5:8-10 The first quality that spoiled Israel's fruit was greed, an example of which Isaiah detailed (cf. Mic. 2:1). The Israelites were buying out their neighbors, as they had opportunity or made the opportunity, to increase their land holdings. The wealthier or smarter members of the community took advantage of their less fortunate brethren and so deprived them of their opportunity to live on land that God had given them (cf. Lev. 25:23).62Buying additional land is not wrong in itself, but when it involves abusing other people it becomes wrong. Isaiah was not decrying large farms or estates per se; he was condemning squeezing out the small man to make oneself more prosperous, secure, and admired. Those who did this in his day ended up isolated rather than enjoying the fellowship of their brethren (cf. Matt. 16:25-26; Col. 3:5).
God would judge this greed by causing the families of these isolated rich people to dwindle (v. 9). Ironically, by the time a person has enough money to build a mansion he is often too old to enjoy it, his family has grown up and moved out, and his spouse may die soon because she is usually old too. God would judge the farmers by decreasing the productivity of their crops (v. 10; cf. Deut. 28:20-24; Ps. 106:15; Hag. 1:5-6). The land-hungry would become hungry. No matter how many acres a person may own, God still controls the weather. Agricultural productivity was one of God's promised blessings under the Old Covenant (Deut 28:11-12; cf. Isa. 4:2).
5:11-12 The second blight on the grapes was pleasure-seeking. In Isaiah's day this vice manifested itself in drinking too much wine and strong drink, usually at a continuous round of parties (cf. 22:13; 28:1-8; Hos. 7:5; Joel 3:3; Amos 6:6). These people were "party animals"who paid no attention to the Lord or His works. Pleasure-seeking is not wrong in itself unless it becomes too absorbing, as it had with many Israelites. Too much partying produces insensitivity to spiritual things.
"When the passion for pleasure has become uppermost in a person's life, passion for God and his truth and his ways is squeezed out."63
5:13 The result of driving other people off their land and living only for pleasure would be, ironically, that the Israelites would be driven off their land and enjoy little pleasure. Instead of more food and drink there would be famine and parched throats for all the people (cf. 3:16-24).64Carousing would end in captivity.
5:14-15 Instead of pleasure-seekers opening their throats to drink wine, Sheol (the place of the dead) would open her throat to drink down the Israelites. This divine punishment would befall all the people because they shared the pride that marked the property-hungry and the pleasure-mad (cf. 2:9). The offenders' actions showed that they really did not know Yahweh in any life-changing way; the knowledge of God had had no practical effect on the way they lived.
5:16-17 In contrast to the humiliation of the Israelite proud, Yahweh of armies would enjoy exaltation because what characterizes Him is the opposite of what marked His people, namely, justice and righteousness.
"Righteousnessis holiness expressed in moral principles; justiceis the application of the principles of righteousness (cf. 1:21)."65
This difference between God and His people is an aspect of His holiness (i.e., His moral purity; cf. 6:3). When God's people were humiliated and He would be exalted, innocent lambs and unknown strangers would enjoy the property that the proud sought to secure. The Israelites had once been the strangers in this land, but now other strangers would dispossess them. God does not delight in taking revenge, but He has committed Himself to remaining true to His covenant with Israel.
