- Isaiah 28 (Contemporary English Version)
- The city of Samaria above a fertile valley is in for trouble! Its leaders are drunkards, who stuff themselves with food and wine. But they will be like flowers that dry up and wilt.
- Only the Lord is strong and powerful! His mighty hand will strike them down with the force of a hailstorm or a mighty whirlwind or an overwhelming flood.
- Every drunkard in Ephraim takes pride in Samaria, but it will be crushed.
- Samaria above a fertile valley will quickly lose its glory. It will be gobbled down like the first ripe fig at harvest season.
- When this time comes, the LORD All-Powerful will be a glorious crown for his people who survive.
- He will see that justice rules and that his people are able to defend their cities.
- Priests and prophets stumble because they are drunk. Their minds are too confused to receive God's messages or give honest decisions.
- Their tables are covered, completely covered, with their stinking vomit.
- You drunken leaders are like babies! How can you possibly understand or teach the LORD's message?
- You don't even listen-- all you hear is senseless sound after senseless sound.
- So, the Lord will speak to his people in strange sounds and foreign languages.
- He promised you perfect peace and rest, but you refused to listen.
- Now his message to you will be senseless sound after senseless sound. Then you will fall backwards, injured and trapped.
- You rulers of Jerusalem do nothing but sneer; now you must listen to what the LORD says.
- Do you think you have an agreement with death and the world of the dead? Why do you trust in your lies to keep you safe from danger and the mighty flood?
- And so the LORD says, "I'm laying a firm foundation for the city of Zion. It's a valuable cornerstone proven to be trustworthy; no one who trusts it will ever be disappointed.
- Justice and fairness will be the measuring lines that help me build." Hailstones and floods will destroy and wash away your shelter of lies.
- Your agreement with death and the world of the dead will be broken. Then angry, roaring waves will sweep over you.
- Morning, noon, and night an overwhelming flood will wash you away. The terrible things that happen will teach you this lesson:
- Your bed is too short, your blanket too skimpy.
- The LORD will fiercely attack as he did at Mount Perazim and in Gibeon Valley. But this time the LORD will do something surprising, not what you expect.
- So you had better stop sneering or you will be in worse shape than ever before. I heard the LORD All-Powerful threaten the whole country with destruction.
- Pay close attention to what I am saying.
- Farmers don't just plow and break up the ground.
- When a field is ready, they scatter the seeds of dill and cumin; they plant the seeds of wheat and barley in the proper places.
- They learn this from their God.
- After dill and cumin have been harvested, the stalks are pounded, not run over with a wagon.
- Wheat and barley are pounded, but not beaten to pulp; they are run over with a wagon, but not ground to dust.
- This wonderful knowledge comes from the LORD All-Powerful, who has such great wisdom.
Isaiah lived in the southern kingdom of Judah and directed much of his prophecy to Judah, but in this chapter he includes the northern kingdom of Israel in his word of 'woe.' It is Israel that receives the attention in the opening verses of the chapter. The "crown of pride" or "majestic crown" (depending on the translation) was Samaria, Israel's royal city. The majesty of this city was fading and its people were depicted as drunkards. The Lord had in store for them a hail storm in the form of the Assyria army that would devastate the city. God's protection would be removed and Samaria would be like a ripe fig that could be picked and eaten by whomever discovered it before it could be harvested.
Verses 5-6 jump into the far future to when Christ will reign in Jerusalem. At that time it is the Lord who will be the "crown of beauty" and He will give them a spirit of justice and strength to turn back their enemies. But back in the present, even their priests and prophets are drunkards, getting drunk at banquets and vomiting all over the table. They mimicked Isaiah's message with the prattle of a child which might be translated "Da, da, da, da, blah, blah, blah, blah," as if that is what Isaiah is doing - prattling. In turn, Isaiah mimicked them as they did him then says they will go "stumbling backwards, to be broken, trapped, and captured."
The people of Judah are no different, though, and God had an Assyrian hailstorm prepared for them as well. They were depending on other gods to deliver them from this storm, thus they had "cut a deal with Death, and we have made an agreement with Sheol," a reference to Semitic mythology. But Isaiah tells them "Your deal with Death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not last." Their trust is misplaced. It should be with the Lord God. Therefore, they will be trampled. Unless they experience terror, they will not understand what Isaiah is telling them. So terror they will have. And he cautions them not to mock what he says or they will experience even greater terror.
But then Isaiah inserts a word of compassion. Though Judah will suffer devastation, it will not be as great as it could be. A farmer crushes or threshes his crops to separate the grain from the chaff. But he does not treat each crop in the same way for the proper result cannot be accomplished by doing so. And so it will be with the Lord's 'threshing' of Judah. He will not over-thresh them. It will be just enough to separate the good grain from the chaff. So it is with God's love. It is not vindictive, but redemptive. He wants the best for His people and knows they can only have it through obedience to His instructions. When they stray from these instructions, He 'threshes' them so they might get back on track. Those who claim that a loving God would not do this do not understand love.
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