Isaiah chapter 5 - Deuteronomy

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses lays out the good news and the bad news, so to speak. For forty years these people have seen one miracle of God after another, and they have watched (and probably participated) as their parents have repeatedly turned from God, following after idols, and then watched again as God encouraged them to come back to himself.

Moses is addressing Israel as they are preparing to enter into the land promised to their fathers forty years earlier, and as he (Moses) is preparing to go up into the hills to die. He lays out two scenarios.

The first is positive. Moses details all the blessings that Israel can expect if they but obey God and stay true to Him alone. It’s a beautiful thing.

The second is negative. Moses details all that Israel can expect if they do not obey their LORD and stay true to Him alone. This is not pretty.

In the fifth chapter of Isaiah, the first two verses are filled with what God has done for and on behalf of His “vineyard” and His “pleasant plant”. Isaiah tells us later in verse seven that the vineyard is a symbol of the House of Israel, and the pleasant plant is a picture of the men of Judah, and it is consistent with the promises of God that Moses had enumerated in Deuteronomy.

“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.” (Isaiah 5:1-2)

The husbandman here did everything he knew to do to insure the production of grapes. This is a picture of Israel newly resident in the land of promise. In the first place, God selected a “pleasant plant” for the stock for His vineyard. Israel was His chosen people for the land. In addition, God protected them from outside interference by putting up a fence.

He also built a tower in the middle so He could watch over His vineyard. The stones that He removed from the land represent the abominable nations that He told Israel to destroy from the land upon entering therein. And, God looked forward to Israel bringing Him fruit.

And, they did bring forth fruit, but it was not the fruit He had hoped for. The grapes that were produced were wild grapes that didn’t taste the same as those from the vine He had planted. So, the husbandman (God) asks some questions, and then changes a few things.

“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 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?”
(Isaiah 5:3-4)

“And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” (Isaiah 5:5-6)

Wild grapes send out runners into other terrain rather than putting their energy into producing fruit. This is the picture of Israel going after other gods. The one, true God, the husbandman of Israel, proceeded to remove the things that He had done for obedient Israel because they had departed from Him and followed other Gods.

Instead of abundant rain, there was to be drought. Instead of His protection, their enemies would enter the land and ravage them. Even their eventual captivity is forecast in the fifth chapter of Isaiah. The entire balance of chapter five spells out doom and gloom for the nation of Israel.

All of this is consistent with the two scenarios laid out by Moses at the horizon of Israel’s tenure in the land of promise as we can read about it in the book of Deuteronomy.