A Song With A Sharp Rebuke Series

Songs are used for many purposes. There are love songs, worship songs even political protest songs. Isaiah who I think we could call the “singing prophet” composed an unusual song here. Once you have listened to the whole song you realize it is not what you first expected.

It has been called a Trojan horse song because it seems like it will be a love song between God and His people. Isaiah uses this song in much the same way the Greeks destroyed the city of Troy. The Greeks built a wooden horse and presented it as a gift. The soldiers were hidden inside the wooden horse. They gained entrance into the city and Troy was defeated and burned.

Isaiah gets the attention of God’s people with this song. The people listened to the song and loved the song. There is a problem that they don’t really find out about until the end of the song. They themselves are the scoundrel referred to in this song.

Isaiah is preaching a strong message of rebuke. Instead of a fiery sermon Isaiah uses an easy listening song to get the message to them.

There are many ways to communicate God’s truth. There is drama, video and song among other ways. If Isaiah had gone in shouting judgment this message may have never hammered home like it did here getting behind the city walls of the minds of the Israelites with the gift of this song and then releasing the hidden message of judgment.

Isaiah 5:1-7

I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:

My loved one had a vineyard

on a fertile hillside.

2 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.

3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard

than I have done for it?

When I looked for good grapes,

why did it yield only bad?

5 Now I will tell you

what I am going to do to my vineyard:

I will take away its hedge,

and it will be destroyed;

I will break down its wall,

and it will be trampled.

6 I will make it a wasteland,

neither pruned nor cultivated,

and briers and thorns will grow there.

I will command the clouds

not to rain on it.”

7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty

is the nation of Israel,

and the people of Judah

are the vines he delighted in.

And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Isaiah begins his song with God’s provision. It may have been the harvest festival when he introduced this song. He spoke of his “loved one” or friend who had a vineyard. This friend the people would soon find out is God. The vineyard is God’s people.

God the owner spared no expense in His care and provision for Israel the vineyard. The fertile hillsides were the best for the vineyard where they could get the right sun with good rich soil and proper drainage.

God himself had give Israel a chosen land. It was the ideal location at an international crossroads. In this location all who passed through could see the distinct people God set apart.

The owner of the vineyard cleared the stones. The Palestine fields were laden with stones. There was a rabbinical legend that an angel spilled a bag of stones on Palestine. God prepared Palestine for His people and gave them victory over their inhabitants.

The vineyard owner planted the best vines. He chose a particular vine that could produce the sweetest grapes. He put up a wall and a watchtower to protect the vineyard. There would be a guard placed in the watchtower to protect the fruit when it was ready for harvest. The owner even hewed out a wine vat.

If you purchased a costly field with the best soil and conditions for grape harvest and worked to prepare the soil and removed all the stones from the field then planted the best vines protected the crops and protected everything for harvest you would expect to harvest the best fruit.

God gave Israel the finest loving care. His hope was to see the fruit of justice and righteousness in his people.

As believers in Jesus Christ we are God’s vineyard. We have the best and far surpassing what was prepared for Israel. We have salvation made available. Mercy has been given to us and the presence and potential fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives.