Intertextuality in Isaiah 5: The Song of Isaiah

Introduction

Isaiah chapters 2-4 begin with descriptions of the glory of a restored Zion, but the main thrust of argument is a rebuke to the existing community of Isaiah’s day for their spiritual failures. In Isaiah 5, we have the formal arraignment of the nation, both Judah and Israel, for their breach of the covenant promises. And in similar fashion to Nathan’s denunciation of David (2 Sam 12:1-12), the charge and sentence is set out in the form of a parable – but here in Isaiah 5 it is a parabolic psalm.

We have then in Isaiah 5 what is often referred to by commentators as “Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard” (5:1-7), which is closely followed by the enunciation of six woes (5:8-24).[1] The song and woes together form a comprehensive invective of great beauty yet chilling certitude. We will look into the beauty and power of this song and it’s surprisingly wide ranging intertextuality.

The likening of Israel to a vineyard has an ancient provenance (Gen 49:11, 22; Song 8:14). We have already had the “the daughter of Zion” compared to a “booth in a vineyard” (Isa 1:8), and the princes of Judah charged with “eating up” (Isa 3:14) God’s vineyard. But it is evident from Ps 80:8-16 that the approaching Assyrian storm clouds had at least caused Asaph (a probable contemporary of Isaiah[2]) to use this Israelite metaphor in a prayer for national redemption.[3] It is surely of note, from a circumstantial perspective if nothing else, that Isaiah chooses this same vineyard concept as the vehicle by which he will deliver his message of doom.

Isaiah 4 is closely connected to Isaiah 5. Instead of the “fruit of the earth” (Isaiah 4:2), we have “wild grapes” in chapter 5. In chapter 4:6 there are storm clouds but even here they at least water the land. In chapter 5 however, the clouds are bidden “to rain no rain upon it” (5:6) because the coming tempest that was to be unleashed upon the land would be fire (5:24) followed by warfare (5:28).

However, we should note that God had evidently heard Asaph’s (and certainly Hezekiah’s) prayer in preserving Jerusalem from the predations of Sennacherib in 701 BCE. For Samaria, however, the die was cast, so to speak, and after 3 years of siege the city fell to Sargon the Assyrian in the 6^th year of Hezekiah’s reign (722 BCE).[4]

The Song of Solomon

When penning Isaiah 5 it seems probable that Isaiah drew part of his inspiration from “the Song”. Thus, Isaiah in his song sings as follows:

Now will I sing to my well-beloved, a song of my beloved touching his vineyard.

The Hebrew word “my beloved”, standing here, is almost certainly a figure for God;[5] it is found 26 times in the Song of Solomon, but nowhere else in Scripture save here in Isa 5:1. This is significant. Interestingly, the final verse of the Song (8:14) concludes with a reference to “my beloved” and 3 verses prior to this there is a description of Solomon’s vineyard at Baal Hamon (Song 8:11). When we look at Isa 5:1, we note that, the prophet having stated the subject of his song as his “well beloved” in verse 1, then goes on to detail the key features of the vineyard in the second half of the verse. See table below.

	Isaiah		Song of Solomon
5:1	Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard	8:14	Make haste my beloved….
5:1	My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill	8:11	Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon…

So here are two strong points of reference between both songs. But there is more. The Hebrew word hamon referred to in the Song (8:11) occurs twice in Isaiah 5 (verses 13 & 14 translated into the English as “multitude”).

	Isaiah		Song of Solomon
5:13	…and their multitude (hamon) dried up with thirst	8:11	Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon…
5:14	…and their glory and their multitude (hamon)….

So, now we have 4 points of contact. Finally, the latter part of Song 8:11 is referred to in Isa 7:23,

	Isaiah		Song of Solomon
7:23	…where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings…	8:11	…every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver (silverlings)

So, within Isaiah 5 and the immediate context, we have at least five points of connection. It seems evident that these references in Isaiah 5 to “the Song” are a matter of intertextual design (following a process of deep thought, aided by divine inspiration) – as opposed to coincidence.

When we look again at the literal translations of the second half of Isa 5:1 and Song 8:11 we note an interesting feature:

	Isaiah		Song of Solomon
5:1	My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill	8:11	Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon…
	Literal translation		Literal Translation
5:1	A vineyard was there to my well-beloved in keren ben-shamen	8:11	A vineyard was there to Solomon in Baal Hamon

The phrase keren shamen equates to ‘horn of oil’. This combination of Hebrew words occurs only in 1 Sam 16:1 & 13 where Samuel anointed David, and 1 Kgs 1:39 where Solomon was anointed by Zadok. So, we have a hint/reference to the Davidic covenant and to the king that built the Temple which was the seal of the Davidic covenant. If the Hebrew phrase ben-shamen equates to “anointed”, it is reasonable to infer that keren ben-shamen equates to “the horn of the anointed” (on which see further Hannah’s prayer in 1 Sam 2:1).

Isaiah’s Song clearly has for its opening verse a thought pattern based on the Song of Solomon. In the language used in Isa 5:1 (keren ben-Shamen) there is a special reference to the Davidic covenant and the Temple of Solomon as the seal of that covenant. Given the rest of the message of Isaiah’s song concerns the failure to live up to the Sinai covenant and the breaking down of the fence, tower, and winepress, the referencing in to the early part of the Isaiah’s song to the Davidic line and the temple sets the tone that these are substantive matters dealing with God’s redemptive purpose for mankind working (in reality not working at all) through Israel.

Conclusion

Israel, the seed of Abraham, the friend of God, was a vine of noble stock, whose wine was to “gladden God and men” (Jud 9:13). This vine, planted in the fair land of Canaan with the presence of God hovering over it looked to be the “blessing to all nations” in which the righteousness of Abraham’s faith would overflow and overcome the earth. But, as the record shows, seduced by the world it was supposed to convert, the nation became a mockery to its neighbours. The blessings of Abraham would not be realized under the “tabernacle of Shiloh”.

David was anointed of the Lord, and to him there was granted great favours. But even the line of David could not be steadfast to the purpose, and the “mercies” granted to David were not realised under the Temple built by Solomon “the well beloved of the Lord” (2 Sam 12:24-25). A greater son of David would be required to see the matter through.

In Isaiah’s song, when we take into account the quality of the vine at the outset, the goodness of the soil, and the sun and sweet rain that God had lavished upon his vineyard, Isaiah asks the question what more could be done, than had been done??

If we fast forward to Luke 20:13 and the parable of the vineyard in the final week of the life of Jesus we get the answer. Jesus tells us that the Lord of the Vineyard said “I will send my beloved son”. But as the gospel record shows the gracious presence of Jesus only intensified the malignity of the wicked husbandmen, and so it was that the vineyard was given up to the burning in 70 CE.

Only when Jesus “the true vine” is planted in the earth, can the promise to David, or the oath to Abraham, be fully realised.

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