Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"All the merry-hearted sigh"
Text: Isaiah 24:7
MERRY-MAKING IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
Merry-making is not a modern invention. It existed in the ancient days, and the drinking of wine was on the top of the list of things merry-makers looked forward to enjoying.
“The new wine fails, the vine languishes,
All the merry-hearted sigh.
The mirth of the tambourine ceases,
The noise of the jubilant ends,
The joy of the harp ceases.
They shall not drink wine with a song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
The city of confusion is broken down;
Every house is shut up, so that none may go in.”
Isaiah 24:7-10
1. “The new wine”
a) Merry-makers would find reason to celebrate.
b) New wine was a cause for special celebration too.
c) But not when the problem of languishing affects the vineyards.
i) The new wine fails.
ii) Because the vine languishes.
d) All the merry-makers sigh because they had lost their reason to celebrate.
2. A glimpse of the merry-making in the days of Isaiah.
a) Music was always a part of the merry-making.
b) The community would sing and dance with the playing of
the simple tambourine and the harp.
c) The noise of jubilation and mirth cease when there is hardly anything to feast on,
let alone new wine.
d) All these things were a part of “the curse” that had befallen a world that has been so beset by war and violence.
3. Bitterness in wine.
a) Wine in the early days had dregs; the wine makers did not know how to
remove all the impurities.
b) People drank only from the top of the cup.
c) The dregs were found at the bottom of the wine cup and is always very bitter.
d) In this instance, all wine tasted bitter.
i) Not because they tasted the dregs.
ii) But because life was harsh and bitter.
iii) The mood in community gatherings was harsh and unhappy.
4. The city of confusion.
a) When once the city was bustling with trade and prosperity.
b) The city that is war-torn is affected adversely.
c) The shops are closed; the doors of home are tightly shut.
d) No one goes into the city for all feared for their lives.
e) There was no safety found easily.
f) The city of Jerusalem was severely affected by the threat of war
and this text well described what the city had become.
g) Hence it was called “the city of confusion”.