Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Now Consider

 


Excerpts from:

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 

Isaiah 5


(My comments in parentheses 

following the authors

as always)



"On this assumption 

Isaiah’s words have a special interest 

as showing how early 

that poem lent itself 

to a mystical interpretation."


"A very fruitful hill"

(Sits on a hill BTW)


"Literally, a horn, the son of oil. The combination “horn of oil” in 1Samuel 16:1; 1Samuel 16:13, and 1Kings 1:39, suggests the thought that the phrase is equivalent to “the horn of the anointed”

"Each part has its own interpretation."

"...in the “stones” that were gathered out, the removal of the old idolatries that would have hindered the development of the nation’s life; in the “tower” of the vineyard...the monarchy and throne of David, or the watch-tower from which the prophets looked forth...; in the “winepress,” the temple in which the fruits of righteousness were to issue in the wine of joy and adoration... ."

"In the last clause of the verse the pleasant song suddenly changes its tone, and the “wild grapes (sour and hard, and not larger than bilberries) are types of deeds of harsh and cruel injustice on which the prophet proceeds to dwell."

The song of the vineyard” comes to an end and becomes the text of a discourse in which Jehovah, as the “Beloved” of the song, speaks through the prophet. Those to whom the parable applies are invited, as David was by Nathan, to pass an unconscious judgment on themselves.


"The prophet cuts off from the people the excuse that they had been unfairly treated, that their Lord was as a hard master, reaping where he had not sown... . They had had all the external advantages that were necessary for their growth in holiness, yet they had not used them rightly."

("You want milk?
Go somewhere else!
Aint ya had enough!
Dont you want 
more than baby food?
Come and get some meat!
It's my biggest compaint 
about the generation before me.
They didn't care about 
any type of spiritual growth.
They were content with the status quo, 
and It sent us backwards.)


"The interpretation of the parable implies that there was to be the obliteration, at least for some time and in some measure, of the distinctness and independence of the nation’s life."

(Comin'.
And if people 
honestly knew how soon?
They would have been 
in churches 3 or 4 years ago.)


"The “briers and thorns” 
(both the words are peculiar to Isaiah) 
are the base and unworthy 
who take the place of 
the true leaders of the people."



"The absence of the pruning 
and the digging 
answers to 
the withdrawal of the means 
of moral and spiritual culture"


(Have I not been saying for a long time now?
"Ya gotta trim out the dead 
before any new growth can take place?"

Told my friend two days ago:
"We dont need to cut back/prune etc.
We need a trackhoe


to come in 
and completely redo the landscaping.
Forget pruning.
We need a complete redo.

"The absence of the pruning
and the digging
answers to
the withdrawal of the means
of moral and spiritual culture"

We have witnessed in in our lifetimes.)


"The command given to the clouds... 
implies the cessation 
of all gracious spiritual influences"

(Eventually?
Grace comes to an end.
People will have had long enough.
The drawbridge on the ark closes.
It's being oiled up 
so that it can close 
right now.
Promise ya.)


"The series of “Woes” 
which follows 
has no precedent 
in the teaching of earlier prophets."


"In practice 
it had broken down, 
and might 
had taken the place 
of right."

(Reminds me 
of how this nation thinks)


"the law of debt 
pressed against 
the impoverished debtor"

MAY 15, 2023)



"the original owners sank into slavery... 
or became tenants at will, 
paying exorbitant rents 
in kind or money..."


(

pick your own to read I suppose.)



"The sentence that follows 
is one of a righteous retribution: 
There shall be no profit 
or permanence 
in the property 
thus unjustly gained."

(Has there ever been?)


"The Hebrew word for “acre” 
means primarily the ground 
that could be ploughed 
in a day by a yoke of oxen."

(Just thought it was interesting :-).


"the oppressors 
were conspicuous 
for their luxury"

(Wealth inequality anybody?)



"but they regard not 
the work of the LORD, 
neither consider 
the operation of his hands."

"They regard not the work of the Lord.—The life of luxury 
was then, as ever, 
one of practical atheism. 
Those who so lived 
did not see, 
never do see, 
any Divine plan 
or order in the world around them.



Did ya hear that Neil Degrasse Tyson?
(Or countless others)
You yourself 
are evidence of his work
existing in his creation
but that's not enough evidence?
You need more than that?
You need more than:
Did I even say anything about consciousness?
Information in DNA/RNA?
After a while?
Oone just kinda very solemnly comes to the realization:

No amount of evidence will convince some.)



"Therefore my people are gone into captivity, 
because they have no knowledge
and their honourable men are famished"

(Starving for meat!
If I'm not gonna hear 
the sermons I wanna hear about?
Then I'll do them myself!


"Because they have no knowledge.
—Better, and they knew not—
i.e., did not foresee 
that this must be 
the outcome of their conduct."

(Opps, mistake
Big mistake.)


"What the prophet says 
is that all the pomp and glory 
of the rich oppressors 
are on their way to that inevitable doom."

(Yeah!
Exactly!
Ditto!
How can you not see it coming 
at this point?)


"Shall be sanctified.—
Men had not recognised 
the holiness of Jehovah, 
and therefore 
He must manifest that holiness 
(in that sense “be sanctified”) 
in acts of righteous severity."


"the “lambs” 
may stand for 
the poor and meek"

(I'd say so:

Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek, 
(Humbly patient.)
for they will inherit the earth.)


"Woe unto them 
that draw iniquity 
with cords of vanity,"


(

"Why boasteth thyself
Oh, evil men
Playing smart
And not being clever?
I said, you're working iniquity
To achieve vanity (if a-so a-so)
But the goodness of Jah, Jah
I-dureth for-I-ver

So if you are the big tree
We are the small axe
Ready to cut you down (well sharp)
To cut you down)


"Evil-doers are thought of 
as harnessing themselves 
as to the chariot of sin. 
The “cords of vanity”—
i.e., of emptiness or ungodliness—
are the habits by which 
they are thus bound. 
The “cart ropes,” 
thicker and stronger 
than the “cords,” 
represent the extreme stage, 
when such habits 
become irresistibly dominant."

(Are we not there?
Seriously.)



(Thats for later.
Let me just say:

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, 
but against the rulers, 
against the authorities, 
against the powers 
of this dark world 
and against 
the spiritual forces of evil 
in the heavenly realms.

and leave it there for now.

"Slow down!"
I was told :-).
I love you Bro Joe :-).
I aint got time.
I say:
CATCH UP!

)



"That say, Let him make speed.—
We have here, as in Isaiah 28:10, and Jeremiah 17:15, the very words of the wealthy scoffers of Judah. Such taunts are not peculiar to any age or country."

(Opps...bad move...really bad move.)


The moral state described was the natural outcome of the sins condemned in the preceding verses...Rashness was called courage, and prudence timidity, and treachery cleverness, and honesty stupidity. That deliberate perversion is in all ages the ultimate outcome of the spirit that knows not God, and therefore neither fears nor loves Him,...

(Is it not where we are right now?
Is it not?)
 
whether it shows itself 
in the license of 
profligacy,

(wreckless extravagance 
or wastefulness
Come wash dishes with me sometime
I'll show you first hand what it is.) 

or the diplomacy 
of Machiavellian statesmen, 
or the speculations of the worshippers of Mammon.

(Stock market speculators anybody?)


"Woe unto them that 
are wise in their own eyes, 
and prudent in their own sight!"

(Richard Dawkins
Neil  deGrasse Tyson
Martin Rees
Countless others...

You all know 
just how improbable 
the universe was 
to have ever come into existence 
let alone there be: 
conscious, 
sentient
intelligent
logical 
life in it.

Atheism abounds in men of luxury.
Guess what?

There's a new contemplative in town these days.

He/they
bout to be released from their caves.)


"...there the revellers were simply 
of the careless self-indulgent type, 
while here 
they are identified with 
the unjust and corrupt rulers." 


"To such men 
it seemed a light matter 
to acquit the guilty 
and condemn the guiltless."


"Literally, the tongue of fire. 

(Revelation 11:4
They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”  If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.

Anybody else seen two white doves
with the other part of their soul here lately?
Exactly...)


"The scene brought before us is—(1) that of a charred and burnt-up field, horrible and hideous to look upon..."

(Been telling people for a long  time:

"When you are arm crawling?
Your last three arm crawls?
Through a field of burnt out stubble?
Looking for just one charred kernel of hard corn?

YOU HAD BETTER BE GIVING THANKS TO THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY FOR THE OPPURTUNITY TO DO SO!

THAT? THAT IS THE LEVEL OF OBEDIENCE AND DEDICATION THAT IS NEEDED TO BE ADMITTED TO THIS ARMY!

WRAP YOUR HEAD AROUND IT!

"BETTER TO MEET THE TRUTH HEAD ON THAN GO ON LIVING A LIFE OF DELUSION."

I READ THIS AM :-).)


"2) that of a tree decayed and loathsome. The double imagery represents the end of the riotous mirth of the unjust judges."



"For all this his anger is not turned away.—The same formula meets us in Isaiah 9:12; Isaiah 9:21; Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 14:27, with a solemn knell-like iteration. It bids the people remember after each woe that this is not all. They do not as yet see the end of the chastisement through which God is leading them. “For all this” may mean (1) because of all the sins, or (2) notwithstanding all the punishment already inflicted."



"And he will lift up an ensign.—

The banner 
on the summit of a hill




 indicated the meeting-place 
of a great army.

(A MIGHTY FORTRESS INDEED!

If you are a big big tree?
We are a small axe!)

"In this case the armies are thought of as doing the work of Jehovah Sabaoth, and therefore as being summoned by Him."


"It seems to describe the sharp shrill whistle which was to the ear what the banner was to the eye, the signal of a rendezvous."


"From the end of the earth"

(Believe it!)



Isaiah 5:27

None shall be weary!

nor stumble among them!; 

none shall slumber!

nor sleep!; 

neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed!, 

nor the latchet of their shoes be broken!:...

(Reminded me of Joel 2:

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    sound the alarm on my holy hill.

Let all who live in the land tremble,
    for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—
    a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
    a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
    nor ever will be in ages to come.

Before them fire devours,
    behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
    behind them, a desert waste—
    nothing escapes them.
They have the appearance of horses;
    they gallop along like cavalry.
With a noise like that of chariots
    they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
    like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
    every face turns pale.
They charge like warriors;
    they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,
    not swerving from their course.
 They do not jostle each other;
    each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
    without breaking ranks.
They rush upon the city;
    they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
    like thieves they enter through the windows.

Before them the earth shakes,
    the heavens tremble,
the sun and moon are darkened,
    and the stars no longer shine.
The Lord thunders
    at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
    and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the Lord is great;
    it is dreadful.
    Who can endure it?

HE AINT A LAMB THIS TIME!


"Unresting, unhasting, 
in perfect order, 
they march onward. 
They do not loosen their girdle for repose. 
The latchet or thong which fastens their sandals is not “broken” or untied."

Its a great feeling knowing 
the battle is already won :-).


Isaiah 5:30

And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: 

and if one look unto the land, 

behold darkness 

and sorrow, 

and the light is darkened 

in the heavens thereof.


"and this in its turn that of the darkness and thick clouds of a tempest; or possibly, as before, of an earthquake; or possibly, again, of an eclipse. 

The word for “heavens” 
is not that commonly used; 
better, clouds."



April 19th 2023
Istanbul Turkey.

Had to be turkey right?
It couldn't have been anywhere else right?


Keep mocking.
Keep scorning.

It's pretty obvious 
an intellect is trying to tell you something.

Yeah...
were there.





































No comments: