The Divine Lamp

Isaiah 5:8-25 is the second part part of a broader literary unit which may be divided into three parts as follows: (1) The Song or Parable of the Vineyard, verses 1-7; (2) woes condemning social injustice, verses 8-25; (3) the consequences of Judah’s complacency and sin, verses 26-30. Due to time constraints I will be examining only verses 8-17 today.

5:8 Woe unto those who join house to house, and who connect field with field, till their is no room left, and you have made yourselves the lone dwellers upon the land.
5:9 In my ear the Lord of Hosts has sworn thus: “Truly, many houses shall be made desolate; of the large and the fine (houses) none shall inhabit them
5:10 A vineyard of ten acres shall yield but six gallons of wine, and six bushels of seed will bring forth but a tenth of what was sown.

The unjust acquisition of houses and land is soundly and often condemned in the Old Testament which conceives of the Promised land as God’s Portion, or his Inheritance. The people hold it in trust, like tenants (see the quote from Micah below). The problem had become so prevalent in Judah that no room was left for the poor, leaving a minority of wealthy people as lone dwellers upon the land. Through the prophet, however, God assures them (truly) that many houses shall become desolate. As for he ill-gotten fields, they shall produce next to nothing. Behind these threats/promises lie the covenant curses of the Book of Deuteronomy. See Deut 8:3-20; and Deut 28:30-35

2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity
and work evil on their beds!
When the morning is light, they practice it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
2:2 They covet fields, and seize them;
and houses, and take them away:
and they oppress a man and his house,
even a man and his heritage.
2:3 Therefore thus says Yahweh:
“Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster,
from which you will not remove your necks,
neither will you walk haughtily;
for it is an evil time.
2:4 In that day they will take up a parable against you,
and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying,
‘We are utterly ruined!
My people’s possession is divided up.
Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!’”
2:5 Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in the assembly of Yahweh. (Micah 2:1-5. WEB Bible. See also Job 24:1-12)

This idea, coupled with the image of Israel as God’s Vineyard in 5:1-7 may have influenced Jesus’ Parable of the Tenants in Matthew 21:33-41.

5:11 Woe upon those who rise in the early morning to drink strong drink, and to those who linger into the night, until the wine sets them on fire!
5:12 With harp and lute, tambourine and flute they indulge in wine at their feasts; but to the work of the Lord they take no heed, to the work of His hands they pay no mind.

Drunkenness and revelry are often condemned by the Prophets as a form of escapism (see Amos 6:1-7) indulged in by those enjoying a pampered luxury

5:13 Because of this my people go into captivity, for they lack knowledge; the most honored among them go hungry unto death, and the whole lot of them are parched with thirst.

Once again the covenant curses of Deuteronomy are mentioned by God through the prophet. Note the irony: their attempt to ignore the Lord through food and drink will only bring them famine and thirst.

5:14 Therefore the abode of the dead enlarges its appetite, opens its mouth without limit; down into it go the nobles and the masses, along with their pomp and revelry.

Again, irony. Those who feasted will become a feast for sheol (the abode of the dead), which is here personified as consuming both the revelers and their revelry.

5:15 And the man of earth (adam) shall be brought down, and the man of might (iysh) shall become low, and the eyes of the haughty shall be lowered.

Adam is the word used in Genesis for “man,” and it is related to the word adamah, ground, earth. Since sheol, the abode of the dead, was sometimes thought to be under the earth I feel the translation “the man of earth” is justified, inasmuch as sheol was mentioned in the previous verse. Iysh is also found in Genesis and is likewise a word for man. It usually denotes man as related to woman, or in opposition to God. It can also refer to a champion or person of strength.

The man of earth shall be swallowed up, brought down to sheol under the earth, the mighty man shall be taken down, and the one with head and eyes raised up in pride (haughtiness) will have them lowered in humiliation.

5:16 In this judgment the Lord of Hosts shall be exalted, and God the Holy One shall be shown holy by his justice.

Obviously intended as a contrast to the previous verses about man. Foolish man “rises up” (verse 11) early in the morning to get drunk and forget about God, but when judgment comes it is God, the Lord of Hosts, who will be exalted (raised up). In his (God’s) exaltation the noblemen and their pomp and revelry will go down to sheol (verse 14) The word translated here as exalted is the same word translated as haughty in verse 15.

5:17 Then the lambs shall feed in the pasture, and fatlings shall eat the ruins of the rich.

Some feel that this verse should be placed after verse 10, where it makes better sense. To the best of my knowledge, there is no textual evidence in the manuscripts to suggest this. The basic idea seems to be that the ruined land of the wealthy (see verses 8-10) will be given over to the pasturing of animals. A number of times in the Old Testament it is said that the land will be given over to animals for grazing; this is the end result of God’s punishment upon the people. It is therefore not unreasonable or strange that the verse is found here.