Isaiah 5:8

Woe unto them. Isaiah here begins the enumeration of a series of woes to come upon Israel as the result of the offenses specifically mentioned in connection with each woe. These offenses are the “wild grapes” of v. 2. Not all the sins of the people can be listed; only those most characteristic of that evil age are named.

Join house to house. This graphic picture represents the sin of covetousness and greed. God originally intended Israel to be a nation of small landowners. To guard against the formation of large estates he had provided the year of jubilee (Lev. 25:13; 27:24) and the law of inheritance for heiresses (Num. 27:1-11; cf. 33:54; 36). But these provisions had been disregarded, with the result that instead of a large number of small landholders there had grown up a class of wealthy proprietors, and another, of poverty-stricken, landless laborers. Many of the people had been reduced to virtual slavery, and others, not yet slaves, were forced to pay exorbitant rents. Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, also denounced this evil (Micah 2:2).

Midst of the earth. That is, secure a monopoly. The wealthy classes had no interest in the welfare of the people at large. They were concerned with their own interests exclusively. They did not care even if the poor were entirely wiped out of existence. The situation was rapidly approaching the place where the poor would soon lose any holdings they had, and the wealthy would be left to enjoy the products of the land.