Israel’s Clear Warning (Part 2)

Pastor Bill Farrow

Isaiah 28:24-25

²³Give ear and hear my voice, Listen and hear my speech.  ²⁴Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?  ²⁵When he has leveled its surface, Does he not sow the black cummin And scatter the cummin, Plant the wheat in rows, The barley in the appointed place, And the spelt in its place?  ²⁶For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him.  ²⁷For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, And the cummin with a rod.  ²⁸Bread flour must be ground; Therefore he does not thresh it forever, Break it with his cartwheel, Or crush it with his horsemen.

Isaiah 28:24

Does the plowman … - The question here asked surely implies that he does “not” plow all the day. The interrogative form is often the most emphatic mode of affirmation.

Keep plowing all day to sow? - The sense is, does he do nothing else but plow? Is this the only thing which is necessary to be done in order to obtain a harvest? The idea which the prophet intends to convey here is this. A farmer does not suppose that he can obtain a harvest by doing nothing else but plow. There is much else to be done. So it would be just as absurd to suppose that God would deal with his people always in the same manner, as it would be for the farmer to be engaged in nothing else but plowing.

Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods? … - That is, is he always engaged in opening, and breaking the clods of his field? There is much else to be done besides this. The word ‘open’ here refers to the furrows that are made by the plow. The earth is laid open as it were to the sunbeams, and to the showers of rain, and to the reception of seed. The word rendered ‘break’ properly means “to harrow,” that is, to break up the clods by harrowing (Job 39:10; Hos. 10:11).

Isaiah 28:25

When he has leveled the surface … - That is, when he has leveled, or made smooth the surface of the ground by harrowing, or rolling it.

Does he not sow - He does not sow one kind of grain merely, but different species according to the nature of the soil, or according to his wishes in regard to a crop.

The black cummin - A kind of cockle or an herb of sweet savor.  The word ‘fitch’ denotes a small species of pea. The Hebrew word, however, which occurs nowhere else but here, probably denotes fennel, or dill, an herb whose seed the ancients mixed with their bread in order to give it a more agreeable relish.

And scatter the cummin - The word properly denotes an annual plant whose seeds have a bitter warm taste with an aromatic flavor (Webster). The seeds of this plant were used as a condiment in sauces.

Plant the wheat in rows - Margin, ‘The wheat in the principal place.’ Or ‘In its proper order, place, proportion.’ Or perhaps ‘In due measure.’ Probably the word is designed to denote “quality,” and to convey the idea that wheat is the principal, or chief grain that is sown; it is that which is most valued and esteemed.

The barley in the appointed place - The barley is a well-known grain. The word rendered ‘appointed’ occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. Most commentators suppose that it is derived from a Hebrew word which does not now occur - “to designate, to mark, to seal;” and that it means barley that had been put aside and marked as especially excellent, or seed-barley. The idea is probably that of barley that had been selected as seed-barley on account of its excellent quality.

And the spelt - Margin, ‘Spelt.’ The word usually denotes “spelt” - a kind of wheat now found in Flanders and Italy, sometimes called German wheat. It may, however, denote rye.

In its place? - literally, ‘In the border.’  The idea seems to be that the spelt or rye was sown in the borders of the field while the wheat was sown in the middle; or that the rye was sown in its “proper bounds,” or in the places which were adapted to it, and best suited to promote its growth.