Isaiah 28:1-10

Isa 28:1

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

 

Here Isaiah reverts back to the time when Assyria will take the ten northern tribes into captivity.  They are called Ephraim because the chief tribe was the tribe of Ephraim.  They were not only drunkards who would drink excessively but it also is an allusion to the fact that they would be drunken with idolatry.  Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 29:6)  In ancient false religions, they believed that if they drank excessively and became drunk, that would help them get to know their god better.  Israel was not supposed to drink excessively for that purpose but because they degenerated into paganism, they may have also adopted that belief.  Their glory was their wealth and riches but soon they would be unable to depend on them as Assyria would put an end to their glory.  They would get to the point that they would be so drunk they would be lying all over the ground until they sobered up and started all over again.

 

Isa 28:2

Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

 

The mighty and strong one is Assyria under Shalmaneser and their invasion will be so devastating that it would be compared to hail and a destroying storm.  A tempest of hail has the ability to cause much damage not only to homes and property but to the plants.  Sometimes hail is so powerful it destroys trees and other plants and kills them.  Flooding waters means that the invasion will be unstoppable and will destroy everything in its path.  Then the people of Ephraim will be as plants cast down in a strong hail storm which means the judgment is coming and nothing will stop it.

 

Isa 28:3

The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:

 

The wealth that they had accumulated over the years was a gift from God but they had become so wealthy that they began to believe that it was all of them it so became a crown of pride.  A crown is worn by a king so their pride was exalted to the point it became their king and they all worshipped themselves.  Yet these drunkards will be brought down to nothing as Assyria vanquishes Samaria.

 

Isa 28:4

And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

 

The glorious beauty which is a reference to their wealth and agricultural wealth shall become like a fading flower which withers after their season of blooming.  Their prosperity was in the time of full bloom but they shall be like a fading flower when all their prosperity turns to poverty.  Just as someone sees a fig which is an early fruit and then picks it by hand and then eats it.  Ephraim will also be like that fruit plucked from the tree.  They will be plucked up and consumed in judgment by the Assyrians.

 

Isa 28:5

In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,

 

From the crown of pride to the crown of glory.  The LORD shall be a crown of glory to Judah once Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians.  He shall be the crown because Judah had not yet slipped into full idolatry as the northern kingdom did and God was still their king.  A diadem is alike a crown so the LORD shall not only be a crown of glory but a crown of beauty.  The residue or remainder of the people refers to Judah who will still remain in the land for another 135 years before they go into captivity.

 

Isa 28:6

And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

 

Then the LORD will give the true spirit of judgment to those who sit in judgment which would be the political and religious leaders of Judah so they make the proper assessment of what has happening to the people in the north so they would not make the same errors they did.  The LORD will also be their strength to protect them from any incursion by Assyria if they think they could also add Judah to their full conquests. 

 

Isa 28:7

But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

 

Here the prophet exposes a sin which causes anyone to falter in their execution of their duties.  It seems that Judah had given itself over to drunkenness which goes in lockstep with the worship of false gods.  Drunkenness had pervaded all strata of society in Judah.  The priests and the prophets took up the habit of drinking which means their judgment was sorely affected.  In being drunk, they would have offered up strange fire which was the cause of the death of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10.  By drinking strong drink, the priests and prophets had committed many sins and errors which would have caused the people to follow in their footsteps.  The drunkenness would have caused them to see false visions and it would also have caused them a false vision, that is, they would not have seen the seriousness of their situation and how close they were to being judged.  The priests should have been sober so they could have made proper judicial judgments but their drunkenness had perverted their senses.

 

Isa 28:8

For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

 

As with many people who drink and cannot hold their liquor, vomiting will occur and Judah had become so reprehensible that the people would vomit up the alcohol right on the top of the tables where people were eating.  This is how bad they become.  It was so widespread that there was nowhere that was clean and free from the vomit of the drunk.  It also points to the fact that there were no more holy places left for even the priests to eat since they themselves had desecrated their holy places and utensils.

 

Isa 28:9

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

 

With the way the prophets and priests were drinking strong drink, Isaiah asks the question to whom will the Lord teach his knowledge about himself and the scriptures.  Whom shall he make to understand doctrine, that is, the teachings which the priests and scribes should have been doing.  Since they were all engaging in drinking, was there anyone capable of learning or were they all so inebriated they could not even walk straight?  Their actions are likened to that of a foolish child who is still too young to make proper decisions even if they are being weaned which is about three years old.  Then they are likened to even younger children such as babies who are still on their mother’s breasts.  They are way too young to make any decisions because they are immature and that was how the leaders of Judah were acting as if they were still little children with the inability to make decisions.

 

Isa 28:10

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

 

The prophet now tells them that they are so juvenile that they must be taught as one teaches a child something for the very first time.  The precept was a commandment and then they were to learn each precept upon another.  Like the ten commandments each one had to be learned line upon line, that is, they were to write the commandments on a line and then were to continue to do that until they have learned all the commandments.  It is done by repetition to instill memorization of those laws and commandments.  Then here a little and there a little means they cannot absorb the material so they can only attempt to understand it by studying a little bit at a time.  Isaiah had treated them like they were learning for the first time as children do and that must have raised their ire tremendously even when drunk.

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