Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 28:17
Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
17. Th first half of the verse continues Isa 28:16. In order to build on this foundation, it is necessary that political conduct be conformed to the eternal principles of the Divine government; these are “judgment” and “righteousness” (see on Isa 1:21), which are here compared to the builder’s line and plummet. Render as in R.V. I will make judgment the line and righteousness the plummet. Cf. ch. Isa 34:11.
and the hail ] Every course of action not based on faith in Jehovah, and not in accordance with the strict rule of the Divine righteousness will prove a false refuge in the day of judgment, see Isa 28:15 and cf. Isa 28:2. Comp. also Mat 7:24-27. The verb “sweep away” is not found elsewhere.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Judgment also will I lay to the line – The sense of this is, I will judge them according to the exact rule of law, as an architect frames everything according to the rule which he uses. In other words, there shall be no mercy intermingled. The line is used by a carpenter for measuring; the plummet consists of a piece of lead attached to a string, and is also used by carpenters to obtain a perpendicular line. A carpenter works exactly according to the lines which are thus indicated, or his frame would not be properly adjusted. So God says that he would judge the people of Jerusalem according to the exact rule, without any intermingling of mercy.
And the hail … – (see the note at Isa 28:2). Hail, hailstones, and floods of waters are frequent images of the divine vengeance and wrath Psa 105:32; Isa 22:19; Isa 30:30; Eze 13:13; Eze 38:22; Rev 8:7; Rev 11:19; Rev 16:21.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 28:17
Judgment also will I lay to the line
Gods 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.)
Mercy and judgment
Upon the roses of grace grow the thorns of justice. Whenever the Lord bares His arm for mercy towards believers He gives a back stroke to His enemies. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Privilege and responsibility
A great privilege involves a great responsibility. It is a very high favour to see the foundation which God has laid in Zion and to be exhorted to build upon it; but of those who reject that foundation vengeance will be exacted. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Refuges of lies and what will become of them
I. THE LORD JUDGING MANS REFUGES. He says, Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. Observe that, however carelessly we may judge ourselves, God will not so judge us. His survey is performed with the utmost accuracy. There are three ways by which we may judge whether our confidences are refuges of lies or not.
(1) If they are safe hiding places they are founded upon Christ. Behold, I lay in Zion, etc.
(2) If our confidence be a right one it comes to us through faith (Isa 28:16). If your hope is grounded upon sight, or feeling, or working, it will one day fail you.
(3) A third test seems to me to be proposed in my text. Judgment will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. Here, then, is the test of righteousness. If our hope is sound, it is a holy, sanctifying hope, which purges us from sin, and breeds in us all that is true and good. We shall now apply these tests to certain refuges which I am sure will turn out to be refuges of lies.
1. The first is the hope which some men ground upon their own moral goodness. It will not stand trial by the first plummet; it is not based upon the foundation which God has laid. Try the second touch stone as to faith. Your hope is not based on faith in Jesus; you have no faith except in yourself. Moreover, is not this plea of moral goodness a falsehood from top to bottom? Recollect that even if your outward life may have been correct, God regards the heart, and takes account of the inner life.
2. A number of persons make a refuge for themselves out of the notion of fate. This would not endure one of the tests and assuredly not the last, for its tendency is to deny all moral obligation, and hence it is no friend to holiness. It deliberately charges God with the creatures sin, and makes out the sinner to be the injured person.
3. The third shelter of lies which many fly to is a hope based upon novel doctrines. So far as my observation goes, these modern notions go with looseness of life, with world linens of heart, with decay of prayerfulness, and with backsliding from the living God.
4. We have another brood of men whose refuge is that they make a profession of religion.
5. Let me speak a word concerning certain who have a hope of being saved which does not sanctify them.
6. Some, too, make a refuge of their old experience. A true experience continues and grows day by day.
II. PICTURE THE DESTRUCTION OF THESE REFUGES OF LIES. A man has been very comfortable in one or other of these refuges for a good number of years, but at last he is getting old, and is laid aside to think; infirmities are increasing death is drawing nigh, and he takes a look into the dark future. He finds himself facing an eternal state, and has need of all his confidences and hopes to sustain him. Now, what happens? His spirit undergoes a great storm, and what is the result? Does he dwell in a fortress which defies the hurricane? No, his shelter is so frail, that, according to the text, the hail shall sweep away the refuges of lies. A cold, hard truth falls from Heaven like a hailstone, and crashes right through the glass roof of his false confidence. He looks up astonished and, in! another and another forgotten truth descends with like violence and crushes through all opposition till it smites his soul. Down falls all his comfort and peace of mind, as hailstone after hailstone pounds all his hope to pieces. After all, I never was born again, and the Scripture hath well said, Ye must be born again. I never yielded up my selfishness, and I cannot be saved unless Christ is my King. I did not really close in with Christ and cast my naked soul on Him. Another impressive picture is set before us. The flood shall overflow his hiding place. Imagine one who, in the time of Noahs flood, does not choose to enter into the ark, for he does not care to be tied down to Gods way of deliverance. He wants a more philosophic way. Besides, he does not care to be cooped up with Noah and a handful of narrow-minded people, who shut themselves in and shut everybody else out. He has broader views, and therefore he has found a shelter on the side of the hill, in a great cave where thousands can assemble, and enjoy a liberty denied them within the pale of the ark. It is utterly preposterous to suppose the flood will ever reach so high as this elevated cave. After a day or two Of extraordinary rain the man would look down from his hiding place and see the waters covering all the lower area, and creeping up the valleys foot by foot, and he would remark upon the abundance of rain, but scoff at the idea of a general deluge. He would be easy, hoping that the rain would cease, but as it continued he would begin to think, I may not be quite so safe after all. Imagine his horror when the flood at last fills up the ravine, and creeps up the rocky steep. With cruel lip, seeking his destruction, the water threatens the cave wherein he thought to dwell so safely. At last it penetrates his hiding place, it climbs to the very roof, it sweeps over his head, and his false confidence has proved his ruin. Such will be the end of all who hide themselves, but hide not in Christ. I will tell you in what fashion this overthrow will come. First, the mirth of the mind is damped with doubt. The man does not feel so easy as he used to be; he is afraid that Gods Word may be true, and that things will go amiss with him. Soon the doubt has oozed into his refuge, and become a pool of fear: the man is sadly afraid, and the dread saturates and dissolves all his joy. The truth of Gods Word still further comes home to his conscience, and he begins to be more and more alarmed: nor does he continue long in one stay, for he is growingly distressed, the waters are evidently advancing upon him and he cannot escape. He has come to be altogether dismayed, he hardly knows what will become of him; and within a little while, unless Gods mercy shall prevent and enable him to find the true shelter, he win be drenched in despair and washed away in terror. At last he cannot believe that there is any salvation possible for him.
III. THE LESSON ON WARNING. Let us build on Gods foundation. He knows better than we do what is right and safe. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gods careful tests of character
An ordinary builder who should be sent to examine a house would probably content himself with hastily looking to see whether the walls were perpendicular, and whether the work was of the quantity and quality specified in the contract; he could tell this pretty nearly with his eye, or by measuring with his foot; but if a very careful and scientific survey was wanted, he would then produce his plummet and his line, and try everything by the regular accepted tests of builders work: hence our text describes the Lord as laying judgment to the line and righteousness to the plummet; that is to say, He makes a deliberate trial of our confidences, compares our hopes with our conduct, our beliefs with the truth, and our expectations with the facts of the case. Oh, that we might have grace to invite such a test at once by praying, Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts. If the Lord will help us to know ourselves now it will save us from a sad discovery at the last. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies
Refuges of lies
It is very remarkable to what an extent men will deceive themselves on the subject of religion. In connection with this subject, more than any other, we find the most remarkable cases of self-delusion: they are so very remarkable sometimes, as to appear altogether incredible.
I. A false refuge in which many indulge is a SELFISH RELIGION. Selfishness in any form is in exact opposition to religion. It makes no difference as to the type which selfishness puts on. The question is, does a man make his own interest the object of pursuit? If so, such conduct is the exact opposite of that benevolence which Christ manifested, when He laid Himself out for the good of mankind and the glory of God. We should love God for what God is, and we should love our neighbours as ourselves. Where there is true religion it will manifest itself in prayer, praise, and obedience. It will manifest itself with respect to God in efforts to please Him, to honour Him, and to glorify Him, and an earnest desire to secure the love, confidence, and obedience of all men. It is not selfishness for a man to have a proper regard for his own salvation; but it is for him to regard his own salvation only, and care not for the salvation of his neighbour. Further, this is the true way for a man to secure his own salvation; by caring for the salvation of others. Whosoever will save his life, said Christ, shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.
II. Another refuge of lies to which mankind betake themselves is RELIGIOUS IMPULSE. This is a prevailing form of selfishness. This delusion consists in appealing to the feelings instead of to Gods law as developed in the conscience and reason. Such persons as these think themselves very religious, because they feel deeply upon the subject. Let the circumstances subside which excited their feelings, and you see that they have not the root of the matter within them.
III. Others have a MERE RELIGION OF OPINION, which is just the opposite of a religion of impulse. These opinions do not mould their lives.
IV. Another refuge of lies is the RELIGION OF SECTARIANISM.
V. Another refuge of lies is HAVING REGARD TO WHAT IS OUTWARD, the performance of certain external actions without love to God in the heart. There are a great many men who think themselves very religious because they pay their debts. (C. G. Finney.)
Refuges of lies
It is certain that, from the time of Adam down to the present day, thousands have taken refuge from the threatenings of Gods wrath beneath the lies of the Evil One.
I. You say, If I am elect I shall be saved, do what I may; but if I am not elect I must be damned, do what I will; and, therefore, there is no use in my trying to do anything. Election is not iron fate, but unutterable love.
Do you act in this manner about carnal things? A friend invites you to dinner; the table is spread before you. You are asked to sit down. Stop, you say, does not God know everything? Yes, says your friend. Well, you say, God knows whether I shall eat this food or not: so its all fixed, and I cant alter it; and if I am not to eat that dinner, I cannot eat it, even though I were to try to eat it: whereas, if I am to eat it, I must eat it, even though I were to rise and leave the room and try to go without it; and, therefore, I will sit still and do nothing. Would you reason thus? If not, why say, when God lays the Bread of Life before you, If I am to eat of the Bread of Life, I must, do what I may; if I am not to partake of it, I cannot, do what I will; and, therefore, I will sit still and do nothing? If Christ does not really offer to save you I have nothing further to say, but you admit He does.
II. I trust in the mercy of God. If that is all your trust it is a refuge of lies You answer, Is not God merciful? More merciful than you can conceive, but it will not do to trust in the mere mercy of God. Gods mercy will not save you till you are inside the tower of refuge, Christ Jesus.
III. We do the best we can. What! You do the best you can? Then you are safe. If you really have done the best you could to this present hour, you are this moment as safe as the angel Gabriel. But will you solemnly declare that you have never sinned? Ah no! The best thing you can do is to look to what another has done for you, even Jesus!
IV. Some are flattering themselves that they believe in Jesus Christ, and are in the road to Heaven, while they are without that faith which alone can save the soul. Let me ask you who say, I do believe, what it is you believe that can justify you? You say, I believe that Jesus Christ came into the world to teach us the way to Heaven. So did that young man who came to Christ of old. You answer, I believe in the great judgment to come. So did Felix, when Paul stood before him and reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. You answer, I believe that Jesus was the innocent sufferer for the guilty, and that He is truly the Son of God. So did Judas. You answer, I believe that Jesus died that He might save sinners, and rose to glory everlasting. So did Ananias and Sapphira. Do you ask, at last, what am I to believe, that I may be saved? What did that dying thief believe who went to Heaven? More than either Judas or Satan. Did he not believe that Jesus was his own Saviour, and did he not confidently trust in Him that He would bear him in everlasting remembrance, and did he not call Him Lord?
V. I must wait Gods time. The solemn truth is, Christ is waiting for you. Did you ever read His own words? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Is not that waiting?
VI. We know all this is true, and we mean to turn, but there is time enough yet. Oh, the unreasonableness of your course! Why would you turn by and by?
1. Because Christ beseeches you? And does not He as much beseech you now? And will you not grieve and insult Him by delaying?
2. Because God commands you? And does He not as much command you now? And are you not disobeying and defying Him by delaying?
3. Because danger threatens you? And is not death behind your back even now? (H. Grattan Guinness.)
Refuges of lies
All men know themselves to be sinners against God. They know also that, as sinners, they are in peril. Hence their anxiety to find some refuge for safety. They know they might find this in the way of forsaking sin and turning to the Lord; but they do not choose to forsake their sins. Hence there seems to be no convenient resource but to hide themselves under some refuge. It is obvious that men who resort to lies for a refuge regard those lies not as lies, but as truth. This fact leads us to raise the primary fundamental question, Have we any rule or standard which will show what is truth, and what is falsehood? Men have countless opinions about religion; how can we determine which are true and which not true? We have an infallible test. Salvation, to be real and available, must be salvation from sin. Again, if it does not beget prayer, does not unify us with God, and bring us into fellowship and sympathy with Him, it is a lie. If it does not produce a heavenly mind, and expel a worldly mind, it is a lie. Here I must notice an objection. It is said, The Gospel does not, in fact, do for men all you claim. It does not make professed Christians heavenly minded, dead to the world, full of love, joy, and peace. I reply, Here is medicine which, applied in a given disease, will certainly cure. But it must be fairly applied. So with the Gospel.
I. I will now proceed to NAME SOME THINGS THAT LACK THIS DECISIVE CHARACTERISTIC. They do not save the soul from sin.
1. An unsanctifying hope of Heaven.
2. An old experience, that is all old.
3. There are two forms of self-righteousness–the legal and the Gospel–both of which are refuges of lies. The legal depends on duty doing–evermore trying to work out salvation by deeds of law. The Gospel form sets itself to get grace by works.
4. Universalism.
II. And now TAKE NOTICE OF WHAT GOD SAYS. The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. This hail is the symbol of Gods displeasure. It is fit that God should be displeased with these refuges of lies. He loves truth too well to have the least sympathy with lies. He loves the souls of men too deeply to have any patience with agencies so destructive. The waters, He declares, shall overflow the hiding places. Every resort that leaves the soul in sin is a hiding place.
1. All religious affectation is such, and is nothing better.
2. So of all religious formality–going through the forms of worship, being in the Church, being baptized–what avails it all unless their piety be instinct with life and that life be the soul of real holiness
3. A great many people hide in the Church.
4. Others hide under the plea of a sinful nature. They are naturally unable to do anything.
5. Some dodge under professors of religion. (C. G. Finney.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; I will execute just judgment, as it were by a line and plummet annexed to it, i.e. with exactness and care. And this may be understood either,
1. That God would so order and settle things in his church, that justice and judgment should prevail, and not iniquity, as hitherto it had done; or rather,
2. That as God would build up and preserve all believers upon that Foundation-stone, so he would severely punish and utterly destroy all those unbelieving Jews who should reject that Stone. For
the line and
plummet, or the plumb-line, was not only used in erecting buildings, but also in pulling them down; those parts of the building being thus marked out which were to be demolished; and therefore is used in Scripture to signify the destruction of a place or people, as is evident from 2Ki 21:13; Isa 34:11; Lam 2:8; Amo 7:7,8. And this sense agrees best with the following clause and verse.
The hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place; my judgments, which in Scripture are compared to a storm of hail or rain, shall discover the vanity of all your crafty and wicked devices, and shall sweep you away with the besom of destruction in spite of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. linethe measuring-line ofthe plummet. HORSLEYtranslates, “I will appoint judgment for the rule, and justicefor the plummet.” As the corner-stone stands most perpendicularand exactly proportioned, so Jehovah, while holding out grace tobelievers in the Foundation-stone, will judge the scoffers (Isa28:15) according to the exact justice of the law (compareJas 2:13).
haildivine judgment(Isa 30:30; Isa 32:19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Judgment also will I lay to the line,…. A metaphor taken from builders, who in building use the line and plummet to carry on their work even and regular, retaining such stones as agree thereunto, and rejecting such as do not; signifying, that in the spiritual building, where Christ is the foundation and cornerstone, such as are built thereon shall continue and grow up regularly into a holy temple; but those that set at nought this precious stone, and build upon the sandy foundation of their own righteousness, betake themselves to a refuge of lies, and cover themselves in their own hiding places, as well as all such who go on in their sins, shall be rejected by the righteous judgment of God:
and righteousness to the plummet; meaning the same as before; or, “I will lay judgment by the line, and righteousness by the plummet” w; the rule of the divine law, by which it will appear whether their actions are agreeable to it, or the righteousness they trust in answerable to it; or the sense is, that at the same time that God would preserve and secure his own people upon the sure foundation Christ, he would punish others, according to the strict rules of justice, as his righteous law required, and according to the just demerit of sin. Kimchi interprets it, but very wrongly, of the justice and equity that should take place in the reign of Hezekiah, which were wanting at the time of this prophecy; but the preceding prophecy regards Christ, and not Hezekiah; and therefore is rather to be understood of the right and equal distribution of justice and judgment in the administration of government by him:
and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies; the lies they made their refuge, Isa 28:15 their lying prophets, their idols, their riches, their righteousness, and everything in which they placed their confidence; for all refuges, be they what they will, are lying ones, and will deceive, excepting Christ and his righteousness; all which are easily and at once swept away, with the besom of avenging justice, when God takes it in hand. The phrase denotes the facility and suddenness of the destruction, and the entirety of it, which should be brought about by means of a “hail” storm, the same with that in
Isa 28:2 which designs the Assyrian, or rather the Roman army, since the prophecy preceding relates to the times of Christ; and it may be, by the refuge of lies may be meant the temple, in which the Jews greatly placed their confidence, as Cocceius thinks:
and the waters shall overflow the hiding place; the city of Jerusalem, where they hid, and thought themselves safe: a mighty army rushing into a city, and putting the inhabitants to the sword, or to flight, or obliging them to surrender, may be fitly signified by an inundation of water; see Isa 8:7 very probably the army of the Romans under Vespasian.
w So Gataker.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. And I will lay judgment to the line. The ruinous condition of the Church being such that believers hardly ventured to hope that it would be improved, he shews that God has in his hand the ready means of forming the Church entirely anew. As he lately mentioned a building, so now, by a different metaphor, he shews that there is no reason to fear that God will not at length finish the work of building which has been begun. Yet indirectly he reproves the pride and insolence of those who wished to be accounted pillars of the Church, while they were endeavoring, as far as lay in their power, to raze it to the foundation. Although, in consequence of an almost total extinction of the light of faith, and a frightful corruption of the worship of God, the state of the people was hideous, yet they boasted of their royal priesthood, in the same manner as we see the Papists at the present day shamelessly utter similar boasting, though lamentable confusion cries aloud that the form of the Church has utterly perished among them. For this reason the Prophet describes what will be the reformation of the Church.
Judgment to the line, and righteousness to the measure or plummet. It is probable that קו, ( kāv,) a line, and משקלת, ( mĭshkōlĕth,) a plummet, mean the same thing, as may be inferred with greater certainty from another passage:
“
I will stretch over Jerusalem the rope or line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab.” (2Kg 21:13.)
Yet I do not deny that he alludes to the examination of weights; but both metaphors are taken from buildings, in which the master-builders and masons try everything by a rule, in order to preserve a due proportion in every part. Thus it is said that the Lord administers equal judgment, when he restores the Church, in which otherwise everything is disordered and confused, as in a hideous ruin, when the ungodly are exalted and enjoy prosperity, while the godly are despised and sorrowful.
He makes the same statement concerning “righteousness,” that he will measure or try it by his weights, and will regulate everything by a rule; for by righteousness and judgment he means a proper and lawful administration of the Church, as contrasting with the masks and disguises boasted of by those who fear the title of Bishops. The meaning is, that this foundation is laid, not only that the Church may be commenced, but that it may be perfectly restored, to use a common phrase, “from top to bottom” ( De fonds en comble.)
The hail shall sweep away the reliance of falsehood. This second part of the metaphor denotes also a very exact equality. Nothing then will be wanting to the building, if Christ be laid for the foundation; and, on the other hand, if he be not there, all will be vanity and confusion. Now since there was no room for “judgment and righteousness,” but by sweeping away the false confidences, he declares that they shall be all swept away, because the violence of God’s anger shall cast down all loftiness, and the flood shall penetrate all the hiding-places of thoughtless indifference. He therefore threatens that hypocrites, with all their boasting, shall nevertheless perish, even though the Lord preserve the Church; for he does not speak of chastisements, as if the wicked would be corrected by them, because, on the contrary, they become hardened and more obstinate. The cleansing, therefore, he shews, will be such as to drag them forth from their hiding-places and strip them of false and empty confidence; for wicked men think that they are so thoroughly concealed by their falsehood and deceit, that they shall never feel strokes, and therefore they please and flatter themselves amidst their iniquities and crimes; but the waters will easily reach them; that is, the wrath of God, which shall rush down upon them like a deluge, will easily break through their lurking-places.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
FALSE REFUGES
Isa. 28:17. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.
Numerous are the stratagems of Satan to ruin souls. In some he effects this by hurrying them on in the broad way of open transgression; in others, by rendering them the victims of some peculiar constitutional sinpride, avarice, &c.; in others, by inciting a spirit of disbelief of the truth (Psa. 14:1); in others, by inducing inattention to the things of the soul. But our text leads us to contemplate the false refuges to which he causes others to betake themselves.
I. Sinners often feel the necessity of a refuge. This arises sometimes from
1. An internal sense of guilt. Unless in cases of utter obduracy, transgression and remorse are ever wedded together. Even Pagans have felt these workings of conscience, these pangs of guilty torture. Under these, men sigh for peace, long for rest, and earnestly desire a refuge.
2. The calamitous events of life. Sudden adversity, domestic bereavement, visiting the open grave of some friend, bodily indisposition, mental disquietude, &c.
3. The supposed nearness of death. Men who mock at religion in health, quail at the approach of death. Voltaire trembled in a storm, anxious then to have deliverance, to obtain a refuge.
4. Under the alarming influence of the preached word. When the truth has flashed across the mind and startled the conscience. Thus Felix, and thus thousands. How lamentable that these impressions and convictions are often so fleeting; but still more so, when the convicted sinner flees to sources of false security.
II. Sinners frequently betake themselves to refuges of lies. Of these notice
1. Partial reformation of life. Giving up the grosser sins of which they have been guilty, intemperance, profanity, fraud, &c. When the whole body is diseased, the amputation of one member is fruitless.
2. A general regard to Christian morality, to the outward acts of obedience, and the decencies of society.
3. An outward profession of religion. Punctual regard to public worship, a proper regard to ordinances, a name among the people of God.
4. A prominent and public sectarian spirit. Rigid adherence to party, sect, and creed; violent anathematising all others; great ardour in the public events of the Church to which they belong. Come, see my zeal, &c.
5. Distinguished generosity. Liberality to the poor, works of beneficence, co-operation with the compassionate and benevolent. All these things are good in their legitimate sphere and extent, but they are all often only refuges of lies; they may engage a mans anxious attention, while the root of the matter has yet no place in his heart (1Co. 13:1-3; Mat. 7:22-23).
6. A still more commonly frequent refuge of lies: a general reliance on the mercy of God. A kind of self-confident persuasion that God is good, that He will not punish, an indefinite resting on His clemency, forgetting His righteousness, purity, truth, &c.
III. Such refuges of lies will be ultimately swept away. They will be so
1. In a dying hour. Then the mental vision often becomes peculiarly acute, the moral sense keen and distinct, and the honesty of the spirit throws off the tinsel mask, which is now manifestly worse than useless. How poor and worthless is self-righteousness, in all its possible extent, to a spirit just stepping into the presence of the holy God. A queen of England, although professing to be Defender of the Faith, and having bishops at her control, felt this, and died in circumstances of unutterable alarm.
2. In the morning of the resurrection. Then all classes and distinctions will be reduced to two. None but the righteous will have a part in the first resurrection. Others will rise with shame, confusion, and horror to everlasting contempt.
3. In the decisions of the judgment. God will judge all men in righteousness. The wicked and the righteous will be separated (Mat. 25:32-33); no pretence, disguise, plea, stratagem, importunity, or effort, will avail. All refuges of lies will be swept away.
APPLICATION.
1. Warn against these destructive schemes and wiles of Satan.
2. Exhibit the one only refuge, Jesus Christ, who delivers from the wrath to come.
3. Urge instant faith in Him. Count all things but loss, &c. All who believe in him are secure for both worlds. To this Refuge let all repair, earnestly, and now.Jabez Burns, D.D.: Pulpit Cyclopdia, iii. 153156.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(17) Judgment also will I lay to the line . . .Rather, I make judgment for a line, and righteousness for a plummet. The architectural imagery is continued. The elect corner stone shall come up to the standard of perfection, laid four-square (Rev. 21:16); and, therefore, should be the true place of refuge; while? the boast of the scorners, which the prophet repeats in the words that follow, should prove a false one. They would see their place of refuge swept away by the great waters. (Comp. Mat. 7:26-27.) Their treaty with death and Hades should be treated as null and void, They should be trampled under foot by the invading armies.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Judgment line righteousness plummet This means that the rule of God’s dealings is one of the strictest justice. “He makes justice the rule of his proceedings, just as the builder regulates his work by line and plummet.” The figure of the builder is continued from the previous verse.
Hail A mighty destructive agent; a figure importing visitations of divine justice upon systems of falsehood built up by wicked priests and compromising prophets. See notes on Isa 28:2.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 28:17-22. Judgment also will I lay to the line The prophet, having provided for the safety of those who put their trust in God, prepares himself to denounce the judgments ready for the profane and hypocritical scorners of Jerusalem, who boasted that they had made a covenant with death and with hell, renouncing all hope of salvation from God; and the denunciation of this judgment is comprehended in various articles, the first whereof is in the 17th verse, wherein God testifies that he will not spare them, but proceed with them according to the strict line of justice and severity; and that it should come to pass that those formidable people themselves, with whom they had made a covenant, should bring upon them a total and sweeping destruction: see Isa 28:2. And who knows not how exactly this was fulfilled by the Romans? The next article is comprised Isa 28:18-20. The meaning whereof is, that the covenant with the Romans, wherein they had placed so much confidence, should be broken and dis-annulled; and they should be exposed to the vengeance and power of the Romans, to which, while deprived of the divine aid, they were themselves utterly unequal: wherefore it should come to pass that this overflowing scourge should entirely destroy them. The sense of the metaphorical expressions in the 20th verse is, that the Jews, having broken their covenant with the Romans, should be most certainly overwhelmed by this overflowing scourge, because they were utterly unequal to the Romans, when deprived of the divine aid. It was that aid alone which could supply their defect; but God being determined to hide his face from them, and to desert them utterly, the bed would be too short for them to stretch themselves upon, and the covering too narrow for them to wrap themselves in: their own powers and abilities would be insufficient to their protection and defence. The emblem, chap. Isa 33:23 is of similar elegance. Spiritually understood, this figure may be applied to a man seeking to be justified by his own righteousness, without applying to the righteousness which is by faith: he will find the bed of his own works and merits too short, and the covering too narrow. The third article is contained in the 21st verse, to which is added an admonition in the 22nd. The meaning of the 21st is, that God, as if moved with severe indignation, would at this time fearfully display his judgments, to destroy his obstinate and professed enemies, in the same manner as he destroyed the kings of Canaan, (see Jos 10:11.) and as the Philistines were destroyed at mount Perazim. See 2Sa 5:20-25 chap. Isa 30:30-31. The destruction of the Jewish common-wealth is called the Lord’s strange work; and surely with great propriety; for nothing could be more singular and wonderful than that God should so entirely reject his people, and so fearfully destroy their temple and city. The 22nd verse, containing the admonition to the scorners, (see Isa 28:14.) and exhorting them to fly from the wrath to come, would be better understood if rendered thus: Now therefore, do not exercise your scorning any more, lest your bands be made stronger; [that you may avoid, if not the whole, yet a part of the divine wrath.] For I have heard what is decreed and precisely determined by the Lord God of Hosts against the whole land. The last words are rendered by Bishop Lowth, For a full and decisive decree have I heard from the Lord JEHOVAH, God of Hosts, on the whole land. See Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I have often thought, that among all the unpromising appearances of things around, when men sin with a high hand, in slighting and despising both God’s judgments and God’s mercies; the most unpromising are among those that mock at God’s rich plan of redemption by Christ. There is somewhat so truly awful in this, as should seem to carry with it features of peculiar danger. Blessed be God, there are instances of the sovereignty of grace in the recovery of all characters in the vast catalogue of sin, so as that none should despair, while none presume. Nevertheless there is somewhat in the malignity of the mocker, which, like the sort of the bond-woman, peculiarly marks the hatred of the mind, and makes one very apprehensive of such being given up to a reprobate mind. How solemn is this last verse: Be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
Ver. 17. Judgment also will I lay to the line. ] Or, I will set out judgment by line, and justice by plummet; that is, I will proportion your punishments to your offences, as it were by line and by level, that the wicked may have their due, and the godly sustain no damage. See 2Ki 21:12-13 Amo 7:8 . Calvin saith that by this expression, borrowed from builders, the Lord here showeth that when the corner stone before spoken of shall be laid, the Church of the faithful built thereupon shall rise up to a fair and uniform built temple in the Lord, according to Eph 2:20 .
And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies.
And the waters.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Judgment also will I lay to the line, &c. = I will make judgment the line, and righteousness the plumbline.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Judgment: Isa 10:22, 2Ki 21:13, Psa 94:15, Amo 7:7-9, Rom 2:2, Rom 2:5, Rom 9:28, Rev 19:2
and the hail: Isa 28:2, Isa 28:15, Isa 25:4, Isa 32:2, Isa 32:18, Isa 32:19, Exo 9:18, Exo 9:19, Jos 10:11, Jer 7:4-8, Jer 7:14, Jer 7:20, Jer 23:19, Jer 30:23, Jer 30:24, Eze 13:10-16, Eze 38:22, Rev 8:7, Rev 11:19, Rev 16:21
and the waters: Isa 30:28, Job 22:16, Dan 11:22, Mat 7:27, 2Pe 3:6, 2Pe 3:7
Reciprocal: Deu 13:5 – prophet Job 9:17 – For he Psa 69:1 – the waters Psa 83:15 – General Isa 8:7 – the Lord bringeth Isa 9:15 – the prophet Isa 17:12 – make a noise Isa 20:6 – whither Isa 29:15 – seek Isa 33:14 – sinners Jer 19:7 – I will make Jer 36:23 – he cut Jer 47:2 – waters Lam 2:8 – stretched Eze 40:3 – with Nah 1:8 – with 1Co 3:13 – and the fire 2Co 10:13 – rule
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 28:17. Judgment also will I lay to the line, &c. I will execute just judgment, as it were by a line and plummet annexed to it; that is, with exactness and care. I will severely punish and utterly destroy all who reject that stone. For the line and plummet, or the plumb-line, was not only used in erecting buildings, but also in pulling them down; those parts of the building being thus marked out which were to be demolished. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, &c. My judgments (which in the Scriptures are compared to a storm of hail or rain) shall discover the vanity of all your crafty and wicked devices, and shall sweep you away with the besom of destruction in spite of them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and {t} righteousness to the plummet: and the {u} hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow {x} the hiding place.
(t) In the restitution of his Church, judgment and justice will reign.
(u) God’s corrections and affliction.
(x) Affliction will discover their vain confidence, which they kept secret to themselves.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The rulers had made a covenant in which they hoped (Isa 28:15), but God would make justice and righteousness the measuring standards by which He would act and judge His people. They thought they could avoid the "overwhelming scourge" (cf. Isa 10:22; Isa 10:26) of their enemy by taking refuge in a treaty (Isa 28:15), but God would allow them to be swept away by an adversary (cf. Isa 28:2).