The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed. Isa 5:1-30
- JUDGMENT, RESTORATION, THANKSGIVING, Isaiah 1-12
2. Judah and Jerusalem, Isaiah 2-6
A DISAPPOINTING HARVEST
THE VINEYARD OF THE LORD DESTROYED
Now let me sing for my greatly Beloved [LORD] A song of my Beloved about His vineyard (His chosen people). My greatly Beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile slope (the promised land, Canaan). [Son_6:3; Mat_21:33-40]
He dug it all around and cleared away its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine (the people of Judah). And He built a tower in the center of it; And also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then He expected it to produce [the choicest] grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.
“And now, says the LORD, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard (My people).
“What more could have been done for My vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield worthless ones?
“So now let me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will take away its thorn-hedge, and it will be burned up; I will break down its stone wall and it will be trampled down [by enemies].
“I will turn it into a wasteland; It will not be pruned or cultivated, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also command the clouds not to rain on it.”
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house (nation) of Israel And the men of Judah are His delightful planting [which He loves]. So He looked for justice, but in fact, [He saw] bloodshed and lawlessness; [He looked] for righteousness, but in fact, [He heard] a cry of distress and oppression.
WOE TO THE WICKED
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who join house to house and join field to field [to increase their holdings by depriving others], Until there is no more room [for others], So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!
In my ears the LORD of hosts said, “Be assured that many houses will become desolate, Even great and beautiful ones will be unoccupied.
“For ten acres of vineyard will yield [only] one bath of wine, And a homer (six bushels) of seed will produce [only] one ephah of grain.”
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who rise early in the morning to pursue intoxicating drink, Who stay up late in the night till wine inflames them!
They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts; But they do not regard nor even pay attention to the deeds of the LORD, Nor do they consider the work of His hands.
Therefore My people go into exile because they lack knowledge [of God]; And their honorable men are famished, And their common people are parched with thirst.
Therefore Sheol (the realm of the dead) has increased its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure; And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her [boisterous] uproar and her [drunken] revelers descend into it.
So the common man will be bowed down and the man of importance degraded, And the eyes of the proud (arrogant) will be degraded.
But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in justice, And God, the Holy One, will show Himself holy in righteousness [through His righteous judgments].
Then the lambs will graze [among the ruins] as in their own pasture, And strangers will eat in the desolate places of the [exiled] wealthy.
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who drag along wickedness with cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes [towing their own punishment];
Who say, “Let Him move speedily, let Him expedite His work [His promised vengeance], so that we may see it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel approach And come to pass, so that we may know it!”
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever and shrewd in their own sight!
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who are heroes at drinking wine And men of strength in mixing intoxicating drinks,
Who justify the wicked and acquit the guilty for a bribe, And take away the rights of those who are in the right!
Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw] And the dry grass collapses into the flame, So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts And despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the anger of the LORD has burned against His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and has struck them down. And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies lay like rubbish in the middle of the streets. In spite of all this God’s anger is not turned away, But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].
He will lift up a flag to [call] the distant nations [to bring His judgment on Judah], And will whistle for them from the ends of the earth; And indeed, they will come with great speed swiftly.
No one among them is weary or stumbles, No one slumbers or sleeps; Nor is the belt at their waist undone [as if unprepared for action], Nor is the strap of their sandal broken.
Their arrows are sharp and all their bows are strung and bent; Their horses’ hoofs seem like flint and their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.
Their roaring is like a lioness, they roar like young lions; They growl and seize their prey And carry it off and there is no one to save it.
And in that day they will roar against them (Judah) like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, in fact, there is darkness and distress; Even the light will be darkened by its clouds.
7. Why was the harvest of wild grapes such a disappointment to the vine-dresser?
A DISAPPOINTING HARVEST
In a picture of great beauty, Isaiah describes a vineyard situated on one of the sunny heights visible from Jerusalem. Every care which an experienced vine-dresser could devise had been expended on it, but in vain. The vine-dresser himself is introduced, demanding if more could have been done. When God selects a nation, a church, or an individual for high and holy work in the world and expends care and pains on the preparation of the instrument, and His plans miscarry through no failure on His part but through the obstinancy or obtuseness of the human soul, the measure of what might have been is the gauge of its doom. The worst weeds grow on the richest soil. This picture is the counterpart of Paul’s dread of being a castaway, 1Co_9:27.
The six woes which follow, arising from drunkenness and avarice remind us of sorrows that menace the selfish heart. How different such a lot to the blessedness of the humblest soul that possesses God and is possessed by Him! “Evil shall slay the wicked; and they that hate the righteous shall be condemned. Jehovah redeemeth the soul of His servants; and none of them that take refuge in Him shall be condemned,” Psa_34:21-22.
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