Isaiah 5:12

5:8-23 Here is a woe to those who set their hearts on the wealth of the world. Not that it is sinful for those who have a house and a field to purchase another; but the fault is, that they never know when they have enough. Covetousness is idolatry; and while many envy the prosperous, wretched man, the Lord denounces awful woes upon him. How applicable to many among us! God has many ways to empty the most populous cities. Those who set their hearts upon the world, will justly be disappointed. Here is woe to those who dote upon the pleasures and the delights of sense. The use of music is lawful; but when it draws away the heart from God, then it becomes a sin to us. God's judgments have seized them, but they will not disturb themselves in their pleasures. The judgments are declared. Let a man be ever so high, death will bring him low; ever so mean, death will bring him lower. The fruit of these judgments shall be, that God will be glorified as a God of power. Also, as a God that is holy; he shall be owned and declared to be so, in the righteous punishment of proud men. Those are in a woful condition who set up sin, and who exert themselves to gratify their base lusts. They are daring in sin, and walk after their own lusts; it is in scorn that they call God the Holy One of Israel. They confound and overthrow distinctions between good and evil. They prefer their own reasonings to Divine revelations; their own devices to the counsels and commands of God.

They give up themselves wholly to luxury, and that in a very unseasonable time, as it follows. But they regard not the work of the Lord; what God hath lately done, and is yet doing, and about to do among them; his grievous judgments, partly inflicted, and partly threatened, which required another course of life, even to give themselves to fasting, and prayer, and reformation, that so they might remove the incumbent, and prevent the approaching calamities.

12. Music was common at ancient feasts (Isa 24:8, 9; Am 6:5, 6). viol—an instrument with twelve strings [Josephus, Antiquities, 8.10]. tabret—Hebrew, toph, from the use of which in drowning the cries of children sacrificed to Moloch, Tophet received its name. Arabic, duf. A kettle drum, or tambourine. pipe—flute or flageolet: from a Hebrew root "to bore through"; or else, "to dance" (compare Job 21:11-15). regard not … Lord—a frequent effect of feasting (Job 1:5; Ps 28:5). work … operation—in punishing the guilty (Isa 5:19; Isa 10:12).

12 . Cf. Amos 6:5-6 . And the harp … feasts ] better, And guitar and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine constitute their banquet ;—as if to drown the voice of conscience and destroy the sense of Jehovah’s presence and working in their midst. the work of the Lord … the operation of his hands ] i.e. the crowning work of judgment which he is about to execute, and of which there were many ominous warnings for those who could discern the signs of the times: “opus aliquod illustre futurum … quod Deus hoc ipso tempore iam moliebatur” (Vitr.). Cf. Isaiah 5:19 , ch. Isaiah 10:12 , Isaiah 28:21 ; Psalm 28:5 . A similar thought is expressed in Amos 6:6 , where the luxurious nobles are charged with insensibility to the “ruin of Joseph.”

Verse 12. - The harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe . It is difficult to identify the Hebrew instruments of music with modern names; but there seems to be no doubt that the kinnor was a sort of harp, and the khalib a sort of pipe. The nebel , generally rendered by "psaltery," but here and in Isaiah 14:11 by "viol," was a stringed instrument played with the fingers (Josephus); perhaps a lyre, perhaps a sort of dulcimer. The toph , here translated "tabret," and elsewhere often "timbrel," was most likely a tambourine. All four instruments had in the earlier times been dedicated to the worship of Jehovah ( 1 Samuel 10:5 ); now they were employed to inflame men's passions at feasts. They regard not the work of the Lord . The "work of Jehovah" is his manifestation of himself in history, more especially in the history of his chosen people ( Deuteronomy 32:4 ; Psalm 92:4 ; Psalm 111:3 , etc.). A pious Israelite was ever marveling at all that God had done for his nation ( Deuteronomy 32:7-14 ; Joshua 24:2-13 ; 1 Chronicles 16:12-22 ; Ezra 9:7-9 ; Nehemiah 9:7-31 ; Psalm 68:7-28 ; Psalm 78:10-72 ; Psalm 105:5-45 ; Psalm 106:7-46 ; Psalm 136:5-24 , etc.). The men of Isaiah's generation had ceased to care for things of the past, and devoted themselves to enjoying the present. Neither consider , etc. (comp. Isaiah 1:3 , "My people doth not consider"). The verb used is not, however, the same in the Hebrew. Isaiah 5:12

(12) The harp, and the viol. —Here again the fashions of Judah followed those of Samaria, so closely indeed that Isaiah addresses the rulers of his own city as “the drunkards of Ephraim” ( Isaiah 28:1 ; Amos 6:5 ). The list of instruments is fairly represented by the English words, but lute (or hand-harp ) , cymbal, timbrel (or tambourine ) , and flute would come somewhat closer to the Hebrew. 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. They anticipated, in their swine-like greed, the baser types of the school of Epicurus.

The prophet proceeds to state still further the extent of their crimes. This verse contains an account of their dissipated habits, and their consequent forgetfulness of God. That they commonly had musical instruments in their feasts, is evident from many passages of the Old Testament; see Amos 6:5-6 . Their feasts, also, were attended with songs; Isaiah 24:8-9 . The harp - - כנור kinnôr. This is a well-known stringed instrument, employed commonly in sacred music. It is often mentioned as having been used to express the pious feelings of David; Psalm 32:2; Psalm 43:4; Psalm 49:5. It is early mentioned as having been invented by Jubal; Genesis 4:21. It is supposed usually to have had ten strings (Josephus, "Ant." B. x. ch. xii. Section 3). It was played by the hand; 1 Samuel 16:23; 1 Samuel 18:9. The "root" of the word כנור kinnôr, is unknown. The word "kinnor" is used in all the languages cognate to the Hebrew, and is recognized even in the Persian. It is probable that the instrument here referred to was common in all the oriental nations, as it seems to have been known before the Flood, and of course the knowledge of it would be extended far. It is an oriental name and instrument, and from this word the Greeks derived their word κινύρα kinura. The Septuagint renders it κιθάρα kithara and κινύρα kinura. Once they substitute for it ὄργανον organon, Psalm 136:2; and five times ψαλτήριον psaltērion, Genesis 4:20; Psalm 48:4; Psalm 80:2; Psalm 149:3; Ezekiel 26:13.

The harp - כנור kinnôr - is not only mentioned as having been invented by Jubal, but it is also mentioned by Laban in the description which be gives of various solemnities, in regard to which he assures the fleeing Jacob that it had been his wish to accompany him with all the testimonials of joy - 'with music - תף tôph and כנור kinnôr;' Genesis 31:27. In the first age it was consecrated to joy and exultation. Hence, it is referred to as the instrument employed by David to drive away the melancholy of Saul 1 Samuel 16:16-22, and is the instrument usually employed to celebrate the praises of God; Psalm 33:1-2; Psalm 43:4; Psalm 49:5; Psalm 71:22-23. But the harp was not only used on sacred occasions. Isaiah also mentions it as carried about by courtezans Isaiah 23:16, and also refers to it as used on occasions of gathering in the vintage, and of increasing the joy of the festival occasion. So also it was used in military triumphs. Under the reign of Jehoshaphat, after a victory which had been gained over the Moabites, they returned in triumph to Jerusalem, accompanied with playing on the כנור kinnôr;" 2 Chronicles 20:27-28. The harp was generally used on occasions of joy. Only in one place, in Isaiah Isa 16:11, is it referred to as having been employed in times of mourning. There is no ancient figure of the כנור kinnôr that can be relied on as genuine. We can only say that it was an instrument made of sounding wood, and furnished with strings.