What Does Isaiah 28:1 Mean?

XXVIII. (1) **Woe to the crown of pride . . .**—Better, *the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim. *The chapter is remarkable, as showing that the prophet’s work was not limited to Judah and Jerusalem, but extended to the northern kingdom. The warning was clearly uttered before the capture of Samaria by Salmaneser, or, more probably, by Sargon, and paints in vivid colours—reminding us in part of Amos 6:4-6, not without a side glance at the like vices in Jerusalem (Isaiah 22:13)—the license into which the capital of the northern kingdom had fallen. With a bold personification the words paint (1) the banquet with its revellers, crowned, as in the later days of Rome, with wreaths of flowers; and (2) Samaria itself as such a wreath, once beautiful, now fading, crowning the “head” of the “fat,” or luxuriant, valley (literally, *valley of oils, *or, *fat things*) in which the revellers held their feasts. Cheyne notes that the inscription of Salmaneser records that the tribute of Jehu consisted of bowls, cups, and goblets of gold, as illustrating the luxury of the palace of Samaria (*Records of the Past, v.* 41). The LXX. strangely renders the last clause, “drunk without wine,” as if from a reminiscence of Isaiah 29:9, and gives the “hirelings of Ephraim” instead of “drunkards.”