ISAIAH 4-5

 

 Isaiah 4

Verse 1. See Exodus 21:10.

This continues the description of court women in chapter 3, condition in which number of men have been decimated by war. The disgrace is that of childlessness.

Verses 2-6. For the first time, “In that day” refers to events of hopefulness. In contrast to rather specific prophecies of gloom in the book, the prophecies of hope are rather vague. Reason?

Verse 2. Jumps to future events in return from exile. “Branch” usually refers to the Messiah coming from the line of David—in both early Jewish and Christian writings. Presence of messiah in this verse is necessary to understanding how sins are to be taken away in verses 3-4.

Verse 3. Reference to individuals—holy and saved. Book of life reference in Malachi 3:16.

Verse 4. Metaphorical allusion to menstrual blood which renders women ritually impure.

Verse 5 Reference to Exodus in which the presence of God was indicated by these phenomena.

Refers back to Isaiah 1:13—references to sacrifices and ceremonies rather than specific places where these occur.

Isaiah 5

Verses 1-7. Vineyard is often used as a metaphor for a lover (Song of Songs, for example). The line is similar to Song of Songs 8:11. Both place names are probably fictional. In Isaiah it translates as Horn of Olive Oil.

Verse 2. Mention of a watchtower indicates that Jesus had these verses in mind when he told the parable in Matthew 21:33-41. Field towers were rare but have been found by archeologists. Use not entirely known but may have provided defense against predators during harvest season, shade for workers, and temporary storage place for juice.

Verse 3. At this point, the people are, in reality, asked to make a judgment against themselves as in Jesus' parables. Also similar to Nathan's technique toward David.

Verse 5. God still claims ownership.

Verse 7. A double pun in this verse: mishpat = justice, mishpah = bloodshed; tsedaqah = righteousness, tse'aqah = a cry. One paraphrase: “Did he find right? Nothing but riot. Did he find decency? Only despair.” Treatment of others indicates one's attitude toward God.

Verses 8-24. seven woes introduced by word “woe.” Most other commentator list only 6. There is a seventh one at 10:1-4 felt by Blenkinsopp to be misplaced.

verse 8. condemns those who take over ancestral land to increase the size of their estates. They ignored the provision in the law that land could never be sold, only leased since it belonged to God. Also they ignored the sabbatical year provision in which land reverted to the original owner every 50 years. Probably used the law of eminent domain (as recently expanded by the Supreme Court). Anchor Bible commentary: “From the prophetic perspective, legality is not the same as justice.”

Verse 10. bath = 6 gallons; ephah = a tenth of a donkey load. Both examples use 1/10 ratio. May indicate that owners of these estates were not interested in paying their tithes to the sanctuary.

Verse 12. music not in itself condemned, but typical of effete lifestyle.

Verse 17. The city reverts to nature once the people are gone.

Text difficult to translate as it stands. AB reads “sheep will feed among the ruins” for 17b rather than literal “swords, fat sheep, residing, will eat.”

Verse 18. Reminiscent of Marley's ghost dragging chains with him. May have been a purposeful reversal of Hosea 11:4.

Verse 24. Closely related to 1:4—rejecting the LORD = rejecting his word.

Verse 25. perhaps a reference to the great earthquake mentioned in Amos 1:2 and Zechariah 14:5. Alluded to in Assyrian records as taking place on June 15, 763 BC.

Verse 26. The nation is Assyria. She listens to and obeys God while Israel ignores Him.