Isaiah 5:20 - Exposition

Woe unto them that call evil good. This is the fourth woe. There are persons who gloss over evil deeds and evil habits by fair-sounding names, who call cowardice caution, and rashness courage, niggardliness thrift, and wasteful profusion generosity. The same men are apt also to call good evil; they brand prudence with the name of cunning, call meekness want of proper spirit, sincerity rudeness, and firmness obstinacy. This deadness to moral distinctions is the sign of deep moral corruption, and fully deserves to have a special "woe" pronounced against it. That put darkness for light . "Light" and "darkness" symbolize good and evil throughout Scripture ( 1 Samuel 2:9 ; 2 Samuel 22:29 ; Job 29:3 ; Psalms 112:4 ; Proverbs 2:13 ; Ecclesiastes 2:13 ; Isaiah 9:2 ; Matthew 6:22 ; John 1:19 ; Acts 26:18 ; Romans 13:12 ; 1 Corinthians 4:5 , etc.). They are sometimes mere synonyms, as here; but sometimes they express rather the intellectual side of morality. Bitter for sweet . More symbolism, but of a rarer kind. Jeremiah calls wickedness "bitter" ( Jeremiah 2:9 ; Jeremiah 4:18 ), and the psalmist calls the judgments of God" sweet" ( Psalms 109:1-31 :103). But the terms are not often used with any moral bearing.