Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we drop back in on Isaiah the Major Prophet, who opens with a love poem to the people of Israel and Judah.

In the poem, God is compared to a vinekeeper, and the Israelites

are compared to wild grapes. But in the Hebrew, the term is actually more like stinking things.

Not so flattering, and not exactly what God wants to grow in his garden. So God removes the

protective hedge around the vineyard and the wild grapes are

trampled. Then Isaiah goes on to highlight six ways the wild grapes are stinky and pronounces woe over

them. First, he denounces the greedy landowners who push the poor out of the land. God had established

land allotment rules back in Numbers chapters 26 and 33. So Isaiah says

their houses will become desolate. Second, he speaks woe over those whose lavish lives of excess

and drunkenness lead them away from honoring God. Instead of being filled, they'll be famished.

And instead of eating, they'll be swallowed by the

grave. The remaining woes are strung together closely. Woe number three is spoken to people who

mock God and doubt his judgment is coming. They seek out sin. Woe number four is to the prideful

fool with no discernment or integrity distorting the truth. Woe number four is to the prideful fool with no discernment or integrity distorting the

truth. Woe number five is for the arrogant, and the final woe, woe number six, doubles down on the

drunkenness mentioned in woe number two, and adds to it the fact that they also rob people of justice.

Verse 24 tells us that these people have despised the word of God.

So God promises to send the nations as judgment on them.

Do you remember how God used Israel to drive out the wicked nations of Canaan when they first

entered the promised land?

And now he's using those nations to drive Israel out of the same land

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