The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 108

against those that joined hoUBe to hoase and field to field brings into view the nature of the ein of covetousness, and the desolation in which it ends. L THE l!:BSENTIAL NATUBl!I OJ' THE BIN. It is an immoderak ambition. To secure a hoUBe or a piece of land, or to extend that which has been acquired, may be not only lawful but positively commendable; it may, indeed, be highly honourable. But there are bounds beyond which this ambition may not pass, tbe transgression of which is wrong and soon becomes perilously evil. In the case of the Jews this limitation was defined by their statutes-by that Law which they had received direct from God him- self, and to which they owed a strict and cheerful obedience. In our case ambitioI! becomes covetousness when it is indulged tither at 01J,r own ~ense or at the expenM of our brother. If we are indulging a purpose which cannot be executed without moral or spiritual injury to ourselves, or without doing injustice or rendering unkindness to our neighbour, we are guilty of the sin of covetousness. To some men the transgression assumes the one form, to others the other. To some, covetousness is the craving for property or money which becomes engrossing, absorbing, positively devouring all the higher and purer aspirations; to others it is the desire and determination to secure the neighbour's good, however serious the loss they may thereby inflict. Solomon coveted many wives, greatly to his own injury; Ahab coveted Naboth's vineyard, shamefully disregarding his neighbonr'e rights. II. ITB INSATIABLENESS. The prophet uses the language of hyperbole when he says, " Till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth " (ver. 8); but his words clearly point to the fact that when men allow their ambitiou to pass beyond moderate and reasonable bounds they permit it to carry everything before it, so that their earth-hunger, or house-hunger, or their thirst for money is never satisfied. However mach they gain, they still crave and strive for more; it ii not only gold itself but that which it will bring which is "Hugged by the old To the very verge of the churchyard mould." In nothing but death can the greedy eye be closed, and the grasping hand relaxed. III. ITs HEEDLESSNESS. The concluding clause of the eighth verse not only intimates the extent to which covetousness urges its victim to go in search of a satisfaction which it does not find, but it suggests the heartlessness to which it leads. No matter who or how many are disturbed and displaced, it goes on its devouring way, even though it finds itself" alone in the midst of the land (earth)." Every vice tends to hardness of heart, to pitilessness of spirit ; and covetousness not the least. Self is magnified in importance more and more, and the rights and feelings of others become of less and less consideration until they are made of no account whatever. IV. ITS DOOM. The end of the covetous man was to be desolation (ver. 9) aud poverty (ver. 10). Sin perpetually overreaches itself; and, of all particular sins, ambition "o'ervaults itself and comes down on th' other side." So far is covetousness from happiness that there is probably no more miserable man to be found in any spiritual region than is the victim of this vice. 1. He is desolate, frienJless; hated by those whom he has injured; unloved, disregarded, or even despised, by those who watch his course. 2. He is destitute. Often, very often, avarice blinds the jurlgment, and the false move is made that ends in overthrow and ruin ; always, covetousness shuts out those true treasures which make the heart rich and the life wealthy-those possessions which death cannot touch, which immortality secures for ever.-C. Vere. 11, 12, 22.-The evil and the end of intemperance. When other evila have entered and other calamities have overtaken a state, intemperance is sure to make its black and hateful mark. These verses suggest- I. 1TB TYRANNY. Such is its strength that it makes its devotees •• rise up early in the morning" (ver. 11) in order to worship at its shrine. It is an unnatural and detestable action; the earliness of the hour of the day mil(ht well be pleaded as a proof of inno- cency (Acts ii. 16). But when the passion for •• strong drink" is at its height, it com- pels its helpless victims t_o ?reek throng~ all dccenci~s end proprietie_s, and get up early in order to indulge. 'l'h1s 1s only one mstance of its despotism; 1t leads those who " foUQw "it along wany a path and into man7 a dark pit, froll) which they WOQIO. fain 94 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [on. v. 1-·~o.