_Woe to the crown of pride Chapter twenty-eight is the first of a great group of representative discourses, chaps._ 28-32, all dealing with the relation of Judah to Assyria, and all enforcing the same political principles. (_Prof. Driver, D. D._) OVERCOME WITH WINE Words are scarcely possible wit... [ Continue Reading ]
_In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory._ THE CHRISTIAN’S CROWN There is scarcely a more striking evidence to be found of the corrupt and perverted state of the human heart than that which is furnished in the views which commonly prevail of the distinctive features of the Chris... [ Continue Reading ]
_But they also have erred through wine_ “SWALLOWED UP OF WINE” This is how all debasement continues, aggravates itself, and brings itself to shameful issue. No man begins at the point of being swallowed up in any evil: he approaches it almost stealthily, he touches it experimentally, he retains fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whom shall He teach knowledge?_ THE SCOFFING DRUNKARDS They scoff at the prophet, that intolerable moralist. They are full-grown and free; he need not teach them knowledge Isaiah 11:9), and explain his preaching to them; they know of old what he is driving at. Are they mere weaned babes, who need... [ Continue Reading ]
_For precept mast be upon precept. .. line upon line_ A DRUNKEN JIBE The passage is commonly used in a sense the very opposite to that in which it was originally employed. It is commonly taken as a grave description of the abundance and variety of the means of grace which God has vouchsafed to th... [ Continue Reading ]
_With stammering lips_ ASSYRIAN SPEECH “By men of strange lips” Jehovah will speak Assyrian to them; and with a more frightful iteration than the prophet used. (_A. B.Davidson, LL. D._) A GREAT MORAL PRINCIPLE We gather from Isaiah that God speaks twice to men, first in words and then by deeds,... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest_ REST IN CHRIST That these words are to be interpreted as relating to Jesus Christ is manifest both from the preceding and subsequent context, and from the general tenor of the Word of God. The doctrine of salvation through the Messiah op... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men_ ISAIAH’S RESPONSE The prophet replies that when the storm does sweep over the land, as it assuredly will, these “refuges of lies” will prove no shelter to their builders; they have been tried by the plummet of honesty and righteousness and found to be s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone_ THE STONE LAID IN ZION The prophet borrows his figure from the huge and costly foundation stones upon which the temple rested (1 Kings 5:17); and the thought which he desires to enforce is that in Zion there is an element of permanency, a constituti... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judgment also will I lay to the line_ GOD’S JUDGMENTS I. The Lord PONDERS, with most exact attention, all the distinctions of characters, times, and circumstances; all the various motives both to lenity and severity. II. He ACTS in a manner suited to His perfect knowledge. (_R. Macculloch._) ME... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it_ THE SHORT BED AND THE NARROW COVERING The Jewish beds were only mattresses, laid on the floor; and the cover was s sheet, or carpet, laid over it, in which the person wrapped himself. In this adage, there is an allusion to the cond... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be ye not mockers_ A WARNING TO MOCKERS Enough is recorded in the chapter before us to justify this serious admonition. I. A SOLEMN WARNING. “Be ye not mockers.” 1. Are there no mockers in our religious assemblies Let us pursue the inquiry. God has given us His Word; but how is that Word regard... [ Continue Reading ]
_The ploughman_ THE PARABLE OF THE PLOUGHMAN AND THE THRESHER 1. The general drift of the parable is obvious. The husbandman does not forever vex and wound the tender bosom of the earth with the keen edge of the ploughshare or the sharp teeth of the harrow. He ploughs only that he may sow; he harr... [ Continue Reading ]
_For his God doth instruct him_ CHASTISING WITH JUDGMENT More literally and with better significance, “And he chastiseth it with judgment; his God doth instruct him. ” This judgment is shown in two ways. (1) In the choice and adaptation of the mode of threshing. There were four modes in use among... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel_ GOD’S PRESIDENCY OVER ALL THINGS Let us consider this point as related to-- I. THE BIBLE AND ITS CONTENTS. This Book, to the secular world, is a perpetual puzzle. What amazing power it has exerted in the world, and what exalting energy! Yet it is... [ Continue Reading ]