Isaiah 5:15, commentary and pictures

The verse teaches that humiliation will fall on every rank alike, bowing down the lowly and humbling the great and proud, so that no status, strength, or lofty looks can shield anyone. It comes after revelry and disregard for the Lord's work, and leads into the exalting of the Lord in judgment and holiness, showing the humbling to be the unavoidable and righteous result of wrongdoing. In its setting among the woes on the unfruitful vineyard, it pronounces judgment for drunken indulgence and selfish pleasure that dulls the moral senses, and for the rich heaping up houses and wealth while oppressing the poor and despising their rights. That backsliding condition is a type of last-day apostasy, to be seen in the increase of drunkenness, crime, misery, and money-mad greed in the most enlightened lands as a sign that the end and the second coming are near. Those who held it to reach still further teach that it also describes the new earth after the millennium, when the lowly are raised and the proud brought low and strangers occupy the waste places of the wealthy under Christ's reign.

Meaning and Context

The lowly or mean man is brought down and bowed down, the mighty or great man is humbled, and the eyes of the lofty or proud are humbled. The humiliation reaches every rank from highest to lowest and has no respect of persons, falling on no single class but on all alike. No status, strength, or lofty self-regard can shield anyone from it, for ordinary people are bowed down, great people are humbled, and even the proud lose their exalted position and lofty standing.

The verse falls within the prophecies of chapters 2-12, written during crucial times in Judah under Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. It belongs to a chapter that portrays Israel and Judah as an unfruitful vineyard and pronounces woes on those who depart from God. It is part of the portrayal of Judah's awful backsliding, declaring that judgment will bring down the lowly and powerful alike while humbling those who are proud.

The humbling follows the people's revelry and disregard for the Lord and leads into the declaration that the Lord is exalted in judgment and made holy through righteousness. This humbling is an unavoidable result of wrongdoing, not an arbitrary punishment. It will ultimately be shown to be holy and righteous even if it appears harsh by human standards.

Sin Judgment and Fulfillment

The verse belongs to the woes pronounced against intemperance, showing judgment for following strong drink and disregarding the work of the Lord. That judgment for intemperance falls on no single class but on all from highest to lowest, bringing down the mean man and humbling the mighty man and the eyes of the lofty. The judgment that ends a course of selfish indulgence has no respect of persons, but is sweeping upon mean and mighty alike. Indulgence in wine and kindred drinks, as well as gluttony, dulls the moral senses and leads to forgetting God, and whatever comes between a person and God in this way is idolatry.

In its setting the humbling of the socially powerful and proud is connected with the rich accumulating wealth and disregarding the rights and feelings of others. It falls on the greedy who keep accumulating houses and fields and exploit the poor, with lowly and powerful alike brought down and the proud humbled. Outward adornment and pride will not commend anyone to God, for lowly and mighty alike are brought down and the lofty humbled.

The discipline comes after persistent rejection of admonition and refusal of knowledge through the Spirit of prophecy. Those who had lived in wealth and worldly honor are then brought low and left famished, and many die, as God humbles the proud and brings down every class of society.

The backsliding condition described serves as a type of last-day apostasy, and the humbling of the lofty is part of the final laying low of human glory when Jehovah alone is exalted. Isaiah 5:8-25 describes what is characteristic of the last time, the closing years of the reign of man, to be seen in the awful increase of crime in the most highly civilized lands, in lands most enlightened by Christianity, rooted in money-mad greed of the human heart.

The verse stands as a merciful warning against even the beginnings of sin, holding up past cities and nations as warnings that the last days will be like them. The increase of drunkenness, misery, crime and licentiousness is one of God's signs in the social world that the end of all earthly things and the second coming of Jesus Christ is near.

The warning is applied to city disasters as judgments on continuing wickedness, including the liquor traffic, declaring that human rank and strength cannot prevent abasement, for the Lord is exalted in judgment and shown holy through righteousness. In the same setting it warns that wealthy people who amass riches while oppressing the poor will face a reversal of power, as the poor may rise against them, and proud and powerful will be brought low.

The verse also describes the new earth after the millennium, when the lowly are raised and the proud and powerful are humbled. Then comes a reversal in which the lambs feed and strangers occupy the former waste places of the wealthy. That future order is under God's rule and laws, with Christ reigning as king in the New Jerusalem.