Isaiah 28:14

Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. YE SCORNFUL MEN - (note, Isaiah 28:9.)...

14._Wherefore hear ye the word of the Lord. _He goes on to address to them still stronger reproof, and at the same time mingles with it a consolation in order to encourage the hearts of the godly. While he threatens utter destruction against the wicked, he leaves for believers ground of consolation, by declaring that their salvation is dear and precious in the sight of God. _Ye scornful men. _By this term he means men who are addicted to sophistry and deceit, who think that by jeers and cunning they can escape the judgment of God; for לוץ (_lūtz_) (228) signifies to _jeer _or _scorn_. Now, he addresses not ordinary men, but rulers and governors, who, in governing the people, thought that they surpassed other men in sharpness and dexterity, but turned their acuteness to cunning, by which they acted hypocritically towards God himself, and therefore, i

5-15 The prophet next turns to Judah, whom he calls the residue of his people. Happy are those alone, who glory in the Lord of hosts himself. Hence his people get wisdom and strength for every service and every conflict. But it is only in Christ Jesus that the holy God communicates with sinful man. And whether those that teach are drunk with wine, or intoxicated with false doctrines and notions concerning the kingdom and salvation of the Messiah, they not only err themselves, but lead multitudes astray. All places where such persons have taught are filled with errors. For our instruction in the things of God, it is needful that the same precept and the same line should be often repeated to us, that we may the better understand them. God, by his word, calls us to what is really for our advantage; the service of God is the only true rest for those weary of the service of sin, and there is...

WHEREFORE ... - This verse commences a direct address to the scoffing and scornful nation, which is continued to the close of Isaiah 28:22. It is addressed particularly to the rulers in Jerusalem, as being the leaders in crime, and as being eminently deserving of the wrath of God. YE SCORNFUL MEN - Ye who despise and reproach God and his message; who fancy yourselves to be secure, and mock at the threatened judgments of the Almighty....

SECTION VII. RENEWED DENUNCIATIONS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH (CH. 28-31.) EXPOSITION ISAIAH 28:1 A WARNING TO SAMARIA. The prophet has now east his eagle glance over the whole world and over all time. He has denounced woe upon all the principal nations of the earth (Isaiah 13-23.), glanced at the destruction of the world itself (Isaiah 24:17), and sung songs over the establishment of Christ's kingdom, and the ingathering of the nations into it (Isaiah 25-27.). In the present chapter he returns to the condition of things in his own time and among his own people. Afte

WHEREFORE HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, YE SCORNFUL MEN,.... Men of scorn and mockery, that scoffed and mocked at the word of God, as in the preceding verse Isaiah 28:13; or at the threatenings of punishment; and even made a jest of death and hell, as in the following words: "the word of the Lord" they are called upon to hear, hearken, and attend to, is either the word of promise of the Messiah, Isaiah 28:16 or rather the word threatening them with ruin, Isaiah 28:18 or it may be both: THAT RULE THIS PEOPLE WHICH [IS] IN JERUSALEM; which must not be understood of the chief ruler Hezekiah, but rather of some subordinate rulers, such as Shebna and others; these set a very bad exampl

3. THE SIX WOES OF THE PROPHET, JUDGMENT RUINS AND RESTORATION GLORIES TO COME (28-35) CHAPTER 28 The First Woe and the Message of Assurance 1. _Ephraim addressed (Isaiah 28:1)_ 2. _Jerusalem equally corrupt and guilty (Isaiah 28:7)_ 3. _The prophet mocked (Isaiah 28:9) The prophet's answer (Isaiah 28:11)_ 4. _Their covenant with death (Isaiah 28:14)_ 5. _The message of assurance (Isaiah 28:16)_ 6. How Jehovah judges

JERUSALEM ALSO IS THREATENED WITH DESTRUCTION. But Jerusalem like Ephraim reels with intoxication, the priests and prophets especially. The prophet is not steady in his vision, the priest when pronouncing judgment has his faculties clouded by wine. Their revels are carried to disgusting excees. The scorners mock Isaiah: Is he talking to children that he goes over his lesson again and again with such wearisome monotony? Well, if the prophet's message will not satisfy them, Yahweh will speak to them in the foreign language of Assyria. They had refused to listen when He told them of the true rest, and so now He will speak to them with a wearisome monotony indeed, in strange-sounding words which they will not be able to treat with supercilious scorn, for they will be involved in utter ruin. The prophet now turns to the rulers, who scoff at his words, because they flatter themselves that they...

_ye scornful men_ Better: SCOFFING MEN. The "scoffer" (_lêç_, a word almost confined to Pss. and Prov.) represents the last degree of ungodliness, open contempt of religion. The phrase here is applied to worldly politicians, who form their plans in defiance of Jehovah's revealed will (cf. Isaiah 28:22; ch. Isaiah 29:20). _that rule this people_ The prophet's antagonists are the party which has gained the upper hand in the councils of state; the king himself is tacitly acquitted of responsibility. 15 is the protasis to Isaiah 28:16 f. _Because ye have said_ Isaiah no doubt clothes the thoughts of the conspirators in his own language; but the vagueness of the allusions corresponds

WHEREFORE, HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, &C.— The prophet, about to describe the temporal and external punishment in these verses, addresses the teachers and elders of the people, and in a strong manner convicts them of their iniquity. By _death_ and _hell_ are understood those powerful princes with whom the unbelieving Jews had entered into a covenant, having cast off their dependance upon God; but more particularly the Romans under whose subjection alone they declared themselves when they refused Christ for their king: _We have no king but Caesar,_ say they; John 19:15. See Daniel 7:17....