Isaiah 5:4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 5:1-7

See what variety of methods the great God takes to awaken sinners to repentance by convincing them of sin, and showing them their misery and danger by reason of it. To this purport he speaks sometimes in plain terms and sometimes in parables, sometimes in prose and sometimes in verse, as here. ?We have tried to reason with you (Isa. 1:18); now let us put your case into a poem, inscribed to the honour of my well beloved.? God the Father dictates it to the honour of Christ his well beloved Son,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 5:4

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it ?.... Or "ought", as the Vulgate Latin: this is generally understood of good things done to it in time past; as what better culture could it have had? what greater privileges, blessings, and advantages, natural, civil, and religious, could have been bestowed on this people? what greater favour could have been shown them, or honour done them? or what of this kind remains to be done for them? they have had everything... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 5:1-7

ISRAEL REBUKED BY THE PARABLE OF A VINEYARD . This chapter stands in a certain sense alone, neither closely connected with what precedes nor with what follows, excepting that it breathes throughout a tone of denunciation. There is also a want of connection between its parts, the allegory of the first section being succeeded by a series of rebukes for sins, expressed in the plainest language, and the rebukes being followed by a threat of punishment, also expressed with... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 5:1-7

God's care for man, and man's ingratitude. Three times has God made himself a vineyard upon earth, planted a plantation of choice vines, endued by him with the capacity of bringing forth excellent fruit, fenced his vineyard round with care, cleared its soil of stones, pruned its superfluous shoots, hoed out the weeds from between the vine-stocks, bestowed on it all possible tendance, and looked to see a suitable result; and three times has the result, for which he had every right to look, ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 5:1-7

The parable of the vineyard. I. NOTICE THE ART OF THE PARABLE . It has been remarked, "A proverb finds him who a sermon flies." Pictures from nature are acceptable to all, especially of that nature which is familiar to the imagination of the listener. Through the imagination we may glide into our listener's heart and conscience. The truth comes with much more power when it is made to glance from an object intermediate between the mind and its naked reality. A great secret of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 5:1-7

Privilege and penalty. We have a striking picture of— I. THE FULNESS OF THE DIVINE PROVISION . ( Isaiah 5:1 4.) The second verse describes in detail the processes by which the vineyard is prepared for fruitfulness, and in the fourth verse the question is asked, "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" The idea is that of the fullness of the Divine provision for the Jewish nation . God had provided: 1. Illustrious men—Moses, Aaron,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 5:4

What could have been done more? Comp. 2 Kings 17:13 and 2 Chronicles 36:15 , where God is shown to have done all that was possible to reclaim his people: "Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets , and all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to the Law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets;" "And the Lord God of their fathers sent unto them... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 5:4

The ingratitude of an unfruitful life. The passage connected with this verse is conceived quite in the spirit of our Lord's parables. In a picture taken from familiar scenes of nature, the relations between God and his people are shown. As in the parable spoken by Nathan, a definite judgment is asked. That judgment, whether given audibly or only felt, is made an earnest appeal of God to their own conscience and their own hearts. Three things are set forth prominently in this parable. I. ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 5:4

What could I... - As a man who had done what is described in Isaiah 5:2, would have done all that “could” be done for a vineyard, so God says that he has done all that he could, in the circumstances of the Jews, to make them holy and happy. He had chosen them; had given them his law; had sent them prophets and teachers; had defended them; had come forth in judgment and mercy, and he now appeals “to them” to say what “could” have been done more. This important verse implies that God had done all... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 5:3-4

Isaiah 5:3-4. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, &c. God is here introduced as calling upon the guilty themselves to pass sentence, or judgment, in the case, and leaving it to them; because, without downright madness, they could do no other than condemn themselves; who, when they had received so many benefits from God, had been so ungrateful to him. What could have been done, &c. What work is there belonging to the office of an owner or keeper of a vineyard, which I have... read more

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