And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
God calls Jerusalem and Judah to sit as judges between Himself and His vineyard, which is Israel. He lays His dealings open before them as just, having done all that could be done for the vineyard so that its failure to bear good fruit is without excuse. As owner and keeper He transplanted Israel into a fruitful land, hedged it with His law and care, sent prophets to nurture it, and looked for justice and righteousness and the reflection of His character. Instead it yielded wild grapes of oppression and rebellion, and even when Christ came in person to cherish it for three years with healing and mercy, Israel despised His love and rejected Him. Because of that failure its protection is removed and it is left desolate, and the same call to render fruit now presses upon the church that has received great privilege.
Call to Judge
The call is addressed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah, summoned to judge fairly between God and His vineyard, which is Israel. The vineyard is the people Christ brought out of Egypt, planted in a fruitful place, protected and cared for, and then approached in person with continuing hope of saving it from destruction. That special care and blessing carried the expectation that Israel would bear good fruit and reflect His character, yet the people failed and became a hindrance instead of a blessing to the nations. The stewards had been given the high privilege of serving God and providing religious guidance and a holy example to other peoples, but they sought the vineyard's fruits for themselves, and by greed and unfaithfulness deprived others of blessing and misrepresented His character and kingdom.
The appeal sets God's dealings before them as just, inviting them to weigh whether He had done all that could be done for His people. What He sought was good fruit, namely justice and righteousness, while what appeared was corrupt and wild fruit, oppression instead of justice and a cry of distress instead of righteousness. Because everything had been done for them, their failure to produce good fruit was without justification, and He rightly expected returns from such care. For that failure its protection and blessing are removed and it is left desolate.
By calling them to judge, He makes them answerable witnesses to whether He has dealt justly with His people. The parable thus exposes the nation's history of unfaithfulness despite the light and messengers given to it. When the rulers condemn the wicked husbandmen they pronounce judgment on themselves, and when the stewards reject His messengers and kill His Son they condemn themselves and acknowledge the justice of losing their national privileges. That rejection was a refusal of light and mercy after Christ had done what He could for the city, showing that mercy has a boundary, and the acknowledged judgment leads to the coming destruction of the city, the temple and Jerusalem and to the dispersion of the nation.
Care Given to Vineyard
Christ is owner and keeper of the vineyard, which is Israel, brought out of Egypt as a goodly vine with the heathen cast out before it by His own hand. Taken as a wild vine from Egypt, it was transplanted into Canaan and planted in a very fruitful hill upon the hills of Palestine. There He nourished and cared for it as a vine of His own planting in genial soil.
He hedged it about with guardian care and guarded it with protective law. That hedge included the marriage law and the Sabbath law, plainly defined in Eden so that none need be ignorant or misunderstand them. He also sent servants to nurture it and prophets to warn it, without withdrawing His love.
He gave the people Scripture, spiritual advantages, land, and guidance. He instituted the sacrificial system to keep the one great Sacrifice continually before their minds. He planted them in Canaan intending them to take possession of the land and spread through it by faith, so that their history would have been different had they occupied the vineyard as intended.
His purpose was that by worship and obedient lives they would restore His moral image in humanity and reflect His character. As stewards of high privilege they were to serve God and provide religious guidance and a holy example to other peoples. Obedience would bring prosperity and protection and make them a witness among the nations, a blessing to the nations displaying His glory instead of a hindrance.
Fruit Sought and Found
God looked for good grapes from His vineyard, and by good grapes He meant justice and righteousness in the life of His people. What He sought was the reflection of His own character, with obedience and worship restoring His moral image in humanity and displaying His glory among the nations. That fruit was to appear as love and humility and self-sacrificing service, bringing prosperity and protection and making Israel a witness and blessing to other peoples. He had furnished everything toward this end through Scripture and spiritual advantages and land and guidance, expecting corresponding returns of righteousness.
Instead the vineyard brought forth wild grapes, for justice gave way to oppression and righteousness to a cry of distress. The people forgot God and went into rebellion, abusing from age to age the privileges and opportunities a compassionate God had provided. Their history became one of grace resisted and privileges abused and warnings ignored and the Lord's servants mistreated. Religion degenerated into hollow formalism marked by Pharisaical pride and self-exaltation and cruel attributes, until from national apostasy came cruel persecution ending in killing the very messengers sent to them.
For a thousand years they multiplied transgression upon transgression, growing fruitless through ingratitude and refusal to accept mercy. They treated sin as insignificant and called evil good and good evil, bringing upon themselves the consequences of rejecting His law and word. Truth was displaced by false human theories, with harmful results to the vineyard.
Christ's Saving Effort
With still yearning hope for fruitfulness, He came in person to His vineyard Israel to save it from destruction. For three years He dug about the vine and pruned and cherished it with unwearied effort. That care was the Lord of light and glory going in and out among His people, healing the sick, comforting the sorrowing, raising the dead, speaking pardon and peace to the repentant, gathering the weak and weary and helpless and desponding, and extending to all without respect to age or character the invitation of mercy to come for rest.
Regardless of indifference and contempt He steadfastly pursued this ministry of love, living to scatter blessings and plead with men to accept life, so that waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn heart returned in a tide of untiring love. But Israel turned from her best friend and only helper, despising the pleadings of His love, spurning His counsels and ridiculing His warnings. She rejected the light and refused mercy after He had done what He could for the city.
The vine is Christ in the midst of Israel. The men of Israel despised Him and cast Him over the vineyard wall, bruising Him and trampling Him underfoot in hope of destroying Him forever. The Husbandman then removed the vine and hid it from their sight and planted it again on the other side of the wall, where the stock is no longer visible and beyond the power of men to reach or harm. The branches still hang over the wall so that grafts may be joined to the vine.
The vine of gold and silver with green leaves and massive clusters of grapes at the entrance to the temple represented Israel as a prosperous, flourishing vine. The Lord's vineyard become a desolate waste vividly represented Israel's degraded condition. Above that desolation shone the promised glory of the Messiah's reign and covenant mercy.
Judgment on Failure
The verse declares that because the vineyard failed, its protection and blessing are taken away and it is left desolate. The vineyard is Israel, entrusted with divine blessings, yet unfaithful to that trust and failing to render its fruits, so desolation came upon the Jewish nation. The call to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah to judge between God and His vineyard invites recognition that He had done all that could be done for His people, while they produced corrupt and wild grapes instead of the justice and righteousness He sought.
That rejection of Christ and refusal of light and mercy brought the coming destruction of the city and of Jerusalem and the temple, with the dispersion of the nation, showing that divine mercy has a boundary. The stewards by rejecting the messengers and killing the Son condemn themselves and acknowledge the justice of losing their national privileges. Having rejected the Son of God and stood ready to put Him to death after a thousand years of multiplying transgression upon transgression, the cloud of retributive judgment was about to burst upon them in unrestrained fury.
The parable therefore warns that God will not bless and sustain those who reject His ways. Persistent sin, self-exaltation, and misleading practice can cause Him to remove His favor and bring judgment, a warning that reaches the church as well as the chosen people in their breach of trust.
Unfaithful Keepers Condemned
The keepers of the vineyard were given the high privilege of serving God and of giving religious guidance and a holy example to other peoples, but they sought the fruits of the vineyard for themselves, and by greed and unfaithfulness they deprived others of His blessing and misrepresented His character and kingdom. Entrusted with His people and His possessions, the priests and teachers failed their duty, for instead of teaching His word faithfully and serving Him they sought their own glory and the fruit of the vineyard. Their misuse of what was entrusted to them dishonored Him and misrepresented His character to the Gentiles.
The husbandmen withhold the fruit from its owner when they teach the people to disregard His commandments, for the fruits He claims include love and humility and self-sacrificing service. In Israel the priests and teachers thus misled the people and deprived Him of the service He required. By elevating human traditions above His law and turning the people from its precepts they rejected Christ and bore the responsibility for the nation's sin and ruin.
Application Beyond Israel
The vineyard parable reaches beyond the Jewish nation to the church in the present generation, which has received great privileges and blessings from God with corresponding returns expected, yet has failed to meet His expectations. Persistent sin, self-exaltation, and misleading practice can cause Him to remove His favor and bring judgment, for He will not bless and sustain those who reject His ways. The appeal to judge belongs among messages of counsel and admonition of special value to the keepers of His vineyard, making plain His eternal purpose for mankind and clearly revealing His love for the lost and His plan for their salvation. It carries the story of Israel's call, successes and failures, restoration to divine favor, rejection of the Master of the vineyard, and the carrying out of the plan of the ages by a goodly remnant to whom all covenant promises are to be fulfilled, a theme given to God's church through the centuries and now belonging to those occupying His vineyard as faithful husbandmen. For the church the test is whether Christianity produces fruit of righteousness or proves a strange, unfruitful vine, for God's truth must be both spoken and lived, and receiving the gospel must raise people to a more Christlike life. Conduct showing idolatry instead of expected fruit offends Him, and selfish competition and indulgence among His people fail to show the faith and concern for souls their calling requires.
Each believer is a vine planted to bear rich clusters of grapes and a fountain to send forth sweet water, with truth received into the heart producing beauty of soul, true and unmistakable conversion, and sanctification. To rest in mere profession of faith while remaining in deception and living for self and pleasure poisons the fountain and causes the vine that should bear rich grapes to produce only wild berries. The wild grapes are the sad present history of souls who once bore good grapes but now have departed from the faith, the same fountain sending forth bitter where it once sent forth sweet, set against what their past faithful life had been. Their course brings weariness and sorrow of heart and grief beyond words to those who watch it. The end is near when truth alone will triumph, leaving the need for the truth as it is in Jesus to be planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit and daily tended there by grace.
In wider application the Lord's vineyard is the world, to be worked in all its different parts without partiality, and He is misrepresented when work that should be done in different parts is hindered. The Southern field is a neglected portion urgently needing work and care, and when difficulties arise there its needs are to be brought to the Master of the vineyard, who is the owner. No portion is to be robbed to absorb means in one location, with work overdone in some places while money that should enable workers elsewhere to move forward without hindrance in elevating the standard of truth is absorbed, but memorials of truth are to be raised to make a proper impression on the world. God judges the tree by looking at the character of the fruit borne, and all are called to consider the work required to be done and how it is to be sustained. The vineyard is waiting to be worked, with workers and means needed for the work, and the Jewish nation had received great advantages with responsibility for receiving and sharing the light rather than rejecting its blessing. Its people and laborers should be spread into other parts of the field rather than gathered in one place while other parts are left uncultivated.
God calls Jerusalem and Judah to sit as judges between Himself and His vineyard, which is Israel. He lays His dealings open before them as just, having done all that could be done for the vineyard so that its failure to bear good fruit is without excuse. As owner and keeper He transplanted Israel into a fruitful land, hedged it with His law and care, sent prophets to nurture it, and looked for justice and righteousness and the reflection of His character. Instead it yielded wild grapes of oppression and rebellion, and even when Christ came in person to cherish it for three years with healing and mercy, Israel despised His love and rejected Him. Because of that failure its protection is removed and it is left desolate, and the same call to render fruit now presses upon the church that has received great privilege.
Call to Judge
The call is addressed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah, summoned to judge fairly between God and His vineyard, which is Israel. The vineyard is the people Christ brought out of Egypt, planted in a fruitful place, protected and cared for, and then approached in person with continuing hope of saving it from destruction. That special care and blessing carried the expectation that Israel would bear good fruit and reflect His character, yet the people failed and became a hindrance instead of a blessing to the nations. The stewards had been given the high privilege of serving God and providing religious guidance and a holy example to other peoples, but they sought the vineyard's fruits for themselves, and by greed and unfaithfulness deprived others of blessing and misrepresented His character and kingdom.
The appeal sets God's dealings before them as just, inviting them to weigh whether He had done all that could be done for His people. What He sought was good fruit, namely justice and righteousness, while what appeared was corrupt and wild fruit, oppression instead of justice and a cry of distress instead of righteousness. Because everything had been done for them, their failure to produce good fruit was without justification, and He rightly expected returns from such care. For that failure its protection and blessing are removed and it is left desolate.
By calling them to judge, He makes them answerable witnesses to whether He has dealt justly with His people. The parable thus exposes the nation's history of unfaithfulness despite the light and messengers given to it. When the rulers condemn the wicked husbandmen they pronounce judgment on themselves, and when the stewards reject His messengers and kill His Son they condemn themselves and acknowledge the justice of losing their national privileges. That rejection was a refusal of light and mercy after Christ had done what He could for the city, showing that mercy has a boundary, and the acknowledged judgment leads to the coming destruction of the city, the temple and Jerusalem and to the dispersion of the nation.
Care Given to Vineyard
Christ is owner and keeper of the vineyard, which is Israel, brought out of Egypt as a goodly vine with the heathen cast out before it by His own hand. Taken as a wild vine from Egypt, it was transplanted into Canaan and planted in a very fruitful hill upon the hills of Palestine. There He nourished and cared for it as a vine of His own planting in genial soil.
He hedged it about with guardian care and guarded it with protective law. That hedge included the marriage law and the Sabbath law, plainly defined in Eden so that none need be ignorant or misunderstand them. He also sent servants to nurture it and prophets to warn it, without withdrawing His love.
He gave the people Scripture, spiritual advantages, land, and guidance. He instituted the sacrificial system to keep the one great Sacrifice continually before their minds. He planted them in Canaan intending them to take possession of the land and spread through it by faith, so that their history would have been different had they occupied the vineyard as intended.
His purpose was that by worship and obedient lives they would restore His moral image in humanity and reflect His character. As stewards of high privilege they were to serve God and provide religious guidance and a holy example to other peoples. Obedience would bring prosperity and protection and make them a witness among the nations, a blessing to the nations displaying His glory instead of a hindrance.
Fruit Sought and Found
God looked for good grapes from His vineyard, and by good grapes He meant justice and righteousness in the life of His people. What He sought was the reflection of His own character, with obedience and worship restoring His moral image in humanity and displaying His glory among the nations. That fruit was to appear as love and humility and self-sacrificing service, bringing prosperity and protection and making Israel a witness and blessing to other peoples. He had furnished everything toward this end through Scripture and spiritual advantages and land and guidance, expecting corresponding returns of righteousness.
Instead the vineyard brought forth wild grapes, for justice gave way to oppression and righteousness to a cry of distress. The people forgot God and went into rebellion, abusing from age to age the privileges and opportunities a compassionate God had provided. Their history became one of grace resisted and privileges abused and warnings ignored and the Lord's servants mistreated. Religion degenerated into hollow formalism marked by Pharisaical pride and self-exaltation and cruel attributes, until from national apostasy came cruel persecution ending in killing the very messengers sent to them.
For a thousand years they multiplied transgression upon transgression, growing fruitless through ingratitude and refusal to accept mercy. They treated sin as insignificant and called evil good and good evil, bringing upon themselves the consequences of rejecting His law and word. Truth was displaced by false human theories, with harmful results to the vineyard.
Christ's Saving Effort
With still yearning hope for fruitfulness, He came in person to His vineyard Israel to save it from destruction. For three years He dug about the vine and pruned and cherished it with unwearied effort. That care was the Lord of light and glory going in and out among His people, healing the sick, comforting the sorrowing, raising the dead, speaking pardon and peace to the repentant, gathering the weak and weary and helpless and desponding, and extending to all without respect to age or character the invitation of mercy to come for rest.
Regardless of indifference and contempt He steadfastly pursued this ministry of love, living to scatter blessings and plead with men to accept life, so that waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn heart returned in a tide of untiring love. But Israel turned from her best friend and only helper, despising the pleadings of His love, spurning His counsels and ridiculing His warnings. She rejected the light and refused mercy after He had done what He could for the city.
The vine is Christ in the midst of Israel. The men of Israel despised Him and cast Him over the vineyard wall, bruising Him and trampling Him underfoot in hope of destroying Him forever. The Husbandman then removed the vine and hid it from their sight and planted it again on the other side of the wall, where the stock is no longer visible and beyond the power of men to reach or harm. The branches still hang over the wall so that grafts may be joined to the vine.
The vine of gold and silver with green leaves and massive clusters of grapes at the entrance to the temple represented Israel as a prosperous, flourishing vine. The Lord's vineyard become a desolate waste vividly represented Israel's degraded condition. Above that desolation shone the promised glory of the Messiah's reign and covenant mercy.
Judgment on Failure
The verse declares that because the vineyard failed, its protection and blessing are taken away and it is left desolate. The vineyard is Israel, entrusted with divine blessings, yet unfaithful to that trust and failing to render its fruits, so desolation came upon the Jewish nation. The call to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah to judge between God and His vineyard invites recognition that He had done all that could be done for His people, while they produced corrupt and wild grapes instead of the justice and righteousness He sought.
That rejection of Christ and refusal of light and mercy brought the coming destruction of the city and of Jerusalem and the temple, with the dispersion of the nation, showing that divine mercy has a boundary. The stewards by rejecting the messengers and killing the Son condemn themselves and acknowledge the justice of losing their national privileges. Having rejected the Son of God and stood ready to put Him to death after a thousand years of multiplying transgression upon transgression, the cloud of retributive judgment was about to burst upon them in unrestrained fury.
The parable therefore warns that God will not bless and sustain those who reject His ways. Persistent sin, self-exaltation, and misleading practice can cause Him to remove His favor and bring judgment, a warning that reaches the church as well as the chosen people in their breach of trust.
Unfaithful Keepers Condemned
The keepers of the vineyard were given the high privilege of serving God and of giving religious guidance and a holy example to other peoples, but they sought the fruits of the vineyard for themselves, and by greed and unfaithfulness they deprived others of His blessing and misrepresented His character and kingdom. Entrusted with His people and His possessions, the priests and teachers failed their duty, for instead of teaching His word faithfully and serving Him they sought their own glory and the fruit of the vineyard. Their misuse of what was entrusted to them dishonored Him and misrepresented His character to the Gentiles.
The husbandmen withhold the fruit from its owner when they teach the people to disregard His commandments, for the fruits He claims include love and humility and self-sacrificing service. In Israel the priests and teachers thus misled the people and deprived Him of the service He required. By elevating human traditions above His law and turning the people from its precepts they rejected Christ and bore the responsibility for the nation's sin and ruin.
Application Beyond Israel
The vineyard parable reaches beyond the Jewish nation to the church in the present generation, which has received great privileges and blessings from God with corresponding returns expected, yet has failed to meet His expectations. Persistent sin, self-exaltation, and misleading practice can cause Him to remove His favor and bring judgment, for He will not bless and sustain those who reject His ways. The appeal to judge belongs among messages of counsel and admonition of special value to the keepers of His vineyard, making plain His eternal purpose for mankind and clearly revealing His love for the lost and His plan for their salvation. It carries the story of Israel's call, successes and failures, restoration to divine favor, rejection of the Master of the vineyard, and the carrying out of the plan of the ages by a goodly remnant to whom all covenant promises are to be fulfilled, a theme given to God's church through the centuries and now belonging to those occupying His vineyard as faithful husbandmen. For the church the test is whether Christianity produces fruit of righteousness or proves a strange, unfruitful vine, for God's truth must be both spoken and lived, and receiving the gospel must raise people to a more Christlike life. Conduct showing idolatry instead of expected fruit offends Him, and selfish competition and indulgence among His people fail to show the faith and concern for souls their calling requires.
Each believer is a vine planted to bear rich clusters of grapes and a fountain to send forth sweet water, with truth received into the heart producing beauty of soul, true and unmistakable conversion, and sanctification. To rest in mere profession of faith while remaining in deception and living for self and pleasure poisons the fountain and causes the vine that should bear rich grapes to produce only wild berries. The wild grapes are the sad present history of souls who once bore good grapes but now have departed from the faith, the same fountain sending forth bitter where it once sent forth sweet, set against what their past faithful life had been. Their course brings weariness and sorrow of heart and grief beyond words to those who watch it. The end is near when truth alone will triumph, leaving the need for the truth as it is in Jesus to be planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit and daily tended there by grace.
In wider application the Lord's vineyard is the world, to be worked in all its different parts without partiality, and He is misrepresented when work that should be done in different parts is hindered. The Southern field is a neglected portion urgently needing work and care, and when difficulties arise there its needs are to be brought to the Master of the vineyard, who is the owner. No portion is to be robbed to absorb means in one location, with work overdone in some places while money that should enable workers elsewhere to move forward without hindrance in elevating the standard of truth is absorbed, but memorials of truth are to be raised to make a proper impression on the world. God judges the tree by looking at the character of the fruit borne, and all are called to consider the work required to be done and how it is to be sustained. The vineyard is waiting to be worked, with workers and means needed for the work, and the Jewish nation had received great advantages with responsibility for receiving and sharing the light rather than rejecting its blessing. Its people and laborers should be spread into other parts of the field rather than gathered in one place while other parts are left uncultivated.