Scripture Daily

Context No. 1486 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 28:7-13: in context

7They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment. 8For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness. 9Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? 10For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little. 11But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language, 12to whom he said, “This is the resting place. Give rest to the weary,” and “This is the refreshing;” yet they would not hear. 13Therefore the LORD’s word will be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken.

Isaiah rebukes the leaders of his people, priests and prophets so given to drink that they reel and stagger, erring in vision and stumbling in judgment, their tables covered in filth. They mock his teaching as fit only for children, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little. But in the middle of the rebuke comes a poignant line about what God had offered them: this is the rest, he had said; give rest to the weary; this is the place of repose. And the tragic refrain: yet they would not hear.

The heartbreaking phrase is God's offer and its refusal: this is the rest; give rest to the weary; yet they would not hear. God had held out rest to his people, a place of repose, refreshment for the weary; and they would not have it. They preferred their drink and their scorn and their restless self-reliance to the rest God offered. There is something achingly familiar in that refusal. God offers rest, and we will not take it. Weary as we are, driven, anxious, exhausting ourselves in striving and worry, the rest is held out to us, and we keep on refusing it, preferring our own restless efforts to the repose God gives. Jesus would take up this very offer: come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And the same tragedy repeats; the weary are offered rest and will not come to receive it. Why we refuse it is hard to say; perhaps rest requires a trust we are unwilling to give, a laying down of our own striving that feels like losing control. But the offer stands, and the refrain of this passage is a warning against letting it pass: this is the rest, and they would not hear. The rest God offers the weary is real, and the tragedy is not that it is unavailable but that we so often will not have it. To the weary, the word is still: this is the rest; come and receive it.

God holds out rest to the weary, and the question is whether I will hear it or, like these leaders, refuse; am I exhausting myself in restless striving while the rest God offers goes unreceived, and will I come and take the rest he gives?

Sources