Isaiah 28:1-10

1 How terrible it will be for Samaria, the pride of Israel's drunken people! That beautiful crown of flowers is just a dying plant set on a hill above a rich valley where drunkards live.

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.

7 But now those leaders are drunk with wine; they stumble from drinking too much beer. The priests and prophets are drunk with beer and are filled with wine. They stumble from too much beer. The prophets are drunk when they see their visions; the judges stumble when they make their decisions.

8 Every table is covered with vomit, so there is not a clean place anywhere.

9 The Lord is trying to teach the people a lesson; he is trying to make them understand his teachings. But the people are like babies too old for breast milk, like those who no longer nurse at their mother's breast.

10 So they make fun of the Lord's prophet and say: "A command here, a command there. A rule here, a rule there. A little lesson here, a little lesson there."

Isaiah 28:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 28

In this chapter the ten tribes of Israel and the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, are threatened with divine judgments, because of their sins and iniquities mentioned. The ten tribes, under the name of Ephraim, for their pride and drunkenness, Isa 28:1 the means of their destruction, the Assyrian monarch, compared to a hail storm, and a flood of mighty waters, Isa 28:2 which destruction, for their sins, is repeated, and represented as sudden and swift; when they would be like a fading flower and hasty fruit, Isa 28:3,4 and then, as for the two tribes, though they had a glorious prince at the head of them, who had a spirit of wisdom and judgment for government, and of valour and courage for war, Isa 28:5,6 yet the generality of the people, led on by the example of priest and prophet, went into the same sensual gratifications as they of the ten tribes did, Isa 28:7,8 and became sottish and unteachable, and were like children just taken from the breast, and to be used as such, Isa 28:9-11 and though the doctrine proposed to be taught them was such as, if received, would be of the greatest advantage to them, for their comfort and refreshment, yet it was refused by them with the utmost contempt; which was to be their ruin, Isa 28:12,13, wherefore the rulers of Jerusalem are threatened with the judgments of God, which should come upon them night and day, the report of which would be a vexation to them; and from which they should not be screened by their covenant with death and hell, or by their shelters and coverings with lies and falsehood, in which they placed their confidence, Isa 28:14,15 Isa 28:17-22 in the midst of which account, for the comfort of the Lord's people, stands a glorious prophecy, concerning the sure foundation laid in Zion, on which all that are built are safe and happy, Isa 28:16 and the certainty of these judgments is illustrated by the method which the ploughman takes in sowing his corn, and threshing it out; for which he has instruction and direction from the Lord of hosts, Isa 28:23-29.