Ver. 1. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim.] Drunkenness is a sin, at the heel whereof hangeth many a woe. Some think it is a dry drunkenness that is here threatened—that there is a dry drunkenness as well as a wet; see Isaiah 51:21 2Ti 2:26, ινα ανανηψωσι, that they may awake out of their drunken sleep—a drunkenness with prosperity, which made them proud and dissolute, even the king of Israel and his counsellors also, not considering that in maxima libertate minima est licentia; ” it is not for kings to drink wine.” (Proverbs 31:4) Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower.] Or, And to the fading flower of his goodly gallantry. Some conceive that the prophet here alludeth to the etymology of the word Ephraim, whereof see Genesis 41:42, but Ephraim was now declining and decaying. That are overcome with wine.] Heb., Smitten, beaten, overmastered, as Sisera was by Jael’s hammer, which hath its name from the word here used. (Judges 4:22) Tremellius rendereth it, obtusis vino, to those that are blunted with wine, or beaten about the ears with it. Κραιπαλη, Crapula, παρα το παλλειν το καρα.
Ver. 2. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and a strong one,] viz., Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. For whereas Ephraim might say, Who is there that can or dare pull off the flower of our goodly gallantry? God answereth that he hath at hand one that can do it, and do it with a turn of a hand, with little ado.
Ver. 3. The crown of pride…shall be trodden under foot.] This noteth utmost ignominy. Finge ideam animo, saith one here; imagine you saw Shalmaneser pulling the crown from the king of Israel’s head, throwing it to the ground, and then trampling on it. What brave rhetoric is here! The Romans pictured pride with a triple crown. On the first crown was written Transcendo; I excel, on the next, Non obedio; I do not submit, on the third, Perturbo I throw into confusion.
Ver. 4. As the hasty fruit.] Quasi primae et praematurae ficus, early maturing fruits much coveted and caught at.
Ver. 5. For a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty.] So he was to Judah—called here the “residue of his people”—during Hezekiah’s days; a crown unfading, or a garland made of amaranth, [as 1 Peter 1:4] which is, saith Clement, a certain flower that being hung up in the house, yet is still fresh and green. And as God is thus to his people, so, interchangeably, are they to him “a crown of glory,” (Isaiah 62:3) and “a royal diadem,” (ib.); his “throne of glory”; (Jeremiah 4:21) “The beauty of his ornament.” (Ezekiel 7:20)
Ver. 6. And for a spirit of judgment.] A sagacity more than ordinary, in regard whereof Solomon calleth the king’s doom a divination, (Proverbs 16:10) as is well observed. And for strength to them, &c.] In this verse we have the description of a happy state, governed justly at home, and able abroad to resist any endeavour of the enemy. Diod.
Ver. 7. But they also have erred through wine.] Judah had caught this disease of Ephraim, as the English are said to have done of the drunken Dutchmen. Sin is more contagious and catching than the plague. The Hebrew word importeth an alienation of mind. (Proverbs 20:1 Hosea 11:2,3,12 Jeremiah 23:9) Vino sapientia obscuratur, Wisdom is voided by wine, said Alphonsus, King of Arragon. They are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink.] Errarunt propter Shecar: they are bucked in beer; they are drowned in drink, like as George, Duke of Clarence, was drowned in a butt of malmsey by his own election. Nam sicut athletico potore dignum erat, ut potando moreretur, elegit, saith mine author; for, being condemned to die by his brother King Edward IV, he chose that kind of death, as becoming to a stout drunkard. They err in vision.] The prophets do. They stumble in judgment.] The priests do, for they were to interpret the law, and to decide differences. Drunkenness in rulers is a capital sin, and maketh the land reel. A strong sweet wine, originally the product of the neighbourhood of Monemvasia (Napoli di Malvasia) in the Morea; but now obtained from Spain, the Azores, and the islands of Madeira and the Canaries, as well as from Greece.
Ver. 8. For all places are full of vomit and filthiness.] Vah, vah, vah: cum tu Narbone mensas hospitam convomeres, saith Cicero to Antony, who was not ashamed likewise to write, or rather to spew out a book concerning his own great strength to bear strong drink, and to lay up others who strove with him for the mastery. Cicero taxeth Julius Caesar for this foul custom; so doth Philo Caligula, and Suetonius Vitellius. Veniunt ut edant, edunt ut vomant. They came to drink, the drink to vomit.— Senec.
Ver. 9. Whom shall he teach knowledge?] Quem docebit scientiam? Doceo governeth two accusative cases. Ministers must have (1.) Quem, Whom to teach; and (2.) Quid, What to teach— sc., knowledge. Isaiah had no want of knowledge, as being apt and able to teach; but he wanted a fit audience, as having to do with a sort of drunken sots that were unteachable, incapable. So, Ezekiel 47:11, when the waters of the sanctuary flowed, the miry places could not be healed. Think the same also of those that are drunk with pride [as Isaiah 28:1] and self-conceitedness; who make divinity only a matter of discourse, or that come to sit as judges or critics on their ministers’ gifts, &c. It will be long enough ere such will be taught anything. One may as good undertake to teach a young weanling void of understanding, and in some respects better, for these to their natural corruption and impotence have added habitual hardness and obstinace, to their sinews of iron, brows of brass, (Isaiah 48:4) and what hope can there be of working upon such?