Woe to you that join house to house and lay field to field, even to the end of the place: shall you alone dwell in the midst of the earth?

“Let him use those tenths and first-fruits, which are given according to the command of God, as a man of God; as also let him dispense in a right manner the free-will offerings which are brought in on account of the poor, to the orphans, the widows, the afflicted, and strangers in distress, as having that God for the examiner of his accounts who has committed the disposition to him. Distribute to all those in want with righteousness, and yourselves use the things which belong to the Lord, but do not abuse them; eating of them, but not eating them all up by yourselves: communicate with those that are in want, and thereby show yourselves unblameable before God. For if you shall consume them by yourselves, you will be reproached by God, who says to such unsatiable people, who alone devour all, "You eat up the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool;" [Ezekiel 34:3] and in another passage, "Must you alone live upon the earth"? [Isaiah 5:8] Upon which account you are commanded in the law, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." [Leviticus 19:18] Now we say these things, not as if you might not partake of the fruits of your labours; for it is written, "You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox which treads out the grain;" [Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9] but that you should do it with moderation and righteousness. As, therefore, the ox that labours in the threshing-floor without a muzzle eats indeed, but does not eat all up; so do you who labour in the threshing-floor, that is, in the Church of God, eat of the Church: which was also the case of the Levites, who served in the tabernacle of the testimony, which was in all things a type of the Church.”

“Attend to yourself, poor one; for your soul is precious: and if mortal flesh, a temporary soul: and if you lack money, grace does not lack: and if there is no spacious house, widespread possession, heaven is open, the earth is free. The elements have been given to all in common, the ornaments of the world are open equally to the rich and the poor. Are not the faces of the heavens, adorned with shining stars, more beautiful than the most precious gold-leaf ceilings of luxurious houses? Are the riches of the rich wider than the expanses of the earth? Whence it was said to those who join house to house and villa to villa: Will you alone dwell upon the earth? You have a larger house: the poor, in which you cry out and are heard. ... The house of God is common to the rich and the poor.”

“You see, even if many people do not admit this in so many words but claim to believe in the doctrine of the resurrection and future retribution, nevertheless I take notice not of their words but of what they do day to day. That is to say, if you are looking forward to resurrection and retribution, why go chasing the values of this life to such an extent? Why, tell me, do you put yourself to such trouble day in and day out amassing more possessions than there is sand on the seashore, not to mention property and dwellings, as well as buying baths, often acquiring these things through robbery and greed and thus fulfilling that saying from the inspired author "Woe to those who add house to house, and join field to field so as to steal from their neighbor"? Cannot this sort of thing be seen happening day after day? One person says, "That house casts a terrible shadow on mine," and he invents countless pretexts to get hold of it, while another lays hold of a poor person's property and makes it his own. And what in fact is worse, remarkable and unheard of and quite beyond excuse, is for a person comfortably situated in one locality being able to move elsewhere without any good reason for wanting to, either on account of a change of circumstances or because constrained by physical disability; all over the place, in city after city, he is bent on procuring monuments to his own avarice and having timeless effigies of his own evil for all to see. He heaps all sins of this kind on his own head without feeling his heavy and troublesome burden, whereas enjoyment of them he leaves for others, not only after his departure from this life but even here before his demise. You see, no matter what he wishes, he is stripped of his possessions, they are all squandered, so to say, by his friends and left in tatters without the smallest part of them falling to him to enjoy. Yet why do I say enjoy? Even if he wanted, how could he with one stomach manage to dispose of such an abundance of good things?”

“Woe to those who join a house to a house Twenty-two instances of אַשְׁרֵי, fortunate, were said in the Book of Psalms concerning those who fulfill [the tenets of] the Torah, and Isaiah said twenty-two times, “הוֹי,” woe, concerning the wicked. Woe An expression of a cry of a sigh concerning the impending retribution. those who join a house to a house They draw their houses one to the other, thereby taking the land of the weak poor man between the two houses, and so a field to a field they draw near until there is no place No place for the poor man to live. and you will be settled alone in the midst of the land You think that neither the Holy One, blessed be He, nor the poor, have a share in the land. His share of the tithes you are stealing, and the poor, [you are robbing] of their land, so that you alone will occupy it.”

“הוי Oh. The sign for the vocative; or (אוי =) woe. That join house to house, etc. That move the boundaries of the houses and fields according to their own interest. אין = אפס Not. Till there be no place. Till they have taken away every place. הושבתם That you may be placed. Hophal of a verb ;פ״י comp. והורד and it was taken down (Num. 10:17)”

“I will sing to my beloved. Here he charges, thirdly, the sin of the two tribes, which they committed in the abuse of things, under a certain metaphor; and it is divided into two parts. In the first the metaphor is set down; in the second it is explained: for the vineyard. Concerning the first he does two things. First he sets down the title, saying, I will sing, that is, I will pronounce it loudly and openly: below, 40: lift up your voice with strength: to my beloved, that is, to the people of the Jews, a song of my cousin, that is, of the son of my paternal uncle, of his vineyard, that is, of what he did concerning his vineyard. For sometimes the prophets take likenesses for their prophecies from the very deeds that occurred, as is clear in Jer. 32, concerning the sale of a field. Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum your cousin comes to you saying: buy for yourself my field which is in Anathoth, for it belongs to you, etc. Thus it could also happen, according to the letter, that some cousin of his composed a similar song about his own vineyard. Or otherwise: I will sing a song to my beloved, namely to God, that is, in his own person, to his vineyard. Or otherwise: to my beloved, namely God, a song of my cousin, that is, concerning my cousin, namely the people of the Jews, because we descend from the same parents, of his vineyard, that is, the cousin who is the vineyard of the beloved God. Or mystically, my cousin, of Christ, who is of the same people as I, of his vineyard, that is, of him who complains concerning his vineyard, the synagogue, which brought him bitter fruits in the passion. And note, that a song properly belongs to exultation. Hence here it is improperly called a song, since it is one of grief. Such a song David sang concerning the death of Saul. 2 Kings 1: your renowned ones, O Israel, are slain upon your mountains. How are the mighty of Israel fallen? (...). Mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain come. Ezek. 32: sing a mournful song. Second, at, the vineyard was made, he sets down the song itself, which contains the metaphor: in which three things are set down. First, the recitation of the cause; second, the interrogation for judgment, at, now therefore, inhabitants; third, the pronouncing of the sentence, at, now I will show. Concerning the first he sets down two things. First, on the part of the complainant, the diligence of cultivation; second, on the part of the vineyard, the wickedness of the fruit, at, and I waited that it should make grapes. Now the diligence of cultivation is shown from three things: in the preparation of the place, in the choice of the branches, and in the costly building. The preparation of the place is first described in three ways. First, as to the fatness of the place: hence he says: a vineyard, concerning which Ps. 79: you transferred a vineyard out of Egypt, you cast out the nations, and planted it: was made for my beloved, that is, for God by way of acquisition, or by God, on a horn, that is, in a high place, in which is noted the mountainous character of the land for the establishing of a good vineyard, on account of this: that it is looked upon by the sun, a son of oil, that is, so fat that it would suffice for an abundance of oil. For it is a property of Hebrew speech that anyone is said to be the son of that thing in which he abounds, just as it is said in 1 Kings 26: as the Lord lives, that you are sons of death. And in this is designated the goodness of the land which was given to the Jews; concerning which Ezek. 20: I lifted up my hand for them, that I might lead them out of the land of Egypt into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is excellent among all lands. Second, the diligence of preparation is set down as to the fortification of the place: hence he says, he hedged it about. Hosea 2: I will hedge your way with thorns: in which is signified the guardianship of angels and of good men. Third, as to the clearing: he gathered out the stones from it, that is, he diligently collected them out of it. Ps. 79: you cast out the nations, and planted it. As to the choice of the branches it is said: and he planted it a chosen vine, that is, from chosen branches: hence another translation has, the vine Soreth, which is the noblest kind of vine, in which is signified the goodness of the fathers. Jer. 2: I planted you a chosen vine, wholly a true seed. As to the cost of the building, which pertains to defense, he says: he built a tower in the midst of it; in which royal dignity is shown. Ezek. 16: you became exceedingly beautiful, and you advanced to a kingdom. Song of Songs 4: the tower of David is built with bulwarks. Or the temple, according to others. The use of the tower is for the preservation of the fruit, and for looking out to keep watch. As to the gathering of the fruit he says: a wine-press. Prov. 3: your barns shall be filled with abundance, and your presses shall overflow with wine; in which is noted the altar of holocausts, on account of the shedding of blood. And I waited that it should make. Here is set down the wickedness of the fruit: hence he says: and I waited, according to the order of benefits, that it should make grapes, the fruit of good works, and it made labruscae, that is, wild grapes, so called from this, because they grow on the edges of the roads, namely the hedges: in which the bitterness of vices is noted. Jer. 2: how have you turned for me into a corrupt foreign vine? Micah 7: he who is best among them is like a briar; and he who is upright, like a thorn from a hedge. Now therefore, inhabitants. Here is set down the interrogation of judgment: and concerning this he does two things. First he calls upon the judges, saying: therefore, because I have done what I ought, now, my case having been heard, judge between me and my vineyard. Hosea 2: judge your mother, judge her: for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. A similar judgment was sought from David concerning himself as if concerning another, 2 Kings 12, over the sin committed by him, namely concerning adultery and the murder of Uriah the Hittite. Second he seeks judgment; and he seeks two things. First, whether he sinned out of negligence; hence he says: what more, beyond what has been said above, ought I to have done? Micah 6: my people, what have I done to you, or in what have I troubled you? Answer me. Second, whether he sinned in the cultivation of the vineyard out of excessive care: hence he says: or perhaps I seem to have done more than was due, in that I expected, by cultivating it well, that it should make grapes, and it made labruscae? As if to say: in this I seem rather to have been excessive, in that I applied so much cultivation to my vineyard. Below, 26: Lord, you have been indulgent to the nation, you have been indulgent to the nation. Have you been glorified? And 48: I called you a transgressor from the womb, for my name's sake. Jer. 11: at the sound of speech, a great fire was kindled in her, and her thickets were burned. The vineyard of carnal concupiscence, Deut. 32: of the vineyard of the Sodomites, etc.; the wine of wrath, Deut. 32: the gall of dragons, an incurable poison; of lust, Apoc. 18: of the wine of her fornication, etc.; of foolish gladness, 3 Esdras 3: it turns every mind to security; of the faithful soul, Song of Songs 2: our vineyard has flourished; the wine of penitence, Luke 10: pouring in oil and wine; of bodily cleanness, Zech. 9: and wine bringing forth virgins; of spiritual gladness, Ps.: wine gladdens the heart of man; of the Church militant, Song of Songs, last chapter: which has peoples; the wine of sacred washing, Num. 15: and wine for the drink-offerings; of fruitful preaching, Ps.: from the fruit of the grain; of devout confession, Song of Songs 7: your throat; of the heavenly homeland, 3 Kings 21, concerning Naboth; the wine of divine enjoyment, Song of Songs 8: I have eaten the honeycomb with the honey; of interior fullness, Esther 1: wine also, as befits royal magnificence; of the congratulation of the saints, Song of Songs, last chapter: I will give you a cup of spiced wine. And now I will show you. Here the sentence is pronounced: and first he arouses attention or a hearing, saying: now, since you do not wish to pronounce the sentence, I will show you what I will do to my vineyard. Below, 48: I foretold it to you from then, before they came I declared it to you; lest perhaps you should say: my idols have done this, and my graven and molten images have commanded these things which you have heard. Second he pronounces the just sentence, that he may take away from the ungrateful the benefit bestowed, when he says, I will take away its hedge. And first he takes away the benefit which pertains to guardianship, which is twofold. That of the angels: and as to this he says, I will take away its hedge, that is, the aid of the angels, by which it was protected against enemies, and it shall be for a spoil, to the nations. Ecclus. 36: where there is no hedge, the possession shall be plundered. There is also the guardianship of prelates; and as to this he says, I will break down its wall, that is, the defenses of the kingdom, concerning which above, 2: and every loftiness of man shall be bowed down: and it shall be for a treading down, that is, made vile. Ps. 79: you have destroyed its wall. Second he takes away the benefit which pertains to the diligence of cultivation: hence he says: and I will make it a wasteland; that is, I will leave it untilled like a desert. It shall not be pruned, by admonition or by the lash of correction when it sins, and it shall not be dug, so that the occasions of evil might be taken away from them, like weeds; and briars and thorns shall grow up over it, that is, greater and lesser sins: or briars of sins, thorns of tribulations. Below, 7: for briars and thorns shall be in the whole land. Third he takes away the benefit of fertility, against which he sets the failure of rain: hence he says: and I will command the clouds that they rain not: according to the letter, or the clouds are the preachers. Below, 60: who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows? Jer. 3: wherefore the drops of rain have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts. Here he explains the metaphor: and first as to the vineyard; second as to the cause of the vineyard, at, I waited that it should do judgment. Concerning the first he explains the vineyard, saying, for the vineyard, first, is the house of Israel; either the whole, or as to the ten tribes, which were called Israel after the separation of the kingdom, on account of their multitude. Second, as to the shoot or the branches, the men of Judah, that is, the two tribes in which the worship of God was still observed. Hosea 4: though you play the harlot, Israel, do not at least forsake Judah. Or because from it come the princes. 1 Chron. 5: moreover Judah, who was the strongest among his brothers, from his stock princes sprang. I waited that it should do judgment. Here he explains the cause of the vineyard, which consists in the fault, and the punishment which follows the fault: hence it is divided into three parts. In the first the fault is set down in general; in the second, fault and punishment together in particular, at, woe to you who join house; in the third, punishment in general, at, in all these things. He charges the fault in general as to the prelates, whose task it is to do judgment, in this that he says: I waited, according to the order of benefits, that it should do judgment, judging justly; and behold iniquity, as it were an inequality of judgment. Eccles. 3: I saw under the sun, in the place of judgment, impiety, and in the place of judgment, iniquity. Second, as to the subjects, whose task it is to hold to the justice prescribed for them by the prelates: and justice, which is by comparison to the precepts of the law; and behold a cry, the tumult of those quarreling, or the complaint of the poor. Below, 22: what ails you too, that you also have gone up onto the rooftops, full of clamor, a crowded city, an exultant city. Woe to you who join house to house. Here he sets down their fault in the abuse of things in particular, pursuing it part by part. And it is divided into two parts. In the first he charges them as to the fault itself; in the second as to their persistence in sinning, at, woe to you who draw. Concerning the first he does two things. First he charges them as to the abuse of possessions, which comes about through avarice; in the second as to the abuse of foods, which comes about through gluttony, at, woe to you who rise up. Concerning the first, three things are set down. First the excessive multiplication of possessions is charged: hence he says: woe to you who join house to house, and couple field to field, even to the limit of the place; as far as to the public road. Hosea 5: the princes of Judah have become like those who remove the boundary upon them. Jer. 22: woe to him who builds his house in injustice, and his upper rooms not in judgment. He will oppress his friend without cause, and will not repay him his wages. Who says: I will build myself a wide house, and spacious upper rooms. Micah 2: and they coveted fields, and took them violently, and seized houses, and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Second is set down the appeal of the judge: shall you dwell in the midst of the land? Which is wide and spacious, and given to many for a possession. Gen. 1: increase, and multiply, and fill the earth. Third the threat of punishment is set down: and concerning this two things are set down. First the authority or power of the one who punishes: hence he says: these words are in my ears, of the Lord of hosts, who is able to punish: which I shall tell you, are still sounding in my ears, my inward ears; in which the certainty of the words is noted. Below, 50: he wakens my ear in the morning, that I may hear as a master. The Lord God has opened my ear: and I do not contradict. Second the severity of the punishment is set down, at, unless the houses. And first, as to the solitude of the houses, he says, unless the houses shall be deserted, as to guardianship, and without an inhabitant, as to the solitude of the houses; as if to say: my wrath shall not rest. And it is an aposiopesis, which is a breaking-off of speech. And he sets down those things in which the riches of houses consist: namely in number: and as to this he says, many: in beauty: and as to this he says, beautiful: in size, great. Zeph. 1: and their strength shall be for a spoil, and their houses for a desert. Second, as to the barrenness of the vineyards, he says: ten jugera of vineyard (a jugerum has 120 feet in length) shall make one small flask. Another text has: a bath, which is of the same capacity in liquids, as an ephah in dry things. Third, as to the loss of seed: and thirty modii shall make three, because you shall gather less than you sowed. Haggai 2: when you came to a heap of twenty modii, and there were ten. Others have a cor, or an ephah, which is a tenth part of a cor. Ezek. 45: the ephah and the bath shall be equal, and shall be of one measure, so that the bath may hold the tenth part of a cor, and the ephah the tenth part of a cor.”

“The world and the flesh are the two great enemies that we are in danger of being overpowered by; yet we are in no danger if we do not ourselves yield to them. Eagerness of the world, and indulgence of the flesh, are the two sins against which the prophet, in God's name, here denounces woes. These were sins which then abounded among the men of Judah, some of the wild grapes they brought forth (Isa 5:4), and for which God threatens to bring ruin upon them. They are sins which we have all need to stand upon our guard against and dread the consequences of. I. Here is a woe to those who set their hearts upon the wealth of the world, and place their happiness in that, and increase it to themselves by indirect and unlawful means (Isa 5:8), who join house to house and lay field to field, till there be no place, no room for anybody to live by them. If they could succeed, they would be placed alone in the midst of the earth, would monopolize possessions and preferments, and engross all profits and employments to themselves. Not that it is a sin for those who have a house and a field, of they have wherewithal, to purchase another; but 1. Their fault is, (1.) That they are inordinate in their desires to enrich themselves, and make it their whole care and business to raise an estate, as if they had nothing to mind, nothing to seek, nothing to do, in this world, but that. They never know when they have enough, but the more they have the more they would have; and, like the daughters of the horseleech, they cry, Give, give. They cannot enjoy what they have, nor do good with it, but are constantly contriving and studying to make it more. They must have variety of houses, a winter-house, and a summer-house, and if another man's house or field lie convenient to theirs, as Naboth's vineyard to Ahab's, they must have that too, or they cannot be easy. (2.) That they are herein careless of others, nay, and injurious to them. They would live so as to let nobody live but themselves. So that their insatiable covetings may be gratified, they care not what becomes of all about them, what encroachments they make upon their neighbours' rights, what hardships they put upon those that they have power over or advantage against, nor what base and wicked arts they use to heap up treasure to themselves. They would swell so big as to fill all space, and yet are still unsatisfied (Ecc 5:10), as Alexander, who, when he fancied he had conquered the world, wept because he had not another world to conquer. Deficiente terr, non impletur avaritia - If the whole earth were monopolized, avarice would thirst for more. What! will you be placed alone in the midst of the earth? (so some read it); will you be so foolish as to desire it, when we have so much need of the service of others and so much comfort in their society? Will you be so foolish as to expect that the earth shall be forsaken for us (Job 18:4), when it is by multitudes that the earth is to be replenished? An propter vos solos tanta terra creata est?-Was the wide world created merely for you? Lyra. 2. That which is threatened as the punishment of this sin is that neither the houses nor the fields they were thus greedy of should turn to any account, Isa 5:9, Isa 5:10. God whispered it to the prophet in his ear, as he speaks in a like case (Isa 22:14): It was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts (as God told Samuel a thing in his ear, Sa1 9:15); he thought he heard it still sounding in his ears; but he proclaimed it, as he ought, upon the house-tops, Mat 10:27. (1.) That the houses they were so fond of should be untenanted, should stand long empty, and should yield them no rent, and go out of repair: Many houses shall be desolate, the people that should dwell in them, being cut off by sword, famine, or pestilence, or carried into captivity; or trade being dead, and poverty coming upon the country like an armed man, those that had been housekeepers were forced to become lodgers, or shift for themselves elsewhere. Even great and fair houses, that would invite tenants, and (there being a scarcity of tenants) might be taken at low rates, shall stand empty without inhabitants. God created not the earth in vain; he formed it to be inhabited, Isa 45:18. But men's projects are often frustrated, and what they frame answers not the intention. We have a saying, That fools build houses for wise men to live in; but sometimes, as the event proves, they are built for no man to live in. God has many ways to empty the most populous cities. (2.) That the fields they were so fond of should be unfruitful (Isa 5:10): Ten acres of vineyard shall yield only such a quantity of grapes as will make but one bath of wine (which was about eight gallons), and the seed of a homer, a bushel's sowing of ground, shall yield but an ephah, which was the tenth part of a homer; so that through the barrenness of the ground, or the unreasonableness of the weather, they should not have more than a tenth part of their seed again. Note, Those that set their hearts upon the world will justly be disappointed in their expectations from it. II. Here is a woe to those that dote upon the pleasures and delights of sense, Isa 5:11, Isa 5:12. Sensuality ruins men as certainly as worldliness and oppression. As Christ pronounces a woe against those that are rich, so also against those that laugh now and are full (Luk 6:24, Luk 6:25), and fare sumptuously, Luk 16:19. Observe, 1. Who the sinners are against whom this woe is denounced. (1.) They are such as are given to drink; they make their drinking their business, have their hearts upon it, and overcharge themselves with it. They rise early to follow strong drink, as husbandmen and tradesmen do to follow their employments; as if they were afraid of losing time from that which is the greatest misspending of time. Whereas commonly those that are drunken are drunken in the night, when they have despatched the business of the day, these neglect business, abandon it, and give up themselves to the service of the flesh; for they sit at their cups all day, and continue till night, till wine inflame them - inflame their lusts (chambering and wantonness follow upon rioting and drunkenness) - inflame their passions; for who but such have contentions and wounds without cause? Pro 23:29-35. They make a perfect trade of drinking; nor do they seek the shelter of the night for this work of darkness, as men ashamed of it, but count it a pleasure to riot in the day-time. See Pe2 2:13. (2.) They are such as are given to mirth. They have their feasts, and they are so merrily disposed that they cannot dine or sup without music, musical instruments of all sorts, like David (Amo 6:5), like Solomon (Ecc 2:8); the harp and the viol, the tarbet and pipe, must accompany the wine, that every sense may be gratified to a nicety; they take the timbrel and harp, Job 21:12. The use of music is lawful in itself; but when it is excessive, when we set our hearts upon it, misspend time in it, so that it crowds our spiritual and divine pleasures and draws away the heart from God, then it turns into sin for us. (3.) They are such as never give their mind to any thing that is serious: They regard not the work of the Lord; they observe not his power, wisdom, and goodness, in those creatures which they abuse and subject to vanity, nor the bounty of his providence in giving them those good things which they make the food and fuel of their lusts. God's judgments have already seized them, and they are under the tokens of his displeasure, but they regard not; they consider not the hand of God in all these things; his hand is lifted up, but they will not see, because they will not disturb themselves in their pleasures nor think what God is doing with them. 2. What the judgments are which are denounced against them, and in part executed. It is here foretold, (1.) that they should be dislodged; the land should spue out these drunkards (Isa 5:13): My people (so they call themselves, and were proud of it) have therefore gone into captivity, are as sure to go as if they were gone already, because they have no knowledge; how should they have knowledge when by their excessive drinking they make sots and fools of themselves? They set up for wits; but because they regard not God's controversy with them, nor take any care to make their peace with him, they may truly be said to have no knowledge; and the reason is because they will have none; they are inconsiderate and wilful, and are therefore destroyed for lack of knowledge. (2.) That they should be impoverished, and come to want that which they had wasted and abused to excess: Even their glory are men of famine, subject to it and slain by it; and their multitude are dried up with thirst. Both the great men and the common people are ready to perish for want of bread and water. This is the effect of the failure of the corn (Isa 5:10), for the king himself is served of the field, Ecc 5:9. And when the vintage fails the drunkards are called upon to weep, because the new wine is cut off from their mouth (Joe 1:5), and not so much because now they want it as because when they had it they abused it. It is just with God to make men want that for necessity which they have abused to excess. (3.) What multitudes should be cut off by famine and sword (Isa 5:14): Therefore hell has enlarged herself. Tophet, the common burying-place, proves too little; so many are there to be buried that they shall be forced to enlarge it. The grave has opened her mouth without measure, never saying, It is enough, Pro 30:15, Pro 30:16. It may be understood of the place of the damned; luxury and sensuality fill these regions of darkness and horror; there those are tormented who made a god of their belly, Luk 16:25; Phi 3:19. (4.) That they should be humbled and abased, and all their honours laid in the dust. This will be done effectually by death and the grave: Their glory shall descend, not only to the earth, but into it; it shall not descend after them (Psa 49:17), to stand them in any stead on the other side death, but it shall die and be buried with them - poor glory, which will thus wither! Did they glory in their numbers? Their multitude shall go down to the pit, Eze 31:18; Eze 32:32. Did they glory in the figure they made? Their pomp shall be at an end; their shouts with which they triumphed, and were attended. Did they glory in their mirth? Death will turn it into mourning; he that rejoices and revels, and never knows what it is to be serious, shall go thither where there are weeping and wailing. Thus the mean man and the mighty man meet together in the grave and under mortifying judgments. Let a man be ever so high, death will bring him low - ever so mean, death will bring him lower, in the prospect of which the eyes of the lofty should now be humbled, Isa 5:15. It becomes those to look low that must shortly be laid low. 3. What the fruit of these judgments shall be. (1.) God shall be glorified, Isa 5:16. He that is the Lord of hosts, and the holy God, shall be exalted and sanctified in the judgment and righteousness of these dispensations. His justice must be owned in bringing those low what exalted themselves; and herein he is glorified, [1.] As a God is irresistible power. He will herein be exalted as the Lord of hosts, that is able to break the strongest, humble the proudest, and tame the most unruly. Power is not exalted but in judgment. It is the honour of God that, though he has a mighty arm, yet judgment and justice are always the habitation of his throne, Psa 89:13, Psa 89:14. [2.] As a God of unspotted purity. He that is holy, infinitely holy, shall be sanctified (that is, shall be owned and declared to be holy) in the righteous punishment of proud men. Note, When proud men are humbled the great God is honoured, and ought to be honoured by us. (2.) Good people shall be relieved and succoured (Isa 5:17): Then shall the lambs feed after their manner; the meek ones of the earth, who followed the Lamb, who were persecuted, and put into fear by those proud oppressors, shall feed quietly, feed in the green pastures, and there shall be none to make them afraid. See Eze 34:14. When the enemies of the church are cut off then have the churches rest. They shall feed at their pleasure; so some read it. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in abundant peace. They shall feed according to their order or capacity (so others read it), as they are able to hear the word, that bread of life. (3.) The country shall be laid waste, and become a prey to the neighbours: The waste places of the fats ones, the possessions of those rich men that lived at their ease, shall be eaten by strangers that were nothing akin to them. In the captivity the poor of the land were left for vine-dressers and husbandmen (Kg2 25:12); these were the lambs that fed in the pastures of the fats ones, which were laid in common for strangers to eat. When the church of the Jews, those fat ones, was laid waste, their privileges were transferred to the Gentiles, who had been long strangers, and the lambs of Christ's flock were welcome to them.”

“Woe unto them that join house to house,.... Or "O ye that join", &c.; for, as Aben Ezra observes, it signifies calling, as in Isa 55:1 though Jarchi takes it to be expressive of crying and groaning, on account of future punishments; and he observes, that as there are twenty two blessings pronounced in the book of Psalms, on those that keep the law, so there are twenty two woes pronounced by Isaiah upon the wicked: that lay field to field; the sin of covetousness is exposed and condemned in these words; not that it is unlawful in itself for a man that has a house or field of his own to purchase another that is next unto it; but when he is insatiable, and not content with his houses and lands, but is always coveting more, this is his sin, and especially if he seeks to get them by fraud or force: till there be no place; for others to dwell in and possess; and so the Targum, "and say, until we possess every place;'' or "unto the end of the place" (x), city, or field; till they have got all the houses in the town or city, and all the pieces of ground in the field, in their own possession: that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth, or land; that is, of Judea; wholly inhabit it themselves, and have the sole power and jurisdiction over it. It is in the Hebrew text (y) "that ye may be placed", &c.; the Targum is, "and they think they shall dwell alone in the midst of the land.'' (x) "usque ad terminum loci", V. L. (y) "constituamini", Vatablus, Forerius, Montanus; "colloeemini", Calvin.”

“"Woe unto them that join house to house, who lay field to field, till there is no more room, and ye alone are dwelling in the midst of the land." The participle is continued in the finite verb, as in Isa 5:23; Isa 10:1; the regular syntactic construction is cases of this kind (Ges. 134, Anm. 2). The preterites after "till" (there are to such preterites, for 'ephes is an intensified אין enclosing the verbal idea) correspond to future perfects: "They, the insatiable, would not rest till, after every smaller piece of landed property had been swallowed by them, the whole land had come into their possession, and no one beside themselves was settled in the land" (Job 22:8). Such covetousness was all the more reprehensible, because the law of Israel and provided so very stringently and carefully, that as far as possible there should be an equal distribution of the soil, and that hereditary family property should be inalienable. All landed property that had been alienated reverted to the family every fiftieth year, or year of jubilee; so that alienation simply had reference to the usufruct of the land till that time. It was only in the case of houses in towns that the right of redemption was restricted to one year, at least according to a later statute. How badly the law of the year of jubilee had been observed, may be gathered from Jer 34, where we learn that the law as to the manumission of Hebrew slaves in the sabbatical year had fallen entirely into neglect. Isaiah's contemporary, Micah, makes just the same complaint as Isaiah himself (vid., Mic 2:2).”