Isaiah · chapter 28 of 66
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Isaiah 28 opens the series of woes against Ephraim and the leaders of Judah. It announces the end of the proud crown of the drunkards of Samaria and denounces priests and prophets who reel with wine and the rulers of Jerusalem who made a covenant with death. The Lord lays in Zion a tested cornerstone, a sure foundation, and the chapter ends with the parable of the farmer.
With chapter 28 a new section of Isaiah begins (28-33), made up of woes aimed mostly at those who seek security in political alliances rather than in the Lord. The setting is the Assyrian threat in the eighth century BC. First the northern kingdom, Ephraim, whose fall is near, is addressed, and then the leaders of Judah, who run the same risk.
The chapter begins with a woe on the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, the fading flower of its beauty, set above a fertile valley. The Lord has one who is mighty and strong, like a hailstorm, who will cast that crown to the ground and trample it, like a ripe fig that is swallowed as soon as it is seen. On that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty for the remnant of his people.
Then the prophet turns to Judah. Priests and prophets reel with wine and strong drink, vomit and err in their decisions. They mock Isaiah's message, reducing it to repeated syllables, as if it were for small children: precept upon precept, line upon line. The Lord answers that he will speak to them with strange lips and a foreign tongue, because they would not listen to the rest he offered.
To the scoffers who rule in Jerusalem, who say they have made a covenant with death and an agreement with Sheol and have made lies their refuge, the Lord announces that he lays in Zion a tested stone, a cornerstone with a sure foundation; whoever believes in it will not be in haste. Justice will be the line and righteousness the plumb line, hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the covenant with death will be annulled. The chapter ends with a parable from farming: the farmer does not plow forever, nor does he sow and thresh everything the same way; God teaches him each step. So too the Lord, wonderful in counsel and great in wisdom, knows how to deal with his people.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
On that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty for the remnant of his people. Against Ephraim's fading crown, the true glory is the Lord himself.
The rulers say they have made a covenant with death and that punishment will not reach them, because they have made falsehood their refuge. It describes a false security built on alliances and deceit rather than on God.
The Lord lays in Zion a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of sure foundation, and whoever believes will not be in haste. The New Testament quotes this verse about Jesus Christ, the stone on which faith is built.
This counsel also comes from the Lord of hosts, wonderful in counsel and great in wisdom. The parable of the farmer ends by reminding us that God knows exactly what he is doing with his people and for how long.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Against the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim. — Isaiah 28:1
Answer: A crown of glory and a diadem of beauty. — Isaiah 28:5
Answer: They reeled with wine and strong drink and erred in visions and judgments. — Isaiah 28:7
Answer: A covenant with death and an agreement with Sheol, making falsehood their refuge. — Isaiah 28:15
Answer: A tested stone, a precious cornerstone of sure foundation. — Isaiah 28:16
Answer: His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. — Isaiah 28:26
Isaiah 28 warns about two very current dangers: false security and scorn. Jerusalem's leaders believed they were safe because of their political deals, and they laughed at God's plain message. A Sunday school class can ask which human pacts and arrangements it leans on more than it should, and which warnings of the Bible it has tended to take lightly.
At the same time, the chapter offers a firm base: the cornerstone the Lord himself lays. For Christians, that stone is Christ. Trusting him is not rushing in panic but resting on a tested foundation. In a small group you can pray that trust in Christ would replace the refuges of falsehood each of us has built.
Isaiah 28 has moved from the fallen crown of Ephraim to the sure stone in Zion, and ended with God's wisdom in dealing with his people. Chapter 29 continues with another woe, this time aimed at Ariel, that is, Jerusalem, and a people who honor God only with their lips.
In its original setting, the text speaks of the Lord's faithfulness as the foundation for those who trust him, in contrast with human alliances. The New Testament quotes this verse in Romans 9:33, Romans 10:11 and 1 Peter 2:6, applying it to Jesus Christ, in whom the believer will not be put to shame.
In Isaiah 28:10 and 13 it appears as a repetitive phrase that sounds almost like babbling. Interpreters take it as the drunkards' mockery of Isaiah's teaching, which they find childish, and then as the way God will speak to them: with foreign voices they will not understand.
It is the expression by which the leaders boast of being protected from judgment, probably through alliances with foreign powers such as Egypt. The text does not describe a specific ritual but a false security that the Lord declares annulled.