Come ye, say they - (compare the notes at Isaiah 22:13). That is, one says to another, 'I will fetch wine;' or as we would say, 'I will take another glass.' The object is to describe a drinking-bout, or carousal, when the glass is shoved around, and there is drinking to excess. The language denotes the state of exhilaration and excitement when sitting at the table, and already under the influence of wine. This is not designed to be descriptive of the people at large, but of the 'watchmen,' or public teachers of the nation, and it certainly shows a state of most lamentable degeneracy and corruption. Unhappily, however, it has not been confined to the times of Manasseh. There have been periods in the history of the Christian church, and there are still portions of that church, where the language used here with so much severity would be an appropriate description even of the Christian ministry; scenes where the professed heralds of salvation sit long at the wine, and join with the frivolous, the worldly, and the profane, in 'shoving round' the sparkling cup. No severer language is used in the prophets to describe and denounce any class of sinners than is appropriated to such people; at no time has the church more occasion to sit in the dust and to weep, than when her ministers 'rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; and continue until night, until wine inflame them Isaiah 5:11.

We will fill ourselves with strong drink - (See the notes at Isaiah 5:11).

And tomorrow ... - That is, indulgence of this kind was habitual. There was an intention to continue it. It was not that they had been once overtaken and had erred; but it was that they loved it, and meant to drink deeper and deeper. So now the guilt of ministers is greatly aggravated in the same way. It is not merely that they drink wine; it is not even that they on a single occasion drink too much, and say and do foolish and wicked things - liable as all are to this who indulge in drinking wine at all, and certainly as ministers will do it who indulge in the habit; it is that they mean to do it; they resolve not to abandon it, but purpose to persevere in the habit 'tomorrow.' Hence, such people refuse to join a Society of Temperance; hence, they oppose such societies as ultra and fanatical; and hence, by not joining them, they proclaim to the world, 'Come ye, and I will take another glass, and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.' It is this settled purpose - this fixed resolution, stretching into future time, and embracing coming years, that is so offensive to God. And there is not on earth a condition of more public iniquity than when the ministers of religion take this bold and open stand, and resolve that they will not abandon intoxicating drinks, but will continue to drink 'tomorrow,' and ever onward. Hopeless is the work of reformation when the ministers of religion take this stand; and dark is the prospect for the church on earth, when the messengers of salvation cannot be induced to stand before the church of God as examples and advocates for temperance on the most strict and uncompromising principles.

I will fetch wine "Let us provide wine" - For אקחה ekchah, first person singular, an ancient MS. has נקחה nikchah, first person plural; and another ancient MS. has אק ak upon a rasure. So the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate render it. The spirit of this Epicurean sentiment is this: Let us indulge ourselves in the present time to the utmost, and instead of any gloomy forebodings of the future, let us expect nothing but increasing hilarity for every day we shall live. Thus they,

"Counting on long years of pleasure here,

Are quite unfurnished for the world to come."

Come ye, say they,.... Either to their fellow bishops and priests, when got together, jovially carousing; or to the common people, encouraging them in luxury and intemperance:

I will fetch wine; out of his cellar, having good store of it, and that of the best, hence called "priests' wine"; and so, at Paris and Louvain, the Popish priests called their wine "vinum theologicum":

and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; fill their bellies and skins full of it till drunken with it; the drunkenness of priests in Popish counties is notorious, which seems here to be taxed and prophesied of:

for tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant; the morrow shall be as good, and merry, and jovial a day as this, and better; and we shall have as much wine and strong drink to drink, or more; this they say to encourage their companions to drink, and not spare, and to put away the evil day far from them. The Targum is,

"saying, come, let us take wine, and be inebriated with old wine; and our dinner tomorrow shall be better than today, large, very large.''

An office-bearer of the kind described is now introduced per mimesin as speaking. "Come here, I will fetch wine, and let us drink meth; and tomorrow shall be like today, great, excessively abundant." He gives a banquet, and promises the guests that the revelry shall be as great tomorrow as today, or rather much more glorious. מחר יום is the day of tomorrow, τὸ ἐπαύριον, for mâchâr is always without an article; hence et fiet uti hic (dies) dies crastinus, viz., magnus supra modum valde. יתר, or יתר (as it is to be pointed here according to Kimchi, Michlol 167b, and Wrterbuch), signifies superabundance; it is used here adverbially in the sense of extra-ordinarily, beyond all bounds (differing therefore from יותר, "more," or "singularly," in the book of Ecclesiastes).

Come ye, say they, I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to {l} morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

(l) We are well yet, and to morrow will be better: therefore let us not fear the plagues before they come: thus the wicked contemned the admonition and exhortations which were made to them in the Name of God.

56:12 Say they - Unto their brethren, fellow - priests, or other jolly companions. Fill ourselves - We will drink not only to delight, but even to drunkenness, as the word signifies, which shews their dreadful security and contempt of God, and their abandoning of all care of their own or peoples souls.

12. fetch wine-language of the national teachers challenging one another to drink. Barnes translates, "I will take another cup" (Isa 5:11).

to-morrow, &c.-Their self-indulgence was habitual and intentional: not merely they drink, but they mean to continue so.

56:9-12 Desolating judgments are called for; and this severe rebuke of the rulers and teachers of the Jewish church, is applicable to other ages and places. It is bad with a people when their shepherds slumber, and are eager after the world. Let us pray the Great Shepherd to send us pastors after his own heart, who will feed us with knowledge, that we may rejoice in his holy name, and that believers may be daily added to the church.