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isaiah 5:8-23

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Isaiah 5:8-23

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”

— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

8. Woe unto them that join house to house, [that] lay field to field, till [there be] no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! 9. In mine ears [said] the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, [even] great and fair, without inhabitant. 10. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah. 11. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, [that] they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, [till] wine inflame them! 12. And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands. 13. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because [they have] no knowledge: and their honourable men [are] famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. 14. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. 15. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: 16. But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. 17. Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. 18. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: 19. That say, Let him make speed, [and] hasten his work, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know [it]! 20. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21. Woe unto [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! 22. Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: 23. Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

Isaiah 5:8-23 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Isaiah 5:8

Theological / Devotional

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.

By SdaBc

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