Vineyard Isaiah 5

Isaiah 5:4 "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?"

I don't know anything about grapes except that they need a place to grow and some pruning. I have done some gardening and it is very disappointing when the hard work does not produce a good crop. I remember one year on the farm where we raised cotton and corn. It rained a lot that year at just the wrong time and the cotton rotted in the boles. It was a very costly year and one that hurt us financially for years.

It is no wonder, after the way God has cared for Israel and Judah that He is disappointed when they turned out to be wild grapes instead of tame ones. Here we find Israel compared to a vineyard and Judah the plant.

v7 "For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry."

So He asked the question "What could have been done more..."

There is nothing else to do when the plants have gone bad than to rip them out of the ground and start over with good plants. So, Israel went into captivity.

v13 "Therefore, my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst."

That was how they ended up, here is how they started:

v2 "And he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a winepress therein, and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes."

We can see the great disappointment here and even the sadness that judgment must come upon Israel and Judah. Part of the story is in this verse in II Chronicles 28:5 "Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter."

These are the words that Isaiah preached to warn the people to turn from their wicked ways, but they heeded not.

The Woes:

v20 "Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil..."

v21 "Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes..."

v22 "Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine..."

In the last part of verse 24 we see the conclusion of the matter "...because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel."

The preaching of Isaiah was to warn Israel to turn but they did not turn. It reminds me of those dedicated preachers of our day who sound the warning to America but does America hear?

Psalm 85:4 "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease."