Isaiah 5

What’s Happening?

Israel was meant to be a beacon of God’s justice, beauty, and goodness to all nations. Like a vineyard producing good wine, God wanted Israel to bring his goodness and joy to the world (Isaiah 2:1-5). But Israel has abandoned this calling. Instead of being a beacon of God’s goodness and life, Israel is full of rebellion, evil, and corruption from the king to the poor (Isaiah 1:1-5). So, in a parable, Isaiah warns Israel to recommit themselves to their calling.

Isaiah dramatizes the sad moral and spiritual condition of Israel in a parable about a vineyard. In it, God is a loving farmer who tends the vineyard of Israel. He diligently cleared every stone and rock from the land, carefully selected only the best vines to plant, protectively built a wall and watchtower to shield his crop from wild animals, and expectantly prepared a large vat to store his wine. But when harvest came, his vines produced only wild, bitter, and useless grapes (Isaiah 5:1-2). Isaiah asks his audience what more the farmer could have done to produce the right harvest, and the answer is—nothing. The farmer did everything well, it’s the vineyard that’s corrupt (Isaiah 5:3-4). So the farmer tears down the wall and watchtower and invites the wild animals to trample his useless vineyard. He vows never to till his land again but to let weeds and briars grow freely. The farmer even commands the clouds to never rain on his wasted investment (Isaiah 5:5-6). Even though Israel is God’s beloved vineyard, if the vineyard refuses to produce good fruit God will not keep tending it.

Isaiah goes on to describe the bitter “wine” corrupt Israel has produced. Israel was supposed to be a place of God’s justice, but its leaders greedily and unethically took land from the vulnerable (Isaiah 5:8-10). Israel was supposed to be a place that demonstrated God’s wisdom to the world, but it has become a kingdom ruled by drunks and gluttons (Isaiah 5:11-12). Rather than upholding God’s laws as a standard of perfect truth and justice for the world, they arrogantly redefine goodness and justice for their own benefit at the expense of their neighbor (Isaiah 5:18-23). So, just as the farmer dismantled his vineyard’s walls and invited the wild animals to invade, God says he will remove his protection from Israel. One day, he will blot out the sun and beckon nations to invade and trample his useless vineyard (Isaiah 5:13-17, 24-30). 

Where is the Gospel?

Isaiah is not the only one who compares God to a loving farmer and Israel to a vineyard. God repeats a very similar parable in the person of Jesus. 

Just as Isaiah’s prophecies were directed at the leaders of his, Jesus walked into the temple, the center of Jewish power and religion, and claimed that it and its leaders had failed its calling to the world and that he had come to tear their temple down (Mark 11:15-17). In response, the leaders of Israel began to secretly plot Jesus’ assassination (Mark 11:18). But the next day, Jesus calls out their murderous conspiracy in a parable remarkably similar to Isaiah’s. In it, a farmer plants a vineyard and builds a fence, watchtower, and wine vat. Jesus adds that the farmer hires managers to look after the vineyard (Mark 12:1-2). Unlike Isaiah’s vineyard, though, this vineyard produces good grapes. However, when the harvest comes, the managers refuse to hand over the wine and beat or kill every messenger the farmer sends (Mark 12:3-5). So, in the hope of rescuing his good wine, the farmer sends his son, but the managers kill him too (Mark 12:6-8). Jesus says the only option for the farmer is to come himself, remove the managers, and give the vineyard to others so the wine can be enjoyed by all (Mark 12:9). Like Isaiah, Jesus is warning the leaders of Israel that God will destroy their corruption and murderous intent. Unlike Isaiah, Jesus also hints that when the leaders are destroyed, God’s vineyard and people will be restored to their purpose.

Just like he predicted, the religious leaders of Israel eventually killed Jesus and hung him on a cross (Matthew 27:32-56). In response, God showed up and removed the wicked managers who killed his son. He tore down the walls of the temple they believed protected them from the world. As Isaiah prophesied, the sun was blotted out (Luke 23:44). And God foreshadowed the destruction of the temple’s walls by tearing down the curtain in the temple (Matthew 27:51). Only a few years later, God beckoned the nation of Rome to destroy Israel’s temple. And it remains a ruin to this day.

But Jesus did not remain in the tomb the wicked managers prepared for him. He rose from the dead and became the rightful owner and heir of God’s vineyard (1 Peter 3:22). Now, you and I can finally resume the mission God gave his people. Like a vineyard producing good wine, we can bring his goodness and joy to the world. Through Jesus, we are now included in God’s plan that through Israel, the entire world would experience God’s goodness, power, and wisdom for themselves.

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see God as a loving farmer. And may you see Jesus as the one who has come to clean the vineyard of Israel and restore God’s people to who they are meant to be.