John Gill Commentary Isaiah 28

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 ^F12 "; who are both called upon, and a woe denounced against them. Ephraim is put for the ten tribes, who were drunk either in a literal sense, for to the sin of drunkenness were they addicted, (Hosea 7:5) (Amos 6:6) . The Jews say ^F13 , that wine of Prugiatha (which perhaps was a place noted for good wine), and the waters of Diomasit (baths), cut off the ten tribes from Israel; which both Jarchi and Kimchi, on the place, make mention of; that is, as Buxtorf ^F14 interprets it, pleasures and delights destroyed the ten tribes. The inhabitants of Samaria, and the places adjacent, especially were addicted to this vice; these places abounding with excellent wines. Sichem, which was in these parts, is thought to be called, from the drunkenness of its inhabitants, Sychar, (John 4:5) this is a sin very uncomely in any, but especially in professors of religion, as these were, and ought to be declaimed against: or they were drunkards in a metaphorical sense, either with idolatry, the two calves being set up in Dan and Bethel, which belonged to the ten tribes; just as the kings of the earth are said to be drunk with the wine of antichrist's fornication, or the idolatry of the church of Rome, (Revelation 17:2) or with pride and haughtiness, being elated with the fruitfulness of their country, their great affluence and riches, and numbers of people; in all which they were superior to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and in which they piqued themselves, and are therefore called "the crown of pride"; and especially their king may be meant, who was lifted up with pride that he ruled over such a country and people; or rather the city of Samaria, the metropolis of the ten tribes, and the royal city. Perhaps there may be an allusion to the crowns wore by drunkards at their revels, and particularly by such who were mighty to drink wine or strong drink, and overcame others, and triumphed in it: pride and sensuality are the vices condemned, and they often go together:

whose glorious beauty which lay in the numbers of their inhabitants, in their wealth and riches, and in their fruits of corn and wine: [is] a fading flower not to be depended on, soon destroyed, and quickly gone: which [are] on the head of the fat valleys meaning particularly the corn and wine, the harvest and vintage, with which the fruitful valleys being covered, looked very beautiful and glorious: very probably particular respect is had to Samaria, the head of the kingdom, and which was situated on a hill, and surrounded with fruitful valleys; for not Jerusalem is here meant, as Cocceius; nor Gethsemane, by the fat valleys, as Jerom: of them that are overcome with wine or smitten, beaten ^F15 knocked down with it, as with a hammer, and laid prostrate on the ground, where they lie fixed to it, not able to get up; a true picture of a drunkard, that is conquered by wine, and enslaved unto it; see (Isaiah 28:3) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: (Myrpa yrkv twag trje ywh) "vae coronae erectionis ebriorum Ephraimi", Cocceius, Gataker.
• F13: T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 147. 2.
• F14: Lex. Talmud. col. 529.
• F15: (Nyy ymwlh) "concussi vino", Pagninus, "percussi vino", so some in Vatablus; "conquassantur vel conculcantur a vino", Forerius; "contusorum a vino", Cocceius.

Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one
That is, a powerful king, with a mighty army, meaning Shalmaneser king of Assyria; whom the Lord had at his beck and command, and could use at his pleasure, as his instrument, to bring down the towering pride of Ephraim, and chastise him for his sensuality.

Which is like a tempest of hail;
that beats down herbs and plants, and branches of trees, and men and beasts: and is like a destroying storm;
which carries all before it, blows down houses and trees, and makes terrible devastation wherever it comes: as a flood of mighty waters overflowing;
whose torrent is so strong there is no stopping it.

So this mighty and powerful prince shall cast down to the earth with the hand;
the crown of pride, the people of Israel, and the king of it; he shall take the crown from his head, and cast it to the ground with a strong hand, as the Jews interpret it, with great violence; or very easily, with one hand, as it were, without any trouble at all.

The Targum is, "so shall people come against them, and remove them out of their own land into another land, because of the sins which were in their hands;" see (Isaiah 8:7) .

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.

And the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat
valley
Meaning the riches and fruitfulness of the ten tribes, and especially of Samaria the head of them:

shall be a fading flower ;
as before declared, (Isaiah 28:1) and here repeated to show the certainty of it, and to awaken theirattention to it:

[and] as the hasty fruit before the summer ;
the first ripe fruit, that which is ripe before the summer fruits in common are. The Septuagint render it thefirst ripe fig; and so the Targum and Aben Ezra:

which [when] he that looketh upon it seethit ;
that it is goodly and desirable, and so gathers it, (Micah 7:1) :

while it is yet in his handhe eateth it up ;
and as soon as he has got it into his hand, he cannot keep it there to look at, or forbear eating it, butgreedily devours it, and swallows it down at once; denoting what a desirable prey the ten tribes would be tothe Assyrian monarch, and how swift, sudden, and inevitable, would be their destruction.

In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of
glory
Or, "glorious crown" ^F16 ; surrounding, adorning, and protecting his people; granting them his presence; giving them his grace, and large measures of it; causing them to live soberly, righteously, and godly: this stands opposed to "the crown of pride" before mentioned, and refers to the time when that should be trampled under foot, or when the ten tribes should be carried into captivity, which was in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, (2 Kings 18:10) at which time, and in whose reign, as well as in the reign of Josiah, this prophecy has its accomplishment:

and for a diadem of beauty :
or, "a beautiful diadem" ^F17 ; the same as expressed by different words, for the confirmation and illustration of it: unto the residue of his people ;
the Arabic version adds, "in Egypt"; the people that remained there, when the others were carried captive, but without any foundation. Jarchi interprets it of the righteous that were left in it, in Samaria, or in Ephraim, in the ten tribes before spoken of;

but it is to be understood, as Kimchi observes, of the other two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, which remained in their own land, when others were carried captive, to whom God gave his favours, spiritual and temporal, in the times of Hezekiah and Josiah; and especially the former is meant, and who was a type of Christ, to whom this passage may be applied, who is the glory of his people Israel; and so the Targum paraphrases it, "in that day shall the Messiah of the Lord of hosts be for a crown of joy;" and Kimchi says their Rabbins expound this of the King Messiah, in time to come, when both the kingly and priestly glory should be restored; the one being signified by the "crown of glory", the other by the "diadem of beauty".

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (ybu trjel) "pro corona decora", Piscator.
• F17: (hrapt trypulw) "et pro diademate ornante", Piscator.