Isaiah 5:12 - Exposition

The harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe . It is difficult to identify the Hebrew instruments of music with modern names; but there seems to be no doubt that the kinnor was a sort of harp, and the khalib a sort of pipe. The nebel , generally rendered by "psaltery," but hero and in Isaiah 14:11 by "viol," was a stringed instrument played with the fingers (Josephus); perhaps a lyre, perhaps a sort of dulcimer. The toph , here translated "tabret," and elsewhere often "timbrel," was most likely a tambourine. All four instruments had in the earlier times been dedicated to the worship of Jehovah ( 1 Samuel 10:5 ); now they were employed to inflame men's passions at feasts. They regard not the work of the Lord . The "work of Jehovah" is his manifestation of himself in history, more especially in the history of his chosen people ( Deuteronomy 32:4 ; Psalms 92:4 ; Psalms 111:3 , etc.). A pious Israelite was ever marveling at all that God had done for his nation ( Deuteronomy 32:7-14 ; Joshua 24:2-13 ; 1 Chronicles 16:12-22 ; Ezra 9:7-9 ; Nehemiah 9:7-31 ; Psalms 68:7-28 ; Psalms 78:10-72 ; Psalms 105:5-45 ; Psalms 106:7-46 ; Psalms 136:5-24 , etc.). The men of Isaiah's generation had ceased to care for things of the past, and devoted themselves to enjoying the present. Neither consider , etc. (comp. Isaiah 1:3 , "My people doth not consider"). The verb used is not, however, the same in the Hebrew.