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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Isaiah 5:11 - 5:11
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The second woe, for which the curse about to fall upon vinedressing (Isa 5:10) prepared the way by the simple association of ideas, is directed against the debauchees, who in their carnal security carried on their excesses even in the daylight. “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning to run after strong drink; who continue till late at night with wine inflaming them!” Boker (from bâkar, bakara, to slit, to tear up, or split) is the break of day; and nesheph (from nâshaph, to blow) the cool of the evening, including the night (Isa 21:4; Isa 59:10); 'ichër, to continue till late, as in Pro 23:30 : the construct state before words with a preposition, as in Isa 9:2; Isa 28:9, and many other passages (Ges. §116, 1). Shēcâr, in connection with yayin, is the general name for every other kind of strong drink, more especially for wines made artificially from fruit, honey, raisins, dates, etc., including barley-wine (οἶνος κρίθινος) or beer (ἐκ κριθῶν μέθυ in Aeschylus, also called βρῦτον βρυτόν ζῦθος ζύθος, and by many other names), a beverage known in Egypt, which was half a wine country and half a beer country, from as far back as the time of the Pharaohs. The form shēcâr is composed, like ענָב (with the fore-tone tsere), from shâcar, to intoxicate; according to the Arabic, literally to close by stopping up, i.e., to stupefy.
(Note: It is a question, therefore, whether the name of sugar is related to it or not. The Arabic sakar corresponds to the Hebrew shecâr; but sugar is called sukkar, Pers. 'sakkar, 'sakar, no doubt equivalent to σἀκχαρι (Arrian in Periplus, μἐλι τὸ καλἀμινον τὸ λεγὀμενου σἀκχαρι), saccharum, an Indian word, which is pronounced Carkarâ in Sanscrit and sakkara in Prakrit, and signifies “forming broken pieces,” i.e., sugar in grains or small lumps (brown sugar). The art of boiling sugar from the cane was an Indian invention (see Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, i. 269ff.). The early Egyptian name for beer is hek (Brugsch, Recueil, p. 118); the demotic and hieratic name henk, the Coptic henke. The word ζῦθος ζὐθος) is also old Egyptian. In the Book of the Dead (79, 8) the deceased says, “I have taken sacrificial cakes from the table, I have drunk seth-t in the evening.” Moses Stuart wrote an Essay upon the Wines and Strong Drinks of the Ancient Hebrews, which was published in London (1831), with a preface by J. Pye Smith.)
The clauses after the two participles are circumstantial clauses (Ewald, §341, b), indicating the circumstances under which they ran out so early, and sat till long after dark: they hunted after mead, they heated themselves with wine, namely, to drown the consciousness of their deeds of darkness.