5  Israel, God's vineyard, his mercies, and their faithfulness, should be laid waste, Isa 5:1-7.
Judgments upon covetousness, Isa 5:8-10.
Upon drunkards, and the lascivious, Isa 5:11-12.
The great misery of the Jews, Isa 5:13-17.
Judgments on impiety, scoffers at God's threatnings, those who corrupt the notions of good and ill, strong - drinkers, and unjust judges, Isa 5:18-23.
God's anger, and the Chaldeans army against them, Isa 5:24-30.

5:7 Pleasant - In whom God formerly delighted. A cry - From the oppressed, crying to men for help, and to God for vengeance.

5:8 Alone - That they alone may be the lords and owners, and all others only their tenants and servants.

5:9 In mine ears - I heard God speak what I am about to utter.

5:10 One bath - Of wine. The bath contained about eight gallons.Thus an acre did not yield one gallon. An ephah - Which was of the same quantity with the bath, only the bath was the measure of liquid things, the ephah of dry things; and a ephah was the tenth part of an homer.So instead of the increase which that fruitful land commonly yielded, they should loose nine parts of their seed.

5:12 The harp - They give up themselves wholly to luxury.The work - What God hath lately done, and is yet doing, and about to do among them; his grievous judgments, partly inflicted, and partly threatened, which required another course of life.

5:13 No knowledge - No serious consideration of God's works, and of their own duty and danger. Honourable men - Who thought themselves quite out of the reach of famine.

5:14 And he - That spends all his days in mirth and jollity.

5:15 The mighty - All of them, both high and low, shall be brought to destruction.

5:16 Exalted - By the execution of this just judgment.Sanctified - Shall appear to be an holy God, by his righteous judgments.

4 In this chapter we have both the world and the church in Adam's family, and a specimen of the character and state of both in all ages.As all mankind were represented in Adam, so that great distinction of mankind into the children of God and the children of the wicked one, was here represented in Cain and Abel; and an early instance of the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.We have here,

1. The birth, names, and callings of Cain and Abel, Gen 4:1-2.
   
2. Their religion, and different success in it, Gen 4:3-4,
   and part of Gen 4:5.
   
3. Cain's anger at God, and the reproof of him for that anger, Gen 4:5-7.
   
4. Cain's murder of his brother, and the process against him for that murder. The murder committed, Gen 4:8.
   The proceedings against him.
   1. His arraignment, Gen 4:9, former part.
      
   2. His plea, Gen 4:9. latter part.
      
   3. His conviction, Gen 4:10.
      
   4. The sentence passed upon him, Gen 4:11-12.
      
   5. His complaint against the sentence, Gen 4:13-14.
      
   6. The ratification of the sentence, Gen 4:15.
      
   7. The execution of the sentence, Gen 4:15-16.
      
5. The family and posterity of Cain, Gen 4:17-24.
   
6. The birth of another son and grandson of Adam, Gen 4:25-26.
   

4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother - The Chaldee paraphrast adds, that Cain, when they were in discourse, maintained there was no judgment to come, and that when Abel spoke in defence of the truth, Cain took that occasion to fall upon him. The scripture tells us the reason wherefore he slew him, because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous; so that herein he shewed himself to be a child of the devil, as being an enemy to all righteousness. Observe, the first that dies is a saint, the first that went to the grave, went to heaven.God would secure to himself the first fruits, the first born to the dead, that first opened the womb into another world.

4:9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? - God knew him to be guilty; yet he asks him, that he might draw from him a confession of his crime; for those who would be justified before God, must accuse themselves.And he said, I know not - Thus in Cain the devil was both a murderer, and a liar from the beginning. Am I my Brother's keeper? - Sure he is old enough to take care of himself, nor did I ever take charge of him. Art not thou his keeper? If he be missing, on thee be the blame, and not on me, who never undertook to keep him.

4:10 And he said, What hast thou done? - Thou thinkest to conceal it, but the evidence against thee is clear and uncontestable, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth - He speaks as if the blood itself were both witness and prosecutor, because God's own knowledge testified against him, and God's own justice demanded satisfaction. The blood is said to cry from the ground, the earth, which is said, Gen 4:11, to open her mouth to receive his brother's blood from his hand.The earth did as it were blush to see her own face stained with such blood; and therefore opened her mouth to hide that which she could not hinder.

4:11 And now art thou cursed from the earth - 1. He is cursed, separated to all evil, laid under the wrath of God, as it is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. 2. He is cursed from the earth. Thence the cry came up to God, thence the curse came up to Cain. God could have taken vengeance by an immediate stroke from heaven: but he chose to make the earth the avenger of blood; to continue him upon the earth, and not presently to cut him off; and yet to make even that his curse. That part of it which fell to his share, and which he had the occupation of, was made unfruitful, by the blood of Abel.

Besides, A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. Bythis he was here condemned, to perpetual disgrace and reproach, and to perpetual disquietment and horror in his own mind. His own guilty conscience should haunt him where ever he went.

Now to justify his complaint, Observe his descants upon the sentence.

1. He sees himself excluded by it from the favour of his God; andconcludes, that being cursed, he was hid from God's face, and that is indeed the true nature of God's curse; damned sinners find it so, to whom it is said, Depart from me ye cursed. Those are cursed indeed that are for ever shut out from God's love and care, and from all hopes of his grace.
2. He sees himself expelled from all the comforts of this life;and concludes, Gen 4:14.Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth - As good have no place on earth as not have a settled place. Better rest in the grave than not rest at all. And from thy face shall I be hid - Shut out of the church, not admitted to come with the sons of God to present himself before the Lord. And it shall come to pass that every one that finds me shall slay me - Wherever he wanders he goes in peril of his life.There were none alive but his near relations, yet even of them he is justly afraid, who had himself been so barbarous to his own brother.

4:15 Whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him seven - fold - God having said in Cain's case Vengeance is mine, I will repay; it had been a daring usurpation for any man to take the sword out of God's hand. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain - To distinguish him from the rest of mankind. What the mark was, God has not told us: therefore the conjectures of men are vain.

5  A farther exhortation to wisdom, Pro 5:1-2.
A caution against whoredom, Pro 5:3-14.
Remedies against it, Pro 5:15-23.

5:3 The lips - It concerns thee to get and to use discretion, that thou mayest be able to resist those temptations to which thou art exposed.

5:4 But - The effect of that to which she entices men, is destruction.

5:5 Feet - Her manner of life.

5:6 Lest - To prevent thy serious consideration. Moveable - She transforms herself into several shapes, and has a thousand arts to ensnare. Know - Thou canst not discover all her practice.

5:9 Honour - Thy dignity and reputation, the strength of thy body and mind. Years - The flower of thine age. The cruel - To the harlot, who though she pretends love, yet in truth is one of the most cruel creatures in the world, wasting thy estate and body without pity, and damming thy soul for ever.

5:10 Strangers - Not only the strange women themselves, but others who are in league with them. Labors - Wealth gotten by thy labours.

5:14 A moment - In how little a time am I now come into remediless misery! Assembly - And that in the congregation of Israel, where I was taught better things.

5:15 Drink - Content thyself with those delights which God alloweth thee in the sober use of the marriage - bed.