'Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.'--ISAIAH xxviii. 16.
'Therefore thus saith the Lord.' Then these great words are God's
answer to something. And that something is the scornful defiance by the
rulers of Israel of the prophet's threatenings. By their deeds, whether
by their words or no, they said that they had made friends of their
enemies, and that so they were sure that, whatsoever came, they were
safe. To this contemptuous and false reliance God answers, not as we
might expect, first of all, by a repetition of the threatenings, but by
a majestic disclosure of the sure refuge which He has provided, set in
contrast to the flimsy and false ones, on which these men built their
truculent confidence; 'I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone.' And
then, after the exhibition of the great mercy which has been evoked by
the very blasphemy of the rulers, and not till then, does He reiterate
the threatenings of judgment, against which this foundation is laid,
that men may escape; God first declares the refuge, and then warns of
the tempest.
Without entering at all upon the question, which for all believing and
simple souls is settled by the New Testament, of the Messianic
application of the words before us, I take it for granted. There may no
doubt be an allusion here to the great solid blocks which travellers
tell us may still be seen at the base of the encircling walls of the
Temple hill. A stone so gigantic and so firm God has laid for man to
build upon.