Isaiah 5:17
after their manner—literally, "according to their own word," that is, at will. Otherwise, as in their own pasture [GESENIUS]: so the Hebrew in Micah 2:12. The lands of the Scenite tent dwellers (Jeremiah 35:7). Arab shepherds in the neighborhood shall roam at large, the whole of Judea being so desolate as to become a vast pasturage.
waste . . . fat ones—the deserted lands of the rich ("fat," Psalms 22:29), then gone into captivity; "strangers," that is, nomad tribes shall make their flocks to feed on [MAURER]. Figuratively, "the lambs" are the pious, "the fat ones" the impious. So tender disciples of Jesus Christ (John 21:15) are called "lambs"; being meek, harmless, poor, and persecuted. Compare Ezekiel 39:18, where the fatlings are the rich and great (I Corinthians 1:26-27). The "strangers" are in this view the "other sheep not of the" the Jewish "fold" (John 10:16), the Gentiles whom Jesus Christ shall "bring" to be partakers of the rich privileges (Romans 11:17) which the Jews ("fat ones," Ezekiel 34:16) fell from. Thus "after their (own) manner" will express that the Christian Church should worship God in freedom, released from legal bondage (John 4:23; Galatians 5:1).
