Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 5:8

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 5:8. Wo unto them that - lay field to field - "You who lay field unto field" ] Read תקריבו takribu, in the second person; to answer to the verb following. So Vulgate.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

God’s love and Judah’s response (5:1-30)

Judah and Israel together are likened to God’s vineyard. God did everything possible to make it healthy, beautiful and fruitful, and he expected a good harvest of grapes, but the people brought God none of the fruit he expected (5:1-4). He therefore will cease to care for them, so that they might be left to suffer whatever ruin their sin brings upon them. Israel has already been destroyed and Judah will now follow (5-7).
Examples of the sins that brought this judgment are now given. The first people to be condemned are the rich landowners, who lend money to the poor at high rates of interest, then seize their lands when they are unable to pay their debts. But the houses and lands that the rich have dishonestly gained will bring them no profit (8-10).
Next to be condemned are the leading citizens of Jerusalem, who live only for pleasure and have fallen under the power of strong drink. Their greed will be replaced by tormenting thirst when they are carried captive into a foreign country. Many will die. The ‘greedy one’ in that day will be the world of the dead (Hebrew: sheol), who will eagerly ‘swallow up’ the multitudes killed by the enemy (11-14). God’s justice will be carried out upon Jerusalem and the wicked city will be left in ruins. Its only inhabitants will be sheep and goats, for all the people will have been taken into captivity (15-17).

The prophet pictures the people of Jerusalem as having so much sin that they pull it along by the cartload. Some actually boast of the amount of sin they commit and challenge God to stop them (18-19). Others try to reverse God’s standards by calling evil good and good evil. They claim that they know everything and have no need of God (20-21). Judges and officials love the social life of the upper classes. They are not interested in administering justice, but only in increasing their own luxury through collecting bribes (22-23).
When a nation claims to be God’s people but defiantly ignores his standards, it only invites his judgment. It is like a field of dry grass about to be burnt (24-25). God responds by sending against it an enemy nation whose army is so highly disciplined, well equipped and fiercely aggressive that Judah cannot possible escape (26-30).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

WOE TO THE GREEDY AND THE SELFISH

"Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! In mine ears saith Jehovah of hosts, of a truth many houses shall be left desolate, even great and fair without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah."

The insatiable desire of men to own more and more is the direct and certain result of a gross materialism in the heart. God here promises a judgment upon such ambitious concentrations of wealth and power.

"In mine ears" This is a reference to Isaiah's hearing the voice of God conveying to him the words God would have him deliver to the people.

"Acres" The literal Hebrew word here is "yokes," being a reference to "the amount of ground that two strong oxen could plow in a day."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 440.

God's judgment upon the natural environment of greedy and selfish societies is shown in the prophecy here of a terrible drought in which a homer of seed shall yield only an ephah of grain. The severity of this is indicated by the fact that an ephah is only the tenth part of a homer. Thus the harvest would be cut to a disastrously low percentage of the seed sown.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Wo unto them ... - The prophet now proceeds to “specify” some of the crimes to which he had referred in the parable of the vineyard, of which the Jews had been guilty. The first is “avarice.”

That join house to house - That seek to possess many houses; or perhaps that seek to live in large and magnificent palaces. A similar denunciation of this sin is recorded in Micah 2:2; Nehemiah 5:1-8. This, together with what follows, was contrary to the law of Moses. He provided that when the children of Israel should enter the land of Canaan, the land should be equitably divided; and in order to prevent avarice, he ordained the “jubilee,” occurring once in fifty years, by which every man and every family should be restored to their former possession; Leviticus 25:0. Perhaps there could have been no law so well framed to prevent the existence, and avoid the evils of covetousness. Yet, in defiance of the obvious requirements and spirit of that law, the people in the time of Isaiah had beome generally covetous.

That lay field to field - That purchase one farm after another. The words ‘that lay,’ mean “to cause to approach;” that is, they “join” on one farm after another.

Till there be no place - Until they reach the “outer limit” of the land; until they possess all.

That they may be placed alone - That they may displace all others; that they may drive off from their lands all others, and take possession of them themselves.

In the midst of the earth - Or rather, in the midst of the “land.” They seek to obtain the whole of it, and to expel all the present owners. Never was there a more correct description of avarice. It is satisfied with no present possessions, and would be satisfied only if all the earth were in its possession. Nor would the covetous man be satisfied then. He would sit down and weep that there was nothing more which he could desire. How different this from that “contentment” which is produced by religion, and the love of the happiness of others!

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

8.Woe to them that join house to house and field to field. He now reproves their insatiable avarice and covetousness, from which the acts of cheating, injustice, and violence are wont to arise. For it cannot be condemned as a thing in itself wrong, if a man add field to field and house to house; but he looked at the disposition of mind, which cannot at all be satisfied, when it is once inflamed by the desire of gain. Accordingly, he describes the feelings of those who never have enough, and whom no wealth can satisfy. So great is the keenness of covetous men that they desire to have everything possessed by themselves alone, and reckon everything that is obtained by others to be something which they want, and which has been taken from them. Hence the beautiful observation of Chrysostom, that “covetous men, if they could, would willingly take the sun from the poor,” for they envy their brethren the common elements, and would gladly swallow them up; not that they might enjoy them, but because such is the madness to which their greed carries them. All the while they do not consider that they need the assistance of others, and that a man left alone can do nothing: all their care is to scrape together as much as they can, and thus they swallow up everything by their covetousness.

He therefore accuses covetous and ambitious men of such folly that they would wish to have other men removed from the earth, that they might possess it alone; and consequently they set no limit to their desire of gain. For what madness is it to wish to have those driven away from the earth whom God has placed in it along with us, and to whom, as well as to ourselves, he has assigned it as their abode! Certainly nothing more ruinous could happen to them than to obtain their wish. Were they alone, they could not plough, or reap, or perform other offices indispensable to their subsistence, or supply themselves with the necessaries of life. For God has linked men so closely together, that they need the assistance and labor of each other; and none but a madman would disdain other men as hurtful or useless to him. Ambitious men cannot enjoy their renown but amidst a multitude. How blind are they, therefore, when they wish to drive and chase away others, that they may reign alone!

As to the size of houses, the same remark which we formerly made about fields will apply; for he points out the ambition of those who are desirous to inhabit spacious and magnificent houses. If a man who has a large family makes use of a large house, he cannot be blamed for it; but when men, swollen with ambition, make superfluous additions to their houses, only that they may live in greater luxury, and when one person alone occupies a building which might serve for the habitation of many families, this undoubtedly is empty ambition, and ought justly to be blamed. Such persons act as if they had a right to drive out other men, and to be the only persons that enjoyed a house or a roof, and as if other men ought to live in the open air, or must go somewhere else to find an abode.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 5

Now in the fifth chapter the Lord takes up the parable of a vineyard in which He likens Judah or Israel, His people, unto a vineyard.

Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof ( Isaiah 5:1-2 ),

And you that have been over know what a job it is to gather the stones out of the vineyard and you see how that they gathered the stones and make walls with the stones and terraces with the stones. And you that have been there get a good mental picture of that.

and planted it with the choicest vine, and he built a tower in the midst of it ( Isaiah 5:2 ),

Some of these watching towers you'll still discover over there as you go through the land. They have these towers where during the summer season the people move out of the cities and onto the plots of ground that they own in the country. And on these plots of ground they have these towers, and in these towers are the living quarters for the family. And while they are taking care of the crops and harvesting during the summer and autumn period, they live in these towers out in the midst of the fields. And the towers, of course, also serve as watchtowers where they can watch over their land from people who come and try to steal the fruit of the land. So, "He built a tower in the midst of it."

and also he made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.

Now you determine. You make the judgment.

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? ( Isaiah 5:2-4 )

In other words, God said, "What more could I have done for the people? I brought them into the land. I established them there. They built and established their cities. They planted it. And I did everything for them. What more could I have done for them that I haven't already done? Judge."

Wherefore [or why is it], that when I looked and it should have brought forth grapes, that it brought forth wild grapes? And now go; I'm going to tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; I'm going to break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; and there shall come upon it briers and thorns: that will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold there was oppression; he looked for righteousness, but there was a cry from those who were being oppressed ( Isaiah 5:4-7 ).

God was looking for fruit from His vineyard.

Now, Jesus said, "I am the true vine, My Father is the husbandman, and every branch in Me that bringeth forth fruit He purges or cleanses it that it bringeth forth more fruit" ( John 15:1-2 ). Again, over there in the land you will notice that as you go through the area of Eshcol, where they grow some of the most delicious grapes in the world... man they're great! You go over there in October. Ah, fabulous! But you'll notice these grapevines in Eshcol grow on the ground. Big old main branches that are on the ground, and they prop them up with rocks. They do have some of the grapevines on trellises, but through the valley of Eshcol, most of these big luscious grapes actually grow right on the ground. And you'll see these big old vines just growing on the ground propped up with rocks. And when the grapes come out on the vines they actually lay right on the ground. So as the grapes are developing they will go through the vineyard and they will take these grapes that are there on the ground and they will pick them up and they will wash them, get the dirt and all off of them, as they are developing, and then will usually prop them on a rock or something in order that it might bring forth better fruit. If they just lie on the ground, then the little bugs and all start eating them, so they prop up the grapes after they've washed them in order that they might bring forth better fruit, more fruit. So Jesus is making reference to this.

Now, "My Father is the husbandman and I am the true vine and you're the branches and every branch in me that is bringing forth fruit, He cleanses it, washes it that it might bring forth more fruit." Now He said, "You are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you" ( John 15:3 ). The washing of the Word in my life, the cleansing. Now what is the purpose of the Word? In order that I might bring forth more fruit for God. What is God interested in my life? Fruit. What was He interested in for the nation of Israel? That they would bring forth fruit. Why did He do so much for them? So they would bring forth fruit. Why is God doing so much for us? That we would bring forth fruit unto Him. "And herein is the Father glorified, that you bear much fruit" ( John 15:8 ). That's what God desires of your life, that you bring forth much fruit. So the Lord comes to His garden and He's looking for fruit.

Now it is interesting in the same context in which Jesus takes the vine and makes now the application to the church, He then speaks of the new commandment that I give you that you love one another, and He relates this loving with the fruit that God was looking for. So it's significant that Paul tells us in Galatians, "Now the fruit of the spirit is love" ( Galatians 5:22 ).

Now this is really what God is looking for, because out of love proceeds true judgment, fairness. If you really love, you are not gonna be oppressing someone. So where in the Old Testament it was, "Let's have righteousness, judgment. Let's not oppress the poor," and these kind of things, in the New Testament, it is put in a positive sense, "Hey, let's love one another as we love ourselves. For if we love each other as we love ourselves, we're not gonna be taking advantage of each other. We're not gonna be oppressing each other, but we're gonna be helping one another. We're gonna be lifting up the one that has fallen. We're gonna be giving aid to those that are down. We're going to be concerned with the needs of others." And that's exactly what God is... that's the kind of fruit that God is looking for, for in our lives and in the church today that we really have a genuine love and concern for each other, where we are giving to one another those that are in need, for when one member suffers, they all suffer. We all step in to help the one that is hurting, that is down. That beautiful love within the body where we begin to bear one another's burdens, and thus, we fulfill the law of Jesus Christ. And that's the kind of fruit that God wants from our lives.

Now the opposite to this is selfishness. And that is one of the biggest problems that we have to deal with is our own self-centeredness and our own selfishness, where we're wanting everything for ourselves. We will give as long as it doesn't take away from me, and as long as it doesn't hurt me. But God wants the fruit of love to come forth from His vineyard, and so God comes to His garden to collect His fruit. And if He finds nothing but wild grapes, He'll forsake the garden. He'll say, "This is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna break down the hedge. I'm just gonna let go. If it's going to bear wild grapes, it doesn't need Me. I'm just gonna forsake the garden."

Now God pronounces His woes upon Israel. There are six of them.

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! ( Isaiah 5:8 )

Sounds like Orange County--all of our subdivisions and condominiums and townhouses; joining house to house; lay field to field so there is no room left.

In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair houses will be without inhabitants ( Isaiah 5:9 ).

And land that will no longer produce, the land will be worn out.

Ten acres of a vineyard will only yield eight gallons of fruit, and eighty-six gallons, a homer, of the seed will only yield about a bushel ( Isaiah 5:10 ).

So real famine conditions.

Woe unto them [second woe] that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night ( Isaiah 5:11 ),

The description of the alcoholic, really.

till wine inflame them! ( Isaiah 5:11 )

When you really get to the... real alcoholism is when you start drinking the moment you get up in the morning, take your first drink to get your day started. That is a sign of real alcoholism. When you get to that point, you are a full-fledged alcoholic when you need to get your day started with a drink. Woe unto them until the wine inflames them!

And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and the wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands ( Isaiah 5:12 ).

People are just looking for entertainment and pleasures, but they don't give God a consideration in their life.

Therefore ( Isaiah 5:13 )

Because of this, because people have become pleasure mad, because people have not regarded God in their lives, God has given them over to captivity.

because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and the multitude is dried up with thirst. 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. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat ( Isaiah 5:13-17 ).

The next woe:

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of emptiness, and sin as it were with a cart rope ( Isaiah 5:18 ):

So much sin that it takes a cart rope, a huge rope, to draw it.

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! ( Isaiah 5:19 )

They begin to challenge God and challenge the judgment of God, "If it's so, let God do something that we might see it, you know. If He's really there."

The next woe:

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ( Isaiah 5:20 );

They call those who believe in creation misfits and fools.

that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! ( Isaiah 5:20 )

Now, of course, we are living, I feel, in an age in which we are really calling evil good and good evil. Men who try to stand up for something that is decent and moral are made to look like fools in the paper. If people who are interested in decency and morality get together and decide to do something about child prostitution, child pornography, and some of these other things, then the papers begin to say, "Oh, a threat of Nazism or something, and here they're wanting to rule." And they'll have a picture of Khomeini and they make them look like a bunch of half-witted idiots, you know, that are trying to force moral standards, their own moral standards, upon everyone. All we're saying is we'd like to have a decent place to live. We don't want our children to be exposed to the Playboy cover girls when they have to go to the store to buy a quart of milk. We don't want them to have to deal with the wicked, vile imaginations of perverted men when we send them out to the playgrounds. We want some laws that will really deal with these perverted men who want to display themselves and shock these precious little daughters of ours who are eight and nine years old. We feel that the sickos ought to be put away and should not be a threat to our children. And so we're made to look like a bunch of fools and prudes and idiots.

Yet, the gay community gets together and they have a large banquet in Los Angeles to raise funds in order to lobby for certain legislation that will bring a liberalization for their activities and Governor Brown comes to speak, and the papers herald it as a glorious event, a step of progress for these people. And you don't find a lot of overtones and threats in the papers of all the evil that will take place because the gays have had this big fund-raising dinner and they're going to have money to lobby against legislation that would restrict and restrain their activities to their own kind. But this is heralded in the paper as a marvelous thing. Woe unto those that call good evil and evil good, the editors of our liberal press today. Boy, it's right there. I could go on, but I won't. It's easy to climb on your little box and really wail.

Woe unto those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! ( Isaiah 5:21 )

Men who do not look at themselves in the light of God, men who do not judge themselves by God's standards, but by their own standards.

The sixth woe, and the last:

Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! ( Isaiah 5:22-23 )

God is talking here about the legislators and the judges, and it is interesting that the highest alcoholic consumption in the United States is in Washington, DC. The highest consumption per capita is in Washington D.C. I think that's tragic. All of the lobbying, "which justify the wicked for reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him," a lot of these edicts that are coming from these boozed legislators and judges and all, and it's tragic. You don't have to go to Washington to find it, you can find it right here in your own local community. It might be a good idea that you examine some of the judges that are sitting on the bench.

Now, I don't blame them for becoming alcoholics. I wouldn't want to be a judge. I wouldn't want to have on my conscience the things that they must have on theirs. And you've got to do something to live with yourself and sleep at night, so I don't blame them for becoming alcoholics. If I weren't a Christian, I'd probably be an alcoholic too. How else are you gonna cope with this stupid world? But woe unto them.

Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still ( Isaiah 5:24-25 ).

God has brought his judgment, but He's not through yet.

For 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; 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: Whose arrows are sharp, and whose bows are bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and the wheels like a whirlwind: Their roaring shall be like a lion, and they shall roar like a young lion; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall be able to deliver it ( Isaiah 5:26-29 ).

And so Judah, Jerusalem was carried away captive unto Babylon.

And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof ( Isaiah 5:30 ).

So, the opening of Isaiah, the opening judgments of God that are proclaimed, plus always, the glorious light at the end of the tunnel when God has finished with His judgment the glorious kingdom that is coming.

And so we will continue next week with some fabulous prophecies as we get into chapters 6-10. We begin to see the glorious light of the coming Messiah as he begins to make the predictions of that One that God is going to send who will establish a righteous kingdom and bring forth righteous judgment upon the earth.

Shall we stand.

The Bible study tonight can have one of two effects upon you, and it all depends on what you are. Blessings unto the righteous; you'll eat of the fruit of the land. Woe unto the wicked; you think it's bad now, it's gonna get worse. What a hope we have, a blessed hope, of the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who, when He comes, He is gonna change our vile bodies that they might be fashioned just like His own glorious image.

As we get to the twenty-sixth chapter, we find the glorious promise of the Lord taking away His people and hiding them while the time of His indignation and wrath is poured out upon the earth. For a little season, until the judgments are through, then the unfolding of the glory of His new kingdom of which you may all have a part - it's up to you. "Come now let's us reason together saith the Lord." Why should He have to lay more stripes upon you? What's it gonna take to turn you around? What's it gonna take to awaken you to God's love and that which God wants to do for you if you just give Him the chance? Though your sins be as scarlet, they may be as white as snow. God is willing tonight to wash you and cleanse you from every sin, from all iniquity. He's willing to make you over a new person. He's willing, but that's not enough. You must be willing too. If you are, I'd encourage you just go back to the prayer room. Get on your knees before God and say, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." He will. And though your sins be as scarlet, you can walk out of here tonight as white as snow. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The first quality that spoiled Israel’s fruit was greed, an example of which Isaiah detailed (cf. Micah 2:1). The Israelites were buying out their neighbors, as they had opportunity or made the opportunity, to increase their land holdings. The wealthier or smarter members of the community took advantage of their less fortunate brethren and so deprived them of their opportunity to live on land that God had given them (cf. Leviticus 25:23). The carpetbaggers who descended on the South following America’s Civil War similarly took advantage of many southerners whose farms had been decimated by invading northern troops. They bought up their land for a fraction of its worth and drove the former owners into destitute poverty.

Buying additional land is not wrong in itself, but when it involves abusing other people it becomes wrong. Isaiah was not decrying large farms or estates per se; he was condemning squeezing out the small man to make oneself more prosperous, secure, and admired. Those who did this in his day ended up isolated, rather than enjoying the fellowship of their brethren (cf. Matthew 16:25-26; Colossians 3:5).

God would judge this greed by causing the families of these isolated rich people to dwindle (Isaiah 5:9). Ironically, by the time a person has enough money to build a mansion he is often too old to enjoy it, his family has grown up and moved out, and his spouse may die soon because she is usually old too. God would judge the farmers by decreasing the productivity of their crops (Isaiah 5:10; cf. Deuteronomy 28:20-24; Psalms 106:15; Haggai 1:5-6). The land-hungry would become hungry. No matter how many acres a person may own, God still controls the weather. Agricultural productivity was one of God’s promised blessings under the Old Covenant (Deuteronomy 28:11-12; cf. Isaiah 4:2).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Two initial woes 5:8-12

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Sins of the upwardly mobile 5:8-17

This section identifies sins that marked the people among whom Isaiah lived-and their consequences. They are still very much with us.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. The wildness of the grapes 5:8-25

Yahweh’s crop was worthless because it produced wild grapes that manifested six blights. The word "woe" (Heb. hoy), a term of lament and threat, introduces each one (cf. Amos 5:18; Amos 6:1; Revelation 8:13; Revelation 9:12).

"The word ’woe’ itself, appearing six times in the passage, does not just denounce our sins, it laments our sins. The same word is translated ’Ah!’ in Isaiah 1:4 and ’Alas!’ in 1 Kings 13:30. Remember that ’woe’ is the opposite of the word ’blessed’ (cf. Luke 6:20-26)." [Note: Ortlund, p. 66.]

"He [Isaiah] holds up six clusters of wild grapes, as it were, to illustrate what’s going wrong, six ways we resist the grace of God, six answers to the question ’Why?’ Each is presented with a ’Woe.’" [Note: Ibid., p. 68.]

Two double "therefore" sections break the laments into two groups by concluding them (Isaiah 5:13-14; Isaiah 5:24-25). The "woe" sections emphasize the crop produced, and the "therefore" sections the harvest (judgment) to come. In the "woes" there is a chiastic progression.

A    The property motive (Isaiah 5:8-10)

    B    Self-indulgence (Isaiah 5:11-12)

        C    Sin pursued (Isaiah 5:18-19)

        C’    Sin justified (Isaiah 5:20)

    B’    Self-conceit (Isaiah 5:21)

A’    The money motive (Isaiah 5:22-23) [Note: Adapted from Motyer, p. 70. For a rhetorical critical study of the passage, see Robert B. Chisholm Jr., "Structure, Style, and the Prophetic Message: An Analysis of Isaiah 5:8-30," Bibliotheca Sacra 143:569 (January-March 1986):46-60.]

One writer saw saw six things the Lord hates in these sections: greed (Isaiah 5:8), hedonism (Isaiah 5:11-13), rebellion (Isaiah 5:18-19), immorality (Isaiah 5:20), pride (Isaiah 5:21), and injustice (Isaiah 5:22-23). [Note: Dyer, p. 531]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Woe unto them that join house to house,.... Or "O ye that join", c. for, as Aben Ezra observes, it signifies calling, as in

Isaiah 55:1 though Jarchi takes it to be expressive of crying and groaning, on account of future punishments; and he observes, that as there are twenty two blessings pronounced in the book of Psalms, on those that keep the law, so there are twenty two woes pronounced by Isaiah upon the wicked:

[that] lay field to field; the sin of covetousness is exposed and condemned in these words; not that it is unlawful in itself for a man that has a house or field of his own to purchase another that is next unto it; but when he is insatiable, and not content with his houses and lands, but is always coveting more, this is his sin, and especially if he seeks to get them by fraud or force:

till [there] be no place; for others to dwell in and possess; and so the Targum,

"and say, until we possess every place;''

or "unto the end of the place" x, city, or field; till they have got all the houses in the town or city, and all the pieces of ground in the field, in their own possession:

that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth, or land; that is, of Judea; wholly inhabit it themselves, and have the sole power and jurisdiction over it. It is in the Hebrew text y "that ye may be placed", c. the Targum is,

"and they think they shall dwell alone in the midst of the land.''

x עד אפס מקום "usque ad terminum loci", V. L. y והושבתם "constituamini", Vatablus, Forerius, Montanus; "colloeemini", Calvin.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      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 a 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.

      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 (Isaiah 5:4; Isaiah 5:4), 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.

      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 (Isaiah 5:8; Isaiah 5:8), who join house to house and lay field to field, till there be no place, 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

      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 daughters of the horseleech, they cry, Give, give. 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 (Ecclesiastes 5:10), as Alexander, who, when he fancied he had conquered the world, wept because he had not another world to conquer. Deficiente terrâ, non impletur avaritia--If the whole earth were monopolized, avarice would thirst for more. What! will you be placed alone in the midst of the earth? (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 earth shall be forsaken for us (Job 18:4), when it is by multitudes that the earth is to be replenished? An propter vos solos tanta terra creata est?--Was the wide world created merely for you? Lyra.

      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, Isaiah 5:9; Isaiah 5:10. God whispered it to the prophet in his ear, as he speaks in a like case (Isaiah 22:14; Isaiah 22:14): It was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts (as God told Samuel a thing in his ear,1 Samuel 9:15); he thought he heard it still sounding in his ears; but he proclaimed it, as he ought, upon the house-tops,Matthew 10:27. (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: Many houses shall be desolate, 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 formed it to be inhabited,Isaiah 45:18; Isaiah 45:18. 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 (Isaiah 5:10; Isaiah 5:10): Ten acres of vineyard shall yield only such a quantity of grapes as will make but one bath of wine (which was about eight gallons), and the seed of a homer, 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.

      II. Here is a woe to those that dote upon the pleasures and delights of sense, Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 5:12. 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 (Luke 6:24; Luke 6:25), and fare sumptuously, Luke 16:19. Observe,

      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, and continue till night, till wine inflame them--inflame their lusts (chambering and wantonness follow upon rioting and drunkenness)--inflame their passions; for who but such have contentions and wounds without cause?Proverbs 23:29-35. 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 count it a pleasure to riot in the day-time. See 2 Peter 2:13. (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 (Amos 6:5), like Solomon (Ecclesiastes 2:8); the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, must accompany the wine, that every sense may be gratified to a nicety; they take the timbrel and harp,Job 21:12. 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: They regard not the work of the Lord; 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.

      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 (Isaiah 5:13; Isaiah 5:13): My people (so they call themselves, and were proud of it) have therefore gone into captivity, are as sure to go as if they were gone already, because they have no knowledge; 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 their glory are men of famine, subject to it and slain by it; and their multitude are dried up with thirst. 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 (Isaiah 5:10; Isaiah 5:10), for the king himself is served of the field,Ecclesiastes 5:9. And when the vintage fails the drunkards are called upon to weep, because the new wine is cut off from their mouth (Joel 1:5), 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 (Isaiah 5:14; Isaiah 5:14): Therefore hell has enlarged herself. 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, never saying, It is enough,Proverbs 30:15; Proverbs 30:16. 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, Luke 16:25; Philippians 3:19. (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: Their glory shall descend, not only to the earth, but into it; it shall not descend after them (Psalms 49:17), 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, Ezekiel 31:18; Ezekiel 32:32. 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, Isaiah 5:15; Isaiah 5:15. It becomes those to look low that must shortly be laid low.

      3. What the fruit of these judgments shall be.

      (1.) God shall be glorified, Isaiah 5:16; Isaiah 5:16. 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 judgment and justice are always the habitation of his throne,Psalms 89:13; Psalms 89:14. [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.

      (2.) Good people shall be relieved and succoured (Isaiah 5:17; Isaiah 5:17): Then shall the lambs feed after their manner; 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 Ezekiel 34:14. When the enemies of the church are cut off then have the churches rest. They shall feed at their pleasure; so some read it. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in abundant peace. They shall feed according to their order or capacity (so others read it), as they are able to hear the word, that bread of life.

      (3.) The country shall be laid waste, and become a prey to the neighbours: The waste places of the fats ones, 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 vine-dressers and husbandmen (2 Kings 25:12); 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.