Isaiah 28

Isaiah 28 opens the collection of "woe" oracles in Isaiah 28–33. Following chapters 24–27, which celebrate in song the judgment and restoration of the whole world, it turns again to the situation of the leaders of Israel and Judah in the prophet's own day.

Outline

• Verses 1–4 pronounce woe on the "crown of pride" of the drunkards of Ephraim. The city on the head of the fat valleys will be trodden down by a mighty one like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, and devoured like the hasty fruit before the summer.
• Verses 5–6 declare that in that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown to the residue of His people. He will be a spirit of judgment to him who sits in judgment and strength to those who turn the battle to the gate.
• Verses 7–13 describe how the priests and prophets of Judah also reel with wine, err in vision, and stumble in judgment. They mock the prophet's teaching as "precept upon precept." To a people who refused rest, God says He will speak with stammering lips and another tongue.
• Verses 14–22 portray the scornful rulers of Jerusalem, who feel secure, saying, "We have made a covenant with death." God lays a foundation stone in Zion and measures by judgment and righteousness. The refuge of lies will be swept away, and God will do His strange work, as at Mount Perazim and in the valley of Gibeon.
• Verses 23–29 teach that, just as a farmer plants and threshes each crop in the proper way, God is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.

Key Verses

• Isaiah 28:16: "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone." Romans 9:33, 10:11, and 1 Peter 2 (2:6) cite it as referring to Christ.
• Isaiah 28:11: "With stammering lips and another tongue." Paul quotes it in 1 Corinthians 14 (14:21) in his discussion of tongues.

People and Places

• Ephraim: The name of the tribe that represented northern Israel; here it refers to the Northern Kingdom. "The city on the head of the valleys" is commonly identified with its capital, Samaria.
• Jerusalem and Zion: The capital of Judah and the place where God lays the foundation stone.
• Mount Perazim and the valley of Gibeon: Place names recalling Baal-perazim and Gibeon, where David defeated the Philistines (2 Samuel 5:20–25). Some interpreters also connect them with the battle at Gibeon in Joshua 10.

Points for Reflection

• Verses 1–4 are read as a warning given before the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The text does not specify what the "covenant with death" is. Many commentators, comparing it with chapters 30–31, interpret it as an alliance with Egypt.
• Verse 10 in Hebrew consists of short, repeated syllables, and many interpreters take it as mockery of the prophet's teaching as baby talk. Some use the verse as warrant for a method of reading Scripture by piecing it together bit by bit, but critics point out that this use is far removed from the context.
• Interpretations of verses 11–12 differ. Some in the Pentecostal tradition read these verses as a prophecy of speaking in tongues and of rest. Another interpretation sees them as judgment delivered through the unfamiliar speech of a foreign army such as Assyria's, and holds that Paul also quoted them in the sense of a sign given to unbelievers.
• Verse 16, together with Psalm 118:22, is read in the New Testament as a messianic prophecy.