The Song of the Vineyard
I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
Isaiah 5:1-2
The Song of the Vineyard. When I first read the title, I imagined a sweet Psalm about good fruits and plentiful harvest. Even the beginning line speaks of a loved one, hinting kind sentiments ahead. However, after filling our minds with beautiful imagery of a man building a vineyard in fertile ground and caring for it with meticulous, loving hands, Isaiah brings the pretty picture to a stop with the unhappy ending of all that work yielding only bad fruit.
Initially, I want to accuse Isaiah of being a poor storyteller. He had a sweet introduction, drawing his reader in wanting to know more about this person he loved. Then he gave such detail that we could easily picture the scene, only to leave us with disappointment. But remember the audience to whom Isaiah was speaking, namely God's people in Judah before their exile in Babylon. In fact, all of the book of Isaiah up until this point has been about God's judgment on Jerusalem and Judah, so I shouldn't have been surprised with the direction his message turned.
In verse 3, God Himself becomes the narrator, asking the people of Israel what more He could have done for His vineyard that could have yielded a different result. He of course knew the answer: He had done everything correct, from choosing fertile ground, to removing stones and planting only the best of vines. The fault lay with no one but the crop itself. In verse 7, we are told explicitly that this vineyard is the nation of Israel, and the owner "the Lord Almighty." This gave God's people no space to interpret His words differently. They couldn't hear and assume God's wrath was only upon the ones they thought deserved it. They had done wrong, and God was calling them on it.
The people of Judah during this time were very similar to the Pharisees and Sadducees who were alive in Jesus's time. They were being judged, not for their lack of religious activity, but rather for their failings in morality and ethical living. Knowing that the New Testament counterparts had access to and frequently read the book of Isaiah, it's no wonder Jesus didn't have much patience for them when He came!
Going back to verses 6 and 7, God tells His people exactly what He's going to do in answer to their wickedness: He would remove their protections, making them vulnerable to other nations. He would cease trying to cultivate good growth and instead let the fruits of their destruction take hold. After the Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrian Empire in 722 BC., the Southern Kingdom managed to withstand its attack. It is after this that Isaiah is addressing the people of Judah. They thought they were safe, but God was going to allow the Babylonians to overtake them.
Today, we can read Isaiah 5 in conjunction with John 15. Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful…No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:1-5).
When we read this and look back to how God asked what more He could have done for the Israelites, we have an answer: Jesus. Even given all the resources to live a righteous, moral, and ethical life, we will fail every time without Jesus. Jesus became the true vine because our vine could only yield bad fruit. If we accept Jesus, making Him Lord of our lives, we will become a branch off of His vine, bearing all of the good fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
Today, take stock of your fruit. Have you been demonstrating love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? If not, stop and pray, asking God to prune away any selfishness, anger, hatred, or deceit that is inhibiting the growth of your Spiritual fruit. Take every thought captive, ridding your mind of those that are not of God. Remember you need God every hour, not just for the ten minutes you read your Bible and pray. Invite Him to walk with you and open your eyes to any area of your life that needs to be cut off or cleaned up. Let the Gardener do His work so that when the time comes for harvest, you will be ready.
Amen
