'That He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act,
His strange act.'--ISAIAH xxviii. 21.
How the great events of one generation fall dead to another! There is
something very pathetic in the oblivion that swallows up
world-resounding deeds. Here the prophet selects two instances which to
him are solemn and singular examples of divine judgment, and we have
difficulty in finding out to what he refers. To him they seemed the
most luminous illustrations he could find of the principle which he is
proclaiming, and to us all the light is burned out of them. They are
the darkest portion of the verse. Several different events have been
suggested. But most probably the historical references here are to
David's slaughter of the Philistines (2 Sam. v., and I Chron. xiv.).
This is probable, but by no means certain. If so, the words are made
still more threatening by asserting that He will treat the Israelites
as if they were Philistines. But the point on which we should
concentrate attention is this remarkable expression, according to which
judgment is God's strange work. And that is made more emphatic by the
use of a word translated 'act,' which means service, and is almost
always used for work that is hard and heavy--a toil or a task.