My Well-Beloved Has A Vineyard

My Well-Beloved has a Vineyard

Isaiah 5:1–7 (NKJV)

Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard:

My Well-beloved has a vineyard

On a very fruitful hill.

He dug it up and cleared out its stones,

And planted it with the choicest vine.

He built a tower in its midst,

And also made a winepress in it;

So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,

But it brought forth wild grapes.

“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.

What more could have been done to My vineyard

That I have not done in it?

Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,

Did it bring forth wild grapes?

And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:

I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;

And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

I will lay it waste;

It shall not be pruned or dug,

But there shall come up briers and thorns.

I will also command the clouds

That they rain no rain on it.”

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,

And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.

He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;

For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

We take a look this morning at a passage in the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah the prophet had a long ministry of over fifty years some 750 years before Christ. He lived to see the Northern Kingdom of Israel be taken into Assyrian captivity for their continued rebellion and sin against Yahweh. He also lived to see the miraculous deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem from the same Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah the king.

The Book of Isaiah is a prophetic book. It has some of the most hopeful and beautiful passages in all of Scripture. At the same time, it also paints some very dark pictures of judgment. Next to the much longer book of Psalms, it is the most quoted book in the New Testament. It contains prophesies of the Virgin Birth of Christ, the coming of the Gentiles to the light, prophesies of the millennial kingdom, and of the suffering and the death of Jesus.

A little bit of background material of God’s vision for Israel will be helpful to fully understand this passage. God’s vision for His people is that of the equality of the Israelites. The Torah and the Book of Joshua talk about the division of the land of Canaan to each Israelite. Each family had a place to grow wheat and barley. Each had their own source of water, something of great value in the semi-arid land. Each family was to have grape vines, fig, and olive trees. The shade of the large leaves of the fig tree provided food and rest in hot sun. Barley was made into a common staple, bread. It also provided fodder for livestock. Wheat could be sold as a cash crop for hard money to purchase what was needed outside the farm. Olives provided oil for cooking and light. The idea is that God provided each Israelite family with the necessities.

We also learn from history that Yahweh’s plans for Israel did not work out as he desired. Some Israelites were better managers than others. Others wasted their inheritance on frivolous things. The rich took advantage of the poor. There was robbery and murder. Cities grew which changed the agricultural equality to the massing of wealth in the cities. Israel and Judah suffered “natural” disasters and foreign invasions as well. These are the wages of sin and rebellion. Yahweh was not caught be surprise. The Torah allowed those who had bankrupted for whatever reason to sell themselves into servitude and their land. But after seven years, they were to be released from servitude and there land restored. They were also to be provided with enough means to make a clean start. This shows how the LORD desired to restore harmony and balance and to restore the equality of all Israelites before Him.

The times which Isaiah lived were the best of times for some and the worst of times for others. Isaiah 5 comes before Isaiah 6 which records the death of King Uzziah. This does not necessarily mean that the first five chapters were recorded before Isaiah’s inaugural vision, but it at least provides a general framework of time. King Uzziah reigned on the throne for 52 years and other than the great transgression of offering incense in the Temple, he is recorded as having been a good king. His son, Jotham, who co-ruled with him in the later part of his reign also was a good king, as far as kings go. The long reign of Uzziah led to stability, peace, and prosperity, at least to the few on the top. Prosperous times lead to inequity. The rich get richer and the poor poorer. This was the case in Isaiah’s day. And Isaiah, like many of the old Testament prophets railed against this injustice.