Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 5:8

"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!" — Isaiah 5:8 (ASV)

Woe 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 - This means to seek to possess many houses, or perhaps to 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 would enter the land of Canaan, the land would be equitably divided.

To prevent avarice, he ordained the jubilee, occurring once in fifty years, by which every man and every family would be restored to their former possession (Leviticus 25). 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 become generally covetous.

That lay field to field - This means to 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 - This means until they reach the outer limit of the land; until they possess all.

That they may be placed alone - This means that they may displace all others; that they may drive off all others from their lands 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!