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Isaiah
Chapter 28
{Note: In Isaiah 28:1-8 we have a warning of judgement to the northern kingdom in 725 BC, and Isaiah is a prophet of the southern kingdom. He warns the northern kingdom of their impending doom and the warning was given some forty years before it actually occurred. You have to remember that when Isaiah was saying all of these things Samaria was a prosperous city, the country of Ephraim was very prosperous, and it showed not the remote possibility that there would be any kind of an invasion.
And, Isaiah was prophesying that they would become a nation of alcoholics which they were not at the time. The northern kingdom was going to go into captivity and so Isaiah is commissioned of the Jehovah/God to warn them. In 721 BC we have the fall of Samaria and the northern tribes go into captivity until the Second Advent. The southern kingdom will not go into captivity the first time until 586 BC and they will recover, but eventually in 70 AD they will go into the fifth cycle again and the second advent is the point at which the entire Jewish race will be regathered and restored, and the fifth cycle of discipline terminated.}
{Verses
1-8: Warning of judgment of Northern Kingdom}
1~~Woe
to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
whose
glorious beauty is a fading flower,
which
are on the head of the prosperous valleys
of
them that are overcome with wine!
{Note: The proud crown refers to a crown of flowers. People went to banquets and parties and when they came in the first thing that happened was a servant would put crowns of flowers on their heads. This was always a sign of going to a party. This mean that at the time that Isaiah wrote, the people of the northern kingdom had generally become alcoholics and this was the number one problem along with religion.}
{Note: The 'glorious beauty' refers to Samaria, which was one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world. The city was built on a three hundred-foot hill and all the way around was a great basin or valley called the plains of Sharon. On three sides are great mountain ranges and all very beautiful. Rising up out of this valley is this 300-foot hill and on top is this beautiful city, which, as you see when you are approaching, looks like a crown on a head.}
{Three
analogies to the Assyrian conquest of Ephraim}
2``
Behold, the Lord/'Adonay has a mighty and strong one,
who
. . . as a tempest of hail
{picture of artillery coming down}
and
a destroying storm
{destruction as in a sandstorm in a desert},
as
a flood of mighty waters overflowing
{picture of total destruction - all covered in water} . . .
He
{God} shall cast down to the earth
{divine discipline behind destruction}.
{Note: The strong one here is a reference to the Assyrian empire under Shalmanezer the fifth, the son of Tiglath-Pileser the third, which is going to be used by God to discipline the northern kingdom permanently.}
{Sublimation
- the heavy drinking here - Removed by this Judgment}
3``
With their feet they tread down
the
proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim.
{Detail
of the Fall of Samaria}
4``
And the glorious beauty,
which
is on the head of the prosperous valley,
shall
be a fading flower,
and
as the hasty fruit before the summer;
when
he looks upon it sees it,
while
it is yet in his hand he eats it up."
{Note: The Assyrians came, they saw, and they ate. The consumed it.}
5``
In that day
{reference to the Second Advent}
shall
the Jehovah/God of the armies/armies/hosts
be
for a crown of glory
and
He will be for a diadem of beauty,
unto
the residue of the people.
{Note: Instead of the crown of flowers (pseudo-happiness in parties and drunkenness) there will be a beautiful crown - the Jehovah/God Jesus Christ Himself. The crown of glory is Jesus Christ at the Second Advent.}
6``
And for a spirit of judgment to Him Who sits in judgement
and
for strength to them that turn back war to the gate.
{Note: 'To drive back war at the gate' is a description of the believers who resist in Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation in the Armageddon campaign. See also Zechariah 14:1-4.}
7~~But
they {Northern Kingdom}
also
have erred through wine.
And
through strong drink,
they
have gone out of the way
{staggering in drunkenness and NOT Walking in the RWay of God}.
The
priest and the prophet
have
erred through strong drink.
They
are swallowed up of wine
{they gulped down wine}.
They
are out of the way
through
strong drink.
They
err in vision.
They
stumble in the execution of judgement.
{Note: We go from the believers in the Tribulation who resist right down to the point of the Second Advent, and there is a contrast between them and the Jews of the northern kingdom in the time of king Hoshea. He is the last king of the northern kingdom and he has a kingdom of drunkards. The overall point of the verse is this: when you get alcoholics in places of leadership or the operation of justice, the nation breaks down. When there is breakdown in the judicial department the result is chaos. No nation can survive without good judicial procedures.}
8~~
For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness,
so
that there is no place clean.
{Note: Too much alcohol destroys everything in life; it distorts everything. And everything was destroyed for these people. Why did they destroy themselves? The northern kingdom actually destroyed itself by rejecting the Word and the principles, which are found in the Word. This is the beginning of decadence, and it may take many turns. The alcoholic problem was merely the result of rejecting the Word - same reason people turn to ritualism, legalism, and religion - sublimation from the void left from no doctrine in the soul. Isaiah now explains this.}
{Verses
9-10: Doctrine as the Strength of the Nation}
9~~Whom
shall He {God}
teach
knowledge?
And,
whom shall He {God}
make
to understand doctrine?
{Can
he teach} Those that are weaned from the milk,
and
drawn from the breasts?
{Note: If this nation or any client nation to God is to be saved, it will be saved through doctrine. Among the people and the leaders of the northern kingdom the question is asked: Who is responsive to doctrine? If no one advances past baby believer status, there are no teenage believers to whom can be taught mature doctrines.}
[God's
Principal on How Doctrine Must Be Taught in All
Dispensations - The Correct Way to Teach and Learn
Divine
Viewpoint]
28:10a~~
For precept must be upon precept,
precept
upon precept
{Doctrine must be taught in categories - with GREAT
repetition}.
28:10b~~Line
upon line, line upon line
{Start with a book and teach Chapter 1, verse 1. Then go to
Chapter 1, verse 2. Continue this to the end of the book. No
not "skipping around". Then exegetically analyze the scripture.
Break down each word as to its exact meaning}.
28:10c~~Here
a little, and there a little.
{teach one portion of the Word and another portion of the Word -
do NOT spend a year teaching ONE doctrine - teach what God
the Holy Spirit puts in front of you in the section of the Word
being taught. That is why you must go from verse 1 on to verse 2
- or you are teaching what YOU want to teach not what God
wants you to teach.}
{Note: In the Hebrew, repeating something indicates perfection. Jehovah means 'I am . . . the I am' - total perfection. Here is the description of perfect teaching of God's Word.}
{Note: So from this verse, we see that the Word needs to be broken into 'categories of doctrines' and each word used studied and taught exegetically - to determine its exact meaning in the verse under study.}
{SideNote: As time moves on, languages change as do societies and 'experiences'. Idioms clearly understood in the day the Bible was written can be misunderstood centuries later. Therefore, ICE type pastors believe that the idioms of the day in which the bible was written also need to be clearly taught. Therefore isagogics means the bible should be taught in the framework of what was happening in the day the bible was written. For example, "the eye of the needle" was the small door at the back of a walled city. It was used as an idiom meaning "difficult to do something, but not impossible". You CAN get a camel through the eye of a needle, but it is not easy.}
{Fate
of Ephraim and warning to Judah -
Sign of the Coming 5th Cycle of Discipline}
11~~
For with stammering/stuttering lips
{From Jewish viewpoint of gentile lips making the sounds of their
language}
and
another tongue/language will he speak to this people.
{Note: Stammering lips was speaking in a gentile language. The Jews language was very musical and speaking in gentile languages sounded like stammering to them. This is the warning or sign of the coming of the 5th cycle of discipline. The Jews were responsible for evangelism in the Jewish age. With the 5th cycle of discipline, the Church becomes responsible for evangelism and it will start with evangelism in foreign, gentile languages. From I Corinthians 14:21 - "In the law it is written, By men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people . . ." Verse 22 "Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not."}
{Purpose
of the True Gift of Languages/Tongues}
12``
To whom {Israel}
He
said,
"This
is His rest
{referring to salvation}
to
the weary ones.
And
this is refreshing
{no nation can be refreshed except through regeneration of its
citizens}
You
{God} they would not hear.
{Verses
13-14: Warning to the Southern Kingdom}
13``Therefore
the Word of Jehovah/God was unto them
precept
upon precept, precept upon precept;
line
upon line, line upon line;
here
a little, there a little . . .
that
they might go
{fall into captivity},
and
fall backward
{reverses in battle and conquest},
and
be broken
{fall of Samaria in 721 BC},
and
snared, and taken. 14``
{mechanics of the fifth cycle of discipline, captured and taken into
slavery}
Therefore
'Hear, listen and obey' {shama`}
the
Word/doctrinal communication {dabar}
of
the Jehovah/God,
you
scornful men,
who
rule this people who are in Jerusalem.
{Note: The rulers of the Southern Kingdom also are rejected the study of the Word/'doctrinal communication' {dabar} of God. However there will be a break in this because Isaiah finally gets a breakthrough with Hezekiah who will listen to the Word/'doctrinal communication' {dabar} of God.}
{Verses
15 - 16: Two Foundations. Verse 15: False Foundation}
15``Because
you {the rulers} have said,
"We
have made a covenant with death
{Northern kingdom making an alliance with Egypt}.
And
with the grave/sheol are we at agreement
{alliance with the death of the nation}.
When
the overflowing scourge shall pass through,
it
shall not come unto us;
for
we have made lies our refuge,
and
under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
{Note: Isaiah prophesized that the northern kingdom would be invaded by Assyria - and it will not only come to Samaria and destroy it - but it will pass through and come south. Were it not for the fact that Hezekiah and the people turned to the Jehovah/God under the Isaiah revival the same thing would have happened to the southern kingdom. The only thing that saved them was the turning to the Jehovah/God on the part of the people and on the part of king Hezekiah. In other words/'doctrinal communications' {dabar}, revival saved the nation. When the people listened to the Word/'doctrinal communication' {dabar} of God they were delivered. The Word/'doctrinal communication' {dabar} of God was the source of their deliverance.}
{The
True foundation - Means of Salvation}
16~~Therefore
thus said the Lord/'Adonay God/Jehovah,
"Behold,
I {God} am He Who laid a 'foundation stone' in Zion
{referring to David's castle home and then to his greater son
Jesus Christ}
'a
tried stone'/'a stone of testing' {the cross}. . .
a
'precious {of greatest value} corner stone'/
'corner
stone of honor' {the resurrection}
for
a sure/secure foundation
{all of these are references to the 1st Advent of Christ -
one wall is Israel, the other wall is the Church/Body of Christ
Jesus Christ is the corner stone}.
The
one
having
believed
{salvation is by faith}
shall
not panic/'be disturbed'."
{chuwsh - Hiphil stem - to be moved to the point of panic}
{Note: In other words/'doctrinal communications' {dabar} they are going to hear the message of Christ, He is Rock - the true foundation. Isaiah's message is going to reach out and save a king - Hezekiah - and it is going to reach out and save a maximum number of people among the city of Jerusalem. And the results are going to be absolutely fantastic.}
{Note: What is the meaning of the word "cornerstone"? What do future Israel (born-again) and the Church have in common? They are separated forever. Israel will live in the new earth. The Church will live in the new heavens. But they have in common, Christ. Christ has two kingdoms of regenerate in eternity - Israel and the Church.}
{Note: This was quoted in part by Paul in Romans 9:33.}
{The
5th cycle Judgement to Ephraim}
17``
But I will make justice the measuring line,
and
righteousness will be the level.
And
the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,
and
the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
{Note: The source of the fifth cycle of discipline: justice and righteousness. This is the basis for all judgement. All judgement comes from God and the essence box is applied. Discipline comes from the justice of God and it is based upon the righteousness of God.}
{Note: The hiding place is the principle of human security. There is no security for the Jews under the fifth cycle of discipline except in the Jehovah/God and in His provision. And since His provision has been rejected there is no security.}
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