30/04/17 Isaiah 5:1-10 “What could have been done more to my vineyard, asks God”

Note that throughout this passage, even though Isaiah’s prophecies are primarily to Judah and Jerusalem, much of the application (especially with future events) is upon the whole of Israel (and not just the northern ten tribes). Isaiah 5:7 defines the vineyard as Israel, yet the plants are specifically called the men of Judah.

Isaiah 5:13 says my people are gone into captivity, which at the time of Isaiah can only mean the northern kingdom of Israel, which went into captivity around the time Isaiah commenced his ministry. However, Isaiah is speaking to the southern kingdom of Judah who is heading in the same direction. Consistency demands that the overall application of any prophecy involving God’s nation must be applied to a united Israel (Israel and Judah), for in the end there will only be but one kingdom and one King over all.

Isaiah 5:1 – Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

a very fruitful hill – ben (son) shemen (oil; fatness) qeren (horn; hill), thus “a ‘son-of-fatness’ hill” (or “horn” where a full horn of oil would signify great abundance.

It is clear that the wellbeloved here is God, or probably more specifically the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. The vineyard owner is God, and the vineyard is God’s nation Israel which was given many promises of fruitful blessings. However, the blessings were for obedience, yet Israel sinned, bringing cursing instead upon themselves. This passage is all about the vineyard God planted (Israel) in a very fruitful place (more to do with God’s presence than actual physical position) with the desire that it bring forth much fruit (that is, primarily spiritual fruit).

Note the parable of the sower and the seed (see Matthew 13:1-23 further down) where only the fourth sowing is actually fruitful. The other sowings either die out or do not bear fruit to maturity, consequent upon the state of the soil and the prevalence of weeds.

Spiritual fruitfulness is always the consequence of spiritual obedience.

Deuteronomy 28:1-2; 15 – ¹ And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe [and] to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: ² And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

¹⁵ But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

God had made Israel a very fruitful hill (or horn full of oil), but Israel had done that which the Lord God had forbidden. The vines which were planted were the very best (“choicest”) yet they produced rubbish (“wild grapes”). Israel had been given every opportunity to produce a spiritual harvest fit for the Lord Sabaoth, yet the harvest they actually produced was really only fit to be thrown out!

Isaiah 5:2 – And he fenced 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 made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

And He (God) fenced His vineyard – He hedged in (protected) His nation from predator nations around them; He gave them the law to guide them according to His will. He removed the stones – He took away the stumbling blocks that could have got in the way of productivity in His land Israel; he took away all idolatry and other hindrances from their lives (by requiring the Canaanites to be utterly destroyed, for instance). He planted it with the best vines possible – He established the land of Israel with a people who should have been most productive; for example, Israel had the law to guide them to great spiritual obedience. He built a tower in the middle of the vineyard – He set a watch over them; He gave them leaders (prophets, priests and kings) to watch over their welfare both physically and spiritually. He made a winepress for them – He provided for them as a good father should provide for his children; He made available to them every spiritual blessing. He desired that it bring forth grapes – He desired a spiritual harvest from His people (as a nation of priests to the nations around them); He wanted them to be fruitful so that he could bless them with every possible blessing.

Yet, even with so much preparation, the vineyard failed to produce any quality fruit at all. It was like buying the best breeding stock for a farm, paying a fortune to build the best possible foundation for breeding, yet producing less than even ordinary stock could produce! The question must be asked: why did God put so much into His vineyard (Israel) if it would end up producing less than the inferior vineyards all around? Is it possible that God could require so much of them, yet ordain that they should fail so miserably? Was God so sovereign yet couldn’t dictate better obedience than this? Or perhaps (the most logical solution), Israel was given a free will to choose in spite of every provision and blessing of sovereign God!

Anyone who would teach that all this was decreed by a sovereign God has to also believe that God actually meant this to happen (unacceptable conclusion) or that God couldn’t prevent it from happening (likewise unacceptable conclusion). If you do indeed still think that God ordained this without any free will input from Israel, then you have to accept the unacceptable: that God desired His elect nation to fail!

Isaiah 5:3-4 – ³ And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. ⁴ What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

Here we now have that very question being put forward by God Himself: what more could He have done to get the best crop possible that He hasn’t already done? Why had it brought forth wild grapes when God had done everything possible to produce choice grapes? God Himself is stating clearly that he has not done anything that could have jeopardised His crop.

So why did the crop fail?

Option (a) God is not telling the truth concerning His best efforts to obtain a choice crop? (As a politician makes promises before an election, yet decides after the election what he will then do.) That is, God made grand promises even if He mightn’t feel like doing His best to produce a choice crop later on? This is an unacceptable conclusion which opposes the very nature of God by making Him a liar, and could even make God out to be irrational, or that His responses are dependent upon what He feels like at the time.

Option (b) God is incapable of producing that which He has promised? That is, He promised perfection, yet couldn’t deliver on His promises? This also is an unacceptable conclusion which assumes that God is less than sovereign.

Option (c) God ordained that His crop should fail in spite of His assurances that He desired the very choicest crop? That is, God, while openly committing Himself to producing the best possible crop, nevertheless behind the scenes actually planned that Israel should fail to produce such a crop? That is, Israel was prevented by God’s decree from producing a choice crop? This is a similar conclusion to Option (a), yet His inability to deliver is decreed according to His will, rather than based upon feelings or false promises. Again, this is an unacceptable conclusion that requires a dual personality for God, that is, God is not what He seems to be! Such a conclusion has to assume that God had planned for Israel to fail so he could replace it with the Church. This is devious dealing with His creation.

Option (d) God, while desiring a better outcome, nevertheless allowed Israel to have a free will to determine for themselves what they would do? That is, the responsibility for the failure, instead of falling upon God who cannot fail, falls upon Israel who then has to take responsibility for such in the judgment which will come upon all mankind without exception? This is the only conclusion that allows for the failure of Israel without compromising the nature of God in any way!

When we look at the following passage, Option (d) is the only option that prevents God from having ordained or decreed that Israel should do that which He, God, had all along utterly condemned. For God to decree Israel’s apostasy is to decree that which God cannot be a part of, that is, sin or wickedness! Jerusalem’s iniquity here is so great that no amount of washing can make them acceptable to a holy God. How then can any person teach that God ordained such an abomination for Himself?

Jeremiah 2:20-23 – ²⁰ For of old time I have broken thy yoke, [and] burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. ²¹ Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? ²² For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, [yet] thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. ²³ How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: [thou art] a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

So, two things are clear so far from this passage: (i) God’s desire and will is for His country Israel to produce a very fruitful spiritual crop, and (ii) Israel instead produces an almost fruitless crop in spite of God’s efforts to make it fruitful.

It is also clear that both (i) and (ii) cannot occur if God is the only one with the free will to make decisions here!

Isaiah 5:5-6 – ⁵ 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; [and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: ⁶ And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

So, because God has done everything possible (other than actually compel by force) to produce the very choicest grapes, yet only a worthless crop ensues, then God will take away its benefits (see Vs 2 above). He will remove its border protection and His laws from their midst. No longer will they be kept safe from their enemies for God will turn His back on them when they cry out to Him.

Isaiah 3:25 – Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.

Even after the captivity God had to tell them that the day would come when He would refuse to deliver them from their enemies.

Zechariah 4:11 – For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver [them].

God would also take away His covenant law from them; instead He would make a covenant with the Gentiles who would be a priesthood in place of Israel. Of course, one day a remnant of Israel will be redeemed, and take its place once more as God’s special elect nation; however, that time is yet in the future when the times of the Gentile Church is fulfilled (Romans 11:24-27). Other nations would “eat up” the vineyard (Israel). Israel’s walls of protection would be torn down, and its land (especially Jerusalem) would be trodden by the Gentiles until the end.

Luke 21:24 – And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

It will be laid waste (and ended or destroyed). Tending of the plants and soil will cease, producing thorns and thorn-bushes (or thistles) instead. God would even command that there be no rain, thus ensuring drought and therefore an end to productivity of any crop grown. Rain was a blessing from God and often symbolised the spiritual blessings of God upon His people.

Deuteronomy 11:13-17 – ¹³ And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴ That I will give [you] the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. ¹⁵ And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. ¹⁶ Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; ¹⁷ And [then] the Lord’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and [lest] ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.

Zechariah 14:17 – And it shall be, [that] whoso will not come up of [all] the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

Joel 2:22-24 – ²² Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. ²³ Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first [month]. ²⁴ And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

Also note Elijah and the drought during the reign of King Ahab (I Kings Ch.18).

Isaiah 5:7 – For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

For the vineyard of the Lord Sabaoth represents Israel and the pleasant (objects of delight) vines are Judah. God looked eagerly for mishpat (judgment; justice) but instead beheld mispach (bloodshed – of the oppressed), for tsᵉdaqah (justice; righteousness) but instead beheld tsa‘aqah (a cry; an outcry – of the oppressed). Note the play on words in Hebrew. God wanted an outcome from His elect nation yet was given the opposite!

Isaiah 5:8 – Woe unto them that join house to house, [that] lay field to field, till [there be] no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

This is the first of six woes. The others are found in Vs 11, 18, 20, 21, 22.

Woe to them who build up their empires at the expense of the poor. They own so many houses and so many farms that there is no room for the small property owner anymore! Only the rich now own property; they may live alone away from troublesome neighbours who no longer own their houses! This is a condemnation of the greed of the rich, the leaders and the rulers.

Isaiah 1:23 – Thy princes [are] rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

Note the loss of Naboth’s land to Ahab in 1 Kings 21:1-16.

The law of Jubilee required that at the end of every fifty (7 x 7 + 1) years all possessions were to be returned to the original owner

Leviticus 25:13 – In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.

No-one was to actually own the land which remained God’s possession forever.

Leviticus 25:23 – The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land [is] mine; for ye [are] strangers and sojourners with me.

Micah (a contemporary of Isaiah) wrote:

Micah 2:2 – And they covet fields, and take [them] by violence; and houses, and take [them] away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

King Uzziah, during whose reign Isaiah wrote today’s passage, appears to have been one of these property-gatherers.

2 Chronicles 26:10 – Also he (Uzziah) built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: husbandmen [also], and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry.

Isaiah 5:9 – In mine ears [said] the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, [even] great and fair, without inhabitant.

In Isaiah 22:14 Isaiah says And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts…

God (Lord Sabaoth) has spoken in my hearing says Isaiah, “Truly these many houses shall be desolate (or laid waste), even the great (either size, importance or number) and the fair (good; pleasant) houses will be without inhabitant.” That is, they shall buy up all the property, yet with no benefit to themselves.

Amos 5:11 – Forasmuch therefore as your treading [is] upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

Isaiah 5:10 – Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

A bath was approximately 34 litres, which was a pathetic yield when an average yield for ten acres in that area was 17,000 litres! An acre was the measure of land that could be ploughed in one day by a yoke (or span) of oxen.

The ephah was one tenth of a homer, which means that the land would yield only one tenth of the amount sown in the first place! That is, it would have been better to not bother planting for a great loss was guaranteed. On the other hand, Matthew 13:8 has reaping of 30, 60 or even 100 times the amount of seed sown.

Both of these pictures are of devastating unfruitfulness. It couldn’t have even provided a living for the most frugal farmer! It is what drove most farmers off the Oodnadatta Track area after many were settled in an effort to open up the outback in the 19^th century. Many small holdings have now become a few very large holdings, with one (Anna Creek) currently being the largest land-holding in the world.

Now back to the vineyard parable – the following is a similar parable (told by Jesus).

Matthew 21:33-45 – ³³ Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: ³⁴ And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. ³⁵ And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. ³⁷ But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. ³⁸ But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. ³⁹ And they caught him, and cast [him] out of the vineyard, and slew [him]. ⁴⁰ When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? ⁴¹ They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out [his] vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. ⁴² Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? ⁴³ Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. ⁴⁴ And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. ⁴⁵ And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.

Here the vineyard is still owned by God. It is identified as Israel, with the pharisees being the workers who have taken charge of God’s possession (Israel), refusing to allow God access to His vineyard.

And so, because of their rejection of God’s plan for their redemption, the kingdom of God (the status of being God’s special nation) would pass from them to the Gentiles. This would be ratified by Paul in Antioch as depicted in the following:

Acts 13:44-48 – ⁴⁴ And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. ⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For so hath the Lord commanded us, [saying], I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. ⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained (appointed) to eternal life believed.

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