Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 28:7
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble [in] judgment.
7. the priest and the prophet ] Better: priest and prophet. These are specially mentioned as the spiritual leaders of the people, who opposed Isaiah in the name of Jehovah, and backed up the plans of the politicians with the pretended authority of Divine revelation.
swallowed up of wine ] Perhaps, “confused by wine,” see on Isa 3:12.
are out of the way ] R.V. have gone astray see Isa 19:14.
vision (a peculiar form in the Hebr.) refers to the function of the prophets; judgment (lit. “judicial matters”) to that of the priests (cf. Deu 17:8 ff; Deu 19:17; Eze 44:24). It is not asserted that the prophets have no visions, but only that, through self-indulgence, they lack the capacity to discern their real significance.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But they also have erred through wine – In the previous verses the prophet had said that the kingdom of Judah should be saved, while that of Ephraim should be destroyed. Yet he does not deny that they also were guilty of crimes for which punishment would come upon them. To portray these crimes, and to declare the certain judgment which awaited them, is the design of the remainder of the chapter. The word rendered have erred ( shagu) refers usually to the fact that people stagger or reel through wine, and is applied commonly to those who are intoxicated Pro 20:1. The subsequent part of this verse shows, however, that it does not refer merely to the fact that they stagger and reel as intemperate people do, but that it had an effect on their vision and judgment; that is, it disqualified them for the discharge of their duties as priests and as prophets. In this part of the verse, however, the simple idea is, that they reel or stagger through wine, that is, they are addicted to intoxication. In the subsequent part of the verse the prophet states the effect in producing indistinctness of vision and error of judgment.
And through strong drink – (see the note at Isa 5:11).
They are out of the way – ( tau). They wander; stagger; reel (compare the notes at Isa 19:14).
The priest and the prophet – Probably these persons are specified to denote the higher classes of society. It is probable that the prophet also designs to indicate the enormity of the sins of the nation, from the fact that those who were especially devoted to religion, and who were supposed to have immediate communication with God, were addicted to intemperance.
They are swallowed up of wine – They are completely absorbed by it (see the note at Isa 25:7); they not only themselves indulge in its use, but they are themselves, as it were, swallowed up by it, so that their reason, and strength, and virtue are all gone – as a vessel is absorbed in a maelstrom or whirlpool.
They err in vision – For the sense of the word vision, see the note at Isa 1:1. The prophet here states the effect of the use of wine and strong drink on their mental and moral powers. It was the office of the prophets to declare the will of God; probably also to explain the sense of the sacred Scriptures, and to address the people on their duty. Here the prophet says that the effect of their intemperance was that they had themselves no correct and clear views of the truth, and that they led the people into error.
They stumble in judgment – There were many important subjects on which the priests sat in judgment among the Hebrews, particularly in all matters pertaining to religion. By the influence of intoxicating liquors they were disqualified for the high and holy functions of their office; and the consequence was, that the nation was corrupt, and was exposed to the heavy judgments of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 28:7-8
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 for a certain time his self-control in relation to it,–he will handle it, but easily, so that he can set it down again should it so please him. But at the end there is swallowing up, destruction–death is in the cup, and death must be drunk up by those who put their lips to the forbidden vessel. When Edward IV condemned his own brother, George Duke of Clarence, to be killed, we are told that the duke desired to be drowned in a butt of Malmsey, and the historian well adds, as became so stout a drunkard. To this end may men come who never dreamed of coming to it, who meant to show the world how easy it would be to toy with the devil, to touch him, set him back, smile at him, laugh at him, use him as a dog, bind him as a slave; and to all these initial usages will the devil submit himself, knowing that at some fatal unsuspected moment he will lasso the man who supposes he can take him captive, and he will carry him away to the chambers of death. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Erred through wine
Preaching in London, the Rev. Egerton Young, so long a missionary to the Hudson Bay Indians, said he would like to bring some of his converts to this land, but he dared not until the temperance cause was more advanced. One native preacher had been brought over, but kind friends thought that he required a little stimulant after the fatigue of the meeting, and the poor Indian had gone back with such a taste for spirits that he had to be expelled from his office, and finally died a drunken outcast. (Australian Sunday School Teacher.)
Intemperance a pestilence
No pestilence has ever destroyed so many millions of men, women, and children as intemperance; for a pestilence comes and goes, and often at long intervals, but intemperance is a fixed and permanent plague, always spreading, and always destroying our people, body and soul. (Cardinal Manning.)
Intemperance a peril to national life
On the east coast of our country the sea has been encroaching for centuries. Acre after acre of corn land has tumbled down into the waves, and churches, threatened by every high tide, are pointed out which, at the time of their erection, stood a mile from the sea. And by a similar process of encroachment and destruction fruitful sections of our national life are broken down and churned in the raging flood of this terrible curse, and places are not unknown in which the very church itself threatens to topple into ignominy and ruin. (T. G. Selby.)
Drunkenness degrades
Dr. Louis A. Banks tells how a drunkard in New Orleans was reformed. A friend of his, who was a stenographer, sat down in a corner of the saloon in which he was carousing, and made a full shorthand report of every word he said. The next morning the stenographer copied the whole thing neatly and sent it round to his office. In less than ten minutes he came tearing with his eyes fairly standing out of their sockets. Great heavens, he gasped, what is this? Its a stenographic report of your monologue at the restaurant last evening, and gave him a brief explanation. Did I really talk like that? he asked faintly. I assure you it is an absolutely verbatim report, was the reply. He turned pale and walked out. He never drank another drop. (Christian Age.)
The degradation of drunkenness
It is told by Victor Hugo that in the capital of Burgundy the corporation had four silver goblets. When a prince or any distinguished person passed through their city they were offered wine in these silver goblets. The wine of Burgundy is very famous, but the people knew not only its merits, but its dangers. On the first goblet was inscribed a monkey, on the second a lion, on the third a sheep, and on the fourth a swine. This meant to denote the degrees of drunkenness which their wine produced. (G. H. Morrison, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
But, alas! Judah is guilty of the same sins with Israel, and therefore they also must expect the same calamities; of which he speaks afterward. They run into the same excess of wine and strong drink, whereby they besot themselves, and fall into many errors and miscarriages, both in sacred and civil things. The many emphatical phrases and repetitions of the same thing in other words, in this verse, seem to evince that he here speaks of drunkenness, properly so called, although he afterward chargeth them with ignorance, and error, and stupidity; which also were the companions, and in part the effects, of that sin.
The priest, to whom strong drink was expressly forbidden in the time of their sacred ministrations, lest they should thereby be led into errors in their work, Lev 10:9,10.
The prophet; the teachers, who should have been patterns of sobriety to the people, and to whom sobriety was absolutely necessary for the right discharge of their office.
Have erred in their conversation, and in their holy administrations.
They are swallowed up; they are, as we say, drowned in it; their senses and reason are swallowed up and lost in it. They design only to swallow it, but indeed are swallowed up by it.
They err in vision; the prophets miscarry in their sacred employment of prophesying or teaching, which is called vision, Pro 29:18, and elsewhere.
They stumble in judgment; the priests mistake in pronouncing the sentence of the law, which was their duty, Deu 17:9-11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. Though Judah is to survivethe fall of Ephraim, yet “they also” (the men of Judah)have perpetrated like sins to those of Samaria (Isa 5:3;Isa 5:11), which must bechastised by God.
erred . . . are out of theway“stagger . . . reel.” Repeated, to express thefrequency of the vice.
priest . . . prophetIfthe ministers of religion sin so grievously, how much more the otherrulers (Isa 56:10; Isa 56:12)!
visioneven in thatmost sacred function of the prophet to declare God’s will revealed tothem.
judgmentThe priestshad the administration of the law committed to them (Deu 17:9;Deu 19:17). It was against the lawfor the priests to take wine before entering the tabernacle (Lev 10:9;Eze 44:21).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But they also have erred through wine,…. Either they that sat in judgment, and turned the battle to the gate, as Jarchi interprets it: or rather, since the Lord was a spirit of judgment and strength to those, the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin in later times are meant, in the latter end of Hezekiah’s reign, or in the times of Manasseh, or nearer the Babylonish captivity; these tribes, which professed the true religion, and who had the word, and worship, and ordinances of God among them, even these were guilty of the same sin of drunkenness, as the ten tribes that had apostatized; there were the drunkards of Judah, as well Ephraim, who “erred through wine”; they erred and strayed from the rule of the divine word by excessive drinking, and this led them on to other sins, as drunkenness commonly does; and they were not only through it guilty of errors in practice, but in principle also; they made sad mistakes, as in life and conversation, so in doctrine, their memories, understandings, and judgments, being sadly affected and beclouded through this sin:
and through strong drink are out the of way; of God and his word; out of the way of truth and godliness: it signifies the same as before, only expressed in different words. The Targum renders the word for “strong drink”, which designs any liquor that makes men drunk, by “old wine”, which is accounted the best:
the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; committed sin, by drinking to excess, and made themselves unfit for the duties of their office, and were guilty of sad mistakes in the performance of it; the priest sinned by so doing against an express command, and made himself incapable of distinguishing between the holy and unholy, the clean and the unclean, Le 10:9 though this need not be restrained to the priest only, for the word “cohen” signifies a prince as well as priest; and it is not fitting for kings to drink wine, nor princes strong drink, to excess, Pr 31:4 civil as well as ecclesiastical rulers may be here designed, though chiefly the latter, men that should set the best of examples to others; and the “prophet”, as Kimchi observes, intends not the true, but false prophets. The Targum renders it a “scribe”; these and the priests are frequently mentioned together in the New Testament, and were both erroneous; and their errors here, both as to doctrine and practice, are imputed to their drunkenness; a very scandalous sin, especially in persons of such a character:
they are swallowed up of wine; they not only greedily swallowed it down, and were filled with it, but were swallowed up by it, drowned in it, and lost the exercise of their sense and reason, and were ruined and destroyed by it, and made wholly unfit for such sacred offices in which they were:
they are out of the way through strong drink; out of the of their duty, by sinning in this manner; and out the way of the performance of their office, being rendered incapable of it:
they err in vision: these were the prophets, the seers, who pretended to the visions of God, and related them to the people as such; but they mistook the imaginations of their crazy heads, intoxicated with liquor, for the visions of God; they erred in prophesying, which may be meant by “vision”, they delivered out false prophecies, false doctrines, and grievous errors, of fatal consequence to the people; or, as Kimchi further interprets it, they erred “in seeing”; they mistook in those things which were plain and obvious to the eye of everyone, in things clear and manifest; drunkenness affects the eyes both of the body and of the mind, that a man can see clearly with neither. The Targum is,
“they turned after, or declined unto, sweet meat;”
as if they were guilty of gluttony as well as drunkenness; but it is not usual for drunkards to crave sweet meat, but rather what is relishing:
they stumble [in] judgment; or “reel” r and stagger, as drunken men do: this refers to the priest, who, through drunkenness, made sad hobbling work in expounding the law, and giving the sense of it, and in pronouncing sentence of judgment in matters of controversy brought before him, to whom those things appertained, Mal 2:7
De 17:8.
r “titubant in judicatione”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gataker.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With the words, “and they also,” the prophet commences the second half of the address, and passes from Ephraim to Judah. “And they also reel with wine, and are giddy with meth; priest and prophet reel with meth, are swallowed up by wine: they are giddy with meth, reel when seeing visions, stagger when pronouncing judgment. For all tables are full of filthy vomit, without any more place.” The Judaeans are not less overcome with wine than the Ephraimites, and especially the rulers of Judah. In wicked violation of the law of God, which prohibited the priests from drinking strong drink when performing priestly service, and that on pain of death (Lev 10:9, cf., Eze 44:21), they were intoxicated even in the midst of their prophetic visions ( , literally “the thing seeing,” then the act of seeing; equivalent to , like in Isa 28:15 = ; Olshausen, 176, c), and when passing judicial sentences. In the same way Micah also charges the prophets and priests with being drunkards (Mic 3:1., cf., Isa 2:11). Isaiah’s indignation is manifested in the fact, that in the words which he uses he imitates the staggering and stumbling of the topers; like the well-known passage, Sta pes sta mi pes stas pes ne labere mi pes . Observe, for example, the threefold repetition of shagu – taghu , shagu – taghu , shagu – paqu . The hereditary priests and the four prophets represent the whole of the official personages. The preterites imply that drunkenness had become the fixed habit of the holders of these offices. The preposition indicates the cause (“through,” as in 2Sa 13:28 and Est 1:10), and min the effect proceeding from the cause (in consequence of wine). In v. 8 we can hear them vomit. We have the same combination of the and in the verb kotzen , Gothic kozan . All the tables of the carousal are full, without there being any further room (cf., Isa 5:8); everything swims with vomit. The prophet paints from nature, here without idealizing. He receives their conduct as it were in a mirror, and then in the severest tones holds up this mirror before them, adults though they were.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Vs. 7-13: A WARNING TO JUDAH
1. Here Isaiah pictures the filth and tragedy of drunkenness on the part of the leaders in Jerusalem (vs. 7-8; Isa 22:12-13; Jer 48:26)-drunken priests perverting judgment (Isa 24:2; Isa 24:5; Hab 2:15-16; Isa 59:11-14), and drunken prophets perverting the word they were responsible to proclaim in purity, (Isa 9:15; Isa 30:9-10; Isa 59:3-4; Jer 23:14).
2. Rebuffed by Isaiah’s admonition, the people of Jerusalem resent and mock his method – saying that he is treating them like babes just weaned from their mother’s breasts, (vs. 9-10; Heb 5:12-13; 1Pe 2:2; Psa 131:1-3).
3. But, the prophet assures them that, if they will not be admonished in plain, simple and understandable language, then God will instruct them in the language of the Chaldeans which they do not understand! (vs. 11; comp. 1Co 14:21).
4. The Lord offered them true rest and refreshment through trust in His Word; but they refused to hear; thus, they would stumble and fall backward – to be broken, snared and taken captive, (vs. 12-13; Isa 30:15; Jer 6:16; Mat 11:28-29; Isa 8:13-15; Mat 21:43-44).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7. But they also have erred through wine. He returns to the irreligious despisers of God, who were Jews in name only, and proves their ingratitude to be highly aggravated, because, though they had before their eyes a striking proof of the anger of God, when they saw their brethren severely chastised, and not withstanding experienced God’s forbearance towards themselves, yet neither that example of severity, nor the conviction of the divine goodness, could bring them back into the right path, or make them in any respect better, although the Lord spared them. Here he speaks of “wine and strong drink” metaphorically; for I do not understand it to relate to ordinary drunkenness, against which he remonstrated at the beginning of the chapter, but, on the contrary, he says that they were like drunk men, because they wanted knowledge and sound understanding. If the word as be supplied before the words “through wine and through strong drink,” the meaning will be more easily understood. I do acknowledge that by continued drunkenness men become, as it were, brutalized, and I have no doubt that drunkenness and excessive eating and drinking contributed also to stupefy the minds of the Jews; but if we examine the whole of the context, it will be easy to see that the madness which he condemns is metaphorical.
The priest and the prophet have erred. He proceeds still farther to exhibit their aggravated guilt, and says that not only the common people were drunk, but the priests themselves, who ought to have held out the light and pointed out the path to others; for, as Christ declares, they may be regarded as “the salt of the earth.” (Mat 5:13.) If they are mad, what shall the common people be? “If the eye is blind,” what shall become of the other parts of the body? (Mat 6:23.)
They have erred in vision. The most grievous thing of all is, when he says that they err not only in the more flagrant transgressions of life, but in vision and judgment. Hence we ought to infer how desperate was the condition of the Jewish Church, and here, as in a mirror, we may behold our transgressions. It is indeed something monstrous that, after so many chastisements which God has employed for cleansing it, the Church is so deeply corrupted; but such is our wickedness that we fight against his strokes, (217) and though he continually restrains us, and uses unceasing efforts to purify us from our sins, we not only render all his remedies useless, but bring upon ourselves new diseases. We ought not therefore to wonder that in the present day, after the numerous scourges and afflictions with which the Church has been chastised, men appear to be obstinate, and even become worse, when Isaiah testifies that the same thing took place in the ancient Church. True, indeed, the goodness of the Lord rose above the base and shameful wickedness of that nation, and still preserved the Church; but this was accomplished by his secret power, contrary to the expectation of all; for it would be of no advantage to us, if he employed ordinary remedies.
Hence also it is evident how silly and childish is the boasting of the Papists, who always have in their mouth “The Church,” and use as a pretext the names of priests, bishops, and pontiffs, and wish to fortify themselves by their authority against the word of God, as if that order could never err or mistake. They think that they have the Holy Spirit confined within their brains, and that they represent the Church, which God never forsakes. But we see what the Prophet declares concerning the priests, whose order was more splendid and illustrious. If ever there was a Church, there certainly was one at that time among the Jews; and that order derived from the word of God support to which they have no claim. And yet he shews that not only were they corrupt in morals, but erred “in vision and judgment,” and that the prophets, whom we know that God added to the priests, out of the ordinary course, on account of the carelessness of the priests, were nevertheless blind in that sacred office of teaching and in revelations. Nothing therefore is more idle than, under the pretext of an office which bears a splendid title, to hold out as exempt from the danger of erring those who, having forsaken God, and not only cast away all regard to religion, but even trodden shame under their feet, defend their tyranny by every means in their power.
(217) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) But they also have erred through . . .Better, yet these also reel . . . Isaiah acts on the method of Nathan when he said, Thou art the man. He has painted the drunkards of Ephraim; now he turns and paints in yet darker colours the drunkards of Judah. Priests were seen reeling to their services, prophets reeling in the very act of their counterfeit inspiration. The threefold iteration of the word for reel emphasises the scandals of the scene. The sins of the sons of Eli, those of which Micah (Isa. 2:11) had spoken, were reproduced in all their enormity. The most loathsome features of their drunkenness are printed in Isa. 28:8 with a boldness which is almost photographic. The prohibition of wine during the time when the priests were on duty (Lev. 10:1-9) adds to the guilt thus represented.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7, 8. But they also With these words the prophet passes from Ephraim to Judah. He had just said that Judah should be spared while Ephraim should be sacked and destroyed. But even Judah is guilty of drunkenness. Those of them who are of the anti-reform party, false prophet and priest, even these err or stagger in vision, that is, while prophesying; and stumble, that is, blunder grievously, in giving judgment, or adjudicating cases, and all through strong drink.
Priest and the prophet Both these classes were to be found in the worldly, anti-spiritual party, which also absorbed the higher classes of society in Jerusalem. The true prophet was in the minority, hence unpopular and persecuted, though even a king, as did Hezekiah, might favour his cause.
Tables are vomit The terms here are used of the extreme effects of drunkenness. Hyperbole is common among orientals, and is allowable for reaching the depths of the thought in hand, and to present a mirror before real baseness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Back To the Present. The Condition of Judah ( Isa 28:7-8 ).
Many view this movement back to the present as commencing a reference to Judah (see Isa 28:14), as against Israel in Isa 28:1-4, which would explain the reason for the intervention, which was to turn attention to the coming David and the strong city. Isaiah now points out that their leaders are too much involved in overmuch drinking to come to sensible decisions. Their riposte will be to accuse him of speaking to them as though they were children, to which he will reply that as they will not rest in Yahweh they will fall into His snare.
Analysis.
a But these also have erred through wine, and have gone astray through strong drink (Isa 28:7 a).
b The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they have gone astray through strong drink (Isa 28:7 b).
b They err in vision, they stumble in judgment (Isa 28:7 c).
a For all tables are filled with vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean (Isa 28:8).
.
Note how the second item covers the same ground as the first in reverse, but with an added feature, although applying it to priest and prophet. The spirit of judgment is lacking, replaced by strong drink. The writer’s pattern is complicated. Note how in ‘a’ they have been surfeited in wine and strong drink, and in the parallel it has made them filthy their surroundings with their vomit. In ‘b’ priest and prophet have erred and gone astray and in the parallel they have erred in vision (prophets) and stumbled (failure of the teaching of the priests).
Isa 28:7-8
‘But these also have erred through wine,
And have gone astray through strong drink.
The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink,
They are swallowed up by wine,
They have gone astray through strong drink.
They err in vision.
They stumble in judgment.
For all tables are filled with vomit and filthiness,
So that there is no place clean.’
‘These also’ refers back to the one who sits in judgment and those who guard the gates, the people of Judah. Those who are presently in this position are not guided by the spirit of judgment, they are guided by false ‘spirit’, by wine and strong drink. Whether the people turn to priest or prophet they will discover the same. Their judgments (the responsibility of priests – Mal 2:5-7) and their vision (the responsibility of prophets) err because they are under the influence of drink, soaked in it, swallowed up by it, and going astray. They stumble in their judgments, and spew out the contents of their stomachs. So bad is the situation that, when they are at table, the table is covered with their vomit and their filth. Thus all is unclean.
There could not be a worse picture of debility. Here they are gathered to make decisions on behalf of God’s people, but they appear hopelessly drunk. Thus they stumble in judgment, they stumble in vision, and they behave disgustingly. They vomit all over the table. All is filthy with no place clean. It is like a pigsty. The picture is of those unfit to govern. It is only later that we discover wherein they err. They look to Egypt for help against Assyria rather than to Yahweh. But at this point Isaiah is more concerned to point out that they are cut off from Yahweh in all their deliberations by their condition. God is disgusted with them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 28:7-8. But they also have erred, &c. But they also stagger with wine, and reel with strong drink: the priest and the prophet stagger through strong drink; they are drowned in wine; they reel with strong drink, &c. We have observed that a new set of men are here introduced, who are shewn to be guilty of the same vice with the Ephraimites above-mentioned; that is to say, of corrupting religion and judgment. It is plain that the priests and prophets, the teachers, scribes, judges, and elders of the people of God, or in general the Pharisees and Sadducees, are here meant; who are condemned, not of drunkenness properly speaking, but of figurative drunkenness; that is, the inculcating corrupt doctrine, different from the tradition of their fathers, and from sound reason; and in their public judgments concerning religion and law, and in their counsels concerning the safety and preservation of the state, wandering far from sober judgment and a sound mind. See Isa 28:9. The history of the Pharisees and Sadducees sufficiently explains this prophesy.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here is another solemn charge, and more pointed than the former. Errors are not only found in Ephraim, but in Judah; not only among the carnal, but the professor. Yea, God’s ministers, both prophet and priest, are said to have erred through strong drink! Precious Jesus! is it possible that we can behold thee drinking the cup of trembling to the very dregs; and that any who minister before thee, and in thy name, can be found drinking the drunkard’s cup? W ell might Isaiah cry out, and exclaim, Whom shall he teach knowledge? It should seem from the whole of this passage, that the people bantered at what was spoken, and turned it into laughter. Some have rendered the word, which we translate stammering lips, ridiculous lips; and this idea seems to render the thing probable. And if the priest and the prophet indeed erred through strong drink, it is more than probable, they became ridiculous in what they preached. Alas! alas! to what a state is our nature fallen!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 28:7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble [in] judgment.
Ver. 7. But they also have erred through wine. ] Judah had caught this disease of Ephraim, as the English are said to have done of the drunken Dutchmen. Sin is more contagious and catching than the plague. The Hebrew word importeth an alienation of mind. Pro 20:1 Hos 11:2-3 ; Hos 11:12 Jer 23:9 Vino sapientia obscuratur, Wisdom is voided by wine, said Alphonsus, King of Arragon.
They are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink.
They err in vision.
They stumble in judgment.
a A strong sweet wine, originally the product of the neighbourhood of Monemvasia (Napoli di Malvasia) in the Morea; but now obtained from Spain, the Azores, and the islands of Madeira and the Canaries, as well as from Greece.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
they. Referring to Judah.
strong drink. Hebrew. shekar. App-27.
judgment = pronouncing judgment.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 28:7-13
Isa 28:7-8
“And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so there is no place clean.”
If Isa 28:5-6 are considered as a parenthesis, which they manifestly are, then these words are a continued description of the debaucheries of Ephraim. Some have tried to explain the drunkenness of Ephraim as A “spiritual” error; but the description of reeling, staggering, etc. is powerful evidence of common intoxication. Payne properly discerned this as an affirmation that, “Priests and prophets in the northern kingdom were no better than ordinary citizens.
Isa 28:9-10
“Whom will he teach knowledge? and whom will he make to understand the message? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little.”
We might paraphrase this mockery of Isaiah by the drunken rulers and leaders of Ephraim thus: Why, who does this man think he is teaching, a group of babies who have just been weaned? Is he trying to teach us our ABC’s? These silly little sayings of his are nothing at all. They are just rule, rule, rule and law, law, law! J. B. Phillips has this, “Are we just weaned … Do we have to learn that The law is the law is the law, the rule is the rule is the rule?” Such a mockery indicates that Isaiah’s teachings might have been very simple and monosyllabic. Isaiah might have used the stammering, monosyllables of drunkards to announce some of his teachings. In any case, his hearers hated it!
God, through Isaiah, at once responded to the mockery.
Isa 28:11-13
“Nay, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people; to whom he said, This is the rest, give ye rest to him that is weary; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. Therefore shall the word of Jehovah be unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”
Well, here is tongue-speaking in the Old Testament; and as Kidner noted, “Paul quoted Isa 28:11 here in 1Co 14:21, affirming that `unknown tongues’ are not God’s greetings to a believing congregation”; but they are God’s rebuke of an unbelieving and rebellious people.
The thought is, Very well, you reject Isaiah’s messages from God; I will speak to you with the words of a cruel invader. You pretend not to understand what God says; but you will really not be able to understand the brutal language of your slave masters in Assyria.
Isa 28:7-13 DEMENTED: Now Isaiah turns his attention to the people of Judah. Even these are swallowed up of wine. It is the theologians who are pointed out-priests and prophets. Priests were to represent man to God and prophets were to represent God to man. The two primary functionaries through which men came into contact with God were, for the most part, drunkards. These religious leaders often times functioned also as advisors to the Hebrew king and his noblemen. Inebriated and intoxicated, completely overcome with drunkenness, they either misrepresented Gods will to man or did not represent it at all! Thus the nation was left without religious instruction and leadership at all except for Isaiah and Micah and a few faithful souls known as the remnant! Hebrew religious life was so closely united with its civil structure when religion decayed, civil life became chaotic. Justice and morality dipped to a dangerous low. The drunkards lost their senses and were unable to make sensible, honest judgments. Sin itself is insanity (cf. 1Co 15:34).
Isaiah paints a vile and repulsive picture of drunkards, but it is a true picture. Distillers of liquor in America often picture users of their product as men of distinction, etc. The truth of the matter may be known by anyone who wants to spend a little time around places where their product is excessively and indulgently consumed. It is a picture of behavior worse than the vilest animal. Vomit, cursing, lewdness, violence, incoherence and delirium is the environment created by drunkenness.
The drunken priests, prophets and other citizens of Judah and Jerusalem manifest their utter depravity by mocking Isaiahs attempts to instruct them in the revelation of God. They say in effect, Who does Isaiah think he is to talk to us like one would talk to children. Are we babies? The Hebrew word translated teach is yarah and means, instruct, inform. The Hebrew word translated message is shemooah which means, something heard or report. This verse (Isa 28:9) emphasizes the fact that Isaiahs major ministry was in teaching, instructing the nation concerning the report he had heard (revelation) from God. He evidently spent a great deal of time at teaching. While the nation resented being taught as one would children, that is how they were behaving.
The phrasing of Isa 28:10 in the Hebrew is interesting: tsav latsav, tsav latsav, qav laqav, qav laqav. Leupold thinks, it is sarcastic talk, done in monosyllables to make the simplicity of the prophets message ridiculous. Thus Isaiah is represented as playing the part of the pedantic teacher treating them like stupid children. He doles out his lessons in a repetitious, singsong, rote method. The drunkards are making great sport of Isaiahs sincere attempts to penetrate their wine-addled brains.
The prophets reply in Isa 28:11 is: As a matter of fact, God is going to treat the people of Jerusalem like babies and speak a message of chastening to them through a nation whose language they do not understand. God is going to make believers out of some of these drunken unbelievers by delivering them to the Assyrians. They are too immature and unbelieving to heed Isaiahs instruction, so they will have to be dealt with as immature babies. They will have to be shown! Their minds are too addled. They cannot reason-they can only understand harsh, punitive action. The Lord himself will speak unwelcome words to them which may also in a way be likened to stammering lips and a foreign tongue. He is going to speak to them in a way they were not accustomed to be spoken to, and probably, in reference to the Assyrians, through a people whose language was foreign to them. The apostle Paul paraphrases Isa 28:11 in 1Co 14:21. Paul uses it, we are convinced, in the same way Isaiah meant it here. The church at Corinth, in its mania for the charisma or gift of tongues (speaking an understandable foreign language unknown to the speaker but miraculously empowered to do so by the Holy Spirit) was acting like a child. The Christians there clamored for this spectacular and showy gift more than they did for prophecy which instructed. Foreign tongues, miraculously uttered, was simply a sign for unbelievers who had to have a demonstration of the supernatural in order to make believers of them. Foreign tongues were not to edify, instruct or reveal anything to believers. The problem of tongues would be to a great extent solved if Bible students would make the connection Paul makes in Corinthians with Isaiahs warning here to Judah. The connection is that the showy, spectacular, manifestation of the supernatural is for the immature and unbelieving. While teaching, instruction, prophecy is for the mature and spiritual.
God had reiterated His invitation again and again through the prophets. Time after time He sent prophets and teachers to guide them to Him wherein they might find rest for their souls (cf. Jer 6:16-21), but they deliberately refused to walk in His restful and refreshing way. The way of rest is in believing and keeping His commandments (cf. Mat 11:28-30; Joh 15:1-11, etc.). But to those who are self-indulgent when the way of God is preached, it is to them like babbling (cf. Act 17:18).
They mocked and scoffed at Isaiahs sincere, untiring, repetitious and simple instruction of Gods revelation of Himself. They refused to comprehend that God was about to judge them. But within two generations the revelation given through Isaiah in command upon command is going to come to pass, and they are going to realize they have stumbled at the truth and are trapped by it and taken captive. That which they mocked is going to mock them. God is not mocked-whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
erred: Isa 19:14, Isa 56:10-12, Lev 10:9, Lev 10:10, Pro 20:1, Pro 31:4, Pro 31:5, Ecc 10:17, Eze 44:21, Hos 4:11, Mic 2:11, Mat 24:29, Luk 21:34, Eph 5:28
are swallowed: Psa 107:27, *marg.
err in: Isa 3:12, Isa 9:16, Jer 14:14, Jer 23:13, Jer 23:16, Lam 2:4, Eze 13:7, Hos 4:12
Reciprocal: 1Sa 25:36 – merry Pro 23:29 – Who hath woe Pro 23:32 – At Ecc 10:16 – and Isa 5:11 – inflame Isa 5:22 – mighty Isa 28:1 – drunkards Isa 29:9 – they are Isa 29:24 – also Isa 43:27 – and thy Isa 56:12 – I will Jer 2:8 – priests Jer 6:13 – and Jer 8:10 – from the prophet Jer 14:18 – yea Hos 4:6 – because Hos 7:5 – made Hab 2:16 – and shameful Mat 23:25 – full Luk 6:25 – full Act 24:25 – temperance Rom 13:13 – rioting 2Co 2:7 – swallowed 1Ti 3:3 – Not given to wine Tit 1:7 – not given to wine Heb 3:10 – err Heb 9:7 – errors 1Pe 4:3 – excess
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
WINE IS A MOCKER
They also have erred through wine.
Isa 28:7
I sin against myself when I yield to the power of wine.
You tell me that there is no reason why I should become a confirmed drunkard; that many a one who takes wine never degenerates into its vassal and prisoner; that I may find it a benefit and not a blight and a bane. But I have two answers to return to your argument.
I. One of them is that single acts of indulgence grow by imperceptible degrees into habits.I protest that I am afraid to tamper with strong drink, lest it should have me entangled in the meshes of its net before I am aware.
II. But my second reply goes further.One solitary surrender to the appetite, suppose that it is never repeated, is indefensible and unworthy. It is a letting slip the reins of self-control. There is in it a certain parting with personal dignity, a certain forfeiture of the sense of responsibility, a certain degradation and descent from the level on which I ought to stand. A man should always keep himself at his very bestclear, capable, resourceful. A man should always be fully prepared to take advantage of every opportunity that comes to him. But if by his own consent it is otherwise at one instant in his life, then at that instant he is guilty of sin.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Isa 28:7. But they also have erred But, alas! Judah is guilty of the same sins with Israel, therefore they also must expect the same calamities, of which he speaks afterward. The priest To whom strong drink was expressly forbidden in the time of their sacred ministrations; and the prophet The teachers, who should have been patterns of sobriety to the people, and to whom sobriety was absolutely necessary for the right discharge of their office; have erred In their conversation and in their holy administrations. They are swallowed up of wine They are, as we say, drowned in it. They err in vision The prophets miscarry in their sacred employment of prophesying or teaching, which is sometimes called vision. They stumble in judgment The priests mistake in pronouncing the sentence of the law, which was their duty.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 28:7-22. 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 prophets 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 have secured immunity from disaster. Death itself is on their side, and will do them no harm; when the Assyrian scourge sweeps through, they will be sheltered by their policy of double dealing. But while the politicians are trusting in their flimsy refuge of lies, Yahweh is placing a real refuge in Zion, a well-tested stone for a foundation; he who believes will not give way. And Yahweh will deal with the scorners according to exact justice; He will test the quality of actions by judgment and righteousness, as a builder uses a line and plummet (Isa 34:11) to estimate the correctness of a building. Then their covenant with death, their agreement with Sheol, will not stand, and the scourge will smite them down. Assyria will give them no respite, and in utter terror they will come to learn what the prophets warnings meant. The politicians fancied they had made themselves secure and comfortable, but they will find that their arrangements are quite inadequate, and will place them in a very uneasy position. For Yahweh will strike as when David overthrew the Philistines (2Sa 5:20-25). Let them cease their scorning, for if they mock the prophets warning, the bands of Assyria, already fastened upon them, will be fixed more firmly than ever. For the prophet has heard a sentence of decisive destruction from Yahwehs own lips.
Isa 28:10. precept upon precept . . . line upon line: the words rhyme in the Heb.; perhaps they should be transliterated rather than translated, tsaw la-tsaw tsaw la-tsaw qaw la-qaw qaw la-qaw. The meaning of the words is uncertain.
Isa 28:11. In 1Co 14:21 this is applied to the tongues in the Corinthian Church. The meaning, however, is that, since they reject the prophets message as too childish, Yahweh will use the Assyrians to bring them to their senses. Their language will be hard enough to suit their fastidious desire for something more difficult. The best parallel is in Isa 8:5-7.
Isa 28:12. Cf. Isa 30:15, the keynote of Isaiahs foreign policy.
Isa 28:15. We have . . . agreement: a proverbial expression meaning we have secured immunity from all disaster. Possibly some magical rites practised for this purpose are in mind. Death is hardly to be explained as the fatal power of the Assyrians.overflowing scourge: the Assyrian hosts, which rolled like a flood over Palestine. The mixed metaphor is curious. Duhm reads, the scourging scourge.a stone: this is variously interpreted as Yahweh Himself, Zion, the monarchy, the sanctuary, Yahwehs relation to Israel. The last is perhaps correct.make haste: read give way.
Isa 28:20. Perhaps a proverb.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
28:7 But {g} they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are overwhelmed with wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble [in] judgment.
(g) Meaning, the hypocrites who were among them, and were altogether corrupt in life and doctrine, which is here meant by drunkenness and vomiting.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The folly of Judah’s leaders 28:7-22
Isaiah now compared the pride and indulgence of the Ephraimite leaders to that of their Southern Kingdom brethren. The leaders of Judah were even worse. There is some debate among scholars about where reference to Ephraim’s rulers ends and where reference to Judah’s leaders begins. It seems to me that the context favors the change occurring between Isa 28:6-7.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The priests and the false prophets in Judah, on the other hand, drank so much that their visions and judgments were distorted, and they degraded themselves by vomiting all over their tables. [Note: See Leon J. Wood, The Prophets of Israel, ch. 7: "False Prophecy in Israel," for a good discussion of this subject.] Isaiah chose onomatopoetic words in Hebrew to mimic the staggering and stumbling of the drunkards: shagu-taghu, shagu-taghu, shagu-paqu.