The Price of Greed

In verse 8, Isaiah is no longer quoting Jehovah's words.  Condemning some of the "wild grapes" produced in Judah, he personally pronounces the first of six woes: "Woe to the ones joining house to house, and those who annex field to field until there is no more room and you men have been made to dwell all by yourselves in the midst of the  land!  In my ears Jehovah of armies has sworn that many houses, though great and good, will become an outright object of astonishment, without an inhabitant.  For even ten acres of vineyard will produce but one bath measure, and even a homer measure of seed will produce but an ephah measure." -Isaiah 5:8-10.

In ancient Israel all land ultimately belonged to Jehovah. (News flash! All over this universe, all the land belongs to Jehovah, we just borrow it to live on)  Each family had a God-given inheritance, which they could rent or loan out but never sell "in perpetuity."  (Leviticus 25:23) This law prevented abuses, such as real estate monopolies.  It also protected families from sinking to far into poverty.  Some in Judah, however, were greedily breaking God's laws regarding property.  Micah wrote: "They have desired fields and have seized them; also houses, and have taken them; and they have defrauded able-bodied man and his household, a man and his hereditary possession."  (Micah 2:2)  But Proverbs 20:21 warns: "An inheritance is being got by greed at first, but its own future will not be blessed."

Jehovah promises to strip these greedy ones of their ill-gotten gain.  The houses they extort will be "without an inhabitant."  The lands they covet will produce a mere fraction of their capacity.  Exactly how and when this cruse will be fulfilled is not stated.  Likely it refers, at least in part,  to the conditions brought on by the future Babylonian exile. -Isaiah 27:10.

Christians today must abhor insatiable greed like that manifested by some Israelites back then.  (Proverbs 27:20)  when material things take on an exaggerated importance, it is easy to stoop to unscrupulous  ways of getting money.  One could easily become ensnared in shady business dealings or unrealistic get-rich-schemes.  "He that is hastening to gain riches will not remain innocent."  (Proverbs 28:20) How important it is, then, to be content with what we have! -1 Timothy 6:8.

Next time: The Snare of Questionable Entertainment

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind