The Six-fold Woes

 

Isa 5:8 Woe to those who join house to house; They add field to field, Till there is no place Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land! 9 In my hearing the LORD of hosts said, "Truly, many houses shall be desolate, Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant. 10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, And a homer of seed shall yield one ephah."

 

When you see the word “woe” in Scripture, you oughta think of the homonym “whoa.” Stop and consider the gravity of what is about to come down unless certain “ways” are changed.

 

This is the first of 6 woes pronounced upon the Israelites by the Lord and they are timeless pictures of things that “tick off” the Lord.

The first “woe” deals with covetousness. It’s the sin of never having enough. Here it is a picture of cornering the real estate market to the point that you own it all and you are able to put the squeeze on others whether it be houses or farm fields. Please note it’s not sinful to own property and make a living off of it. The problem is the motivation behind it. It’s when you want it all for yourself that it becomes a serious problem, often leading to serious sins!

 

Sins like murder as found in the biblical example of Ahab and Jezebel in 1 Kings 21 where Ahab desired the vineyard of his next door neighbor Naboth. When Naboth refused to sell Jezebel (Ahab’s wife) arranged false witnesses to speak against Naboth and he was stoned to death and the property was taken over by Ahab.

In a more contemporary example, just watch the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and note the example set by the covetous thief Henry F. Potter!

God tells these covetous Israelites that they will have their mansions, but they will be without tenants. He said, “You can have your farmland but I’ll see to it that it won’t produce.”

The Bible calls the sin of covetousness idolatry. (Col 3:5) It’s putting “the desire for your neighbor’s possessions ahead of your desire for God! Woe to the person who does this, because payback is coming, if not in this life, then the next.