The Worthless Vineyard

The second vision of Isaiah ends with a parable about a vineyard of a beloved man. He chose a spot on a fertile hill, dug around and removed all the stones. Then he planted the best vines he could find, built a tower and wine vat in the middle, expecting it to produce well and he would have a great harvest of good wine. But he soon discovered that it would not produce what he thought it should.

Harvest came and there was only worthless grapes. The LORD calls out to the men of Jerusalem and Judah for their judgment between Him and His vineyard. "What more was there to do for My Vineyard than what I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grape, did it produce worthless ones?" This is a burning question that needed to be answered. If one prepared a field and removed the obstacles that stood in the way of growth, then planted the best seed in it, why should there not be an expectation of a bountiful harvest? What else could have been done that was not done? How should the vineyard owner feel about that? And what should he do?

The Word of the LORD told Isaiah what he was to tell the men of Jerusalem and Judah about that. "So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard,' God said. Then He described His course of action - He would remove the hedge of protection from around it, break down its walls, lay it waste, not hoe or prune it, and then He would command the clouds to not rain on it.  That worthless vineyard would wither and die, be consumed and trampled, and briars and thorns would grow up in its place. It would be rejected and neglected. 

So what exactly is this parable about? The vineyard of YHWH  is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah was His delightful plant. God had planted them in a blessed spot expecting His people to flourish with righteousness and blessing, but what grew instead was worthless. God looked for justice but received bloodshed instead. He expected righteousness, but ended up with cries of distress over the sins committed by His people. 

Jesus would referenced this parable in when He entered the Temple right before His crucifixion, cleaned out the merchants with a whip, and spoke against the misdeeds of the Pharisees and Scribes. In that parable, the landowner planted the vineyard, built a wall, tower, and winepress, then leased it out to vinegrowers. When harvest time came, he sent servants to the tenants to receive part of the harvest. They killed those servants. He sent more and they killed them too. He sent a large groups of servants, and they died at their hands. Then He sent His Son, thinking the tenants would respect the son. But the tenants thought if they killed the Son, the vineyard would be theirs permanently. So they did that.

Jesus asked a similar question - What should the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants? He expected a harvest and got nothing but bloodshed. The landowner would bring them to their wretched end.  Same judgment in both parables - God was going to bring calamity on Judah and Jerusalem until they were desolate. And He has fulfilled that Word on multiple occasions, and may yet do it again before Jesus returns.