Matthew Henry Commentary Isaiah 5
Matthew Henry Commentary
Isaiah 5
Matthew Henry Commentary
Isaiah 5
"Let me sing for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he digged 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 hewed out a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 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? And now 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 will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry." — Isaiah 5:1-7 (ASV)
Christ is God's beloved Son, and our beloved Saviour. The care of the Lord over the church of Israel is described by the management of a vineyard. The advantages of our situation will be brought into account another day. He planted it with the choicest vines, gave them a most excellent law, and instituted proper ordinances. The temple was a tower, where God gave tokens of his presence.
He set up his altar, to which the sacrifices should be brought; all the means of grace are signified by this. God expects fruit from those that enjoy privileges. Good purposes and good beginnings are good things, but not enough; there must be vineyard fruit: thoughts and affections, words and actions, in accordance with the Spirit. It brought forth bad fruit.
Wild grapes are the fruits of the corrupt nature. Where grace does not work, corruption will. But the wickedness of those who profess religion and enjoy the means of grace falls upon the sinners themselves. They shall no longer be a peculiar people. When errors and vice go without check or control, the vineyard is unpruned; then it will soon be overgrown with thorns.
This is often shown in the departure of God's Spirit from those who have long resisted him, and the removal of his gospel from places that have long been a disgrace to it. The explanation is given. It is a sad state for a soul when, instead of the grapes of humility, meekness, love, patience, and contempt of the world, which God looks for, there are the wild grapes of pride, passion, discontent, and malice, and contempt of God; instead of the grapes of praying and praising, the wild grapes of cursing and swearing.
Let us bring forth fruit with patience, that in the end we may obtain everlasting life.
"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 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. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them! And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are [in] their feasts; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol hath enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth among them, descend [into it]. And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is humbled, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled: but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall wanderers eat. Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope; that say, Let him make speed, let him 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! 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! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink; that justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!" — Isaiah 5:8-23 (ASV)
Here is a woe to those who set their hearts on the wealth of the world. It is not that it is sinful for those who have a house and a field to purchase another; but the fault is that they never know when they have enough. Covetousness is idolatry; and while many envy the prosperous, wretched man, the Lord denounces awful woes upon him. How applicable this is to many among us!
God has many ways to empty the most populous cities. Those who set their hearts upon the world will justly be disappointed. Here is woe to those who dote upon the pleasures and the delights of sense. The use of music is lawful; but when it draws away the heart from God, then it becomes a sin for us. God's judgments have seized them, but they will not disturb themselves in their pleasures.
The judgments are declared. No matter how high a man may be, death will bring him low; no matter how lowly, death will bring him lower. The fruit of these judgments will be that God will be glorified as a God of power. Also, as a God who is holy; He will be acknowledged and declared to be so in the righteous punishment of proud men. Those are in a woeful condition who establish sin and who exert themselves to gratify their base lusts. They are daring in sin and walk after their own lusts; it is with scorn that they call God the Holy One of Israel.
They confuse and overthrow the distinctions between good and evil. They prefer their own reasonings to divine revelations, their own schemes to the counsels and commands of God. They consider it prudent and politic to continue profitable sins and to neglect self-denying duties. Also, however lightly men may treat drunkenness, it is a sin that exposes them to the wrath and curse of God. Their judges perverted justice.
Every sin needs another to conceal it.
"Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for 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 all their bows bent; their horses` hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind: their roaring shall be like a lioness, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver. And they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold, darkness [and] distress; and the light is darkened in the clouds thereof." — Isaiah 5:24-30 (ASV)
Let no one expect to live easily who lives wickedly. Sin weakens the strength, the root of a people; it defaces the beauty, the blossoms of a people. When God's word is despised, and his law cast away, what can people expect but that God should utterly abandon them?
When God comes forth in wrath, the hills tremble, fear seizes even great people. When God designs the ruin of a provoking people, he can find instruments to be employed in it, as he sent for the Chaldeans, and afterwards the Romans, to destroy the Jews. Those who would not hear the voice of God speaking by his prophets will hear the voice of their enemies roaring against them.
Let the distressed look whichever way they will, all appears dismal. If God frowns upon us, how can any creature smile? Let us diligently seek the well-grounded assurance that when all earthly helps and comforts fail, God himself will be the strength of our hearts and our portion forever.
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