'Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious
beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of
them that are overcome with wine! 2. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and
strong one, which, as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, as a
flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with
the hand. 3. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be
trodden under feet: 4. And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of
the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before
the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet
in his hand he eateth it up. 5. In that day shall the Lord of hosts be
for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of
His people. 6. And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in
judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. 7.
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out
of the way: the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink,
they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong
drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8. For all tables
are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. 9.
Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand
doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the
breasts. 10. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 11.
For with stammering lips, and another tongue, will He speak to this
people. 12. To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause
the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13. But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept,
precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little,
and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be
broken, and snared, and taken.'--ISAIAH xxviii. 1-13.
This prophecy probably falls in the first years of Hezekiah, when
Samaria still stood, and the storm of war was gathering black in the
north. The portion included in the text predicts the fall of Samaria
(verses 1-6) and then turns to Judah, which is guilty of the same sins
as the northern capital, and adds to them mockery of the prophet's
message. Isaiah speaks with fiery indignation and sharp sarcasm. His
words are aflame with loathing of the moral corruption of both
kingdoms, and he fastens on the one common vice of drunkenness--not as
if it were the only sin, but because it shows in the grossest form the
rottenness underlying the apparent beauty.
I. The woe on Samaria (verses 1-6). Travellers are unanimous in their
raptures over the fertility and beauty of the valley in which Samaria
stood, perched on its sunny, fruitful hill, amid its vineyards. The
situation of the city naturally suggests the figure which regards it as
a sparkling coronet or flowery wreath, twined round the brows of the
hill; and that poetical metaphor is the more natural, since revellers
were wont to twist garlands in their hair, when they reclined at their
orgies. The city is 'the crown of pride'--that is, the object of
boasting and foolish confidence--and is also 'the fading flower of his
sparkling ornament'; that is, the flower which is the ornament of
Ephraim, but is destined to fade.
The picture of the city passes into that of the drunken debauch, where
the chief men of Samaria sprawl, 'smitten down' by wine, and with the
innocent flowers on their hot temples drooping in the fumes of the
feast. But bright and sunny as the valley is, glittering in the light
as the city sits on her hill, careless and confident as the revellers
are, a black cloud lies on the horizon, and one of the terrible sudden
storms which such lands know comes driving up the valley. 'The Lord
hath a mighty and strong one'--the conqueror from the north, who is
God's instrument, though he knows it not.
The swift, sudden, irresistible onslaught of the Assyrian is described,
in harmony with the figure of the flowery coronal, as a tempest which
beats down the flowers and flings the sodden crown to the ground. The
word rendered 'tempest' is graphic, meaning literally a 'downpour.'
First comes hail, which batters the flowers to shreds; then the effect
of the storm is described as 'destruction,' and then the hurrying words
turn back to paint the downpour of rain, 'mighty' from its force in
falling, and 'overflowing' from its abundance, which soon sets all the
fields swimming with flood water. What chance has a poor twist of
flowers in such a storm? Its beauty will be marred, and all the petals
beaten off, and nothing remains but that it should be trampled into
mud. The rush of the prophet's denunciation is swift and irresistible
as the assault it describes, and it flashes from one metaphor to
another without pause. The fertility of the valley of Samaria shapes
the figures. As the picture of the flowery chaplet, so that which
follows of the early fig, is full of local colour. A fig in June is a
delicacy, which is sure to be plucked and eaten as soon as seen. Such a
dainty, desirable morsel will Samaria be, as sweet and as little
satisfying to the all-devouring hunger of the Assyrian.
But storms sweep the air clear, and everything will not go down before
this one. The flower fadeth, but there is a chaplet of beauty which men
may wreathe round their heads, which shall bloom for ever. All sensuous
enjoyment has its limits in time, as well as in nobleness and
exquisiteness; but when it is all done with, the beauty and festal
ornament which truly crowns humanity shall smell sweet and blossom. The
prophecy had regard simply to the issue of the historical disaster to
which it pointed, and it meant that, after the storm of Assyrian
conquest, there would still be, for the servants of God, the residue of
the people, both in Israel and in Judah, a fuller possession of the
blessings which descend on the men who make God their portion. But the
principle involved is for ever true. The sweeping away of the
perishable does draw true hearts nearer to God.
So the two halves of this prophecy give us eternal truths as to the
certain destruction awaiting the joys of sense, and the permanence of
the beauty and strength which belong to those who take God for their
portion.
Drunkenness seems to have been a national sin in Israel; for Micah
rebukes it as vehemently as Isaiah, and it is a clear bit of Christian
duty in England to-day to 'set the trumpet to thy mouth and show the
people' this sin. But the lessons of the prophecy are wider than the
specific form of evil denounced. All setting of affection and seeking
of satisfaction in that which, in all the pride of its beauty, is 'a
fading flower,' is madness and sin. Into every life thus turned to the
perishable will come the crash of the destroying storm, the mutterings
of which might reach the ears of the feasters, if they were not drunk
with the fumes of their deceiving delights. Only one kind of life has
its roots in that which abides, and is safe from tempest and change.
Amaranthine flowers bloom only in heaven, and must be brought thence,
if they are to garland earthly foreheads. If we take God for ours, then
whatever tempests may howl, and whatever fragile though fragrant joys
may be swept away, we shall find in Him all that the world 'fails to
give to its votaries. He is 'a crown of glory' and 'a diadem of
beauty.' Our humanity is never so fair as when it is made beautiful by
the possession of Him. All that sense vainly seeks in earth, faith
finds in God. Not only beauty, but 'a spirit of judgment,' in its
narrower sense and in its widest, is breathed into those to whom God is
'the master light of all their seeing'; and, yet more, He is strength
to all who have to fight. Thus the close union of trustful souls with
God, the actual inspiration of these, and the perfecting of their
nature from communion with God, are taught us in the great words, which
tell how beauty, justice, and strength are all given in the gift of
Jehovah Himself to His people.
II. The prophet turns to Judah (vs. 7-13), and charges them with the
same disgusting debauchery. His language is vehement in its loathing,
and describes the filthy orgies of those who should have been the
guides of the people with almost painful realism. Note how the words
'reel' and 'stagger' are repeated, and also the words 'wine' and
'strong drink.' We see the priests' and prophets' unsteady gait, and
then they 'stumble' or fall. There they lie amid the filth, like hogs
in a sty. It is very coarse language, but fine words are the Devil's
veils for coarse sins; and it is needful sometimes to call spades
spades, and not to be ashamed to tell men plainly how ugly are the
vices which they are not ashamed to commit. No doubt some of the
drunken priests and false prophets in Jerusalem thought Isaiah
extremely vulgar and indelicate, in talking about staggering teachers
and tables swimming in 'vomit.' But he had to speak out. So deep was
the corruption that the officials were tipsy even when engaged in their
official duties, the prophets reeled while they were seeing visions;
the judges could not sit upright even when pronouncing judgment.
Verses 9 and 10 are generally taken as a sarcastic quotation of the
drunkards' scoffs at the prophet. They might be put in inverted commas.
Their meaning is, 'Does he take us grave and reverend seigniors,
priests and prophets, to be babies just weaned, that he pesters us with
these monotonous petty preachings, fit only for the nursery, which he
calls his "message"?' In verse 10, the original for 'precept upon
precept,' etc., is a series of short words, which may be taken as
reproducing the 'babbling tones of the drunken mockers.'
The loose livers of all generations talk in the same fashion about the
stern morality which rebukes their vice. They call it weak,
commonplace, fit for children, and they pretend that they despise it.
They are much too enlightened for such antiquated teaching. Old women
and children may take it in, but men of the world, who have seen life,
and know what is what, are not to be fooled so. 'What will this babbler
say?' was asked by the wise men of Athens, who were but repeating the
scoffs of the prophets and priests of Jerusalem, and the same jeers are
bitter in the mouth of many a profligate man to-day. It is the fate of
all strict morality to be accounted childish by the people whom it
inconveniently condemns.
In verse 11 and onwards the prophet speaks. He catches up the mockers'
words, and retorts them. They have scoffed at his message as if it were
stammering speech. They shall hear another kind of stammerers when the
fierce invaders' harsh and unintelligible language commands them. The
reason why these foreign voices would have authority, was the national
disregard of God's voice. 'Ye would not hear' Him when, by His prophet,
He spoke gracious invitations to rest, and to give the nation rest, in
obedience and trust. Therefore they shall hear the battle-cry of the
conqueror, and have to obey orders spoken in a barbarous tongue.
Of course, the language meant is the Assyrian, which, though cognate
with Hebrew, is so unlike as to be unintelligible to the people. But is
not the threat the statement of a great truth always being fulfilled
towards the disobedient? If we will not listen to that loving Voice
which calls us to rest, we shall be forced to listen to the harsh and
strident tones of conquering enemies who command us to slavish toil. If
we will not be guided by His eye and voice, we shall be governed by
whip and bridle. Our choice is either to hearken to the divine call,
which is loving and gentle, and invites to deep repose springing from
faith, or to have to hear the voice of the taskmasters. The monotony of
despised moral and religious teaching shall give place to a more
terrible monotony, even that of continuous judgments.
'The mills of God grind slowly.' Bit by bit, with gradual steps, with
dismal persistence, like the slow drops on the rock, the judgments of
God trickle out on the mocking heart. It takes a long time for a child
to learn a pageful when he gets his lesson a sentence at a time. So
slowly do His chastisements fall on men who have despised the
continuous messages of His love. The word of the Lord, which was
laughed at when it clothed itself in a prophet's speech, will be heard
in more formidable shape, when it is wrapped in the long-drawn-out
miseries of years of bondage. The warning is as needful for us as for
these drunken priests and scornful rulers. The principle embodied is
true in this day as it was then, and we too have to choose between
serving God in gladness, hearkening to the voice of His word, and so
finding rest to our souls, and serving the world, the flesh, and the
devil, and so experiencing the perpetual dropping of the fiery rain of
His judgments.