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Isaiah
Chapter 28 (Continued)
18``And
your covenant with death shall be disannulled,
and
your agreement with sheol/'the grave' shall not stand.
When
the overflowing scourge {Assyria} shall pass through,
then
you shall be trodden down by it.
{Note: This is a reference to the Assyrian army first under Shalmanezer V and then under Sargon II.}
19``From
the time that it {the Assyrian army}
goes
forth, it shall take you
{it will eventually gobble up the entire nation}
Morning
by morning it shall pass over {invade},
by
day and by night.
And
it shall be a terror . . . only to understand the report
{just to hear about the disaster of the previous town will be
frightening}.
{How
do the Jews take the News? Worry Causes Insomnia}
20``
For the bed is shorter
than
that a man can stretch himself on it
And
the covering narrower
than
that he can wrap himself in it.
{Certainty
of This Judgement}
21``For
Jehovah/God shall rise up
as
in mount Perazim,
He
shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon,
that
He may do His work,
His
strange {in the sense of 'different from His desire'} work;
and
bring to pass His act,
His
strange act.
{Note: Mount Perazim is described in II Samuel 5:20-21 and it was God's wrath expressed against idolatry of the Philistines. Gibeon refers to Joshua chapter 10 in which the Amorites were annihilated. In both of these analogies we have a reference to complete annihilation - the first one, Perazim, emphasizes religion. Gibeon emphasizes that the fifth cycle of discipline is the complete destruction of a nation. God's work here is judgement. These things are ghastly but God is fair and righteous. Often we feel sorry for people because they are going through such terrible things but you must always remember that when it is divine judgement, if anything it is overdue. God never judges a nation or a person without first giving ample opportunity for salvation - grace before judgement. Grace precedes judgement. And when God judges He must do so because it is being compatible with His own character. The love of God is demonstrated by the gift of His Son at the cross. When the love of God is rejected then the alternative is righteousness and justice. This is compatible with His own character but not compatible with His desire.}
{Verses
22-23: Deliverance through the Word}
22``
Now therefore be you not mockers
{do not mock the power of the Word of God},
lest
your bands {of slavery} be made strong.
For
I have heard from
the
Lord/'Adonay God/Jehovah of the armies/hosts
a
consumption/end . . .
even
determined upon the whole land Palestine
{both the northern and the southern kingdoms}.
23``Give
your ear
{give the Word a hearing - be present at the teaching
of the Word},
and
hear my voice {pay attention};
'hear,
listen and obey' {dabar}
{means concentrate on the content of the Word being taught};
and
hear my speech.
{take in the entire message being taught
by the teacher of Doctrine}
{Note:
The only way to be prepared for disaster when it comes is threefold:
a.
Personally accept Jesus Christ as savior - regeneration;
b.
Learn Bible doctrine and store it in the frontal lobe;
c.
Operation faith-rest technique, the means of applying doctrine in
your frontal lobe to disaster.
When
you can apply doctrine to disaster the result is stability and
orientation to the plan of God. Even when the plan of God for a
nation is judgement, your personal impact and testimony will have
eternal results. So even when a nation is going down in time you can
have a marvelous ministry which will last forever.}
{Note:
Isaiah ends this chapter with a good illustration to us today about
the importance of isagogics in the study of the Word. In the day the
bible was written, this was an agricultural society. This
illustration was second nature to his audience, but not so much to
the city dwellers we have today. So, here we have three things:
First:
verse 24 - the plowing - analogous to regeneration;
Next:
verse 25-26 planting;
Finally:
verses 27-28 harvest.}
{Conclusion
of Chapter with an Agricultural Illustration in an Agricultural Society}
24``
Does the plowman {farmer type}
plow
all day to sow? {yes he does}
Does
he open and break the clods of his ground?
{again, yes he does}
{Note: Plowing is equivalent to regeneration, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ - and to the spread of the gospel/good news of Jesus Christ.}
25``
When he has leveled and broken the ground
does
he not sow the fitches
{poppy seed used for animal forage},
and
scatter the cummin
{an aromatic seed and used for medicine
for taking care of the weak},
and
cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and rye
{basic staple food for man}
in
their place?
{Note: This is the analogy for after salvation, the next need is for the 'basic doctrines'. In another analogy, Paul calls it giving milk to the baby believers.}
26`` For his God does instruct him to orientation/farming.
{Note: Farmers originally got all their information about farming from God. When Adam had to earn his living by the sweat of his brow, by the cultivation of fields, then he received information from God, which has been passed down in the human race.}
27``
For the fitches {animal food}
are
not threshed with a threshing sledge.
Neither
a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin.
But
the fitches are beaten out with a staff {thin stick},
and
the cummin with a rod {strong stick}.
{Note: A threshing sledge was a cart pulled by animals, which was a kind of antique harvester. The wheels of the threshing sledge actually chopped and collected a little bit and so on. The point is: if you tried to harvest fitches with a threshing sledge you would destroy them. So when it comes to fitches you can't use a threshing sledge. Next, you can't harvest medicine-type things with a cart. A cart had wide wheels and crushed.
How do you get the seed/production out? You get growth by hard work/study and being consistent in your work/study. This is a picture of the believer growing from baby-hood through adolescent to maturity. There will be 'hard knocks' along the way, but by the end of the process, the production will be useful to God.}
28``
Bread corn {wheat} is bruised.
He
will not ever thresh it,
nor
break it with the wheel of his cart,
nor
bruise it with horsemen.
29``
This also cometh forth
from
Jehovah/God of the armies/armies/hosts,
Who
is wonderful in counsel,
and
excellent in working.
{Note: Wheat has to be handled in a certain way because the horses can trample it and ruin it and so on. Bread corn/wheat is threshed. Notice that you don't use a stick on wheat. This is a picture of the mature believer who is ready to permit God to 'produce divine good production' though him.}
{Note: Just as God has conveyed in centuries past information whereby man can live on the face of the earth and derive a living from the earth, so God has provided in great detail how and why a believer should operate to the glory of the Jehovah/God - and this is revealed through doctrine. The emphasis then is, you must know doctrine - what the Word teaches. This is what Isaiah would say to the northern kingdom: You get into the Word and there will be no discipline. But they failed to do so and in 721 BC, Isaiah's message to them was fulfilled.}
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