Isaiah 28:14-29

2. STABILITY

TEXT: Isaiah 28:14-29

14

Wherefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers, that rule this people that is in Jerusalem:

15

Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are 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:

16

therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of sure foundation; he that believeth shall not be in haste.

17

And I will make justice the line, and righteousness 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 annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

19

As often as it passeth through, it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass through, by day and by night: and it shall be naught but terror to understand the message.

20

For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

21

For Jehovah will rise up as in mount Perazim, he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

22

Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for a decree of destruction have I heard from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, upon the whole earth.

23

Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

24.

Doth he that ploweth to sow plow continually? doth he continually open and harrow his ground?

25

When he hath levelled the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in the border thereof?

26

For his God doth instruct him aright, and doth teach him.

27

For the fitches are not threshed with a sharp threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

28

Bread grain is ground; for he will not be always threshing it: and though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, he doth not grind it.

29

This also cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.

QUERIES

a.

What is a covenant with death?

b.

What is the foundation stone to be laid in Zion?

c.

Why use the figure of a short bed and narrow covers?

PARAPHRASE

Listen, you rulers of Judah that sit in Jerusalem and scofflisten to the word of Jehovah! You scoff at the predictions of God's judgment and say, We have insured ourselves against deathdeath cannot harm us, neither can Sheoland the flood of Assyrian invasion that is upon Israel shall not come to Judah, for we have protected ourselves with deceptive diplomacy and international sophistry. Because your foundation of deceit and intrigue will crumble, the Lord says, I am laying in the midst of My faithful remnant, the foundation of Zion. This foundation will be a rock, the tested and precious rock, the promise of the Messiah, which will be a solid and sure foundation for every one who believes. Whoever believes this will not panic when my judgment comes. Not only will there be a secure foundation but the standards of measuring men will be according to God's standardsjustice and righteousness. Your refuge of deceitful diplomacy will be swept away as by a fierce hail-storm or raging flood. All the covenants and agreements you have made to insure against disaster will be cancelled out by the overwhelming might of the Assyrian invasion when it tramples down your land. The Assyrians will conquer your land swiftly and advance toward Jerusalem daily. You will hear news of their advance every day and night and every message will strike terror into your hearts. Your bed is too short and your covers too narrow. Your preparations for security are inadequate. Just as Jehovah rose up against the Philistines in David's day at mount Perazim and Gibeon, he is going to rise against Judah, strange as it may seem, and bring to pass His word spoken by the prophets. So do not scoff at the warnings of God's word, but give heed to them and repent or your destruction by the Assyrians will intensify because I have heard a revelation from God of the powerfulness and universality of their conquests.
Now listen very closely to my words! Is the plowman so stupid that he plows his land over and over again without sowing his seed? No! When he had prepared the ground doesn-'t he broadcast the dill, scatter the cummin and plant the wheat and barley in rows? Yes, he does, for God has made him to use common sense to see and understand what needs to be done. The farmer never threshes all grains the same. A sledge is never used on dillit is beaten with a stick. A cart-wheel is never rolled on cumminit is beaten softly with a flail. Bread grain grinds easily so he does not pulverize it into dust. Once the cart-wheel has driven over it and ground it the farmer stores it. This is not only good common sense but it is true wisdom and comes from the Lord of Hosts who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 28:14-22 FOUNDATIONS: The rulers of Judah, sitting in their fortress city Jerusalem, scoffed at Isaiah's prophecies of Judah's judgment. They had made agreements and covenants with Egypt to insure their protection from Assyriathey thought! This is probably the meaning of covenant with death, and agreement with Sheol. It is very doubtful that there is anything here associated with mysticism or black magic, etc. The context is an entire section devoted to Isaiah's denunciation of alliances with Egypt. The government of Judah had been dealing in political subterfuge and deceitful diplomacy, trying to manipulate Egypt against Assyria and Assyria against Egypt. Judah was trying to deal under the tableto play both ends against the middle. And they were trusting in their skill at such sophistry. Little did they know they were dealing with world powers much more deceitful than theyand more skilled at it! Political chicanery and international double-dealing is disastrous. No nation can build its security and prosperity on deceit.

Because of their sin and depravity, the rulers of Judah were trying to perpetuate the kingdom of God by deceit and falsehood. Such schemes destroyed the very purpose for which God had called them to be a kingdomthe redemption of men and women, So, because man could not make a proper foundation upon which to build redemption, God lays a true, tested, solid foundation. The Hebrew word yisad (lay) is past tense. God had already started the foundation. It was the Messianic promise. It was started at least as early as David (cf. 2 Samuel 7:12 ff). The completion of the foundation would be found in the Messiah Himself (cf. Matthew 21:42; Matthew 21:44; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Romans 9:33; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:4-6). But God was laying in Zion (the faithful remnant) even then the beginnings of that Messianic hope through the prophets. The foundation stone then is the Messianic hope. The faith of a faithful few in Isaiah's day in these promises (and others to come after them) resulted in the coming of the Messiah and the building of a holy kingdom and habitation of God in the Spiritthe church. Christ, the Person, the Incarnate God, was the chief cornerstone. That God was going to come in A Person to the earth to establish His kingdom was rejected by sinful men of the prophet's day. They wanted the vineyard for themselves, and so they killed the messengers of God who came seeking God's fruit. Then when they saw the Son coming, they killed Him because He was the heir (cf. Matthew 21:33 ff). The foundation being laid by God, the Messianic hope, had already been tested and tried and men did believe in it. Their belief in it made them fit for God's kingdom because it redeemed them. The standards of citizenship for God's Messianic kingdom are belief, justice and righteousness. That small band of believers paying attention to Isaiah's preaching would cling to the Messianic hope and their lives would be characterized by justice and righteousness. Upon that foundation and measured by those standards they would overcome the despair, confusion and spiritual destruction that the impending storm of Assyrian invasion would bring to the scoffers.

Isaiah promises the scoffers all their cherished plans and schemes for protection from Egypt (built upon deceit) would be cancelled, wiped out. Whenever the Assyrians passed through the land the people of Palestine would be conqueredJudah as well as Israel. The Assyrians marched relentlessly, morning by morning, night after night, toward Jerusalem. Nothing hindered them (until of course, Hezekiah repented and prayed and Jerusalem was spared, cf. Isa. ch. 35-36). Every new day brought news of the Assyrian approach and terror began to grip them.
The prophet now turns to a proverb or parable probably very familiar to the people of his day. A bed too short for a man to stretch himself full length on and covers too narrow to wrap himself in on a chilly night are, to say the least, inadequate. As a matter of fact, they are a vexation! Judah's political intrigues with Egypt were like too short beds and too narrow covers. They were inadequate and would later vex their souls when God's judgment fell.

Jehovah will break through all the foolish and fallible schemes of Judah and her alliances with Egypt and execute His wrath on sinful Judah just as He did against the Philistines in David's day (cf. 2 Samuel 5:19 ff). Perazim in Hebrew means break through. David named the place where he brought the Lord's justice on the Philistines Baal-Perazim, Lord of breaking-through. The Lord judging His people will be a strange work. Most of the Jews in Isaiah's day refused to believe the Lord would judge them (cf. Isaiah 5:12, etc.). The work of the Lord is to purify for Himself a holy people (cf. Malachi 3:1-5, etc.). It may seem strange to men, but to God it is a part of His plan.

Isaiah now inserts a strong warning. The attitude of the rulers at Jerusalem seems to have been one of scoffing at the Word of the Lord as proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah. So Isaiah warns them what he has preached is a revelation from the Lordnot his own prediction. The more they resist it, the more inevitable and severe will be their doom at the hands of the Assyrians.

Isaiah 28:23-29 FACTS: Not only were the rulers of Jerusalem building on a false foundation, they were not even using good common sense and logic in their thinking. They did not have their facts straight. They must not only build on a stable foundation, they must think sensibly. It is tragic to watch sin throttle a man's ability to think logically and properly. Isaiah begins by calling for close attention to his words. Then he attempts to penetrate the calloused and crooked thinking of the rulers by illustrations from everyday experience. This is the way things work, says Isaiah; men do not continually plow a field. Once the field is plowed and prepared a man sows seed and later reaps a crop. God is going to plow His field to prepare it. But He will not continually plow it. The plowing is preparatory. Then He will sow and reap. But the plowing must be done. Isaiah 28:26 indicates preparing the soil; sowing and reaping is a systematic way things are done by men because such a systematic order of things comes from God. It certainly is a fact of experience that a man does not first go out and sow seed on fallow ground and then break up the sod and harrow it.

The same common sense and discretion is used in threshing. A man threshes the crop only as much as it needs to be threshed to extract the grain. He does not go on threshing it after the grain is separated and grind the grain into dust. God certainly will use the same reasonableness and discretion in dealing with His people. He will plow and threshthis is needfulbut He will not do so forever. He will reap also.

QUIZ

1.

Why do we think the covenant with death has no reference to black magic?

2.

What does the agreement with Sheol mean in its context?

3.

When did God lay the foundation stone in Zion?

4.

What is the meaning of the short bed parable in Isaiah 28:20?

5.

Why would Isaiah refer to plowing and threshing to illustrate his message?

6.

How does it apply to God's dealing with Judah?