Monday, May 7, 2012

Isaiah 5:11


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
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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