And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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 burned. 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? Therefore, thus saith the Lord God; As the vine tree among
the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so
will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will set my face
against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire
shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set
my face against them. And I will make the land desolate, because
they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord God (verses 1-8).
The vine is a type of the people Israel. Perhaps their confidence and
boast was in the knowledge that they were the vine of Jehovah. Their
false prophets may have quoted the words of Asaph in that beautiful
prayer addressed to the Shepherd of Israel: "Thou hast brought a vine
out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. Thou
preparedst room for it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it
filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it and the
boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto
the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why hast thou then broken down
her hedges, so that all they that pass by the way do pluck her?" (Psalm
lxxx:8-12). But they forgot that judgment had been long ago pronounced
against the vine and the vineyard of Israel. Isaiah has spoken of the
vineyard and what Jehovah had done for His people. But the vine brought
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 will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And
I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned or digged; but there shall
come up briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain
not upon it" (Isaiah v:1-6). And Hosea, too, had borne witness against
the vine: "Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto
himself; according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the
altars; according to the goodness of the land they have made goodly
images" (Hosea x:1).
Their boast of being the vine and vineyard of Jehovah was an idle one.
Ezekiel's parable demonstrates this. The vine tree is only good for one
thing and that is the bearing of fruit. Apart from fruit bearing the
vine is worthless. The wood of it cannot be used for anything whatever.
Is it meet for any work? Will men take a piece of it and hang a vessel
thereon? It is good for nothing else but to be burned with fire. Cast
into the fire for fuel it is burned at both ends and in the midst. This
was to be the certain fate of Jerusalem. The process of the fiery
judgment consuming the unfruitful vine tree had already begun. "And I
will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire and
another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord,
when I set my face against them." Even so it came upon the city when
Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem the third time. "And he burnt the
house of the Lord, and the King's house, and all the houses of
Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire" (2 Kings
xxv:9). And here we must also remember the statement our Lord made in
the parable of the vine and the branches. "If a man abide not in me, he
is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and
cast them into the fire, and they are burned" (John xv:6). Some apply
this also to Israel. It means, however, the professing believer, who in
an empty profession claims to be a branch in Him who is the true vine.
Such a one is a barren branch, good only for burning.
Our Lord's parable of the vineyard (Matt. xxi:33, etc.) must here
likewise be considered. It brings together all the prophets had spoken
concerning Israel as the vineyard, as well as the crowning sin of the
people, in the rejection and death of the Lord Jesus, and the judgment
which came upon Jerusalem and the nation.
But there is a day coming when the Lord will graciously visit the vine
again, when He will have mercy upon Zion. Of this the already quoted
eightieth Psalm bears a blessed testimony.
The prayer of the godly remnant of the Jewish people at the close of the
times of the Gentiles is pre-written in that Psalm by the Holy Spirit.
Let us listen to it. "Return we beseech thee, O God of hosts; look down
from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine and the vineyard which thy
right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for
thyself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the
rebuke of thy countenance. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right
hand (the Lord Jesus Christ), upon the son of man, whom thou madest
strong for thyself. So will we not go back from thee; quicken us, and we
will call upon thy name" (Psalm lxxx:14-18).
THE PARABLE OF THE ABANDONED CHILD. JERUSALEM'S IDOLATRY. THE PROMISES
OF RESTORATION.
Chapter xvi.
After the parable of the unfruitful vine in which the vain hope and
boast of Jerusalem is briefly exposed, another parable was uttered by
the Prophet, which more fully establishes Jerusalem's great wickedness.
The chapter before us is one of the greatest in the prophetic
Scriptures. It contains a wonderful history of Jerusalem, past, present
and future, and God's dealings with her.
We give first a brief survey of this interesting chapter before we take
up a more analytical study. The parable of the abandoned child and
Jehovah's love and mercy in taking her up, saving the perishing one from
death and bestowing upon her such gracious labor and gifts, forms the
first part of the chapter (verse 1-14). It is a most beautiful
description of what Jehovah had done for Jerusalem. After this, the
terrible ingratitude and fall of Jerusalem is uncovered. She, whom
Jehovah lifted so high, upon whom He bestowed such love and grace,
turned against Jehovah and became an abandoned prostitute. The
idolatries of Jerusalem and corresponding moral degradations are
vividly pictured in this second section of the chapter (verses 15-34).
Then follows the announcement of the doom of Jerusalem. In this third
section Samaria and her daughters, as well as Sodom and her daughters
are introduced, and their return to the former estate with Jerusalem is
announced.
These restoration promises are frequently used by teachers of the
so-called "larger hope," who deny the eternal punishment of the wicked.
It is claimed that Sodom and her daughters, all the inhabitants of
wicked Sodom, who perished in the great judgment, will be raised from
the dead and have another chance. We shall, in considering this portion
of the chapter (verses 35-59), show the unscripturalness of this theory
as well as the true meaning of the promise. The fourth section (verses
59-63) promises the establishment of Jehovah's covenant with Jerusalem.