What is actually being condemned?
- Plundering and crushing of the poor (Isa 3:14-15)
- Today: claiming limited government aid when others need it more (e.g., small business relief)
- Haughtiness (Isa 3:16)
- Today: acting pridefully, superior than others (maybe towards those who have less, look like less, etc.)
- Excessive building at the expense of space for others (Isa 5:8, Mic. 2:2,9)
- Contrast this provision for returning land to the poor in Lev. 25:23-28
- Excessive consumption (alcohol just an example) (Isa 5:11,22)
- Forgetting the Lord and His works (especially in their celebrations) (Isa 5:12)
- Today: holidays that should focus on God (Christmas, Easter) yet getting distracted by music, decorations, and feasts
- Lack of faith in God's promises (Isa 5:18-19)
- "draw iniquity with cords of vanity" - draw up iniquity to themselves as from a well with lies (of God's lack of faithfulness/interjection)
- "[draw] sin as with a cart rope" - even heavier ropes linking themselves to this sin
- Treating evil as good and vice versa (Isa 5:20,23)
- Ignoring God's guidance and trusting instead in human wisdom (Isa 5:21, Prov 3:7;26:5,12,16)
What will be the punishment?
- God will take away all of the luxurious items (Isa 3:18-23)
- God will take away physical beauty (Isa 3:24)
- God will take away physical safety (Isa 3:25-26)
- Death (Isa 5:14,24)
- God will remove them from their houses (exile) (Isa 5:9,13,17)
- "The fat ones" (Isa 5:17) = the rich/rulers, will lose their property to allow the foreigner to come in to enjoy it
- God will use other nations to come execute his judgment (Isa 5:26-30)
- God will reduce the yield of their crops (Isa 5:10)
- Typical:
- 1 acre --> produces 2-10 tons of grapes = 120-600 gallons
- 30, 60, or 100 fold (representative, not scientific) (Mat. 13:3-9)
- Judgment yield:
- 10 acres --> produces 1 bath = 6 gallons (pathetic!)
- 1 homer = 10 ephah --> produces 1 ephah of crops (negative yield!)
- Today: your work will be futile (Gen 3:17, Ps 90:17, Prov 16:3, Job 5:12)
- Man will be humbled; God will be exalted through it (Isa 5:15-16)
Other notes
- "His anger is not turned away... hand is stretched out still" (Isa 5:25, 9:12,17,21)
- "The light is darkened by the clouds" (Isa 5:30)
- A description of the literal situation
- But also an allusion to God's bigger story
- God's desire/story - to bless His faithful people; ultimately culminating in deliverance through Jesus - the Light of the World
- Immediate judgment like clouds: don't destroy the light, but obscure it temporarily
- In the midst of dark times, God is still working His ultimate good
- In the coronavirus, God is still working HIS story
