Isaiah wrote the following: "Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; 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 are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!" (Isaiah 5:1–7).
Isaiah chapter 5 comes in the form of a prophetic parable. It enables us to better understand how God viewed the spiritual condition of Israel as a nation.
The vineyard is a picture of the house of Israel and the men of Judah (Isaiah 5:7a). The wording "wild grapes" stands for "worthless ones" or "bad fruit" (Isaiah 5:4b).
In nature, wild grapes have a very bitter taste, representing apostasy from God.
God wanted to find obedience, a thankful attitude, worship of him, service and kindness to other people. But he found bad fruit; such as disobedience, rebellion, greed, and idolatry. (Isaiah 5:7b–8, 11–12, 18–23). See The Love of Money.
God couldn't have done more for Israel than he had already done (Isaiah 5:1b–4). The failure wasn't because of any fault committed by God; in God's planning, in God's provision, or in God's preparation. Everything was done to bear good fruit.
The message of this parable is that God is looking for good fruit but finds none,
see Jesus Curses the Fig Tree in Jesus' Last Days before his Crucifixion. The consequences would be severe (Isaiah 5:5–6, 10, 14–15, 24–25). They go into captivity (Isaiah 5:9, 13, 26–30). This happened when the Babylonian army came and conquered the southern kingdom (Judah), see The Book of Habakkuk.
For information on other parables, see Jesus' Parables.
