Covenant Husbandry and Worthless Grapes Text: Isaiah 5:1-7
Introduction: The Divine Lawsuit
The book of Isaiah opens with God laying out a legal case against His people, and chapter five is the prosecution's opening argument, delivered in the form of a song. But this is no cheerful ditty. It is a funeral dirge sung over a living nation. It is a love song that ends in a declaration of just and holy divorce. God, through the prophet, takes on the role of a friend of the bridegroom, singing about his beloved's vineyard. But as the song unfolds, the roles shift, and we see that the beloved, the owner of the vineyard, is God Himself, and the vineyard is His covenant people, Israel.
This passage is a masterful piece of rhetoric. It draws the listener in, inviting them to agree with the vineyard owner's plight. "What else could he have done?" The people of Judah would have been nodding along, right up until the moment the prophet springs the trap in verse 7. "You, men of Judah, are the vineyard." The parable becomes a mirror, and in it, they are forced to see their own spiritual ugliness.
We must understand that this is not just a historical record of God's dealings with ancient Israel. This is a perpetual covenantal principle. God plants, God cultivates, God protects, and God expects fruit. And when a people who have received every spiritual advantage and blessing produce nothing but sour, worthless grapes, they should not be surprised when the owner of the vineyard begins to dismantle the entire operation. This principle applies to nations, it applies to churches, and it applies to every individual human heart that has heard the gospel.
The central issue here is covenantal expectation. God does not save us and then leave us to our own devices. He saves us for a purpose, for fruitfulness, for justice and righteousness. The great tragedy described here is the tragedy of wasted grace. God did everything right, and His people did everything wrong. This is a sober warning to us, lest we also take the immense privileges of the new covenant for granted and find ourselves producing the same kind of worthless fruit.
The Text
Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He hoped for it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.
"So now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Please judge between Me and My vineyard.
What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I hoped for it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?
So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall, and it will become trampled ground.
I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also command the clouds to rain no rain on it."
For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He hoped for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
(Isaiah 5:1-7 LSB)
God's Lavish Grace (v. 1-2)
The song begins by describing the immense care and effort the owner poured into his vineyard.
"My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it..." (Isaiah 5:1b-2a)
Every phrase here is saturated with the covenantal love and provision of God for Israel. He gave them a "fertile hill," which was the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. This was a gift of pure grace. He "dug it all around," clearing it of pagan influences and hostile nations. He "removed its stones," which were the idolatrous inhabitants of the land that He commanded Israel to drive out. He planted it with the "choicest vine," the Hebrew word is soreq, a high-quality vine known for its dark red grapes. This refers to the holy seed, the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from whom the people of Israel came.
The owner's care did not stop there. He "built a tower" in the middle of it. This tower served as a watchtower to protect the vineyard from thieves and animals. This represents God's divine protection, His law, and His prophets, all established to guard the nation. He "hewed out a wine vat," preparing for the harvest He had every right to expect. The wine vat speaks of the entire sacrificial system and the temple, the place where the fruit of their devotion was to be brought and processed.
This is a picture of exhaustive, meticulous, and gracious provision. God withheld nothing from His people that was necessary for their spiritual prosperity. He gave them the land, the law, the prophets, the temple, and His own protective presence. He did everything possible to ensure a bountiful harvest of righteousness.
But the verse ends with a jarring note of failure. After all this, "He hoped for it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones." The Hebrew for "worthless ones" refers to wild, sour, stinking berries. They were not just mediocre grapes; they were a corrupted, useless counterfeit. This is a picture of utter apostasy. Despite every advantage, the very nature of the vine had become corrupt.
The Covenant Lawsuit (v. 3-4)
At this point, the tone shifts. The song becomes a courtroom drama, and God Himself takes the stand, calling the accused to act as the jury.
"'So now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Please judge between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I hoped for it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?'" (Isaiah 5:3-4 LSB)
This is a devastating legal maneuver. God calls the very culprits to render a verdict. He lays out the evidence of His own faithfulness and their failure and asks them to judge the case. The question, "What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?" is unanswerable. God is not making excuses; He is establishing the ground of His righteous judgment. He is demonstrating that the fault lies entirely with the vineyard, not the Vinedresser.
This forces them into a corner. If they judge righteously, they must condemn themselves. If they refuse to judge, their silence is an admission of guilt. God's justice is never arbitrary. He always establishes the righteousness of His case before He executes the sentence. He is making it plain that their coming destruction is not a result of His neglect, but of their rebellion. They had been given everything, and they had squandered it all.
The Pronouncement of Judgment (v. 5-6)
Since the vineyard has failed to produce the required fruit, the owner now announces His verdict. The judgment is a righteous and terrifying reversal of His previous acts of grace.
"So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall, and it will become trampled ground. I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also command the clouds to rain no rain on it." (Isaiah 5:5-6 LSB)
Notice the direct correspondence between the blessings and the curses. The blessings were all the things God did. The curses are all the things God will undo. He built a hedge and a wall for protection; now He will remove them. This hedge was God's covenantal protection, and its removal means the vineyard will be exposed to foreign invasion, to the Assyrians and the Babylonians, who will come and trample it down.
He cultivated the vineyard, pruning and hoeing it. Now He will "lay it waste." He will cease all His gracious cultivation. This means He will stop sending prophets to correct them. He will withdraw His hand of blessing. The result is that "briars and thorns will come up." This is the natural state of fallen creation when left to itself. Without God's constant, intervening grace, our hearts and our cultures will always revert to the thistles of sin and rebellion.
Finally, He gave them a fertile hill and the rains in their season. Now, He says, "I will also command the clouds to rain no rain on it." This is a curse of spiritual drought. God will withhold His Spirit and His Word. This is one of the most terrifying judgments God can bring upon a people: to be left alone with their sin, with no voice from heaven to call them back.
The Parable Explained (v. 7)
In the final verse, the prophet drops all pretense of a parable and drives the point home with convicting clarity.
"For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He hoped for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress." (Isaiah 5:7 LSB)
Here the indictment is made explicit. The vineyard is Israel, the chosen people. And God reveals what kind of fruit He was looking for. He uses a brilliant and powerful play on words in the original Hebrew. "He hoped for justice (mishpat), but behold, bloodshed (mispach)." He looked for righteousness (tsedaqah), but behold, a cry of distress (tse'aqah)."
The sounds are so similar, yet the meanings are polar opposites. God planted a vine that was supposed to yield the sweet grapes of justice and righteousness. This means social equity, care for the poor and the orphan, integrity in business, and faithfulness to His law. Instead, the vine produced the sour, wild grapes of bloodshed, violence, and oppression. The "cry of distress" is the cry of the poor and the weak being crushed by the powerful and corrupt. The very people who were supposed to be a beacon of God's justice to the nations had become a source of pain and injustice.
The True Vine
This parable of the failed vineyard sets the stage for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel, the choicest vine, failed. The old covenant people proved themselves to be fruitless. And so, Jesus arrives on the scene and makes a staggering declaration: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser" (John 15:1). He is the true Israel, the one faithful Son who perfectly produced the fruit of justice and righteousness that the Father required.
Every branch that is in Him, Jesus says, will bear much fruit. The church, the people of the new covenant, has been grafted into this True Vine. By grace through faith, we are made part of the one fruitful plant that will never disappoint the Father. The grace given to us in Christ is infinitely greater than the grace shown to the old covenant vineyard. We have not just a fertile hill, but we are seated in the heavenly places. We have not just a watchtower, but the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have not just the blood of bulls and goats, but the very blood of the Son of God.
Therefore, the warning of this passage comes to us with even greater force. If God judged the old vineyard for its worthlessness, what will He do to us if we take His grace in vain? The fruit He expects from us is the same: justice and righteousness. He expects the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He expects us to love our neighbor, to care for the needy, and to live as obedient children.
If we find our lives, our churches, or our nation producing the sour grapes of injustice, bitterness, and rebellion, we must not presume upon the grace of God. The Vinedresser is still in the business of pruning, and He is also in the business of removing fruitless branches. The call of this passage is a call to repentance. It is a call to examine the fruit we are producing and to flee to the True Vine, Jesus Christ, who is our only hope for fruitfulness. It is only by abiding in Him that we can produce the good grapes that bring glory to the great Husbandman.