Woe unto them that, rising early in the morning, run after strong drink; that linger till twilight, [till] wine inflameth them!
This second "woe" in Isaiah's list falls on people who build the whole day around drink, from dawn to nightfall. Why does God answer such a life with a woe and not a mild warning?
Isaiah has stopped singing about the vineyard and turned to plain facts. One commentator counts the woes that follow:
The song of Isaiah ended, the prophet dropped figurative language for the hard, plain facts of Israel's sin. Six times over he pronounces a "Woe" upon them in verses 8-25. Again we notice that it was their moral evils that stirred the Divine anger. The first woe is flung at the men of grasping covetousness. They aimed at monopolising houses and lands for themselves.
Counts differ. One writer finds six woes in this chapter; another traces a sevenfold denunciation that runs past it. And the prophet who pronounced these woes later had one to pronounce over himself:
It was a wonderful interlude of grace to the prophet. He had been pronouncing woe upon every phase of wickedness in Israel (Isaiah 5:8, 11, 18, 20-22), and had still to complete the solemn sevenfold denunciation of it in Isaiah 10:1. Now he has to pronounce it upon himself: "Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips... for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
No normal hour and no normal measure satisfies this appetite — the wine itself keeps inflaming it. One commentator, writing on a similar passage in Proverbs, explains why the drinker keeps reaching for more:
Of all the lusts of the flesh, none from first to last exposes a person so much to shame and grief as drunkenness. Others may be fatally ruinous to oneself or to our partners. But this one is more stupefying, more senseless, and more inclined to both folly and violence... For intemperance always seeks more and stronger stimulants, until the thirst for them becomes overpowering.
The people under this woe are not casual drinkers. They hunt pleasure the way others pursue a trade — and Isaiah puts them in the same list as land-grabbers and bribe-takers:
There is a woe to those who joined house to house and field to field, careless of everything but their own gain: Jehovah will make it desolate so that their coveted vineyards and lands yield only a tenth of what they put in (vv. 8-10). There is a woe to the luxurious hunters of social pleasure: captivity will drain them, and Hades itself will swallow up the low and the mighty — multitudes beyond measure (vv. 11-17).
Another writer sets the woes side by side to show that each sin has its own matching end:
God enters into details to show the righteousness of His judgments. It is not only covetousness ending in desolation, and corrupt luxury ending in death and hell. There are also excuses for wrongdoing that grow into contempt for divine judgment. We see this in the profane indifference of Christendom, when men have God's warnings and think God will never carry them out.
One writer runs the list of Isaiah 5 straight into his own day:
History is repeating itself. The state of humanity could not be more truly described today. The profiteer was busy (Isa. 5:8). Men and women piped and danced, eagerly following their pagan pleasure without a thought of God, or fear of His just judgments (Isa. 5:11-12).
And the outcome is not confined to Israel:
The second woe is against the drunkard and pleasure-seeker. He describes the judgment awaiting them down to verse 17. We may observe that a similar catastrophe always follows a people given over to pleasure and debauchery. The great Roman Empire did it in her later years, and then crashed. If Britain and other nations of today do it — what then?
- Woe — This is the second woe in Isaiah's list, and it falls on moral evil. The prophet who pronounced it later had to say "Woe is me" when he saw the King.
- Appetite — The early start and the late night mark the drunkard. Intemperance keeps asking for more and stronger drink until the thirst takes over.
- Career — These are not casual drinkers. They are "luxurious hunters of social pleasure," and the hunt is their way of life.
- End — Each sin gets its matching judgment. Covetousness ends in desolation, corrupt luxury ends in death and hell, and Hades swallows low and mighty alike.
- Echo — The pattern still runs. Rome went the same way, and any people given over to pleasure and debauchery invites the same collapse.
And harp and lyre, tambour and flute, and wine are in their banquets; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, nor do they see the operation of his hands.
Isaiah 5 pronounces a series of woes on God's people, and this verse sits inside the second one. Their feasts are full of music and wine, but they give no thought to what God is doing.
One writer names who this woe targets, and what happens to nations that live this way.
The second woe is against the drunkard and pleasure-seeker. The passage describes the judgment awaiting them down to verse 17. Notice that a similar disaster always follows a people given over to pleasure and wild living. The great Roman Empire did it in her later years, and then crashed. If Britain and other nations of today do it — what then?
Another writer sums up where this pleasure ends:
There is a woe for the luxury-loving hunters of social pleasure. Captivity will drain them away, and Hades, the place of the dead, will swallow up the lowly and the mighty alike — crowds beyond counting (vv. 11-17).
One instrument in the list is hard to identify. Older translations call it a "viol," and a Bible dictionary explains what is known about it:
The main word used is nebel. It seems to refer to some unknown stringed instrument that went with the singing voice. It is at times mentioned along with the harp. The same word is also translated VIOL in Isaiah 5:12; Isaiah 14:11; Amos 5:23; Amos 6:5.
Nothing in the list is evil in itself. The charge is about the purpose these good things now serve.
Man's heart is estranged from God. He was set at a distance from God, and he tries to make the earth as pleasing to himself as possible. To do this, he uses God's gifts and creatures so that he can do without Him. People say there is no harm in these things. That is true, but that is not the question. They are good as created things. There will be music in heaven too, as a picture. But in heaven no one will use it to entertain the mind apart from God. It is a question of the use we make of these things.
The habit is older than Israel. One writer traces the arts back to the family of Cain. Cain was the son of Adam who murdered his brother. This verse, the writer says, shows what those arts became:
The useful arts, and the fair decorations of life, owe their invention to the family of Cain (Genesis 4:21-22). These things can serve good ends when they are used for God. But as human inventions on their own, they are the chief food and comfort of that "pride of life" which keeps the unrepentant world at a willing distance from the God of grace (Isaiah 5:12).
One writer puts this verse beside Belshazzar. He was the king of Babylon who feasted while using the vessels taken from God's temple.
Belshazzar forgot the captivity of Zion without a care, and he profaned the vessels of God's temple. He gave no thought to the works of His hands, but the wine and the tambourine were in his feast. It is the same now. People agree together to forget the rejection of Christ, so that a man may meet his neighbour and greet him with a shared joy and a shared welcome, because they are all of one earth, of the same world, of related flesh and blood.
Judgment does not fall at once, and the wicked treat that gap as their chance.
The Israelites despise the warning of judgment; the wicked take advantage of the delay... But God does not hurry His counsel. He is patient with us. He does not want anyone to perish, but wants everyone to come to repentance. He knows well that He must judge at the end. Man clings to his own wisdom, and as long as God does not discipline him, man hardens his heart.
- Gift. Lyre, harp, tambourine, flute and wine are all God's creatures, good in themselves — there will be music in heaven too.
- Misuse. The sin is the purpose: using God's gifts so that a person can enjoy the world and do without Him.
- Blindness. Pleasure fills them, so they never notice what God is doing. Belshazzar's feast showed the same forgetting.
- Delay. God holds back judgment out of patience. Man reads that patience as indifference and hardens his heart.
- End. Captivity drains the pleasure-seekers away, and the place of the dead swallows small and great alike.