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ISA 28:1
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ISA 28:16
Isaiah 28:16. Behold, I lay in Zion, &c.— Or, Behold, I am he who layeth for a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tried stone, a corner stone, precious, a sure foundation, &c. The prophet seemed immediately about to declare the temporal punishment determined for the Jewish elders; and indeed he does so, but in such a manner as to declare the counsel of God concerning the manner of executing this judgment, and the whole reason and order of its execution. He teaches therefore, in the first place, to refute the boasting of the wicked concerning the false foundation of their confidence; that God was now prepared to lay a better and more certain foundation of confidence for the true believers, which should sustain the great edifice of his church; a foundation with every property necessary to sustain the church; and that he would at length produce that foundation-stone, upon which the believers of all times had fixed their eyes; in which foundation whoever should perseveringly place his confidence, he should never fail; and this foundation, for the consolation of the pious, the prophet contradistinguishes, and opposes to the false foundation wherein the wicked placed their trust. The connection is this: "Therefore—because you so impiously suppose that there is no foundation for the church, no support but such as carnal wisdom may supply;—Behold, I, the powerful and faithful God, will at this time fulfil my promises, and lay in Sion that stone of the Great Redeemer, in whom whosoever believeth shall not be confounded." See Amos 9:11. There is no doubt of the reference of this passage to the Messiah; who was a tried stone intimately known and explored by his Father; and who is also a trying stone, the touch-stone of the faith and truth of his people: A corner-stone; he, in whom all the parts of the spiritual building are united, Jews and Gentiles being made one in him. See Ephesians 2:16. A precious and a sure foundation, in whom are found all the treasures of grace; who is that only foundation, that rock, whereon his church is firmly built; on whom his faithful people wholly depend; and against which the gates of hell shall never prevail. See 1 Corinthians 3:11.Matthew 16:18; Matthew 16:18. It is added, He that believeth shall not make haste; which the LXX render, shall not be ashamed. St. Peter and St. Paul have both followed this rendering; and Vitringa thinks that the idea of being ashamed, is comprized in the Hebrew word יחישׁ iachish which we render shall not make haste; i.e. He shall not be in that perturbed, unsettled state of mind, which arises from doubt and uncertainty: "He shall possess his soul in patience, (according to a similar expression in scripture; Luk 21:19 compared with Romans 8:25.) and have none of those uneasy fears and sensations of shame and chagrin arising from the apprehension of disappointment." What a blessing it is, to be always preserved in such a spirit!
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Isaiah 28:1. Woe to the crown of pride— Or, Woe unto the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of their most glorious beauty, which is upon the head, &c. By the crown of pride of the drunkards, &c. Samaria is primarily to be understood, which is situate, as Maundrell expresses it in words which serve well to elucidate the prophet, upon a long mount of an oval figure, having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring or crown of hills running round about it. Journey from Aleppo, p. 59. The prophet alludes to the crown of flowers worn by the ancients in their drinking-matches. This image is not unfrequently made use of by the prophets to convey the strongest idea of the universal depravity and folly of the nation. In this passage the prophet undertakes to prove the folly of the Ephraimites in their explication of the law; and for that purpose compares the false and delusive professors of this branch of knowledge, to a club of drunkards; introducing JEHOVAH himself, in order to heighten his satire upon drunkenness, as speaking to them in a language to which they are no strangers. This, says Vitringa, is the primary sense of the words; but in an oblique sense they are to be referred to the Jews, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, imitating the foolish proceedings of the Ephraimites, hypocrites, profane, neglectful of God, seeking human aid, (that of the Egyptians we may suppose,) and falling under the same judgment of spiritual drunkenness; whose crown of pride was Jerusalem, and the fading flower of their most glorious beauty, the temple, the glory of their nation, on the top of the fruitful valley which divided mount Moriah from mount Olivet.
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