ISAIAH 28 COMMENTARY

EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

Woe to the Leaders of Ephraim and Judah

1 Woe to that wreath, the pride of

Ephraims drunkards,

to the fading flower, his glorious beauty,

set on the head of a fertile valley

to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!

1.BARNES, Wo - (see the note at Isa_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 the name of Shemer, Samaria 1Ki_16:24. Omri was king of Israel (925 b.c.), and he made this city the capital of his kingdom. The city was built on a pleasant and fertile hill, and surrounded with a rich valley, with a circle of hills beyond; and the beauty of the hill on which the city was built suggested the idea of a wreath or chaplet of flowers, or a crown. After having been destroyed and reduced to an inconsiderable place, it was restored by Herod the Great, 21 b.c., who called it Sebaste (Latin, Augusta), in honor of the Emperor Augustus. It is usually mentioned by travelers under the name of Sebaste. Maundrell (Travels, p. 58) says, 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 it. The following is the account which is given by Richardson: Its situation is extremely beautiful, and strong by nature; more so, I think, than Jerusalem. It stands on a fine large insulated hill, compassed all round by a broad, deep valley.

The valley is surrounded by four hills, one on each side, which are cultivated in terraces to the top, sown with grain, and planted with fig and olive trees, as is also the valley. The hill of Samaria, likewise, rises in terraces to a height equal to any of the adjoining mountains. Dr. Robinson, who visited this place in 1838, says, The find round swelling hill, or almost mountain of Samaria, stands alone in the midst of the great basin of some two hours (seven or eight miles) in diameter, surrounded by higher mountains on every side. It is near the eastern side of the basin; and is connected with the eastern mountains, somewhat after the manner of a promontory, by a much lower ridge, having a wady both on the south and on the north. The mountains and the valleys around are to a great extent arable, and enlivened by many villages

and the hand of cultivation. From all these circumstances, the situation of the ancient Samaria is one of great beauty.

The hill itself is cultivated to the top; and, at about midway of the ascent, is surrounded by a narrow terrace of level land like a belt, below which the roots of the hill spread off more gradually into the valleys. The whole hill of Sebastich (the Arabic form for the name Sebaste) consists of fertile soil; it is cultivated to the top, and has upon it many olive and fig trees. It would be difficult to find, in all Palestine, a situation of equal strength, fertility, and beauty combined. In all these particulars, it has very greatly the advantage over Jerusalem. (Bib. Researches, vol. iii. pp. 136-149). Standing thus by itself, and cultivated to the top, and exceedingly fertile, it was compared by the prophet to a crown, or garland of flowers - such as used to be worn on the head, especially on festival occasions.

To the drunkards of Ephraim - Ephraim here denotes the kingdom of Israel, whose capital was Samaria (see the note at Isa_7:2). That intemperance was the prevailing sin in the kingdom of Israel is not improbable. It prevailed to a great extent also in the kingdom of Judah (see Isa_28:7-8 : compare Isa_5:11, note; Isa_5:22, note).

Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower - That is, it shall soon be destroyed, as a flower soon withers and fades away. This was fulfilled in the destruction that came upon Samaria under the Assyrians when the ten tribes were carried into captivity 2Ki_17:3-6. The allusion in this verse to the crown and the fading flower encircling Samaria, Grotius thinks is derived from the fact that among the ancients, drunkards and revellers were accustomed to wear a crown or garland on their heads, or that a wreath or chaplet of flowers was usually worn on their festival occasions. That this custom prevailed among the Jews as well as among the Greeks and Romans, is apparent from a statement by the author of the Book of Wisdom:

Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ornaments, And let no flower of the spring pass by us; Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they are withered.

- Wisdom Rom_2:7, Rom_2:8.

Which are on the head - Which flowers or chaplets are on the eminence that rises over the fat valleys; that is, on Samaria, which seemed to stand as the head rising from the valley.

Of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine - That are occupied by, or in

the possession of, those who are overcome with wine. Margin, Broken with wine. Hebrew, (

halumey yayin) Smitten with wine; corresponding to the Greek oinoplex; that is, they were overcome or subdued by it. A mans reason, conscience, moral feelings, and physical strength are all overcome by indulgence in wine, and the entire man is prostrate by it. This passage is a proof of what has been often denied, but which further examination has abundantly confirmed, that the inhabitants of wine countries are as certainly intemperate as those which make rise of ardent spirits.

2. CLARKE, 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 surrounded immediately with a rich valley and a circle of other hills beyond it, suggested the idea of a chaplet or wreath of flowers worn upon their heads

on occasions of festivity, expressed by the proud crown and the fading flower of the drunkards. That this custom of wearing chaplets in their banquets prevailed among the Jews, as well as among the Greeks and Romans, appears from the following passage of the book of The Wisdom of Solomon: -

Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments, And let no flower of the spring pass by us: Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they are withered.

The Wisdom of Solomon 2:7, 8.

3. GILL, 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 (l)"; 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, Hos_7:5, Amo_6:6. The Jews say (m), that wine of Prugiatha (which perhaps was a place noted for good wine), and the waters of Diomasit (baths), cut off the ten tribes from Israel; which both Jarchi and Kimchi, on the place, make mention of; that is, as Buxtorf (n) interprets it, pleasures and delights destroyed the ten tribes. The inhabitants of Samaria, and the places adjacent, especially were addicted to this vice; these places abounding with excellent wines. Sichem, which were in these parts, is thought to be called, from the drunkenness of its inhabitants, Sychar, Joh_4:5 this is a sin very uncomely in any, but especially in professors of religion, as these were, and ought to be declaimed against: or they were drunkards in a metaphorical sense, either with idolatry, the two calves being set up in Dan and Bethel, which belonged to the ten tribes; just as the kings of the earth are said to be drunk with the wine of antichrist's fornication, or the idolatry of the church of Rome, Rev_17:2 or with pride and haughtiness, being elated with the fruitfulness of their country, their great affluence and riches, and numbers of people; in all which they were superior to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and in which they piqued themselves, and are therefore called "the crown of pride"; and especially their king may be meant, who was lifted up with pride that he ruled over such a country and people; or rather the city of Samaria, the metropolis of the ten tribes, and the royal city. Perhaps there may be an allusion to the crowns wore by drunkards at their revels, and particularly by such who were mighty to drink wine or strong drink, and overcame others, and triumphed in it: pride and sensuality are the vices condemned, and they often go together: whose glorious beauty; which lay in the numbers of their inhabitants, in their wealth and riches, and in their fruits of corn and wine: is a fading flower; not to be depended on, soon destroyed, and quickly gone: which are on the head of the fat valleys; meaning particularly the corn and wine, the harvest and vintage, with which the fruitful valleys being covered, looked very beautiful and glorious: very probably particular respect is had to Samaria, the head of the kingdom, and which was situated on a hill, and surrounded with fruitful valleys; for not Jerusalem is here meant, as Cocceius; nor Gethsemane, by the fat valleys, as Jerom: of them that are overcome with wine; or smitten, beaten (o) knocked down with it, as with a hammer, and laid prostrate on the ground, where they lie fixed to it, not able to get up; a true picture of a drunkard, that is conquered by wine, and enslaved unto it; see Isa_28:3.

4. HENRY, 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, Isa_28:4), and Samaria, which was situated on a hill, was, as it were, on the head of the fat valleys. Their country was rich and pleasant, and as the garden of the Lord: it was the glory of Canaan, as that was the glory of all lands; their harvest and vintage were the glorious beauty on the head of their valleys, which were covered over with corn and vines. Now observe,

1. What an ill use they made of their plenty. What God gave them to serve him with they

perverted, and abused, by making it the food and fuel of their lusts. (1.) They were puffed up

with pride by it. The goodness with which God crowned their years, which should have been to

him a crown of praise, was to them a crown of pride. Those that are rich in the world are apt to

be high-minded, 1Ti_6:17. Their king, who wore the crown, was proud that he ruled over so rich

a country; Samaria, their royal city, was notorious for pride. Perhaps it was usual at their

festivals, or revels, to wear garlands made up of flowers and ears of corn, which they wore in

honour of their fruitful country. Pride was a sin that generally prevailed among them, and

therefore the prophet, in his name who resists the proud, boldly proclaims a woe to the crown of

pride. If those who wear crowns be proud of them, let them not think to escape this woe. What

men are proud of, be it ever so mean, is to them as a crown; he that is proud thinks himself as

great as a king. But woe to those who thus exalt themselves, for they shall be abased; their pride

is the preface to their destruction. (2.) They indulged themselves in sensuality. Ephraim was

notorious for drunkenness, and excess of riot; Samaria, the head of the fat valleys, was full of

those that were overcome with wine, were broken with it, so the margin. See how foolishly

drunkards act, and no marvel when, in the very commission of the sin, they make fools and

brutes of themselves; they yield, [1.] To be conquered by the sin; it overcomes them, and brings

them into bondage (2Pe_2:19); they are led captive by it, and the captivity is the more shameful

and inglorious because it is voluntary. Some of these wretched slaves have themselves owned

that there is not a greater drudgery in the world than hard drinking. They are overcome not with

the wine, but with the love of it. [2.] To be ruined by it. They are broken by wine. Their

constitution is broken by it, and their health ruined. They are broken in the callings and estates,

and their souls are in danger of being eternally undone, and all this for the gratification of a base

lust. Woe to these drunkards of Ephraim! Ministers must bring the general woes of the word

home to particular places and persons. We must say, Woe to this or that person, if he be a

drunkard. There is a particular woe to the drunkards of Ephraim, for they are of God's

professing people, and it becomes them worse than any other; they know better, and therefore

should give a better example. Some make the crown of pride to belong to the drunkards, and to

mean the garlands with which those were crowned that got the victory in their wicked drinking

matches and drank down the rest of the company. They were proud of their being mighty to

drink wine; but woe to those who thus glory in their shame.

5. JAMISON, Isa_28:1-29. The twenty-eighth through thirty-third chapters form almost one continuous prophecy concerning the destruction of Ephraim, the impiety and folly of Judah, the danger of their league with Egypt, the straits they would be reduced to by Assyria, from which Jehovah would deliver them on their turning to Him; the twenty-eighth chapter refers to the time just before the sixth year of Hezekiaks reign, the rest not very long before his fourteenth year.

crown of pride Hebrew for proud crown of the drunkards, etc. [Horsley], namely, Samaria, the capital of Ephraim, or Israel. Drunkards, literally (Isa_28:7, Isa_28:8; Isa_5:11, Isa_5:22; Amo_4:1; Amo_6:1-6) and metaphorically, like drunkards, rushing on to their own destruction.

beauty ... flower whose glorious beauty or ornament is a fading flower. Carrying on the image of drunkards; it was the custom at feasts to wreathe the brow with flowers; so Samaria, which is (not as English Version, which are) upon the head of the fertile valley, that is, situated on a hill surrounded with the rich valleys as a garland (1Ki_16:24); but the garland is fading, as garlands often do, because Ephraim is now close to ruin (compare Isa_16:8); fulfilled 721 b.c. (2Ki_17:6, 2Ki_17:24).

6. K&D, Isaiah, like Micah, commences with the fall of the proud and intoxicated Samaria. Woe to the proud crown of the drunken of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of its splendid ornament, which is upon the head of the luxuriant valley of those slain with wine. The allusion is to Samaria, which is called (1.) the pride-crown of the drunken of Ephraim, i.e., the crown of which the intoxicated and blinded Ephraimites were proud (Isa_29:9; Isa_19:14), and (2.) the fading flower (on the expression itself, compare Isa_1:30; Isa_40:7-8) of the ornament of his splendour, i.e., the flower now fading, which had once been the ornament with which they made a show. This flower stood upon the head of the valley of fatnesses of those slain with wine (cf., Isa_16:8), i.e., of the valley so exuberant with fruitfulness, belonging to the Ephraimites, who were thoroughly enslaved by wine. Samaria stood upon a beautiful swelling hill, which commanded the whole country round in a most regal way (Amo_4:1; Amo_6:1), in the centre of a large basin, of about two hours' journey in diameter, shut in by a gigantic circle of still loftier mountains (Amo_3:9). The situation was commanding; the hill terraced up to the very top; and the surrounding country splendid and fruitful (Ritter, Erdkunde, xvi. 660, 661). The expression used by the prophet is intentionally bombastic. He heaps genitives upon

genitives, as in Isa_10:12; Isa_21:17. The words are linked together in pairs. Shemanm (fatnesses) has the absolute form, although it is annexed to the following word, the logical relation overruling the syntactical usage (compare Isa_32:13; 1Ch_9:13). The sesquipedalia verba are intended to produce the impression of excessive worldly luxuriance and pleasure,

upon which the woe is pronounced. The epithet nobhel (fading: possibly a genitive, as in Isa_28:4), which is introduced here into the midst of this picture of splendour, indicates that all this splendour is not only destined to fade, but is beginning to fade already.

7. BI, Woe to the crown of pride

Chapter twenty-eight is the first of a great group of representative discourses, chaps. 28-32, all dealing with the relation of Judah to Assyria, and all enforcing the same political principles. (Prof. Driver, D. D.)

Overcome with wine

Words are scarcely possible with which to express greater sorrow and calamity falling on those who are overcome with wine. God is said to be against them. Their beauty and pride shall fade away. They shall err in judgment; shall have dim vision of truth and duty; shall lose all susceptibility of moral and religious impressions; shall speak with stammering tongue; shall be ensnared with all evil. Their condition shall be heart sickening and hopeless.

I. A TERRIBLE CONTRAST. Ephraim in this passage stands for the kingdom of the ten tribes: the drunkards of Ephraim for its dissipated and dissolute people; the crown of Samaria for its capital city; though there is possibly reference here to the magnificent hill on which the city stood. Its site was a chosen one, than which, according to Rawlinson, none could be found, in all Palestine of greater combined strength, fertility, and beauty, having in these respects largely the advantage over Jerusalem. It was, however, full of drunkards. Intemperance was not only the prevailing iniquity of the place, but a form of sin and shame which was the fruitful source of innumerable afflictions and calamities. The figure is of a people smitten, beaten, knocked down with wine, as with a hammer; laid prostrate and helpless on the ground in utter bewilderment, and unconscious as to what would happen to them, their homes, or their nation. This was the doom represented as a Divine judgment upon them; but really the natural and inevitable result of their being overcome with wine. Let all men be warned, especially the young. The loss of everything desirable goes with the loss of control over appetite. But the contrast is as terrible in communities, cities, and nations where drunkenness prevails! In the place of industry, indolence obtains; in the place of intelligence, ignorance abounds; in the place of thrift and comfort, poverty and wretchedness exist; in the place of honour and virtue, dishonour and vice run riot; until life becomes scarcely endurable for one who would keep his crown of pride and preserve the glorious beauty of true manhood.

II. THE TERRIBLE POWER OF APPETITE. It is absolutely destructive of the whole man! It is a giant bringing his captive into complete subjection. All goes wrong with a man when he is under the influence of strong drink! He cannot walk as a man; cannot work as a man; cannot talk as a man; cannot think as a man; nor is he capable of accurate judgment in matters of small or large concern. He tramples under his feet the most sacred associations and obligations of life; he loses his love as a husband, father, son; he breaks hearts that cling to him more fondly than to aught else in all the world; he finally becomes so bound as to render it practically impossible for him to cast off his chains! All this comes not only to such as may be termed the ignorant and naturally vicious, but to the learned and naturally virtuous. Men of culture and refinement, of education and position, of inheritances and attainments, of rank and station, give way to the same indulgences and fall into the same deeps! Fathers send the consuming currents through the veins of their sons. Mothers give birth to children whose feverish bodies flame with hidden fires.

III. THE DUTY OF EARNEST OPPOSITION AND FEARLESS WARFARE AGAINST INTEMPERANCE. We read here of a residue of the people, to whom the Lord of hosts would be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. The literal meaning of this is that after the pride of the apostate tribes had fallen, they who remained true to God and to themselves should glory and delight in Jehovah as their chief privilege and honour. This was the

prophecy, and it was blessedly fulfilled. When Israel was finally ruined, Judah rose to power under Hezekiah. He resisted all enticements, and in every way sought the reformation of his people. Many were held back from being overcome with wine. These were the residue of the people, and for their sake God endued the magistrates and counsellors with the spirit of discernment and equity; also gave courage to the captains who led forth their troops from the gate of Jerusalem and forced the war even to the gates of their enemies. The lesson here is one of united and fearless opposition to intemperance, and to whatever exposes the people to its ravages. While all practicable efforts should be made to reform those who are addicted to their cups, special care should be taken of children and youth that they may be kept from forming the drink habit.

1. The home should present no temptation on this line.

2. Each Sunday school should be a temperance society, organised and equipped for work.

3. The physical effects of intemperance should be taught in all our public schools.

4. Pastors, too, have a duty on this line. (Justin E. Twitchell)

Samaria

The beautiful city of Samaria crowning a low hill rising from the valley is like a garland on the brow of the revellers. The crown is already faded. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)

Overcome with wine

Literally, struck down. Hard drinking is compared to a combat between the toper and his drink, in which the latter is victorious. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)

Dry drunkenness.

Men are drunk, but not with wine; sometimes they are drunk with prosperity, with vanity, with evil thoughts, passionate desires. Men may be sober, and yet may be drunk. Men may be total abstainers from wine, and may yet go straight down to hell. (J. Parker, D. D.)

8. CALVIN, 1.Woe to the crown of pride. Isaiah now enters on another and different subject from that

which goes before it; for this discourse must be separated from the former one. He shews that the anger

of the Lord will quickly overtake, first, Israel, and afterwards the Jews; for it is probable that the kingdom

of Israel was still entire when the Prophet uttered these predictions, though nothing more can be affirmed

with certainty than that there is good reason to believe that the ten tribes had not at that time been led

into captivity.

Accordingly, the Prophet follows this order. First, he shews that the vengeance of God is not far from

Israel, because various sins and corruption of every kind prevailed in it; for they were swelled with pride

and insolence, had plunged into their luxuries and given way to every kind of licentiousness, and,

consequently, had broken out into open contempt of God, as is usually the case when men take

excessive liberties; for they quickly forget God. Secondly, he shews that God in some measure restrains

his anger by sparing the tribe of Judah; for when the ten tribes, with the half tribe of Benjamin, had been

carried into captivity, the Jews still remained entire and uninjured. Isaiah extols this compassion which

God manifested, in not permitting his Church to perish, but preserving some remnant. At the same time

he shews that the Jews are so depraved and corrupted that they do not permit God to exercise this

compassion, and that, in consequence of the wickedness which prevailed among them, not less than in

Israel, they too must feel the avenging hand of God. This order ought to be carefully observed; for many

persons blunder in the exposition of this passage, because the Prophet has not expressly mentioned the

name of Israel, though it is sufficiently known that Ephraim includes the ten tribes.

As to the words, since the particle (h) very frequently denotes evil on a person, I was unwilling to

depart from the ordinary opinion of commentators, more especially because the Prophet openly threatens

in this passage; yet if the translation, Alas the crown! be preferred, I have no objection.

For the excellence of its glory shall be a fading flower (210) The copulative (vau) signifies for or because.

He compares the and of Israel to fading flower, as will afterwards be stated. In general, he

pronounces a curse on the wealth of the Israelites; for by the word he means nothing else than the

wicked confidence with which they were puffed up, and which proceeded from the excess of their riches.

These vices are almost always joined together, because abundance and fullness produce cruelty and

pride; for we are elated by prosperity, and do not know how to use it with moderation. They inhabited a

rich and fertile country, and on this account Amos (Amo_4:1) calls them cows, which feed on the

mountain of Samaria. Thus, being puffed up by their wealth, they despised both God and men. The

Prophet calls them because, being intoxicated by prosperity, they dreaded no adversity, and thought

that they were beyond the reach of all danger, and that they were not even subject to God himself.

A fading flower. He alludes, I doubt not, to the crowns or chaplets (211) which were used at banquets, and

which are still used in many places in the present day. The Israelites indulged in gluttony and

drunkenness, and the fertility of the soil undoubtedly gave occasion to their intemperance. By calling it

fading flower he follows out his comparison, elegantly alluding to flowers which suddenly wither.

Which is on the head of the valley of fatness. (212) He says that that glory is the head of the valley of

fatness, because they saw under their feet their pastures, the fertility of which still more inflamed their

pride. (sh) is translated by some ointments; but that is inapplicable, for it denotes abundance

and fullness, which led them to neglect godliness and to despise God. By the word or he alludes to

the position of the country, because the Israelites chiefly inhabited rich valleys. He places on it a crown,

which surrounds the whole kingdom; because it was flourishing and abounded in every kind of wealth.

This denotes riches, from which arose sluggishness, presumption, rashness, intemperance, and cruelty.

This doctrine relates to us also; for the example of these men reminds us that we ought to use prosperity

with moderation, otherwise we shall be very unhappy, for the Lord will curse all our riches and

abundance.

8B. PULPIT, 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 (Isa_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 warning,

addressed to Samaria, he turns to consider the condition of Judah, which he accuses of following the

example of Samaria, of perishing through self-indulgence and lack of knowledge (Isa_28:7-12). He then

proceeds to expostulate seriously with the "rulers of Jerusalem," on whom lies the chief responsibility for

its future.

Isa_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 (Amo_4:1; Amo_6:6) and with pride (Amo_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 even invented fresh instruments of

music (Amo_6:4, Amo_6:5). At the same time, they said in their hearts, "Have we not taken by our own

strength?" (Amo_6:13). They persisted in regarding themselves as secure, when even ordinary political

foresight might have seen that their end was approaching. Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower;

rather, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty. The "glorious beauty" of Samaria was a beauty of

magnificent luxury. "Summer" and "winter houses," distinct each from the other (Amo_3:15); "ivory

palaces" (1Ki_22:39; Amo_3:15); a wealth of "gardens, vineyards, fig-orchards, and olive yards"

(Amo_4:9); residences of "hewn stone" (Amo_5:11); feasts enlivened with "the melody of viols"

(Amo_5:23); "beds of ivory" (Amo_6:4); "wine in bowls" (Amo_6:6); "chief ointments" (Amo_6:6);

constituted a total of luxurious refinement beyond which few had proceeded at the time, and which Isaiah

was fain to recognize, in a worldly point of view, as "glorious" and "beautiful." But the beauty was of a kind

liable to fade, and it was already fading under the sirocco of Assyrian invasion. Which are on the head

of the fat valleys; rather, which is on the head of the rich valley. Samaria was built on a hill of an oval

form, which rose up in the midst of a fertile valley shut in by mountains. The prophet identifies the valley

with the kingdom itself, and then personifies it, and regards its head as crowned by the fading flower of

Samaria's beauty.

9. EBC, GODS COMMONPLACE

ABOUT 725 B.C.

THE twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Isaiah is one of the greatest of his prophecies. It is distinguished by that regal versatility of style, which places its author at the head of Hebrew writers. Keen analyses of character, realistic contrasts between sin and judgment, clever retorts and epigrams, rapids of scorn, and "a spate" of judgment, but for final issue a placid stream of argument banked by sweet parable-such are the literary charms of the chapter, which derives its moral grandeur from the force with which its currents set towards faith and reason, as together the salvation of states, politicians, and private men. The style mirrors life about ourselves, and still tastes fresh to thirsty men. The truths are relevant to every day in which luxury and intemperance abound, in which there are eyes too fevered by sin to see beauty in simple purity, and minds so surfeited with knowledge or intoxicated with their own cleverness, that they call the maxims of moral reason commonplace and scorn religious instruction as food for babes.

Some time when the big, black cloud was gathering again on the north, Isaiah raised his voice to the magnates of Jerusalem: "Lift your heads from your wine-bowls; look north. The sunshine is still on Samaria, and your fellow-drinkers there are revelling in security. But the storm creeps up behind. They shall certainly perish soon; even you cannot help seeing that. Let it scare you, for their sin is yours, and that storm will not exhaust itself on Samaria. Do not think that your clever policies, alliance with Egypt or the treaty with Assyria herself, shall save you. Men are never saved from death and hell by making covenants with them. Scorners of religion and righteousness, except ye cease being sceptical and drunken, and come back from your diplomacy to faith and reason, ye shall not be saved! This destruction that looms is going to cover the whole earth. So stop your running to and fro across it in search of alliances. He that believeth shall not make haste. Stay at home and trust in the God of Zion, for Zion is the one thing that shall survive." In the parable, which closes the prophecy, Isaiah offers some relief to this dark prospect: "Do not think of God as a mere disaster-monger, maker of terrors for men. He has a plan, even in catastrophe, and this deluge, which looks like destruction for all of us, has its method, term, and fruits, just as much as the husbandmans harrowing of the earth or threshing of the corn."

The chapter with this argument falls into four divisions.

I. THE WARNING FROM SAMARIA

(Isa_28:1-6)

They had always been hard drinkers in North Israel. Fifty years before, Amos flashed judgment on those who trusted in the mount of Samaria, "lolling upon their couches and gulping their wine out of basons," women as well as men. Upon these same drunkards of Ephraim, now soaked and "stunned with wine," Isaiah fastens his Woe. Sunny the sky and balmy the air in which they lie, stretched upon flowers by the heads of their fat valleys- a land that tempts its inhabitants with the security of perpetual summer. But Gods swift storm drives up the valley-hail, rain, and violent streams from every gorge. Flowers, wreaths, and pampered bodies are trampled in the mire. The glory of sunny Ephraim is as the first ripe fig a man findeth, and "while it is yet in his hand, he eateth it up." But while drunken magnates and the flowers of a rich land are swept away, there is a residue who can and do abide even that storm, to whom the

Lord Himself shall be for a crown, "a spirit of justice to him that sitteth for justice, and for strength to them that turn back the battle at the gate."

Isaiahs intention is manifest, and his effort a great one. It is to rob passion of its magic and change mens temptations to their disgusts, by exhibiting how squalid passion shows beneath disaster, and how gloriously purity shines surviving it. It is to strip luxury and indulgence of their attractiveness by drenching them with the storm of judgment, and then not to leave them stunned, but to rouse in them a moral admiration and envy by the presentation of certain grand survivals of the storm-unstained justice and victorious valour. Isaiah first sweeps the atmosphere, hot from infective passion, with the cold tempest from the north. Then in the clear shining after rain he points to two figures, which have preserved through temptation and disaster, and now lift against a smiling sky, the ideal that those corrupt judges and drunken warriors have dragged into the mire-"him that sitteth for justice and him that turneth back the battle at the gate." The escape from sensuality, this passage suggests, is twofold. There is the exposure to nature where Gods judgments sweep their irresistible way; and then from the despair, which the unrelieved spectacle of judgment produces, there is the recovery to moral effort through the admiration of those purities and heroisms, that by Gods Spirit have survived.

When God has put a conscience into the art or literature of any generation, they have followed this method of Isaiah, but not always to the healthy end which he reaches. To show the slaves of Circe the physical disaster impending-which you must begin by doing if you are to impress their brutalised minds-is not enough. The lesson of Tennysons "Vision of Sin" and of Arnolds "New Sirens," that night and frost, decay and death, come down at last on pampered sense, is necessary, but not enough. Who stops there remains a defective and morbid moralist. When you have made the sensual shiver before the disease that inevitably awaits them, you must go on to show that there are men who have the secret of surviving the most terrible judgments of God, and lift their figures calm and victorious against the storm-washed sky. Preach the depravity of men, but never apart from the possibilities that remain in them. It is Isaiahs health as a moralist that he combines the two. No prophet ever threatened judgment more inexorable and complete than he. Yet he never failed to tell the sinner how possible it was for him to be different. If it were necessary to crush men in the mud, Isaiah would not leave them there with the hearts of swine. But he put conscience in them, and the envy of what was pure, and the admiration of what was victorious. Even as they wallowed, he pointed them to the figures of men like themselves, who had survived and overcome by the Spirit of God. Here we perceive the ethical possibilities that lay in his fundamental doctrine of a remnant. Isaiah never crushed men beneath the fear of judgment, without revealing to them the possibility and beauty of victorious virtue. Had we lived in those great days, what a help he had been to us-what a help he may be still!-not only firm to declare that the wages of sin is death, but careful to effect that our humiliation shall not be despair, and that even when we feel our shame and irretrievableness the most, we shall have the opportunity to behold our humanity crowned and seated on the throne from which we had fallen, our humanity driving back the battle from the gate against which we had been hopelessly driven! That seventh verse sounds like a trumpet in the ears of enervated and despairing men.

II. GODS COMMONPLACE

(Isa_28:7-13)

But Isaiah has cast his pearls before swine. The men of Jerusalem, whom he addresses, are too deep in sensuality to be roused by his noble words. "Even priest and prophet stagger through strong drink"; and the class that should have been the conscience of the city, responding: immediately to the word of God, "reel in vision and stumble in judgment." They turn upon Isaiahs earnest message with tipsy mens insolence. Isa_28:9-10 should be within inverted commas, for they are the mocking reply of drunkards over their cups. "Whom is he going to

teach knowledge, and upon whom is he trying to force the Message," as he calls it? "Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts?" Are we school-children, that he treats us with his endless platitudes and repetitions.-"precept upon precept and precept upon precept, line upon line and line upon line, here a little and there a little." So did these bibulous prophets, priests, and politicians mock Isaiahs messages of judgment, wagging their heads in mimicry of his simple, earnest tones. "We must conceive the abrupt, intentionally short, reiterated and almost childish words of Isa_28:10 as spoken in mimicry, with a mocking motion of the head, and in a childish, stammering, taunting tone."

But Isaiah turns upon them with their own words: "You call me, Stammerer! I tell you that God, Who speaks through me, and Whom in me you mock, will one day speak again to you in a tongue that shall indeed sound stammering to you. When those far-off barbarians have reached your walls, and over them taunt you in uncouth tones, then shall you hear how God can stammer. For these shall be the very voice of Him, and as He threatens you with captivity it shall be your bitterness to remember how by me He once offered you a rest and refreshing, which you refused. I tell you more. God will not only speak in words, but in deeds, and then truly your nickname for His message shall be fulfilled to you. Then shall the word of the Lord be unto you precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. For God shall speak with the terrible simplicity and slowness of deeds, with the gradual growth of fate, with the monotonous stages of decay, till step by step you go, and stumble backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. You have scorned my instruction as monosyllables fit for children! By irritating monosyllables of gradual penalty shall God instruct you the second time."

This is not only a very clever and cynical retort, but the statement of a moral principle. We gather from Isaiah that God speaks twice to men, first in words and then by deeds, but both times very simply and plainly. And if men deride and abuse the simplicity of the former, if they ignore moral and religious truths because they are elementary, and rebel against the quiet reiteration of simple voices, with which God sees it most healthy to conduct their education, then they shall be stunned by the commonplace pertinacity, with which the effects of their insolence work themselves out in life. Gods ways with men are mostly commonplace; that is the hardest lesson we have to learn. The tongue of conscience speaks like the tongue of time, prevailingly by ticks and moments; not in undue excitement of soul and body, not in the stirring up of out: passions nor by enlisting our ambitions, not in thunder nor in startling visions, but by everyday precepts of faithfulness, honour, and purity, to which conscience has to rise unwinged by fancy or ambition, and dreadfully weighted with the dreariness of life. If we, carried away upon the rushing interests of the world, and with our appetite spoiled by the wealth and piquancy of intellectual knowledge, despise the simple monitions of conscience and Scripture, as uninteresting and childish, this is the risk we run, -that God will speak to us in another, and this time unshirkable, kind of commonplace. What that is we shall understand, when a career of dissipation or unscrupulous ambition has bereft life of all interest and joy, when one enthusiasm after another grows dull, and one pleasure after another tasteless, when all the little things of life preach to us of judgment, and "the grasshopper becometh a burden," and we, slowly descending through the drab and monotony of decay, suffer the last great commonplace, death. There can be no greater irony than for the soul, which has sinned by too greedily seeking for sensation, to find sensation absent even from the judgments she has brought upon herself. Poor Heines "Confessions" acknowledge, at once with the appreciation of an artist and the pain of a victim, the satire, with which the Almighty inflicts, in the way that Isaiah describes, His penalties upon sins of sense.

III. COVENANTS WITH DEATH AND HELL

(Isa_28:14-22)

To Isaiahs threats of destruction, the politicians of Jerusalem replied, We have bought destruction off! They meant some treaty with a foreign power. Diplomacy is always obscure, and at that distance its details are buried for us in impenetrable darkness. But we may safely conclude that it was either the treaty of Ahaz with Assyria, or some counter-treaty executed with Egypt since this power began again to rise into pretentiousness, or more probably still it was a secret agreement with the southern power, while the open treaty with the northern was yet in force. Isaiah, from the way in which he speaks, seems to have been in ignorance of all, except that the politicians boast was an unhallowed, underhand intrigue, accomplished by much swindling and false conceit of cleverness. This wretched subterfuge Isaiah exposes in some of the most powerful sentences he ever uttered. A faithless diplomacy was never more thoroughly laid bare, in its miserable mixture of political pedantry and falsehood.

"Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye men of scorn, rulers of this people, which is in Jerusalem!"

"Because ye have said, We have entered into a covenant with Death, and with Hell have we made a bargain; the Overflowing Scourge," a current phrase of Isaiahs which they fling back in his teeth, "when it passeth along, shall not come unto us, for we have set lies as our refuge, and in falsehood have we hidden ourselves" [the prophets penetrating scorn drags up into their boast the secret conscience of their hearts, that after all lies did form the basis of this political arrangement], "therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I lay in Zion for foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste." No need of swift couriers to Egypt, and fret and fever of poor political brains in Jerusalem! The word make haste is onomatopoetic, like our fuss, and, if fuss may be applied to the conduct of high affairs of state, its exact equivalent in meaning.

"And I will set justice for a line, and righteousness for a plummet, and hail shall sweep away the subterfuge of lies, and the secrecy shall waters overflow. And cancelled shall be your covenant with Death, and your bargain with Hell shall not stand."

"The Overflowing Scourge," indeed! "When it passeth over, then ye shall be unto it for trampling. As often as it passeth over, it shall take you away, for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night. Then shall it be sheer terror to realise the Message!" Too late then for anything else. Had you realised "the Message" now, what rest and refreshing! But then only terror.

"For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself upon it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it." This proverb seems to be struck out of the prophet by the belief of the politicians, that they are creating a stable and restful policy for Judah. It flashes an aspect of hopeless uneasiness over the whole political situation. However they make their bed, with Egypts or Assyrias help, they shall not find it comfortable. No cleverness of theirs can create a satisfactory condition of affairs, no political arrangement, nothing short of faith, of absolute reliance on that bare foundation-stone laid in Zion, -Gods assurance that Jerusalem is inviolable.

"For Jehovah shall arise as on Mount Peratsim; He shall be stirred as in the valley of Gibeon, to do His deed-strange is this deed of His, and to bring to pass His act-strange is His act."

"Now, therefore, play no more the scorner, lest your bands be made tight, for a consumption, and that determined have I heard from the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, upon the whole earth." This finishes the matter. Possibility of alliance there is for sane men nowhere in this world of Western Asia, so evidently near convulsion. Only the foundation-stone in Zion shall be left. Cling to that.

When the pedantic members of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, in the year 1650, were clinging with all the grip of their hard logic, but with very little heart, to the "Divine right of kings," and attempting an impossible state, whose statute-book was to be the Westminster

Confession, and its chief executive officer King Charles II, Cromwell, then encamped at Musselburgh, sent them that letter in which the famous sentence occurs:

"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken. Precept may be upon precept, line may be upon line," he goes on to say, "and yet the Word of the Lord may be to some a word of Judgment; that they may fall backward, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken! There may be a spiritual fulness, which the world may call drunkenness; as in the second chapter of the Acts. There may be, as well, a carnal confidence upon misunderstood and misapplied precepts, which may be called spiritual drunkenness. There may be a Covenant made with Death and Hell! I will not say yours was so. But judge if such things have a politic aim: To avoid the overflowing scourge; or, To accomplish worldly interests? And if therein you have confederated with wicked and carnal men, and have respect for them, or otherwise have drawn them in to associate with us, Whether this be a covenant of God and spiritual? Bethink yourselves; we hope we do.

I pray you read the Twenty-eighth of Isaiah, from the fifth to the fifteenth verse. And do not scorn to know that it is the Spirit that quickens and giveth life."

Cromwell, as we have said, is the best commentator Isaiah has ever had, and that by an instinct born, not only of the same faith, but of experience in tackling similar sorts of character. In this letter he is dealing, like Isaiah, with stubborn pedants, who are endeavouring to fasten the national fortunes upon a Procrustean policy. The diplomacy of Jerusalem was very clever; the Covenanting ecclesiasticism of Edinburgh was logical and consistent. But a Jewish alliance with Assyria and the attempt of Scotsmen to force their covenant upon the whole United Kingdom were equally sheer impossibilities. In either case "the bed was shorter than that a man could stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he could wrap himself in it." Both, too, were "covenants with Death and Hell"; for if the attempt of the Scots to secure Charles II by the covenant was free from the falsehood of Jewish diplomacy, it was fatally certain, if successful, to have led to the subversion of their highest religious interests; and history has proved that Cromwell was no more than just in applying to it the strong expressions, which Isaiah uses Of Judahs ominous treaties with the unscrupulous heathen. Over against so pedantic an idea as that of forcing the life of the three nations into the mould of the one Covenant, and so fatal a folly as the attempt to commit the interests of religion to the keeping of the dissolute and perjured king, Cromwell stands in his great toleration of everything but unrighteousness and his strong conviction of three truths: - that the religious life of Great Britain and Ireland was too rich and varied for the Covenant: that national and religious interests so complicated and precious could be decided only upon the plainest principles of faith and justice: and that, tested by these principles, Charles and his crew were as utterly without worth to the nation and as pregnant with destruction, as Isaiah felt Assyria and Egypt to be to Judah. The battle-cries of the two parties at Dunbar are significant of the spiritual difference between them. That of the Scots was "The Covenant!" Cromwells was Isaiahs own, "The Lord of Hosts!" However logical, religious, and sincere theirs might be, it was at the best a scheme of men too narrow for events, and fatally compromised by its association with Charles II. But Cromwells battle-cry required only a moderately sincere faith from those who adopted it to ensure their victory. For to them it meant just what it had meant to Isaiah, loyalty to a Divine providence, supreme in righteousness, the willingness to be guided by events, interpreting them by no tradition or scheme, but only by conscience. He who understands this will be able to see which side was right in that strange civil war, where both so sincerely claimed to be Scriptural.

It may be wondered why we spend so much argument on comparing the attempt to force Charles II into the Solemn League and Covenant with the impious treaty of Judah with the heathen. But the argument has not been wasted, if it have shown how even sincere and religious men may make covenants with death, and even Church creeds and constitutions become beds

too short that a man may lie upon them, coverings narrower than that he can wrap himself in them. Not once or twice has it happened that an old and hallowed constitution has become, in the providence of God, unfit for the larger life of a people or of a Church, and yet is clung to by parties in that Church or people from motives of theological pedantry or ecclesiastical cowardice. Sooner or later a crisis is sure to arrive, in which the defective creed has to match itself against some interest of justice; and then endless compromises have to be entertained, that discover themselves perilously like "bargains with hell." If we of this generation have to make a public application of the twenty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, it lies in this direction. There are few things, to which his famous proverb of the short bed can be applied more aptly, than to the attempt to fasten down the religious life and thought of the present age too rigorously upon a creed of the fashion of two or three hundred years ago.

But Isaiahs words have wider application. Short of faith as he exemplified it, there is no possibility for the spirit of man to be free from uneasiness. It is so all along the scale of human endeavour. No power of patience or of hope is his, who cannot imagine possibilities of truth outside his own opinions, nor trust a justice larger than his private rights. It is here very often that the real test of our faith meets us. If we seek to fit life solely to the conception of our privileges, if in the preaching of our opinions no mystery of higher truth awe us at least into reverence and caution; then, whatever religious creeds we profess, we are not men of faith, but shall surely inherit the bitterness and turmoil that are the portion of unbelievers. If we make it the chief aim of our politics to drive cheap bargains for our trade or to be consistent to party or class interests; if we trim our conscience to popular opinion: if we sell our honesty in business or our love in marriage, that we may be comfortable in the world; then, however firmly we be established in reputation or in welfare, we have given our spiritual nature a support utterly inadequate to its needs, and we shall never find rest. Sooner or later, a man must feel the pinch of having cut his life short of the demands of conscience. Only a generous loyalty to her decrees will leave him freedom of heart and room for his arm to swing. Nor will any philosophy, however comprehensive, nor poetic fancy, however elastic, be able without the complement of faith to arrange, to account for, or to console us for, the actual facts of experience. It is only belief in the God of Isaiah, a true and loving God, omnipotent Ruler of our life, that can bring us peace. There was never a sorrow that did not find explanation in that, never a tired thought that would not cling to it. There are no interests so scattered nor energies so far-reaching that there is not return and rest for them under the shadow of His wings. "He that believeth shall not make haste." "Be still," says a psalm of the same date as Isaiah-"Be still, and know that I am God."

IV. THE ALMIGHTY: THE ALL-METHODICAL

(Isa_28:23-29)

The patience of faith, which Isaiah has so nobly preached, he now proceeds to vindicate by reason. But the vindication implies that his audience are already in another mood. From confidence in their clever diplomacy, heedless of the fact that God has His own purposes concerning them, they have swung round to despair before His judgments. Their despair, however, is due to the same fault as their careless confidence-the forgetfulness that God works by counsel and method. Even a calamity, so universal and extreme as that of whose certainty the prophet has now convinced them, has its measure and its term. To persuade the crushed and superstitious Jews of this, Isaiah employs a parable. "You know," he says, "the husbandman. Have you ever seen him keep on harrowing and breaking the clods of his land for mere sport, and without farther intention? Does not the harrowing time lead to the sowing time? Or again, when he threshes his crops, does he thresh for ever? Is threshing the end he has in view? Look, how he varies the rigour of his instrument by the kind of plant he threshes. For delicate plants, like fitches and cummin, he does not use the threshing sledge with the sharp teeth, or the lumbering roller, but the fitches are beaten out with a staff and the cummin with a rod. And in

the case of bread corn, which needs his roller and horses, he does not use these upon it till it is all crushed to dust." The application of this parable is very evident. If the husbandman be so methodical and careful, shall the God who taught him not also be so? If the violent treatment of land and fruits be so measured and adapted for their greater fruitfulness and purity, ought we not to trust God to have the same intentions in His violent treatment of His people? Isaiah here returns to his fundamental gospel: that the Almighty is the All-methodical, too. Men forget this. In their times of activity they think God indifferent; they are too occupied with their own schemes for shaping life, to imagine that He has any. In days of suffering, again, when disaster bursts, they conceive of God only as force and vengeance. Yet, says Isaiah, "Jehovah of hosts is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in that sort of wisdom which causes things to succeed." This last word of the chapter is very expressive. It literally means furtherance, help, salvation, and then the true wisdom or insight which ensures these: the wisdom which carries things through. It splendidly sums up Isaiahs gospel to the Jews, cowering like dogs before the coming calamity: God is not mere force or vengeance. His judgments are not chaos. But "He is wonderful in counsel," and all His ways have "furtherance" or "salvation" for their end.

We have said this is one of the finest prophecies of Isaiah. His political foresight was admirable, when he alone of his countrymen predicted the visitation of Assyria upon Judah. But now, when all are convinced of it, how still more wonderful does he seem facing that novel disaster, with the whole worlds force behind it, and declaring its limit. He has not the temptation, so strong in prophets of judgment, to be a mere disaster-monger, and leave judgment on the horizon unrelieved. Nor is he afraid, as other predicters of evil have been, of the monster he has summoned to the land. The secret of this is that from the first he predicted the Assyrian invasion, not out of any private malice nor merely by superior political foresight, but because he knew-and knew, as he tells us, by the inspiration of Gods own Spirit-that God required such an instrument to punish the unrighteousness of Judah. If the enemy was summoned by God at the first, surely till the last the enemy shall be in Gods hand.

To this enemy we are now to see Isaiah turn with the same message he has delivered to the men of Jerusalem.

10. MACLAREN, THE JUDGMENT OF DRUNKARDS AND MOCKERS

This prophecy probably falls in the first years of Hezekiah, when Samaria still stood, and the storm of war was gathering black in the north. The portion included in the text predicts the fall of Samaria (Isa_28:1-6) and then turns to Judah, which is guilty of the same sins as the northern capital, and adds to them mockery of the prophets message. Isaiah speaks with fiery indignation and sharp sarcasm. His words are aflame with loathing of the moral corruption of both kingdoms, and he fastens on the one common vice of drunkenness-not as if it were the only sin, but because it shows in the grossest form the rottenness underlying the apparent beauty.

I. The woe on Samaria (Isa_28:1-6). Travellers are unanimous in their raptures over the fertility and beauty of the valley in which Samaria stood, perched on its sunny, fruitful hill, amid its vineyards. The situation of the city naturally suggests the figure which regards it as a sparkling coronet or flowery wreath, twined round the brows of the hill; and that poetical metaphor is the more natural, since revellers were wont to twist garlands in their hair, when they reclined at their orgies. The city is the crown of pride-that is, the object of boasting and foolish confidence-and is also the fading flower of his sparkling ornament; that is, the flower which is the ornament of Ephraim, but is destined to fade.

The picture of the city passes into that of the drunken debauch, where the chief men of Samaria sprawl, smitten down by wine, and with the innocent flowers on their hot temples drooping in the fumes of the feast. But bright and sunny as the valley is, glittering in the light as the city sits

on her hill, careless and confident as the revellers are, a black cloud lies on the horizon, and one of the terrible sudden storms which such lands know comes driving up the valley. The Lord hath a mighty and strong one-the conqueror from the north, who is Gods instrument, though he knows it not.

The swift, sudden, irresistible onslaught of the Assyrian is described, in harmony with the figure of the flowery coronal, as a tempest which beats down the flowers and flings the sodden crown to the ground. The word rendered tempest is graphic, meaning literally a downpour. First comes hail, which batters the flowers to shreds; then the effect of the storm is described as destruction, and then the hurrying words turn back to paint the downpour of rain, mighty from its force in falling, and overflowing from its abundance, which soon sets all the fields swimming with flood water. What chance has a poor twist of flowers in such a storm? Its beauty will be marred, and all the petals beaten off, and nothing remains but that it should be trampled into mud. The rush of the prophets denunciation is swift and irresistible as the assault it describes, and it flashes from one metaphor to another without pause. The fertility of the valley of Samaria shapes the figures. As the picture of the flowery chaplet, so that which follows of the early fig, is full of local colour. A fig in June is a delicacy, which is sure to be plucked and eaten as soon as seen. Such a dainty, desirable morsel will Samaria be, as sweet and as little satisfying to the all-devouring hunger of the Assyrian.

But storms sweep the air clear, and everything will not go down before this one. The flower fadeth, but there is a chaplet of beauty which men may wreathe round their heads, which shall bloom for ever. All sensuous enjoyment has its limits in time, as well as in nobleness and exquisiteness; but when it is all done with, the beauty and festal ornament which truly crowns humanity shall smell sweet and blossom. The prophecy had regard simply to the issue of the historical disaster to which it pointed, and it meant that, after the storm of Assyrian conquest, there would still be, for the servants of God, the residue of the people, both in Israel and in Judah, a fuller possession of the blessings which descend on the men who make God their portion. But the principle involved is for ever true. The sweeping away of the perishable does draw true hearts nearer to God.

So the two halves of this prophecy give us eternal truths as to the certain destruction awaiting the joys of sense, and the permanence of the beauty and strength which belong to those who take God for their portion.

Drunkenness seems to have been a national sin in Israel; for Micah rebukes it as vehemently as Isaiah, and it is a clear bit of Christian duty in England to-day to set the trumpet to thy mouth and show the people this sin. But the lessons of the prophecy are wider than the specific form of evil denounced. All setting of affection and seeking of satisfaction in that which, in all the pride of its beauty, is a fading flower, is madness and sin. Into every life thus turned to the perishable will come the crash of the destroying storm, the mutterings of which might reach the ears of the feasters, if they were not drunk with the fumes of their deceiving delights. Only one kind of life has its roots in that which abides, and is safe from tempest and change. Amaranthine flowers bloom only in heaven, and must be brought thence, if they are to garland earthly foreheads. If we take God for ours, then whatever tempests may howl, and whatever fragile though fragrant joys may be swept away, we shall find in Him all that the world fails to give to its votaries. He is a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty. Our humanity is never so fair as when it is made beautiful by the possession of Him. All that sense vainly seeks in earth, faith finds in God. Not only beauty, but a spirit of judgment, in its narrower sense and in its widest, is breathed into those to whom God is the master light of all their seeing; and, yet more, He is strength to all who have to fight. Thus the close union of trustful souls with God, the actual inspiration of these, and the perfecting of their nature from communion with God, are taught us in the great words,

which tell how beauty, justice, and strength are all given in the gift of Jehovah Himself to His people.

II. The prophet turns to Judah (Isa_28:7-13), and charges them with the same disgusting debauchery. His language is vehement in its loathing, and describes the filthy orgies of those who should have been the guides of the people with almost painful realism. Note how the words reel and stagger are repeated, and also the words wine and strong drink. We see the priests and prophets unsteady gait, and then they stumble or fall. There they lie amid the filth, like hogs in a sty. It is very coarse language, but fine words are the Devils veils for coarse sins; and it is needful sometimes to call spades spades, and not to be ashamed to tell men plainly how ugly are the vices which they are not ashamed to commit. No doubt some of the drunken priests and false prophets in Jerusalem thought Isaiah extremely vulgar and indelicate, in talking about staggering teachers and tables swimming in vomit. But he had to speak out. So deep was the corruption that the officials were tipsy even when engaged in their official duties, the prophets reeled while they were seeing visions; the judges could not sit upright even when pronouncing judgment.

Isa_28:9-10 are generally taken as a sarcastic quotation of the drunkards scoffs at the prophet. They might be put in inverted commas. Their meaning is, Does he take us grave and reverend seigniors, priests and prophets, to be babies just weaned, that he pesters us with these monotonous petty preachings, fit only for the nursery, which he calls his message"? In Isa_28:10, the original for precept upon precept, etc., is a series of short words, which may be taken as reproducing the babbling tones of the drunken mockers.

The loose livers of all generations talk in the same fashion about the stern morality which rebukes their vice. They call it weak, commonplace, fit for children, and they pretend that they despise it. They are much too enlightened for such antiquated teaching. Old women and children may take it in, but men of the world, who have seen life, and know what is what, are not to be fooled so. What will this babbler say? was asked by the wise men of Athens, who were but repeating the scoffs of the prophets and priests of Jerusalem, and the same jeers are bitter in the mouth of many a profligate man to-day. It is the fate of all strict morality to be accounted childish by the people whom it inconveniently condemns.

In Isa_28:11 and onwards the prophet speaks. He catches up the mockers words, and retorts them. They have scoffed at his message as if it were stammering speech. They shall hear another kind of stammerers when the fierce invaders harsh and unintelligible language commands them. The reason why these foreign voices would have authority, was the national disregard of Gods voice. Ye would not hear Him when, by His prophet, He spoke gracious invitations to rest, and to give the nation rest, in obedience and trust. Therefore they shall hear the battle-cry of the conqueror, and have to obey orders spoken in a barbarous tongue.

Of course, the language meant is the Assyrian, which, though cognate with Hebrew, is so unlike as to be unintelligible to the people. But is not the threat the statement of a great truth always being fulfilled towards the disobedient? If we will not listen to that loving Voice which calls us to rest, we shall be forced to listen to the harsh and strident tones of conquering enemies who command us to slavish toil. If we will not be guided by His eye and voice, we shall be governed by whip and bridle. Our choice is either to hearken to the divine call, which is loving and gentle, and invites to deep repose springing from faith, or to have to hear the voice of the taskmasters. The monotony of despised moral and religious teaching shall give place to a more terrible monotony, even that of continuous judgments.

The mills of God grind slowly. Bit by bit, with gradual steps, with dismal persistence, like the slow drops on the rock, the judgments of God trickle out on the mocking heart. It takes a long time for a child to learn a pageful when he gets his lesson a sentence at a time. So slowly do His

chastisements fall on men who have despised the continuous messages of His love. The word of the Lord, which was laughed at when it clothed itself in a prophets speech, will be heard in more formidable shape, when it is wrapped in the long-drawn-out miseries of years of bondage. The warning is as needful for us as for these drunken priests and scornful rulers. The principle embodied is true in this day as it was then, and we too have to choose between serving God in gladness, hearkening to the voice of His word, and so finding rest to our souls, and serving the world, the flesh, and the devil, and so experiencing the perpetual dropping of the fiery rain of His judgments.

11. MEYER, THE DECAY OF AN INTEMPERATE PEOPLE

Isa_28:1-13

A new series of prophecies begins here and extends to Isa_32:20. Samaria is described as a faded crown or garland on the nations head because it was disgraced by the national drunkenness. See Amo_4:1. So corrupted was she by strong drink and its attendant evils that the Assyrian invader would plunder her as a man gathers ripe figs. But to Judah, that is, the remnant, the Lord would be a crown or garland, not of pride but of glory. His beauty would not be as a fading flower, but a lasting diadem. What wine is to the sensuous man, that God is to the spiritual. See Eph_5:18. You that have to form right judgments, and you that have to turn the battle from the gate, will find all your need in Him. In Isa_28:7-8 we have a terrible picture of widespread effects of strong drink; and in Isa_28:9-10 the prophet recites the ribald remarks addressed to himself by the roisterers of those evil days. He replies that God would Himself answer them by the stern accents of the Assyrian tongue, which would sound like stammering, Isa_28:11; and this would befall them because they would not need the wooing accents of His love, Isa_28:12.

2 See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong.

Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind,

like a driving rain and a flooding downpour,

he will throw it forcefully to the ground.

1.BARNES, Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one - The Hebrew of this

passage is, Lo! there is to the Lord ( la'donay) mighty and strong. Lowth renders it,

Behold the mighty one, the exceedingly strong one,

And supposes that it means the Lord himself. It is evident, however, that something must be understood as being that which the Lord hath, for the Hebrew properly implies that there is something strong and mighty which is under his control, and with which, as with a tempest, he

will sweep away and destroy Ephraim. Jarchi supposes that ruach (wind) is understood;

Kimchi thinks that the word is yom (day); others believe that chayil (an army) is understood. But I think the obvious interpretation is to refer it to the Assyrian king, as the agent by which Yahweh would destroy Samaria 2Ki_17:3-6. This power was entirely under the direction of Yahweh, and would be employed by him in accomplishing his purpose on that guilty people (compare the notes at Isa_10:5-6).

As a tempest of hail - A storm of hail is a most striking representation of the desolation that is produced by the ravages of an invading army (compare Job_27:21; the note at Isa_30:30; also Hos_13:15).

A flood of mighty waters - This is also a striking description of the devastating effects of an invading army (compare Psa_90:5; Jer_46:7-8)

Shall cast down to the earth - To cast it to the earth means that it should be entirely humbled and destroyed (see the note at Isa_25:12).

With the hand - Septuagint: - bia - Force, violence. This is its meaning here; as if it were taken in the hand, like a cup, and dashed indignantly to the ground.

2. CLARKE, Behold the Lord hath a mighty and strong one Behold the mighty

one, the exceedingly strong one - / ammits/ladonai, fortis Domino, i.e.,

fortissimmus, a Hebraism. For ladonai, to the Lord, thirty-eight MSS. Of Dr. Kennicotts

and many of De Rossis, with some of my own, and two editions, read laihovah, to Jehovah.

3. GILL, Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one,.... That is, a powerful king, with a mighty army, meaning Shalmaneser king of Assyria; whom the Lord had at his beck and command, and could use at his pleasure, as his instrument, to bring down the towering pride of Ephraim, and chastise him for his sensuality: which as a tempest of hail; that beats down herbs and plants, and branches of trees, and men and beasts: and a destroying storm; which carries all before it, blows down houses and trees, and makes terrible devastation wherever it comes: as a flood of mighty waters overflowing; whose torrent is so strong there is no stopping it: so this mighty and powerful prince shall cast down to the earth with the hand; the crown of pride, the people of Israel, and the king of it; he shall take the crown from his head, and cast it to the ground with a strong hand, as the Jews interpret it, with great violence; or very easily, with one hand, as it were, without any trouble at all. The Targum is,

"so shall people come against them, and remove them out of their own land into another land, because of the sins which were in their hands;''

4. HENRY, The justice of God in taking away their plenty from them, which they thus abused. Their glorious beauty, the plenty they were proud of, is but a fading flower; it is meat that perishes. The most substantial fruits, if God blast them and blow upon them, are but fading flowers, Isa_28:1. God can easily take away their corn in the season thereof (Hos_2:9), and recover locum vastatum - ground that has been alienated and has run to waste, those goods of his which they prepared for Baal. God has an officer ready to make a seizure for him, has one at his beck, a mighty and strong one, who is able to do the business, even the king of Assyria, who shall cast down to the earth with the hand, shall easily and effectually, and with the turn of a hand, destroy all that which they are proud of and pleased with, Isa_28:2. He shall throw it down to the ground, to be broken to pieces with a strong hand, with a hand that they cannot oppose. Then the crown of pride, and the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under foot (Isa_28:3); they shall lie exposed to contempt, and shall not be able to recover themselves. Drunkards, in their folly, are apt to talk proudly, and vaunt themselves most when they most shame themselves; but they thereby render themselves the more ridiculous. The beauty of their valleys, which they gloried in, will be, (1.) Like a fading flower (as before, Isa_28:1); it will wither of itself, and has in itself the principles of its own corruption; it will perish in time by its own moth and rust. (2.) Like the hasty fruit, which, as soon as it is discovered, is plucked and eaten up; so the wealth of this world, besides that it is apt to decay of itself, is subject to be devoured by others as greedily as the first-ripe fruit, which is earnestly desired, Mic_7:1. Thieves break through and steal. The harvest which the worldling is proud of the hungry eat up (Job_5:5); no sooner do they see the prey but they catch at it, and swallow up all they can lay their hands on. It is likewise easily devoured, as that fruit which, being ripe before it has grown, is very small, and is soon eaten up; and there being little of it, and that of little worth, it is not reserved, but used immediately.

5. JAMISON, strong one the Assyrian (Isa_10:5).

cast down namely, Ephraim (Isa_28:1) and Samaria, its crown.

with ... hand with violence (Isa_8:11).

6. K&D, In the next three vv. the hoi is expanded. Behold, the Lord holds a strong and mighty thing like a hailstorm, a pestilent tempest; like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, He casts down to the earth with almighty hand. With feet they tread down the proud crown of the drunken of Ephraim. And it happens to the fading flower of its splendid ornament, which is upon the head of the luxuriant valley, as to an early fig before it is harvest, which whoever sees it looks at, and it is no sooner in his hand than he swallows it. A strong and mighty thing:

45 we have rendered in the neuter (with the lxx and Targum) rather than in the masculine, as Luther does, although the strong and mighty thing which the Lord holds in readiness is no doubt the Assyrian. He is simply the medium of punishment in the hand of the Lord, which is

called yad absolutely, because it is absolute in power - as it were, the hand of all hands. This hand hurls Samaria to the ground (on the expression itself, compare Isa_25:12; Isa_26:5), so

that they tread the proud crown to pieces with their feet (teramasnah, the more pathetic plural

form, instead of the singular terames; Ges. 47, Anm. 3, and Caspari on Oba_1:13). The noun saar,

which is used elsewhere in the sense of shuddering, signifies here, like , an awful tempest;

and when connected with , a tempest accompanied with a pestilential blast, spreading miasma. Such destructive power is held by the absolute hand. It is soon all over then with the

splendid flower that has already begun to fade , like E F in Isa_22:24). It happens to

it as to a bikkurah (according to the Masora, written with mappik here, as distinguished from

Hos_9:10, equivalent to kebhikkurathah; see Job_11:9, like an early fig of this valley; according to others, it is simply euphonic). The gathering of figs takes place about August. Now, if any one sees a fig as early as June, he fixes his eyes upon it, and hardly touches it with his hand before he swallows it, and that without waiting to masticate it long. Like such a dainty bit will the luxuriant Samaria vanish. The fact that Shalmanassar, or his successor Sargon, did not conquer Samaria till after the lapse of three years (2Ki_18:10), does not detract from the truth of the prophecy; it is enough that both the thirst of the conqueror and the utter destruction of Samaria answered to it.

7. PULPIT, The Lord hath a mighty and strong one. God has in reserve a mighty power, which he will

let loose upon Samaria. The wicked are "his sword" (Psa_17:13), and are employed to carry out his

sentences. In the present ease the "mighty and strong one" is the Assyrian power. As a tempest of

hail, etc. The fearfully devastating force of an Assyrian invasion is set forth under three distinct images

a hailstorm, a furious tempest of wind, and a violent inundationas though so only could its full horror be

depicted. War is always a horrible scourge; but in ancient times, and with a people so cruel as the

Assyrians, it was a calamity exceeding in terribleness the utmost that the modern reader can conceive. It

involved the wholesale burning of cities and villages, the wanton destruction of trees and crops, the

slaughter of thousands in battles and sieges, the subsequent massacre of hundreds in cold blood, the

plunder of all classes, and the deportation of tens of thousands of captives, who were carried into

hopeless servitude in a strange land. With the hand; i.e. "with force," "violently." So in Assyrian

constantly (compare the use of the Greek ).

8. CALVIN, 2.Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one. This may refer to the Assyrians, as if he

had said, that they will be ready at God command to fight under his authority, as soon as they shall be

called. Yet I prefer to take it without a substantive, to mean either staff, or some other instrument, by

which the Lord will cast them down from this lofty pride.

As a deluge of hail. He compares it to deluge or to by which both herbs and flowers are thrown down,

and all the beauty of the earth is marred. Thus he continues the metaphor of the flower, which he had

introduced at the beginning of the chapter; for nothing can be more destructive to flowers than a heavy

shower or He makes use of the demonstrative particle , (hinn,) behold; because wicked men are

not moved by any threatenings, and therefore he shews that he does not speak of what is doubtful, or

conjecture at random, but foretells those things which will immediately take place.

Casting them down with the hand to the earth. , (b,) which I have translated the hand, is translated

by Jerome, spacious country, which does not agree with the words. Others take it for so as to mean a

violent casting down. But the plain meaning appears to me to be, that the glory and splendor of the

Israelites will be laid low, as if one threw down a drunk man the hand. The same statement is confirmed

by him in the third verse.

3 That wreath, the pride of Ephraims drunkards,

will be trampled underfoot.

1.PULPIT, The crown of pride, the drunkards; rather, of the drunkards (comp. Isa_28:1). The "crown

of pride" is scarcely "Samaria," as Delitzsch supposes, it is rather the self-complacent and boastful spirit

of the Israelite people, which will be "trodden under foot" by the Assyrians.

2. CLARKE, The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim The proud crown of

the drunkards of Ephraim - I read ataroth, crowns, plural, to agree with the verb

teramasnah, shall be trodden down.

3. GILL, The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet. Not only cast down with the hand, but trampled upon with the feet; showing their utter destruction, and the contempt with which they should be used; which, with their character, is repeated, to point out their sins, the cause of it, to denote the certainty of it, and that it might be taken notice of.

4. JAMISON, crown ... the drunkards rather, the crown of the drunkards.

5. PULPIT. 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" (Deu_21:20, Deu_21:21).

Nabal's drunkenness and churlishness together caused him to be "smitten by the Lord that he died'

(1Sa_25:38). Solomon warns his son against drunkenness by reminding him of the fact, which experience

had sufficiently proved by his time, that "the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty" (Pro_23:21).

The "drunkards of Ephraim" are denounced in unsparing terms by Isaiah and Amos. Christians are taught

that drunkards "shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (1Co_6:10), and bidden, "If any man that is called a

brother be a drunkard, with such a one, no, not to eat" (1Co_5:11). Drunkenness and gluttony are

naturally coupled together, as being each of them an abuse of God's good gifts to man; but drunkenness

is far the worse of the two, since, by robbing man of his self-control, it is apt to lead him on to a number of

other sins and crimes, and thus, while not perhaps worse in itself, it is in its consequences far more

injurious than gluttony. Drunkenness is often pleaded as an excuse for the crimes whereto it leads; but

some of the wisest amongst ancient legislators were so far from accepting this plea, that they doubled the

penalty for an offence if a man was drunk when he committed it (Arist; 'Eth. Nic.,' Amo_3:5, 8). In the

case of the "drunkards of Ephraim," it may be suspected that the desire to drown their cares in wine was

at the root of their drunkenness (comp. Isa_22:13; Pro_31:6, Pro_31:7). But, however we may pity those

who so act, we cannot excuse them. Difficulties are a call upon us to use to the utmost the intellect

wherewith we are endowed by God, if so be we may anyhow devise an escape from our troublesnot a

reason for our pushing reason from its seat, and rushing blindfold on calamity.

4 That fading flower, his glorious beauty,

set on the head of a fertile valley,

will be like figs ripe before harvest

as soon as people see them and take them in hand,

they swallow them.

1.BARNES, As the hasty fruit before the summer - The word rendered hasty fruit

( bikurah); in Arabic, bokkore; in Spanish, albacore), denotes the early fig. this ripens in June; the common fig does not ripen until August. Shaw, in his Travels, p. 370, says: No sooner does the boccore (the early fig) draw near to perfection in the middle or latter end of June, than the kermez or summer fig begins to be formed, though it rarely ripens before August, about which time the same tree frequently throws out a third crop, or the winter fig, as we may call it. This is usually of a much longer shape and darker complexion than the kermez, hanging and ripening on the tree after the leaves are shed; and provided the winter be mild and temperate it is gathered as a delicious morsel in the spring. Robinson (George), (Travels in Palestine and Syria, vol. i. p. 354), says, The fig tree, which delights in a rocky and parched soil, and is therefore often found in barren spots where nothing else will grow, is very common in Palestine and the East. The fruit is of two kinds, the boccore and the kermouse. The black and white boccore, or early fig, is produced in May; but the kermouse, or the fig properly so called, which is preserved and exported to Europe, is rarely ripe before September. Compare Hos_9:10. The phrase before the summer means before the heat of the summer, when the common fig was usually ripe. The idea here is this, the early fig would be plucked and eaten with great greediness. So the city of Samaria would be seized upon and destroyed by its enemies.

Which when he that looketh upon it seeth ... - That is, as soon as he sees it he plucks it, and eats it at once. He does not lay it up for future use, but as soon as he has it in his hand he devours it. So soon as the Assyrian should see Samaria he would rush upon it, and destroy it. It was usual for conquerors to preserve the cities which they took in war for future use, and to make them a part of the strength or ornament of their kingdom. But Samaria was to be at once destroyed. Its inhabitants were to be carried away, and it would be demolished as greedily as a hungry man plucks and eats the first fig that ripens on the tree.

2. CLARKE, The hasty fruit before the summer The early fruit before the

summer - No sooner doth the boccore, (the early fig), draw near to perfection in the middle

or latter end of June, than the kermez or summer fig begins to be formed, though it rarely ripens before August; about which time the same tree frequently throws out a third crop, or the winter fig, as we may call it. This is usually of a much longer shape and darker complexion than the

kermez, hanging and ripening upon the tree even after the leaves are shed; and, provided the winter proves mild and temperate, is gathered as a delicious morsel in the spring; Shaw, Travels, p. 370, fol. The image was very obvious to the inhabitants of Judea and the neighboring countries, and is frequently applied by the prophets to express a desirable object; by none more elegantly than by Hos_9:10 : -

Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel; Like the first ripe fig in her prime, I saw your fathers.

Which when he that looketh upon it seeth Which whoso seeth, he plucketh it

immediately - For yireh, which with haroeh makes a miserable tautology, read, by a

transposition of a letter, yoreh; a happy conjecture of Houbigant. The image expresses in the stronge