Isaiah 28:1

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim,.... Or, "of the drunkards of Ephraim": or, "O crown of pride, O drunkards of Ephraim (l)"; who are both called upon, and a woe denounced against them.

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

ISAIAH CHAPTER 28 The drunkenness of Ephraim bringeth destruction on them: a remnant shall be honourable, . Their unteachableness, . Their mock at God’ s threatenings, ,15. Christ prophesied for a sure foundation to believers, , and destruction to the mockers, who are exhorted to amend, . God’ s providence, its work and seasons towards the church set out by a husbandman, . The crown of pride; that proud and insolent kingdom; for the crown is oft put for the kingdom, as , &c. The drunkards; either, 1. Metaphorically, drunk with proud self-confidence, and security, and prosperity; or rather, 2. Properly, by comparing this with , where the Israelites are taxed with this sin. For having many and excellent vines among them, they were exposed to this sin, and frequently overcome by it. Of Ephraim; of the kingdom of the ten tribes; which is commonly called. by the name of Ephraim, as hath been oft noted before. Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower; whose glory and greatness shall suddenly wither and perish. Which are; which proud and drunken Israelites have their common and chief abode. Or, which is, i.e. which flower is-or which beauty or glory is. The head of the fat valleys either, 1. In Samaria, which might well be called the head, as being seated upon a mountain; and the head of the kingdom, and the head of the fat valleys, because it was encompassed with many fat and rich valleys. Or, 2. Upon the chief or choicest (as this word signifies, ,15, and elsewhere) of the fat or rich valleys; which they made occasions and instruments of luxury. That are overcome, Heb. that are smitten, or broken, or overthrown, or knocked down; all which significations of this word fitly agree to drunkards.

Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty [is] a fading flower, which [are] on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!Ver. 1. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim.] Drunkenness is a sin, at the heel whereof hangeth many a woe. Some think it is a dry drunkenness that is here threatened - that there is a dry drunkenness as well as a wet; see Isaiah 51:21 2 Timothy 2:26, ιναανανηψωσι, that they may awake out of their drunken sleep - a drunkenness with prosperity, which made them proud and dissolute, even the king of Israel and his counsellors also, not considering that in maxima libertate minima est licentia; " it is not for kings to drink wine." Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower.] Or, And to the fading flower of his goodly gallantry. Some conceive that the prophet here alludeth to the etymology of the word Ephraim, whereof see Genesis 41:42, but Ephraim was now declining and decaying. That are overcome with wine.] Heb., Smitten, beaten, overmastered, as Sisera was by Jael’ s hammer, which hath its name from the word here used. Tremellius rendereth it, obtusis vino, to those that are blunted with wine, or beaten about the ears with it. Kραιπαλη, Crapula, παρατοπαλλειντοκαρα.

XXVIII. (1) Woe to the crown of pride . . .—Better, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim. The chapter is remarkable, as showing that the prophet’s work was not limited to Judah and Jerusalem, but extended to the northern kingdom. The warning was clearly uttered before the capture of Samaria by Salmaneser, or, more probably, by Sargon, and paints in vivid colours—reminding us in part of Amo 6:4-6, not without a side glance at the like vices in Jerusalem (Isaiah 22:13)—the license into which the capital of the northern kingdom had fallen. With a bold personification the words paint (1) the banquet with its revellers, crowned, as in the later days of Rome, with wreaths of flowers; and (2) Samaria itself as such a wreath, once beautiful, now fading, crowning the “head” of the “fat,” or luxuriant, valley (literally, valley of oils, or, fat things) in which the revellers held their feasts. Cheyne notes that the inscription of Salmaneser records that the tribute of Jehu consisted of bowls, cups, and goblets of gold, as illustrating the luxury of the palace of Samaria (Records of the Past, v. 41). The LXX. strangely renders the last clause, “drunk without wine,” as if from a reminiscence of Isa 29:9, and gives the “hirelings of Ephraim” instead of “drunkards.”

CHAPTER XXVIII This chapter begins with a denunciation of the approaching ruin of the Israelites by Shalmaneser, whose power is compared to a tempest or flood, and his keenness to the avidity with which one plucks and swallows the grape that is soonest ripe, 1-4. It then turns to the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were to continue a kingdom after the final captivity of their brethren; and gives first a favourable prognostication of their affairs under Hezekiah, 5, 6; but soon changes to reproofs and threatenings for their intemperance and their profaneness, 7, 8. They are introduced as not only scornfully rejecting, but also mocking and ridiculing, the instructions of the prophet, 9, 10. To this God immediately retorts in terms alluding to their own mocking, but differently applied, 11-13. The prophet then addresses these scoffers, 14; who considered themselves as perfectly secure from every evil, 15; and assures them that there was no method under heaven but one, by which they could be saved, 16; that every other vain resource should fail in the day of visitation, 17, 18. He then farther adds, that the judgments of God were particularly levelled against them; and that all the means to which they trusted for warding them off should be to no purpose, 19, 20; as the Almighty, who, on account of his patience and long-suffering, is amiably described as unacquainted with punishing, had nevertheless determined to punish them, 21, 22. The prophet then concludes with a beautiful parable in explanation and defence of God's dealing with his people, 23-29. NOTES ON CHAP. XXVIII Verse 1. Wo to the crown of pride] By the crown of pride, c., Samaria is primarily understood. "Sebaste, the ancient Samaria, is situated on a long mount of an oval figure, having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running round about it" Maundrell, p. 58. "E regione horum ruderum mons est peramoenus, planitie admodum frugifera circumseptus, super quem olim Samaria urbs condita fuit;" Fureri Itinerarium, p. 93. The city, beautifully situated on the top of a round hill, and surrounded immediately with a rich valley and a circle of other hills beyond it, suggested the idea of a chaplet or wreath of flowers worn upon their heads on occasions of festivity, expressed by the proud crown and the fading flower of the drunkards. That this custom of wearing chaplets in their banquets prevailed among the Jews, as well as among the Greeks and Romans, appears from the following passage of the book of Wisdom: - "Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments, And let no flower of the spring pass by us: Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they are withered." Wisd. 2:7, 8.

1–4. The fate of the drunkards of Ephraim. On the luxury and debauchery of Samaria, see Amos 3:12; Amos 3:15; Amos 4:1; Amos 6:1; Amos 6:6.

Wo - (see the note at Isaiah 18:1). The word here is used to denounce impending judgment. To the crown of pride - This is a Hebrew mode of expression, denoting the proud or haughty crown.

THE FIRST WOE.This chapter was probably written in Hezekiah’s reign, and its utterance is against Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, before its downfall and depopulation under Shalmanezer, king of Assyria.1.