Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Isaiah 28:14-22
Isaiah Sternly Warns About The Threatening Future If They Will Not Look to God's Sure Foundation (Isaiah 28:14).
The leaders of Judah reply that they are not afraid of his threats because they have got it all worked out. They have an agreement with Egypt to come to their assistance, while meanwhile keeping the king of Assyria happy with deceitful words. Isaiah points out that that is to have a covenant with death and the grave (Sheol). What they should rather be doing is looking to the foundation stone that God will lay in Jerusalem (to Immanuel). If they looked ahead to His coming then they would accept their present situation and not be in such a hurry to be ‘free'. As it is their machinations will only result in disaster for them.
Analysis.
a For this reason hear the word of Yahweh, you scornful men who rule this people in Jerusalem. Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hidden ourselves” (Isaiah 28:14).
b Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone giving a sure foundation, and he who trusts will not be in a hurry (Isaiah 28:16).
c And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet, and the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place, and your covenant with death will be disannulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand (Isaiah 28:17 a).
d When the overflowing scourge passes through, you will be trodden down by it (Isaiah 28:18 b).
d As often as it passes through it will take you, for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night (Isaiah 28:19 a).
c And it will be nought but terror to understand the news. For the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it (Isaiah 28:19).
b For Yahweh will rise up as in Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work, and bring about His act, His strange act (Isaiah 28:21).
a Now therefore do not be scornful men, lest your bands be made strong. For a consummation, and that determined, have I heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, on the whole earth (Isaiah 28:22).
In ‘a' Yahweh speaks to the scornful men and in the parallel they are not to be scornful men. In ‘b' Yahweh lays a sure foundation stone in Zion, and in the parallel He rises up to do His strange work and bring about His strange act. In ‘c' He will make justice His plumbline and sweep away their false agreements with death and the grave because they are incompatible with His will and in the parallel they will find their resting places incompatible so that the news can only bring them terror. In ‘d' they will be trodden down by the overflowing scourge that passes through, and in the parallel when it passes through it will take them whether by night or by day.
‘For this reason hear the word of Yahweh,
You scornful men who rule this people in Jerusalem.
Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
And with Sheol are we at agreement.
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
It will not come to us,
For we have made lies our refuge,
And under falsehood have we hidden ourselves.” '
‘For this reason.' That is, because they have accused Isaiah of babbling and are therefore unable and unwilling to understand what God has to say to them and so are doomed to fall into a trap. Therefore let them hear what Yahweh has further to say.
Isaiah addresses them as ‘you scornful men'. This description is regularly found in Proverbs of those who are self-satisfied, beyond correction, arrogant and scornful of spiritual truth (Proverbs 1:22; Proverbs 13:1; Proverbs 14:9; Proverbs 21:24; see also Psalms 1:1), as these have proved themselves to be.
They also rule Jerusalem. They sit in the place of the Davidic king, but it is quite apparent that their hearts are set in another direction than the service of Yahweh. They should be those by whom God's Law goes out to the world (Isaiah 2:2), but instead they look to their own reputation and purposes. That is why Jerusalem will be subject to judgment, for great privilege brings great responsibility.
The words are not the ones that they would actually have spoken, but Isaiah's ironic interpretation of them. They had probably boasted of their covenant with Egypt, but Isaiah interprets that as their making a covenant with death, and being in agreement with Sheol (the world of the grave), in other words as having received guarantees from death and Sheol that they would not touch them (see on Isaiah 28:18). But if they were not fools they would have realised that death and Sheol are not to be trusted. Rather their mouths are open wide to receive them
They also boasted of the fact that ‘when the overflowing scourge passes through it will not come to us', because they actually believed that Egypt would be able to turn the tide of Assyria. Isaiah, however was of a different mind. He knew from God that Egypt stood no chance against Assyria. ‘Overflowing scourge' combines the idea of the scourge and the overflowing of a flood against which men have no hope. It will be a scourge of terrifying proportions.
‘For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hidden ourselves.' This is again not what they said but Isaiah's interpretation of it. This may refer to their deceiving of the Assyrian king, pretending one thing when doing another, or more likely it may be Isaiah's way of indicating that their covenant, made with Egypt and its gods, was relying on something that was nothing but lies and deceit, the religious claims of Egypt. And yet the sad thing was that they would rather trust in these than in the living God, and His truth!
‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh,
“Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tested stone,
A precious cornerstone giving a sure foundation,
And he who trusts will not be in a hurry.'
God's reply is to set certainty against uncertainty. He declares that there is only one tried and tested thing to trust in. And that is the tested stone, the cornerstone of great value which gives a sure foundation and guarantees the stability of the building. This is the corner stone on which the whole building would depend. It is the everlasting rock (Isaiah 26:4) on which the strong city is founded.
But what is this tested stone, this sure foundation?
1) Probably primarily in mind is a looking forward to the rock of the coming son of David, ‘God's anointed', Immanuel, especially as described in Isaiah 9:6, for when He comes all that is false will be swept away (Isaiah 28:17), and He is mentioned again in Isaiah 32:1; Isaiah 33:17. This would tie in with the fact that as the coming Servant of Yahweh He would be a covenant of the people, in contrast to their false covenant. (See Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:8; Isaiah 55:3).
2) Alternately (or combined with 1) the thought may be of God Himself as the foundation to which they should look and in which they should believe in contrast to the false foundations they are laying.
3) A third possibility is that the tested stone may be Mount Zion, His mysterious dwelling-place which is in both heaven and earth, and is the way to God and to the fulfilment of the promises concerning Immanuel.
4) Fourthly the tried and trusted stone could be the statement with which the sentence ends, translating ‘that is to say, he who trusts will not be in a hurry'. This last would include the other three, for the whole point of the statement is that the faith must be in God and His promises, including the promise of the coming Immanuel.
Whichever it is it confirms that whoever trusts in what God has provided will not be in a hurry to seek alternative security, whether in Egypt or anywhere else. They will rest confidently in Him, because He provides a firm foundation.
Indeed like many promises of God it could have a near and far view thus having both a present and a future significance. It could be intended first to turn their thoughts on God and their need for firm trust in Him alone, and their need to be founded on Him, and then to look ahead also to its wider fulfilment in the God-sent One Whom Isaiah had promised, the coming Immanuel (God with us - Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 11:1), which is indeed all tied up in true faith in God. Certainly we may see its supreme fulfilment in Jesus Christ, for when He came from God He became the foundation stone in which men could trust and on which they could be established with confidence and certainty (see 1 Peter 2:4; Matthew 21:42; Romans 9:33; 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:20).
The word for stone (‘bohan') is possibly an Egyptian loan word and signifies an especially hard stone suitable for carving. What was to be seen as being carved on it may well have been ‘he who believes will not be in a hurry'.
‘And I will make justice the line,
And righteousness the plummet,
And the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters will overflow the hiding place,
And your covenant with death will be disannulled,
And your agreement with Sheol will not stand.
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
You will be trodden down by it.'
Having laid His foundation stone God now declares that He will use justice and righteousness as tools with which to measure the population of his strong city. There can be no deceit there. All must be above board and morally true. It is a city of righteousness, the faithful city (Isaiah 1:26). Thus each who would enter its gates must be measured to determine their worthiness to be there.
Meanwhile on this basis their refuge of lies will be swept away by hail, and the hiding place of falsehood will be overflowed by floodwater, both regular symbols of the judgment of God. This possibly refers to the defeat of Pharaoh's army by the Assyrians. Compare how the activities of the Assyrians are described in these terms in Isaiah 28:2. Furthermore the covenant with death will be disannulled, and the agreement with Sheol cancelled, for man cannot determine his own destiny. The day of his death is in the hands of God.
‘When the overflowing scourge passes through, you will be trodden down by it.' The fact that it will ‘tread them down' reveals that the overflowing scourge is indeed the army of the king of Assyria. The symbol is no longer being figuratively applied.
‘As often as it passes through it will take you,
For morning by morning it will pass through,
By day and by night.
And it will be nought but terror to understand the news.
For the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it,
And the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.'
The overflowing scourge will continually pass through, morning by morning, and by day and night. The Assyrian annals in fact report that their armies did make numerous and constant returns to the same areas, every return being accompanied by massive slaughter and pillage. The steady blows of such attacks would create a sense of terror as the next visit was anticipated. And as the news reached them of the next advance their hearts would quail within them.
‘For the bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.' They had rejected God's resting place (Isaiah 28:12) and now the bed that they had made for themselves was distinctly uncomfortable. But having prepared it they had to lie on it, even though it was both unpleasant and ill fitting. They could not stretch comfortably on it because it was too short. They could not curl up on it because their covering was too narrow. They had sentenced themselves to night-long misery. How different it was from Yahweh's foundation stone.
‘For Yahweh will rise up as in Mount Perazim,
He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon,
That he may do his work, his strange work,
And bring about his act, his strange act.'
It was at Mount Perazim that Yahweh arose on behalf of David against the Philistines on their first invasion against him as king and broke them (1 Chronicles 14:8). And at Gibeon He again intervened on David's behalf so that David achieved another important victory (1 Chronicles 14:13). These deliverances were vital occasions, and they established Israel and were the foundation of David's kingship. So Yahweh declares that here again He will arise and act, but this time it will be a strange work and a strange act that He performs. For it will not be on behalf of His people but against them. He will work and act in His anger so as to punish them, for His anger will this time be directed against His own people and not against the enemy.
Each nation expected their gods to favour them and to defeat the enemy. Judah too looked to Yahweh to do the same for them, although their alliances demonstrated that they did not really have much confidence in Him to do so. But things have got to a state where He will not do so. Because they would not trust Him He will do the opposite, so that they might learn to trust. He will bring their enemy against them. He will arrange for them to be taken into captivity, so that they might be faced with their own wrongdoing and unbelief.
‘Now therefore do not be scornful men,
Lest your bands be made strong,
For a consummation, and that determined,
Have I heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts,
On the whole earth.'
So Isaiah makes a final plea for these men to themselves cease being scornful men, lest the worst come on them. The bands being made strong might refer to future threatened captivity, or to their becoming finally bound in the state in which they now are so that there is no hope of repentance. Both are in fact connected (compare Isaiah 6:9). And this plea is in the light of the fact that a consummation is coming, one which is set and determined (compare Isaiah 10:23) which will affect the whole known earth (or ‘the whole land'), as he has been informed by the One Who is the sovereign Lord, Yahweh of hosts Himself.
The word for ‘consummation' regularly means ‘a full end' or a ‘set purpose'. The thought therefore here is of something momentous, purposed by God. In the light of the captivity of Israel, this may well signify his awareness that Judah faces the same prospect of exile (Isaiah 39:6).