Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 28:23

"Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech." — Isaiah 28:23 (ASV)

Give you ear—In this verse, the prophet introduces an important and striking illustration drawn from the science of agriculture. It is connected with the preceding part of the chapter and is designed to show the propriety of what the prophet had said by an appeal to what they all observed in the cultivation of their lands. The previous discourse consists mainly of reproofs and threats of punishment on God’s people for their profane contempt of the messengers of God. He had threatened to destroy their nation and so remove them for a time to a distant land.

This, the prophet had himself said (Isaiah 28:21), was his strange work. To vindicate this and to show the propriety of God’s adopting every measure and of not always pursuing the same course with regard to His people, he draws an illustration from the farmer. The farmer is not always doing the same thing; he adopts different methods to secure a harvest.

The farmer adapts his plans to the soil and to the kind of grain, using the best methods for preparing the ground, sowing the seed, collecting the harvest, and separating the grain from the chaff. He does not always plow, nor always sow, nor always thresh. He does not deal with all kinds of land and grain in the same way: some land he plows in one mode, and some in another.

Similarly, he threshes some grain in one mode and some in another, adapting his measures to the nature of the soil and the grain. For instance, some grain he beats out with a flail, and some he bruises. Yet he will be careful not to break the kernel or destroy it in threshing. However severe his blows may appear, his object is not to crush and destroy it (Isaiah 28:28), but to remove it from the chaff and save it.

In all this, the farmer acts with wisdom, for God has taught him what to do (Isaiah 28:26, Isaiah 28:29). So, says the prophet, God will not deal with all of His people in the same manner, nor with them always in the same mode. He will vary His measures as a farmer does.

When mild and gentle measures are sufficient, He will adopt them. When severe measures are necessary, He will resort to them. His object is not to destroy His people, any more than the object of the farmer in threshing is to destroy his grain.

The general point of the allegory is to show the propriety of God’s engaging in what the prophet calls His strange act and strange work in punishing His people. The allegory is one of great beauty, and its relevance and consistency are maintained throughout. It furnishes a most important practical lesson regarding the mode in which God deals with His people.