Introduction: Isaiah 28 confronts false confidence and spiritual complacency, exposing leaders who trust human wisdom rather than God’s word. God warns that if our security is in anything but Him it will not stand under His judgment, yet He also promises a sure foundation for those who will trust, obey and abide in Him. His commands found in Scripture will find stability, while those who ignore His word will stumble. Judgment and grace stand side by side and are used by God as a cornerstone in the building of His work in our lives.
In 5:7-30, six woes were declared on the people for their sins. Israel was portrayed as a vineyard that produced only worthless grapes. In chapter 27, Israel was again depicted as a vineyard, but this time as a protected one, indicating God’s permanent preservation of His people. Now in chapters 28–33, six woes are again declared but now on the leaders of Israel for their sin.
Isaiah speaks as a covenant prosecutor, addressing priests and prophets who should have been guardians of truth but instead became drunk with pride and self-sufficiency.
Isaiah 28 is the first woe and is set against the rise of Assyria. Israel, the northern kingdom is nearing collapse, and Judah in the south believes it can escape the same fate through political maneuvering and religious activity. Isaiah addresses that illusion. This chapter uses vivid poetic images, sarcasm, and agricultural descriptions familiar to a farming society.
V 1–4 Ephraim which is another name for the 10 Northern tribes of Israel is described as a dying flower and a proud crown, symbols of fading glory and power and control. The leadership’s drunken behavior blinds them to the coming destruction. The city of Samaria is likely in mind here. Samaria served as the capital of the northern kingdom established around 880 BC under King Omri and ended when the Assyrians conquered the city in 722 BC. The word Samaritan comes from this idolatrous capital.
Judgement would come from the hands of the Lord’s mighty agent an allusion to Assyria. The storm suggests the force with which Samaria will be brought down. The images of windblown hail being driven into the ground and rain pounding into the dirt depict the power with which Samaria will be destroyed. Think of Category 5 hurricane.
The leaders ruling from Samaria exercised divine covenant authority. The Lord did in fact appoint Jeroboam a military leader who served Solomon. He was Israel’s first king but from the very start he initiated idolatry. The judgment of Samaria serves as a warning. Political strength without obedience to God’s commands leads to destruction. Figs and fig trees are used in other prophetic passages and speak of divine punishment (Jer 8:13; Joel 1:7, 12; Amos 4:9; Hab 3:17). Jerusalem is being warned not to repeat Samaria’s mistake. Pride blinds before it destroys. Covenant privilege does not exempt God’s people from discipline.
V 5–6 In contrast, the Lord Himself will be a crown for the faithful remnant. Where human leaders fail, God remains the source of justice, security and strength. Jewish commentators often note the remnant theme that anticipates the Messiah as both the righteous king and the source of wisdom for His people.
V 7–13 The priests and prophets who were called to shepherd Israel by teaching God’s Word and caring for His people had become spiritually unfit through drunkenness. Their sin and carnality affected their role so that their judgment was fully compromised, their tables were filthy from excess in their drinking. They sought their own desires, rather than God’s, and ignored the Lord’s guidance and discipline.
V 9 refers to God and His message delivered through His prophet. The drunken leaders resented it when Isaiah and other prophets of God treated them as children, by reminding them of elementary truths of right and wrong. This echoes Paul in 1 Cor. 3:2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.
In v 10 Isaiah turns their mocking against them. The instruction they despise will become unintelligible to them, sounding like babble. The Hebrew words likely imitate the speech of children. Because they refused to listen to clear revelation, God would then speak to them through a foreign tongue, the language of Assyria. When they hear it, they would then know that judgment had arrived. What they rejected as childish instruction would lead to God’s discipline.
V 11 points to an additional meaning in this verse anticipating the miraculous gift of tongues 1 Cor. 14:21-22 In the Law it is written, “by men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to me,” says the Lord. So, then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.
In simple language they could understand, God offered them relief from their oppressors, but they would not listen. When God’s word is scorned as too simple, judgment often comes through circumstances that become painfully clear.
V 14-15 The covenant of death – Jerusalem’s leaders believed they were safe with their political alliances. Isaiah describes this as a covenant with death. The heads of Jerusalem had made an agreement with Egypt to help defend them against the Assyrians. With images of an overflowing river and a whip, the people bragged about their ability to withstand foreign invasion. Without admitting or even understanding it they had taken refuge in deceit and falsehood. Political strategy, religious traditions, or cultural identity will never be a substitute for repentance and trust in the Lord.
V 16 The Tested Cornerstone – The Lord contrasted their false hope with the only sure refuge The God of Israel, pointing to the coming of the Messiah. In Matt. 21:42 Yeshua quotes Psalm 118:22 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; This came about from the lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
At the heart of the chapter stands this promise. God has given Israel a tested, solid cornerstone. Whoever trusts in it will not panic or flee. Judgment will still come, but through it, God will accomplish His will and in the midst of it He will give peace and hope to the remnant.
V 17-19 When the Messiah rules and reigns in the millennium His kingdom, His justice will contrast with the refuge of lies Jerusalem’s leaders trusted in. As God establishes his new order, the covenant with death will be ended. His kingdom will come and nothing will stop His cleansing and judgment except trust in the cornerstone.
V 20-21 bed too short . . . covering too narrow was a proverbial expression about short beds and narrow sheets, telling Jerusalem that foreign alliances are inadequate preparations for the defense of the city. Mount Perazim and the Valley of Gibeon were reminders that just as the Lord defeated the Philistines at Mount Perazim (2 Sam. 5:19–20; 1 Chron. 14:10–11) and the Canaanites in the Valley of Gibeon (Josh. 10:6–11), he will also do to those who fail to look to Him even the Jerusalemites.
V 23–29 The Wisdom of the Farmer – Isaiah ends with an agricultural parable. Farmers know when to plow, plant, thresh, and rest. To everything there is a season. God’s judgments are precise, purposeful, and guided by His wisdom. God’s discipline is not chaotic or cruel. It is measured, intentional, and aimed at fruitfulness. God’s Vineyard will be built, pruned and cared for both now and in the millennium.
Isaiah 28 challenges us to examine what we are trusting in. Religion without obedience is vanity, and alliances without God are unstable. Yet it also provided comfort to those who will build their lives on the Cornerstone that cannot be shaken. God will never abandon His children. He disciplines them to remove false security and to lead them back to Himself. Everything built on pride will fall, but everything built on the word of the Lord will stand. The choice is between a refuge of lies and a cornerstone of truth.
