Isaia 28:6 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.

But they also have erred through wine,.... Either they that sat in judgment, and turned the battle to the gate, as Jarchi interprets it: or rather, since the Lord was a spirit of judgment and strength to those, the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin in later times are meant, in the latter end of Hezekiah's reign, or in the times of Manasseh, or nearer the Babylonish captivity; these tribes, which professed the true religion, and who had the word, and worship, and ordinances of God among them, even these were guilty of the same sin of drunkenness, as the ten tribes that had apostatized; there were the drunkards of Judah, as well Ephraim, who "erred through wine"; they erred and strayed from the rule of the divine word by excessive drinking, and this led them on to other sins, as drunkenness commonly does; and they were not only through it guilty of errors in practice, but in principle also; they made sad mistakes, as in life and conversation, so in doctrine, their memories, understandings, and judgments, being sadly affected and beclouded through this sin: and through strong drink are out the of way; of God and his word; out of the way of truth and godliness: it signifies the same as before, only expressed in different words. The Targum renders the word for "strong drink", which designs any liquor that makes men drunk, by "old wine", which is accounted the best: the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; committed sin, by drinking to excess, and made themselves unfit for the duties of their office, and were guilty of sad mistakes in the performance of it; the priest sinned by so doing against an express command, and made himself incapable of distinguishing between the holy and unholy, the clean and the unclean, Lev 10:9 though this need not be restrained to the priest only, for the word "cohen" signifies a prince as well as priest; and it is not fitting for kings to drink wine, nor princes strong drink, to excess, Pro 31:4 civil as well as ecclesiastical rulers may be here designed, though chiefly the latter, men that should set the best of examples to others; and the "prophet", as Kimchi observes, intends not the true, but false prophets. The Targum renders it a "scribe"; these and the priests are frequently mentioned together in the New Testament, and were both erroneous; and their errors here, both as to doctrine and practice, are imputed to their drunkenness; a very scandalous sin, especially in persons of such a character: they are swallowed up of wine; they not only greedily swallowed it down, and were filled with it, but were swallowed up by it, drowned in it, and lost the exercise of their sense and reason, and were ruined and destroyed by it, and made wholly unfit for such sacred offices in which they were: they are out of the way through strong drink; out of the of their duty, by sinning in this manner; and out the way of the performance of their office, being rendered incapable of it: they err in vision: these were the prophets, the seers, who pretended to the visions of God, and related them to the people as such; but they mistook the imaginations of their crazy heads, intoxicated with liquor, for the visions of God; they erred in prophesying, which may be meant by "vision", they delivered out false prophecies, false doctrines, and grievous errors, of fatal consequence to the people; or, as Kimchi further interprets it, they erred "in seeing"; they mistook in those things which were plain and obvious to the eye of everyone, in things clear and manifest; drunkenness affects the eyes both of the body and of the mind, that a man can see clearly with neither. The Targum is, "they turned after, or declined unto, sweet meat;'' as if they were guilty of gluttony as well as drunkenness; but it is not usual for drunkards to crave sweet meat, but rather what is relishing: they stumble in judgment; or "reel" (r) and stagger, as drunken men do: this refers to the priest, who, through drunkenness, made sad hobbling work in expounding the law, and giving the sense of it, and in pronouncing sentence of judgment in matters of controversy brought before him, to whom those things appertained, Mal 2:7, Deu 17:8. (r) "titubant in judicatione", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gataker.

(Verse 5 and following) On that day, the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory and a diadem of rejoicing to the remnant of his people, and a spirit of judgment to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. But these also reel because of wine and stagger because of strong drink: priest and prophet reel because of strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they stagger because of strong drink; they reel while having visions, they totter when rendering judgment. For all the tables were filled with vomit and filth, so that there was no longer any place. LXX: On that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people. They shall put away in the spirit of judgment all wickedness and forbid every deed of violence. For they are deceived by wine, they stagger because of strong drink; priest and prophet reel with strong drink, they are confused with wine, they stagger because of strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in giving judgment. All tables are covered with filthy vomit. No place is clean. After the entire land of Samaria, that is, the ten tribes, was destroyed by the flooding Assyrians and trampled underfoot, the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and devoured like a temporary fig tree, then the remaining people of Israel, that is, the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, will be the crown of victory; and the spirit of judgment will be upon the king who sits in judgment, undoubtedly King Hezekiah of Judah; and their strength, who have avenged all the populated regions and returned from battle, will be their protection within the city. The prophet speaks about what we are going to read in the same passage (below chapter 37), when 185,000 armed soldiers from the Assyrian army were destroyed by an angel striking them. But these people too, that is, Judah and Benjamin, were intoxicated with the wine of idolatry, and having despised the religion of the temple, they worshipped the idols of demons and did not recognize the Lord who sees everything. For all their tables and their whole religion were filled with vomit and filth, so that not only in the temple, but on the top of mountains and in wooded places, they filled everything with the filth of idolatry, and the Lord did not have a place of dwelling in them. Let this be said according to the letter. Furthermore, according to tropology, let us follow the previous understanding and not leave aside the untouched Seventy Interpreters. For the heretics, devoured by the mouth of the devil, who have climbed the mountain of pride, the Lord will be the crown of glory; but for those who dwell in the Church, and compared to the multitude of many wanderers, they are few in number. However, there will be a spirit of judgment over judgment: for the Lord will cleanse the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion with the spirit of judgment. But if anyone has blood, he will be cleansed not by the breath of judgment, but by the fire of purification, and he will be a strength to the people and will prevent them from being killed by those who are intoxicated with the wine of dragons and have gone astray because of their drunkenness. We have often said that wine is made from grapes. But drunkenness refers to any drink that can intoxicate and disturb the mind, which Aquila properly translated as ebriety, whether it is made from wheat, barley, millet, the juice of fruits, the fruit of palm trees, or any other kind. Therefore, the priests and prophets of the heretics lost their minds because of wine, and they were consumed because of alcohol, like Prisca and Maximilla, and their leader Montanus; and they did not know what to say. They are intoxicated by wine when they wrongly understand and distort the holy Scriptures. They are consumed by alcohol when they misuse worldly wisdom and the snares of dialecticians, which should be called not so much chains as phantasms, that is, certain shadows and images that quickly perish and dissolve. Those who believe that profit is piety and do everything out of greed will be cursed. The Apostle spoke about this phantasm, saying: 'Giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy' (I Tim. IV, 1, 2). The third explanation is that after the Lord destroyed the Scribes and the Pharisees and their companion Judas, who was a thief from the beginning, he personally carried the money of the poor in a small wallet (John XII and XIII): then there is hope and a crown of glory for those who believe in the Lord from among the Jews, undoubtedly signifying the apostles, whom he has reserved for the preaching of the Gospel and has not immediately allowed to shed their blood for Christ. For all the scribes and Pharisees, as we have said above, were drunk with wine and cider, both the priests and the false prophets. But their schemes and traps were in vain, for even Judas himself, who betrayed [Jesus], did it for the sake of money, and the priests who corrupted the betrayer with money did it out of fear of their own lowly status. For he himself, making a whip out of cords, cast out of the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep, and overturned the tables of the money changers, saying to them: It is written, 'My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of thieves (Matthew 21:13). According to that Hebrew interpretation, in which we have said: For all their tables are filled with vomit and filth, so that there is no more room for heretics, scribes, and Pharisees, it can be understood that we say all their doctrine and all their mysteries are filled with vomit and filth, since they do not digest the food of the holy Scriptures, nor do they make it vital for the whole body; but they bring forth unripe and fetid things, so that God finds no place in them. But I wonder what Theodotion meant when he rendered the Hebrew word, Cisoa, which Aquila interpreted as 'vomit of filth,' and Symmachus only as 'vomit.' He said, 'vomit of dysalia,' which word I cannot find in Greek literature, unless he has invented a new term for a new thing. For it is also compounded in the Hebrew language, because vomit is called CI and Soa is filthy (also rendered as filth). Therefore, whatever causes nausea and vomiting can be called δυσαλία.

As to the justice of the king: and he, the Lord himself, shall be a spirit of judgment: a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jer 23:5). As to the might of their soldiers: and strength, for the Lord will fight for them, above: because you have been my strength (Isa 25:4).

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.

The battle to the gate "The war to the gate of the enemy" - That is, who pursue the fleeing enemy even to the very gates of their own city. "But we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate," Sa2 11:23; that is, we drove the enemy back to their own gates. See also Sa1 17:52. The Targum says, The Messiah shall give the victory to those who go out to battle, that he may bring them back to their own houses in peace.

(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).

Jehovah will inspire their magistrates with justice, and their soldiers with strength of spirit. turn . . . battle to . . . gate--the defenders of their country who not only repel the foe from themselves, but drive him to the gates of his own cities (Sa2 11:23; Kg2 18:8).