mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 5.xml

<div2 id="Is.vi" n="vi" next="Is.vii" prev="Is.v" progress="2.43%" title="Chapter V">
<h2 id="Is.vi-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.vi-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter the prophet, in God's name, shows
the people of God their transgressions, even the house of Jacob
their sins, and the judgments which were likely to be brought upon
them for their sins, I. By a parable, under the similitude of an
unfruitful vineyard, representing the great favours God had
bestowed upon them, their disappointing his expectations from them,
and the ruin they had thereby deserved, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.1-Isa.5.7" parsed="|Isa|5|1|5|7" passage="Isa 5:1-7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>. II. By an enumeration of the sins
that did abound among them, with a threatening of punishments that
should answer to the sins. 1. Covetousness, and greediness of
worldly wealth, which shall be punished with famine, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.8-Isa.5.10" parsed="|Isa|5|8|5|10" passage="Isa 5:8-10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>. 2. Rioting, revelling,
and drunkenness (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.11-Isa.5.12 Bible:Isa.5.22 Bible:Isa.5.23" parsed="|Isa|5|11|5|12;|Isa|5|22|0|0;|Isa|5|23|0|0" passage="Isa 5:11,12,22,23">ver. 11, 12,
22, 23</scripRef>), which shall be punished with captivity and all
the miseries that attend it, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.13-Isa.5.17" parsed="|Isa|5|13|5|17" passage="Isa 5:13-17">ver.
13-17</scripRef>. 3. Presumption in sin, and defying the justice of
God, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.18-Isa.5.19" parsed="|Isa|5|18|5|19" passage="Isa 5:18,19">ver. 18, 19</scripRef>. 4.
Confounding the distinctions between virtue and vice, and so
undermining the principles of religion, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.20" parsed="|Isa|5|20|0|0" passage="Isa 5:20">ver. 20</scripRef>. 5. Self-conceit, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.21" parsed="|Isa|5|21|0|0" passage="Isa 5:21">ver. 21</scripRef>. 6. Perverting justice, for which,
and the other instances of reigning wickedness among them, a great
and general desolation in threatened, which should lay all waste
(<scripRef id="Is.vi-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.24-Isa.5.25" parsed="|Isa|5|24|5|25" passage="Isa 5:24,25">ver. 24, 25</scripRef>), and which
should be effected by a foreign invasion (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.26-Isa.5.30" parsed="|Isa|5|26|5|30" passage="Isa 5:26-30">ver. 26-30</scripRef>), referring perhaps to the
havoc made not long after by Sennacherib's army.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.vi-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5" parsed="|Isa|5|0|0|0" passage="Isa 5" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.vi-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.1-Isa.5.7" parsed="|Isa|5|1|5|7" passage="Isa 5:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.vi-p1.12">
<h4 id="Is.vi-p1.13">Israel Compared to a
Vineyard. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vi-p1.14">b. c.</span> 758.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.vi-p2" shownumber="no">1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my
beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a
very fruitful hill:   2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the
stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a
tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he
looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild
grapes.   3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of
Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.   4 What
could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in
it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes,
brought it forth wild grapes?   5 And now go to; I will tell
you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge
thereof, and it shall be eaten up; <i>and</i> break down the wall
thereof, and it shall be trodden down:   6 And I will lay it
waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up
briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no
rain upon it.   7 For the vineyard of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vi-p2.1">Lord</span> of hosts <i>is</i> the house of Israel, and
the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment,
but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p3" shownumber="no">See what variety of methods the great God
takes to awaken sinners to repentance by convincing them of sin,
and showing them their misery and danger by reason of it. To this
purport he speaks sometimes in plain terms and sometimes in
parables, sometimes in prose and sometimes in verse, as here. "We
have tried to <i>reason with you</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.18" parsed="|Isa|1|18|0|0" passage="Isa 1:18"><i>ch.</i> i. 18</scripRef>); now let us put your case
into a poem, inscribed to the honour of my well beloved." God the
Father dictates it to the honour of Christ his well beloved Son,
whom he has constituted Lord of the vineyard. The prophet sings it
to the honour of Christ too, for he is his well beloved. The
Old-Testament prophets were friends of the bridegroom. Christ is
God's beloved Son and our beloved Saviour. Whatever is said or sung
of the church must be intended to his praise, even that which (like
this) tends to our shame. This parable was put into a song that it
might be the more moving and affecting, might be the more easily
learned and exactly remembered, and the better transmitted to
posterity; and it is an exposition of he song of Moses (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.1-Deut.32.47" parsed="|Deut|32|1|32|47" passage="De 32:1-47">Deut. xxxii.</scripRef>), showing that what he
then foretold was now fulfilled. Jerome says, Christ the
well-beloved did in effect sing this mournful song when he beheld
Jerusalem <i>and wept over it</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.41" parsed="|Luke|19|41|0|0" passage="Lu 19:41">Luke xix. 41</scripRef>), and had reference to it in the
parable of the vineyard (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.21.33" parsed="|Matt|21|33|0|0" passage="Mt 21:33">Matt. xxi.
33</scripRef>, &amp;c.), only here the fault was in the vines,
there in the husbandmen. Here we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p4" shownumber="no">I. The great things which God had done for
the Jewish church and nation. When all the rest of the world lay in
common, not cultivated by divine revelation, that was his vineyard,
they were his peculiar people. He acknowledged them as his own, set
them apart for himself. The soil they were planted in was
extraordinary; it was <i>a very fruitful hill, the horn of the son
of oil;</i> so it is in the margin. There was plenty, a cornucopia;
and there was dainty: they did there eat the fat and drink the
sweet, and so were furnished with abundance of good things to
honour God with in sacrifices and free-will offerings. The
advantages of our situation will be brought into the account
another day. Observe further what God did for this vineyard. 1. He
fenced it, took it under his special protection, kept it night and
day under his own eye, lest any should hurt it, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.2-Isa.27.3" parsed="|Isa|27|2|27|3" passage="Isa 27:2,3"><i>ch.</i> xxvii. 2, 3</scripRef>. If they had not
themselves thrown down their fence, no inroad could have been made
upon them, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.125.2 Bible:Ps.131.4" parsed="|Ps|125|2|0|0;|Ps|131|4|0|0" passage="Ps 125:2,131:4">Ps. cxxv. 2; cxxxi.
4</scripRef>. 2. He gathered the stones out of it, that, as nothing
from without might damage it, so nothing within might obstruct its
fruitfulness. He proffered his grace to take away the stony heart.
3. He planted it with the choicest vine, set up a pure religion
among them, gave them a most excellent law, instituted ordinances
very proper for the keeping up of their acquaintance with God,
<scripRef id="Is.vi-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.21" parsed="|Jer|2|21|0|0" passage="Jer 2:21">Jer. ii. 21</scripRef>. 4. He built a
tower in the midst of it, either for defence against violence or
for the dressers of the vineyard to lodge in; or rather it was for
the owner of the vineyard to sit in, to take a view of the vines
(<scripRef id="Is.vi-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Song.7.12" parsed="|Song|7|12|0|0" passage="So 7:12">Cant. vii. 12</scripRef>)—a
summer-house. The temple was this tower, about which the priests
lodged, and where God promised to meet his people, and gave them
the tokens of his presence among them and pleasure in them. 5. He
made a wine-press therein, set up his altar, to which the
sacrifices, as the fruits of the vineyard, should be brought.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p5" shownumber="no">II. The disappointment of his just
expectations from them: <i>He looked that it should bring forth
grapes,</i> and a great deal of reason he had for that expectation.
Note, God expects vineyard-fruit from those that enjoy
vineyard-privileges, not leaves only, as <scripRef id="Is.vi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Mark.11.12" parsed="|Mark|11|12|0|0" passage="Mk 11:12">Mark xi. 12</scripRef>. A bare profession, though ever
so green, will not serve: there must be more than buds and
blossoms. Good purposes and good beginnings are good things, but
not enough; there must be fruit, a good heart and a good life,
vineyard fruit, thoughts and affections, words and actions,
agreeable to the Spirit, which is the fatness of the vineyard
(<scripRef id="Is.vi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Gal.5.22-Gal.5.23" parsed="|Gal|5|22|5|23" passage="Ga 5:22,23">Gal. v. 22, 23</scripRef>),
<i>answerable to the ordinances,</i> which are the dressings of the
vineyard, acceptable to God, the Lord of the vineyard, and fruit
according to the season. Such fruit as this God expects from us,
grapes, the fruit of the vine, with which they honour God and man
(<scripRef id="Is.vi-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.9.13" parsed="|Judg|9|13|0|0" passage="Jdg 9:13">Judg. ix. 13</scripRef>); and his
expectations are neither high nor hard, but righteous and very
reasonable. Yet see how his expectations are frustrated: <i>It
brought forth wild grapes;</i> not only no fruit at all, but bad
fruit, worse than none, grapes of Sodom, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.32" parsed="|Deut|32|32|0|0" passage="De 32:32">Deut. xxxii. 32</scripRef>. 1. Wild grapes are the
fruits of the corrupt nature, fruit according to the crabstock, not
according to the engrafted branch, from the root of bitterness,
<scripRef id="Is.vi-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.15" parsed="|Heb|12|15|0|0" passage="Heb 12:15">Heb. xii. 15</scripRef>. Where grace
does not work corruption will. 2. Wild grapes are hypocritical
performances in religion, that look like grapes, but are sour or
bitter, and are so far from being pleasing to God that they are
provoking, as theirs mentioned in <scripRef id="Is.vi-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.11" parsed="|Isa|1|11|0|0" passage="Isa 1:11"><i>ch.</i> i. 11</scripRef>. Counterfeit graces are wild
grapes.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p6" shownumber="no">III. An appeal to themselves whether upon
the whole matter God must not be justified and they condemned,
<scripRef id="Is.vi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.3-Isa.5.4" parsed="|Isa|5|3|5|4" passage="Isa 5:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. And now
the case is plainly stated: <i>O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men
of Judah! judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.</i> This
implies that God was blamed about them. There was a controversy
between them and him; but the equity was so plain on his side that
he could venture to put the decision of the controversy to their
own consciences. "Let any inhabitant of Jerusalem, any man of
Judah, that has but the use of his reason and a common sense of
equity and justice, speak his mind impartially in this matter."
Here is a challenge to any man to show, 1. Any instance wherein God
had been wanting to them: <i>What could have been done more to my
vineyard, that I have not done in it?</i> He speaks of the external
means of fruitfulness, and such as might be expected from the
dresser of a vineyard, from whom it is not required that he should
change the nature of the vine. <i>What ought to have been done
more?</i> so it may be read. They had everything requisite for
instruction and direction in their duty, for quickening them to it
and putting them in mind of it. No inducements were wanting to
persuade them to it, but all arguments were used that were proper
to work either upon hope or fear; and they had all the
opportunities they could desire for the performance of their duty,
the new moons, and the sabbaths, and solemn feasts; They had the
scriptures, the lively oracles, a standing ministry in the priests
and Levites, besides what was extraordinary in the prophets. No
nation had statutes and judgments so righteous. 2. Nor could any
tolerable excuse be offered for their walking thus contrary to God.
"Wherefore, what reason can be given why it should bring forth wild
grapes, when I looked for grapes?" Note, The wickedness of those
that profess religion, and enjoy the means of grace, is the most
unreasonable unaccountable thing in the world, and the whole blame
of it must lie upon the sinners themselves. "<i>If thou scornest,
thou alone shalt bear it,</i> and shalt not have a word to say for
thyself in the judgment of the great day." God will prove his own
ways equal and the sinner's ways unequal.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p7" shownumber="no">IV. Their doom read, and a righteous
sentence passed upon them for their bad conduct towards God
(<scripRef id="Is.vi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.5-Isa.5.6" parsed="|Isa|5|5|5|6" passage="Isa 5:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>): "<i>And
now go to,</i> since nothing can be offered in excuse of the crime
or arrest of the judgement, <i>I will tell you what I am now
determined to do to my vineyard.</i> I will be vexed and troubled
with it no more; since it will be good for nothing, it <i>shall</i>
be good for nothing; in short, it shall cease to be a vineyard, and
be turned into a wilderness: the church of the Jews shall be
unchurched; their charter shall be taken away, and they shall
become <i>lo-ammi—not my people.</i>" 1. "They shall no longer be
distinguished as a peculiar people, but be laid in common: <i>I
will take away the hedge thereof,</i> and then it will soon be
eaten up and become as bare as other ground." They mingled with the
nations and therefore were justly scattered among them. 2. "They
shall no longer be protected as God's people, but left exposed. God
will not only suffer the wall to go to decay, but he will break it
down, will remove all their defences from them, and then they will
become an easy prey to their enemies, who have long waited for an
opportunity to do them a mischief, and will now tread them down and
trample upon them." 3. "They shall no longer have the face of a
vineyard, and the form and shape of a church and commonwealth, but
shall be levelled and laid waste." This was fulfilled when
<i>Jerusalem for their sakes was ploughed as a field,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vi-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Mic.3.12" parsed="|Mic|3|12|0|0" passage="Mic 3:12">Mic. iii. 12</scripRef>. 4. "No more pains shall
be taken with them by magistrates or ministers, the dressers and
keepers of their vineyard; it shall not be pruned nor digged, but
every thing shall run wild, and nothing shall come up but briers
and thorns, the products of sin and the curse," <scripRef id="Is.vi-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.18" parsed="|Gen|3|18|0|0" passage="Ge 3:18">Gen. iii. 18</scripRef>. When errors and corruptions,
vice and immorality, go without check or control, no testimony
borne against them, no rebuke given them or restraint put upon
them, the vineyard is unpruned, is not dressed, or ridded; and then
it will soon be like the vineyard of the man void of understanding,
all grown over with thorns. 5. "That which completes its woe is
that the dews of heaven shall be withheld; he that has the key of
the clouds will command them that they rain no rain upon it, and
that alone is sufficient to run it into a desert." Note, God in a
way of righteous judgment, denies his grace to those that have long
received it in vain. The sum of all is that those who would not
bring forth good fruit should bring forth none. The curse of
barrenness is the punishment of the sin of barrenness, as <scripRef id="Is.vi-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Mark.11.14" parsed="|Mark|11|14|0|0" passage="Mk 11:14">Mark xi. 14</scripRef>. This had its partial
accomplishment in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans,
its full accomplishment in the final rejection of the Jews, and has
its frequent accomplishment in the departure of God's Spirit from
those persons who have long resisted him and striven against him,
and the removal of his gospel from those places that have been long
a reproach to it, while it has been an honour to them. It is no
loss to God to lay his vineyard waste; for he can, when he please,
turn a wilderness into a fruitful field; and when he does thus
dismantle a vineyard, it is but as he did by the garden of Eden,
which, when man had by sin forfeited his place in it, was soon
levelled with common soil.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p8" shownumber="no">V. The explanation of this parable, or a
key to it (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.7" parsed="|Isa|5|7|0|0" passage="Isa 5:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>),
where we are told, 1. What is meant by the vineyard (it is <i>the
house of Israel,</i> the body of the people, incorporated in one
church and commonwealth), and what by the vines, the pleasant
plants, the plants of God's pleasure, which he had been pleased in
and delighted in doing good to; they are <i>the men of Judah;</i>
these he had dealt graciously with, and from them he expected
suitable returns. 2. What is meant by the grapes that were expected
and the wild grapes that were produces: <i>He looked for judgment
and righteousness,</i> that the people should be honest in all
their dealings and the magistrates should strictly administer
justice. This might reasonably be expected among a people that had
such excellent laws and rules of justice given them (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.8" parsed="|Deut|4|8|0|0" passage="De 4:8">Deut. iv. 8</scripRef>); but the fact was quite
otherwise; instead of judgment there was the cruelty of the
oppressors, and instead of righteousness the cry of the oppressed.
Every thing was carried by clamour and noise, and not by equity and
according to the merits of the cause. It is sad with a people when
wickedness has usurped the place of judgment, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.16" parsed="|Eccl|3|16|0|0" passage="Ec 3:16">Eccl. iii. 16</scripRef>. It is very sad with a soul when
instead of the grapes of humility, meekness, patience, love, and
contempt of the world, which God looks for, there are the wild
grapes of pride, passion, discontent, malice, and contempt of
God—instead of the grapes of praying and praising, the wild grapes
of cursing and swearing, which are a great offence to God. Some of
the ancients apply this to the Jews in Christ's time, among whom
God looked for righteousness (that is, that they should receive and
embrace Christ), but behold a cry, that cry, <i>Crucify him,
crucify him.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.vi-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.8-Isa.5.17" parsed="|Isa|5|8|5|17" passage="Isa 5:8-17" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.vi-p8.5">
<h4 id="Is.vi-p8.6">Worldly-Mindedness Reproved; The Punishment
of the Sensual. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vi-p8.7">b. c.</span> 758.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.vi-p9" shownumber="no">8 Woe unto them that join house to house,
<i>that</i> lay field to field, till <i>there be</i> no place, that
they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!   9 In
mine ears <i>said</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vi-p9.1">Lord</span> of
hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, <i>even</i> great
and fair, without inhabitant.   10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard
shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah.
  11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning,
<i>that</i> they may follow strong drink; that continue until
night, <i>till</i> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vi-p9.2">Lord</span>, neither consider the operation of his
hands.   13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity,
because <i>they have</i> no knowledge: and their honourable men
<i>are</i> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vi-p9.3">Lord</span> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p10" shownumber="no">The world and the flesh are the two great
enemies that we are in danger of being overpowered by; yet we are
in no danger if we do not ourselves yield to them. Eagerness of the
world, and indulgence of the flesh, are the two sins against which
the prophet, in God's name, here denounces woes. These were sins
which then abounded among the men of Judah, some of the wild grapes
they brought forth (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.4" parsed="|Isa|5|4|0|0" passage="Isa 5:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>), and for which God threatens to bring ruin upon them.
They are sins which we have all need to stand upon our guard
against and dread the consequences of.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p11" shownumber="no">I. Here is a woe to those who set their
hearts upon the wealth of the world, and place their happiness in
that, and increase it to themselves by indirect and unlawful means
(<scripRef id="Is.vi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.8" parsed="|Isa|5|8|0|0" passage="Isa 5:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), who <i>join
house to house and lay field to field, till there be no place,</i>
no room for anybody to live by them. If they could succeed, they
would be placed alone in the midst of the earth, would monopolize
possessions and preferments, and engross all profits and
employments to themselves. Not that it is a sin for those who have
a house and a field, of they have wherewithal, to purchase another;
but</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p12" shownumber="no">1. Their fault is, (1.) That they are
inordinate in their desires to enrich themselves, and make it their
whole care and business to raise an estate, as if they had nothing
to mind, nothing to seek, nothing to do, in this world, but that.
They never know when they have enough, but the more they have the
more they would have; and, like the <i>daughters of the
horseleech,</i> they <i>cry, Give, give.</i> They cannot enjoy what
they have, nor do good with it, but are constantly contriving and
studying to make it more. They must have variety of houses, a
winter-house, and a summer-house, and if another man's house or
field lie convenient to theirs, as Naboth's vineyard to Ahab's,
they must have that too, or they cannot be easy. (2.) That they are
herein careless of others, nay, and injurious to them. They would
live so as to let nobody live but themselves. So that their
insatiable covetings may be gratified, they care not what becomes
of all about them, what encroachments they make upon their
neighbours' rights, what hardships they put upon those that they
have power over or advantage against, nor what base and wicked arts
they use to heap up treasure to themselves. They would swell so big
as to fill all space, and yet are still unsatisfied (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.10" parsed="|Eccl|5|10|0|0" passage="Ec 5:10">Eccl. v. 10</scripRef>), as Alexander, who, when
he fancied he had conquered the world, wept because he had not
another world to conquer. <i>Deficiente terrâ, non impletur
avaritia—If the whole earth were monopolized, avarice would thirst
for more.</i> What! <i>will you be placed alone in the midst of the
earth?</i> (so some read it); will you be so foolish as to desire
it, when we have so much need of the service of others and so much
comfort in their society? Will you be so foolish as to expect that
the <i>earth shall be forsaken for us</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.4" parsed="|Job|18|4|0|0" passage="Job 18:4">Job xviii. 4</scripRef>), when it is by multitudes that
the earth is to be replenished? <i>An propter vos solos tanta terra
creata est?—Was the wide world created merely for you?</i>
Lyra.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p13" shownumber="no">2. That which is threatened as the
punishment of this sin is that neither the houses nor the fields
they were thus greedy of should turn to any account, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.9-Isa.5.10" parsed="|Isa|5|9|5|10" passage="Isa 5:9,10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. God whispered it
to the prophet in his ear, as he speaks in a like case (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.22.14" parsed="|Isa|22|14|0|0" passage="Isa 22:14"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 14</scripRef>): <i>It was
revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts</i> (as God told Samuel a
thing <i>in his ear,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vi-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.9.15" parsed="|1Sam|9|15|0|0" passage="1Sa 9:15">1 Sam. ix.
15</scripRef>); he thought he heard it still sounding in his ears;
but he proclaimed it, as he ought, <i>upon the house-tops,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.vi-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.27" parsed="|Matt|10|27|0|0" passage="Mt 10:27">Matt. x. 27</scripRef>. (1.) That the
houses they were so fond of should be untenanted, should stand long
empty, and should yield them no rent, and go out of repair: <i>Many
houses shall be desolate,</i> the people that should dwell in them,
being cut off by sword, famine, or pestilence, or carried into
captivity; or trade being dead, and poverty coming upon the country
like an armed man, those that had been housekeepers were forced to
become lodgers, or shift for themselves elsewhere. Even great and
fair houses, that would invite tenants, and (there being a scarcity
of tenants) might be taken at low rates, shall stand empty without
inhabitants. God created not the earth in vain; he <i>formed it to
be inhabited,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vi-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.18" parsed="|Isa|45|18|0|0" passage="Isa 45:18"><i>ch.</i> xlv.
18</scripRef>. But men's projects are often frustrated, and what
they frame answers not the intention. We have a saying, That fools
build houses for wise men to live in; but sometimes, as the event
proves, they are built for no man to live in. God has many ways to
empty the most populous cities. (2.) That the fields they were so
fond of should be unfruitful (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.10" parsed="|Isa|5|10|0|0" passage="Isa 5:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>Ten acres of vineyard shall
yield</i> only such a quantity of grapes as will make but <i>one
bath</i> of wine (which was about eight gallons), <i>and the seed
of a homer,</i> a bushel's sowing of ground, shall yield but an
ephah, which was the tenth part of a homer; so that through the
barrenness of the ground, or the unreasonableness of the weather,
they should not have more than a tenth part of their seed again.
Note, Those that set their hearts upon the world will justly be
disappointed in their expectations from it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p14" shownumber="no">II. Here is a woe to those that dote upon
the pleasures and delights of sense, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.11-Isa.5.12" parsed="|Isa|5|11|5|12" passage="Isa 5:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>. Sensuality ruins men as
certainly as worldliness and oppression. As Christ pronounces a woe
against those that are rich, so also against those that laugh now
and are full (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.6.24-Luke.6.25" parsed="|Luke|6|24|6|25" passage="Lu 6:24,25">Luke vi. 24,
25</scripRef>), and fare sumptuously, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.19" parsed="|Luke|16|19|0|0" passage="Lu 16:19">Luke xvi. 19</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p15" shownumber="no">1. Who the sinners are against whom this
woe is denounced. (1.) They are such as are given to drink; they
make their drinking their business, have their hearts upon it, and
overcharge themselves with it. They rise early to follow strong
drink, as husbandmen and tradesmen do to follow their employments;
as if they were afraid of losing time from that which is the
greatest misspending of time. Whereas commonly those that are
drunken are drunken in the night, when they have despatched the
business of the day, these neglect business, abandon it, and give
up themselves to the service of the flesh; for they sit at their
cups all day, <i>and continue till night, till wine inflame
them</i>—inflame their lusts (chambering and wantonness follow
upon rioting and drunkenness)—inflame their passions; for who but
such have <i>contentions and wounds without cause?</i> <scripRef id="Is.vi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.29-Prov.23.35" parsed="|Prov|23|29|23|35" passage="Pr 23:29-35">Prov. xxiii. 29-35</scripRef>. They make a
perfect trade of drinking; nor do they seek the shelter of the
night for this work of darkness, as men ashamed of it, but <i>count
it a pleasure to riot in the day-time.</i> See <scripRef id="Is.vi-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.13" parsed="|2Pet|2|13|0|0" passage="2Pe 2:13">2 Pet. ii. 13</scripRef>. (2.) They are such as are
given to mirth. They have their feasts, and they are so merrily
disposed that they cannot dine or sup without music, musical
instruments of all sorts, like David (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.6.5" parsed="|Amos|6|5|0|0" passage="Am 6:5">Amos vi. 5</scripRef>), like Solomon (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.2.8" parsed="|Eccl|2|8|0|0" passage="Ec 2:8">Eccl. ii. 8</scripRef>); <i>the harp and the viol, the
tabret and pipe,</i> must accompany the wine, that every sense may
be gratified to a nicety; they <i>take the timbrel and harp,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.vi-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.12" parsed="|Job|21|12|0|0" passage="Job 21:12">Job xxi. 12</scripRef>. The use of
music is lawful in itself; but when it is excessive, when we set
our hearts upon it, misspend time in it, so that it crowds our
spiritual and divine pleasures and draws away the heart from God,
then it turns into sin for us. (3.) They are such as never give
their mind to any thing that is serious: <i>They regard not the
work of the Lord;</i> they observe not his power, wisdom, and
goodness, in those creatures which they abuse and subject to
vanity, nor the bounty of his providence in giving them those good
things which they make the food and fuel of their lusts. God's
judgments have already seized them, and they are under the tokens
of his displeasure, but they regard not; they consider not the hand
of God in all these things; his hand is lifted up, but they will
not see, because they will not disturb themselves in their
pleasures nor think what God is doing with them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p16" shownumber="no">2. What the judgments are which are
denounced against them, and in part executed. It is here foretold,
(1.) that they should be dislodged; the land should spue out these
drunkards (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.13" parsed="|Isa|5|13|0|0" passage="Isa 5:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>):
<i>My people</i> (so they call themselves, and were proud of it)
have therefore <i>gone into captivity,</i> are as sure to go as if
they were gone already, <i>because they have no knowledge;</i> how
should they have knowledge when by their excessive drinking they
make sots and fools of themselves? They set up for wits; but
because they regard not God's controversy with them, nor take any
care to make their peace with him, they may truly be said to have
no knowledge; and the reason is because they will have none; they
are inconsiderate and wilful, and are therefore destroyed for lack
of knowledge. (2.) That they should be impoverished, and come to
want that which they had wasted and abused to excess: Even <i>their
glory are men of famine,</i> subject to it and slain by it; and
<i>their multitude are dried up with thirst.</i> Both the great men
and the common people are ready to perish for want of bread and
water. This is the effect of the failure of the corn (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.10" parsed="|Isa|5|10|0|0" passage="Isa 5:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), for <i>the king
himself is served of the field,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.9" parsed="|Eccl|5|9|0|0" passage="Ec 5:9">Eccl. v. 9</scripRef>. And when the vintage fails the
drunkards are called upon to weep, because <i>the new wine is cut
off from their mouth</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Joel.1.5" parsed="|Joel|1|5|0|0" passage="Joe 1:5">Joel i.
5</scripRef>), and not so much because now they want it as because
when they had it they abused it. It is just with God to make men
want that for necessity which they have abused to excess. (3.) What
multitudes should be cut off by famine and sword (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.14" parsed="|Isa|5|14|0|0" passage="Isa 5:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>Therefore hell has
enlarged herself.</i> Tophet, the common burying-place, proves too
little; so many are there to be buried that they shall be forced to
enlarge it. The grave has opened her mouth without measure,
<i>never saying, It is enough,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.15-Prov.30.16" parsed="|Prov|30|15|30|16" passage="Pr 30:15,16">Prov. xxx. 15, 16</scripRef>. It may be understood of
the place of the damned; luxury and sensuality fill these regions
of darkness and horror; there those are tormented who made a god of
their belly, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.7" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.25 Bible:Phil.3.19" parsed="|Luke|16|25|0|0;|Phil|3|19|0|0" passage="Lu 16:25,Php 3:19">Luke xvi. 25;
Phil. iii. 19</scripRef>. (4.) That they should be humbled and
abased, and all their honours laid in the dust. This will be done
effectually by death and the grave: <i>Their glory shall
descend,</i> not only to the earth, but into it; it shall not
<i>descend after them</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.17" parsed="|Ps|49|17|0|0" passage="Ps 49:17">Ps. xlix.
17</scripRef>), to stand them in any stead on the other side death,
but it shall die and be buried with them—poor glory, which will
thus wither! Did they glory in their numbers? Their multitude shall
go down to the pit, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.9" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.31.18 Bible:Ezek.32.32" parsed="|Ezek|31|18|0|0;|Ezek|32|32|0|0" passage="Eze 31:18,32:32">Ezek. xxxi.
18; xxxii. 32</scripRef>. Did they glory in the figure they made?
Their pomp shall be at an end; their shouts with which they
triumphed, and were attended. Did they glory in their mirth? Death
will turn it into mourning; he that rejoices and revels, and never
knows what it is to be serious, shall go thither where there are
weeping and wailing. Thus the mean man and the mighty man meet
together in the grave and under mortifying judgments. Let a man be
ever so high, death will bring him low—ever so mean, death will
bring him lower, in the prospect of which the eyes of the lofty
should now be humbled, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p16.10" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.15" parsed="|Isa|5|15|0|0" passage="Isa 5:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>. It becomes those to look low that must shortly be
laid low.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p17" shownumber="no">3. What the fruit of these judgments shall
be.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p18" shownumber="no">(1.) God shall be glorified, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.16" parsed="|Isa|5|16|0|0" passage="Isa 5:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. He that is the Lord of
hosts, and the holy God, shall be exalted and sanctified in the
judgment and righteousness of these dispensations. His justice must
be owned in bringing those low what exalted themselves; and herein
he is glorified, [1.] As a God is irresistible power. He will
herein be exalted as the Lord of hosts, that is able to break the
strongest, humble the proudest, and tame the most unruly. Power is
not exalted but in judgment. It is the honour of God that, though
he has a mighty arm, yet <i>judgment and justice are</i> always
<i>the habitation of his throne,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vi-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.13-Ps.89.14" parsed="|Ps|89|13|89|14" passage="Ps 89:13,14">Ps. lxxxix. 13, 14</scripRef>. [2.] As a God of
unspotted purity. He that is holy, infinitely holy, shall be
sanctified (that is, shall be owned and declared to be holy) in the
righteous punishment of proud men. Note, When proud men are humbled
the great God is honoured, and ought to be honoured by us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p19" shownumber="no">(2.) Good people shall be relieved and
succoured (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.17" parsed="|Isa|5|17|0|0" passage="Isa 5:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>):
<i>Then shall the lambs feed after their manner;</i> the meek ones
of the earth, who followed the Lamb, who were persecuted, and put
into fear by those proud oppressors, shall feed quietly, feed in
the green pastures, and there shall be none to make them afraid.
See <scripRef id="Is.vi-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.34.14" parsed="|Ezek|34|14|0|0" passage="Eze 34:14">Ezek. xxxiv. 14</scripRef>. When
the enemies of the church are cut off then have the churches rest.
<i>They shall feed at their pleasure;</i> so some read it.
<i>Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,</i> and
delight themselves in abundant peace. <i>They shall feed according
to their order or capacity</i> (so others read it), as they are
able to hear the word, that bread of life.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p20" shownumber="no">(3.) The country shall be laid waste, and
become a prey to the neighbours: <i>The waste places of the fats
ones,</i> the possessions of those rich men that lived at their
ease, shall be eaten by strangers that were nothing akin to them.
In the captivity the poor of the land were left for
<i>vine-dressers and husbandmen</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.25.12" parsed="|2Kgs|25|12|0|0" passage="2Ki 25:12">2 Kings xxv. 12</scripRef>); these were the lambs that
fed in the pastures of the fats ones, which were laid in common for
strangers to eat. When the church of the Jews, those fat ones, was
laid waste, their privileges were transferred to the Gentiles, who
had been long strangers, and the lambs of Christ's flock were
welcome to them.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.vi-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.18-Isa.5.30" parsed="|Isa|5|18|5|30" passage="Isa 5:18-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.vi-p20.3">
<h4 id="Is.vi-p20.4">Denunciations against Sin. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vi-p20.5">b. c.</span> 758.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.vi-p21" shownumber="no">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, <i>and</i> hasten his work, that we may see
<i>it:</i> and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh
and come, that we may know <i>it!</i>   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 <i>them that are</i> wise in their own
eyes, and prudent in their own sight!   22 Woe unto <i>them
that are</i> 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!   24
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame
consumeth the chaff, <i>so</i> their root shall be as rottenness,
and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away
the law of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vi-p21.1">Lord</span> of hosts, and
despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.   25 Therefore is
the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.vi-p21.2">Lord</span> kindled
against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against
them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their
carcases <i>were</i> torn in the midst of the streets. For all this
his anger is not turned away, but his hand <i>is</i> stretched out
still.   26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from
far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and,
behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:   27 None shall be
weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither
shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their
shoes be broken:   28 Whose arrows <i>are</i> sharp, and all
their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint,
and their wheels like a whirlwind:   29 Their roaring <i>shall
be</i> like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they
shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry <i>it</i>
away safe, and none shall deliver <i>it.</i>   30 And in that
day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and
if <i>one</i> look unto the land, behold darkness <i>and</i>
sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p22" shownumber="no">Here are, I. Sins described which will
bring judgments upon a people: and this perhaps is not only a
charge drawn up against the men of Judah who lived at that time,
and the particular articles of that charge, though it may relate
primarily to them, but is rather intended for warning to all
people, in all ages, to take heed of these sins, as destructive
both to particular persons and to communities, and exposing men to
God's wrath and his righteous judgments. Those are here said to be
in a woeful condition,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p23" shownumber="no">1. Who are eagerly set upon sin, and
violent in their sinful pursuits (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.18" parsed="|Isa|5|18|0|0" passage="Isa 5:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), who <i>draw iniquity with
cords of vanity,</i> who take as much pains to sin as the cattle do
that draw a team, who put themselves to the stretch for the
gratifying of their inordinate appetites, and, to humour a base
lust, offer violence to nature itself. They think themselves as
sure of compassing their wicked project as if they were pulling it
towards them with strong cart-ropes; but they will find themselves
disappointed, for they will prove cords of vanity, which will break
when they come to any stress. For <i>the righteous Lord will cut in
sunder the cords of the wicked,</i> <scripRef id="Is.vi-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.129.4 Bible:Job.4.8 Bible:Prov.22.8" parsed="|Ps|129|4|0|0;|Job|4|8|0|0;|Prov|22|8|0|0" passage="Ps 129:4,Job 4:8,Pr 22:8">Ps. cxxix. 4; Job iv. 8; Prov. xxii.
8</scripRef>. They are by long custom and confirmed habits so
hardened in sin that they cannot get clear of it. Those that sin
through infirmity are drawn away by sin; those that sin
presumptuously draw iniquity to them, in spite of the oppositions
of Providence and the checks of conscience. Some by sin understand
the punishment of sin: they pull God's judgments upon their own
heads as it were, with cart-ropes.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p24" shownumber="no">2. Who set the justice of God at defiance,
and challenge the Almighty to do his worst (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.19" parsed="|Isa|5|19|0|0" passage="Isa 5:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>They say, Let him make
speed, and hasten his work;</i> this is the same language with that
of the scoffers of the last days, who say, <i>Where is the promise
of his coming?</i> and therefore it is that, like them, they
<i>draw iniquity with cords of vanity,</i> are violent and daring
in sin, and walk after their own lusts, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.3-2Pet.3.4" parsed="|2Pet|3|3|3|4" passage="2Pe 3:3,4">2 Pet. iii. 3, 4</scripRef>. (1.) They ridicule the
prophets, and banter them. It is in scorn that they call God <i>the
Holy One of Israel,</i> because the prophets used with great
veneration to call him so. (2.) They will not believe the
revelation of God's wrath from heaven against their ungodliness and
unrighteousness; unless they see it executed, they will not know
it, as if the curse were <i>brutum fulmen—a mere flash,</i> and
all the threatenings of the word bugbears to frighten fools and
children. (3.) If God should appear against them, as he has
threatened, yet they think themselves able to make their part good
with him, and provoke him to jealousy, as if they were stronger
than he, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.22" parsed="|1Cor|10|22|0|0" passage="1Co 10:22">1 Cor. x. 22</scripRef>. "We
have heard his word, but it is all talk; let him hasten his work,
we shall shift for ourselves well enough." Note, Those that
wilfully persist in sin consider not the power of God's anger.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p25" shownumber="no">3. Who confound and overthrow the
distinctions between moral good and evil, <i>who call evil good and
moral evil</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.20" parsed="|Isa|5|20|0|0" passage="Isa 5:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>), who not only live in the omission of that which is
good, but condemn it, argue against it, and, because they will not
practise it themselves, run it down in others, and fasten invidious
epithets upon it—not only do that which is evil, but justify it,
and applaud it, and recommend it to others as safe and good. Note,
(1.) Virtue and piety are good, for they are light and sweet, they
are pleasant and right; but sin and wickedness are evil; they are
darkness, all the fruit of ignorance and mistake, and will be
bitterness in the latter end. (2.) Those do a great deal of wrong
to God, and religion, and conscience, to their own souls, and to
the souls of others, who misrepresent these, and put false colours
upon them—who call drunkenness good fellowship, and covetousness
good husbandry, and, when they persecute the people of God, think
they do him good service—and, on the other hand, who call
seriousness ill-nature, and sober singularity ill-breeding, who say
all manner of evil falsely concerning the ways of godliness, and do
what they can to form in men's minds prejudices against them, and
this in defiance of evidence as plain and convincing as that of
sense, by which we distinguish, beyond contradiction, between light
and darkness, and between that which to the taste is sweet and that
which is bitter.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p26" shownumber="no">4. Who though they are guilty of such gross
mistakes as these have a great opinion of their own judgments, and
value themselves mightily upon their understanding (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.21" parsed="|Isa|5|21|0|0" passage="Isa 5:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>): They are <i>wise in
their own eyes;</i> they think themselves able to disprove and
baffle the reproofs and convictions of God's word, and to evade and
elude both the searches and the reaches of his judgments; they
think they can outwit Infinite Wisdom and countermine Providence
itself. Or it may be taken more generally: God resists the proud,
those particularly who are conceited of their own wisdom and lean
to their own understanding; such must become fools, that they may
be truly wise, or else, at their end they shall appear to be fools
before all the world.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p27" shownumber="no">5. Who glory in it as a great
accomplishment that they are able to bear a great deal of strong
liquor without being overcome by it (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.22" parsed="|Isa|5|22|0|0" passage="Isa 5:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), <i>who are mighty to drink
wine,</i> and use their strength and vigour, not in the service of
their country, but in the service of their lusts. Let drunkards
know from this scripture that, (1.) They ungratefully abuse their
bodily strength, which God has given them for good purposes, and by
degrees cannot but weaken it. (2.) It will not excuse them from the
guilt of drunkenness that they can drink hard and yet keep their
feet. (3.) Those who boast of their drinking down others glory in
their shame. (4.) How light soever men make of their drunkenness,
it is a sin which will certainly lay them open to the wrath and
curse of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p28" shownumber="no">6. Who, as judges, pervert justice, and go
counter to all rules of equity, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.23" parsed="|Isa|5|23|0|0" passage="Isa 5:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. This follows upon the former;
they <i>drink and forget the law</i> (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.5" parsed="|Prov|31|5|0|0" passage="Pr 31:5">Prov. xxxi. 5</scripRef>), and <i>err through wine</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.vi-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.7" parsed="|Isa|28|7|0|0" passage="Isa 28:7"><i>ch.</i> xxviii. 7</scripRef>), and
take bribes, that they may have wherewithal to maintain their
luxury. They <i>justify the wicked for reward,</i> and find some
pretence or other to clear him from his guilt and shelter him from
punishment; and they condemn the innocent, and <i>take away their
righteousness from them,</i> that is, overrule their pleas, deprive
them of the means of clearing up their innocency, and give judgment
against them. In causes between man and man, might and money would
at any time prevail against right and justice; and he who was ever
so plainly in the wrong would with a small bribe carry the cause
and recover the costs. In criminal causes, though the prisoner ever
so plainly appeared to be guilty, yet for a reward they would
acquit him; if he were innocent, yet if he did not fee them well,
nay, if they were feed by the malicious prosecutor, or if they
themselves had spleen against him, they would condemn him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p29" shownumber="no">II. The judgments described, which these
sins would bring upon them. Let not those expect to live easily who
live thus wickedly; for the righteous God will take vengeance,
<scripRef id="Is.vi-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.24-Isa.5.30" parsed="|Isa|5|24|5|30" passage="Isa 5:24-30"><i>v.</i> 24-30</scripRef>. Here we
may observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p30" shownumber="no">1. How complete this ruin will be, and how
necessarily and unavoidably it will follow upon their sins. He had
compared this people to a vine (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.7" parsed="|Isa|5|7|0|0" passage="Isa 5:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), well fixed, and which, it was
hoped, would be flourishing and fruitful; but the grace of God
towards it was received in vain, and then the root became
rottenness, being dried up from beneath, and the blossom would of
course blow off as dust, as a light and worthless thing, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.16" parsed="|Job|18|16|0|0" passage="Job 18:16">Job xviii. 16</scripRef>. Sin weakens the
strength, the root, of a people, so that they are easily rooted up;
it defaces the beauty, the blossoms, of a people, and takes away
the hopes of fruit. The sin of unfruitfulness is punished with the
plague of unfruitfulness. Sinners make themselves as stubble and
chaff, combustible matter, proper fuel to the fire of God's wrath,
which then of course devours and consumes them, <i>as the fire
devours the stubble,</i> and nobody can hinder it, or cares to
hinder it. Chaff is consumed, unhelped and unpitied.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p31" shownumber="no">2. How just the ruin will be: <i>Because
they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts,</i> and would not
have him to reign over them; and, as the law of Moses was rejected
and thrown off, so <i>the word of the Holy One of Israel</i> by his
servants the prophets, putting them in mind of his law and calling
them to obedience, was despised and disregarded. God does not
reject men for every transgression of his law and word; but, when
his word is despised and his law cast away, what can they expect
but that God should utterly abandon them?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p32" shownumber="no">3. Whence this ruin should come (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.25" parsed="|Isa|5|25|0|0" passage="Isa 5:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): it is destruction from
the Almighty. (1.) The justice of God appoints it; for that is
<i>the anger of the Lord</i> which is <i>kindled against his
people,</i> his necessary vindication of the honour of his holiness
and authority. (2.) The power of God effects it: <i>He has
stretched forth his hand against them.</i> That hand which had many
a time been stretched out for them against their enemies is now
stretched out against them at full length and in its full vigour;
and <i>who knows the power of his anger?</i> Whether they are
sensible of it or no, it is God that has smitten them, has blasted
their vine and made it wither.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p33" shownumber="no">4. The consequences and continuance of this
ruin. When God comes forth in wrath against a people the hills
tremble, fear seizes even their great men, who are strong and high,
the earth shakes under men and is ready to sink; and as this feels
dreadful (what does more so than an earthquake?) so what sight can
be more frightful than the carcases of men torn with dogs, or
thrown <i>as dung</i> (so the margin reads it) <i>in the midst of
the streets?</i> This intimates that great multitudes should be
slain, not only soldiers in the field of battle, but the
inhabitants of their cities put to the sword in cold blood, and
that the survivors should neither have hands nor hearts to bury
them. This is very dreadful, and yet such is the merit of sin that,
<i>for all this, God's anger is not turned away;</i> that fire will
burn as long as there remains any of the stubble and chaff to be
fuel for it; <i>and his hand,</i> which he stretched forth against
his people to smite them, because they do not by prayer take hold
of it, nor by reformation submit themselves to it, <i>is stretched
out still.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p34" shownumber="no">5. The instruments that should be employed
in bringing this ruin upon them: it should be done by the
incursions of a foreign enemy, that should lay all waste. No
particular enemy is named, and therefore we are to take it as a
prediction of all the several judgments of this kind which God
brought upon the Jews, Sennacherib's invasion soon after, and the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans first and at last by the
Romans; and I think it is to be looked upon also as a threatening
of the like desolation of those countries which harbour and
countenance those sins mentioned in the foregoing verses; it is an
exposition of those woes. When God designs the ruin of a provoking
people,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p35" shownumber="no">(1.) He can send a great way off for
instruments to be employed in effecting it; he can raise forces
from afar, and summon them from the end of the earth to attend his
service, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p35.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.26" parsed="|Isa|5|26|0|0" passage="Isa 5:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>.
Those who know him not are made use of to fulfil his counsel, when,
by reason of their distance, they can scarcely be supposed to have
any ends of their own to serve. If God set up his standard, he can
incline men's hearts to enlist themselves under it, though perhaps
they know not why or wherefore. When the Lord of hosts is pleased
to make a general muster of the forces he has at his command, he
has a great army in an instant, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p35.2" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.2 Bible:Joel.2.11" parsed="|Joel|2|2|0|0;|Joel|2|11|0|0" passage="Joe 2:2,11">Joel
ii. 2, 11</scripRef>. He needs not sound a trumpet, nor beat a
drum, to give them notice or to animate them; no, he does but hiss
to them, or rather whistle to them, and that is enough; they hear
that, and that puts courage into them. Note, God has all the
creatures at his beck.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p36" shownumber="no">(2.) He can make them come into the service
with incredible expedition: <i>Behold, they shall come with speed
swiftly.</i> Note, [1.] Those who will do God's work must not
loiter, must not linger, nor shall they when his time has come.
[2.] Those who defy God's judgments will be ashamed of their
insolence when it is too late; they said scornfully (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.19" parsed="|Isa|5|19|0|0" passage="Isa 5:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), <i>Let him make speed,
let him hasten his work,</i> and they shall find, to their terror
and confusion, that he will; <i>in one hour has the judgment
come.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.vi-p37" shownumber="no">(3.) He can carry them on in the service
with amazing forwardness and fury. This is described here in very
elegant and lofty expressions, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p37.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.27-Isa.5.30" parsed="|Isa|5|27|5|30" passage="Isa 5:27-30"><i>v.</i> 27-30</scripRef>. [1.] Though their marches
be very long, yet <i>none among them shall be weary;</i> so
desirous they be to engage that they shall forget their weariness,
and make no complaints of it. [2.] Though the way be rough, and
perhaps embarrassed by the usual policies of war, yet none among
them shall <i>stumble,</i> but all the difficulties in their way
shall easily be got over. [3.] Though they be forced to keep
constant watch, yet <i>none shall slumber nor sleep,</i> so intent
shall they be upon their work, in prospect of having the plunder of
the city for their pains. [4.] They shall not desire any rest of
relaxation; they shall not put off their clothes, nor <i>loose the
girdle of their loins,</i> but shall always have their belts on and
swords by their sides. [5.] They shall not meet with the least
hindrance to retard their march or oblige them to halt; not a
<i>latchet of their shoes shall be broken</i> which they must stay
to mend, as <scripRef id="Is.vi-p37.2" osisRef="Bible:Josh.9.13" parsed="|Josh|9|13|0|0" passage="Jos 9:13">Josh. ix. 13</scripRef>.
[6.] Their arms and ammunition shall all be fixed, and in good
posture; <i>their arrows sharp,</i> to wound deep, <i>and all their
bows bent,</i> none unstrung, for they expect to be soon in action.
[7.] Their horses and chariots of war shall all be fit for service;
their horses so strong, so hardy, that <i>their hoofs shall be like
flint,</i> far from being beaten, or made tender, by their long
march; and the wheels of their chariots not broken, or battered, or
out of repair, but swift <i>like a whirlwind,</i> turning round so
strongly upon their axle-trees. [8.] All the soldiers shall be bold
and daring (<scripRef id="Is.vi-p37.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.29" parsed="|Isa|5|29|0|0" passage="Isa 5:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>):
<i>Their roaring,</i> or shouting, before a battle, <i>shall be
like a lion,</i> who with his roaring animates himself, and
terrifies all about him. Those who would not hear the voice of God
speaking to them by his prophets, but stopped their ears against
their charms, shall be made to hear the voice of their enemies
roaring against them and shall not be able to turn a deaf ear to
it. <i>They shall roar like the roaring of the sea</i> in a storm;
it roars and threatens to swallow up, as the lion roars and
threatens to tear in pieces. [9.] There shall not be the least
prospect of relief or succour. The enemy shall come in like a
flood, and there shall be none to lift up a standard against him.
He shall seize the prey, and none shall deliver it, none shall be
able to deliver it, nay, none shall so much as dare to attempt the
deliverance of it, but shall give it up for lost. Let the
distressed look which way they will, every thing appears dismal;
for, if God frowns upon us, how can any creature smile?
<i>First,</i> Look round to the earth, to the land, to that land
that used to be the land of light and the joy of the whole earth,
and <i>behold darkness and sorrow,</i> all frightful, all mournful,
nothing hopeful. <i>Secondly,</i> Look up to heaven, and there the
light is darkened, where one would expect to have found it. If the
light is darkened in the heavens, how great is that darkness! If
God hide his face, no marvel the heavens hide theirs and appear
gloomy, <scripRef id="Is.vi-p37.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.29" parsed="|Job|34|29|0|0" passage="Job 34:29">Job xxxiv. 29</scripRef>. It
is our wisdom, by keeping a good conscience, to keep all clear
between us and heaven, that we may have light from above even when
clouds and darkness are round about us.</p>
</div></div2>