Isaiah 5:1-10

Readings Leviticus 20, Romans 16

Memory Verses: Romans 14:7-8

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

Isaiah 5:1-10  Looking again at the poetic style of the chapter, I may be wrong, but I see verses 1-2, 5-6, 8, 10 as the picture of the vineyard.  Looking at verses 3-4, 7, 9 as the interpretation of the vineyard.  With this insight, let's look into the study. 

Looking at the vineyard, as a project oriented person, when I look at the first two verses, I can see the love and the hard work that goes into developing such a vineyard.  The tremendous work of tilling the soil, and removing the stones, then preparing it for planting.  Imagine hewing a vat out of solid rock in the middle of the field.  It gives you a picture of a person lovingly building and lovingly carefully planning out the design for this lovely vineyard.  Then look at what happens, all the effort was focused on preparing the ideal growing area for the vines.  It is planted with the carefully selected choicest vines, which are tended to with love, giving them every possible opportunity to grow.  Yet there is an expectation in the planting, that expectation is that the vines will produce grapes, which can be made into a fine wine.  Although the vineyard was designed for the vines, it was built for the pleasure of the builder, or for his profit, as he reaps the fruit of his labor. 

Only, the vines prove to be defective, they are worse than wild grapes, they produce useless fruit, or no fruit at all.  The master builder, who has devoted so much time into his project is disappointed with an inferior product.  One thing that stands out to me in this story is that the vines are never destroyed, they are still considered premium, even though they are useless.  All the structure around the vines are destroyed, all the hedges, the protection from critters, even the careful tilling of the soil is neglected so that thorns and briers germinate and grow within the vineyard.  The vines are not piled together and burned, everything that was created by the builder is torn down, leaving the vines to their own devices.  They are not pruned, or taken care of.  The builder may have put all the sweat and  energy into building the vineyard, but he carefully destroys his work, leaving the worthless vines as a reminder of the bad soil.  In Southern Cal, we can understand how to turn off the rain, (sprinklers), why waste precious water on a worthless vineyard?

Now, on to the Interpretation:  3-4 God is asking Israel in the court what was possibly neglected in His plan for them.  He gave them every possible opportunity to grow and to produce fruit, yet they succeeded in disappointing Him at every turn.  v. 7  God was continually disappointed by the fruit that Israel has produced.  The delighted vineyard which He had selected only produced bloodshed instead of justice, instead of righteousness, a constant cry of distress, (belly-ackers). I had a note to add to this from Walvoord, but the Hebrew transliteration went weird on copying and pasting.  The words Justice and Bloodshed were mispat and mispoh in the Hebrew, the words for righteousness and distress were s'daqah and s'aqah.  Which means very little to me, but does show that this was intended to be poetry, and Isaiah made use of words that looked very similar to make a point.  I know absolutely nothing about Hebrew, but found that note interesting, I also left off all the accent marks which were included in Walvoord's comments.  v. 9  God is warning the Jews that great judgment is coming, that they are going to become desolate just as the vineyard is. 

In the next set of verses that we study, we will see six woes which are developed from this introduction to this song.  The first one, is listed in today's study regarding covetousness, vs. 8-10, Leviticus 25:23-28; 1 Kings 21:1-3.  Others will follow tomorrow.

Another take on verses 8-10 is referring to the improper use of vineyards in Israel, for history on this, refer to these comments:

"Some people were acquiring much land at the expense of their fellow countrymen ( cf. Micah 2:1-2 ). Selling houses permanently in a walled city was allowed under the Law, but selling houses in unwalled cities and fields was allowed only until the Year of Jubilee when the houses would revert back to their former owners. Because God had given the people the land they were not to get rich at others’ expense. Because of this sin the big houses and mansions the people once enjoyed would be empty, for many people would be killed and, as noted in the Mosaic Covenant (Deut. 28:20-24 ), their crops would fail. Normally a large vineyard would produce many gallons of wine, but here the amount would be a mere six gallons ( a bath ). And six bushels ( a homer ) of seed would normally yield scores of bushels of grain , but ironically the grain would be only one-half a bushel ( an ephah ), just 1/12 the amount of seed sown!"

Does this apply to us today?  God demanded righteousness, holiness, and a compliance with the law for Israel.  Today, we as Gentile believers have also entered into a vineyard, it is referred to in John 15, as well as in Romans 11:17-28, referring to an olive tree.  One thing to remember, we are in the age of grace now, in the time of the Gentiles.  But God does not change, although He had different requirements for the Jews, in reference to the Law, and sacrifices, His requirement of Holiness, and devotion does not change.  He is still the same God today that He was when He was fed up with the Jews and their actions.  In reference to today, how do we match up to these verses?  Are we producing fruit, we who are saved, have been selected by the Lord as a part of His vineyard.  How do we match up in regard to fruit?  Another way to think of this, rather than spiritualize it too much, is where do we draw our strength from.  What feeds the mental and spiritual part of our beings?  Are we spending more time involved in movies, internet, or other forms of entertainment, or are we spending the bulk of our time pouring the word into our minds through Bible study and Christian input?  Fruit is going to reflect the nutrients that we provide for it.  If we provide worldly nutrients, our fruit will be worldly, if we supply nutrients which have come from deep study of God's word, then our fruit will reflect it.  It is not a question of if we will produce fruit, it is a question of what kind of fruit will we produce.  Everyone produces fruit, the fruit of each man's labors reflect where his heart is.

Lord, as we study Your word today, impress on each one of us how that we are Your vineyard, that we have been grafted into Jesus, and our lives are to produce fruit.  Keep us true to You and keep us digging into Your word for the nuggets that sustain each one of us.

In Him

Joe Turner.

Isaiah 5:11-20

Readings Leviticus 21, 1 Corinthians 1

Memory Verses: Romans 14:7-8

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

5:11-12  The  woes continue in the chapter today.  First, the focus is on drunkenness.  Today we rationalize this sin away, and make it socially acceptable labeling it as alcoholism, giving people the excuse that it is a disease which they have no control over.  In these verses, the Lord doesn't get hung up on justification of the sin, it is pointed out that they rise up early in the morning, and stay up late at night, partying hearty.  As you read these verses, the idea comes across clearly that a certain amount of the people had decided that life was made for them to have a continual party.  They didn't have to acknowledge the Lord, He was insignificant to them.

5:13-17  In the previous verses, the drunkard has been set up clearly.  The drunkard is described and identified.  Now the characteristics of the drunkard are even made more clear.  In the Old Testament, drinking alcohol is not prohibited, basically because without proper refrigeration, alcohol is an excellent preservative for food.  If you had an alcoholic beverage in a canteen for instance, you didn't have to worry about it going bad.  Several characteristics are given in these verses which build upon 11-12.  The drunkard exhibits a lack of knowledge, they seem stupid, and the men are tired.  Alcohol causes a reaction in your body which robs the body, causing you to become thirsty quicker.  As a runner, one of the things you are warned against before a big run is the consumption of alcohol.  You don't want to consume something that causes you to dehydrate before a long run.  v. 14, Hell has opened its doors to the drunkard, and all the seeming good times are merely a deception from the bondage that comes from alcohol.  v. 15, Both the common man, and the important man suffer embarrassment and shame as a direct result of Alcohol.  v. 16  The end result, the lambs will graze where the common man should be living, and where the rich man once lived, others will live.  Both will end in desolation.  The warning in these verses is against those who love alcohol, and have a problem with it. 

5:18-19  Continuing with the woe's.  This one, pictures a person in bondage to sin.  He has become so much in bondage that he cannot see living outside of sin.  In the extreme bondage this person cannot see God as a God of power, rather, God has become a sideshow where this person observes for his own amusement, totally unwilling to even consider any change on his own part.  Today, we see this as commonplace, isn't it hard to believe that the Jews had the same problem?  The sin has so much control over a person that he is likened as to being harnessed to a cart, dragging it with him against his wishes.  Picture that in respect to alcoholism as stated in the previous verses.  Today we call it a disease, God called it a bondage to sin, what do you call it? It's a lot like a sanitation engineer verses a garbage man.  We make pretty names for sin, and find many ways to justify it today.  I wonder if in the days of Isaiah, if they also called sin by a different name in order to justify it.  Perhaps, this is the reason that God had issued these woes, in order to make people understand that it was not just a desire to drink, or a taste for liquor, but rather it was a sinful bondage which defeats and destroys people.  The desire to follow and to condone sin takes over and overwhelms our desire to follow God.

5:20  Another woe.  Confusing?  Not really, continuing the thought on alcoholism for example.  How many times have you heard about how great a time that a person had at the local bar, or how much fun somebody had on the Colorado river gauged by how many beers that they drank.  Of course, this is not just limited to alcoholism, it also applies equally well to any other sin that we choose to remain in bondage to.  We could apply this to a lot of areas in our lives today, alcoholism is only one of them. I was thinking of a list, but realized that it would be endless, the major ones probably would include sex, pornography, alcohol, covetousness, me-ism, the list is endless, including our idols, such as cars, houses, jobs, travel, sports, etc.  

What holds people in bondage and steals their eyes off of God?  It could be a number of things, some good, and some bad.  The scripture does not say not to drink alcohol for instance, but it does speak against dunked ness.  "call evil good, and good evil"  We are masters of that today, masters of justification of all of our bondages that we cling to desperately.  In some cases, our bondages already have good names, but we cling desperately to them, in other cases, and mostly in all cases concerning sin, we look for ways to justify the sin, calling it by a better name, actually calling it good.  For instance, a drunkard may be considered a party hound, a drug user may be considered as using self-medication because they can't afford or want to go to a psychiatrist for prescriptions, someone into pornography, may be considered a playboy, or have status as a hedonist, having an accelerated sex drive.  The list of the pretty names is endless, as is our desire to follow the wrong path. 

In the very act of renaming a sin to make it good we verify the validity of this verse.  I am sure that in Isaiah's day, it was no different than it is today in this area.  All the garbage that we have developed today was not available to them, but enough was.  It was enough that God called the Jews on the carpet for it.  In the end, bondages will cause us to refuse to walk with God, causing us to like the darkness more than the light.  Remember, 1 John 1:9, God will forgive us, and will cleanse us.  But first, we must agree with Him that it is sin.  Also remember the warning in 2 Peter 2:17-22, which parallels the Isaiah passage that we studied today very well. Why do we desire the life that we were saved out of?  If our eyes are not on Jesus, they will be on the desires of the flesh.  Enough said, out of time.

Lord, as we consider the powerful verses in our study today, enable each one of us to evaluate our lives, and allow You to be our bondage breaker.  Free each one of us from our sin that we refuse to release, just as the wagon illustration demonstrates.  Thank You Lord that You are all powerful, and willing to free us.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Isaiah 5:21-30

Readings Leviticus 22, 1 Corinthians 2

Memory Verses: Romans 14:7-8

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

Isaiah 5:21 As a nation, Israel had become conceited, feeling that they were invincible, and that they had become self sufficient.  They felt confident in their own wisdom.  The idea of the drunk is still applicable, have you ever met a dunk that did not feel that he was the center of the world, and more than willing to share his wisdom with you?

In a word, Pride is addressed here, Paul also addressed this problem in the New testament, Romans 1:22, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.  When we become so arrogant that we cannot listen to others, and become clever in our own sight, we are in serious danger. 

Isaiah 5:22-23  The final woe.  As a nation, once again, Israel was found lacking.  The leadership was addicted to wine and strong drink, more than willing to accept bribes and to ignore the righteous.  Justice was not a real concern to them.  Since we beat the alcohol angle to death yesterday, I am going to skip that.  In a nutshell, the problem addressed by this woe is that of injustice.  The politicians had become corrupt, and their judgments were lacking.

5:24-25  Therefore, as a summation of the five woes, here is the verdict that can be drawn from them.  In Southern California, we understand what it means to have dry grass catch fire, and are aware of the intensity of the flames, how that everything is consumed in its path.  Comparing Israel also to a plant with rotten roots, and a plant that looses its blooms.   God is warning Israel that judgment is coming, He is fed up with the double standards, as well as the character that is described in the above five woes.  He was willing to strike them down over and over until they get the message, God is willing to slaughter as many as it takes to bring them into compliance.

5:26-30  Here we have a picture of the conquering nations that God has ordained to defeat Israel and to drag her off into captivity, Isaiah 7:18 Egypt and Assyria, later Babylon, people would flock from all corners of the earth to get a piece of the pie.  Their armies are well trained, well equipped, and strategically powerful.  The nations of the ungodly will judge them, and they have such an unprepared army that they will fail miserably.  Isaiah is making a contrast between the two seemingly opposite nations.  The point being that Israel had become so corrupt that even the nations of the world, who did not know God, had it together better than them.  Isaiah prophesied correctly, and Israel was utterly defeated and taken into captivity later by superior armies.

As an application, and not to steal away the historical perspective of this passage.  Today, as Christians, if we choose not to follow the Lord, as He has called us to, He will use whatever it takes to bring us back to Him.  He will use whatever tragedy that He sees fit in order to turn our heads back to Him.  If we are Christian, and if we have truly been born again, then God will chasten us when we stray.  The Old Testament judgment of Israel should stand as a picture to us as to how that God views things.  God never changes, He still demands holiness in our lives.  In short, if we claim that we know Him, then it is time to put our words into action, live the life, walk the walk as well as talking the talk.  For a cross reference concerning this, look to Hebrews 12:4-11. 

Lord, as we study Your word today, I ask that all of us will seek holiness in our lives, and that we will model our lives after You.  Lord, I pray that we will correct ourselves, and not wait for Your discipline to turn us back to You.

In Him,

Joe Turner.