THE PARABLE OF THE VINEYARD Isaiah 5:1. _Now will I sing, &c._ I. THE PRIVILEGES CONFERRED ON THE JEWISH NATION (Isaiah 5:2). It would be vain and useless to attempt, as some have done, to find in the privileges of the Jews an exact counterpart to the various items here specified concerning this “v... [ Continue Reading ]
DIVINE DISAPPOINTMENTS Isaiah 5:2. _He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes_. “I believe in God.” Which God? The God constructed for us by philosophers, who is impassive, throned in eternal calm, unmoved by the crimes or the virtues of men, all of which He has... [ Continue Reading ]
THE INEXCUSABILITY AND HOPELESSNESS OF UNBELIEF Isaiah 5:4. _What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?_ In a subsequent verse God condescends to explain what is here meant by His “vineyard,” so that there might be no doubt as to the scope and import of the passage ... [ Continue Reading ]
A SAD CANTICLE Isaiah 5:4. _What could have been done more to my vineyard? &c._ There are certain epochs in the history of the Church when on every hand may be seen the saddest indifference. This state of things is not owing to a suspension of Divine gifts, nor to the absence of earnest pastors, no... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE ADVANTAGE OF SMALL ALLOTMENTS OF LAND TO THE POOR Isaiah 5:7. _He looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. Woe unto them that join house to house, and lay field to field, till there be no place_. I. The Almighty expects from all His creatures, and espe... [ Continue Reading ]
COVETOUSNESS Isaiah 5:8. _Woe unto them that join house to house, &c._ Covetousness is—I. Ruinous to the individual [601] II. Mischievous to society. III. Offensive to God. IV. Certain to be punished. 1. Here, by disappointment and loss (Proverbs 3:33) [604] 2. Hereafter, by exclusion from heave... [ Continue Reading ]
WILD GRAPES Isaiah 5:8. _Woe unto them that join house to house, &c._ It is important to remember that this whole chapter constitutes one prophecy. Much of the power of its teaching will be lost, if this fact be overlooked. In Isaiah 5:1, we have the astonishing declaration that in “the vineyard o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MISERIES OF THE DRUNKARD Isaiah 5:11. _Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, &c._ The miseries of the drunkard. I. PERSONAL, ungodly companionship, eclipse of intellect, demoralisation of nature [616] retribution, here and hereafter. [616] Not in... [ Continue Reading ]
NATIONAL UNGODLINESS Isaiah 5:11. _Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, &c._ National ungodliness. I. ITS PHASES, dissipation, drunkenness, forgetfulness of God. II. ITS PUNISHMENT, captivity, famine, pestilence, humiliation. III. THE CERTAINTY OF... [ Continue Reading ]
SENSUALITY Isaiah 5:11. _Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! 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... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EVILS OF IGNORANCE (_Sunday School or Bible Society Sermon_.) Isaiah 5:13. _Therefore my people are gone away into captivity, because they have no knowledge, &c._ Isaiah speaks of the future as if it were already present. He traces the terrible disasters about to befall his countrymen to their... [ Continue Reading ]
DEATH AND THE GRAVE (_For Easter Sunday_.) Isaiah 5:14. _Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, &c._ In these terms of appalling sublimity Isaiah warns his countrymen of the calamities that were about to come upon them, on account of the innumerable transgressions into which they had been betrayed b... [ Continue Reading ]
CORDS OF VANITY Isaiah 5:18. _Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope_. “ ‘Sin’ in the last clause is parallel with iniquity in the first—a noun and not a verb. Both are said to be ‘_drawn_.’ The style of sinning here contemplated is fully given i... [ Continue Reading ]
SCEPTICISM Isaiah 5:19. _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_. Scepticism, I. Denies the judgments of God. II. Draws an argument from their delay [661] III. Impiously scoffs at t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGE ON CHARACTER Isaiah 5:20. _Woe to 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_. Only those who have had extensive opportunities of observation, can have any idea of the evil... [ Continue Reading ]
SELF-CONCEIT Isaiah 5:21. _Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight_. Self-conceit. I. Its signs: dogmatism; contempt of others; scepticism. II. ITS CAUSES: ignorance [667] vanity. [667] The truest characters of ignorance Are vanity, and pride, and arroganc... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WOE OF THE DRUNKARD Isaiah 5:22. _Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink_. There are certain vices which the customs of certain countries seem to place only in the number of human infirmities; and yet, if we look at their effects, we shall see t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DOOM OF DESPISERS Isaiah 5:24. _Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth 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_... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DOOM OF IMPENITENT ISRAEL Isaiah 5:24. _Therefore as the fire devoureth, &c._ In this threatening, fulfilled in the utter destruction of Israel by Assyria, we find illustrations of the following facts:—I. That _the Lord is a God of judgment as well as of mercy_ [682] The mercy of God had been e... [ Continue Reading ]