Looking for a Righteous Man

Lantern

Three centuries later, Diogenes would walk with a lantern during the day looking for a “honest” (“real” or “virtuous” man as opposed to sham) man.

  • 5:1 “a single person who acts justly” - Genesis 18:16-33.
  • 5:2 “they swear falsely” - they serve the Lord in pretense.
  • 5:3 “refused to accept correction” - God can still use us when we mess up, but only if we let Him guide us back into the way we should go. “felt no pain” - what does this remind you of?
  • 5:4 “they are ignorant” - the poor were uneducated, surely the upper classes will know better.
  • 5:5 “altogether broken the yoke” - an educated rebel is a more sophisticated rebel.

    “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.” Theodore Roosevelt

  • 5:6 “lion .. wolf .. leopard” - a promised curse for willful disobedience. Leviticus 26:21-22
  • 5:7 “crowded at the houses of prostitutes” - what Pheonicians called “holy women”, God calls what they are.
  • 5:13 “the prophets are but wind” - fake news. “So let this befall them” - “this” being the disasters they assure the people cannot reach them. (Because surely God would not let His temple be destroyed.)

Judgement Proclaimed

  • 5:15 “an ancient nation” - Abraham came out of Ur of the Chaldeans.
  • 5:17 “eat up … feed on” - Chaldean soldiers were paid with the spoils of battle.
  • 5:19 “As you have served foreign gods in your own land, so you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.” A fitting irony.
  • 5:22 “Do you not fear Me?” - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10
  • 5:25 “your sins have deprived you of My bounty” - their crops were failing, and Baal could not help, and sacrificing kids to Molech could not fix it.
  • 5:26 “wicked men … set a trap to catch men” - treacherous business dealings that oppress the poor.
  • 5:28 “rights of the needy” - as illustrated by Ruth and defended by Boaz.
  • 5:30 “a horrible and shocking thing” - what is that? …
  • 5:31 “the prophets prophecy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority” - fake news and deep state. “My people love it so” - and so allowed it to happen. We would rather listen to lies when the truth is upsetting. It’s ok for “our” guy to act without authority.