- Now will I sing for my beloved, a song of my beloved touching his vineyard.
My beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: - And he made a trench about it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a wine-press therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes
- And now, 0 inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge: I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
- What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done to it? Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
- And now go to: I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up: I will break down the fence thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
- And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
- For the vineyards of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, behold oppression: for righteousness but behold a cry” (Isaiah 5:1-7)
- “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou has cast out the heathen and planted it.
- Thou preparest room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root and it filled the land.
- The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars
- She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.
- Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
- The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
- Return we beseech thee, 0 God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine.
- And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself
- It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance
- Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself”. Psalm 80:8-17 “A Psalm of Asaph”
- “Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
- Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?
- Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel: the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?
- Behold when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned.” (Ezekiel 15:2-5)
A vintage festival is a fitting time for singing a song of vineyards and we can imagine the prophet Isaiah appearing as a minstrel on such an occasion. His audience consisted of both town and country folk, inhabitants of the urban district of Jerusalem and men of the countryside of Judah. The theme of the song is the vineyard of the prophet’s beloved, Who is shewn by the context to be the Deity, and it seems to be limited to the first two verses, the rest of the extract being devoted to the Divine comment on the vineyard. The opening words of the song are pleasant and would delight the hearers. The owner had lavished exceptional forethought upon his property. The site was well-chosen with apparently good soil. Its natural advantages were enhanced by the care of the husbandman. It was well turned over and all the stones removed. It was well trenched and drained. It was planted with “sorek”, the choicest vine, yielding red grapes and excellent wine. A watch-tower was erected in the center so that neither wild beasts nor thieves might molest it. Finally it had a wine vat hewed out of the solid limestone. Here was all that was needed for fruitfulness. Yet when the owner looked for good fruit, he found bad or evil-smelling grapes.
Then, having aroused the expectancy of the people, the prophet took advantage of the tense situation to make the application. The house of Israel was God’s vineyard and the men of Judah His pleasant plant. What could have been done for them that He had not done? Every advantage was theirs and there was no excuse for their failure. Useless they were, however, and their owner would discard them. His protection and care would be withdrawn. The fence and hedge would be broken down: the vineyard would not be cultivated, rain would be withdrawn from it and it would be overrun with weeds and trodden down. The cry which was heard was the cry of those who were oppressed by their fellow-countrymen. The evil state of the people as described in the rest of the chapter was the justification of Isaiah’s parable, and their subsequent history shewed the accuracy of his prediction.
The lament of Asaph for his broken people shews the reverse of the picture as Israel saw it. They were God’s vine. He had made the vineyard-room for them in the Holy Land by turning out the heathen Canaanites. Under His blessing they had spread and cast their shadow from the river to the sea. Alas! now their defences were gone and they were easy prey to the surrounding wild-beast nations. Their land was devoured as by fire before the rebuke of the Lord. Nevertheless ,the psalmist had not lost faith in God’s goodness. He looked forward to the time when the man of Yahweh’s right hand, the son of man, whom He had made strong for Himself, would shew himself the strength and redeemer of Israel.
The record is completed by the parable of Ezekiel. He suggests the strength and weakness of the vine. Its sole useful function is the production of grapes for wine. If it fails in this, it fails in all. Its wood is of no use, not even a peg can be made of it. Men can do nothing with it, but burn it. In this, it was a fit symbol of Israel. Their function was to keep the Divine goodness, power and righteousness before the nations. When they failed to do this they were no longer of use. Hence they were removed. Despising the Divine care, they were consumed at both ends and in the middle by their powerful enemies until their kingdom was utterly destroyed.
In these parables and especially in the Song of Isaiah we feel that we are most nearly approaching the parables of Jesus. There is still not quite the same power, notwithstanding the beauty of the parables. They are more loosely knit and depend more upon allegory and metaphor than those of the Master, who describes the everyday scenes of life as men saw them and uses them for invaluable lessons. Nevertheless, the similarity is there and the lessons of the Old Testament figures are strong. It is interesting to compare Isaiah’s description of the beloved’s care for his vineyard in chapter 5, v. 2, with the description which Jesus gives of the creation and preparation of the vineyard given in the parable of the wicked husbandman (Mark 12:1-10).
“A certain man planted a vineyard and set an hedge about it and digged a place for a wine fat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country”.
The Greek words in the New Testament are virtually identical with the corresponding Greek words in the Septuagint version of Isaiah 5. Thus Isaiah and Ezekiel condemned their nation and Asaph lamented its downfall in parables of vines and vineyards.
The parables were written of days of old, but they might well have been written of today. There is still need to testify to men of the goodness, power and righteousness of God, perhaps more than ever in view of the defiance of God and all His ways which dominates the evil world of today. God has not let Himself without witness. The body of the believers in general and the Ecclesias and the individual in particular constitute the means whereby His name is held fast and His faith proclaimed. Vines and vineyards are still fitting symbols of the saints. As of old God can call to witness that nothing that could be done for His vineyard has been left undone. He has made us and He nurtures and defends us. Our assets are incalculable if we appreciate and use them. Our faith is simple and easy to comprehend. It makes appeal both to our reason and our hearts. We are knit together by a simple fellowship which provides that we can, by united endeavor and mutual helpfulness, shew to all whose we are and whom we serve. Strength and guidance from Him through Jesus are ours for the faithful asking. In these times of blood when so many are torn from their homes and sent to perish in so many cases in foreign lands, striving for a corruptible crown, His defense of us is so sure that few, if any, of us are prevented from carrying out the simple ritual of our faith and none of us need be out of contact for long with fellow-workers and believers. Truly God may ask that one should judge between Him and His vineyard and may look that it should bring forth fruit.
What grapes are we producing? Are they sour and evil-smelling, making vain all His care, or are they “screk”, rich red grapes yielding wine, which, following the chosen figure, makes glad His heart? As far as the individual is concerned each must make his own reply. It is possible, however, to take a sweeping view over the whole of the Ecclesias and obtain a general picture of the scene. We are here to show the goodness, power and righteousness of God, that some might be led to cleave unto Him. This entails that men should see, not perhaps a perfect vineyard, but certainly one which possesses desirable features. We are judged by the sincerity of our testimony to Him, and by the evidence that His grace has cemented us together. How do we look when viewed from this standpoint? Is there a sufficient sense of urgency in our endeavors to follow our Lord in seeking and saving that which is lost? Or are we discouraged at the meager response to our efforts? Have we in reality, though not in word, given up the task ? Are we sufficiently insistent in our care for the less fortunate amongst us ? Or are we content to say “be thou warmed and fed!” and do nothing in terms of personal service? Again, is it for the glory of the vineyard that in times of controversy some should arise among us to cast doubt upon the integrity and honesty of purpose of those with whom they disagree? On the answer to these and similar questions depends our response to the Lord when He seeks for fruit.
Nor let us forget that, if we fail in our duty in these directions, we have failed in all. Like Ezekiel’s vine we are fit for no other work than that for which God has called us. No use even for a peg, but only to bring forth fruit to the glory of God: otherwise, meet only for burning.
Let us redouble our efforts to prove worthy of our claim to be the modern vineyard of the Lord. Let us strive to sink all our personal feelings in one great endeavor to prove indubitably to all who will look that God is working through us by bringing forth fruit in noble lives, in loving service and in sympathetic endeavor to shew to men the wonders of the gospel and to prove to them in action that it works, not only in the eternal hereafter, but now. So shall we obviate the need for another Asaph to lament another broken vineyard. So shall we see eventually the glory of the man of God’s right hand, the Son of man, made strong to end all human woes, and enter with Him into His kingdom.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One