Isaiah 28:23 - Meaning and Application

This parable, like many of our Lord’s parables, comes from the work of a farmer. It begins with a solemn call for attention: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and understand” (Isaiah 28:23).

The picture itself is clear enough. A farmer works with great care and good judgment, following the right method in his labor. In plowing and sowing, he does not spend all day plowing without purpose. He plows in hope and sows in hope (1 Corinthians 9:10). He breaks up the hard clods so the ground can receive the seed. Then he sows the right seed in the right soil.

He knows which grain fits clay ground and which fits sandy ground. Wheat is placed in the main place, since it is the chief grain and a main crop of Canaan (Ezekiel 27:17). Barley is sown where it belongs. In this, we see the wisdom and kindness of God in nature. He has given us different kinds of soil and different kinds of crops to match them.

The same wisdom shows up in threshing (Isaiah 28:27-28). The farmer adjusts his work to the grain he is handling. Fitches and cumin, which come out easily, are only beaten with a staff or rod. But bread grain needs more force, so it is crushed with a threshing sled that has iron teeth and is dragged over it to separate the grain from the husks.

Even so, he does not keep threshing forever. He stops once the grain is loose. He does not grind it into the earth with a cart wheel, or crush it to pieces under horses. Grinding comes later. Notice how much labor is needed not only to grow food, but also to prepare it. And yet all of it is for food that perishes. How much more should we work for the food that lasts forever?

Bread grain is bruised. So was Christ. “It pleased the Lord to bruise him,” so that he might become the bread of life for us.

The meaning of the parable is less obvious. Many interpreters think it gives a further answer to those who despised God’s judgments. The lesson would be this: as the farmer does not plow forever, but finally sows his seed, so God will not warn forever. In time he will carry out his threats and bring deserved judgment on sinners, but he will do so wisely and in proportion to their strength. His purpose is not only to destroy, but to reform them and lead them to repentance.

Yet we can also apply the parable more broadly. First, the God who gives the farmer this wisdom must himself be perfectly wise. It is the Lord who teaches the farmer what to do, as his God (Isaiah 28:26). Farmers need good judgment to manage their work, and they should not enter it unless they understand it in some measure. They should also learn by observing and experience. Since “the king himself is served from the field,” improving farming is a service to all people.

The farmer’s skill comes from God, as every good and perfect gift does. This helps soften the weight of the curse on human labor. When God sent man to till the ground, he also taught him how to do it well. Otherwise, in our great foolishness, we might have spent our lives working the sand of the sea for nothing. God gives people the ability, the inclination, and even the desire for this work. If providence had not specially fitted some for it, and made them willing to labor in it, we would soon lack the things needed for life.

If some people are more wise and skillful than others in handling these or other matters, we must give God the credit. Farmers, above most people, depend directly on God’s providence, so they should seek his direction in their work. The same is true of the farmer’s way of threshing grain. This also comes from the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 28:29). Even the plain guidance of common sense should be recognized as coming from the Lord of hosts. If people act wisely and carefully, God is the source of that wisdom. He is wise in counsel and excellent in working.

God’s works match his will. He never acts against his own mind, as people often do. His whole plan has wise counsel in it. That is why he is excellent in working, because he is wonderful in counsel.

Second, God’s church is his farm (1 Corinthians 3:9). If Christ is the true vine, then his Father is the gardener, or farmer (John 15:1), and he keeps working on it through his word and ordinances. Does the farmer break up hard ground so it can receive seed? Then God also, through his ministers, breaks up the unplowed ground of the heart. Does the farmer sow seed in the right soil once the ground is ready? So God sows his word through the hand of his ministers (Matthew 13:19), who are to divide the word of truth and give each person his proper portion.

No matter what kind of heart soil there is, there is some word in Scripture fitted for it. And just as God uses his word wisely, he also uses his rod wisely. Afflictions are God’s threshing tools. They are meant to loosen us from the world, separate us from our chaff, and prepare us for useful service. When God uses affliction, he measures it to our strength. It will not be heavier than needed. If a rod or staff will do the job, he will not use a cart wheel or horses.

When heavier pressure is needed, as with bread grain that will not otherwise be cleaned from the straw, he still will not thresh forever. He will not keep rebuking always. His anger lasts only for a moment, and he does not crush the prisoners of the earth under his feet. In this too, we must see that he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.