Israel’s Coming Accounting

Pastor Bill Farrow

Isaiah 28:20-22

²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch out on, And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.  ²¹For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon -  That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act.  ²²Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

Isaiah 28:20

For the bed is too short to stretch out on, And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.   - This is evidently a proverbial saying, and means that they would find all their places of defense insufficient to secure them. They seek repose and security - as a man lies down to rest at night. But they find neither. His bed furnishes no rest; his scanty covering furnishes no security from the chills of the night. So it would be with those who sought protection in idols, in the promises of false prophets, and in the aid which might be obtained from Egypt. So it is with sinners. Their vain refuges shall not shield them. The bed on which they seek rest shall give them no repose; the covering with which they seek to clothe themselves shall not defend them from the wrath of God.

Evil tidings are a terror and vexation to scorners, but he whose heart is fixed, trusting in God, is not afraid of them; whereas, when the overflowing scourge comes, then all the comforts and confidences of scorners fail them that in which they thought to repose themselves reaches not to the length of their expectations: The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself upon it, so that he is forced to cramp and contract himself.

That in which they thought to shelter themselves proves insufficient to answer the intention: The covering is narrower than that a man can wrap himself in it. Those that do not build upon Christ as their foundation, but rest in a righteousness of their own, will prove in the end thus to have deceived themselves; they can never be easy, safe, nor warm; the bed is too short, the covering is too narrow; like our first parents’ fig-leaves, the shame of their nakedness will still appear.

Isaiah 28:21

For the LORD will rise up - To rise up is indicative of going forth to judgment, as when one rises from his seat to accomplish anything.

As in mount Perazim - There is reference here, doubtless, to the event recorded in 2 Sam. 5:20-21, and 1 Chr. 14:11, where David is said to have defeated the Philistines at Baal-Perazim. This place was near to the valley of Rephaim (2 Sam. 5:19), and not far from Jerusalem. The word ‘Perazim’ is from a word meaning to tear, or break forth, as waters do that have been confined; and is indicative of sudden judgment, and of a complete overthrow. It was on that account given to the place where David obtained a signal and complete victory (2 Sam. 5:20); and it is here referred to, to denote that God would come forth in a sudden manner to destroy Jerusalem and Judea. He would come upon them like bursting waters, and sweep them away to a distant land.

He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon  - In 1 Chr. 14:16, it is said that after the victory of Baal-Perazim, ‘David smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gaza.’ This victory is doubtless referred to here, and not the victory of Joshua over the Gibeonites (Josh. 10:10).  God will be glorified in the accomplishment of his counsels when God comes to contend with these scorners, First, He will do his work, and bring to pass his act, he will work for his own honor and glory, according to his own purpose; the work shall appear to all that see it to be the work of God as the righteous Judge of the earth. Secondly, He will do it now against his people, as formerly he did it against their enemies, by which his justice will appear to be impartial; he will now rise up against Jerusalem as, in David’s time, against the Philistines in Mount Perazim (2 Sa. 5:20), and as, in Joshua’s time, against the Canaanites in the valley of Gibeon. If those that profess themselves to be a part of God’s people by their pride and scornfulness make themselves like Philistines and Canaanites, they must expect to be dealt with as such.

That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act. - Thirdly, This will be his strange work, his strange act, his foreign deed. It is work that he is backward to: he rather delights in showing mercy, and does not afflict willingly. It is work that he is not used to as to his own people; he protects and favors them. It is a strange work indeed if he turn to be their enemy and fight against them, (Isa. 63:10). It is a work that all the neighbors will stand amazed at (Deut. 29:24), and therefore the ruins of Jerusalem are said to be an astonishment, Jer. 25:18.

This is called his strange work because it would be inflicted on his people. He had destroyed their enemies often, but now he was about to engage in the unusual work of coming forth against his own people, and sweeping them away to a distant land. The work of judgment and punishment may be called the “strange” work of God always, inasmuch as it is not that in which he delights to engage, and is foreign to the benevolence of his heart. It is especially so when his own people are the objects of his displeasure, and when their sins are such as to demand that he should visit them with the tokens of his wrath.

Isaiah 28:22

Lastly, We have the use and application of all this. 

Now therefore - In view of the certain judgment which God will bring upon you.

Do not be mockers - This was the prevailing sin Isa. 28:9-14, and on account of this sin in part the judgment of God was about to come upon the guilty nation. "Therefore be you not mockers; dare not to ridicule either the reproofs of God’s word or the approaches of his judgments.’’ Mocking the messengers of the Lord was Jerusalem’s measure-filling sin.

Lest your bonds be made strong - Lest your confinement should be more severe and protracted. God would punish them according to their sins, and if they now ceased to mock and deride him it would greatly mitigate the severity of their punishment (compare Isa. 24:22). The consideration of the judgments of God that are coming upon hypocritical professors should effectually silence mockers, and make them serious: "Be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong, both the bands by which you are bound under the dominion of sin’’ (for there is little hope of the conversion of mockers) "and the bands by which you are bound over to the judgments of God.’’ God has bands of justice strong enough to hold those that break all the bonds of his law asunder and cast away all his cord from them.

For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts - I, the prophet, have heard YAHWEH of hosts threaten a consumption.

A destruction determined even upon the whole earth - (see this phrase explained in the note at Isa. 10:23).  Let not these mockers make light of divine threatenings, for the prophet (who is one of those with whom the secret of the Lord is) assures them that the Lord God of hosts has, in his hearing, determined a consumption upon the whole earth; and can they think to escape? Or shall their unbelief invalidate the threatening?