Passage: Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the Lord's anger burns against His people; His hand is raised and He strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away, His hand is still upraised.
He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, He whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily! Not one of them grows tired or stumbles, not one slumbers or sleeps; not a belt is loosened at the waist, not a sandal thong is broken. Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses' hoofs seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind. Their roar is like that of the lion, they roar like young lions; they growl as they seize their prey and carry it off with no one to rescue. In that day they will roar over it like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks at the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be darkened by the clouds.
Journal: Isaiah has catalogued the sins of (1) greed [materialism], (2) revelry [drunkenness], (3) arrogance [pride], (4) rationalization [distortion], and (5) foolishness [self-reliance]. The final sin mentioned in chapter 5 is (6) injustice [corruption]. The love of money and power converge to foster bribery and to prevent justice. ("Woe to those . . . who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.") This is a great distortion of God's law, where the guilty mock and the innocent suffer. Thus, we have the six sins of a diseased and corrupted vine, a vine that was intended to flourish in the garden of God.
God is pronouncing judgment against His people by laying waste to their houses (v. 9), humbling the arrogant (v. 15), and opening the grave to receive them (v. 14). The sum total of their sin is the sin of rejection. (". . . for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.") God is sending Assyria to pronounce His judgment with awesome power and force. ("He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, He whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!") He is unrelenting in His judgment. ("Therefore the Lord's anger burns against His people; His hand is raised and He strikes them down. The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets. Yet for all this, His anger is not turned away, His hand is still upraised.")
Israel is depicted as an unholy church filled with unholy people. Her sins ring in the distant past and yet the tones are striking a familiar chime. The rebellion is the same today. The six sins chronicled have been recycled. The episode is a re-run. The names have been changed but it cannot protect the innocent, for there are no innocent to be found in the drama of man. The innocence is found only in the One being rejected, which is the great irony of the distortion. It is the root of Jesse that will acquit the guilty, and it is the root of Jesse that the guilty so often shun.
John Dee Spicer
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About Me
I started the Daily Journal in 2000. I sent it as an email to a few friends (it was a round number, either 10 or 20, I can't remember exactly). It has grown over the years, primarily due to those original few forwarding it to others. During this time, I have journaled through Genesis, selected Psalms, the Gospel of John, Acts, Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and Peter's letters. (These are the books I can remember for sure this morning, anyway.) I don't have seminary training and don't claim to have special wisdom. Rather, I simply desire that others develop a love for God's word. There is only one interpretation for any Bible passage, and I will rely on the wisdom of scholars through the ages (at least those at my disposal) to help with that one interpretation. I will also attempt some practical application. Somewhere along the way I started sharing some funny things my kids would say, and this became known as "Heard 'Round the House." I will continue to share these priceless nuggets as my kids provide material. The "Daily" Journal is a bit of a misnomer, since I only do it Monday through Thursday. I don't do it on Friday because I attend a 6 am Bible Study. I don't do it on the weekends because so many received it at work (I may revise this approach since I have gone to the "Blog" format). I do read my Bible on a daily basis, and strongly recommend a chronilogical daily Bible - you will read the Bible completely each year, and the events unfold in a historical fashion.
