Isaiah 5:20 (Woe to those who call evil good)

Isaiah 5:20 

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, 

who put darkness for light and light for darkness, 

who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."

Here's some context for this Bible verse. It comes a few chapters after the LORD Himself states how furious He is with His people of Judah. These people have followed unwise kings, foresaken the LORD their God and they have become a rebellious nation (chapter 1). For their actions and sin, God is proclaiming that He will abandon the people of Judah and He will bring judgement upon them (2:6-21). In the same vein of God's statements of judgement upon Judah, Isaiah begins to proclaim woes upon Judah as well (5:8-23).

In this verse, as in most other verses of the Bible, the word "woe" is a Hebrew word, הוֹי (pronounced hōh'ē). It's an interjection used to add emphasis to an exclamation of regret or grief. A few English equivalents would be "Ah!" Oh no!" or "Alas!" When you read the woes from the Old Testament, it would be wise to consider them as someone saying "Uh oh! Grief will come to anyone who does this!" (Yes, the exclamation points are neccessary.) Thankfully, God made it so that there is just one word (a one syllable word to boot) that starts off each of these grievous passages, "woe."

There are six woes in Isaiah chapter five (all worth reading), but this "woe" (the woe of verse 20) is here to remind us that anyone who confuses right with wrong or fools themself into thinking good is bad and bad is good is going to bring grief upon themself. This act of mislabeling will bring the judgement of the LORD upon the one who mislabels, and the reason why is because mislabeling not only leads us astray from God but it leads others astray as well. If we tell someone that something that is poison is nutritious and they eat it, then we have poisoned them. We are responsible, and we have sinned. When we sin we not only bring grief upon ourselves, but we bring grief upon the LORD. God hates it when His creation (us) sins, because our sin seperates us from God, and He loves us and wants to be with us. God also loves it when we rightly label what is good and what is bad; when we rightly label what will bring us into darkness and what will bring us closer to His light. If we know what is good and label it as good, then we will know that it is good to pursue that good and it will be good for us and good for others. (Sound good?)

The tricky thing is it's not always easy to rightly see what is sweet and what is bitter for the soul; what is good and what is downright evil. Sometimes we tell someone about how we feel something is good, when in reality that thing is actually extremely bad. We foolishly misuse our words to teach wrongly, and we might not even know it. The words we say have meaning, and their meanings can get mixed up very easily, but God wants His children to be likeminded, because the body of Christ thrives when it is of one mind (Philippians 2:2). A group of people who are of one mind can speak the same messages, use words with the same intent, and make sure they are only preaching what they should be preaching. I believe that it is very important for God's children, when we are speaking about what the Bible teaches, to be "on the same page." We need to know what is written in the holy word of God and what is not written in it, and we need to make sure that we are only preaching what is in the Bible. That is the purpose of this blog; to examine the holy Scriptures and discern what they are saying, so that God's children can use the sword of the spirit respectfully, in order to preach God's beautiful good message in likemindedness.

Welcome to On the Same Page

Sources: 

• The Bible (New International Version)
• https://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/2015/08/20/what-does-woe-mean-a-biblical-definition-of-woe/
• https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H1945&t=KJV