

And the glorious beauty , etc. Translate, And the fading flower of his glorious beauty , which is on the head of the fat valley , shall be like an early fig ( that comes ) before the harvest . Such an "early fig" is a tempting delicacy, devoured as soon as seen (comp. Hosea 9:10 ; Nahum 3:12 ; Jeremiah 24:2 , etc.). The "beauty" of Samaria would tempt the Assyrians to desire it so soon as they saw it, and would rouse an appetite which would be content with nothing less than the speedy absorption of the coveted morsel. Samaria's siege, once begun, was pressed without intermission, and lasted less than three years ( 2 Kings 18:9 , 2 Kings 18:10 )—a short space compared to that of other sieges belonging to about the same period; e . g . that of Ashdod, besieged twenty-nine years; that of Tyre, besieged thirteen years ('Ancient Monarchies,' vol. 3.492).