5:18-19 The Israelites were deliberately sinning. They had not innocently fallen into sin, but they were pursuing it willfully. Rather than fleeing from it, they were holding it to themselves. Even worse, they were doing so in an attempt to bait God to respond. They believed that He would not punish them. Their ties with sin were like the cords that the people used to lead their animals and the cart ropes that were much stronger and harder to break.
5:20 The fourth bad product of the Israelite vineyard was perversity. The people were calling good what God called evil, and vice versa. For example, glorifying adultery and treating committed believers as dangerous radicals turns the truth on its head. They were mocking God's ways publicly and privately. They refused to accept the standard of God's revelation.
5:21 Their fifth error was conceit. They thought they were wiser and cleverer than Yahweh.
5:22-23 Sixth, they had adopted corrupt values. They glorified the "macho man"who did things that appeared great but were nothing more than sophisticated childishness. The more a person could drink, the greater the people honored him. They thought it "smart"to profit from the misfortune of others even though that ran counter to God's will. Corrupt judges could do this easily (cf. Prov. 17:15).
