Season 6, Podcast 47, Isaiah 5:1-10, “Lord of the Vineyard.”

Season 6, Podcast 47, Isaiah 5:1-10, “Lord of the Vineyard.”

Analogy is a primary tool in Hebraic poetry. We often call them parables. An analogy is a comparison between two things that are unlike but have similar characteristics. An analogy may be literal or figurative. It may be brief or extended. For example, Isaiah 5 is an extended analogy, comparing the House of Israel to a Vinyard. The Lord of the Vinyard is Christ.   

Isaiah 5:1

1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

The very fruitful hill is the Promised Land. The Vinyard is the House of Israel. The Well-beloved is Christ.

One of the most spectacular events in the New Testament is the baptism of Christ. In recording the event, Matthew refers to Christ as the beloved Son of the Father. 

At the baptism we hear the voice of the Father from heaven. We see the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, descending like a dove, and we have the Lord Jesus Christ himself with an earthly body. When the Father introduced his Son to John the Baptist at the baptism of Christ by John, he said,

Matthew 3:16-17

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Christ, the well-beloved, then is the Lord of the Vineyard. The House of Israel is the Vinyard. In the beginning it was in “a very fruitful hill.” Metaphorically that refers to the time when the House of Israel kept their covenants with the Lord. The fruit of the vine refers to the children of Israel being raised in the gospel of Christ under the Law of Moses. Fruit could also refer to the holy scriptures, known as the Old Testament, which was written by the Lord’s anointed Prophets. ‘Fruitful hill’ refers to the time when they fully obeyed the Law of Moses which pointed them to Christ. All the ordinances of the Law of Moses were to remind the Children of Israel of Jehovah, or Jesus Christ, who would sacrifice his life for the sins of all mankind. The Fruitful Hill is also reference to the Promised Land. Christ does everything necessary to make his Vinyard successful, but, rather than a fruitful field, it begins to bring forth wild fruit.

Isaiah 5:2

2 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.

The power of analogy is in the comparisons. For example, as it relates to a vineyard, we know why a fence is needed, we know why stones must be removed, why healthy plants must be used, why a tower must be built, and what a winepress is for. However, what do the images of fence, stones, choicest vine, tower, and winepress mean when they refer to the House of Israel? If we miss that, we miss the meaning.

Just as a fence is built around a vineyard to keep out the wild animals that will destroy the vines, a fence is built around Jerusalem to keep out invading armies. It is also a symbol of keeping out Satan and the world, which symbolizes the natural man. The fence that protects the vineyard may be made of stone. The fence that protects the Children of Israel is righteousness, obeying the commandments, keeping the covenants.  In Psalm 18, David said, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my god, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”

Stones, of course are impediments to plowing fertile ground, but stones can be gathered and