Continuing: beginning today in Isaiah 28 and the LORD asking the question in verse 9, “Whom shall He teach knowledge, and whom shall He make to understand doctrine…” The Hebrew word translated “doctrine” is shemuwah, meaning something heard, and thereby an announcement (the annunciation). It is the feminine passive participle of the word shamam, meaning to stun, as in to stupefy or amaze. In context it is telling of understanding something being announced that has stunned and astonished those hearing the report.
As we know the passage goes on to answer the question by telling us it is those who have been weaned from the food of children, and have learned from what had seemed at first to be stammer lips of a language they couldn’t comprehend, and by this they become men, having put away childish things. The original text actually alludes (in verse 13) to the response of those hearing it is to mock and sarcastically mimic it (like saying blah, blah, blah.)
This is why we read in verse 19 of this teaching coming every day [line upon line, precept upon precept], and it is a vexation only to understand the report. As it is written in Isaiah 53:1, “Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”
Isaiah 28
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 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.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you 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:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
This premise takes us again to the previous post and to Isaiah 44 & 45, specifically to them telling of the redeemer, and to several quotes therein later used in further revealing their meanings.
In the previous post we began by looking at Ezekiel 16 and we discussed it telling of the condition the LORD found us in (His ancient and everlasting people).
Ezekiel 16:8 Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I swore unto you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the LORD God, and you became mine.
We saw the chapter end telling of all the women being gathered into the family of the LORD. There we are also told, in this we will know the LORD, and we will be confounded (stunned – in this vexation), then knowing to be silent and listen [to the teaching, for in it is our life].
Ezekiel 16
60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant.
61 Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder and your younger: and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant.
62 And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the LORD:
63 That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the LORD God.
The allusions here are to Ruth and Boaz: Boaz meaning he who comes at that time, as the providence of our salvation; and Ruth, meaning to rule, as an associate. Ruth is part of the inheritance Boaz redeems, and we read in chapter 4 that after he does she becomes just the other members of the family [of God]. In chapter 3 we also read of Boaz’s determination once he commits to being the redeemer of the women and the field.
Ruth 3
16 And when she [Ruth] came to her mother-in-law [Naomi], she said, Who are you, my daughter? And she told her all that the man [Boaz] had done to her.
17 And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, Go not empty unto your mother-in-law.
18 Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.
Ruth 4
9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi.
10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: you are witnesses this day.
11 And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do you worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
12 And let your house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give you of this young woman.
This is an example to all those who call themselves believers in Jehovah our Salvation, the name that is above all names, and is the meaning found in the name of Jesus. Christ has purchased us all; and those now controlling and dividing us into separation are not our LORD. We should listen, understand, and “receive our sisters.”
In Isaiah 44 the LORD says to His chosen:
1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
2 Thus says the LORD that made you, and formed you from the womb, which will help you; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and you, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring:
4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.
5 One shall say, I am the LORD’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
6 Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them.
8 Fear you not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? you are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
We know the chapter goes on to describe the idol those misleading God’s chosen have created, saying these are our gods. We read above of those leaving these false gods behind and ascribing themselves to the LORD, and this coming after He has poured out His message upon them as living waters poured on a dry ground. The LORD describing Himself in verse 6 above, is as He later quotes describing himself in Revelation 1:17. There we read of the LORD coming with the sword of His word coming from His mouth. There we also read of the preceding announcement stunning John into a state as if dead, and the LORD saying to him, “Fear not; I Am the First and the Last.”
The passage begins with John saying he was in the Spirit on the LORD’s day. Many falsely claim this as somehow part of a justification of their claim of a mandate for Sunday worship (give it up sister – the mandating). It is actually the same day spoken of by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 telling of the day of the LORD coming as a thief in the night. This comes just after telling us we will know the time and the season, and just before saying those who don’t see it (comprehend) are those who are the sleeping dead (and drunken) he described in Chapter 4. Both passages are telling of what is clearly defined in Isaiah 2 and mention in verse 12 as “the day of the LORD.”
Isaiah 2
8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
9 And the mean man bows down [to the idols], and the great man humbles himself [to the idols]: therefore forgive them not.
10 Enter into the rock, and hide you in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
13 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,
15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish.
This day of the LORD is the day of His judgment when He with judgment removes the stumbling-blocks. We see it described in Isaiah 2 above, and in Revelation. It is to remove those controlling God’s chosen people into separation from Him and from their own parts. Revelation 1 tells us He is speaking to the churches, now having been corrupted into destruction, as the LORD perfectly portrays in Isaiah 44 describing the idols now replacing Him there.
Revelation 1
10 I was in the Spirit on the LORD’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
12 And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
18 I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
This takes us to the ending verses of Isaiah 45:
17 But Israel [God’s chosen] shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
18 For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell you, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who has declared this from ancient time? who has told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24 Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
Verse 23 above is quoted in part in two different places, and in both it is the LORD testifying of His presence and His purpose of our salvation.
The first quote appears in Romans 14:11 in telling of judgment that is superficial and over critical, in the case of our time mostly all corrupted. It is telling of the LORD coming with perfect judgment by/in those who are of like mind as His, as a son with a father. It is telling of unification by education.
Romans 14
4 Who are you that judges another man’s servant? to his own master he stands or falls. Yea, he shall be held up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regards the day, regards it unto the LORD; and he that regards not the day, to the LORD he doth not regard it. He that eats, eats to the LORD, for he gives God thanks; and he that eats not, to the LORD he eats not, and gives God thanks.
7 For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself.
8 For whether we live, we live unto the LORD; and whether we die, we die unto the LORD: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the LORD’s.
9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be LORD both of the dead and living.
10 But why do you judge your brother? or why do you set at naught your brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, As I live, says the LORD, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify [educate] another.
The other quote appears in Philippians 2:10 as the chapter tells us of the mind in Christ, and should be in us. It is speaking of salvation and our working it out of us into the salvation of the church and the world (as is the mind of Jehovah our Salvation = Jesus Christ).
Philippians 2
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfill you my joy, that you be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputing:
15 That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do you joy, and rejoice with me.
19 But I trust in the LORD Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he has served with me in the gospel.
