Isa 5:8-23 | JFB | STEP | 8. ( ; ). The jubilee restoration of possessions was intended as a guard against avarice. till there be no place-- left for any one else. that they may be-- rather, and ye be. the earth-- the land.

‏ Isaiah 5:8-23

Is 5:8-23. Six Distinct Woes against Crimes.

8. (Le 25:13; Mi 2:2). The jubilee restoration of possessions was intended as a guard against avarice.

till there be no place--left for any one else.

that they may be--rather, and ye be.

the earth--the land.

9. In mine ears ... the Lord--namely, has revealed it, as in Is 22:14.

desolate--literally, "a desolation," namely, on account of the national sins.

great and fair--houses.

10. acres--literally, "yokes"; as much as one yoke of oxen could plow in a day.

one--only.

bath--of wine; seven and a half gallons.

homer ... ephah--Eight bushels of seed would yield only three pecks of produce (Eze 45:11). The ephah and bath, one-tenth of an homer.

11. Second Woe--against intemperance.

early--when it was regarded especially shameful to drink (Ac 2:15; 1Th 5:7). Banquets for revelry began earlier than usual (Ec 10:16, 17).

strong drink--Hebrew, sichar, implying intoxication.

continue--drinking all day till evening.

12. Music was common at ancient feasts (Is 24:8, 9; Am 6:5, 6).

viol--an instrument with twelve strings [Josephus, Antiquities, 8.10].

tabret--Hebrew, toph, from the use of which in drowning the cries of children sacrificed to Moloch, Tophet received its name. Arabic, duf. A kettle drum, or tambourine.

pipe--flute or flageolet: from a Hebrew root "to bore through"; or else, "to dance" (compare Job 21:11-15).

regard not ... Lord--a frequent effect of feasting (Job 1:5; Psa 28:5).

work ... operation--in punishing the guilty (Is 5:19; Is 10:12).

13. are gone--The prophet sees the future as if it were before his eyes.

no knowledge--because of their foolish recklessness (Is 5:12; Is 1:3; Ho 4:6; Lu 19:44).

famished--awful contrast to their luxurious feasts (Is 5:11, 12).

multitude--plebeians in contradistinction to the "honorable men," or nobles.

thirst--(Psa 107:4, 5). Contrast to their drinking (Is 5:11). In their deportation and exile, they shall hunger and thirst.

14. hell--the grave; Hebrew, sheol; Greek, hades; "the unseen world of spirits." Not here, "the place of torment." Poetically, it is represented as enlarging itself immensely, in order to receive the countless hosts of Jews, which should perish (Nu 16:30).

their--that is, of the Jewish people.

he that rejoiceth--the drunken reveller in Jerusalem.

15. (Compare Is 2:9, 11, 17). All ranks, "mean" and "mighty" alike; so "honorable" and "multitude" (Is 5:13).

16. God shall be "exalted" in man's view, because of His manifestation of His "justice" in punishing the guilty.

sanctified--regarded as holy by reason of His "righteous" dealings.

17. after their manner--literally, "according to their own word," that is, at will. Otherwise, as in their own pasture [Gesenius]: so the Hebrew in Mi 2:12. The lands of the Scenite tent dwellers (Jr 35:7). Arab shepherds in the neighborhood shall roam at large, the whole of Judea being so desolate as to become a vast pasturage.

waste ... fat ones--the deserted lands of the rich ("fat," Psa 22:29), then gone into captivity; "strangers," that is, nomad tribes shall make their flocks to feed on [Maurer]. Figuratively, "the lambs" are the pious, "the fat ones" the impious. So tender disciples of Jesus Christ (Joh 21:15) are called "lambs"; being meek, harmless, poor, and persecuted. Compare Eze 39:18, where the fatlings are the rich and great (1Co 1:26, 27). The "strangers" are in this view the "other sheep not of the" the Jewish "fold" (Joh 10:16), the Gentiles whom Jesus Christ shall "bring" to be partakers of the rich privileges (Ro 11:17) which the Jews ("fat ones," Eze 34. 16) fell from. Thus "after their (own) manner" will express that the Christian Church should worship God in freedom, released from legal bondage (Joh 4:23; Ga 5:1).

18. Third Woe--against obstinate perseverance in sin, as if they wished to provoke divine judgments.

iniquity--guilt, incurring punishment [Maurer].

cords, &c.--cart-rope--Rabbins say, "An evil inclination is at first like a fine hair-string, but the finishing like a cart-rope." The antithesis is between the slender cords of sophistry, like the spider's web (Is 59:5; Job 8:14), with which one sin draws on another, until they at last bind themselves with great guilt as with a cart-rope. They strain every nerve in sin.

vanity--wickedness.

sin--substantive, not a verb: they draw on themselves "sin" and its penalty recklessly.

19. work--vengeance (Is 5:12). Language of defiance to God. So Lamech's boast of impunity (Ge 4:23, 24; compare Jr 17:15; 2Pe 3:3, 4).

counsel--God's threatened purpose to punish.

20. Fourth Woe--against those who confound the distinctions of right and wrong (compare Ro 1:28), "reprobate," Greek, "undiscriminating: the moral perception darkened."

bitter ... sweet--sin is bitter (Jr 2:19; 4:18; Ac 8:23; He 12:15); though it seem sweet for a time (Pr 9:17, 18). Religion is sweet (Psa 119:103).

21. Fifth Woe--against those who were so "wise in their own eyes" as to think they knew better than the prophet, and therefore rejected his warnings (Is 29:14, 15).

22-23. Sixth Woe--against corrupt judges, who, "mighty" in drinking "wine" (a boast still not uncommon), if not in defending their country, obtain the means of self-indulgence by taking bribes ("reward"). The two verses are closely joined [Maurer].

mingle strong drink--not with water, but spices to make it intoxicating (Pr 9:2, 5; So 8:2).

take away the righteousness--set aside the just claims of those having a righteous cause.