20150716 Thursday, July 16 2015
Isaiah 28: The Lost Ten Tribes Would Love Today's "Free" World

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower"

The time of the prophet Isaiah (see also What Did The Messiah Read From Isaiah That Day? and Why Did Isaiah Say The Messiah's Name Is Immanuel?):

"1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." (Isaiah 1:1 KJV)

Notice from the chart below that Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the 10th to 13th kings of the Kingdom of Judah (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Kingdom Of Judah). Their reigns, and Isaiah's ministry, coincided with the reigns of the last seven kings of the Kingdom of Israel before it was completely conquered in 721 BC (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Israel and Judah and Israel In History and Prophecy: The Lost Ten Tribes). Isaiah's ministry witnessed the fall of the Kingdom of Israel to the Assyrian Empire, after which the Kingdom of Judah continued on for another 135 years before it fell to the Babylonian empire in 586 BC.

Year B.C. (approx)/Kings of Judah/Kings of Israel/Notes
9331 Rehoboam1 Jeroboam IDivision after Solomon
9152 Abijah    
9123 Asa    
911  2 Nadab  
910  3 Baasha  
887  4 Elah  
886  5 Zimri  
886  6 Omri  
875  7 Ahab  
874 4 Jehoshaphat    
855  8 Ahaziah  
854  9 Joram  
850 5 Jehoram    
843 6 Ahaziah10 Jehu  
843 7 Athaliah  The only female ruler
843 8 Joash    
820  11 Jehoahaz  
806  12 Joash  
803 9 Amaziah    
790  13 Jeroboam II  
787 10 Uzziah / Azariah    
749 11 Jotham    
748  14 Zachariah  
748  15 Shallum  
748  16 Menahem  
741 12 Ahaz    
738  17 Pekahiah  
738  18 Pekah  
730  19 Hoshea  
726 13 Hezekiah    
721    End of the Kingdom of Israel
697 14 Manasseh    
641 15 Amon    
639 16 Josiah    
608 17 Shallum / Jehoahaz    
608 18 Jehoiakim    
597 19 Jehoiachin    
597 20 Zedekiah
    
586    End of the Kingdom of Judah

The capitals of the Kingdom of Israel (Shechem, Tirzah and the city of Samaria) were in Samaria - specifically, in the tribal territories of (west) Manasseh (see West Manasseh) and Ephraim (see Ephraim's Inheritance). As such, the area was also a federal capital region of the Kingdom of Israel, while the Kingdom of Judah maintained Jerusalem as their capital (see The Capitals Of Israel).

The time frame of Isaiah's work produced a different message to Israel than to Judah. To Israel, it was a matter of "Why you're now falling," while to Judah it was "That is what is going to happen to you too if you go corrupt as Israel has done." Notice how the iniquity and decadence (see Iniquity In History And Prophecy and Decadence In History And Prophecy) of the ancient people of Israel is very "modern" in character and attitude - the people of the "lost ten tribes," as they were going down, would be very much "at home" living in the Western nations of today. Been there, done that.

Nevertheless, the prophecy also revealed the time when the restoration of all good things will come, for all nations - including the return of not only the divided kingdoms of Israel, but the return of the united Kingdom of Israel itself (see the Fact Finder question below).

"28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! 28:2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand. 28:3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: 28:4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

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, 28:6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

28:7 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. 28:8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

28:9 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. 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:

28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 28:12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. 28:13 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. 28:14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 28:15 Because ye 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:

28:16 Therefore thus saith 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 believeth shall not make haste. 28:17 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. 28:18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. 28:19 From the time that it goeth 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.

28:20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. 28:21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. 28:22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

28:23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. 28:24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? 28:25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? 28:26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

28:27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. 28:28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. 28:29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." (Isaiah 28:1-29 KJV)

Fact Finder: When will the people of Israel and Judah become Israel again?
See When Will The United Kingdom Be Restored?