Isaiah 5:1-7
5 Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watch-tower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected 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 it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; 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 people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; expected righteousness, but heard a cry!
The first reading this morning is a wonderful example of Old Testament poetry. As you know, poetry can with a few words can often speak louder than prose and in doing so make a point more strongly. In this piece the Prophet Isaiah is using a well worn technique of Hebrew literature, that of inserting poetry into the body of prose in order to make a significant remark. In this case the beautiful, pastoral words build us up and then in verses five and six dash us down. He begins with the phrase:
“Let me sing for my beloved.”
This is Isaiah writing from God’s perspective, that is, in God’s voice and he has God telling his listeners how wonderful and important Jerusalem is to him and thus by inference how important are they the Hebrew people (his chosen ones) to him as well. The Hebrews are ‘God’s beloved’.
God goes on to describe the care with which he tends his beloved people using the analogy of the vineyard. In doing so he emphasises how much time and consideration he gives to the ones he loves, for tending vines is a time demanding job and much love and care is needed to produce a good harvest. This is analogy the Jews would have understood from their everyday lives but then at verse five everything comes crashing down:
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.
In this verse you can hear God’s anger at his beloved people. God questions as to why his beloved have strayed so far from his ways and his desires. He says their fruit is bad, despite his care, and as such he expresses the extent of his disappointment with them. He also decides to teach them a lesson they will not forget. God trashes the vineyard and nothing but misfortune follows. In verse seven, everything is then explained to the listeners:
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; expected righteousness, but heard a cry!
The vineyard is the house of Israel, the pleasant planting being the chosen ones and that is where God expected to see good growth. What he found was infighting and a lack of care and concern for each other. And, a turning away from God himself. In these verses you really get an idea of how angry God was with Israel.
This for me is the power of poetry. I read poetry everyday for I believe that poets can say in a few stanzas or words, things often far more clearly, than prose ever can by using hundreds of words. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy a good author, I do, but it is more often that poetry speaks to my soul. I would, however, not wish to be bereft of either prose or poetry in my life.
Isaiah, and this is the original prophet, is I believe, a superb writer and a consummate poet. A writer who knows when to turn to poetry and leave prose behind in order to make his point. That being so, what is he trying to say to us in this morning?
I think, that we can take from this piece of Scripture that we too are God’s beloved and that God will do all he can for us, if we learn to love him properly and do not chase after other gods or ways that are not his but humankind’s. This is something echoed in this morning’s Gospel reading as well.
Both pieces of Scripture tell us that our God is a generous God and one who repeatedly offers us the choice to follow his ways in love or not. All we have to do is learn to live in his love and enjoy sharing it with others; for it is not ours to keep but ours to pass on through our actions.
Actions that should echo the love and care God gives to us and encourages us to share with others. God’s love is for all to share and not just to be kept by a chosen few. For in the light of the Gospel of Christ we now know that we are all God’s ‘chosen people’.