This is the last chapter in this prologue to Isaiah before Isaiah depicts the scene, in Isaiah 6, which most of us are more familiar with where he is called and appointed as a prophet. It opens with a song that tells us about the state of affairs of the nation of Israel, which is the site of Isaiah’s ministry. What sort of a world is it that the prophet Isaiah is called to speak God’s word into? We have heard of two Israels – which Israel will be sung of today?
(A) The love song: Lament is part of love (Isa 5:1a)
The prophet is singing a love song (the what) for his beloved (the who). It concerns the beloved’s vineyard that is located on a fertile hill (Isa 5:1). Isa 5:7a tells us that the vineyard is the house of Israel, and the beloved is the Lord God of Israel. Now we are all fairly well-acquainted with love songs. We hear them over the radio or in malls and shops. Most of the time, we think of love songs as ballads that bring to us a message: you are mine, I love you, you are beautiful. But any good love song, however smitten with bliss, must still be grounded in truth - it must sing truth about the subject of the song.
What happens then when the truth about the subject of the song is bad news all the way down? When the person that you love is going off the rails? Love can also express itself by telling the truth about the person in question. A true love song isn’t just about the good times and pleasant memories - if it is sung honestly, it will also capture your genuine worry, frustration, sorrow. We call this passionate cry of grief a ‘lament’ - lament is a part of love. That is the song that we will see Isaiah sing today.
Have you ever considered the songs that God sings? Consider the nation, the firstborn son Israel that He loves. Because God loves them, He will tell the truth about them even when the truth is terrible. If love is grounded in truth, then a love song can sometimes be a song of lament.
(B) The vineyard: When you love someone, but it goes to waste (Isa 5:1b-4, 7)
Isaiah goes on to detail the various ways that the beloved has shown love to his vineyard. In Isa 5: 2a, we read of how he has dug and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines. The beloved has taken good care of the land by clearing away stones from the soil bed as stones are barriers to growth and prevent roots from growing well and deeply (the stones could represent the nations which previously occupied the land (c.f. Ps 80:8-9)). Isaiah is showing us the work of God in driving out the nations from the land so that Israel could dwell in it, root, and eventually bear good fruit.
Not only were stones removed, but choice vines are also planted. In Jer 2:21, we read of something similar, where the best of vines was planted in a very fertile hill. Thus, in this first part of Isa 5:2, we see that there are good conditions for growth: good vine, good hill, no stones.
Isa 5:2b goes on to depict how the beloved built a watchtower and hewed out a wine vat in it. From this watchtower, one can monitor and watch over the entire vineyard. The beloved then proceeded to hew out a wine vat, which is used in the extraction of grape juice. The wine will pool and gather in this vat, ready to be stored, packaged and shipped out.
How would you describe the beloved’s labours, as you reach the end of Isa 5:2? The effort that the beloved took in this laborious process is highlighted here - he dug, planted, built, hewed - he is personally involved in each step of the process. He is involved in the preparation, planting and also in the waiting for the harvest. As we notice the watchtower, we notice that the beloved does not just give of his effort, but also his continued presence and attention. The Lord God is personally involved in the care and protection of His people. This is not done by a hired hand or servant. The labor and toil reveals a tenderness that the beloved has towards the vineyard.
And the presence of the wine vat confirms to us that there is a clear expectation of harvest. The beloved expects that the well-tended vineyard with its choice vines and deep roots will bear good fruit! He does everything a good farmer would do: soil, the selection of vine, the surveillance, the set-up for harvest, He sets it up for success!
So in verse 2c, we see that the beloved looked for the vineyard to yield grapes - a fair and absolutely reasonable expectation. Yet what does He find instead? Contrary to expectations, it yielded wild grapes. The literal translation of the Hebrew word is 'stink fruit'. This brings to mind fruit that is sour, bitter and not sweet.
What would this song sound like to a farmer? The farmer would be acquainted with the time it takes to yield a harvest.
Year 1: The farmer would focus on clearing the land of stones and rocks and to build a wall (c.f. Isa 5:5). Perhaps suitable stones will be used to build a wall.
Year 2: The farmer would select the best vines that produces the kind of grapes that are of the top quality. The cost of setting it up is quite high, and the farmer would be invested.
End of second to third year: Finally, a harvest. The vines are heavy-laden with fruit ripe for the picking. But yet — this fruit is sour. It is repulsive! What you thought was a rich and bursting harvest is now a nightmare.
Why is it so repulsive? In Isa 5:7b, we are told that the Lord is looking for justice and righteousness, the good fruit that God expected. Psalm 33:5 tells us that God loves justice and righteousness. He longs for, He delights in, He desires justice and righteousness. But what does He find instead? He found bloodshed and an outcry - the screams of victims. Next week, we are going to see in the rest of Isa 5 what this means in Israel’s context.
This passage shows us that Israel isn’t merely unfruitful or barren. The state of Israel is far worse than barrenness, because the vine of the beloved is heavy, and it is heavy with bloodshed. There is useless, rotten stink fruit. We see here the wickedness of sin. Sin is not just missing the mark. It is taking God’s gift of life, care and protection and using it to produce wickedness. Why does God say these words in Isa 5:4 - What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done for it? In Ps 80:8, we read of God uprooting a vine from Egypt, choosing Israel out of the nations, drawing her out of slavery, past the angel of death, through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, through the giants and the Amalekites and the Canaanites and ‘planting’ her safely in the Promised Land that she might bear fruit and be a blessing and a light to the nations. But when He comes to inspect Israel, He finds that she is just like the nations He drew her from. Despite all of the Lord’s careful attention, the vine is still wild. It’s as if God had not rescued them! "What can now be done for the people of God when a total work of grace has been lavished on them and yet they remain as if grace had never touched them?”, asks J. Alec Motyer. Only judgment.
Isaiah was talking about the people of Judah, a particular people in a particular place in history who were judged, but there is something in these old words that has not worn out with time. What if the reason why some don’t want to come into our churches today is because the fruit that we are bearing stinks? Even among God’s people, His grace can be squandered. Sometimes, the fruit in our lives and in our churches is not justice and righteousness, but apathy, injustice and an outcry. I pray that we will seek the Lord and open our ears to listen, and humbly discern whether our churches, and our lives, show some signs of these fruit. What sort of fruit are we bearing?
Isaiah asks the gathered crowd listening to his song what should be done then in Isa 5:3-4. God in His wisdom, through Isaiah, invites the men of Israel to hear the song, then to sit in the judge’s seat. The beloved has done everything, for “what more was there too do for my vineyard that I have not done in it” (Isa 5:4a)? God invites them there and lets them play the role of the judge so that when He passes sentence, they will have no excuse. This may remind you of the prophet Nathan confronting David in 2 Sam 12.
This might be an easy sentence to pass from a legal perspective - the evidence is clear, the verdict is certain. Israel has not borne fruit, and so judgment is right and just. But yet, Ezekiel 33:11 reminds us that God takes no delight. Even as God righteously judges, He does so with grief, as a lament.
When you love someone, but it goes to waste - could it be worse?
(C) The judgment: Far as the curse is found (Isa 5:5-6)
God proceeds to enact judgment on the vineyard in Isa 5:5-6. He will remove its hedge and break down its wall (Isa 5:5a). This marks a removal of God’s protection. The outcome is that their enemies, and the forces of nature are permitted to devour God’s people – historically, this refers to the subsequent invasions by foreign powers. In addition, a wall indicates spatial bounds, and so marks out the boundary line between God’s people, and the other nations. Its presence indicates that Israel belongs to God. In removing the wall, God gives His people what they have asked for in word and deed - since they so desire to mix with the nations, since they so detest being set apart, they may have their fill of mixing and mingling. But it will not take place in the way that they imagine. This will not be barter trade, or an exchange of equals. Instead, the nations will come and devour Israel, and trample her, and consume her.
In Deut 28:39, 42, we read of how the worm and the cricket take over the land of God’s people and consume the expected fruit. The ‘devouring’ spoken of in Isaiah 5 is a consequence known to God’s people, not a surprise act of judgment that would have caught them off guard. They were fully aware of the curse for disobedience, and still chose to disobey. These are consequences that they choose.
Next, we read that God will make the vineyard a waste and it shall not be pruned or hoed (Isa 5:6a). He will also command the clouds to withhold rain. If Isa 5:5 is a removal of protection, Isa 5:6 appears to be a removal of care and provision.
Pruning is supposed to be a removal of parts (of a plant) that are dead and not productive, that soak up nutrition aimlessly. God says here that he will not prune any more! A similar idea is conveyed with the cessation of hoeing. The ground will not be softened or made fertile. As a result, briers and thorns will just grow up - which may remind you of Genesis 3, and the curse upon the ground and upon the labors of Man. A curse from Deut 28 is echoed above, and now here we hear the faint ring of the Gen 3 curse. God is saying, in effect, that if sour grapes are the sort of fruit that the land yields, then He will let it return to full wildness. God will put an end to the fruit of this land.
I wonder what we imagine when we hear God say that He loves justice and righteousness? God is not saying that He merely likes it, or that He prefers it. He is saying that He desires it, and if so He will accomplish and enact it. Nothing will remain standing that opposes the justice and righteousness of God - because He loves justice and righteousness. The love song of the LORD does not bypass grief and mourning - lament is featured. But it will surely move beyond mourning to judgment. God will deal with injustice.
This serves as a reminder that God is at work undoing injustice wherever it is found - even or especially among His own people. God does not change! He is the same God we worship today.
On the one hand, that is profoundly good news. We do not want a God who only knows what we are going through, but remains painfully impotent to act. We want a God who promises to deal with injustice and bloodshed, and does so.
But if so – then if we who call ourselves the LORD's people, His vineyard, will not yield fruit of justice & righteousness, we are in His way. That should produce in us a genuine fear and reverence for God. Do you love justice? Do you hate injustice and predatory behavior? So does the LORD, friends. And He hates it wherever it is found, but especially where His name has been marked out, called upon, written on your church website, on the mug you drink from, on the back of your church camp tee shirt. Injustice does not belong in the house of the LORD - He will deal with it in judgment, in this life or the next.
Are these ways that we think of God? Today, perhaps we should ask God to deal with the apathy that we may have towards justice and righteousness. If we are on a path that is marked by injustice, by bloodshed, by an outcry, and we will not turn – God will not offer to us a false comfort. There is only grief down this path. God’s love is not a soft love that is impotent against evil, not a reckless love that is haphazard and unpredictable, but a steadfast love. It will either steadfastly cleanse that which is filthy, or it will consume the unrepentant, till the justice of God is satisfied.
Where does that leave us tonight? If you have been willfully sinning against God and spurning His grace, and you wonder if there is any hope… there is. But it is not found in human self-improvement, or even our initiative toward human repentance, but in the intrusion of God’s grace upon us at the height of our stubbornness and rebellion. In other words: as the house of Israel goes along, as we trace the men of Judah through the rest of the OT, they do not improve in any consistent way, do not repent, and yet – at the very height of their struggle against God, He is acting to rescue them.
In the final days of Jesus’ ministry, He would tell the parable of the tenants in Matt 21:33-43 to a gathered crowd composed of the religious leaders of the day, and the people that they led. In this parable, there is a “master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower” and leased out the land (Matt 21:33a). This description was similar to the description if the vineyard in Isa 5, and it would not have been lost on the Pharisees. Like Isaiah 5, there is an expectation of fruit-bearing: the vineyard will, it must produce fruit reflective of the owner's love and labor. (Matt 21:34a).
But what is emphasized here that we cannot get from Isa 5 alone, and what we must notice in Jesus’ telling of the vineyard parable is this: that the final story of the vineyard is one where the sin and wickedness of Man is overcome by the unstoppable advance of God’s grace. The Master sends His servants to collect fruit, and in Matt 21:35, we read of how the tenants (the leaders) beat, stone and kill them. How does God respond? In response to the wickedness and bloodshed of Man, God responds in abundant goodness and sends yet more servants. As the Master’s goodness grows, the evil and wickedness of the tenants is shown in stark contrast, until finally in Matt 21:37, the owner ratchets it up for the final time. He sends His Son, thinking that they will respect and regard him. But the stubbornness of human sin is that they strike Him down too - they do not turn from their ways, despite having beheld the Son in their midst.
If you are familiar with Isaiah and the rich promises of redemption that were prophesied about God’s people, you might expect Israel’s history to unfold in a period of repentance, the laying down of arms, and a turning back to God. And it’s not that there never were flickers of light and goodness in Israel’s history. There were some good kings, and some faithful men and women. But as Rutledge writes: “human repentance is simply not powerful enough or thorough enough or dependable enough to deliver God’s people from their sin”. Only the intrusion of God’s grace can. God’s promised redemption takes place in spite of Israel’s resistance.
When the beloved Son appears in the vineyard, the tenants do not experience guilt, or repent and hug the Messiah. Instead, when the beloved Son enters the vineyard of injustice and bloodshed, the wicked tenants who have filled it with blood, time and again, finally fill it with the blood of the Son. The sin and wickedness of man is only dealt with by the unstoppable advance of God’s grace in Christ. God’s redemption happens in spite of Israel’s resistance.
5 chapters on, in Matt 26:28-29, we find Jesus explaining the cross to His disciples (and to us). And as He does so, Jesus will hold out a cup filled to the brim, and say: “this is my blood, poured out for you”. In that cup is wine, the fruit of the vine (Matt 26:29), so that somehow, in the death of Christ, we receive the firstfruits of the vineyard.
On the cross, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, joins with the victims of unjust oppression on the floor of the vineyard, the “Holy One in their midst”. But we are forbidden to think of Christ as just a co-sufferer. As each gospel will go on to tell us in a chorus, Jesus Christ, our risen Savior, experiences death and darkness not just as our companion, but as a conqueror. He comes into the midst of this world of wild grapes, of stink fruit, of bloodshed and the outcry of victims, and He takes all that upon Himself - our bondage, sin and death. And as the beloved Son, He bears the weight of sin, and He bears it away so that we are free to bear fruit.
This is how the song of the vineyard finally ends. Though we hear a song of lament tonight in Isaiah 5, and while lament is relevant for our time, we need to remember that lament doesn’t have the last word. Lament is a necessary word, but it is never the final word because the Son has come into the vineyard and given His blood. The vineyard of Isa 5 and Matt 21, drenched in blood, can become the vineyard in Isa 27 that blossoms and puts forth shoots and fills the whole world with fruit through the blood of Jesus the Son.
The Beloved’s vineyard will bear fruit, and in that is all of our hope.