Isaiah 5:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

However, their numbness was such that, even while enduring this punishment, they remained oblivious to their suffering. He thus declares the visible consequences: For my people, says he, were taken captive because they had not sought the guidance of the Lord; and many perished for the sake of pleasant things and unquenchable thirst. Notice how within this punishment lies a profound warning rather than a quick and harsh affliction. God did not abruptly impose captivity but first sent famine and heat, hoping they would improve by remaining at home and not drawing the armies of outsiders by their unhealed wounds. Yet, since they did not heed this warning or learn from it, He ultimately delivered upon them the harshest punishment.

Since the esteemed leaders of the Jewish nation dismissed the careful observance of God's commandments as trivial, neglecting the works of His hands while engaging in incessant feasting and playing disgraceful songs, giving themselves over to drunkenness and squandering entire days, they shall face captivity and become slaves to their enemies. A great multitude will perish throughout the land from hunger and thirst, as if the grave had engulfed them with its vast and insatiable maw, greedily consuming those who fall into its depths and confining them in its shadows.

2:1) when they neglect the nourishment essential for their souls, just as those are spiritually dead who do not receive the living water (cf. Ps. 22:2), especially those who do not seek to partake of the water of which the Lord spoke to the Samaritan woman, saying, ‘He who drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst’ (John 4:14). We witness a multitude falling into death, not only from hunger but also from thirst for water, since they chose to consume that water which the Samaritan woman drank, as it is stated: ‘He who drinks of this water will thirst again’ (John 4:13), failing to drink from the wellspring that leads to eternal life (John 4:14). This compels us to pursue understanding. For if ignorance of the Lord leads to bondage, then we should earnestly desire the gift of discernment. Perhaps the true deadness found in the neglectful does not stem from a lack of bread or from a craving for earthly water, but rather from the scarcity of hearing the Word of the Lord (Am. 8:11). For man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Therefore, the Lord will not allow the souls of the righteous to be starved (cf. Proverbs 10:3), and though I am now aged, I have never seen a righteous person abandoned or their children begging for bread (Psalm 36:25). Likewise, the children of the bridechamber cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them (cf. Mark 2:19). Where there is famine and thirst, there exists death. Thus, to avoid perishing from hunger, let us seek the heavenly bread; and to prevent dying of thirst, let us cry out for that water of which the Lord declared, ‘He who drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.’

The significance of every teaching is likened to bread and water, as illuminated by this Gospel: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). Similarly, “He who drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst” (John 4:14), emphasizing that His living water will ensure everlasting sustenance. The Psalms also emphasize this truth, stating, “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou dost not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent” (Ps. 22:2). Therefore, the Lord refused to let those who were hungry in the wilderness go unfed, lest they become weak and perish from lack of sustenance (Matt. 15:32). Concerning the righteous, it is noted: “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Ps. 36:25). Some attempt to interpret the phrase, “My people are taken away into exile because they had no understanding, and their nobles perished from hunger, and their common people wasted away with thirst,” as a broader commentary on those in the underworld and Gehenna, where punishment awaits those without knowledge of God.

The peril of neglecting the Divine mandates is so great that the prophet mournfully proclaims, ‘Therefore my people were taken away captive, because they had no knowledge.’ Whoever in this present age fails to pursue the Lord by engaging with the sacred Scriptures surely risks being unrecognized by God in the realm of eternal joy.

Although destined for captivity, the Israelites will resist their foes and attempt to defend themselves within the besieged cities. However, their resistance, marked by stubbornness, will prolong the siege, leading to even greater suffering. The enemy will cut off their access to provisions from outside the city, resulting in widespread starvation and thirst among them. This suffering mirrors the events that unfolded during Nebuchadnezzar’s 18-month siege of Jerusalem (4 Kings 25:1-2). The agony of hunger and thirst corresponds to the earlier mentioned sins of debauchery and intoxication.