Isaiah 28:4

4 It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. Whoever sees it will snatch it up, as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.

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 For the Lord will send a mighty army against it. Like a mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain, they will burst upon it like a surging flood and smash it to the ground.

3 The proud city of Samaria— the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel — will be trampled beneath its enemies’ feet.

4 It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. Whoever sees it will snatch it up, as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.

5 Then at last the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will himself be Israel’s glorious crown. He will be the pride and joy of the remnant of his people.

6 He will give a longing for justice to their judges. He will give great courage to their warriors who stand at the gates.