Isaia 28:16 Commento

In this chapter, I. The Ephraimites are reproved and threatened for their pride and drunkenness, their security and sensuality (Isa 28:1-8). But, in the midst of this, here is a gracious promise of God's favour to the remnant of his people (Isa 28:5, Isa 28:6). II. They are likewise reproved and threatened for their dulness and stupidity, and unaptness to profit by the instructions which the prophets gave them in God's name (Isa 28:9-13). III. The rulers of Jerusalem are reproved and threatened for their insolent contempt of God's judgments, and setting them at defiance; and, after a gracious promise of Christ and his grace, they are made to know that the vain hopes of escaping the judgments of God with which they flattered themselves would certainly deceive them (Isa 28:14-22). IV. All this is confirmed by a comparison borrowed from the method which the husbandman takes with his ground and grain, according to which they must expect God would proceed with his people, whom he had lately called his threshing and the corn of his floor (Isa 21:10) (Isa 28:23-29). This is written for our admonition, and is profitable for reproof and warning to us.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 28 In this chapter the ten tribes of Israel and the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, are threatened with divine judgments, because of their sins and iniquities mentioned. The ten tribes, under the name of Ephraim, for their pride and drunkenness, Isa 28:1 the means of their destruction, the Assyrian monarch, compared to a hail storm, and a flood of mighty waters, Isa 28:2 which destruction, for their sins, is repeated, and represented as sudden and swift; when they would be like a fading flower and hasty fruit, Isa 28:3 and then, as for the two tribes, though they had a glorious prince at the head of them, who had a spirit of wisdom and judgment for government, and of valour and courage for war, Isa 28:5 yet the generality of the people, led on by the example of priest and prophet, went into the same sensual gratifications as they of the ten tribes did, Isa 28:7 and became sottish and unteachable, and were like children just taken from the breast, and to be used as such, Isa 28:9 and though the doctrine proposed to be taught them was such as, if received, would be of the greatest advantage to them, for their comfort and refreshment, yet it was refused by them with the utmost contempt; which was to be their ruin, Isa 28:12, wherefore the rulers of Jerusalem are threatened with the judgments of God, which should come upon them night and day, the report of which would be a vexation to them; and from which they should not be screened by their covenant with death and hell, or by their shelters and coverings with lies and falsehood, in which they placed their confidence, Isa 28:14 in the midst of which account, for the comfort of the Lord's people, stands a glorious prophecy, concerning the sure foundation laid in Zion, on which all that are built are safe and happy, Isa 28:16 and the certainty of these judgments is illustrated by the method which the ploughman takes in sowing his corn, and threshing it out; for which he has instruction and direction from the Lord of hosts, Isa 28:23.

Judgment also will I lay to the line,.... A metaphor taken from builders, who in building use the line and plummet to carry on their work even and regular, retaining such stones as agree thereunto, and rejecting such as do not; signifying, that in the spiritual building, where Christ is the foundation and cornerstone, such as are built thereon shall continue and grow up regularly into a holy temple; but those that set at nought this precious stone, and build upon the sandy foundation of their own righteousness, betake themselves to a refuge of lies, and cover themselves in their own hiding places, as well as all such who go on in their sins, shall be rejected by the righteous judgment of God: and righteousness to the plummet; meaning the same as before; or, "I will lay judgment by the line, and righteousness by the plummet" (w); the rule of the divine law, by which it will appear whether their actions are agreeable to it, or the righteousness they trust in answerable to it; or the sense is, that at the same time that God would preserve and secure his own people upon the sure foundation Christ, he would punish others, according to the strict rules of justice, as his righteous law required, and according to the just demerit of sin. Kimchi interprets it, but very wrongly, of the justice and equity that should take place in the reign of Hezekiah, which were wanting at the time of this prophecy; but the preceding prophecy regards Christ, and not Hezekiah; and therefore is rather to be understood of the right and equal distribution of justice and judgment in the administration of government by him: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies; the lies they made their refuge, Isa 28:15 their lying prophets, their idols, their riches, their righteousness, and everything in which they placed their confidence; for all refuges, be they what they will, are lying ones, and will deceive, excepting Christ and his righteousness; all which are easily and at once swept away, with the besom of avenging justice, when God takes it in hand. The phrase denotes the facility and suddenness of the destruction, and the entirety of it, which should be brought about by means of a "hail" storm, the same with that in Isa 28:2 which designs the Assyrian, or rather the Roman army, since the prophecy preceding relates to the times of Christ; and it may be, by the refuge of lies may be meant the temple, in which the Jews greatly placed their confidence, as Cocceius thinks: and the waters shall overflow the hiding place; the city of Jerusalem, where they hid, and thought themselves safe: a mighty army rushing into a city, and putting the inhabitants to the sword, or to flight, or obliging them to surrender, may be fitly signified by an inundation of water; see Isa 8:7 very probably the army of the Romans under Vespasian. (w) So Gataker.

For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. [Isaiah 28:16] For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 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. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. [Isaiah 28:16] But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

And again the prophet says, "Since as a mighty stone He is laid for crushing, behold I cast down for the foundations of Zion a stone, precious, elect, a corner-stone, honourable." Next, what says He? "And he who shall trust in it shall live for ever." Is our hope, then, upon a stone? Far from it. But [the language is used] inasmuch as He laid his flesh [as a foundation] with power; for He says, "And He placed me as a firm rock."

And if in reading the Scripture you stumble on a good thought that is a “stumbling stone and a rock of offense,” blame yourself. For do not despair that this “stumbling stone and rock of offense” have meanings so as to fulfill the saying, “And the one who believes will not be put to shame.” Believe first, and you will discover much holy aid beneath the supposed offense. For if we ourselves receive the commandment not to speak a “careless word as we will render an account of it on the day of judgment,” and if we earnestly aspire, as far as possible, to make it so that every word coming out of our mouth works both on us who speak it and on those who hear it, what else is there need to understand about the prophets than that every word spoken through their mouth was one which works? And do not be amazed if every word spoken by the prophets works a work which is fitting for a word. For I think that every extraordinary letter written in the words of God works, and there is not “an iota or one dot” written in the Scripture which does not work in those who know to use the power of the Scriptures.

Who can the cornerstone be other than the one who is the living and precious stone supporting two structures with his teaching making them one? He established the building of Moses, which was to remain until his day, and then he joined on to one side our building of the gospel. This is why he is called the cornerstone.

Jacob, hastening to seek a bride, met Rachel unexpectedly at the well. And a great stone lay upon the well, which a multitude of shepherds were [accustomed] to roll away when they came together and then gave water to themselves and to their flocks. But Jacob alone rolls away the stone and waters the flocks of his spouse. The thing is, I think, a dark saying, a shadow of what should come. For what is the stone that is laid but Christ? For of him Isaiah says, “And I will lay in the foundations of Zion a costly stone, precious, elect”; and Daniel likewise, “A stone was cut out but not by hand,” that is, Christ was born without a man.

The foundation of justice therefore is faith, for the hearts of the just dwell on faith. And the just man that accuses himself builds justice on faith, for his justice becomes plain when he confesses the truth. So the Lord says through Isaiah: “Behold, I lay a stone for a foundation in Zion.” This means Christ as the foundation of the church. For Christ is the object of faith to all; but the church is as it were the outward form of justice; it is the common right of all.

This cornerstone joins together both walls and restores two peoples to unity, concerning which God said through Isaiah: “Behold, I will lay a cornerstone in Zion as its foundation, elect and precious; the one who believes in it will not be ashamed.” It was his will to build further upon this cornerstone and other cornerstones, so that the apostle Paul would be able to say boldly, “built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.”

Peter also spoke confidently about this stone of assistance: “This is the stone rejected by you builders, which was made the cornerstone.” And Isaiah said, “Behold, I will lay a cornerstone in Zion as its foundation, elect and precious; the one who believes in it will not be ashamed.”“Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to the people who produce its fruit.” As I have said, the kingdom of God is often to be understood as sacred Scripture, which the Lord removed from the Jews and gave to us that we might produce its fruits. This is the vineyard that was given to the tenant farmers and vinedressers who did no work in it; possessing the Scriptures in name only, they will lose the fruits of the vineyard. “Whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but the one upon whom it falls will be destroyed.” It is one thing to offend Christ through evil deeds but another thing to deny him. The sinner who nevertheless still believes in him is the one who falls on the stone and is broken but not altogether destroyed, for he is preserved for salvation through patience. But the one upon whom it falls, that is, the one upon whom the stone itself rushes, is the one who denies Christ inwardly. He is destroyed so completely that not even a shard with which to draw a little water will remain.

(Verse 16). Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will send in the foundations of Zion a tested, corner, precious stone, founded on a foundation: he who believes shall not hurry. LXX: Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I will lay in Zion a precious stone, a chosen, cornerstone, and whoever believes in it will not be put to shame. I had said, he says, to you: Listen to the word of the Lord, men who mock, or troubled rulers of my people, and do not have a covenant with death, nor an agreement with the underworld, who, despising my commandments, have put your hope in lies, and boasting, or rather despairing, say: with lies we will be protected. Therefore, the merciful and compassionate Lord, patient and greatly merciful (Ps. 145), says that he will send an elected, tested, precious, and corner stone into the foundations of Zion for those who do not want it. About which the Apostle also speaks: Like a wise architect, I have laid the foundation (I Cor. III, 10); and again: For no one can lay any other foundation than the one that's been laid, which is Christ Jesus (Ibid., 11). This stone is truly and again called a stone, just as in Leviticus, a man is called man twice and a corner stone, because it has united the people of the Circumcision and the Gentiles, about which it is also said in the psalm: The stone which the builders rejected, has become the head of the corner (Ps. CXVII, 22). But these are the builders and masons, who are now called deceivers and leaders of the people who are in Jerusalem. Concerning this stone, we read in Daniel that it was cut from a mountain without hands, and it filled the whole earth (Dan. II): because the divine dispensation of the divine seed assumed a human body, and the fullness of Divinity dwelt in it bodily. Upon this stone, which is also called rock, Christ built the Church, and according to the Hebrew, he established the foundation on a firm rock, on which anyone who believes will not be put to shame, or, according to the Hebrew, will not hasten, lest the coming of Christ appear slow to him. For if it delays according to Habakkuk, let no one despair: for it will surely come, and it will fulfill its promises (Hab. II).

Your stone is one that ruin follows and the disastrous collapse of tumbling towers; but our stone, laid by the hand of God, builds up, strengthens, lifts, fortifies and adorns the grace of the restored work with the splendor of everlasting immortality.For Isaiah says of this at the behest of the Holy Spirit: “Thus says the Lord: Behold, I lay a stone for the foundations of Zion, a precious stone, elect, a chief cornerstone, honored, and he that shall believe in it shall not be confounded.”

Therefore, with the exception of this cornerstone, I do not see how people are to be built into a house of God, to contain God dwelling in them, without being born again, which cannot happen before they are born.

To the one group, the infant at birth is shown as the chief cornerstone announced by the prophet; to the other group he is manifested at the very outset of his career. He has already begun to weld together in himself the two walls originally set in different directions, bringing shepherds from Judea and magi from the East.

A stone anointed; why a stone? “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect, precious; and he that believes on him shall not be confounded.” Why anointed? Because Christ comes from “anointing” (chrisma).

Here is what one believes with the heart unto justice and makes confession of with the mouth unto salvation. But you’re afraid to confess it, in case people taunt you with it; and not ones who have not come to believe, because they too believe it inwardly. But in case those who are ashamed to confess it should taunt you with it, listen to what comes next. For Scripture says, “Nobody who believes in him shall be put to shame.” Reflect on all this; stick to it all. This is prey, food not for the belly but for the intelligence.

Was his tomb made with hands? Does it rise above the ground, like the tombs of kings? Was the sepulcher made of stones joined together? And what is laid upon it? Tell us exactly, O prophets, about his tomb also, where it lies, and where we shall look for it. But they answer, “Look upon the solid rock which you have hewn,” look and see.… I, who am “the chief corner stone, chosen, precious,” lie for a while within a stone, I, who am “a stone of stumbling” to the Jews but of salvation to them that believe.

Isaiah wrote, “Behold, I lay a cornerstone in Zion as its foundation, elect and precious; he who believes in it will not be ashamed.” The cornerstone is Christ, who, when Nathaniel came to him, explained what Jacob had seen in his dream: “You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” For the Christ who descended “is the same one who ascends above all the heavens that he might fill everything.” But he lays a narrow path that leads to life.

Therefore, brothers, we should be careful neither to give scandal to others nor to take it ourselves when another gives it. It is scandal that troubles the senses, perturbs the mind, confuses our judgment otherwise sharp. It is a scandal that changed an angel into the devil, an apostle into a traitor; that brought sin into the world and allured humankind to death.… Scandal tempts the saints, fatigues the cautious, throws down the incautious, disturbs all things, confuses all people.… He uttered a warning to keep anyone else from coming to this, by saying, “It is impossible that scandals should not come; but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung about his neck and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.”Why a millstone and not an ordinary stone? Because, while a millstone is grinding the grain, and pouring out the flour and separating the bran from the meal, it is simultaneously furnishing bread to those who are dutifully toiling. Rightly, therefore, is a millstone tied to the neck of the person who chooses to be a minister of scandal rather than of peace; the very same thing that should have drawn him to life may drag him down to death. For [such a person] has changed those senses given to aid him toward life into a stumbling block bringing death. Then they persuaded him to see something else, and hear, feel and relish something else than was in Christ and in his saving knowledge. In this way he has encompassed the cornerstone, the stone symbolizing help, the stone cut out without hands, that is, Christ, and he has turned it into a stumbling for the weak.

Second is the remedy which God prepares for the saints, namely Christ: behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Zion: the stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner (Ps 117[118]:22); he that believes, let him not hasten, but wait for it: if it make any delay, wait for it (Hab 2:3), and this against the blasphemies of the wicked.

One of those pretended prophets spoken of on the preceding chapter, having contrasted and opposed Jeremiah, receives an awful declaration that, as a proof to the people of his having spoken without commission, he should die in the then current year; which accordingly came to pass its the seventh month, vv. 1-17.

Behold, I lay in Zion - See the notes on Gen 49:32; Psa 118:22 (note); Mat 21:42 (note); Act 4:11 (note); Rom 9:33 (note); Rom 10:11 (note); Eph 2:20 (note); Pe1 2:6-8 (note). Kimchi understands this of Hezekiah; but it most undoubtedly belongs to Jesus Christ alone; and his application of it to himself, even the Jews could not contest.

(Isa. 28:1-29) crown of pride--Hebrew for "proud crown of the drunkards," &c. [HORSLEY], namely, Samaria, the capital of Ephraim, or Israel. "Drunkards," literally (Isa 28:7-8; Isa 5:11, Isa 5:22; Amo 4:1; Amo 6:1-6) and metaphorically, like drunkards, rushing on to their own destruction. beauty . . . flower--"whose glorious beauty or ornament is a fading flower." Carrying on the image of "drunkards"; it was the custom at feasts to wreathe the brow with flowers; so Samaria, "which is (not as English Version, 'which are') upon the head of the fertile valley," that is, situated on a hill surrounded with the rich valleys as a garland (Kg1 16:24); but the garland is "fading," as garlands often do, because Ephraim is now close to ruin (compare Isa 16:8); fulfilled 721 B.C. (Kg2 17:6, Kg2 17:24).

Literally, "Behold Me as Him who has laid"; namely, in My divine counsel (Rev 13:8); none save I could lay it (Isa 63:5). stone--Jesus Christ; Hezekiah [MAURER], or the temple [EWALD], do not realize the full significancy of the language; but only in type point to Him, in whom the prophecy receives its exhaustive accomplishment; whether Isaiah understood its fulness or not (Pe1 1:11-12), the Holy Ghost plainly contemplated its fulfilment in Christ alone; so in Isa 32:1; compare Gen 49:24; Psa 118:22; Mat 21:42; Rom 10:11; Eph 2:20. tried--both by the devil (Luk 4:1-13) and by men (Luke 20:1-38), and even by God (Mat 27:46); a stone of tested solidity to bear the vast superstructure of man's redemption. The tested righteousness of Christ gives its peculiar merit to His vicarious sacrifice. The connection with the context is, though a "scourge" shall visit Judea (Isa 28:15), yet God's gracious purpose as to the elect remnant, and His kingdom of which "Zion" shall be the center, shall not fail, because its rests on Messiah (Mat 7:24-25; Ti2 2:19). precious--literally, "of preciousness," so in the Greek, (Pe1 2:7). He is preciousness. corner-stone-- (Kg1 5:17; Kg1 7:9; Job 38:6); the stone laid at the corner where two walls meet and connecting them; often costly. make haste--flee in hasty alarm; but the Septuagint has "be ashamed"; so Rom 9:33, and Pe1 2:6, "be confounded," substantially the same idea; he who rests on Him shall not have the shame of disappointment, nor flee in sudden panic (see Isa 30:15; Isa 32:17).