- Key words of Isaiah 5:1-7
- Vineyard, planted, beloved
- Grapes, wild, yield
- Looked
- The imagery of a vine and vineyard is repeated many times through scripture. Jesus specifically uses it in a number of parables and observations. The picture is originally of a man and his wife.
- Jer 2:21 I had planted you like a choice vine // of sound and reliable stock. // How then did you turn against me // into a corrupt, wild vine? NIV
- Ps 80:8-9 You brought a vine out of Egypt; // you drove out the nations and planted it. // 9 You cleared the ground for it, // and it took root and filled the land. NIV
- John 15:1-2 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. NIV
- In the OT, the vine refers to Israel (chosen by God to believe and represent faith to the world around them), and the gardener is God. Jesus says he is the true vine, and he does represent a better vine. The church is his body, and they represent true faith in God to the world today. That doesn't invalidate Israel as the vine, although scripture indicates that it is but an original branch off the true vine
- Rom 11:17-24 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
- A point of fact is that "all Israel will be saved" as Paul relates in the next few verses
- Rom 11:25-27 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
- This is actually an important distinction between some forms of reformed theology and dispensationalism. The church does not replace Israel. The original branch will be grafted back into the true vine
- APPLICATION: Even though Israel rejected the Messiah, and was cut off from the vine (for a time), that didn't prevent individuals from coming to faith in Christ. The initial church was primarily Jewish and over time became more and more Gentile. So, the warning is not about individual salvation but falls into two areas, one a group sense, and two, an individual physical sense. The group sense is that Gentiles could be cut off for unbelief and that appears to have happen in many nation groups. Secondly, like Israel, there is physical punishment to those who are cutoff that affects individuals (believers and non-believers). One could argue that believers were not affected (killed) by the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, but that ignores the loss of property and relatives that occurred because of national disbelief. Is America at that point? It sure seems like it
- Observations / Comparisons
- In this parable, Jesus seems to be alluding to Isaiah 5, but definitely to the imagery of Israel as a vineyard. What are some similar aspects and what are different?
- Similar: vineyard, owner (I/my and Landowner), planted, watchtower, no return, wall, wine vat or press, destroy (remove, devour, break--Isaiah; miserable death--Matt)
- Different: cleared (Isa), hedge (Isa), rented (Matt), went away on a journey (Matt), sent messengers (Matt), sent his son (Matt)
- It would seem hard to believe that the people would not realize that the vineyard was Israel. Verse 45-46 show that the Pharisees understood
- Going back to Isaiah …
- First of all, the song addresses who is at fault. Is it the owner or the vineyard itself and why?
- The owner had done all he could for the vineyard
- Therefore the fault for the bad fruit lies on the vineyard itself
- What is the owner's response to the bad fruit?
- He will take away the hedge and the wall
- It will be destroyed and trampled
- It will become a wasteland
- In verse 7, Isaiah names the vineyard and the owner. Who is it?
- The vineyard is Israel and Judah. The owner is the Lord Almighty
- In 722, the Northern kingdom is destroyed by Assyria
- In 586, Jerusalem (capital of the Southern kingdom, Judah) and its walls are destroyed by Babylon
- The land becomes a wasteland
- What is the reason?
- No justice; bloodshed
- No righteousness; cries of distress
- Key words Isa 5:8-30
- Woe
- None, roar, lion (same section)
- Drink
- Darkness
- Therefore
- Isaiah describes the fruit of the vineyard using six woes. As if to answer what went wrong with the vineyard, Isaiah holds ups six clusters of wild grapes in verses 8-25 (Ortlund, 2005). What is the first woe or problem with the fruit?
- The people are consumed by consumerism, wealth, an addiction to things
- They have beautiful homes, but it doesn't lead to justice or righteousness (vs 5:7)
- Judgment? Homes will be desolate and the fields will produce virtually nothing, no wealth
- Second woe / reason for bad fruit
- Hedonism or pleasure seeking (the party animal)
- Also, lack of knowledge (stupidity)
- Judgment?
- Exile, hunger, thirst, and only the grave will enlarge its appetite
- Loss of a position
- Third woe / reason for bad fruit
- Argue for sin on the basis of false reasoning
- Also, the cynical believer (if he really is a believer). The description sounds like religious people who really don't believe. They go through the motions, but all the time they are really looking for reasons not to believe, so that they can continue in their secret sins
- Judgment?
- There is not judgment listed after this woe. Quite possibly it deserves no response since stupidity has its own reward
- The fulfillment of God's prophecies, in his timing, are sufficient in themselves
- Fourth woe / reason for bad fruit
- They were changing the definition of morality. In today's terms, abortion is called choice; homosexuality is just a lifestyle; adultery is called "consenting adults"; sex before marriage is testing one's compatibility with a partner or just having a date
- Judgment?
- Woes three through five are judged in a general sense (with woes one, two, and six) in verses 25-30, which is essentially the Assyrian destruction of the Northern kingdom and the Babylonian destruction of the Southern kingdom
- Fifth woe / reason for bad fruit
- Pride and conceit, and to a certain extent, thinking you are smarter than God
- Sixth woe / reason for bad fruit
- The verses seem to be focused on judges who relish in their machismo, and also drink a lot
- Maybe helping the poor and the downtrodden is considered too far below their manhood
- Judgment?
- The judges are consumed by God's fire because the rejected his law and spurned his word
Isa
5:1-2 (ESV) Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard:
My
beloved had a vineyard
on a
very fertile hill.
2 He
dug it and cleared it of stones,
and
planted it with choice vines;
he
built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and
hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he
looked for it to yield grapes,
but it
yielded wild grapes.
22 Consider
therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but
kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you
also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be
grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were
cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were
grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the
natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
"The deliverer will come from Zion; // he will turn
godlessness away from Jacob. //
27 And this is my covenant with them // when I take away their
sins." NIV
Isa
5:3-7 (ESV) And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and
men of Judah,
judge
between me and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I
have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why
did it yield wild grapes?
5 And
now I will tell you
what I
will do to my vineyard.
I will
remove its hedge,
and it
shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it
shall be trampled down.
6 I
will make it a waste;
it
shall not be pruned or hoed,
and
briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that
they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the
house of Israel,
and
the men of Judah
are
his pleasant planting;
and he
looked for justice,
but
behold, bloodshed;
for
righteousness,
but
behold, an outcry!
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Matt
21:33-46 (ESV) "Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who
planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and
built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he
sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35
And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and
stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the
first. And they did the same to them.
37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my
son.' 38 But when the tenants saw the
son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and
have his inheritance.' 39 And they took
him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40
When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to
those tenants?" 41 They said to
him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the
vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons."
42
Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
"'The stone that the builders rejected
has
become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing,
and it
is marvelous in our eyes'?
43
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given
to a people producing its fruits. 44
And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it
falls on anyone, it will crush him."
45
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived
that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest
him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Six
Woes
Isa
5:8-10 (ESV) Woe to those who join house to house,
who
add field to field,
until
there is no more room,
and
you are made to dwell alone
in the
midst of the land.
9 The
Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
"Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large
and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but
one bath,
and a
homer of seed shall yield but an ephah."
Isa
5:11-14 (ESV) Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that
they may run after strong drink,
who
tarry late into the evening
as
wine inflames them!
12 They have lyre and harp,
tambourine
and flute and wine at their feasts,
but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see
the work of his hands.
13
Therefore my people go into exile
for lack of knowledge;
their
honored men go hungry,
and
their multitude is parched with thirst.
14
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
and
opened its mouth beyond measure,
and
the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down,
her
revelers and he who exults in her.
Isa
5:18-19 (ESV) Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
who
draw sin as with cart ropes,
19 who
say: "Let him be quick,
let
him speed his work
that
we may see it;
let
the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and
let it come, that we may know it!"
Isa
5:20 (ESV) Woe to those who call evil good
and
good evil,
who put darkness for light
and
light for darkness,
who
put bitter for sweet
and
sweet for bitter!
Isa
5:21 (ESV) Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and
shrewd in their own sight!
Isa
5:22-24 (ESV) Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and
valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23 who
acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and
deprive the innocent of his right!
24
Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as
dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so
their root will be as rottenness,
and
their blossom go up like dust;
for
they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and
have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
APPLICATION: It is not hard to see the relationship of
Israel to the USA in these verses.
These verses are specific to Israel, but Jesus' and Paul's use of the
vineyard motif are much more general to people groups (nations). Change starts with individuals. The issue isn't the size of the house, but
what have we rejected in pursuit of the house.
Do our lives project Jesus to others?
Are we honest in our relationships with people? Are we involved in helping the poor and
downtrodden?
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