Isaiah 28

Chap. XXVIII. Ver. 1—29. Judgments denounced, both against Israel and Judah—but intermixed with mercy.—This chapter begins with a denunciation of the approaching ruin of the Israelites by Shalmanezer, whose power is compared to a tempest or flood, and his keenness to the avidity with which one plucks and swallows the fruit that is first ripe, and which, according to Dr. Shaw, is a great delicacy in the east. Ver. 5. the Prophet turns to the kingdom of Judah, to whom the Lord promises, in opposition to the fading crowns of Ephraim, to be himself a crown of glory, which is thought to have reference to the reign of Hezekiah. But Judah also degenerated to intemperance and profaneness; for they are introduced as not only scornfully rejecting, but also mocking and ridiculing the instructions of the Prophet.

“* Whom shall he teach?’ &c. To this God immediately retorts, in terms _alluding to their own mocking, but differently applied. ‘‘ Yes, my dealing with, so shall be according to your own words; in a country whither you shall be carried captives, you must, tongue; it shall then be command upon command for your punishment; it shall be line upon line to mark out your _ruin; compare (2 Kings 21:13);) it shall come upon you at different times, and by different degrees, till all my threatening against you be fulfilled.’ The Prophet then (ver. 14.) addresses these profane scoffers, who considered themselves secure from every evil, and assures them that there was no method but one, by which they could be saved; namely, by faith in him, and in the means of his appointment.

(Compare ver. 16. with Ephes. explanation and defence of God’s dealings with his people.— ‘*As the husbandman uses various methods in preparing his land, and adapting it to the several kinds of seeds to be sown, with a due observation of times and seasons; and when he hath gathered in the harvest, employs methods as various in separating the corn from the straw and chaff by different instruments, according to the nature of the different sorts of grain:—so God; with unerring wisdom and impartial justice Instructs, admonishes, and corrects his people; chastises an

Notes on the verses

Chap. XXVIII. Ver. 1. The crown of pride.—Bishop Lowth considers the city of Samaria situated upon a hill of oval form, surrounded with a rich valley, and then with other hills, as suggesting the idea of a chaplet; such as was worn in banquets, not only by the Greeks, but the luxurious Israelites, as appears in ver. 1, 3, 4; and from the apocryphal book of Wisdom, ch. ii, 7, 8. Fat to drunkards was the “‘ crown of pride,” though composed but of “ fading Ver. 2. A mighty and strong one.—This evidently refers to Shalmanezer, even Assyria, as related (2 Kings 18:9-12).— With the.—Lowth, “ His’ Ver. 4. It seeth—Houbigant, by the transposition of only a letter, reads “He plucketh it,” which avoids tautology, and is followed both by Lowth and Boothroyd.

[‘‘ No sooner,” says Dr. Shaw, ‘‘ doth the boccore (or early fig) draw near to perfection in the middle or latter end of June, than the xermez, 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 winter fig, as we may call it. This is usually of a much longer shape and darker colour 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.” ]—Bagster, _Ner. 6 That turn the battle to the gate.—That is, according to Lowth, ‘That repel the war,” (to the gate of the enemy.) See the fulfilment of this in (2 Kings 18)

8. _ Ver. 7. The priest and the prophet.—It is much to be feared, that being destitute both of the spirit of prophecy and the fervour of devotion, these might seek inspiration from their liquor, and in that state did they ‘‘ err in vision,” by substituting the dreams of intemperance for prophetic visions, and mock the true Prophets of the Lord. Ver. 9. Whom shall he teach?—i. e. does the prophet think we are but babes? So Lowth, who reads the whole of this verse in the interrogative. Ver. 10. Precept must be.—Lowth, “is;’’ but there is no verb in the original. Lowth considers this verse also as the language of these drunken prophets. Boothroyd takes a different view of the passage, which we subjoin.

He considers ver. 9. as the language of the prophet, who represents these Jewish Scribes &c. as utterly incompetent to be teachers; “Whom can such teach knowledge?”’ and adds, ** They are like children weaned from the milk,” &c. And what is said ver. 10, “ Precept upon precept,”’ &c. he considers as referring to their imperfect method of instruction, by bits and scraps, and in stammering accents. Ver. 11. For with stammering lips and another (i. e. a foreign) tongue will he speak.—See margin. Both interpretations consider this and the following verses as the language of the prophet Isaiah. The substance of the Bishop’s exposition is given in ours; and Dr. Boothroyd does not here materially Ver.

12. This is the rest.—That is, the true rest: namely, trust in God’s Wg 13. But the word of the Lord was.—Lowth, “ Shall be.” So Booth- Ver. 14. That rule this people.—Lowth, ‘‘ Ye people that utter sententious speeches,” or parables; such as here follow. Ver. 15. We have made a covenant with death and with hell, &c.—Lowth, ‘The grave.”—{To be in covenant with a thing, says Bishop Lowth, is a proverbial expression to denote perfect security from mischief or evil of which it is the cause. Lucan, speaking of the Psylli, whose peculiar property it was to be unhurt by the bite of serpents, with which their country abounded, approaches very nearly to the expression of Isaiah: ‘‘ Truce with the dreadful tyrant death they have, And border safely on his realm, the grave.””

Rowe.]— Bagster.; Lowth, ‘‘ Even the report Ver. 19.“Only to understand, &c.—See margin. alone shall cause terror.”; Wet; Ver. 20. For the bed is shorter, &c.—Another proverbial saying, implying that all means would be inadequate to their protection.: Ver. 25. Made plain.—That is, even, level —Fitches.—| Fitches is a corruption of vetches, a kind of tare; but Ketzach, is interpreted by the LXX., Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and the Rabbins, of the gith; which is a plant, says Ballester, commonly met with in gardens; and grows to a cubit in height; the leaves are small like those of fennel, the flower blue, which disappearing, the ovary shows itself on the top, like that of a poppy, furnished with little horns, oblong, divided by membranes into several partitions, or cells, in which are enclosed seeds of a very black colour, not unlike those of a leek, but of a very fragrant smell.

]|—Bagster.—Cummin is supposed to be an herb resembling fennel, still largely cultivated in Malta. seas Ver. 27. Not threshed.—Four different methods of threshing, appropriated to different grain, &c., are here referred to: viz. 1. The staff, or flail; 2. The drag, perhaps resembling our harrows; 3. The cart-wain; and, 4. The treading of cattle. & Ver. 28. Horsemen.—Lowth, “ The hoofs of his cattle.” So Syriac, Symmachus, Theodocius, and Vulgate: the original varying but one letter, samech for shin. * Ver. 29. This also cometh, &c.—[As the husbandman adopts his land to the different seeds to be sown, and employs different methods of threshing according to the nature of the grain, so God, to whom he is indebted for this wisdom and discretion, with unerring wisdom and strict justice, instructs, admonishes, and corrects his people.|—Bagster.

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