Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!
Woe to the Wicked
8 Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
12 They have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people go into exile
for lack of knowledge;
their honored men go hungry,
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
and opened its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down,
her revelers and he who exults in her.
15 Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,
and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19 who say: “Let him be quick,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will be as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
26 He will raise a signal for nations far away,
and whistle for them from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
27 None is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not a sandal strap broken;
28 their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels like the whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey;
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
30 They will growl over it on that day,
like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold, darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds. Isaiah 5 ESV
Isaiah 5 Song of the Vineyard
1-4. Let me sing for my beloved - A sad song, full of lament.
My beloved had a vineyard - This song is in the form of a parable; we know from verse 7 that it is God's vineyard, and the vineyard is Israel. God spoke often to the people in parables.
And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” Luke 20: 9-18
On a very fertile hill - He picks the best land. I have tried to grow grape vines before and failed miserably. It requires a particular soil, good drainage, and a lot of care. It is not just throwing seeds in any patch of ground, swamp or sand.
…16 Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— a land flowing with milk and honey. Exodus 3: 16-17
He dug it and cleared it of stones - There were obstructions to remove, and in the case of Israel He pushed out the inhabitants before them and instructed them to do the same. They were given dietary laws that separated them from others in the land and surrounding lands. They received the moral law which further separated them from all other inhabitants of the earth, and if followed, kept their land fruitful under God's blessing. The inhabitants before them, like Sodom, were coming under God's judgment, and Israel was to conduct themselves much differently.
…15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.… Genesis 15: 15-17
…11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these things with their own possessions. 12 This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you whatever is devoted to destruction.13 Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.… Joshua 7: 11-13
20 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. 21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, 24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” Exodus 23: 20-33
And He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes - They are not unfamiliar with the agricultural references so when He ask them to judge between Him and His vineyard they know what they would do. They also know what He has done, and logically, materially, it would never seem a good investment for the yield. The choicest, most cultivated vines of a fallen humanity cannot bear the right fruit.
…18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.… Matthew 7: 18-20
5-7 I will remove it's hedge and it shall be devoured - They thought sometimes it was their chariots and horses, their geographical location and strong walls, but it was the Lord of Hosts who brought them there and He who sustained them. Pride comes before a fall, and the prophet is warning of a future destruction that will be the Babylonian captivity.
But behold an outcry - He taught them justice, but they were murderers, sacrificing their own infants and robbing widows. The tears of orphans, of those ill used, the blood of martyrs cries out like the blood of Abel. There will also be the outcry of our neighbors, that God has blessed a people that make a stench worse than their own, and if we are His people and He is holy then He must judge this hypocrisy.
8-10 Woe to those who join house to house - Some say this is about building and living in cities, others say this is about building upon ruins, but that doesn't fit the text. This is about their materialism and the pursuit of it at the cost of justice. They also add fields but for all their houses and land they become desolate and the fields produce at famine quantities. They had laws that returned property to the owners, that protected the covenant rights of area by family and tribe, but like Ahab, many wanted their neighbor's field. They covet.
“For it cannot be condemned as a thing in itself wrong, if a man add field to field and house to house; but he looked at the disposition of mind, which cannot at all be satisfied, when it is once inflamed by the desire of gain. Accordingly, he describes the feelings of those who never have enough, and whom no wealth can satisfy.” (Calvin)
23 The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.24 Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land.… Leviticus 25: 23-24
…8 Every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any Israelite tribe must marry within a clan of the tribe of her father, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9 No inheritance may be transferred from one tribe to another, for each tribe of Israel must retain its inheritance.”10 So the daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD had commanded Moses.… Numbers 36: 8-10
11-12. Woe to those who rise early in the morning - If you just left it there I would be in compliance, I hate to get up early. This is more of their state, they party, they are always seeking to be entertained. How much this describes the state of the church today, materialistic and entertainment driven. It is all about experiences, what they can get, what they feel they are not getting. Worship God because He is worthy.
13-17. For lack of knowledge - Most professing Christians these days know little of God, and have no desire to learn about or obey Him.
Therefore My people have gone into captivity: those who forget about God because of their partying and entertainment will be judged by a captivity that will end the laughs (he who is jubilant, shall descend into it), exalt the LORD (the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment), and reward the meek (the lambs shall feed in their pasture). - Enduring Word
18-23. Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood -
i. “They flatter themselves by imagining that what is sin is not sin, or by some excuse or idle pretence they lessen its enormity. These, then, are cords, wicked ropes, by which they draw iniquity.” (Calvin)
ii. “That are not only drawn to sin by the allurements of the world, or by the persuasions of wicked men, being surprised and overtaken by sin, as sometimes good men are… but are active and industrious in drawing sin to themselves, or themselves to sin; that greedily and steadily pursue sin, and the occasions of it, and are not at rest until they have overtaken it; that sin wilfully, and resolvedly, and industriously.” (Poole)
iii. “With vain and deceitful arguments and pretences, whereby sinners generally draw themselves to sin.” (Poole)
Who say, "let Him be quick" - They commit their sin, hear of judgment, the command to repent, but they are willful slaves to sin, shaking their fist at God. In their hearts they say, let it come. Isaiah named his one son - "Maher-Shalahash-baz" meaning (hasting to the spoil, hurrying to the prey).
They are convinced of their own deception and that of the false prophets who would tickle their ears. It is like those today that say my god is a god of love, he would never judge or send anyone to hell. Your god is not the God of the Bible then, and he is no god at all, you worship the work of your hands, the vanity of your mind.
Call good evil and evil good - We are to that place, oh God have mercy.
“They were the Nietzschians of that day with their Unwertung aller Werten, the devaluation of all values, the overturning of all values and basic concepts.” (Bultema)
d. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes: They were full of pride, and rejected the wisdom and standards of God. “The Bible? It’s so judgmental. Judge not lest you be judged. It’s all how you interpret it. You have your interpretation and I have mine.” All this thinking exalts the wisdom of man over the Word of God.
24-30- Like young lions they roar - They taunted God, dared Him, and He calls the Babylonians to come for them.
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