Isaiah 28:9-10 English Standard Version

9 “To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast?

10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”

These are some strong words. They have been used over and over again in teachings to inspire us to read the scriptures. In almost every case that I can remember with my faulty human memory of those passages, they have been used out of context.

Verse 13 And the word of the Lord will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,  here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

What is the context then?

The last words of verse 12 explain why, “they would not hear.” In all their studies and all their memorizing of every line and every precept, they failed to listen.

The Word was spoken, they just didn’t listen.

I see this now as I study God’s Word in more detail which begs me to ask myself, did my memories of past teachings miss the pastor’s point in his reaching? The fact that I remember only some points of past teachings means I was only impressed on certain points.

Memories can be selective because of relative importance. Maybe there was something I missed because it did not seem important at the time.

This is one more aspect of memories, they nag at you when they are not clear.

In the words of my loving sister, “It didn’t happen that way.”