Isaiah 5:8-25

Monday: Episcopal, Isaiah (A) 5:8-12, (C) 18-23; Presbyterian and Lutheran, Isaiah (A, B) 5:8-17

Tuesday, Episcopal, Isaiah (B) 5:13-17, (D) 24-25; Presbyterian and Lutheran, Isaiah (C, D) 5:18-25

            A.        8 Ah, you who join house to house,

who add field to field,

until there is room for no one but you,

and you are left to live alone

in the midst of the land!

9 The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing:

Surely many houses shall be desolate,

large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.

10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,

and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.

11 Ah, you who rise early in the morning

in pursuit of strong drink,

who linger in the evening

to be inflamed by wine,

12 whose feasts consist of lyre and harp,

tambourine and flute and wine,

but who do not regard the deeds of the LORD,

or see the work of his hands! (Isaiah 5:8-12, NRSV)

            B.        13 Therefore my people go into exile without knowledge;

their nobles are dying of hunger,

and their multitude is parched with thirst.

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite

and opened its mouth beyond measure;

the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down,

her throng and all who exult in her.

15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,

and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.

16 But the LORD of hosts is exalted by justice,

and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.

17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture,

fatlings and kids shall feed among the ruins. (Isaiah 5:13-17, NRSV)

            C.        18 Ah, you who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,

who drag sin along as with cart ropes,

19 who say, "Let him make haste,

let him speed his work

that we may see it;

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment,

that we may know it!"

20 Ah, you who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter!

21 Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes,

and shrewd in your own sight!

22 Ah, you who are heroes in drinking wine

and valiant at mixing drink,

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

and deprive the innocent of their rights! (Isaiah 5:18-23, NRSV)

            D.        24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so their root will become rotten,

and their blossom go up like dust;

for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of hosts,

and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,

and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them;

the mountains quaked,

and their corpses were like refuse

in the streets.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still. (Isaiah 5:24-25, NRSV)

In the readings for today and tomorrow, the Daily Office Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer includes Isaiah 5:8-25, as do the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship and the Lutheran Book of Worship. But they divide the passage separately, as indicated above, with the Episcopal tradition using sections A and C today, and B and D tomorrow, whereas the Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions follow the Biblical order with sections A and B today, and C and D tomorrow. The whole passage may be seen as an application of the judgment on Israel announced in yesterday’s “Song of the Vineyard” (Isa. 5:1-7). “I will remove its [the vineyard’s] hedge, / and it shall be devoured; / I will break down its wall, / and it shall be trampled down” (Isa. 5:5). In the larger context we have negative (judgmental) passages (1:3-31; 2:2-4:1; 5:1-30) alternating with positive (promises of a glorious future) passages (2:1-4; 4:2-6).

Joseph Blenkinsopp calls attention to a series of seven woes, introduced by “Ah, you who” (Hôy, ‘Woe to you who,’ NIV; ‘Woe unto them that,’ AV/KJV). as in “Ah, you who join house to house, / who add field to field, / until there is room for no one but you, / and you are left to live alone / in the midst of the land!” (Isa. 5:8). He lists “5:8-10, 11-17, 18-19, 20, 21, 22-24; 10:1-4" (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Isa. 5:8-24). Blenkinsopp calls these woes “a series of seven short poems . . . each beginning with ‘Woe’ (here [i.e., NRSV] translated Ah). Some commentators hold that 10:1-4 has fallen out of the lead position in the series and has been attached to the poem on divine anger” (Ibid.). However, the passage has affinities with its own context, for example, in the refrain, “For all this his [the LORD’s] anger has not turned away; / his hand is stretched out still” (10:4c, d; cf . 9:12c, d, 17e, f, 21c, d).

[A] The first of the woes, aimed at those “who join house to house, / who add field to field” (5:8a, b) “targets the ruling class , whose policies undermine the livelihood of the subsistence farmer by enclosing or confiscating patrimonial land, leading to the formation of large estates” (Blenkinsopp on Isa. 5:8-10). The punishment is announced: Surely many houses shall be desolate, / large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. / For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, / and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah” (vv. 9b, c, 10). According to Benjamin D. Sommer,

The eviction of peasants and the growth of massive estates was a major problem in the 8^th century (cf. Amos ch. 2; Mic. Ch. 2). In Israelite thought (as reflected in both prophetic literature and the Torah), land was ideally supposed to remain in the branch of a family in perpetuity, so that both tremendous wealth and penury would become unlikely. The Torah includes several laws to prevent poor or modest families from losing their land; see Lev. 25:8; Num. 26:1-11, 35; Deut. 27:17. (The Jewish Study Bible, p. 793, on Isa. 5:8-12).

[C} The third section (Isa. 18-23) includes four of the woes listed above (the 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th). The prophet addresses those “who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood, / who drag sin along as with cart ropes” (v. 18). He pictures leaders persisting in sin as burdened down like draft animals. They scoff at the LORD by saying “Let him make haste, / let him speed his work / that we may see it; / let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment, / that we may know it!” (v. 19). The fourth woe is against “you who call evil good / and good evil,” which is compared to putting “darkness for light / and light for darkness,” and putting “bitter for sweet / and sweet for bitter” (v. 20). Blenkinsopp calls this “moral sophistry” (on v. 20). Two quick woes are addressed to those who “are wise in your own eyes, / and shrewd in you own sight!” (v. 21)–not really intelligent–and to those “who are heroes in drinking wine / and valiant at mixing drink,” but “who acquit the guilty for a bribe, / and deprive the innocent of their rights! (vv. 22-23)–that is, those who pervert justice by accepting bribes.

NOTE: Section B (see above), listed for today in the Presbyterian and Lutheran traditions, will be treated with tomorrow’s readings (Dec. 12, 2006). Other comments on today’s Old Testament reading may be found in the Archive for December 6, 2004, two years ago (Monday of the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One):

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

5:` Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6 So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7 for those who sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, NRSV)

The comments on the reading from 1 Thessalonians are combined here with some adaptation from Monday, December 6, 2004 (Monday of the week of the Second Sunday of Advent, Year One), from November 27, 2005 (the first Sunday of Advent, Year Two), and from May 16, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year Two):

As noted last Saturday, Paul addresses the concern of some Thessalonian believers about the delay of the Lord’s coming. In today’s reading he gets rather specific. “For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2), he says, meaning that the Lord will return at an unknown or unexpected time. The phrase, “the day of the Lord,” was “well established in Israelite tradition. . . . a time of joy for some and terror for others” (Philip F. Esler, The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, p. 1210 on 1 Thess. 5:2):

Thus Isaiah had written that on ‘that day’ a great trumpet would sound and the scattered ones in Assyria and Egypt would come to worship the Lord on Jerusalem’s holy mountain (Isa. 27:13). Zephaniah, on the other hand, had presented a bleaker picture: a day that would be a day of wrath, of anguish and torment, of destruction and devastation, when the Lord would bring dire distress upon the people (Zeph. 1:14-18). Paul must have imparted some of this material to his ex-idolatrous converts, no doubt painting a happy future for them and an unhappy one for sinful out-groups.

“When they say, ‘There is peace and security’,” says Paul, “then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!” (v. 3). But Paul assures the Thessalonians, “But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief, for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness” (vv. 4-5). So, amid all this darkness and gloom (cf. today’s reading from Isaiah, and the persecutions anticipated in Jesus’ eschatological speech, below), there is hope and promise for God's faithful people. The Thessalonian believers are to be watchful, and “not fall asleep as others do, but . . . keep awake and be sober” (v. 6), asleep, of course, a spiritual sense. They are to be alert and expectant, ready for the coming of the Lord. They are to “put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (v. 8; cf. Eph. 6:16-17),. God’s plan for us is “not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him” (1 Thess. 5:9, 10). Last Saturday’s reading from Luke includes the promise, “By your endurance you will gain your souls” (Lk. 21:19). The passage in 1 Thessalonians concludes with this: "Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing" (1 Thess. 5:11). And so, we should encourage one another as Paul directs. We are called to be faithful and lift up our heads to see God's promised blessings.

Luke 21:20-28

Today’s reading from Luke is in the column on the right in the following table.

The following comments are adapted here from June 18, 2005 (Saturday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 15, 2005, Year One),

In Luke, the Eschatological Discourse continues. The table of reference used Saturday is repeated here, with today’s references highlighted. The sayings on False Christs and False Prophets (Mark 13:21-23) is elaborated by Matthew (24:23-28). Luke, in a different context (ch. 17) omits the specific reference to messiahs and prophets but retains the warning, “They will say to you, ‘Look there!’ or Look here!’ Do not go, do not set off in pursuit” (Lk. 17:23). Luke combines 17:20-21 , essentially different from the parallels, with 17:22-37 (which has several parallel verses in Mt. 24 and Mk. 13), on the day of the Son of Man, for another passage similar to the eschatological discourse in chapter 21.

Assuming that Mark’s Gospel was one of Luke’s sources, we would say that Luke has added the reference to “Jerusalem surrounded by armies” and interpreted the phrase “desolating sacrilege” as the “desolation” of Jerusalem (Lk. 21:20; cf. Mk. 13:14; Mt. 24:15. Luke elaborates the warning, “then those in Judaea must flee to the mountains” (Mk. 13:14b; Mt. 24:16; Lk. 21:21a), with a warning for city’s inhabitants to flee and for those “out in the country” not to enter it, again with Jerusalem in mind (Lk 21:21b, omitting the warnings for those on the housetop and those in the field). Other differences include the specific predictions of death by sword, captivity among the nations, and that “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles” (v. 24). Luke is brief about the “signs” in the heavens (v. 25; cf. Mk. 13:24; Mt. 24:29), but stresses “distress among nations” on earth (v. 25) and assert that “People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world” because “the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (v. 26).

Eric Franklin comments on these differences:

Luke’s is a free handling of the tradition which he most probably took over from Mark. Though it is often maintained that he reduces the expectation of an early parousia, there is little in this chapter to suggest it. What he does is to separate out a number of events that Mark sees as leading directly into it. The fall of Jerusalem will have happened by the time Luke wrote and he could look back on times of persecution. The parousia remained his ultimate hope, however, and this continued to impinge directly upon the present. The confidence with which he could proclaim it came from his belief that Jesus, now exalted to the right hand of God, guaranteed the Kingdom as a present reality. Its very nearness in spatial terms meant that its open revelation would not be long delayed in time. (The Oxford Bible Commentary, p, 954, on Lk. 21:1-38)

The kingdom’s impinging “directly upon the present” is perhaps best seen in Jesus statement, “the kingdom of God is among [text note d, or within] you” (Lk. 17:21). We all celebrate the “presence” of the Lord in our worship, and we all look forward to his coming. “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20b).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com