The Book of Isaiah

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The woe falls on Samaria, the "crown of pride" of the northern kingdom, a beautiful hilltop city crowning fertile valleys, but her leaders are "drunkards," soaked in wine and self-satisfaction. Their glory, Isaiah says, is only "a fading flower." God has "a mighty and strong one", the Assyrian army in His hand, coming "as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm... a flood of mighty waters" to "cast down to the earth" that proud crown, which "shall be trodden under feet." Their splendor will vanish as fast as "the hasty fruit before the summer", the first ripe fig that a hungry passerby snatches and swallows the moment he sees it. But against this fading human crown Isaiah sets a crown that never wilts: "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." To the humble remnant, God Himself is the true crown, and their strength and wisdom in the day of battle.

Gospel Focus

The whole passage turns on two crowns. There is the "crown of pride," human glory won by self and soaked in indulgence, and it is always "a fading flower," snatched away like early fruit. And there is the LORD Himself, "a crown of glory, and... a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people." Everyone wears one crown or the other. The world's crown, beauty, wealth, achievement, drink, and pleasure, cannot hold; "the world passeth away, and the lust thereof" (1 John 2:17). But those who make God their glory receive a crown that never fades, "a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1 Peter 5:4), "an incorruptible" crown (1 Corinthians 9:25). Notice too that this crown is given to "the residue," the remnant, the humble leftover after the proud are swept away. God's glory rests not on the self-crowned but on those who have nothing to boast in but Him. Do not spend your life weaving a wreath that wilts. Let the LORD be your crown, and you will wear a beauty that death cannot take.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The rot has reached even the religious leaders: "the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink... they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." The men meant to see God's word clearly are too drunk to stand, and their tables are "full of vomit and filthiness." When Isaiah brings them God's message, they sneer at it as if he were teaching toddlers, mimicking him: "precept must be upon precept... line upon line... here a little, and there a little", baby-talk, they scoff, fit only for children "weaned from the milk." But God had offered them real rest: "This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest... yet they would not hear." So their mockery becomes their judgment. Since they would not hear plain words, God will speak "with stammering lips and another tongue", the harsh foreign speech of invaders. And the word they reduced to a nursery rhyme will come upon them exactly so, "line upon line... that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." The despised word becomes the snare that trips them.

Gospel Focus

There is a sobering warning here about mocking the word of God. These leaders treated Scripture as beneath them, too simple, too repetitive, baby-talk, and that very word became "a snare" that broke them. The word of God is never neutral; it is "a savour of life unto life" to those who receive it and "of death unto death" to those who despise it (2 Corinthians 2:16). The same rest offered, "this is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest," is the rest Jesus still offers, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28), but it is only for those who will hear. "Yet they would not hear" is one of the saddest sentences in the Bible, and the writer of Hebrews turns it into a plea: "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts" (Hebrews 3:15). Do not let familiarity breed contempt for the Scriptures. The word you mock cannot save you; the word you humbly receive gives rest. Take heed how you hear.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Now Isaiah turns to the "scornful men" who rule Jerusalem. They imagine themselves untouchable, boasting, "We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement," trusting political schemes and self-deception so that "when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us." But God exposes their confidence for what it is: "we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." Against that refuge of lies God sets a true refuge: "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." Here is the one thing that will stand when everything else is swept away. God will measure the city by "judgment" and "righteousness" as by a builder's line and plumb, and "the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies," their "covenant with death" annulled, their false shelter overwhelmed. Their security will prove as useless as a bed too short to lie on and a blanket too narrow to cover. And most solemnly, God will rise to judge, "his strange work... his strange act", for judgment is foreign to His heart of mercy, yet He will do it. So "be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong."

Gospel Focus

Verse 16 is one of the mountain-peak prophecies of Christ in all the Old Testament, and the New Testament claims it plainly. "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation." Peter and Paul both name this Stone as Jesus: "Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded" (1 Peter 2:6; Romans 9:33). He is the tested Stone, proven in every trial and in death itself; He is the precious cornerstone who aligns and holds the whole house of God; and He is the sure foundation, for "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). Notice the sharp contrast the chapter draws. The scoffers hid under "lies" and a "covenant with death," and it was swept away; God offers instead a Stone that cannot be moved. Everyone is building on one or the other, a refuge of lies or the Rock, Christ. "He that believeth shall not make haste", will not panic when the flood comes, "shall not be ashamed." When the overflowing scourge passes through, only one foundation holds. Build your life on the tried Stone, believe on Him, and you will stand when every refuge of lies is washed away.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The chapter ends with a parable drawn from the farmyard. A wise farmer does not do the same thing forever: he plows, but not endlessly, he plows in order to plant. Then he sows each seed in its right place, "the fitches... the cummin... the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place." And when harvest comes, he threshes each crop as it needs: delicate seeds like dill and cumin are beaten gently "with a staff" and "with a rod," never crushed under heavy sledges or cartwheels, while grain is threshed harder but even then "he will not ever be threshing it", he does not grind it to powder. Where does a simple farmer learn such discernment? "His God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him." And the point lands in the last verse: "This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." If God gives even a plowman wisdom to deal fittingly with each seed, how much more wisely and tenderly does He deal with His own people.

Gospel Focus

This parable is one of the most comforting pictures of God's providence in Isaiah. The farmer does not plow forever, and he does not thresh every seed the same way; he suits his work to the crop, gentle with the tender seed, firmer with the grain, but never crushing what he means to keep. So it is with God's dealings with us. His plowing has a purpose, to prepare us for planting; His threshing has a limit, "he will not ever be threshing it." When His discipline feels hard, remember the farmer: God knows exactly how much pressure each of us can bear, and "will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able" (1 Corinthians 10:13). "He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14). The same God who is "wonderful in counsel" ordains our trials with the skill of a master farmer, never careless, never excessive, always aiming at a harvest. If you are under the rod today, take heart: the hand that holds it is wise and gentle, and it will not beat you beyond what brings forth fruit. Our God is "wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working," and He is working even your hard season toward good.