Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
For the vineyard ... - This is the application of the parable. God had treated the Jews as a farmer does a vineyard. This was "his" vineyard - the object of his faithful, unceasing care. This was his "only" vineyard; on this people alone, of all the nations of the earth, had he bestowed his special attention.
His pleasant plant - The plant in which he delighted. As the farmer had been at the pains to plant the "sorek" Isaiah 5:2, so had God selected the ancient stock of the Jews as his own, and made the race the object of his chief attention.
And he looked for judgment - For justice, or righteousness.
But behold oppression - The word rendered "oppression" means properly "shedding of blood." In the original here, there is a remarkable "paranomasia," or play upon words, which is not uncommon in the Hebrew Scriptures, and which was deemed a great beauty in composition:
He looked for "judgment," mishpa?t? ,
And lo! "shedding of blood," mis'pa?ch ;
For "rightousness," tseda?qa?h ,
But lo! "a clamor," tse?a?qa?h .
It is impossible, of course, to retain this in a translation.
A cry. A clamor - tumult, disorder; the clamor which attends anarchy, and covetousness, and dissipation Isaiah 5:8, Isaiah 5:11-12, rather than the soberness and steadiness of justice.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Isaiah 5:7:
Psalms 80:8
Isaiah 3:14
Isaiah 40:3
Isaiah 48:18
Jeremiah 5:10
Joel 1:7
Micah 3:8
Micah 7:1
Matthew 20:1
John 1:11
John 15:1
DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.
