Isa 28:21

### Isa 28:21 — The Strange Work That Divides *Translation:* > For as at Mount Perazim — Mount of Breakings — shall YHWH rise, > as in the Valley of Gibeon shall He be wroth, > to do His work — strange is His work — > and to perform His act — foreign is His act. Peshitta: _metol d'vatura b'tur'ata nequm Marya, ayk 'umqa d'Gib'on nirgiz, l'me'bad 'abdohi nochrin 'abdohi, ul'me'bad 'abidta nochrin 'abidta_ *Perazim and Gibeon — Two Divisions:* *Har Perazim — Mountain of Burstings* — Baal-Perazim in Valley of Rephaim southwest of Jerusalem. There David said _paratz YHWH et oyvai keperetz mayim_ — YHWH burst through my enemies as waters burst. Targum remembers it as earthquake in days of Uzziah — mountains burst, land divided — Amos 1:1. *Emek Gibeon — Valley of Gibeon* — northwest of Jerusalem. There Joshua 10 — YHWH threw Amorites into panic, divided them with hail, and divided the day — sun stood still in Gibeon, moon in Valley of Aijalon — to give rest from enemies. And 2 Sam 2 — at pool of Gibeon — 12 and 12 divided Israel itself — Field of Swords — north vs south. Both are God dividing — bursting land, dividing day, dividing enemy — to give rest. *The strange work — work that divides:* Hebrew _zar ma'asehu_ — _nochriyah avodato_ — not strange as in weird — strange as in foreign to Him — alien work. To rise against His own city as He once rose for it. Hebrew _marge'ah_ in 28:12 — _zot hamarge'ah_ — usually translated refreshing — is from _raga_ — to give rest, and also to stir, to divide sea. Divider who gives rest. --- ### Commentary — Enough and Not Enough Isaiah 28:9-20 sets up the divider: *19 — די — Enough.* _Midei_ — from enough — whenever the overflowing flood passes it will take you, morning by morning. Exile is enough punishment — not death — Dayenu. LXX caught this: too weak to resist overwhelming flood. *20 — לא די — Not Enough.* The spread is too short to stretch on, covering too narrow to wrap in. Peshitta East keeps garment: _mana z'or l'mestarohi_ — garment too short to cover shame. Bed was spread garment — Ex 22:27 your cloak is your bed. Taken away, no covering — _g-l-h_ — led into exile = stripped bare. All captives got this — nothing strange yet. Strange is who orders it — YHWH Himself doing Perazim and Gibeon against Zion. For Moab, normal. For Zion, foreign. *Land rests — people don't.* Lev 26:34 — _az tirtzeh ha'aretz et shabbetoteha_ — then land shall enjoy its Sabbaths. 2 Chron 36:21 — 70 years land rested. They refused _menuchah_ — rest to weary — 28:12 — so land gets rest without them. Enough exile for land — not enough bed for people. Great divide. *Second divide — 1 Cor 14:21 / Acts 2:3* Paul quotes Isa 28:11 — _en heteroglossois... laleso to lao touto_ — with other tongues I will speak to this people. Strange tongues as sign of judgment — Assyrian tongue — they mocked prophet as _tsav latsav qav laqav_ baby stammer, God answers with foreign stammer. But same divided tongues return at Pentecost — _diamerizomenai glossai_ — divided tongues as fire — dividing people FROM world, from sins — to make _mamlechet kohanim_ — royal priesthood — clothed. Same instrument, different sound. John 3:8 — wind blows where it wills, you hear its sound — soul is God's instrument, same breath makes different notes. *No clothing vs being clothed as priests:* - First divide: stripped of garment, no covering to hide shame — divided FROM covenant / land — so land can rest. - Second divide: clothed with priestly garment — divided FROM world into new covenant — by divided tongues — so people can rest. Same verb _g-l-h_ — to exile / uncover, and to reveal. Uncovered for shame, revealed for calling. That's _zar ma'asehu_ — strange work that divides both ways — and that is _marge'ah_ — power to divide in order to give rest.