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The Disappointment of the Vineyard
v. 1. Now will I sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved, the prophet singing to Jehovah, concerning the Lord, hut at the same time expressing the thoughts of the Lord, touching His vineyard, that of His Church at the time of the prophet. My Well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, literally, "on the horn, or summit, of a son of oil," the vineyard being situated on a hill and having most fertile soil;
v. 2. and He fenced it, rather, spaded or hoed it thoroughly, and gathered out the stones thereof, which hindered the proper cultivation of the ground, and planted it with the choicest vine, a very fine Oriental variety of grape, called sorek, and built a tower in the midst of it, this being the usual watch-tower, and also made a wine-press therein, the lower trough into which the grape-juice flowed from the wine-press proper; and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, the fruit of the excellent vine which He had planted there, and it brought forth wild grapes, the sour product of the wild vine or of a similar plant.
v. 3. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, to whom the prophet is specifically addressing himself, appealing to them as to judges in this difficult situation, judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard, making their decision on the basis of the facts presented to them, which were visible to even the casual onlooker.
v. 4. What could have been done more to My vineyard that I have not done in it? The Lord had shown His people mercy, goodness, and truth in so many ways that He had, as it were, exhausted His love in their behalf. He had not reached the limit of His grace in dealing with them, but matters had certainly reached a stage where they could expect no more at His hand. Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? Surely if the Lord now abandoned this vineyard, the people themselves must admit that they bad fully deserved such treatment, that they had but themselves to blame for their destruction, as the Lord now states.
v. 5. And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard, the Judge Himself announcing the punishment which He had decided upon: I will take away the hedge thereof, one of thorns and briers being the usual protection of vineyards in the Orient, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, as a second means of keeping out marauders, and it shall be trodden down, the emphatic statement of the original being "for a treading down";
v. 6. and I will lay it waste, for a complete ruin; it shall not be pruned, to remove the superfluous shoots, nor digged, to loosen the ground for the admission of air to the roots; but there shall come up briers and thorns, making the growth of vines of the right and welcome kind impossible; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
v. 7. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His pleasant plant, literally, "the plant of His pleasure"; and He looked for judgment, that the people would do what is right and good, but behold oppression, the infringement of rights by graft and other forms of wickedness; for righteousness, that is, an outward dealing according to the demands of a righteous conduct, but behold a cry, namely, that of the people who suffer wrong. The explanation of the parable is here briefly indicated. Israel was the vineyard of the Lord, separated by Him from all nations, placed into a rich and fruitful land and endowed with unsurpassed blessings in every respect, among them the nobles of the people, the patriarchs, the kings, the priests, the prophets. The watch-tower of God in the midst of His people was the government of David and of His house. But this vineyard had bitterly disappointed the Lord in His expectations, so that He finally sent His punishment in full measure, not only the Babylonian captivity, but the ultimate overthrow of the Jewish nation and Church in the year 70 A. D. Cf Psalms 80; Mat_21:33-46. Let the Christian Church and all those who profess to be members of the Church take warning, for the Lord searches the reins and hearts and at all times expects true fruits of righteousness from all those who are called after His name.