COLLAPSE OF SAMARIA AND A GLORIFICATION TO JUDAH The prophet presents a new group of prophecies (Is. 28-33), revealing the worsening social and political conditions. It includes six woes to wicked people in Ephraim, Judah and neighboring nations, who despised God and His word, leaned on foreign human arm, and got back to seek the counsel of mediums and spirits. This section reveals God’s justice. His love for His people and all humanity is without partiality. He does not stand sin, and does not accept defilement in man’s life. That is why He brought woes upon Israel and Ephraim, for their spiritual fall, while glorifying the kingdom of Judah that remained sanctified for a while, before following the example of its sister Israel, falling into worse abominations. 1. Woe to Samaria 1-6. 2. Revealing and exposing sin 7-15. 3. The need of a Savior 16-22. 4. God’s dealings with His people 23-29. 1. WOE TO SAMARIA God directed woes to Samaria and Ephraim, allowing Assyria in the year 722 B.C. to invade the land, to destroy the cities, and to captivate a great number of people. That has been a chastisement for Israel beside a practical lesson for Judah. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, were able to ascend to the roofs to watch the heaven reddened by the wrath of God against Israel, as flames of fire consumed many houses of Samaria and its surroundings. Despite that, the kingdom of Judah did not head the lesson, but committed the same sins of Samaria, and even worse; as revealed in the parable of Oholah and Oholibah that came in the book of Ezekiel 23, and mentioned here in more details. The verses 1 to 6 narrate the fall of Samaria that has been built on a high hill, surrounded on all sides by beautiful gardens, to be considered as one of the most beautiful and beloved cities of Palestine1. The valley below it, extending to the beach of Jezreel, was rich with its vineyards and fruitful fields. Despite the goodness and riches that God granted them, they forsook the Grantor and deviated to the pagan idols worshipped by the surrounding nations. Their worship went hand-in-hand with a loose life of luxury, with numerous abominations, for which God intended to chastise them. He moved the heart of the king of Assyria to get enchanted by the beauty and wealth of Samaria and its surroundings, and to send a great army to seize it. As for Israel, it leaned on its human arm and forgot its God. Thinking itself capable of destroying the enemy, it was left with its capital and many of its cities devastated, becoming a clear example for everyone who leans on human arm, disregarding God’s care. The prophet presents a fantastic poetic portrait of the fall of Samaria and the glory of the loyal remnant: a. The elite of Samaria used to hold permanent banquets, serving wine without limit, drinking and playing, while decorating their heads with wreaths of flowers as a sign of glory. The prophet sees the city of Samaria, capital of Israel, surrounded by gardens, 1 Ironside: The Prophet Isaiah, p. 167. like the one of these rich people, playing and getting drunk, practicing abominations, while decorating his head with a wreath of flowers. God directs woes to these wreaths, turning them to shame and disgrace, instead of glory and splendor, to get them faded and worthy of being thrown, together with the head that carries them, to the dust, to be trampled underfoot (Is. 28: 2, 3). b. God sends the army of Assyria, as one strong and mighty man (Is. 28: 2). What happened by the hands of the army of the King of Assyria was not by chance, and not through any human planning nor possibilities, but with a divine permission. He grants them the power, strength and unity to realize His plan to chastise Samaria! c. He likens the army of Assyria, sieging and humiliating Samaria, to throwing the head of a rich man, adorned with a flowery wreath, forcefully to the dust. Through a hailstorm and a flooding downpour the flowers fade because of the hail, and because of the downpour they are swept forcibly to the earth until it becomes part of the rubbish (Is. 28:2). d. He likens Samaria to a fig tree before the harvest, to be plucked out of its scanty first fruits in a moment time (Is. 28: 4). e. If God allows such humiliation for the sake of chastisement, He offers Himself to be a glory and splendor for His believers: “In that day the Lord of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people, for a spirit of justice to Him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.” (Is. 28: 5, 6) God will be our beauty, the crown of our splendor, and also our justice, and the defendant of the poor and afflicted. As the Leader of our battle He will grant us the spiritual victory against the powers of darkness. Together with the collapse of Samaria, representing the denial of faith God presents Himself as splendor, glory, justice, and victory to the loyal remnants of His people (Is. 28: 5); Here, the following is to be noticed: a. He says, “In that day,” the day of redemption, the Lord carried our shame on the cross, become Himself our crown. He received death for our sake, to grant us His life, His resurrection, and His righteousness. He became weak to grant us through His weakness the strength of conquest. St. John Chrysostom speaks of the cross as a sign of glory and strength, saying, [The Cross is glory. Look at what the evangelist says, ‘for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7: 39) The cross has abolished the enmity between God and men, presenting reconciliation; Turning earth into heaven; Gathering angels together with humans; Destroying the fortress of death; Weakening the power of the devil; Quenching the authority of sin; Rescuing the world from transgression and reclaiming truth; Chasing away the demons; Devastating the temples of idols and canceling their sacrifices; Sowing the virtue and establishing the Church! The cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Son, and the joy of the Holy Spirit. It is the boast of the apostle Paul who says, “But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6: 14) The cross is brighter than the sun, of more splendor than its rays. When the sun darkened the cross shone; the sun darkened, not because it was put out, but because the light of the cross surpassed it. The cross breaks our chains, and shakes the foundation of the prison of death. It is the sign of God’s love (John 3: 16)… The cross is a fortified stronghold, protector for the rich; fountain for the poor; defender for the fallen in the nets; a shield for those in battle; a way to overcome lusts and gain virtues; an amazing and wonderful sign2.] b. What is that remnant of His people, adorned by the Lord of hosts, justified and conquering through Him? Some believe that the talk here concerns the kingdom of Judah that remained for a while in a condition better than that Ephraim. While others see that these remnants are those who received faith in the crucified Lord Christ: like the apostles, the disciples, the Marys, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodimus etc. Others still see them as the remnants, who will be saved in the days of the antichrist, as the world gets overcome by a spirit of apostasy, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened (Matthew 24: 22). This remnant will embrace every soul that hastens to the Savior, the Lord of Hosts, to hide in Him, and come under the shade of His cross, whenever is the time! 2. REVEALING AND EXPOSING SIN Having spoken of chastising Ephraim, he resumes his talk about the sins of Judah, saying, “And these also” (Is. 28: 7) to reveal and expose the extent of its corruption: a. “The priests and prophets have erred through intoxicated drink. They are swallowed up by wine.” (Is. 28: 7) As the leaders in Samaria, capital of Israel, got corrupted by wine, so the religious leaders in Jerusalem were in the same boat. The ‘prophet’ here refers to the (false prophets), who prophesied on their own, to flatter the corrupt priests and the religious leaders. Those, as mentioned in the book of Jeremiah, were speaking in deceiving tender words, telling the people that Jerusalem is in peace and prosperity will not see the sword and shall not have famine. That was a natural fruit of rejecting the word of God, and preoccupation with material benefits. If that was the case with the priest and the prophet, how would it be with the people? b. “They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.” (Is. 28: 7) If the priest and the prophet staggered by wine, they would lose their spiritual consciousness and would offer false visions, bringing confusion to the people, because their inner insight gets darkened. In other words, every sin will lead to another. When the priest and the prophet get preoccupied with banquets and life of luxury, they would fall to excessive drinking, that would corrupt their inner insight, to offer deceiving visions, then lose their ability for fair judgment, and are unjust. c. “For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that no place is clean.” (Is. 28: 8) The prophet sees how the city got filled with banquets, and how all people 2 .380- الحب الإلهي، ص 378 got preoccupied with eating and drinking without limit, to the extent that they vomit because of excessive eating, then go back to eat more; which was the way of the Romans. The whole city became covered with vomit and filth, that there was not a spot where one can get rest. This portrait reveals the spiritual situation of Judah, where the false prophets vomited prophesies on their own, and filled the place with uncleanness and filth. This is how a loose man would end up, when lusts fill all his being, his soul, heart, mind, feelings, beside all his energies and gifts, with abominations, to turn into what likens a corrupt city. As man corrupts life, and the Holy One finds no place to find rest among us. Then, the Savior would say, “The Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” (Matthew 8: 20) Yet despite that He came to lay His head on the cross, to let us find for ourselves a place in the bosom of the Father. As our inner self gets filled with filth, the Lord would be told: “No place is clean,” (Is. 28: 8) instead of saying, “Let my lover come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.” (Song 4: 16) Nevertheless, the Savior yearns to set for us a place in Him, saying to us: “Here is a place by Me and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.” (Exodus 33: 21, 22) d. In their drunkenness, the priests and the prophets began to mock the prophet Isaiah, saying, “Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?” (Is. 28: 9) As though, they are saying that they are people of knowledge, so how come he is trying to teach them things! Let him go to those just weaned from their milk to present to them his prophecies, which only fit for simple immature people. “For percept must be upon percept, percept upon percept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” (Is. 28: 10) As though the prophet is talking to little children, repeating to them his orders and commandments, and offering them simple things.. As if he is like someone holding a child’s hand to teach him how to walk, taking him to the right then to the left, a portrait of how the priests and the prophets were mocking Isaiah and his prophecies! Now, how would these people be punished? The prophet Isaiah says, “with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people.” (Is. 28: 11) As they mocked the words and prophecies of the prophet, and saw him as though addressing newly weaned babies, God will send on them an enemy with strange tongue, to scream in their faces words they do not understand, to become as children with no knowledge. As they refused to learn from Isaiah, and mocked him, God will send on them Assyrian masters, who will teach them through the language of violence, together with servitude and humiliation. “To whom He said, ‘this is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest, let the weary rest,’ and, ‘this is the refreshing’ - Yet they would not hear.” (Is. 28: 12). They did not wish to listen to the voice of God, telling them that His rest is in our giving rest to those burdened with troubles. The priests and the prophets cared for outer formalities, far more than for giving rest to God, Himself - who finds, in His people - “a place for repose.” It was said by the prophet: “This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest.” (Is. 28: 12) Provide that rest, O man, for the Lord, then you would not need to plead to Him to forgive you. Give rest to the weary, visit the sick, and give food to the poor, for that is actually a prayer... All the time you provide God with rest, is actually a prayer... Beware, beloved brother, when you get a chance to provide God’s will with rest, to say, now is the time to pray; I shall pray, then work!3 Fr. Aphrahat Let them listen to the voice of the Lord, and speak to Him, not with the language of formalities, but with that of practical obedience to God in His children. Let them learn this as children, practice it, and forget that they are priests and prophets of knowledge, in order to avoid “falling backward, and be broken and snared and caught” (Is. 28: 13) that would lead to sure death. These people would mockingly boast: “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us. For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.” (Is. 28: 15) They proclaim that they fear neither death nor grave, as they entered into a covenant with them both. They know how to resort to lies, to escape falling under chastisements or afflictions, as their law is falsehood. They symbolize the antichrist and his followers who enter into a covenant with those of formal worship (Daniel 9: 27), to work with no fear of death or of grave. The work of the Lord Christ is, on the contrary, a destruction of that covenant, to replace it with a covenant with the Father, and an eternal reconciliation with His believers. 3. THE NEED OF A SAVIOR If the evil one is doing his best to deviate believers away from the Truth, he does that in different ways along all ages, particularly in the days of apostasy (the antichrist); as God Himself, gets on to support His children and believers against this devilish act. “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.” (Is. 28: 16) Thus, in the midst of that dark portrait the prophet Isaiah prophesies about the Messiah, as being the ‘Cornerstone’ and ‘Foundation,’ on which the Church is established. a. A ‘Foundation Stone’ in Zion: The Psalmist says, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118: 22, 23; see also Matthew 21: 42; Acts 4: 11; Romans 9: 33; Ephesians 2: 20; 1 Peter 2: 6, 8). It is a foundation stone, on which the Church is established; a tested stone, tempted by the devil, so that with His conquest, He would grant us victory; a precious stone beyond any value. It is the cornerstone that bound the Jews with the Gentiles, as two walls connected together through faith in Him4. Who trusts in Him will never be dismayed... In this way Isaiah presents us with a messianic prophecy revealing the Person of the Lord Christ, His position in relation to the Church, His richness, His glory, trust in Him, the refuse of exchanging or rejecting Him. The Savior is that chosen stone, rejected by those who were supposed to build the synagogue of the Jews, to become the cornerstone. The Holy Scripture likens Him to a cornerstone, because in Him, the two peoples of Israel and the Gentiles, are gathered together in one faith and one love (Ephesians 2: 15)5. 3 Demonstration 4 on Prayer, 4. 4 St. Augustine: Sermons on N.T. Lessons 1:14,15. 5 In Luc. Serm. 134. St. Cyril the Great Who is He, of whom we talk? “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” (Psalm 118: 23) “Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” (Ephesians 2: 15, 16)6 St. Augustine b. On it a spiritual building will be established (Is. 28: 17), “I will make justice (its) measuring line, and righteousness (its) plummet.” (Is. 28: 17) The building would thus be straight with no twisting, where truth and justice would dwell, as God Himself dwells in it with His believers. The Church is the living building set upon the Person of the Lord Christ as its foundation, His gospel is the truth, and His cross is the justice joined with mercy. The gospel and the cross build the Church of Christ straight as a place of security. But those who restore to lies, like the false prophets, the hail would become their refuge, and the flood would sweep away their hidden depths. All their hope would go in vain, and they would lose security. Their covenant with the death and the grave would be abolished. The scourge will bring them down to the ground and they will be trumped underfoot (Is. 18: 28). Every morning and every evening they hear disturbing news, about continuous attacks by the enemy. They never find enough place to stretch themselves when sleeping, or a cover to protect them from the cold. “For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His awesome work.” (Is. 28: 21) Perazim or the Mount of Perazim is a Canaanite name meaning ‘explosions;’ near the Valley of Gibeon (2 Samuel 5: 20; 1 Chronicles 14: 11), probably located today where ‘Ras Sanader’ is. By saying “The Lord will rise up as He did at Mount Perazim” means that God will knock down His enemies all of a sudden and destroy them completely7. David at the Mount of Perazim said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.” (2 Samuel 5: 20) And in saying, “He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon,” he means that He will do as He did in the days of Joshua against the Canaanites (Josh. 10: 10). What is that ‘awesome work’ God will do, but punishing the sin. God gets no pleasure in punishing, but does it as something foreign to Him, as said by His prophets: “Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion, according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” (Lamentations 3: 32, 33) “The Lord is coming out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth” (Is. 26: 21) Thus, the sinners, especially those who mock the word of God and the prophecies and reject faith in the Messiah, Subject of the prophecies, and Center of the whole Scripture, shall not find mercy or refuge, despite God’s reluctance to punish. He says, “Now therefore do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong.” (Is. 28: 22) By this, he does not mean the chains by which the people were bound on their way to captivity in Assyria and Babylon, but the chains of eternal darkness that bind those who deny faith, and reject prophecies, when the whole earth is punished (Is. 28: 6 On Ps. 118. 7 Jamieson, Fausset and Brown: Comm. On the Whole Bible, p. 543. 22). 4. GOD’S DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE He likens God to a farmer who does not stop at plowing, breaking up and harrowing the soil, but He starts sowing seeds. If God allows punishment, He is like a farmer who plows the soil and breaks it up and harrows it. Yet He does not stop at this negative work, but He positively sows His Word in the field of this world. God presents Himself as a seed to sow in our hearts, to plant in us His paradise. He knows how to sow caraway (Nigella sativa, that is not threshed with a sledge8), cumin, wheat, barley, and spelt, each in its proper place and according to its proper way. It is God’s plantation, His field and vineyard. He cares for us, as He is our God, to whom we belong, “for He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him.” (Is. 28: 26) As a farmer, He knows how to manage each crop; some need to be threshed with a sledge, and some need to be beaten out with a rod to rid seeds of straw, and some still do not need this or that (Is. 28: 27). In all that, He does not seek to destroy His crops but to gather them. He is a merciful God even in His chastisements, who seeks what is for the salvation and edification of His children. “Wonderful in counsel, and excellent in guidance” (Is. 28: 29)
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