Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 5:22
Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
22. them that are mighty ] heroes.
to mingle strong drink ] This was a delicate operation, almost a fine art, demanding a refined taste and much experience (Pro 23:30). The phrase does not mean to dilute with water, which was common among Greeks and Romans, but rather to enhance by the addition of aromatic herbs (cf. “spiced wine” in Son 8:2).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
22, 23. The sixth woe, against dissolute and corrupt judges. In Isa 5:11 f. drunkenness was denounced as destructive of all serious thought; here it is spoken of as the parent of injustice on the bench. Cf. Pro 31:4 f.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wo unto them that are mighty … – This is the sixth specification of crime. He had already denounced the intemperate in Isa 5:11. But probably this was a prevailing sin. Perhaps there was no evidence of reform; and it was needful to repeat the admonition, in order that people might be brought to regard it. The prophet repeats a similar denunciation in Isa 56:12.
Mighty – Perhaps those who prided themselves on their ability to drink much without becoming intoxicated; who had been so accustomed to it, that they defied its effects, and boasted of their power to resist its usual influence. A similar idea is expressed in Isa 56:12.
Men of strength – The Chaldee understands this of rich men; but, probably, the reference is to those who boasted that they were able to bear much strong drink.
To mingle – To mix wine with spices, dates, drugs, etc., to make it more intoxicating; Pro 9:2, Pro 9:5. They boasted that they were able to drink, without injury, liquor of extraordinary intoxicating qualities.
Strong drink – Note, Isa 5:11. On the subject of the strong drink used in the East, see Harmers Observations, vol. ii. pp. 140-148. Ed. Lond. 1808.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 5:22-23
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine . . . which justify the wicked for reward
Wine-loving lawyers and judges
Among the men whom Isaiah denounces as the corrupters and destroyers of the society of which they are the leaders, are the unjust lawyers and judges: he mentions as characteristic of them, that they are heroes at drinking, and spice their wine to make it stronger; by which, perhaps, we are to understand, not that their heads and senses were overcome with wine like the drunkards spoken of above, but that the effect on their hearts and consciences was such as to harden them in their criminal perversion of the law.
Perhaps the passage might be illustrated by instances of the professional character of hard-drinking but strong-headed judges of other times. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
Aromatites
The Romans called this spiced wine Aromatites. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
Drunkenness
The woe denounced in the text against those notorious for drunkenness is made up of the unavoidable effects it produces, and these effects are too dear a price to be paid by a reasonable creature for all the sensual pleasures of this life, did they even accompany this single sin.
I. THE DRUNKARDS EXCUSES.
1. His first excuse is charged to the account of good fellowship. But surely, friendship can never be founded on anything else than an amiable and affectionate disposition, a likeness of temper, and true honesty of heart on both sides. Will strong drink bestow these on us? Can mutual love and confidence be built on vice? And how doth drunkenness pro mote the gaiety of conversation? Does it not rather destroy all conversation, for what is conversation, but the communication of rational and agreeable thoughts?
2. The next excuse for drinking to excess is, that it stupefies the cares and troubles of the drunkard, which arise from three different quarters,–his ill state of health, the unfortunate posture of his worldly affairs, or the stings of his guilty conscience.
3. The drunkard hath other more common and accidental excuses for his vice. He says he is so exposed to company and business, that it is impossible for him to avoid drinking to excess. Then, he is of so easy and flexible a temper, that he cannot resist the importunities of his friends, as he calls them. Thus, he is for softening his vice into a sort of virtue, and calling that mere good nature, which his creditor calls villainy, and his family cruelty.
II. THE WOE DENOUNCED BY ALMIGHTY GOD; or, in other words, the miserable effects, as well temporal as spiritual, of his favourite vice.
1. Poverty.
2. Universal contempt.
3. Ill health and an untimely death.
4. These evils are as nothing compared to the spiritual evils that spring from drunkenness. In destroying his health he shortens his life, and so far is guilty of self-murder. In impairing his reason he makes his life useless and burdensome to the world. (J. Skelton.)
Mighty to drink wine
Strength is a great blessing, but if it is used in the service of sin it becomes a curse.
I. THE GREAT DRINKERS of that day were just the same sort of men as they are now here in our country.
1. They are grasping and selfish (Isa 5:8). They are often willing to take bribes if they are magistrates (Isa 5:23), and to condemn the innocent rather than lose their money or credit.
2. They are dull of understanding of the things of God (Isa 5:12).
3. They are greedy of sire Drink makes men pull destruction upon themselves (Isa 5:18).
4. They are liars (Isa 5:20). It would be difficult to find one lover of drink who was truthful. However kind and generous a sot may be, his word can never be depended upon. Deceiving and being deceived is his exact portrait.
5. Clever in their own eyes (Isa 5:21).
II. THE WOES the prophet declares are sure to come on these men mighty to drink wine.
1. Poverty (Isa 5:9-10). The great and beautiful houses will soon be vacant, and the neglected fields will soon be like the sluggards garden. More than half the empty houses and the farms that are given up in this country represent the doings of drink.
2. Degradation (Isa 5:13). Captivity to a Jew meant more than poverty–loss of honour, of position, of hope, grinding toil, pollution, horrid slavery. What can degrade body and mind like drink? (Isa 5:15.)
3. Death (Isa 5:14). There is a sin unto death. More than 60,000 drunkards go down to their dishonoured graves every year in Britain. Think of death and hell gaping to take in these hosts of slain. (Josiah Mee.)
The bane and antidote
(with Hab 2:15):–
I. THE EVIL.
1. As affecting the individual. It is no trivial result to demoralise the human spirit.
2. As it ramifies itself throughout the framework of society.
(1) As respects the family.
(2) The wider circle of the general community.
II. THE CURE.
1. Total abstinence.
2. Legislative prohibition. (J. Guthrie, M. A.)
The unworthy glorying of the intemperate
They gloried in it as a great accomplishment, that they were able to bear a great deal of strong liquor, without being overcome by it. Let drunkards know from this Scripture that–
1. They ungratefully abuse their bodily strength, which God hath given them for good purposes, and by degrees cannot but weaken it.
2. It will not excuse them from the guilt of drunkenness that they can drink hard, and yet keep their feet.
3. Those that boast of their drinking down others glory in their shame.
4. How light soever men make of their drunkenness, it is a sin which will certainly lay them open to the wrath and curse of God. (M. Henry.)
Intemperance a fine art
Cyrus, writing the Lacedaemonians for assistance, spoke in very high terms of himself, telling them he had a greater and more prince y heart than his brother; that he was the better philosopher, being instructed in the doctrines of the Magi, and that he could drink and bear more wine than his brother. (Plutarchs Artaxerxes.)
Mighty to drink wine
When Bonosus the drunken Roman had hanged himself, it went for a byword that a tun or tankard hung there and not a man. And when one was commended to King Alphonsus for a great drinker, and able to bear it, he answered that that was a good praise in a sponge but not in a prince. (J. Trapp.)
Darius, King of Persia, caused it to be engraved upon his tomb, I could drink much wine, and bear it bravely. Perhaps he was proud of it, but it was his shame. (J. Mee.)
Intemperance destroys character
The title of Rois faineants–do-nothing kings–expresses very aptly the character of the last descendants of the house of Clovis. At the moment when circumstances demanded from the occupants of the Frankish throne a more than ordinary share of talent and force of character, they lapsed into a state of imbecility and insignificance, both bodily and mental. Intemperance and debauchery entailed on them premature decrepitude; few attained the mature age of manhood; they rarely appeared in public, except at the annual pageant of the Champ de Mars. (Students France.)
A Japanese proverb
The Japanese have a true proverb which describes millions of sad cases: A man took a drink, then the drink took a drink, then the drink took the man. Effects of wine drinking:–Whilst the drunkard swallows wine, wine swallows him. God disregards him, angels despise him; men deride him, virtue declines him, the devil destroys him. (Augustine.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 22. Mighty to drink wine] “They show not,” says Kimchi, “their strength in combating their enemies, but in drunkenness and debauchery.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That are mighty to drink wine; that can drink much without intoxication, in which they gloried, as too many do at this day.
To mingle, i.e. to drink; the antecedent being put for the consequent, which is usual; for they mingled it in order to drinking.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22, 23. Sixth Woeagainstcorrupt judges, who, “mighty” in drinking “wine”(a boast still not uncommon), if not in defending their country,obtain the means of self-indulgence by taking bribes (“reward”).The two verses are closely joined [MAURER].
mingle strong drinknotwith water, but spices to make it intoxicating (Pro 9:2;Pro 9:5; Son 8:2).
take away therighteousnessset aside the just claims of those having arighteous cause.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine,…. That can bear a great deal, and not be overcome and intoxicated with it; that try their strength this way with others, and get the mastery and glory in it: not mighty to fight their enemies, as Kimchi observes, and defend their country, but to drink wine; by which their strength was weakened: wherefore some think soldiers are particularly designed, given to drinking, who are derided and mocked, as being valiant in the warfare of Bacchus, and not of Mars:
and men of strength, to mingle strong drink; in the cup, and then drink it: or “men of war”; the same with “mighty” before. The Targum interprets it, “men of riches”: who can afford to drink wine and strong drink; which carries the sense not to the strength of their bodies, but of their purses: the former sense seems best. The Scribes and Pharisees loved the cup and the platter, and to be at feasts, and to have the uppermost seats there, Mt 23:6 and that those that sat in Moses’s chair are intended appears from the following words.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The sixth woe: “Woe to those who are heroes to drink wine, and brave men to mix strong drink; who acquit criminals for a bribe, and take away from every one the righteousness of the righteous.” We see from Isa 5:23 that the drinkers in Isa 5:22 are unjust judges. The threat denounced against these is Isaiah’s universal ceterum censeo; and accordingly it forms, in this instance also, the substance of his sixth and last woe. They are heroes; not, however, in avenging wrong, but in drinking wine; they are men of renown, though not for deciding between guilt and innocence, but for mixing up the ingredients of strong artistic wines. For the terms applied to such mixed wines, see Psa 75:9; Pro 23:30, Son 7:3. It must be borne in mind, however, that what is here called shecar was not, properly speaking, wine, but an artificial mixture, like date wine and cider. For such things as these they were noteworthy and strong; whereas they judged unjustly, and took bribes that they might consume the reward of their injustice in drink and debauchery (Isa 28:7-8; Pro 31:5). “For reward:” ekeb (Arab. ukb ; different from akeb , a heel, = akib ) is an adverbial accusative, “in recompense,” or “for pay.” “ From him ” ( mimmennu ) is distributive, and refers back to tsaddikim (the righteous); as, for example, in Hos 4:8.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
22. Wo to them that are mighty to drink wine! Isaiah now censures another vice, namely, drunkenness and excess in eating, of which he had spoken before; so that probably this chapter is collected from various sermons, and the leading topics only are briefly touched; for when the Prophet saw no repentance, he was forced to repeat and frequently inculcate the same instructions. He therefore returns to the same reproofs which he had previously noticed; for he again discourses about drunkenness, luxury, covetousness, and other corruptions. Hence we ought to conclude, that when warnings produce no good effect, we ought to employ greater earnestness in addressing the obstinate and disobedient, and that we must not be afraid of giving offense by our eagerness, but must frequently repeat the reproofs, until they either yield or manifest incurable malice.
By calling them strong or powerful to drink, he wittily accuses them of wasting their strength in bacchanalian warfare. It is disgraceful and beastly ambition, when a man of vigorous health makes a display of his strength by drinking largely. Employing a figure of speech ( synecdoche) which is frequent in the Prophets, and indeed in the whole of Scripture, he takes a part for the whole; as if he had said, “Wo to gluttony; Wo to intemperance.” But he purposely mentioned that which was disgraceful in the highest degree, in order to render that vice generally hated and abhorred; for, as we have said, nothing is more base or disgraceful than for a man to make trial of his strength in swallowing food or in guzzling wine, and thus struggling with himself so as to cram down as much as his belly can hold. Such men keep by no rule of life, and do not know why God gives them nourishment; for we eat and drink to support the body, and not to destroy it. We live that we may yield worship and obedience to God, and that we may render assistance to our neighbors. When men act so as not to maintain their strength, but to destroy it by trying how much food and wine they can bear, most certainly they are worse than beasts.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE WOE OF THE DRUNKARD
Isa. 5:22. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink.
There are certain vices which the customs of certain countries seem to place only in the number of human infirmities; and yet, if we look at their effects, we shall see that really they are as black as those sins which God and man visits with the severest punishments.
I. The Drunkards excuses, by which he endeavours to defend or palliate his crime.
1. Good fellowship. But can friendship be founded on vice? especially on a vice which notoriously impairs the memory and the sense of obligation, leads to the betrayal of secrets, and stirs up strife and contention? Instead of promoting conversation it destroys it by destroying the very capability of communicating rational and agreeable thoughts. The drunkard may make his company merry, but they laugh at, not with, him, and merely because they are delighted with the sight of one even sillier than themselves.
2. It drowns care. But the drunkards care must arise either from his ill state of health, the unfortunate posture of his worldly affairs, or the stings of his guilty conscience; and, in either case, his temporary oblivion is purchased at the cost of an aggravation of the evils which cause him to desire it. To drink to drown remorse is especially absurd, for all that the drunkard can expect from this course is the benefit of travelling some part of the road to eternal misery with his eyes covered.
3. The drunkard has other excuses: he says that he is so exposed to company and business, that he cannot avoid drinking to excess, or that he is of so easy and flexible a temper, that he cannot resist the importunities of his friends, as he calls them. Thus he is for softening his vice into a sort of virtue, and calling that good nature, which his creditor calls villany, and his family cruelty.
II. The drunkards woe. This is made up of the miserable effects, as well temporal as spiritual, of his favourite vice.
1. Poverty.
2. Contempt.
3. Ill-health.
4. An untimely death. Consider, too, the spiritual evils that spring from and punish the vice of drunkenness.
1. The understanding is depraved and darkened.
2. The will is enfeebled and dethroned.
3. The passions are inflamed and rendered ungovernable.
4. Regard for men and reverence for God are destroyed. Drunkenness travels with a whole train of other vices, and requires the whole width of the broad way to give it room. Where its journey is to end, we know; so that if the guilt and misery which attend it here, be not enough, there, at least, the drunkard, having opened his eyes and recovered the use of his reason, will perceive the truth of the text.Skelton, in Claphams Selected Sermons, ii. 384392.
THE WOE OF THE DRUNKARD
Isa. 5:22. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink.
Woe to the drunkard. I. To his reputation [673] II. To his interests. III. To his health. IV. To his family. V. To his soul [676]J. Lyth, D.D.
[673] Some of you glory in your shame, that you have drunk down your companions, and carried it away,the honour of a sponge or a tub, which can drink up or hold liquor as well as you.Baxter, 16151691.
[676] We commend wine for the excellency of it; but if it could speak, as it can take away speech, it would complain, that by our abuse both the excellencies are lost; for the excellent man doth so spoil the excellent wine, until the excellent wine hath spoiled the excellent man. Oh, that a man should take pleasure in that which makes him no man; that he should let a thief in at his mouth to steal away his wit; that for a little throat-indulgence, he should kill in himself both the first Adam, his reason, and even the second Adam, his regeneration, and so commit two murders at once.Adams, 1653.
How base a price dost thou set upon thy Saviour and salvation, that will not forbear so much as a cup of drink for them? The smallness of the thing showeth the smallness of thy love to God, and the smallness of thy regard to His Word and to thy soul. Is that loving God as God, when thou lovest a cup of drink better? Art thou not ashamed of thy hypocrisy, when thou sayest thou lovest God above all, when thou lovest Him not so well as thy wine and ale? Surely he that loveth Him not above ale, loveth Him not above all! Thy choice showeth what thou lovest best, more certainly than thy tongue doth. It is the dish that a man greedily eateth of that he loveth, and not that which he commendeth but will not meddle with. God trieth mens love to Him, by their keeping His commandments. It was the aggravation of the first sin, that they would not deny so small a thing as the forbidden fruit, in obedience to God! And so it is of thine, that wilt not leave a forbidden cup for Him! O miserable wretch! dost thou not know thou canst not be Christs disciple, if thou forsake not all for Him, and hate not even thy life in comparison of Him, and wouldst not rather die than forsake Him! And art thou like to lay down thy life for Him that wilt not leave a cup of drink for Him? Canst thou burn at a stake for Him, that canst not leave an alehouse, or vain company, or excess for Him? What a sentence of condemnation dost thou pass upon thyself!Baxter, 16151691.
DRINK AND ITS WOES
Isa. 5:22. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink.
Human depravity and iniquity have existed in all ages and countries. The vices flowing therefrom have been much the sameselfishness, pride, sensualism, oppression, drunkenness. Alcohol acting directly on the brain, the seat of the mind, tends not only to derange, but to enfeeble and pervert, and produces moral obliquity, moral infatuation, and intensified delusion. All sorts of deceits are the consequence. ObserveI. THE CHARACTERS INTRODUCED (Isa. 5:22). Observe also Isa. 5:11-12. In the last verses there is reference to confirmed drunkards, daily, early, and late; the sensual debaucheestheir ignorance, want of thought and reflection. In the text, notorious drinkers, bold, impudent wager-layers, boasters, &c., and those who have got the victory over the usual drinks, and now make them stronger to meet the cravings of appetite and to keep up the excitement. Observe, this is the great peril of moderate drinking. It creates the appetite, it increases the appetite; last of all, it gives the appetite the control, and the man or woman becomes the slave and then the victim.
II. THE INFATUATION PORTRAYEDby
1. Giving false names to things (Isa. 5:20). Call
(1) evil good: drinks (poisons) are called beverages; evil things made by men are called Gods good creatures. And so they call
(2) good evil; despise the really good and safe; pour contempt on water and safe fluids, and treat them as evil or worthless. How drinks have secured the most alluring titlesstrong cordials, dew, &c., generous. Not only false names, but
2. False qualities (Isa. 5:20), Bitter for sweet. Now intoxicating drinks are not sweet or palatable to the natural taste; they blister the mouth of children; do burn the delicate nerves of the stomach; the tongue and lips have to be trained, drilled, hardened. Observe, they call sweet bitter; things really so are treated as insipid. Ask the spirit-drinker to take milk or tea, or water, and see how his poisoned taste revolts, &c.
Then there is presented to us
3. Infatuated results. Put darkness for light; men plead and say these drinks
(1) Brighten the intellect. How false! See the bloated faces, the diseased eyes, the sensual expression, the stupid look, the stupor. The light is artificial, momentary, falseno better than the effects of certain gases or deadly stimulants, as opium, Indian hemp, &c. But they refer to men, to Burns, Pitt, Sheridan, and other drinking wits. But they were intellectually great in spite, &c. Look at Milton, Sir Isaac Newton; look at the inspired prophetsthe seraphic Isaiah, the writer of the text.
(2) They who drink say their drinks lighten the heart, give social joyousness. Right; but is it not sensual, spurious, evanescent, ends in darkness? So they put light for darkness. The calm, equable sobriety of soul they called dulness, darkness. But this is real, abiding, and rational. So, both in name and quality, and in effects, they call evil good, &c.
III. THE WOES DENOUNCED.
1. There is the woe of physical consequences. The seed and the harvest, the poisons and their effects, fire, deranged stomach, plague, diseased liver, excited heart, fevered brain, all tending to a host of maladies, shortened life, and an early grave. There is
2. Woe of a distracted mind. Reason beclouded; reflection, perception, all marred. The guiding star eclipsed, the light obscured with darkness. There is the
3. Woe of moral defects. The man is vitiated, made worse and worse; his affections, his desires, his conscience, his heart, the whole soul. There is
4. The woe of perverted powers. Gifts, talents, &c., all poisoned; influence deadly; the man a cursea curse to all.
5. The woe of Gods malediction. Gods woe, His displeasure, His threatening, His curse; this is written in both volumes of the Scripturesin frightful representation, in declared eternal condemnation.
APPLICATION.Learn
1. The horrors associated with strong drink;
2. The advantages of absolute temperance;
3. The value of these associations;
4. The encouragement for laboursstaying curses, bringing down blessings; The necessity of immediate decision; The solemn importance of earnest prayer for the Divine benediction;
7. Let us avoid exaggerated conclusions. This is not the only evil; temperance not the only good. To all we say, One thing is needful; Except ye be converted, &c.Jabez Burns, D.D., L.L.D., Sketches of Temperance Sermons.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(22) Woe unto them that are mighty to drink. . . . strong drink.The words in part reproduce the woe of Isa. 5:11-12, but with the distinctive feature that there the revellers were simply of the careless self-indulgent type, while here they are identified with the unjust and corrupt rulers. They were heroes and valiant men only in and for their cups. To such men it seemed a light matter to acquit the guilty and condemn the guiltless. The prophet dwells on the familiar truth, Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur. The Targum, it may be noticed, has the mammon of falsehood (comp. Luke xvi, 9), for the reward of the Hebrew.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Sixth woe on public dissoluteness, Isa 5:22-23.
Drunkards, too, again receive their woe; (see Isa 5:11😉 where the people indulge in thoughtless, rollicking dissoluteness.
22, 23. Drink wine strong drink Here the terrible evil is contemplated as affecting those intrusted with the administrative interests of the nation. How can magistrates with reeling brain and besotted soul adjudge the rights of the poor and the weak?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Fifth Woe ( Isa 5:22 ).
Isa 5:22
‘Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.’
This sentence is short but it is vibrant with significance. This is the final stage downwards. Man has replaced God in his own estimation. Man has become the ultimate arbiter, the all-wise one. God is no longer necessary. Now man propagates his own ways, and calls on all to follow. He no longer listens to God’s word. He no longer wants God. He is self-sufficient. He has said in his heart that “there is no God” (Psa 14:1). And he thinks that he knows exactly what to do. He has finally become the ultimate fool.
But such men regularly reveal their folly by their lives. Many a great thinker who has advised others has made shipwreck of his own personal life. For when it comes to living most men are fools. The armchair savant becomes the lonely divorcee.
Such were some in Isaiah’s day, and sadly they were often advisers to the king (Isa 28:14-15 compare Isa 29:14). Instead of looking to Yahweh, and seeking a word from Him, they proudly looked to their own wisdom and knowledge, and consequently guided him to disaster. Was it to such that Ahaz listened when he turned to Assyria for help, binding and subjecting Judah to Assyria into the future? (See chapter 7). Was it to such that Hezekiah looked when he laid bare to the Babylonians what was in his treasure house? (See chapter 39). And so instead of trusting in God they trusted in their own wisdom and Judah and Jerusalem were led back into bondage.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Sixth Woe ( Isa 5:22-23 ).
Isa 5:22-23
‘Woe to those who are mighty (men) to drink wine,
And strong men (men of strength) to mingle strong drink.
Who justify the wicked for a reward,
And take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.’
Suddenly some of the great that have been described are seen as what they are. They truly are mighty men and strong men, heroes and champions – but only at drinking and pouring out wine! So what in the end they are seen as mighty at is drinking, and the only thing that they can use their strength for is to mingle the drinks. But as for their wisdom and their uprightness, they accept bribes, get the wicked acquitted and ensure that the truly righteous are found guilty. They too are turning morality upside down, in this case not by argument but by the way in which they behave.
A man is finally known not by what he claims for himself, or what others claim for him, but by what he does, and is finally to be assessed, not by his words but by his actions. We have only to examine the background lives of some thinkers of our own day to recognise how fallible is their wisdom. They are not wise enough to run their own lives satisfactorily. They are blind leaders of the blind.
‘Who justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.’ There is no sadder or more fearful picture than the Judge who allows himself to be influenced by pressure and bribery, whether the bribe is money, flattery or promotion. It is the beginning of the disintegration of society. Men will then begin to take the law into their own hands. But sadder still it is when those who are truly righteous have their reputations taken away from them by false accusations and deceit.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 5:22-23. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine This troop of vices is closed by drunkenness, joined with injustice and iniquity in judgment. This crime is distinct from that luxury and intemperance in feasts, which is attended with inconsideration of the works of God; Isa 5:11-12. It is no wonder if men of this kind, whose reason and understanding are drowned in wine, pervert judgment, and are greedy of the mammon of unrighteousness to satisfy their lusts and appetites.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 5:22 Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Ver. 22. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine. ] Iterate taxat hoc vitium, eo quod invaluerat. The prophet inveigheth against this vice a second time, because it was grown so common. Drunkards also are a sottish kind of creatures, and had therefore more than need to be double dealt with; like as physicians use to give double quantities to such as have palsies or epilepsies, so to awaken their dull, drowsy senses. Many of these sots take it for a great glory that they are mighty to drink wine; as did Darius King of Persia, who caused it to be written upon his tomb, I was a great hunter; I could also drink much wine, and bear it bravely. a This was, as one well saith, to glory in his shame; it being rather the commendation of a tun b than of a man, for a beast will scarce abide it, to be able to take in and contain much liquor. When Bonosus the drunken Roman had hanged himself, it went for a by-word Amphoram pendere non hominem, c that a tun or tankard hung there, and not a man. And when one was commended to King Alphonsus for a great drinker, and able to bear it, he answered that that was a good praise in a sponge, but not in a prince. d This, if Alexander the Great and Tiberius the Emperor – those great drinkers and encouragers of others to that vice – had well remembered, they would not have been so infamous as they are and will be to all posterity.
And men of strength.
To mingle.
a K , . – Athen.
b A large cask or barrel, usually for liquids, esp. wine, ale, or beer, or for various provisions. Now less common than cask.
c Vopsic. in Bonoso.
d Gentiles ipsi risere tales athletas.
e Arist, in Ranis.
f Civilis est irrisio non carens sale. – Oecolamp.
mighty = strong men. Hebrew. gibbor. App-14.
mighty: Isa 5:11, Isa 28:1-3, Isa 28:7, Pro 23:19, Pro 23:20, Hab 2:15
Reciprocal: Psa 75:8 – it is full Pro 23:29 – Who hath woe Isa 56:12 – I will Hos 7:5 – made Amo 2:6 – because Hab 2:5 – he transgresseth Eph 5:18 – be not
5:22 Woe to [them that are] {c} mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mix strong drink:
(c) Who are never weary, but show their strength, and brag in gluttony and drunkenness.
Sixth, they had adopted corrupt values. They glorified the "macho man" who did things that appeared great but were nothing more than sophisticated childishness. The more a person could drink, the greater the people honored him. They thought it "smart" to profit from the misfortune of others, even though that ran counter to God’s will. Corrupt judges could do this easily (cf. Pro 17:15).
"There is a reason why people binge on escapism. They are medicating their despair." [Note: Ortlund, p. 72.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)