Jerusalem also is Threatened with Destruction. But Jerusalem like Ephraim reels with intoxication, the priests and prophets especially. The prophet is not steady in his vision, the priest when pronouncing judgment has his faculties clouded by wine. Their revels are carried to disgusting excees. The scorners mock Isaiah: Is he talking to children that he goes over his lesson again and again with such wearisome monotony? Well, if the prophet's message will not satisfy them, Yahweh will speak to them in the foreign language of Assyria. They had refused to listen when He told them of the true rest, and so now He will speak to them with a wearisome monotony indeed, in strange-sounding words which they will not be able to treat with supercilious scorn, for they will be involved in utter ruin. The prophet now turns to the rulers, who scoff at his words, because they flatter themselves that they have secured immunity from disaster. Death itself is on their side, and will do them no harm; when the Assyrian scourge sweeps through, they will be sheltered by their policy of double dealing. But while the politicians are trusting in their flimsy refuge of lies, Yahweh is placing a real refuge in Zion, a well-tested stone for a foundation; he who believes will not give way. And Yahweh will deal with the scorners according to exact justice; He will test the quality of actions by judgment and righteousness, as a builder uses a line and plummet (Isaiah 34:11) to estimate the correctness of a building. Then their covenant with death, their agreement with Sheol, will not stand, and the scourge will smite them down. Assyria will give them no respite, and in utter terror they will come to learn what the prophet's warnings meant. The politicians fancied they had made themselves secure and comfortable, but they will find that their arrangements are quite inadequate, and will place them in a very uneasy position. For Yahweh will strike as when David overthrew the Philistines (2 Samuel 5:20-25). Let them cease their scorning, for if they mock the prophet's warning, the bands of Assyria, already fastened upon them, will be fixed more firmly than ever. For the prophet has heard a sentence of decisive destruction from Yahweh's own lips.
Isaiah 28:10. precept upon precept. line upon line: the words rhyme in the Heb.; perhaps they should be transliterated rather than translated, tsaw la-tsaw tsaw la-tsaw qaw la-qaw qaw la-qaw. The meaning of the words is uncertain.
Isaiah 28:11. In 1 Corinthians 14:21 this is applied to the tongues in the Corinthian Church. The meaning, however, is that, since they reject the prophet's message as too childish, Yahweh will use the Assyrians to bring them to their senses. Their language will be hard enough to suit their fastidious desire for something more difficult. The best parallel is in Isaiah 8:5-7.
Isaiah 28:12. Cf. Isaiah 30:15, the keynote of Isaiah's foreign policy.
Isaiah 28:15. We have. agreement: a proverbial expression meaning we have secured immunity from all disaster. Possibly some magical rites practised for this purpose are in mind. Death is hardly to be explained as the fatal power of the Assyrians. overflowing scourge: the Assyrian hosts, which rolled like a flood over Palestine. The mixed metaphor is curious. Duhm reads, the scourging scourge. a stone: this is variously interpreted as Yahweh Himself, Zion, the monarchy, the sanctuary, Yahweh's relation to Israel. The last is perhaps correct. make haste: read give way.
Isaiah 28:20. Perhaps a proverb.