17. Exposing the Sins of the Church

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Hymns: RHC 401 Yield Not to Temptation 414 Is Your All on the Altar 408 I Gave My Life for Thee

Isaiah 5:8-17

8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! 9 In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah. 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! 12 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 the operation of his hands. 13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. 14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. 15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: 16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. 17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. 

Exposing the Sins of the Church

OUTLINE

(1) Materialism (v8-10)

(2) Merry Making and Intoxication (v11-12)

INTRODUCTION

It takes courage for Isaiah to point out the sins of the people. He will issue 6 woes in chapter 5 upon Israel.

8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! …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! … 18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: … 20 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! … 21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! … 22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

And the 7th woe, he will woe “himself” (Isaiah 6:5).

Isaiah 6:5 (KJV) Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

The world and the flesh are the two great enemies that we are in danger of being overpowered by; yet we are in no danger if we do not ourselves yield to them.[1] Eagerness of the world, and indulgence of the flesh, are the two sins against which the prophet, in God’s name, here denounces woes. These were sins which then abounded among the men of Judah, some of the wild grapes they brought forth (v4), and for which God threatens to bring ruin upon them. They are sins which we have all need to stand upon our guard against and dread the consequences of. [Matthew Henry]

(1) Materialism (v8-10)

8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

Here is a woe to those who set their hearts upon the wealth of the world, and place their happiness in that, and increase it to themselves by indirect and unlawful means (v8), who join house to house and lay field to field, till there be no place,no room for anybody to live by them. If they could succeed, they would be placed alone in the midst of the earth, would monopolize possessions and preferments, and engross all profits and employments to themselves. 

Not that it is a sin for those who have a house and a field, of they have wherewithal, to purchase another; but their fault is, that they are inordinate in their desires to enrich themselves, and make it their whole care and business to raise an estate, as if they had nothing to mind, nothing to seek, nothing to do, in this world, but that. 

1 Timothy 6:6-12 (KJV) But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it iscertain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

They never know when they have enough, but the more they have the more they would have; and, like the daughters of the horseleech, they cry, Give, give. They cannot enjoy what they have, nor do good with it, but are constantly contriving and studying to make it more. They must have variety of houses, a winter-house, and a summer-house, and if another man’s house or field lie convenient to theirs, as Naboth’s vineyard to Ahab’s, they must have that too, or they cannot be easy. 

That they are herein careless of others, nay, and injurious to them. They would live so as to let nobody live but themselves. So that their insatiable covetings may be gratified, they care not what becomes of all about them, what encroachments they make upon their neighbours’ rights, what hardships they put upon those that they have power over or advantage against, nor what base and wicked arts they use to heap up treasure to themselves. They would swell so big as to fill all space, and yet are still unsatisfied (Ecc. 5:10), as Alexander, who, when he fancied, he had conquered the world, wept because he had not another world to conquer. 

If the whole earth were monopolized, avarice would thirst for more. What! will you be placed alone in the midst of the earth? Will you be so foolish as to desire it, when we have so much need of the service of others and so much comfort in their society? Will you be so foolish as to expect that the earth shall be forsaken for us (Job 18:4), when it is by multitudes that the earth is to be replenished? Was the wide world created merely for you?

9 In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

That which is threatened as the punishment of this sin is that neither the houses nor the fields which they were thus greedy of should turn to any account (v9-10). God whispered it to the prophet in his ear, as he speaks in a like case (Isaiah 22:14): It was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts (as God told Samuel a thing in his ear (1 Samuel 9:15); he thought he heard it still sounding in his ears; but he proclaimed it, as he ought, upon the house-tops (Matthew 10:27). 

That the houses they were so fond of should be untenanted, should stand long empty, and should yield them no rent, and go out of repair: Many houses shall be desolate, the people that should dwell in them, being cut off by sword, famine, or pestilence, or carried into captivity; or trade being dead, and poverty coming upon the country like an armed man, those that had been housekeepers were forced to become lodgers, or shift for themselves elsewhere. 

Even great and fair houses, that would invite tenants, and (there is a scarcity of tenants) might be taken at low rates, shall stand empty without inhabitants. God created not the earth in vain; he formed it to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18). But men’s projects are often frustrated, and what they frame answers not the intention. We have a saying, that fools build houses for wise men to live in; but sometimes, as the event proves, they are built for no man to live in. God has many ways to empty the most populous cities. 

That the fields they were so fond of should be unfruitful (v10): Ten acres of vineyard shall yield only such a quantity of grapes as will make but one bath of wine (which was about eight gallons), and the seed of a homer, a bushel’s sowing of ground, shall yield but an ephah, which was the tenth part of a homer; so that through the barrenness of the ground, or the unreasonableness of the weather, they should not have more than a tenth part of their seed again. Those that set their hearts upon the world will justly be disappointed in their expectations from it.

(2) Merry-Making and Intoxication (v11-17)

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! 12 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 the operation of his hands.

Here is a woe to those that dote upon the pleasures and delights of sense (v11-12). Sensuality ruins men as certainly as worldliness and oppression. As Christ pronounces a woe against those that are rich, so also against those that laugh now and are full (Luke 6:24-25), and fare sumptuously (Luke 16:19).

Luke 6:24-25 (KJV) But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. 

Luke 16:19, 22b-23 (KJV) There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: … the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

Who the sinners are against whom this woe is denounced. They are such as are given to drink; they make their drinking their business, have their hearts upon it, and overcharge themselves with it. They rise early to follow strong drink, as husbandmen and tradesmen do to follow their employments; as if they were afraid of losing time from that which is the greatest misspending of time. 

Whereas commonly those that are drunken are drunken in the night, when they have despatched the business of the day, these neglect business, abandon it, and give up themselves to the service of the flesh; for they sit at their cups all day, and continue till night, till wine inflame them–inflame their lusts (chambering and wantonness follow upon rioting and drunkenness)–inflame their passions; for who but such have contentions and wounds without cause?

Proverbs 23:29-35 (KJV) Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

They make a perfect trade of drinking; nor do they seek the shelter of the night for this work of darkness, as men ashamed of it, but count it a pleasure to riot in the day-time.

2 Peter 2:13 (KJV) And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

They are such as are given to mirth. They have their feasts, and they are so merrily disposed that they cannot dine or sup without music, musical instruments of all sorts, like David (Amos 6:5), like Solomon (Ecc. 2:8); the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, must accompany the wine, that every sense may be gratified to a nicety; they take the timbrel and harp, (Job 21:12). 

Ecclesiastes 2:8 (KJV) I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

The use of music is lawful in itself; but when it is excessive, when we set our hearts upon it, misspend time in it, so that it crowds our spiritual and divine pleasures and draws away the heart from God, then it turns into sin for us. 

They are such as never give their mind to any thing that is serious: They regard not the work of the Lord; they observe not his power, wisdom, and goodness, in those creatures which they abuse and subject to vanity, nor the bounty of his providence in giving them those good things which they make the food and fuel of their lusts. God’s judgments have already seized them, and they are under the tokens of his displeasure, but they regard not; they consider not the hand of God in all these things; his hand is lifted up, but they will not see, because they will not disturb themselves in their pleasures nor think what God is doing with them.

13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

What the judgments are which are denounced against them, and in part executed. It is here foretold that they should be dislodged; the land should spue out these drunkards (v13): My people (so they call themselves, and were proud of it) have therefore gone into captivity, are as sure to go as if they were gone already, because they have no knowledge; how should they have knowledge when by their excessive drinking they make sots and fools of themselves? They set up for wits; but because they regard not God’s controversy with them, nor take any care to make their peace with him, they may truly be said to have no knowledge; and the reason is because they will have none; they are inconsiderate and wilful, and are therefore destroyed for lack of knowledge. 

10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

That they should be impoverished, and come to want that which they had wasted and abused to excess: Even their glory are men of famine, subject to it and slain by it; and their multitude are dried up with thirst. Both the great men and the common people are ready to perish for want of bread and water. This is the effect of the failure of the corn (v10), for the king himself is served of the field (Ecc. 5:9). 

Ecclesiastes 5:9 (KJV) Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.

And when the vintage fails the drunkards are called upon to weep, because the new wine is cut off from their mouth(Joel 1:5), and not so much because now they want it as because when they had it they abused it. It is just with God to make men want that for necessity which they have abused to excess. 

14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

What multitudes should be cut off by famine and sword (v14): Therefore, hell has enlarged herself. Tophet, the common burying-place, proves too little; so many are there to be buried that they shall be forced to enlarge it. The grave has opened her mouth without measure, never saying, It is enough, (Proverbs 30:15-16). 

Proverbs 30:15-16 (KJV) The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.

It may be understood of the place of the damned; luxury and sensuality fill these regions of darkness and horror; there those are tormented who made a god of their belly. 

Luke 16:25 (KJV) But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

Philippians 3:19 (KJV) Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

That they should be humbled and abased, and all their honours laid in the dust. This will be done effectually by death and the grave: Their glory shall descend, not only to the earth, but into it; it shall not descend after them (Psalm 49:17), to stand them in any stead on the other side death, but it shall die and be buried with them – poor glory, which will thus wither! 

Psalm 49:17 (KJV) For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

Did they glory in their numbers? Their multitude shall go down to the pit.

Ezekiel 31:18 (KJV) To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 32:32 (KJV) For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

Did they glory in the figure they made? Their pomp shall be at an end; their shouts with which they triumphed, and were attended. Did they glory in their mirth? Death will turn it into mourning; he that rejoices and revels, and never knows what it is to be serious, shall go thither where there are weeping and wailing. Thus, the mean man and the mighty man meet together in the grave and under mortifying judgments. Let a man be ever so high, death will bring him low–ever so mean, death will bring him lower, in the prospect of which the eyes of the lofty should now be humbled (v15). It becomes those to look low that must shortly be laid low.

16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

What the fruit of these judgments shall be.

God shall be glorified (v16). He that is the Lord of hosts, and the holy God, shall be exalted and sanctified in the judgment and righteousness of these dispensations. His justice must be owned in bringing those low what exalted themselves; and herein he is glorified. As a God is irresistible power. He will herein be exalted as the Lord of hosts, that is able to break the strongest, humble the proudest, and tame the most unruly! Power is not exalted but in judgment. It is the honour of God that, though he has a mighty arm, yet judgment and justice are always the habitation of his throne.

Psalm 89:13-14 (KJV) Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. Justice and judgment arethe habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

As a God of unspotted purity. He that is holy, infinitely holy, shall be sanctified (that is, shall be owned and declared to be holy) in the righteous punishment of proud men. When proud men are humbled, the great God is honoured, and ought to be honoured by us.

17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. 

Good people shall be relieved and succoured (v17): Then shall the lambs feed after their manner; the meek ones of the earth, who followed the Lamb, who were persecuted, and put into fear by those proud oppressors, shall feed quietly, feed in the green pastures, and there shall be none to make them afraid. 

Ezekiel 34:14 (KJV) I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

When the enemies of the church are cut off then have the churches rest. They shall feed at their pleasure. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in abundant peace. They shall feed according to their order or capacity (so others read it), as they are able to hear the word, that bread of life.

The country shall be laid waste, and become a prey to the neighbours: The waste places of the fats ones, the possessions of those rich men that lived at their ease, shall be eaten by strangers that were nothing akin to them. In the captivity the poor of the land were left for vine-dressers and husbandmen (2 King 25:12); these were the lambs that fed in the pastures of the fats ones, which were laid in common for strangers to eat. When the church of the Jews, those fat ones, was laid waste, their privileges were transferred to the Gentiles, who had been long strangers, and the lambs of Christ’s flock were welcome to them. [Matthew Henry] … To be continued…

[1] The parable sets forth the peculiar privileges, obligations, guilt, and doom of Israel, under the figure of a highly favoured vineyard, which, instead of good fruit, brings forth only wild grapes, and is therefore given up to desolation (v1-6). The application is expressly made by the Prophet himself (v7).

In the remaining of the chapter, he enumerates the sins which were included in the general expressions of v7, and describes their punishment. In do this, he first gives a catalogue of sins with their appropriate punishments annexed (v8-24). He then describes the means used to inflict them, and the final issue (v25-30).

The catalogue of sins and judgments comprehends two series of woes or denunciations. In the first, each sin is followed by its punishment (v8-17). In the second the sins follow one another in uninterrupted succession, and the punishment is reserved until the close (v18-24).

In the former series, the first woe is uttered against avaricious and ambitious grasping after lands and houses, to be punished by sterility and desolation (v8-10). The second woe is uttered against drunkenness, untimely mirth, and disregard of providential warnings, appropriately punished by captivity, hunger, thirst, and general mortality (v11-14). To these two woes are added a general declaration of their purpose and effect, to humble man and exalt God, and a repeated threatening of general desolation as a punishment of both the sins just mentioned (v15-17). 

The sin denounced in the second series of woes are presumptuous and incredulous defiance of God’s judgments, the deliberate confounding of moral distinctions, undue reliance upon human wisdom, and drunkenness (v18-23). To these, he adds a general threat of destruction as a necessary consequence of their forsaking God (v24).

In declaring the means used to effect the condign retribution, the Prophet sets before us two distinct stages or degrees of punishment. The first, which is briefly and figuratively represented as a violent and destructive stroke of God’s hand, is described in the shape of an invading enemy, before whom, after a brief fluctuation, Israel disappears in total darkness (v26-30). 

Everything was carried by clamour and noise, and not by equity and according to the merits of the cause. It is sad with a people when wickedness has usurped the place of judgment (Ecc. 3:16). It is very sad with a soul when instead of the grapes of humility, meekness, patience, love, and contempt of the world, which God looks for, there are the wild grapes of pride, passion, discontent, malice, and contempt of God – instead of the grapes of praying and praising, the wild grapes of cursing and swearing, which are a great offence to God. Some of the ancients apply this to the Jews in Christ’s time, among whom God looked for righteousness (that is, that they should receive and embrace Christ), but behold a cry, that cry, Crucify him, crucify him. [Matthew Henry]