Isaiah 5:15-17 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And the mean man, &c. All of them, both high and low, shall be brought to destruction. But the Lord shall be exalted in judgment By the execution of his just judgment upon his incorrigible enemies. And God that is holy shall be sanctified Shall appear to be a holy God; in righteousness That is, by displaying his righteousness, or executing his righteous judgments. Then, &c. When God shall have finished that work of judgment upon the ungodly, he will extend mercy to the remainder; the lambs The poor and harmless people, who shall be left in the land, when the rich are carried into captivity, as it happened 2 Kings 25:12; shall feed after their manner Or, without restraint, as Bishop Lowth renders it. And the waste places of the fat ones The lands left by their owners, the rich and great men, who were either slain or carried into captivity; shall strangers eat The poor Israelites who were left in the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen, who are called strangers, because they were so in reference to that land, not being the proper owners of it, nor related to them. Vitringa is of opinion that this verse “refers to the first disciples of Jesus Christ, who, seeing and deploring the destruction of the Jews, should rest safely under the protection of God; while, according to the next clause, the Gentiles should be brought into the communion of the church, and rejoice in those benefits, prerogatives, and privileges, whereof the carnal, rich, and luxurious Jews were deprived.” See John 10:16.