A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 26: Terms of Reconciliation

A Commentary on Isaiah, Part 26: Terms of Reconciliation

Here we must attest once again, that the main purpose of Isaiah was not so much for his own time as it was for his distant future, and that the purpose of the prophet was not only to warn the children of Israel of their impending captivity, but also to describe both what would become of them in captivity, and how they should ultimately be redeemed from captivity and reconciled to Yahweh their God. Therefore in Isaiah, the reasons for the punishment of Israel are described, the taking of Israel into captivity is described, and the terms of reconciliation for Israel is described, along with allusions to the dismal alternatives if Israel could somehow refuse those terms, some of which we shall see here in Isaiah chapter 28. Along the way, it is made evident in the words of the prophet that in the course of events future to his time, the things which Yahweh God has purposed for the world are all for the benefit of the children of Israel, whether they be for their punishment or for their edification.

Therefore, throughout the past few chapters of Isaiah, we have discussed The Burden of Tyre which had begun in Isaiah chapter 23, and then, where Tyre had been used as a type for the Mystery Babylon of the Revelation, as it had been a great mercantile city, in chapter 26. There we also discussed The City of God for which Jerusalem had been used as a type, and the two cities were set in contrast to one another. Then, presenting our commentary for the closing verses of Isaiah chapter 26 along with chapter 27, we discussed the Triumph of the Righteous and prophecies of the resurrection of the dead, and we also began to exhibit from later chapters in Isaiah that in the end, all of the children of Israel shall be justified by God in Yahshua Christ.

Now, in Isaiah chapter 28, we shall see prophecies which are parallel to those promises which have been found here at this point in Isaiah, and which corroborate our assertions concerning the purpose of the prophet. Isaiah was a prophet not only for his own time, but for all time, and his words are just as relevant, or even more relevant, for the children of Israel today than they had been in 713 BC. As we have already explained earlier in this commentary, Samaria had already been destroyed by this time, since even if Isaiah neglected to mention Samaria, he had mentioned the Assyrian siege of Ashdod in Isaiah chapter 20, which, according to the Assyrian inscriptions of Sargon II, had happened in the same year that Samaria had been conquered. Ashdod is not mentioned in surviving Assyrian inscriptions before the time of Sargon II. [This we discussed at length earlier in this commentary, in Part 19: The Desert of the Sea.]

Since Samaria had fallen in 721 BC, as the popular chronologies generally state, and that was the sixth year of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:10), and then because within the ministry of Isaiah we are now approaching the fourteenth year of Hezekiah which is mentioned in the opening verses of Isaiah chapter 36, that would have therefore been around 713 BC, and we are somewhere between those two events here at this point in Isaiah. This is the best we can do for now, and we have already discussed some of the general problems with the popular chronologies. So while we do not necessarily agree with the timeline, it cannot be off by much more than a decade, and therefore it serves our purposes here.

Now in Isaiah chapter 28, although we have already seen promises of the triumph of the righteous, in spite of those promises Ephraim is being sent off into captivity in order to be punished for his sins, and here in this chapter Isaiah addresses Ephraim at length. As it is in Hosea, we would also assert that Ephraim here is representative of all the people of the ten tribes who had split off with the northern kingdom in the days of Jeroboam I, after the death of Solomon. This was apparent as early as chapter 7 of Isaiah, as Ephraim was the dominant tribe of that kingdom. However along with this description of his punishment, Isaiah shall explain the terms of reconciliation, and there shall be further promises of the resurrection of the dead, so we see that here there are parallels with the triumph of the righteous and the resurrection promises of Isaiah chapter 26. However in the terms of reconciliation presented here, Yahweh also addresses the people of Jerusalem, so we cannot imagine that Judah would somehow suffer a different fate than Ephraim, even if some of the people of Judah are assigned a different course in their period of punishment.

In spite of the use of Jerusalem as a type for the City of God in Isaiah chapter 26, Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not escape punishment for their sins, which at this point Ephraim and the other tribes of Israel are already suffering. Thus, in addition to the oracles against Judah which are found here in earlier chapters of Isaiah, we read in Hosea chapter 5: “3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. 4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD. 5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.” Then further on, in chapter 6: “4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.”

Unfortunately, we cannot tell from this text of Isaiah just how long it has been since his prophecy in Isaiah chapter 20, where we may deduce that he wrote that chapter in the same year in which Samaria had fallen. There is no break in the context of these prophecies since that point, and therefore here it may still be as early as 721 BC. There is no apparent break in the context of these chapters until chapter 36 opens, and it is the fourteenth year of Hezekiah. Therefore we do not know if Isaiah had uttered these prophecies from chapters 20 through 35 in one year, even in one month, or over the entire period of eight years from the fall of Samaria in the sixth year of Hezekiah, to his fourteenth year.

So now that the burdens which Isaiah had uttered are concluded, chapter 28 opens a series of woes, at least six of them, warning various of the children of Israel concerning certain aspects of their going off into captivity for their punishment. So with that we shall commence with Isaiah chapter 28, and the first of these woes:

1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! 2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. 

Where the King James Version has drunkards in both verses 1 and 3, and the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible and the New American Standard Bible both agree, the Septuagint has hirelings instead. This is a case of confusion between two very similar Hebrew letters, the yodh (י) and the vav (ו), where the Hebrew word שכור or shikowr (# 7910) is intoxicated, and שכיר or shikiyr (# 7916) is a hireling. In this case, drunkards is most likely the correct reading, since it better fits the context of “them that are overcome with wine”, although the Greek of the Septuagint is explicit where it has “they that are drunken without wine.” For that clause, in Origen’s Hexapla the later translations of Symmachus, Aquila of Sinope and Theodotion all more closely agree with the Masoretic Text. The last clause of verse 2, which has “shall cast down to the earth with the hand”, is better rendered in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible as “he will bring it forcefully to the ground.” 

In verse 7 of this chapter, the Septuagint reading is consistent with the King James and other versions where we read “For these have trespassed through wine; they have erred through strong drink: the priest and the prophet are mad through strong drink, they are swallowed up by reason of wine, they have staggered through drunkenness; they have erred: this is their vision. ” So perhaps the reading of the yodh, rather than the vav, and shikiyr rather than shikowr here, is the error of an ancient scribe, but to that we must also attribute the addition of a word meaning without near the end of the verse as it is in the Septuagint.

Here Isaiah does not have to prophesy of the fall of Ephraim, since he already had uttered such prophecies long before Samaria had fallen, for example in chapter 7, just after Uzziah had died and Ahaz became king, where he wrote, in part, that “8 … within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.” Therefore Isaiah had prophesied the destruction of Ephraim at least 20 years before Samaria fell to the Assyrians. Here, the glorious beauty of Ephraim is a fading flower, because ostensibly, Samaria has been destroyed, and the people had, for the most part, already been taken into captivity. The crown of pride with which Isaiah described Ephraim here must be that same pride for which Hosea had written that “5 ... the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them”, as we had cited earlier from Hosea chapter 5.

The references to drunkenness here are apparently metaphors for sin, and more specifically, the sin of pride, or arrogance, which is what is being broken in this stage of the process of their punishment. Later, in relation to the remaining people of Judah after the Assyrians had taken most of Judah captive in the time of Hezekiah, when only Jerusalem was left, we read in Joel chapter 1: “5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. 6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. 7 He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.” Thus Ephraim is not alone, and the people of Judah were also described as drunkards when they were found in a state of sin. Joel was reminding them of the destruction which had been brought upon them by the Assyrians, ostensibly because they had not repented. Now Isaiah repeats the drunkenness metaphor:

3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: 4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. 

There in verse 3, it is apparent that the crown of Ephraim’s pride was the drunkards themselves, men who were at the top of the society of Israel, but who were arrogant and who lived in luxury, rather than acting as shepherds of the people. The word for fat in the references to fat valleys in verses 1 and 3 is שמן or shemen (# 8081) and it literally means fat or oil. But it is apparent in Proverbs chapter 21 and elsewhere that the word was used to represent luxury, where we read: “17 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.” Evidently, the source of the pride of the rulers of Ephraim was the luxury in which they had lived. 

Now Yahweh professes that He, Himself, should have been the crown worn by Ephraim, and doing so He also asserts that He shall be the crown worn by the remnant that survives this judgment:

5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, 6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. 

Rather than a crown of pride, or arrogance, Yahweh should have been their crown, or in other words, Yahweh should have been the subject of their glory, rather than they themselves, and they would have been able to fend off their enemies. Yahweh mentions His judgment here, which is righteous, in order to help illustrate the failure of the judgment of the drunkards of Ephraim, and what follows assures us that He is speaking primarily of the rulers of Ephraim:

7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. 

The word prophet was used in a wider sense than merely to describe the prophets whose books we have in Scripture. A prophet was also one who interprets the Word of God, even if they were not given visions of the future. Such prophets would be the judges of the people, even if they judged only on a local scale. But on a greater scale, Samuel was a prophet in this same manner (1 Samuel 7:6), and at an earlier time, also Deborah (Judges 4:4). The prophet Nathan may also be placed in this category, and having been a consultant to the king, he stood as a judge of the king, declaring to him the judgments of God.

Here, aside from the references to unclean things, which may include foods that had been acquired in a sinful manner as Christ had suggested in His later criticisms of the Pharisees, the failure of the judgment of the people, and especially their leaders, is given as the explicit reason for which they had been condemned, more than any of their other sins. This we also read in Amos chapter 2: “6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes; 7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name: 8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.” [Their small “g” pagan god.] The course of the prophecy of Amos was evidently completed no later than the early years of the ministry of Isaiah, so they had both spoken of the men of Israel in the same general period.

The prophet Hosea was a contemporary of Isaiah, although he seems not to have continued quite as long. So even further on in the same chapter of Hosea which we have already cited, in chapter 5, we read: “9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. 10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment. 12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.” Removing the bound is a reference to changing the borders of lands held by the people, which is against the law. In Deuteronomy chapter 19 we read: “14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.” But perhaps here the term is an allegory, as it says that the princes were like those who change the boundaries, and apparently they were changing the boundaries which had been set throughout the entire law.

The next verse contrasts newborn children to these aforementioned priests and prophets, who were expected to have been learned men, but who were instead “swallowed up of wine”, or taken away by their sin. So aside from the criticisms which have already been conveyed, here in the words of the prophet, so far as this vision is concerned, here we have the beginning of the terms of reconciliation which Yahweh God is offering to Israel:

9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 

Those weaned from milk and drawn from breasts were young children, who are not yet learned, who had not been educated in the institutions of the society, so Yahweh God would choose them to learn knowledge. It is within this same context that Hosea wrote, in chapter 4 of his prophecy: “4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother [a reference to the kingdom]. 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” So both prophets had condemned the priests and the prophets of ancient Israel, because they should have been instructing the people. These are the shepherds of the people, and when they fail, they fail all of the people as well as themselves.

Likewise we read, in Ezekiel chapter 34: “1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.” Then a little further on, because the sheep were made to wander on account of the failure of the shepherds, we read: “7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 8 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; 9 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. 11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.” Where Yahweh God promised to search His sheep, and seek them out, these are the same “lost sheep of the house of Israel” for whom Christ had come, and to whom He had sent His apostles.

The apostles themselves were men who could not have expected to become apostles of Christ, men who were common men, and neither priests nor prophets, nor even learned. They certainly fit the description which we see here in verse 9, where it asks “Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?” and we are told “them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.” In other words, men who have no education nor any length of years in order to accumulate wisdom, which describes all of the twelve original apostles of Christ, who were men of common vocations. In chapter 4 of the Wisdom of Solomon, we read “8 For honorable old age is not the long-lasting nor in the number of years measured, 9 but understanding is grayness of hair for men, and an unspotted life is the maturity of old age.” So an understanding of the wisdom which is of God is much more valuable than worldly instruction or a lifetime of experience, and that is where the shepherds of the people had failed.

In the next verse, some may see a reference to the inevitably mechanical mundanity of learning laws and doctrines. However the verse better describes a learning process where elementary education must first be acquired before more complex concepts can be mastered, because one must attain knowledge of basic precepts before more complex doctrines may be understood. For example, one cannot understand what the laws barring fornication or adultery actually prohibit, unless first one understands what marriage is in the eyes of God. So in today’s churches there are references to “sex before marriage”, but that is impossible in the eyes of God, because when a man first has sex with a woman, if she is not married already she becomes his wife. This was the example of Isaac, in Genesis chapter 24 (24:67) and of Jacob in Genesis chapter 29 (29:23-30). So the concept of “sex before marriage” is actually contrary to the Word of God, and today’s priests and pastors are once again failing the people, but there are many other ways in which they fail. Moreover, they think that they can marry people, but according to the Word of God, it is He who joins man and woman together, and any other union is not godly.

Therefore we should assert that learning begins with fundamentals for good reason, and therefore that is what we read here in Isaiah:

10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 

In the opening verses of the Book of Proverbs we read: “1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Evidently, the drunkards here are also no better than fools, since they had rejected the wisdom of God.

Using the word “fool” in that manner, of someone who rejects or neglects the Word of God, we may use it properly. Likewise, in the 14th Psalm, and again in the 53rd, we read in words attributed to David that “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” So where Christ had said, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 5: “22 … and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire”, He could not have meant to condemn either David or Solomon, and therefore their use of the term must have been acceptable, and still is acceptable.

Now there is a prophecy which suggests that the children of Israel would speak languages other than Hebrew after they had gone into captivity:

11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. 

Paul of Tarsus had paraphrased this passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 where he wrote: “21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.” Paul’s Greek varies from that of the Septuagint here, and he seems to have purposely omitted the reference to rest, since the point he had sought to make in that portion of his epistle had concerned the apostolic gift of speaking in tongues, which to Paul had been a reference to known languages which could be understood by men of other nations, especially nations where Greek or Hebrew had not been spoken. That definition, as well as the reason for the gift of “speaking in tongues”, is fully apparent in Acts chapter 2. Here it is also evident that Yahweh had Isaiah prophesy the gift of speaking in tongues, and in this context, particularly in Greek, which was the language of the Gospel, because it was the method by which He would communicate with Israel in captivity, so He had foreseen the necessity for the gift.

This portion of our text will not be included in the audio format, but for purposes of textual comparison, here is Isaiah 28:11-12 from Rahlf’s Septuagint, and 1 Corinthians 14:21 from the Nestle-Aland edition (NA27):

Isaiah 28:11: διὰ φαυλισμὸν χειλέων διὰ γλώσσης ἑτέρας ὅτι λαλήσουσιν τῷ λαῷ τούτῳ 12 λέγοντες αὐτῷ τοῦτο τὸ ἀνάπαυμα τῷ πεινῶντι καὶ τοῦτο τὸ σύντριμμα καὶ οὐκ ἠθέλησαν ἀκούειν

1 Corinthians 14:21: ἐν τῶ νόμῳ γέγραπται ὅτι ἐν ἑτερογλώσσοις καὶ ἐν χείλεσιν ἑτέρων λαλήσω τῶ λαῶ τούτῳ, καὶ οὐδ᾽ οὕτως εἰσακούσονταί μου, λέγει κύριος. 

Where we read in the King James Version “This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing”, in the Septuagint, as Brenton had translated it, we read: “This is the rest to him that is hungry, and this is the calamity”. The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible agrees more closely to the Masoretic Text where it has “This is the rest, give rest to him that is weary, and this is the refreshing”. In a footnote the editors explain that of several Isaiah texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls which attest to this passage, the scroll known as 1QIsaiah^a and the Masoretic Text “use different but related words.” 

The Hebrew word translated as stammering here is לעג or laeg (# 3933), which Strong’s defined as derision or scoffing, which seems appropriate. But a noun which is spelled the same way, and which is certainly related (# 3934), is defined by Strong’s as “a buffoon; also a foreigner”. In the Septuagint, this word was translated with a word which means contempt, and Brenton therefore translated it as contemptuous, which is appropriate. However in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, this clause is translated to say “By men of strange lips and another tongue will he speak to this people”, which is also very close to how Paul of Tarsus seems to have read it from Isaiah. That maintains the original sense well enough, but perhaps the word in the Masoretic Text translated as stammering here would better have been translated as derisive, or something similar. So if that is the original reading, it is probably not coincidental that Paul of Tarsus, who was at the first considered to have been a contemptuous man by Christians, since he had been persecuting them, was chosen by Christ Himself to deliver the Gospel to Israel in captivity. 

In regard to the clause in verse 14 as it is found in the Septuagint, which as Brenton had translated it reads: “This is the rest to him that is hungry, and this is the calamity”, we should prefer either the King James reading of this passage, or that which is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. Yahweh has spoken to these people, the children of Israel in captivity, in the Gospel of Christ. So Yahshua Christ Himself, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 5, had also outlined the terms of reconciliation for the children of Israel, where He said: “27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” In Christ, the people may learn the wisdom of God, where under the covenant of Sinai, the priests and prophets had failed them.

Here is at least the third reference to the rest of Yahweh in Isaiah, which the children of Israel had at first been offered in Canaan, and to which they may have attained, if they had been obedient to their God. In Isaiah chapter 11, in a Messianic prophecy we read, in part: “10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the [Nations] seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” In Isaiah chapter 14 there is a promise of Israel’s release from captivity, in which we read: “3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve”.

In his epistle to the Hebrews, Paul of Tarsus had spoken of this same rest, where he spoke of the forty years of punishment of Israel in the wilderness and he said, in the closing verses of Hebrews chapter 3: “17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Then he wrote in chapter 4: “1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus [the Joshua of the Old Testament] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Having written that, Paul had cited the 95th Psalm, attributed to David, where we read: “8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. 10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.”

First, this shows that in reference to Yahweh God, the Sabbath cycle is an allegory, in which He had worked at His Creation for six days, and entering into a period of rest, He is still at rest from His works, the Creation as we know it having been completed. For man, of course, the Sabbath cycle is to be followed literally, but it is a model created by Yahweh God for an example to men, which is also a part of how Yahweh had wanted the society of Israel to be structured. In turn, the children of Israel have an offer to enter into his rest, to rest from the turmoil of their own works, but only once they trust in Him and take His yoke upon themselves, as Christ had explained in the Gospel. In that passage of Matthew which we have cited, the rest of Yahweh is the rest which Christ offers to men, that is also the rest of Joshua described by David and discussed by Paul, and that is the rest, and the refreshing, spoken of here in Isaiah.

So Israel can now find rest only in Christ, just as their ancient ancestors could have only found rest in obedience to Yahweh God, although they had failed:

13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. 

Yahweh God must have foreseen this failure, for which reason Christ is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”, as He is described in Revelation chapter 13. That is also prophesied here in Isaiah, in similar terms, in chapter 53. So because the rulers of the people of Israel had failed, now the prophet turns to address the rulers of Judah in Jerusalem:

14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 

While Isaiah has now changed the focus of his prophecy to the rulers of Jerusalem, his words are nevertheless pertinent to Israel, however he is using the rulers of Israel, or Ephraim, as an example, hoping that the rulers of Judah in Jerusalem may take notice and repent. Addressing them, he speaks collectively and portrays them as having uttered what follows:

15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 

Rejecting, or even neglecting the counsel of the wisdom of God and His laws, men make a covenant with death, as sin and death are certain and rejecting God they have no remedy. By this, men also make an agreement with Hell, and in reality, there is only a concept of Hell because men of old had chosen to reject God. This is the dismal alternative to rejecting the terms of reconciliation which are expressed in this chapter and elsewhere, such as the Words of Christ which we have cited from Matthew chapter 5.

Furthermore, the men here are portrayed as having imagined that they could escape the consequences of punishment for their rejection of God, so by that they imagined to have hid themselves in lies and falsehood. In spite of the fact that throughout earlier chapters of Isaiah there are found prophecies which assured them that the destruction of Jerusalem is already inevitable, Yahweh nevertheless continued to offer them opportunities for repentance here, and for at least another hundred years as it is recorded in the books of the later prophets.

Now what follows is most pertinent to the men of Jerusalem, because it was their destiny to experience it firsthand, even if it describes a Stone which is laid on behalf of all of Israel, and this is the principal element in the terms of reconciliation:

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. 

In Romans chapter 9 Paul had cited this verse but he paraphrased the first clause, and mixed elements from a prophecy found in Isaiah chapter 8 where he wrote: “33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Paul’s having done this illustrates his apparent belief that both prophesies of a stone in Isaiah, in chapter 8 and here in chapter 28, are indeed prophesies of Christ as Messiah. Thus we read, in Isaiah chapter 8: “13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

Again, in Romans chapter 10 Paul of Tarsus had paraphrased this verse from the Septuagint, where the last six words are nearly identical as he had written them, and said “11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” In chapter 2 of his first epistle, the apostle Peter had closely paraphrased the first portion of this verse, but cited its final clause in a precisely identical manner, where he wrote: “6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. ”

In those citations, forms of the Greek verb καταισχύνω are translated two different ways in the King James Version, as ashamed in Romans 10:11, which is the primary definition of the word, but as confounded in 1 Peter 2:6, which is certainly an innovation.

Once again, this portion of our text will not be included in the audio format, but is provided here for purposes of textual comparison:

Isaiah 28:16 διὰ τοῦτο οὕτως λέγει κύριος ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐμβαλῶ εἰς τὰ θεμέλια Σιων λίθον πολυτελῆ ἐκλεκτὸν ἀκρογωνιαῖον ἔντιμον εἰς τὰ θεμέλια αὐτῆς καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ

Romans 9:33 καθὼς γέγραπται· ἰδοὺ τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον προσκόμματος καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου, καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται.

Romans 10:11 λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή· πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται.

1 Peter 2:6 διότι περιέχει ἐν γραφῇ· ἰδοὺ τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον ἀκρογωνιαῖον ἐκλεκτὸν ἔντιμον, καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ.

Brenton’s Septuagint translation of the passage reads: “28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord, even the Lord, Behold, I lay for the foundations of Sion a costly stone, a choice, a corner-stone, a precious stone, for its foundations; and he that believes on him shall by no means be ashamed.”

The Hebrew word translated as to make haste in the King James Version here is חישׁ or חושׁ, chiysh or chuwsh (#’s 2363, 2439), both of which words Strong’s defines as to hurry or to be eager. In the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, the last clause of verse 16 reads “whoever believes will not be in panic”, so they had obviously translated this same word emphatically, as panic. But the Hebrew word meaning ashamed is בושׁ or buwsh (cf. Genesis 2:25), and the confusion of a letter seems to be the reason why the Masoretic Text has make haste here, but the apostles of Christ have a word that means ashamed in their citations of this passage, after the translation of the Septuagint. This confusion of the letter cheth (ח) for the letter beth (ב) we have neither realized nor encountered in the past. Of course, we would prefer the reading of the apostles, which also better fits the context of the passage. 

Here is a digression, since this raises some questions for King James Version only advocates: How did they translate καταισχύνω correctly, as ashamed, in Romans 10:11, and make the error of translating it as confounded in 1 Peter 2:6? Then if חושׁ or chuwsh does not agree with those apostles, who must have instead read בושׁ or buwsh in Isaiah 28:16, how did they not notice that error? We would rather agree with the apostles of Christ, who employed the same reading which is found in the Septuagint, than agree with the later mistakes of the Jewish scribes. 

Another similar prophecy found in the 118th Psalm is very pertinent here, and although the entirety of the psalm is relative to the ministry of Christ, we shall only cite the latter portion. And offer some comments along the way: “17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.” This is similar to the declaration that ‘Thy dead men shall live’, found here in Isaiah chapter 26. “18 The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: 20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. 21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.” This also expresses sentiments seen in the strong city Jerusalem and the triumph of the righteous in Isaiah chapter 26.

“22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. 23 This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” This is a concept seen here in Isaiah chapter 28, although here in Isaiah it is expressed not as a cause to celebrate, but by Yahweh God Himself as a term of reconciliation. “25 Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.” This expression of prosperity reflects the prosperity which the rulers of Israel had thought was assured to them in spite of their disobedience, so men should realize that true prosperity comes only in obedience to God. Finally, “27 God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. 28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. 29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” That mercy is expressed in Christ, who was the Stone which the builders refused, rejected, and therefore He was also the sacrifice bound to the altar, which is His cross.

Having been sacrificed in that manner as the Lamb of God, He can rightfully judge both His people and His enemies, as Paul had explained in different terms in Hebrews chapter 2: “14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” For that same thing, here we read:

17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. 

This describes a future event which shall be very much like that of the Passover on the night of the slaying of the firstborn of Egypt. On that night, the children of Israel shall somehow hear the call to “20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast”, which we have discussed in relation to the triumph of the righteous and Isaiah chapter 26 (26:20). So the destruction of lies, and the hiding places of the liars, is part and parcel of the disannullment of death and the agreement with hell made by the people of ancient Israel, for which Israel shall remain in captivity until the return of Christ. So this is also an affirmation of the promise that “19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead”, which was also found in that chapter, and in turn, that promise serves to help explain this passage. As Paul of Tarsus had declared in Romans chapter 6: “23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Following the Wedding Supper of the Lamb described in Revelation chapter 19, in chapter 20 we read that “14 … death and hell were cast into the lake of fire”, where we see that death and hell are done away with in Christ.

The plummet is a construction tool, and the purpose of the second temple and the seventy-weeks kingdom of Jerusalem was to produce the Messiah, so we read of Zerubbabel, a name which means “sown in Babylon”, in Zechariah chapter 4: “9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. 10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” So there also, is the plummet an indication of the judgment of Yahweh in Yahshua Christ, as the seven eyes are seen once again on the throne of God in Revelation chapter 5.

Yahshua Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”, as He Himself had declared in John chapter 14: “6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Furthermore, in John chapter 15, Christ declared for Himself to be the True Vine, where He said “1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” So this is another expression of the terms of reconciliation we find here in this chapter of Isaiah.

The consequence of that reconciliation is life, but men must agree to the terms. As Isaiah shall write later in this book of prophecy, in chapter 45, in words attributed to Yahweh, “23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” So the day is coming when men shall have no choice, and it is better to volunteer before that day comes.

Thusly was Adam told from the beginning, where we read in Genesis chapter 3: “22 … now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.” The Tree of Life in the garden was guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword not to prevent man from grasping it, but to make certain that when the time came, man would be able to grasp it. The cherubim were next seen in Scripture atop of the ark, guarding the covenant and the law, where we must surmise that keeping the law, and being within the covenant, one may indeed have life in Christ, and they are the principal terms of reconciliation. There is no other way.

Yahweh willing, we shall commence with our commentary at this point in Isaiah chapter 28 in the near future, as we still have aspects of this passage which need to be discussed.