What is the meaning of Isaiah 28:21? The LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim • In 2 Samuel 5:20 David says, “The LORD has broken out against my enemies before me like a bursting flood.” Mount Perazim (“breaking out”) commemorates that sudden, decisive victory. • Isaiah borrows the scene to remind complacent leaders (Isaiah 28:14-15) that God still breaks in with unstoppable force. Psalm 24:8 echoes, “The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.” • The picture: God is not distant. When sin hardens hearts, He rises just as tangibly as He did for David, ensuring His purposes move forward. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon • Joshua 10:10-14 recounts how God hurled hailstones on the Amorites and made the sun stand still “over Gibeon.” The valley became a stage for supernatural intervention. • Isaiah’s hearers knew that story. By citing it, he warns that God can again overturn the natural order to accomplish His plan. 1 Chronicles 14:16 shows a later echo when David chased Philistines “from Gibeon to Gezer” under divine direction. • The lesson: past miracles guarantee future accountability. What God once did for Israel against pagans, He now prepares to do against an unfaithful Jerusalem if they stubbornly resist. To do His work, His strange work • God’s “work” normally blesses His people (Psalm 103:2-5). Yet here it is called “strange” because it involves judgment on them. Isaiah 29:14 foretells, “I will again astound these people with wonder upon wonder”—not pleasant wonders, but shocking acts that break their pride. • Habakkuk 1:5 captures the same idea: “I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe.” It feels foreign only because we forget that holiness must confront sin. • Still, discipline is mercy in disguise—God disrupts comfort so repentance remains possible (Isaiah 30:15). To perform His task, His disturbing task • “Disturbing” (or “alien”) underscores how heavy God’s judgment feels, even to Him. Lamentations 3:33 reminds us, “He does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.” • Hebrews 12:6-11 explains the pattern: the Lord disciplines those He loves, yielding “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” For the moment it seems painful, but it aims at restoration. • 1 Peter 4:17 warns that judgment begins with God’s household. When leaders scoff at God’s word (Isaiah 28:22), He shakes them so they might awaken and the nations might revere His holiness (Isaiah 26:9). summary Isaiah 28:21 portrays God rising exactly as He did at Perazim and Gibeon—two historic moments when He intervened with unmistakable power. This time, however, the breakthrough targets His own people, not foreign foes. The “strange” and “disturbing” aspect lies in God’s holy necessity to discipline those He loves. He will do whatever it takes, even acts that seem out of character to a comfortable audience, to shatter pride, expose false security, and steer hearts back to Himself. |
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