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. 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? 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. For the vineyard of the Lord
of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant
plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for
righteousness, but behold a cry."

The vineyard, with its slope to the southward, and rich soil, and
careful cultivation, and secure defences, and convenient apparatus,
represents the people whom God chose and cherished. The drift of
Isaiah's parable is to show the exaggerated wickedness of that favoured
nation. The vineyard brought forth wild grapes,--those sour grapes which
set on edge the teeth of him who tastes them (Ezek. xviii. 2). Israel
lived like the heathen, and thus the care bestowed upon them was thrown
away. As a punishment for its ungrateful return, the vineyard was laid
waste; the kingdom and polity of Israel were destroyed by the decree of
God, and through the instrumentality of the king of Babylon.

2. Ezek. xv. 2-5: "Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree,
or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? Shall wood be
taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any
vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire
devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burnt. Is it meet
for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how
much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured
it, and it is burned?"

Here Israel is compared, not to a vineyard, but to a single vine; and
the special characteristic selected for purposes of instruction is the
uselessness of the vine tree as timber. Cultivated only for the sake of
its fruit, if it prove barren, it is not only no bet