Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Isaiah
Book: Isaiah
Chapter: 5
Overview:
The state and conduct of the Jewish nation.
(1-7) The
judgments which would come.
(8-23) The executioners of these
judgments.
(24-30)
1-7 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 the account another
Day. He planted it with the
choicest vines; gave them a most excellent
Law, 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 denoted thereby.
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, agreeable to 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 that
profess religion, and enjoy the
Means of Grace, must be 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 grown over with thorns. This
is often shown in the departure of
God's
Spirit from those who
have long striven against him, and the removal of his
Gospel
from places which have long been a reproach to it. The
explanation is given. It is sad with a soul, when, instead of
the grapes of
Humility,
Meekness,
Love, patience, and contempt
of the world, for which
God looks, 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.
8-23 Here is a woe to those who set their hearts
On the wealth
of the world. 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 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 to us.
God's judgments have
seized them, but they will not disturb themselves in their
pleasures. The judgments are declared. Let a
Man be ever
So
high,
Death will bring him low; ever
So mean,
Death will bring
him lower. The
Fruit of these judgments shall be, that
God will
be glorified as a
God of power. Also, as a
God that is holy; he
shall be owned and declared to be
So, in the righteous
Punishment of proud men. Those are in a woeful condition who set
up
Sin, and who exert themselves to gratify their base lusts.
They are daring in
Sin, and walk after their own lusts; it is in
scorn that they
Call God the Holy One of
Israel. They confound
and overthrow distinctions between good and evil. They prefer
their own reasonings to Divine revelations; their own devices to
the counsels and commands of
God. They deem it prudent and
politic to continue profitable sins, and to neglect self-denying
duties. Also, how
Light soever men make of drunkenness, it is a
Sin which lays open to the wrath and
Curse of
God. Their
Judges
perverted
Justice. Every
Sin needs some other to conceal it.
24-30 Let not any expect to live easily who live 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 men expect but that
God should
utterly abandon them? When
God comes forth in wrath, the hills
tremble, fear seizes even great men. 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, shall hear the voice of their enemies
roaring against them. Let the distressed look which 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 shall fail,
God himself will be the strength of our hearts, and our portion
for ever.