Isaiah 5:8
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
Woe unto them that join house to house,.... Or "O ye that join", &c.; for, as Aben Ezra observes, it signifies calling, as in
Isaiah 55:1 though Jarchi takes it to be expressive of crying and groaning, on account of future punishments; and he observes, that as there are twenty two blessings pronounced in the book of Psalms, on those that keep the law, so there are twenty two woes pronounced by Isaiah upon the wicked:
that lay field to field; the sin of covetousness is exposed and condemned in these words; not that it is unlawful in itself for a man that has a house or field of his own to purchase another that is next unto it; but when he is insatiable, and not content with his houses and lands, but is always coveting more, this is his sin, and especially if he seeks to get them by fraud or force:
till there be no place; for others to dwell in and possess; and so the Targum,
"and say, until we possess every place;''
or "unto the end of the place" {x}, city, or field; till they have got all the houses in the town or city, and all the pieces of ground in the field, in their own possession:
that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth, or land; that is, of Judea; wholly inhabit it themselves, and have the sole power and jurisdiction over it. It is in the Hebrew text {y} "that ye may be placed", &c.; the Targum is,
"and they think they shall dwell alone in the midst of the land.''
{x} Mwqm opa de "usque ad terminum loci", V. L.
{y} Mtbvwhw "constituamini", Vatablus, Forerius, Montanus; "colloeemini", Calvin.