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August 27, 2023 |
| Isaiah 28 | ||
Isaiah covers quite a bit of ground in this prophecy. The Drunkenness of the Jews of Jesus' time is going to be the theme, but it will also accuse Christianity of being just a drunk. It will talk about the coming Messiah and how he, or their rejection of him, will bring about their end. It hints about gifts of the Spirit and about Jesus using parables. It even makes an oblique reference to the Second Coming.
Before we can start interpreting Isaiah 28, we need to understand who is referred to as "Ephraim." The problem is that this name appears as a reference to different groups. It can refer to Northern Israel, which was degenerate, or even all Israel, in its degenerate form, or it can refer to Christianity, which became degenerate after a good start, Churchianity.
There are two New Testament quotes from this chapter where the author interprets the quote as a reference to the messianic age as a future event from Isaiah's perspective. The way Isaiah 28 uses those verses clearly indicates that Ephraim is the Jewish people of Jesus' time.
Some of the major commentaries say that Isaiah 28 is about Northern Israel / Samaria, but that makes no sense in light of the Messianic references in the chapter. Northern Israel was once the Ten Tribes, and sometimes called Ephraim after the time of Jeroboam, who split them from the other tribes.
And he bought the hill Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and named the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill. (1 Kings 16:24)
The Ten Tribes are long gone, conquered by Assyria and taken as slaves. By Jesus' time, they were mostly not Jewish, and therefore of little interest to Jesus or the Father.
We'll touch on that again as we reach those verses.
Prophecies are commonly written in a poetic form, and this one is as well, except for the first part of verse 16. When a prophecy is entirely in poetic form, I remove the poetic structure in the study. That allows for better use of the limited vertical space on a computer screen. Because of that one part of a verse, though, I'm going to retain the poetic structure.
Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, (Isaiah 28:1)
This is going to be the theme for this chapter, and we'll see the manifestations of confusion, barfing, slurred speech, and stumbling around.
But of course God is talking about spiritual drunkenness and the spiritual manifestations of that. In that way of thinking, confusion becomes confusion about spiritual matters, barfing becomes putting out (writing) nonsense, slurred speech becomes speaking nonsense, and stumbling around becomes not following God's directions.
The spiritual drunkards are the Jews of Jesus' time. They are far from God, which causes their drunkenness. This drunkenness is described in other places using different symbols. Paul talks about the veil over their eyes that keeps them from seeing the truth.
This part of the first verse mentions a crown the drunkards wear. The major commentaries I checked do not understand what is being said. For most of those, they have decided Isaiah 28 is about Northern Israel / Samaria, which leaves no way to resolve the symbolic references. For all of the commentaries, they are using a literal interpretation of what they see as a poem.
The crown represents the Temple and the Old Covenant. The Jews were very proud of it despite having hearts that were far from God.
And [woe] to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the fertile valley
Of those who are overcome with wine! (Isaiah 28:1)
God is saying that the Temple and the Old Covenant were gloriously beautiful in the past, but they are now a fading flower. The apostles talk about the flaw in the Old Covenant that would be its failure, and that it would be replaced.
The Temple and Old Covenant have been a fertile valley for the Jews, at least in their own spiritually drunk minds. They consider themselves to have been chosen and blessed because they are better than other nations.
Behold, the Lord has a strong and courageous agent;
As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction,
Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters,
He has set it down to the earth with His hand. (Isaiah 28:2)
The strong and courageous agent is Jesus. He will bring destruction to the Temple, the Old Covenant, and the fertile valley. Water is commonly a representation for people, and probably is so here. The overwhelming flood of Christians will replace everything.
The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden under foot.
4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the fertile valley,
Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to summer,
Which one sees,
And as soon as it is in his hand,
He swallows it. (Isaiah 28:3-4)
The feet of Gentiles will walk in the Temple (Luke 21:24, Revelation 11:2, Daniel 8:13). People will be so anxious for Christianity that all that the Jews think of themselves (fertile valley) will be gone in a flash (or gulp).
In that day Yahweh of hosts will become a beautiful crown
And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;
6 A spirit of just judgment for him who sits in judgment,
A might to those who turn back the onslaught at the gate.
7 And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:
The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink;
They are swallowed up by wine, they stagger from strong drink;
They reel while having visions;
They totter when rendering a verdict.
8 For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a single clean place. (Isaiah 28:5-8)
The idea of a remnant flows through the Old Testament and New Testament. Purification comes, leaving a small number of survivors who grow back. Who does "remnant" refer to here? It could refer to the survivors only or to the group that grows from them. Referring to the entire group is not without precedent in the Bible.
And the Dragon raged against the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, these who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Yeshua. (Revelation 12:17)
Here, her "seed" is Jesus. His remnant, at a time that is still in our future, are Christians.
In this case it wouldn't make any sense to refer only to those few Jews who converted and became Apostles and disciples as the remnant, because the verses are about to say something very bad about them, and we know they weren't that way. Therefore the remnant must be all Christians.
As a result of Jesus, both he and the Father, who was made known by him, will become the crown … of the remnant. A diadem is a smaller crown given to other royalty under the king. This is saying the remnant of the Jews (Christians) would become royalty. Royalty was by blood; therefore this is saying that Christians would become sons, and therefore heirs.
A Spirit will make it possible for those who judge to judge justly. They will be given the discernment (might) to recognize and repel false believers and their teachings.
I was reading Isaiah 28 myself when I said, "This is good. I never understood this before. I should make a study for this." It was only when I did a careful analysis of this section that I understood all that I had read. The verses have just listed what would be given to Christians. Now it gives them a blast. It starts to sound like my recent study on Hosea 11.
"these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink" - this is referring to the remnant, that is, Christianity, or Churchianity. It says they are, or would become, as spiritually drunk (confused) as the Jews were.
The phrase "priest and prophet" refers to the spiritual elders. The phrases "reel while having visions" and "totter when rendering a verdict" refer back to "priest and prophet," the elders, but also to verse 6, "spirit of just judgement," the gifts of the Spirit. In short it says that their use of the gifts is destroyed by their spiritual drunkenness.
"all the tables" - table is used in the New Testament to represent all that God has given (Romans 11:9-10). Therefore this says these spiritually drunken Jews and Churchians have each barfed all over what God has given them, without missing a spot. You have to give it an "A" for effective imagery.
The word "visions" is a key word in confirming our understanding of this chapter. Visions is a reference to Christianity. Joel 2:28 says, "[…] Your young men will see visions." In the Old Covenant, such spiritual gifts were generally only given to prophets.
Whom would He instruct in knowledge,
And whom would He provide understanding about the report?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?
10 For He says,
'Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there.' (Isaiah 28:9-10)
The phrases "instruct" and "the report" are references to another of Isaiah's prophecies, Isaiah 53: "Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" In that prophecy Isaiah is indicating that there wouldn't be many who understood Jesus' message. Here, the point is that the Jews were spiritual babies when Jesus arrived and were unable to understand … most of them anyway.
It appears the focus of the verses has shifted back to speaking only about the Jews, but it will swing back to Churchianity right away.
Verse 10 has two levels of meaning. The words have a literal meaning of course, but there is also a meaning in the sound of the words in Hebrew. The sound is "Sav lasav, sav lasav, Kav lakav, kav lakav, Ze'er sham, ze'er sham" (LSB)
The LSB translation says, "These Hebrew monosyllables, imitating the babbling of a child, mock the prophet's preaching." They think this because verse 9 has just referred to Israel as just-weaned children, and because verse 14 uses the word scoffers. Because they think that, when the phrase is repeated in verse 13, they think it shows "Yahweh responds to their scoffing by imitating their mockery, to represent the unintelligible language of a conqueror."
It's an interesting idea, but it has problems. How would Israel mock Isaiah in a prophecy from God? Why would they mock him by using baby talk? If we want to mock someone in that style, we would say, "Blah, blah, blah," which means we are tired of hearing you go on and on with your warnings that never happen. God talks about this very problem in Isaiah 43:22: "But you have not called on Me, O Jacob, because you have grown weary of Me, O Israel."
Also the sounds here include non-vocal sounds, like 's' and 'sh', which are difficult and which babies do not use. Also, unknown languages never sound like baby talk, conqueror or not. Each language has its own sound qualities and cadence, and you would mock each one differently.
I came to understand this when I worked with two Japanese people in a business environment for 2 weeks. One of them had minimal command of English; the other did not speak or understand English at all. So I heard them speaking to each other in Japanese a lot. At the end of that time, when I came home from work, I found that I could do a good representation of the sound of Japanese speech, at least to my ears and those of my wife. Of course it was only the sounds, without any meaning.
When they talk about mocking, I think the translators have missed the point of this chapter, which is spiritual drunkenness and barfing out nonsense. That means those sounds are God's imitation of a drunk person trying to speak. The repetition in verse 13 is God's imitation of speaking in tongues, which the following verse talks about.
Therefore God chose a phrase for this prophecy that would sound like a drunken person speaking and also a person speaking in tongues. What do we see when the apostles begin to speak in tongues? "These are not drunk as you are thinking, for behold, it is now the third hour (9 A.M.)" (Acts 2:15).
But there is also a literal meaning in these words. They express the idea that the Jews will be using rigid rules when Jesus arrives. They will have lost justice and mercy. More than that, they will believe that salvation comes from this strict adherence to the rules, which is legalism.
This meaning is harder to see in this translation, which says "order," which refers to a legal order, and "line," which is better translated here as "rule." Other translations translate it as "rule".
Do this, do that,
a rule for this, a rule for that;
a little here, a little there.” (NIV)
The last part of that isn't clear in either translation. It actually talks about making things little, which refers to ignoring parts of the Bible.
In these words we see:
He will speak to this people
Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, (Isaiah 28:11)
This verse is quoted in 1 Corinthians 14:21 in a teaching about speaking in tongues, so we know it is talking about Christians speaking in tongues as a sign to the Jews that God was at work. The Corinthians quote paraphrases this verse and skips the first part of the next verse, verse 12, continuing with a paraphrase of "but they would not listen."
He who said to them, "Here is rest, give rest to the weary,"
And, "Here is repose," but they would not listen.
13 So the word of Yahweh to them will be,
"Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,"
That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive. (Isaiah 28:12-13)
Jesus is the one who said, "Come to me and I will give you rest." Don't be bothered by the words "rest" and "repose." Though they are different Hebrew words, they have very similar meanings. You could say that one is a rest and the other is a place for rest.
These two verses go hand-in-hand with verse 11. As described in the comments on verse 10, verse 11 says they will speak in tongues, my anachronistic paraphrase; verse 12 here says they would not listen, then verse 13 makes sounds that mimic speaking in tongues, of which Peter says, "We are not drunk."
At the end, it says that the Jews will not hear God speaking through the tongues and thus they will stumble, be broken, snared, and taken captive. This is probably a reference to the destruction of the temple by Roman forces, which was brought on by the Jewish arrogance in the idea that God would always protect them. This idea comes up next.
Therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, O scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
15 Because you have said, "We have cut a covenant with death,
And with Sheol we have made a pact.
The overflowing scourge will not reach us when it passes by,
For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have hidden ourselves with lying." (Isaiah 28:12-13)
I mentioned earlier that some interpreters of this chapter use the word "scoff" here as their basis for thinking that the sounds of "order on order" are mockery by the Jews. Mockery is very different from scoffing. Here is Peter giving examples of scoffing.
And [scoffers] say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For from when our forefathers fell asleep, everything continues in the same way from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4)
Mocking is what the people did in Matthew 27:47 when they mocked Jesus' accent by intentionally misinterpreting his words as, "He has called Elijah."
In this section, the primary audience is made clear. It is the elders of Judaism, especially those in Jerusalem, the ones whom the people go to for instruction.
The verse refers to the idea I mentioned above that God would always protect Israel. It is described as a covenant with death and Sheol, the place of the dead, that nothing that comes will harm them. God says they are lying to themselves, and this refuge they hide in is built on nothing.
This foreshadows the coming Roman beat-down that will drive most of the Jews out of Israel to live among the Gentiles.
Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh,
"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be disturbed. (Isaiah 28:16)
This is an easily recognized messianic reference. The verse is quoted in 1 Peter 2:6 and Romans 9:33 and also referenced in Romans 10:11. From its usage in those quotes, we know this is a reference to Jesus.
Jesus is described as:
The word "Zion" can mean the land of Israel, the city of Jerusalem, or the people of Israel, all of which work here.
We also see the idea of believing in this stone, but we see it tied to "not being disturbed," which is very unclear. The Hebrew Word, when directly translated, means "make haste," which helps us not at all. The New Testament references all use the word "ashamed." It seems like the Hebrew word had a meaning that it no longer has, so "make haste" included hurrying to rid yourself of some shame.
This verse is the only place where the verses deviate from the poetic form. It happens with "Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh." There are other prophecies where I can see why parts are not in poetic form, but here I see no reason.
I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of falsehood,
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
18 Your covenant with death will be canceled,
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
Then you will become its trampling place.
19 As often as it passes through, it will take you;
For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
And it will be sheer terror to understand the report. (Isaiah 28:17-19)
God speaks about measurements he will establish, but he means more than that. With those standards in place, they apply to the Jews. The result is the destruction of Judaism, the people, and the Temple.
The first to go is the false idea that they would always be protected by God.
The reference to "secret place" is probably a reference to other verses in the Bible that use that phrase.
For in the day of calamity He will conceal me in His shelter; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. (Psalm 27:5)
You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
These would be a good reference if they were the source of the Jewish idea that God would always protect them as long as they stayed true, which they believed they had done in Jesus' time. I don't know if that is the case, but it seems reasonable in the context.
Water is commonly used as a symbol for people. So the message is that people will run wild through their imagined protection.
The next to go is their covenant and pact. This is likely a reference to my previous clause, "as long as they stayed true." They seem to have believed that strict adherence to the law was what God wanted and that would guarantee their protection. If so, this was always the nature of Israel, trying to use and manipulate God.
The last to go is the people and the Temple. These people will trample all over Israel, even in the holy places. That wave will take the people far away from the land.
The word "report" could just mean people hearing the report of the slaughter and destruction. The word was used before, though, more plainly as a reference to Isaiah's reference to what Jesus did and said. When we consider that it was what Jesus did and said, and more specifically the Jews' rejection of it, that causes all of this, it could be said that Jesus and His words caused terror among the Jewish elders. It is true that the Jewish leaders were horrified by what he said and how that would affect their positions of power.
The bed is too short on which to stretch out,
And the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.
21 For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim;
He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,
To work His work, His unusual work,
And to labor in His labor, His exceptional labor.
22 So now do not carry on as scoffers,
Lest your fetters be made stronger;
For I have heard from Lord Yahweh of hosts
Of complete destruction, one that is decreed, on all the earth. (Isaiah 28:20-22)
The "bed" and "blanket" appear to be an idiom of the time, meaning that this isn't the situation you expected to find. Now you find that the plans fell short. We have a proverb that is similar to this: "As a man makes his bed, so must he lie in it."
The references to "Perazim" and "Gibeon" are probably to 1 Chronicles 14:11, where David completely defeated the Philistines by divine help.
So they came up to Baal-perazim, and there David struck them down; and David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore they named that place Baal-perazim. 12 […] 13 Then the Philistines yet again made a raid in the valley. 14 So David again asked of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go directly up after them; circle around from behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees. 15 And it will be that when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God will have gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” 16 Then David did just as God had commanded him, and they struck down the camp of the Philistines from Gibeon even as far as Gezer. (1 Chronicles 14:11-16)
God's message to the Jews is that he will fight alongside their enemies as he fought alongside David against his enemies, with the unusual and exceptional help that he gave David.
Then we are back to the scoffers, but I think we know the words they used: "We are protected by God. The overflowing scourge will not reach us when it passes by."
This section closes with a warning for the scoffing Jews: do not carry on that way OR ELSE. The "or else" he lists is from our future, when Jesus returns and destroys all of his enemies. Notice how this prophecy for one time refers to a different time - "I have heard … what is decreed."
Give ear and hear my voice,
Pay attention and hear my words.
24 Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?
Does he continually turn and harrow his ground?
25 Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter cumin
And plant wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its area?
26 For his God disciplines and teaches him proper judgment.
27 For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is the wheel of a cart driven over cumin;
But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.
28 Grain for bread is crushed,
But he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually disturb it,
He does not crush it longer.
29 This also comes from Yahweh of hosts,
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great. (Isaiah 28:23-29)
I kept this large section together because it needs to be. It is like a parable that Jesus will teach in Isaiah's future. Isaiah does by example what Asaph says in Psalm 78:2, "I will open my mouth in a parable."
This section begins with a bunch of statements stressing the need to listen to these words and to pay attention.
Then the verses suppose a farmer who is plowing in his field. They ask the question: does the farmer plow continually, or does he stop plowing and do different things to prepare the ground for the different kinds of seeds he will plant? When the crops are ready, does he thresh continually, or does he stop threshing and do different things to each crop to get the value from them? "God disciplines the farmer," says God, meaning he learns from his failures and becomes a successful farmer.
The message in the parable is that the Old Covenant crop will be harvested and a new crop will be planted in a New Covenant. Jesus would give the same message, but in parables about patching and old wineskins.
The last verse refers again to Yahweh of hosts, saying this comes from him. This what? Parables and this message will come from him, and yes, they will and did. "His counsel is wonderful, and His wisdom is great."