Isaiah Chapter 5:22,23: The Six Sins of Stinky Fruit Part 6. Injustice

For the final sin in Isaiah’s list, he returns to drunkenness. This feels like a repetition and may be so, especially when one considers the structure of the text. After the first two “stinky fruits” Isaiah pronounces some judgment from God in the form of two “therefore” statements. He will do so again here after this sixth sin.

However, this is a different idea than the debauchery of verses 11 and 12. It goes beyond the pursuit of pleasure.

“Woe to the mighty at drinking wine.
And the valiant at mixing strong drink.
Justifiers of the wicked for the sake of a bribe.
Depriving the innocent of their right!”

What is in view here is injustice. This is the natural end of the progression of sins we have seen in Judah. The outcome one would predict. Injustice is the only result of the culture Isaiah is describing.

The irony here is that, for all the ways that our culture today claims to champion “justice,” we are seeing the same sins that Isaiah was seeing. Our “justice” in our culture of self-worship, is another redefined category, a lie. We cry out when we see powerful people taking advantage of the system, and yet we are doing the same things on our own small scale. We virtue signal to the world but insist on having our own reality affirmed and celebrated. We claim to live for the environment but forgive our own little insignificant peccadillos when it suits us. We condemn (some) men who create sex kingdoms like Epstein and Diddy but want the right to do as we please in our own sex lives. (Where we convince ourselves no one gets hurt.)

How ironic is it that our world obsessed with justice is dominated by injustice!

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