Isaiah 28:9 - Meaning and Application

The prophet is complaining about the sad stupidity of this people. They were unwilling to learn, and they made no use of the means of grace they had. They stayed as they were, their errors were not corrected, their hearts were not made new, and their lives were not changed.

Notice, first, what their prophets and ministers were trying to do. Their goal was to teach them knowledge, the knowledge of God and his will, and to help them understand sound teaching (Isaiah 28:9). This is how God deals with people. He first brings light to the mind through the knowledge of his truth, and then he wins the heart and brings the will into agreement with his law. In that way, he enters by the door, while the thief and robber try to climb in some other way.

Notice, too, the method they used to carry out this purpose. They used every means they could to do the people good. They taught them like children, like little ones just beginning to learn, or like those who are moved from the breast to the book (Isaiah 28:9). Among the Jews, it was common for mothers to nurse children until they were about three years old, nearly ready for school. It is good to begin early with children, to teach them the good knowledge of the Lord as soon as they are able to receive it, even when they have only just been weaned from milk.

The prophets taught them as children are taught. They were steady and hardworking in teaching them. They took great care, and they taught with wisdom, giving instruction as the people needed it and could bear it (Isaiah 28:10). It was “precept upon precept.” In other words, they taught them one rule after another, or, as some read it, “it has been so.” They had been taught, as children are taught to read, by rule after rule, and to write by line after line. It was a little here and a little there, with variety meant to be pleasant and inviting. It was also a little at one time and a little at another, so their memory would not be overloaded. And it was a little from one prophet and a little from another, so each one might be satisfied with the one he liked best.

This is still the way we must learn the things of God. One command must follow another, and one line must support another. The rule of justice should come with the rule of godliness, and the rule of love with the rule of justice. The same truth also needs to be repeated often, so we understand it better and remember it more easily when we need it. Teachers should fit their teaching to the learner’s ability, giving what is most needed and what can best be taken in, and giving it little by little (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

The prophets also tried to persuade the people to learn (Isaiah 28:12). God, through his prophets, said to them, “This way we are showing you is the rest, the only rest, where you may give the weary rest, and it will refresh your own souls, and it will bring rest to your land from war and the other troubles that have long pressed on it.” God’s word calls us only to what is truly good for us. Serving God is the only real rest for those tired of serving sin, and there is no true refreshment except under the gentle yoke of the Lord Jesus.

But all of this had very little effect on the people. They were as unable to learn as little children newly weaned from milk, and it was almost impossible to get anything to stick with them (Isaiah 28:9). In fact, one would rather try to teach a two-year-old child than try to teach them, because they had not only the weakness of such a child, but also a prejudice against the truth. As children, they needed milk and could not bear strong food (Hebrews 5:12).

They would not listen, even to what would have brought them rest and refreshment (Isaiah 28:12). They had no desire to hear it. God’s word called for their serious attention, but it could not get it. They were present where it was preached, but they turned a deaf ear. What came in one ear went out the other. They also would not heed it. It was “precept upon precept” and “line upon line” for them (Isaiah 28:13). They kept up the outward habit of hearing the prophet preach, and the message kept sounding in their ears, but that was all. It left no mark on them. They had the letter of the command, but none of its power or spirit. It kept striking them, but it did not sink in.

It even seems that they mocked the prophet’s preaching and made fun of it. The word of the Lord was to them like a rhyme, “tsau latsau, kau lakau.” In the original, it sounds like a song, and they turned the prophet’s words into a tune to sing when they were drunk. David was the song of the drunkards. It is a great sin and a bold insult to God to make a joke of sacred things, to speak lightly about what should make us serious.

God would deal with them severely for this. He would take away the blessing of plain preaching and speak to them with stammering lips and another tongue (Isaiah 28:11). Those who refuse to understand what is clear and easy for them, and who think it is low and useless, are rightly given something that is beyond them. Or this may mean that God would send foreign armies among them, speaking a language they could not understand, to destroy their land. Those who will not hear the comforting voice of God’s word will be made to hear the fearful voice of his rod.

These words may also show God’s kindness in dealing with them. He had spoken to them in a way suited to their weakness, like a nurse lisping to a child, using stammering lips to win them. He changed his voice and tried one way after another. The apostle uses this as a mercy (1 Corinthians 14:21), applying it to the gift of tongues, and still notes that, even with all this, they would not hear.

He would also bring complete ruin upon them. By their rude contempt of God and his word, they were hurrying toward their own destruction and preparing themselves for it. This would lead them to go and fall backward, to grow worse and worse, to move farther and farther from God, and to keep going from one sin to another until they were fully broken, trapped, taken, and ruined (Isaiah 28:13). They had a little here and a little there of God’s word. They thought it was too much and told the seers, “Do not see.” But what they had was too little to change them, and it would be enough to condemn them. If it does not become a fragrance of life leading to life, it will become a fragrance of death leading to death.