From: Isaiah 5:1-7
The song of the vineyard
[1] Let me sing for my beloved
a love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
[2] He digged 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.
[3] And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge, I pray you, between me
and my vineyard.
[4] What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked or it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
[5] 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.
[6] 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.
[7] 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, a cry!
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Commentary:
5:1-7. The “song of the vineyard” is a masterpiece of Hebrew poetry, full of symbolism and carrying an important message. In the figure of heartbroken farmer, we can see our Lord Jesus Christ and his sorrow at finding that his people yield such a poor crop of righteousness. In vv. 1-2 the author assumes the role of God’s friend; in vv. 3-6 the lover speaks, describing all the care he has taken of his people, and then in v. 7 the author speaks again. It is a simple story that does not take long to tell; to begin with, the author keeps us in suspense as to what he is getting at (rather as Nathan does, in the parable he tells David: cf. 2 Sam 12: 1-15), but then he tells us: the vineyard is “the house of Israel” (v. 7); despite all the care God has taken of it, it failed to yield the expected fruit, giving “wild grapes” instead. Israel needs to admit its fault. So, the lyrical tone now ceases, and a series of woes follows. The song contains many plays on words, impossible to render in translation.
The prophet Hosea, earlier, used the simile of a vine to describe Israel (Hos 10:1). Isaiah himself will use it again (27:2-5) and it recurs in Jeremiah (2:21; 5:10; 6:9; 12:10) and in Ezekiel (Ezek 15:1-8; 17:3-10; 19:10,14); and there are traces of it in Psalm 80:8-18 and in the “Song of Moses” (Deut 32:32-33). For his part, Sirach compares divine wisdom to a vine (cf. Sir 24:23-30). Finally, it appears in our Lord’s parable of the wicked tenants of a vineyard, a parable that is a kind of compendium of salvation history, including his own experiences with the Jewish authorities (Mt 21:33-46; Mk 12:1-12; Lk 20:9-19).
As the heir of ancient Israel, the Church, too, is prefigured in the story of the vineyard. The Second Vatican Council remarks on this when it comments on the metaphors that the Bible uses for the Church: “The Church is a piece of land to be cultivated, the field of God (1 Cor 3:9). On that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were the patriarchs and in which the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles has been brought about and will be brought about (Rom 11: 13-26). That land, like a choice vineyard, has been planted by the heavenly Husbandman (Mt 21:33-43 and par.: cf. Is 5:1-7). The true vine is Christ who gives life, and the power to bear abundant fruit, to the branches, that is, to us, who through the Church remains in Christ, without whom we can do nothing (Jn 15:1-5)” (Lumen Gentium, 6).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.
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