We come now to Part 3 (chapters 28-35) in our study of Isaiah’s book. The key issue in these chapters is whether Judah, and in particular its leaders, will rely on Egypt or on the Lord in the face of the growing threat posed by the ever-increasing power of Assyria. This is not a new issue, of course. We have already met it in passing in our studies of chapters 18-20 of Part 2. But it is appropriate that it should surface again here as a central issue because of the position of chapters 28-35, immediately before the account of Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah in chapters 36-37. We will now explore the message of this major unit (Part 3) in more detail by looking at each of its parts in turn.

Ephraim here is the northern kingdom, Israel, at least what was left of it after the severe mauling it received from the Assyrians in 733 BC. Its capital city, Samaria, was ideally situated at the head of a fertile valley (v. 1) which extended westward to the Mediterranean Sea. In its heyday it was a beautiful city, and breathtaking views can still be enjoyed from the hill of Samaria where its ruins remain to this day. The Woe pronounced on it here anticipates its imminent fall, an event which in fact occurred in 722 BC. It is likely, then, that the oracle of verses 1-13 was originally delivered just prior to that date. In its present position in chapter 28 it serves as a preface to the oracle against the leaders of Jerusalem (vv 14-22) who were the real targets of Isaiah’s preaching in the crisis which led up to Sennacherib’s invasion. The warnings given to Samaria’s leaders had been tragically fulfilled.  The word “therefore” (v. 14a), is meant to let their counterparts in Jerusalem take careful note and change their ways while they have the opportunity to do so.

Isaiah’s indictment of Samaria’s rulers moves from the more superficial aspects of their reprehensible behavior to its more profoundly serious and disturbing aspects. Drunkenness, of course, is serious enough in itself, especially when it is indulged in at a time of national crisis by those who should be providing the steadying hand of firm and godly leadership. Particularly disturbing was the involvement of the priests and prophets (v. 7). These men, if any, might have shed the light of divine revelation (visions) on the situation and contributed to the making of the right, if hard, decisions. But they too, had chosen the pathway of irresponsible self-indulgence. Isaiah’s disgust at their behavior knows no bounds (v. 8). What hope is there for a nation when even its spiritual leaders have given themselves over to debauchery?

But now Isaiah presses beyond drunkenness to something even more profoundly disturbing in the behavior of these leaders, namely, the contempt they show for any who dare to speak the truth to them from God. There has already been a hint of this in the almost casual way the word “pride” has been used twice in verses 1 and 3. Now it is unpacked: the proud city has proud, unteachable leaders. Through the prophets He had sent to them, the Lord had offered them rest (v. 12a) – a word which represents the sum total of all that was promised to Abraham and confirmed to Israel at Mount Sinai, but especially a secure and peaceful existence in the land He had given them. But they would not listen (v. 12b). That is the fundamental reason the northern kingdom came to grief – the refusal of its leaders to listen to the word of God which should have been the very foundation of their national life.

Verses 9 and 10 represent their typical response. They are insulted. They consider themselves to be the nation’s teachers ad resent being treated (as they see it) as children (v. 9). The drunken leaders mock the Word of God through the prophet as infantile nonsense, childish prattle. Very well, says Isaiah, since they will not listen to the Lord when He speaks to them through the simple clear message of the prophets, He will speak to them through the “prattle” of foreigners (the invading Assyrians), and the result will be not rest but ruin (vv. 11, 13). They will have what they have chosen. We may put ourselves above the Word of God if we will, but there will be a price to pay; God is not mocked. The tragedy, of course, is that when it is leaders who sin it is the whole community that suffers. Isaiah will have nothing of the currently fashionable separation of public and private morality, neither at a later time would John the Baptist. Jesus too, humanly speaking, sealed His fate by His uncompromising exposure of the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders of His day. Before we move out into the world we would do well to make sure that our own house is in order, for it is the leaders of God’s people that Isaiah calls to account here. How can the church be effective in demanding integrity of secular leaders unless its own leaders take seriously the need for it?

On the whole, the atmosphere in this section is heavy. Light does break through briefly at one point, however. Corrupt leadership will not ultimately ruin God’s people. The day will come when a remnant will recognize that the Lord is Israel’s true crown of glory and her only defense (vv. 5-6). These two verses were probably placed here rather than at the end because they complete the “wealth/crown” theme of verses 1-4.

Isaiah 28:1-13 Reflection Questions:

When you are reading the Bible, daily devotionals or listening to a sermon are you hearing and paying attention to the word of God and more importantly obeying it?

What New Testament Scripture talks about looking at the sin of others verses at ours?

Have you ever experienced the repercussions of not listening to God? Do you keep on doing it?

Are you putting yourself above the Word of God?

As the apocalypse of chapters 24-27 draws to a close, and with it the whole second part of the book, Israel comes back into focus as the nation which stands at the center of God’s purposes for the world; verse 6 sums it up. God has a plan which embraces all nations, and Israel is destined to play a central role in that plan. But before it can fulfill its calling it must be cleansed. In bringing that central idea back into sharp focus this passage is a fitting climax to chapters 13-27. It ends, as the book does, with the Lord being worshipped on His holy mountain in Jerusalem.

This song (vv. 2-6) must be read in the light of the earlier song of the vineyard in 5:1-7; a whole series of contrasts is developed. In essence this song announces that eventually (In that day) the judgment proclaimed in the first song will be totally reversed. Formerly the Lord was angry with Israel and invited her enemies to overrun her. But the time will come when His wrath against her will be spent (v. 4a). Then her enemies (briers and thorns) will encroach no more. At the end of the song the Lord speaks like a lover whose love for His beloved is so intense that He almost wishes someone would attack her so that He might have satisfaction of defending he (v. 4). The song finishes in verse 5, but verse 6 then makes the great reversal plain. The world will no longer invade the vineyard; the vineyard will invade the world, filling it with fruit. Here at last will be the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3.

However, in Isaiah’s day, Israel was very far removed from the ideal situation envisioned in verses 1-5. She was in the midst of the cleansing process, when the Lord had broken down the wall of His vineyard and allowed it to be overrun, as graphically described in chapter 1:7-8. We find ourselves back in the painful waiting period with which so much of chapter 26 was about. Three things are said about this judgment. First, it is less severe than that which the Lord has already exercised against Judah’s enemies (v. 7). Secondly, it is carefully controlled with no more severity than is required to achieve the desired end. Thirdly, that end is atonement – removal of what is offensive to God so that forgiveness can become possible (v. 9).

Two images are used in the closing paragraph (vv. 12-13). To express the final destiny of God’s people. The first is agricultural. When the threshing (judgment) is over, the precious grains will be gathered up one by one. There is great tenderness here, and strong reassurance. The grain will not be destroyed with the chaff. Not a single one of those who have relied on the Lord will ultimately be lost. The second image is cultic (having to do with organized worship). The great trumpet of verse 13a is both a proclamation of liberty and a call to worship. As the freed captives of long ago assembled at Mount Sinai to worship the Lord, so will those of the future assemble at the holy mountain in Jerusalem for the same purpose (v. 13b). Then and then only will they be the blessing in the midst of the earth that they were always meant to be (v.6).

A fuller picture of that end-time assembly emerges from elsewhere in Isaiah and, of course, from the New Testament. It will not be restricted to saved Israelites but will include people of all nations. For ultimately the one qualification for inclusion among the people of God in the acknowledgement that salvation is to be found nowhere else than in the God of Israel. All strands of the second major segment of the book converge on this single point: worship – God being acknowledged for who He is. Such worship is not an escape from reality but a return to it, and it is in returning to reality that the world, so long out of joint, will finally be made whole (66:22-23).

Isaiah 27:2-13 Reflection Questions:

What are the contrasts between chapter 5 and 27 songs?

Who is the singer in this final song (vv. 2-6)?

Have you ever been in a cleansing process from the Lord?

Is going to church to worship God reality or is being in the world (work, school, etc.) reality to you?