Isaiah 5:1-7 – Parable of the Vineyard

5 Now let me sing for my greatly Beloved [Lord]
A song of my Beloved about His vineyard (His chosen people).
My greatly Beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile slope (the promised land, Canaan).
² He dug it all around and cleared away its stones,
And planted it with ^[a]the choicest vine (the people of Judah).
And He built a tower in the center of it;
And also hewed out a ^[b]wine vat in it.
Then He expected it to produce [the choicest] grapes,
But it produced only worthless ones.

³ “And now, says the Lord, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge between Me and My vineyard (My people).
⁴ “What more could have been done for My vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield worthless ones?
⁵ “So now let me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
I will take away its thorn-hedge, and it will be burned up;
I will break down its ^[c]stone wall and it will be trampled down [by enemies].
⁶ “I will turn it into a wasteland;
It will not be pruned or cultivated,
But briars and thorns will come up.
I will also command the clouds not to rain on it.”

⁷ For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house (nation) of Israel
And the men of Judah are His delightful planting [which He loves].
So He looked for justice, but in fact, [He saw] bloodshed and lawlessness;
[He looked] for righteousness, but in fact, [He heard] a cry of distress and oppression.

The passage speaks about my beloved and his vineyard. My beloved is the Lord, and the vineyard is his people. And he does all he can to plant a great vineyard with the choicest vine on such fertile ground. He expects it to produce the choicest grapes, but it does not. So, what does he do?

He takes away the thorn hedge. The thorn hedge is there for protection over the vineyard, preventing predators from coming in to destroy the vines. He takes away the stone wall, and the vineyard will be left to the mercies of anyone who wants to vandalize and destroy the vineyard. He will turn the vineyard into a wasteland, and he will no longer take care of it. Thorns and weeds will grow within it, and He will no longer water it.

The passage explains that the vineyard is the house of Israel where God looked for righteousness, and all he found was bloodshed and lawlessness, and we see the consequences of their actions. So, God removes his protection and care from them, and they receive the hand of his judgement.

Are we also bearing worthless fruit even though God has done all he can with us? He provides all that we need, and he teaches us how to be faithful and righteous. He has given us his Spirit, his word and examples of mistakes of so many gone by. But yet still we are unfaithful and disobedient. We follow the world; we disregard his word and we ignore the Spirit. But the consequences of such actions are scary.

We often do not realize how much God protects us and provides for us. We can so easily take it for granted and think this is our hard work, but in truth, it is the grace and blessing of God. So let us be aware and check ourselves if we are bearing worthless fruit and being ungrateful children.