Having recorded this prediction of the gathering from lands of affliction to Jerusalem of a remnant who shall worship the Lord there, the prophet again reverted to the denunciation of the existing state of the people. And first Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes, came before him (verses 1-13). They were debased as drunkards and yet wore pride as a crown. Against them the Lord would bring “a mighty and strong one,” like a devastating storm or flood doubtless the Assyrian army.
Yet, even so, there should be found a “residue of His people” who should have not a crown of pride but a crown of glory, in the Lord Himself. Though the mass of the people had “erred through wine” and they “stumble in judgment,” these should be like little children, who learn a little at a time, step by step.
Then, at verse 14, the prophetic message turns from Ephraim to the scornful men who were ruling the two tribes from Jerusalem. They had made covenants and formed alliances and thus felt independent of God. Their alliance with some worldly power or powers (Egypt probably) was really an agreement with death and hell. It was all falsehood and would not stand. What would stand would be God’s own work to be accomplished in the coming Messiah.
Verse 16 is quoted by the Apostle Peter in his first epistle (2:6) and Paul alludes to it in Romans 10:1111For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. (Romans 10:11). Old Jacob, when dying, alluded to Christ as “the Stone of Israel” (Gen. 49:2424But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) (Genesis 49:24)) and here also He is viewed in connection with Israel. In Peter we discover that what will be true for them in the day to come has an application to us today. The Christ was indeed tried at His first advent, and revealed as the sure foundation, and though He is not yet manifested as the corner stone, His preciousness is the portion of those who believe, as Peter tells us. Hence we shall not “make haste,” in alarm or confusion. The New Testament rendering of this word is “ashamed,” and “confounded.” Note too that this wonderful Stone is laid in Zion which is symbolic of God acting in His mercy.
But while mercy brings a solid foundation in blessing for the believer, it involves judgment for the unbeliever, as the subsequent verses show. “I will appoint judgment for a line, and righteousness for a plummet” (New Trans.), and this results in the hail of God’s judgment sweeping away the refuges of lies and the covenants with death that men make. This came to pass for Israel shortly after Isaiah’s day, and it will come to pass on a worldwide scale at the end of this age, though judgment is declared to be God’s “strange work” (verse 21).
The latter verses of our chapter speak thus of the unsparing judgments of God, described as “a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth,” so they are not to be confined to Israel. This shows indeed that the end of the age is mainly in view, and the figure used in verses 23-29 indicates that the harvest of judgment to be reaped is the result of the plowing and sowing that has preceded it on man’s part.
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