Isaiah 28:15 - Exposition

We have made a covenant with death (comp. Job 5:23 ; Hosea 2:18 ). The words are a boast, expressed somewhat enigmatically, that they have secured their own safety by some secret agreement. The exact nature of the agreement they are disinclined to divulge. With hell are we at agreement . A " synonymous parallelism," merely strengthening the previous assertion. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through . Assyrian invasion has been compared to a "flood" ( Isaiah 8:7 ; Isaiah 28:2 ), and to a "rod" or "staff" in Isaiah 10:24 . Here the two metaphors are joined together. It shall not come to us . Some means will be found—what, they do not say, either for diverting the flood, or for stemming it. For we have made lies our refuge . Here the Divine reporter departs from the language of those whose words he is reporting, and substitutes his own estimate of the true nature and true value of that "refuge" on which they placed such entire reliance. It appears by Isaiah 30:1-7 and Isaiah 36:6-9 that that refuge was Egypt. Now, Egypt was a "bruised reed," not to be depended on for keeping her engagements. To trust in her was to put confidence in "lies" and "falsehood."