Calling Evil Good and Good Evil - Isaiah 5

As I came to chapter 5, I felt compelled to make reference to verses 18-23:

"Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!"

Although in context, they are spoken in reference to the people of Judah, they express God’s heart in response to the sin of His people in any nation. He first denounces those whose lives are so bound up in evil it is like they are being held to their sin by a strong rope. They have gotten to the point that they call evil good and good evil. The comparison to today’s society is growing every day. I was born in 1951. The change in what is recognized as acceptable behavior and acceptable entertainment in just that short span of time is mind boggling. It’s quite obvious that these values are getting further and further from the Christian standards upon which our nation was first founded.

The prophet next denounces those who are “wise in their own eyes”; they are proud and arrogant. It is my opinion that pride is the root of all sin. It is an attitude that declares one to be wiser than God and gives one a platform to justify his/her sin.

The last group denounced includes those who are alcoholic and those who are prone to take bribes to make judgments that let the wicked go unpunished and deny the innocent or the victim a just verdict. I think that these were grouped together because the impaired judgment caused by alcohol would make one more likely to accept a bribe. Again, this is becoming more dominant in today’s society. I would tend to think that, in America at least, more injustice has been served through the rulings of unjust judges who in their pride and their own wisdom have taken the law into their own hands to promote their own purposes than has resulted from alcohol and bribery.