Matthew Henry on Isaiah 28:1-8
Here, I. The prophet warns the kingdom of the ten tribes of the judgments that were coming upon them for their sins, which were soon after executed by the king of Assyria, who laid their country waste, and carried the people into captivity. Ephraim had his name from fruitfulness, their soil being very fertile and the products of it abundant and the best of the kind; they had a great many fat valleys (Isa 28:1, Isa 28:4), and Samaria, which was situated on a hill, was, as it were, on the head of the fat valleys. Their country was rich and pleasant, and as the garden of the Lord: it was the glory of Canaan, as that was the glory of all lands; their harvest and vintage were the glorious beauty…
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crown . . . the drunkards--rather, "the crown of the drunkards."
John Gill on Isaiah 28:3
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet. Not only cast down with the hand, but trampled upon with the feet; showing their utter destruction, and the contempt with which they should be used; which, with their character, is repeated, to point out their sins, the cause of it, to denote the certainty of it, and that it might be taken notice of.
John Calvin on Isaiah 28:2-3
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one. This may refer to the Assyrians, as if he had said, that they will be ready at God's command to fight under his authority, as soon as they shall be called. Yet I prefer to take it without a substantive, to mean either "a staff," or some other instrument, by which the Lord will cast them down from this lofty pride.
As a deluge of hail. He compares it to "a deluge" or to "hail," by which both herbs and flowers are thrown down, and all the beauty of the earth is marred. Thus he continues the metaphor of the "fading flower," which he had introduced at the beginning of the chapter; for nothing can be more destructive to flowers than a heavy shower o…
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