Isaiah 28:4

4 That beautiful crown of flowers is just a dying plant set on a hill above a rich valley. That city will be like the first fig of summer. Anyone who sees it quickly picks it and eats it.

Isaiah 28:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 28:4

And the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat
valley
Meaning the riches and fruitfulness of the ten tribes, and especially of Samaria the head of them: shall be a fading flower;
as before declared, ( Isaiah 28:1 ) and here repeated to show the certainty of it, and to awaken their attention to it: [and] as the hasty fruit before the summer;
the first ripe fruit, that which is ripe before the summer fruits in common are. The Septuagint render it the first ripe fig; and so the Targum and Aben Ezra: which [when] he that looketh upon it seeth it;
that it is goodly and desirable, and so gathers it, ( Micah 7:1 ) : while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up;
and as soon as he has got it into his hand, he cannot keep it there to look at, or forbear eating it, but greedily devours it, and swallows it down at once; denoting what a desirable prey the ten tribes would be to the Assyrian monarch, and how swift, sudden, and inevitable, would be their destruction.

Isaiah 28:4 In-Context

2 Look, the Lord has someone who is strong and powerful. Like a storm of hail and strong wind, like a sudden flood of water pouring over the country, he will throw Samaria down to the ground.

3 That city, the pride of Israel's drunken people, will be trampled underfoot.

4 That beautiful crown of flowers is just a dying plant set on a hill above a rich valley. That city will be like the first fig of summer. Anyone who sees it quickly picks it and eats it.

5 At that time the Lord All-Powerful will be like a beautiful crown, like a wonderful crown of flowers for his people who are left alive.

6 Then he will give wisdom to the judges who must decide cases and strength to those who battle at the city gate.