Chorus of Woes-Isaiah 5

From the STUDY OF ISAIAH in Sunday morning Digging Deeper Bible Studies during the Sunday School hour.

Isaiah 5:8-30 (vs. 8, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22)

The song of God’s vineyard (vs. 1-7) turns into a chorus of woes. “Woe” occurs 98 times in the Bible—First mentioned in Numbers 21:29 and last in Revelation 12:12. It is a cry of denunciation; a pronouncing of a curse; an expression of sorrow, grief, misery, or of saying “alas.”

Sam Jones once said, “When God says “whoa’ you need to stop.”

Although historically these six “woes” are aimed at Israel, they also apply to us today. Just as these evil practices drained the moral strength of Israel, they will do the same in America.

I. The “woe” of URBANIZATION (vs. 8-10).

Concentration of population in cities — Sprawling housing developments, subdivisions, duplexes, apartment complexes, etc.

A. The land was God’s and could only be obtained by inheritance (Lev. 25:23). However, unscrupulous businessmen violated God’s command and acquired as much property as possible, thus monopolizing the real estate market (cf. Micah 2:1-2).

1.  The poor were forced to live in ghettos and slums or confined to the dwellings built by covetous real estate developers.

2. Notice, the “woe” is not upon those who lived in these dwellings, but upon the selfish landowners who built the houses. The underlying motive behind the concentration of housing and apartments is greed—the love of MONEY.

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• I don’t believe God intended for families to live “stacked” on top of each other (several stories high), or so tight together you could hit the neighbor’s house with a broomstick. God told man to spread out upon the face of the earth, not consolidate (Gen. 11:4-9 cf. Acts 17:26-27). The more dense a population is, the less people who are seeking God.
• Have you noticed how close houses are built together today? Statistics suggest the more concentrated a population is, the greater the crime rate and more liberal views people will hold. For example: The city with the highest crime rate (per capita) in America is Detroit, MI—2,123 violent crimes per every 100,000 people.

• Huge crowds generally indicate a reduced dissemination of truth. This is because there will be more differences of opinion to be contended with. To the proportion of diverse people in one group, will be a proportion of the curtailing of truth.

  ILLUS: No Bible believer would be allowed to address the United Nations and say the only way to heaven is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and until He returns, there will never be any peace on earth.

  The more inter-denominational a congregation is, the more compromising of truth you will find. Since Bible doctrine is divisive, the ecumenical movement says, “Put away your doctrinal creeds.”

  Most condominiums (consolidated domain), have signs “NO SOLICITING” restricting the propagation of the truth.