September 18 Daily Discovery - Read Isaiah Chapter 5

This passage below is from the King James Version (ekjv.org).  

Remarks from the Berean Fellowship follow the passage below.

[1] Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
[2] And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
[3] And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
[4] What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
[5] And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
[6] And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
[7] For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
[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.
[18] Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
[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!
[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:
[23] Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
[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.
[25] Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
[26] And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
[27] None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
[28] Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
[29] Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
[30] And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

God's Judgment upon Unfaithful Israel

God is a covenant-keeper; he is a promise-keeper. Some of god's promises are unconditional, but most are not. The covenant that god made with israel through moses was a conditional covenant.

They would receive blessings when they followed the covenant and they would experience curses when they did not. We see this pattern repeated incessantly as we read the old testament. When God blessed them, it was due to their obedience in following Him and when He judged them it was result of their disobedience and they're seeking of other gods.

The Parable of the Vineyard

The profit uses an illustration of a vineyard to represent the nation of israel. God provided everything that the vineyard needed and he cared for it continually, but it did not produce what it should have for him.

They were to be his people separate from all of the nations around them and be a light to the gentiles. They would do this by being separate; that is holy. They were the one nation that would represent the most high god. This would have created desires in the nations that were about them to seek the true, One and living God.

There was nothing more that God could have done.   Their rebellion and disobedience and the resulting judgment was all on them.

Multiple Woes

• For covetous, endless expansion
• For mindless addiction to intoxicating beverages
• For continually pursuing and embracing wickedness
• For reversing God's order
• For justifying the wicked

God Uses the Nations to Judge His Own People

God summons the nations from the north to exercise his judgment upon the land. This continues in their entire history until they are finally, completely destroyed by the last world empire of Rome. They start off with an wicked relationship with Rome and then Rome turns upon them and destroys them and God is behind it.

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Continue Your Search

Do you see any: Commands to Obey, Warnings to Heed, Promises to Claim, Examples to Follow, Vices to Avoid, Praises to Emulate, Prayers to Use, Principles by which to Live, Questions to Ask or Actions to Take?

See: Berean Fellowship Bible Study Method