Our thoughts for exhortation and spiritual strengthening of one another are based on a few verses taken from Proverbs 24:30-34.
“I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the
face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Then I saw, and considered well: I looked upon it, and received instruction,
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.”
The principle scene referred to in these verses is not unusual, perhaps with variations, even in our day. To pass by an unoccupied house with weed infested yard or garden and a crumbling masonry wall is a demoralising experience. How much more so when we are aware that the house is not empty — people are living there but the desolation still exists. Let us get the picture in our mind’s eye and we shall better appreciate the lesson the scriptures here are trying to teach us.
The way the writer of this proverb expresses it, it would appear that he passed by this broken down, nettle-choked vineyard. He had time to look at it closely-to examine it, and he was caused to think : and so are we. It is not difficult for us to immediately point the finger of condemnation at Israel. The vineyard was in their possession for a time. Solomon here proverbially and prophetically speaks of the end that it gradually came to.
The idolatry and hypocrisy of kings, priests, elders, and the people, too, had covered the face and glory of God’s land and as a result Nebuchadnezzar was allowed to break down the walls thereof. Israel had had a spiritual sleep. They had quite folded up hands that could have been useful and so their spiritual and physical poverty came. They completely forgot their God and were made to want by the arms of Babylon and Rome.
And so, as we pass by this portion of scripture again, we are made to think, too. We are exhorted. We are urged to see that the like does not come upon this vineyard—this vineyard that has now been let out to Christadelphians. God’s word has a way of living on —of being continually new—of teaching continuing lessons. As a result we feel that we can take lessons from this proverb to help our own ecclesial and individual lives.
It is not our prerogative to Cornell obedience from one another –One is our Master. Rather by mutual weekly exhortation whereby we draw our attention to God’s requirements we are reminded of the high standard of our calling, and of the very real effort that is necessary from us if we wish to attain to God’s great offer — eternal life.
As we begin let us primarily impress our minds with the disreputable condition of the vineyard :
“It was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall was broken down” (Ver. 31).
For comparison we recall the wholesome condition that the vineyard was in when the husbandman let it out. Good cultivated soil (a land flowing with milk and honey) – good grape vines — a watchtower and God watching over it all. And now — “thorns, thistles, and a broken wall!”
How telling are thorns and nettles (thistles) of man’s antagonism to the ways of God. God himself at the outset of human history established the allegory by uniting the cause with the effect (Genesis 3:17-18).
“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of t; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.”
And how clearly has it been evidenced in succeeding scriptural warnings and incidents. To Israel in the probationary wilderness and about to enter the promised land, it was put this way : Numbers 33:55.
“But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.”
Even without these illustrations most of us would appreciate the fact that thorns and thistles are associated with the baser deeds of man—the doing or saying of those things that are injurious to one another. But from whence did they come in this parable ?—from the field of the slothful—from the Vineyard of him without understanding.
How we are exhorted by these facts. Israel began zealously enough.
“All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient.”
At our baptism we, in effect, said the same words: and so the vineyard has been handed to us. We have entered the refurbished vineyard. We have advantages that they did not. We can see where they failed. Are we going to heed the lesson ?
Most of us will readily say we are not slothful, perhaps because we may subconsciously compare our industry with the efforts of our fellow pilgrims. Let us rather make our comparison with the characters who came before us from time to time in the Scriptures, e.g., Moses, the apostle Paul, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
If we do so we will better appreciate the fact that the care of the vineyard is not just a weekly sitting in a comfortable chair partaking of the bread and the wine ; or just a preparation of an exhortation and lecture twice per year, or even a monthly conclave of elders at a table. No! industry in the vineyard means being ready at all times, day and night, to do good.
But the original vineyard tenant was not only slothful — he was void of understanding, too. It is not unusual that the two go together, and it is not unusual on the spiritual plane that the combination begets the “thorns and nettles of family and ecclesial distress and discord. Without an understanding of what the Truth really requires of us in the way of comportment and behaviour toward our spiritual companions and toward the world itself we may very easily lend ourselves to the growth of those fruits which are scripturally associated with thorns and thistles—gossip, evil speaking of one another, envy, pride, uncharitablenes, and a lack of brotherly love and care for one another at all. If an ecclesia should come into such a condition it could well be spoken of as
“grown over with thorns.”
The most tragic condition of this proverbial vineyard was
“the stone wall broken down.”
Dictionary meanings of the word “wall” suggest the reason why. A wall is
- a structure of stone, brick or other materials raised to some height and is intended for defence, or security, or for an enclosure.
- A defence, a rampart, a means of protection.
The stone and masonry walls of Jerusalem and other Jewish cities were only physical counterparts of the greater wall of protection that was originally set about their vineyard.
The thought that Jehovah Elohim was their wall seems to be brought out in the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Hear the prophet’s cry,
“0 wall of the daughter of Zion–give thyself no rest —let not the apple of thine eye cease.”
But because of the great evil in the land God had already purposed that the wall should come down. He would leave them in the hands of the spoiler. He would remove His tabernacles from among tern. He would not be a wall to them any longer, and so
“the stone wall was broken down.”
And so we come back to the purpose of a wall again, and our need for one, too. We have entered the vineyard now. Our first thought at baptism and our primary thought thereafter should be akin to those of Nehemiah:
“Let us build up the wall of Jerusalem.”
Such a wall is necessary to keep ourselves in—to keep error out—to separate us from that which is without—to protect us from spiritual harm and danger. Above all else, let us recognise that it is God’s wall–in actual fact He is our wall, our refuge, our rampart. In building up His wall we glorify His name.
it seems to be significant that the Gentile Rahab is spoken of in Joshua 2:15 this way:
“She dwelt upon the wall,”
i.e., her house was supported by it, it rested on the wall of the city of Jericho. Later when Israel came against the city Rahab’s identification with the wall was the means of her own and her family’s salvation. It will be well for us, too, if it can be said of us that our house dwells upon the wall—upon the wall of God’s providing—the wall of the city of God, for He is building the old ruins up as saith: Acts 15:16:
“After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.”
The glory of this latter house will far outshine the former. This wall will continue to rise. The work may have setbacks and even lay dormant for a time as it did in the days of Nehemiah, but the important thing to remember is that the wall will be joined and it will be completed. The objective for us is to be on the wall–to be working on it—to be dwelling on it.
Let us go on unto perfection–unto the perfect wall of God’s erection. Let us build one another up in appreciation of that which our God is erecting through the crucified and risen Jesus- he who Paul has said
“has broken down the middle wall of partition between the Old Covenant and the New”
and has united faithful Jew and faithful Gentile by the death of the cross.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One