peculiar

"For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim,
he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon
to accomplish his work,
his peculiar work,
to perform his task,
his strange task."

Isaiah 28:21

"God’s judgment of his own people is called “his peculiar work” and “his strange task,” because he must deal with them the way he treated their enemies in the past."  -net notes


Isa 28:23 Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech.

Isa 28:24 Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground?

Isa 28:25 When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border?

Isa 28:26 For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.

Isa 28:27 Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

Isa 28:28 Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it.

Isa 28:29 This also comes from the LORD of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.

from the Believer's Bible Commentary:

"Isaiah then inserted a word of comfort into this message of woe and judgment. The judgment would last for only a short while as it was designed to purge the people. A farmer must crush his crops to get the desired results. For example, caraway and cummin, aromatic herbs, are beaten out with a rod or stick, not threshed, because their seeds are so small. Grain is ground by millstone, after the wheat stalks are threshed. Various crops must be treated differently so no one step (plowing, harrowing, planting, or threshing) is done continuously.

Similarly God would bring about judgment but not forever. He is the Master “Farmer,” who knows how to handle each “crop.” Therefore the Southern Kingdom should submit to Him because He is wonderful in counsel (cf. Isa_9:6) and magnificent in wisdom (cf. Isa_11:2).

As Herbert Vander Lugt points out, the prophet illustrates

the way God deals with His children by citing three aspects of a farmer's work. First, he declares that the plowman doesn't continue breaking the ground indefinitely, but stops when it is ready for planting (v. 24). Likewise, our trials are brought to an end as soon as they have accomplished His purposes in our lives. Then the prophet says that the farmer sows his seed with discernment, scattering the cummin but putting the wheat in rows (vv. 25, 26). This assures us that the Lord carefully selects the discipline especially suited to our particular need. Finally, Isaiah portrays the laborer threshing his crop. With extreme care he beats out the dill with a light stick, and strikes the cummin with a heavier flail. For the wheat he employs a wheel just heavy enough to avoid crushing the grain (vv. 27, 28). Thus the Almighty uses the gentlest possible touch for our condition, never allowing an affliction to be greater than we can bear."-Believer's Bible Commentary