For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isa 28:1-8

1 Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards,
    to the fading flower, his glorious beauty,
set on the head of a fertile valley –
    to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!
2 See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong.
    Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind,
like a driving rain and a flooding downpour,
    he will throw it forcefully to the ground.
3 That wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards,
    will be trampled underfoot.
4 That fading flower, his glorious beauty,
    set on the head of a fertile valley,
will be like figs ripe before harvest –
    as soon as people see them and take them in hand,
    they swallow them.

5 In that day the Lord Almighty
    will be a glorious crown,
a beautiful wreath
    for the remnant of his people.
6 He will be a spirit of justice
    to the one who sits in judgment,
a source of strength
    to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7 And these also stagger from wine
    and reel from beer:
priests and prophets stagger from beer
    and are befuddled with wine;
they reel from beer,
    they stagger when seeing visions,
    they stumble when rendering decisions.
8 All the tables are covered with vomit
    and there is not a spot without filth.

A. Find Out

1. Whose pride is described how? v.1
2. Who or what will the Lord bring against them? v.2
3. What will happen? v.3,4
4. How will the Lord appear on that day? v.5,6
5. What is life like in the land? v.7,8   

B. Think:

1. What does wearing a ‘wreath’ convey?
2. What is the main complaint against this people here?
3. What will the Lord do with them?

C. Comment:

Ephraim (v.1) was the tribe whose allocated land was in the centre of Israel and thus formed the hill country of Samaria that tended to have terraced vineyards. Perhaps it is because of the vineyards that wine was plentiful and the occupants of the land tended to over-drink and be labelled drunkards. They were proud of who they were and what they did and almost wore this pride as a wreath or garland. In olden times a garland of leaves was worn by victors or important celebrities, marking them out. This part of Israel wear their pride in the same way and pride is synonymous with self-centredness and self-centredness is synonymous with godlessness. Thus they become an object of the Lord’s discipline which will come in the form of an invading army (v.2-4) who will come in and ‘harvest’ them and take them, in the same way as an owner harvests his figs from the fig tree.

In that day their pride will be replaced by a reverence for the Lord (v.5) and judges will then bring justice from the Lord (v.6a) and warriors will receive the Lord’s strength to defend their land (v.6b).

But the truth is that at the present even those at the heart of religion – the priests and the prophets – are all involved and all drink too much (v.7) and the picture is of drunken sickness (v.8) which is very far from what the representatives of the Lord should be. Priests should present the people to the Lord and the prophets should present the Lord to the people, but both were failing in their roles.

D. Application:

1. In a day of affluence, beware over drinking (and over eating)!
2. Respect and honour the role the Lord has given to you.

Passage: Isa 28:9-13

9 ‘Who is it he is trying to teach?
    To whom is he explaining his message?
To children weaned from their milk,
    to those just taken from the breast?
10 For it is:
    do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that;
    a little here, a little there.’

11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues
    God will speak to this people,
12 to whom he said,
    ‘This is the resting-place, let the weary rest’;
and, ‘This is the place of repose’–
    but they would not listen.
13 So then, the word of the Lord to them will become:
    do this, do that,
    a rule for this, a rule for that;
    a little here, a little there –
so that as they go they will fall backwards;
    they will be injured and snared and captured.

A. Find Out

1. Who, by implication, has the Lord been teaching? v.9
2. How has He been doing it? v.10
3. Through whom will He speak? v.11
4. What had He intended for Israel? v.12
5. How again had His word come? v.13a
6. But what will the end result be? v.13b

B. Think:

1. What point is he making in verse 9?
2. What do you think he’s saying in verses 10 & 13
3. Who is the Lord going to have to use to teach Israel?

C. Comment:

This is all about the way the Lord sought and is seeking to teach and train Israel (v.9a). He has a message to be conveyed to them (v.9b) but He’s not explaining it to babes or infants, but (implied) to mature adults (v.9c). The whole of verse 10 could be summarised as ‘little bit by little bit’, i.e. gradually.

The Lord has been taking His time with this nation and over the centuries (not merely at the beginning with the Law) He has been teaching them and it’s been a gradual process. His objective has been to bring Israel into a place of rest and peace (v.v.12a,b) with Him, but tragically they would not listen to Him (v.12c) The history of Israel reveals the awfulness of sin in the human race, evident even when God is working with them doing all He can to help them.

But they are a stubborn people and so the Lord will end up using foreigners (v.11) to come against them and chastise them. As a result of this process (and we see this most clearly in the book of Jeremiah) the Lord is going to have to continue speaking to them little bit by little bit (v.13a) so they will have no excuse but, tragically, they will still not heed and so as a nation they will fall, be snared and captured, and taken away. This happened to the Northern kingdom in 722BC with the fall of Samaria and then to the Southern kingdom in 587BC with the fall of Jerusalem. In both cases the word of the Lord kept coming to them little by little, bit by bit, but they did not listen.

D. Application:

1. When the Lord speaks to you, listen and obey!
2. Don’t despise the simplicity of God’s word that you may hear.

Passage: Isaiah 28:14-22

14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers
    who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You boast, ‘We have entered into a covenant with death,
    with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
    it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
    and falsehood our hiding-place.’

16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
    a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
    will never be stricken with panic.
17 I will make justice the measuring line
    and righteousness the plumb-line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
    and water will overflow your hiding-place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled;
    your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
    you will be beaten down by it.
19 As often as it comes it will carry you away;
    morning after morning, by day and by night,
    it will sweep through.’

The understanding of this message
    will bring sheer terror.
20 The bed is too short to stretch out on,
    the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
21 The Lord will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim,
    he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon –
to do his work, his strange work,
    and perform his task, his alien task.
22 Now stop your mocking,
    or your chains will become heavier;
the Lord, the Lord Almighty, has told me
    of the destruction decreed against the whole land.

A. Find Out

1. How are leaders of Jerusalem described and why? v.14,15
2. What does the Lord say He is doing? v.16
3. What will then happen? v.17-19
4. What effect will this message have? v.19c,20
5. How will the Lord come? v.21
6. So what are they challenged to do? v.22

B. Think:

1. What is at the beginning and end of this message?
2. What might be the stone he refers to?
3. What is going to happen?

C. Comment:

Back in verse 12 the prophet had spoken of the Lord providing a dwelling place of rest that had been rejected by this people. Now he confronts the rulers of Jerusalem (v.14) who were proud and arrogant and who boasted that they would be secure when an enemy came (v.15). They mocked the thought that they would be brought down, so the Lord speaks a fresh word into their midst. He was going to bring something new into Jerusalem (v.16), something that was like an initial foundation stone from which all else is laid out and measured.

Whatever or whoever this ‘stone’ is, is unclear but it will be a source of trust and security for the people. It could read, ‘a stone that is Zion’ so it could be that He was going to make Jerusalem the place of security. It could be that the stone would be a new ruler from the house of David and, of course, with later references to such a stone being rejected we find that applied to Jesus in the New Testament.

Whatever or whoever it is, the end result will be that justice and righteousness will be seen to prevail (v.17a) and their refuge of lies will be swept away (v.17b). They will be carried away (v.19) and all that they trusted in will prove inadequate (v.18). When they realise the reality of this message they will be terrified (v.19c) and their places of security will prove uncomfortable and inadequate (v.20). God will come (v.21) as He did for David (see 2 Sam 5:17-25), so stop mocking or it will get worse! (v.22)

D. Application:

1. Self-confidence is like sailing in a paper boat!
2. Confidence in the Lord must be accompanied by obedience.

Passage: Isaiah 28:23-29    

23 Listen and hear my voice;
    pay attention and hear what I say.
24 When a farmer ploughs for planting, does he plough continually?
    Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
25 When he has levelled the surface,
    does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place,
    barley in its plot,
    and spelt in its field?
26 His God instructs him
    and teaches him the right way.

27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge,
    nor is the cartwheel rolled over cummin;
caraway is beaten out with a rod,
    and cummin with a stick.
28 Grain must be ground to make bread;
    so one does not go on threshing it for ever.
The wheels of a threshing-cart may be rolled over it,
    but one does not use horses to grind grain.
29 All this also comes from the Lord Almighty,
    whose plan is wonderful,
    whose wisdom is magnificent.

A. Find Out

1. What does he call them to do? v.23
2. What does he ask about a farmer? v.24
3. What does he go on to do and with whose guidance? v.25,26
4. What does he go on to speak about? v.27
5. And then what? v.28
6. What final point does he make? v.29

B. Think:

1. What practical points does he make about the farmer?
2. What bigger point does he make about him?
3. How does this follow on from say verses 16 to 22?

C. Comment:

Observers of what we call the Middle East, might have wondered as history rolled out whether Jerusalem would go the same way as Samaria and be similarly destroyed. Theses verses essentially say that God deals with different peoples in different ways. There is a call, first of all, to note of what follows and (implied) understand it (v.23).

The pictures come in two parts: the first part is about preparing ground (v.24-26), and the second part is about harvesting and using it (v.27-29). Does a farmer keep on ploughing? (v.24) No, the ploughing is only part of the longer process of producing a crop. Once the ground is prepared he then sows different seeds on different plots (v.25) and a farmer does it as he senses what is right – and this comes from God who teaches him. (v.26)

But then there is the reaping and different crops are harvested in different ways (v.27) but, again, harvesting is only part of the process and so you move on to grind the corn etc. in the appropriate way to produce the end product, bread (v.28). This again comes from the Lord who has designed all things and therefore knows how to do all things well (v.29).

The lesson? First of all God knows all thing about the world He has created and knows best how to deal with every situation and people and therefore, second, will act appropriately to achieve the best end.

D. Application:

1. Do we believe God knows best about every aspect of our lives?
2. Do we listen to Him for wisdom how to live out our lives?