The section of Isaiah’s book extending from chapter 28 through 39, seems all of it to belong to that later portion of his life when as the trusted counsellor of King Hezekiah, he was a chief figure in the government of Jerusalem. In chapter 28, the anxious prophet points to the destruction of the northern kingdom (722 B. C.) as a tragedy on the very eve of accomplishment. Samaria is helpless in the grasp of the Assyrians. She is perishing, says Isaiah, because of her pride and drunkenness; and shall not Judah take heed? “But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.” The same sins for which Samaria is punished have befouled Jerusalem. “Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.”
Let the people beware! Their covenant with evil shall fail, the scourge of Assyria shall beat them down. “Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.”
by Julius A. Bewer; Charles F. Horne
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