Isaiah 5:11
11 Woe [howy] unto them that rise
up early [shakam] in the morning, [boqer] that they may follow [radaph] strong drink; [shekar] that continue ['achar] until night, [nesheph] till
wine [yayin] inflame [dalaq] them! KJV-Interlinear
11 Woe
to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink;, Who
stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them! NASB
Woe, is an interjection
designed to gain the attention of the listener or reader. Woe means alas, aha, oh. This is a lamentation and is a warning in
order to strike a nerve and make clear, that the behavior being described, is
not a good behavior, but one in which the person will suffer greatly. But more than that, this describes the
pattern of life that people have adopted for themselves, a pattern that
excludes God and truth.
Arise up early is
generally a good thing, but when the priorities are to begin the day in sin,
and continue in sin or evil of whatever sort, then the arising up early
describes the engrained pattern of life that the person has entrenched in the
core of their life. In effect they eat, sleep, and work evil from within
themselves, and around the clock.
Strong drink is a descriptive
term that identifies something that causes intoxication more rapidly than would
occur with a normal wine or beverage.
Thus the more intense drinks or concoctions with which the person drives
themselves to a state of intoxification.
Continue until night …
until inflamed, means more that drinking all day and maintaining a drunken
state, this creates a picture of a daily habit.
Day in and day out the routine is the same. The pattern of life is disregard for doctrine
and a pursuit of something that the person enjoys, namely the enjoyment of
evil. Evil becomes the general and accepted
way of life. Evil becomes the intoxication
and escape from reality.
And so arrogance leads to
greed which leads to a drunken habit of life.
While the responsibilities of life, namely the work or food production,
which are the staples of life, are ignored.
Production drops to virtually nothing, people are starving, homes become
empty, and there is an indifference toward the difficult state of affairs all
around.
Instead of being
responsible, there is irresponsibility.
Instead of work there is the party atmosphere. Instead of recognizing ones obligations there
is a carefree attitude absent of obligations.
And so it is, when the
life excludes doctrine, then that same disregard of truth overflows to the
physical life and becomes a pattern of life which is evil and destructive.
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