An Unattended and Unfruitful Vineyard

Isaiah 5:1-7 

1 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved
A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard:
My Well-beloved has a vineyard
On a very fruitful hill.

2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also made a winepress in it;
So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.

3 "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.
4 What more could have been done to My vineyard
That I have not done in it?
Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,
Did it bring forth wild grapes?

5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:
I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;
And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

6 I will lay it waste;
It shall not be pruned or dug,
But there shall come up briers and thorns.
I will also command the clouds
That they rain no rain on it."

7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

This parable of God’s planting of Israel shows how it was unattended by God’s people and so became unfruitful to God’s dismay and wrath.  It begins as an expectant song of joy in God’s work to plant this beautiful vineyard.  The Beloved put this array of vines on top of a verdant hill where it should have grown easily and well in the rich soil and sunny exposure out of the shaded valley.  The Beloved, God Himself, prepared the soil for fruitfulness and put the best chosen vines in place to begin the process.  He also built a tower with a wine press to oversee the safety of the vineyard and harvest the fruit into tasty wine when the time was ripe.  Unfortunately, when the time of harvest arrived, He only found wild uncultivated grapes and not ones of good vintage quality as expected due to all the care that He put into preparing it.  Yes, the people of Israel who were the vineyard and those of Judah as a pleasant planting had failed in attending to their growth and care, symbolic of disobedience and unrighteousness in ruining God’s work given them to grow and be fruitful to multiply as promised to their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  God called them to task, pointing out that He had done everything for them and yet they were unfruitful and bitter to the taste in their resulting by their inattentive and rebellious works.  God told them the consequences, that He would take away the hedge protecting them and throw them into the fire to burn (John 15:6) as a foretaste of the final judgment with the lake of judgment’s fire.  He would take down what He built and give the kingdom to others.  Only thorns and briars would ever arise from the aftermath of the once fertile land that was entrusted to them by promise, unwatered and barren for their disbelief and disobedience.  Disbelief because they refused to accept His provision and plans for them, and disobedience because they heard His word and chose not to cultivate their promised land.  He clearly tells them by Isaiah’s words that they are the vineyard who had been His pleasant choice but rejected the righteousness of justice in doing good to themselves, others, and Him (Micah 6:8).  All God heard was a cry for help when all came to ruin as sin’s harvest, a bitter consequence.  These words and example are for our instruction (Romans 15:4, 1 Corinthians 10:11) as a warning to unfaithfulness in working out our our salvation’s sanctification with fear and trembling.  May we abide in the vine we have been grafted into and be fruitful in the righteousness of Christ by our obedience.  Amen.