Isaiah – The fifth Hebrew gospel – Chapter 5

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The prophet appears in the guise of a minstrel before an assemblage of his countrymen, and proceeds to recite the unfortunate experience of a “friend” of his with his vineyard.

5:1 Now will I shir/sing to my Beloved a shir of my Beloved touching His vineyard. My well Beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

2 And He fortified it in, and removed the stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress in it: and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, but instead it brought forth wild grapes. 3 And now, O inhabitants of Yahrushalayim, and men of Yahudah, please judge, between Me and My vineyard. 4 What could have been done more for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why when I looked for grapes, it brought forth only wild grapes? 5 And now; I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge of it, and it shall be eaten up; and break down its walls, and it shall be trampled down: 6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor dug; but there shall come up weeds and thorn bushes: I will also command the clouds that they do not rain upon it. 7 For the vineyard of vuvh tzevaoth is Beit Yisrael, and the men of Yahudah His pleasant plant: and He looked for mishpat, but found oppression; for tzedakah, but found weeping.

The song, disarms the suspicions of the crowd, and the minstrel, having secured their sympathy, demands a verdict on the course which the man might be expected to pursue with such stiff-necked and unmanageable a vineyard as this – V3.

The answer is so obvious that the people had practically assented to their own condemnation before they clearly perceived the drift of what the song was about, just as in Yahusha’s hearers in Matt 21.  

Mat 21:41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

From this point onwards the parable becomes more and more transparent, till at last the prophet, throws off all disguise and drives home the lesson of the whole in the crashing lines of Isa 5:7. 7 For the vineyard of vuvh tzevaoth is Beit Yisrael, and the men of Yahudah His pleasant plant: and He looked for mishpat, but found oppression; for tzedakah, but found weeping.

The backdrop: 

Minstrels traveled from farm to farm to help with the harvest. Servants would tread grapes whilst musicians played instruments and sang ballads – turning drudgery into a dance. 

יהוה plants the vineyard that represents his people in a choice land, on the fertile brow of a hill V.1With the aid of his servants his prophets, he cultivates it and clears it of ‘stones’, removing its former wicked inhabitants and ‘ preparing the way’ the the new planting. 

He builds a watchtower so that his prophets – the watchman may keep a vigil. 

He hues a winepress, a temple service framework in which people can bring the fruit of their labors, but instead of bringing good fruit, they produce ‘wild fruit’ בְּאֻשִׁים be’ûshı̂ym be-oo-sheem’ poison berries: 

The ‘hedge’ v. 5 is His divine protection will be removed and ‘let it be burned’ ‘have it’s wall broken through’ – its defenses violated and ‘let it be trampled’ are all the word links to the king of Assyria/Babylon יהוה fire and sword the one who burns and tramples יהוה reprobate people. 

8 Woe to them that join bayit to bayit, that add field to field, until there is no room, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the land! 9 In My hearing vuvh tzevaoth said, Of an emet many houses shall be desolate, even the great and fine ones, without inhabitant. 10 Yes, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of zera shall yield an ephah.

Now the additional covenant curses are coming into effect, lack of rain, proliferation of briars and thorns – a euphemism for the wicked overrunning the land. 

Once the vineyard is no longer pruned or hoed – means יהוה has withdrawn his tender care and the people are left to themselves. 

They were once his cherished grove – יהוה doted over them, now they have become wasteland. 

He anticipated fruits of righteousness and justice for all the tender care He put in…but the vines paid him back with a bitter grapes of wickedness and injustice – these are grave ethical violations. 

In v. 8 we see a series of seven woes or covenant curses that follow Isaiah’s vineyard allegory.

bayit to bayit, that add field to field…oppressive real estate ventures that box in or out the tenant farmer.

11 Woe to them that rise up early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink; that continue until night, until their wine inflames them! 

12 And the harp, and the lyre, the tambourine, and flute, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of vuvh, neither consider the operation of His hands. 13 Therefore My people are gone into exile, because they have no da’at: and their honorable men are starved, and their multitude dried up with thirst. 

Da’at: דַעַת DALET-AYIN-TAV is a covenant term whereas Yada יֶדַע YOD-DALET-AYIN is an alien to covenant term-void of torah term which explains the context of Matt 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 

IF YOU CLAIM JESUS AND LIVE LIKE HIS LAW HAS NO SAY OVER YOUR LIFE then you are no different than the people of this vineyard parable who professed יהוה but lived as if his law had no say over their lives – YOU DESIGNATE YOURSELF A COVENANT ALIEN AND COVENANT ALIENS WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.  

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself, and opened its mouth without measure: and their tifereth, and their multitude, and their pride, and he that has unjust simcha, shall descend into it. 

Isaiah likens יהוה people going to their death to Sheol the ‘underworld’, ‘Hell’ or ‘spirit prison’ devouring them like a gluttonous woman. 

Mouth serves as a pseudonym of the arch tyrant both Daniel and John depict him as ‘a mouth speaking great things’ Dan 7:8, Rev 13:5 Isaiah goes onto describe him in 37:29 as a beast ‘bellowing and snorting’ against the Most High. 37:23 “Whom have you reproached and reviled? And against whom have you raised your voice, and lifted up your eyes in pride? Against the Set-apart One of Yisra’ěl!

15 And the mean-spirited man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the proud shall be humbled:

16 But vuvh tzevaoth shall be exalted in mishpat, and El that is kadosh shall be kadosh his tzedakah. 

17 Then shall the lambs feed after their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall foreigners eat. 

18 Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with wagon ropes: 19 That say, Let Him hurry, and hasten His work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Kadosh-One of Yisrael draw near and come, that we may know it! 

20 Woe to them that call evil tov, and tov evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to them that are wise in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight! 

This is the occult agenda…today it’s everywhere!

22 Woe to them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength who mix strong drink:

The words שֵׁכָר shêkâr – whiskey and the word יַיִן yayin – yah’-yin – wine form a word link the opulent יהוה people have been overcome and stumbling in a delusion. 

Priests and prophets too have gone astray through liquor they err as seers and blunder in delusions: Is 28:7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

 23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the tzedakah of the tzadik from him! 24 Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the Torah of vuvh tzevaoth, and despised the word of the Kadosh-One of Yisrael. 

The chapter concludes with chaos motifs like ‘stubble’, ‘weeds’ ‘decay’ and ‘dust’ which contrast the wicked of יהוה people with the righteous who represent the ‘grain’ ‘roots’ and ‘blossoms’ signifying ancestors, beneficiaries, evildoers are cut off from these blessings of familial rights, his flame and fire will burn them up. 

25 Therefore is the anger of vuvh lit against His people, and He has stretched forth His hand against them, and has smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their corpses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger has not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. 

Isa. 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. Assyria personifies יהוה anger and acts as his hand of punishment. 

26 And He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and will whistle to them from the ends of the earth: and, see, they shall come with speed swiftly: 

‘banner ‘- נָסַס nâsas naw-sas’ to gleam from afar, a conspicuous signal; to raise a beacon: – lift up as an ensign, standard bearer. 

27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their sandals be broken: 28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: 29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions; they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safely, and none shall rescue it. 

30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one looks to the land, see darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened by the clouds over it.

Isaiah likens him to the sea in commotion or a river in a flood, sweeping all before it as in Isa. 8:7 and 51:5 where sea and river designate chaos in the world – 

8:7 And therefore, behold, יהוה brings on them the waters of the River, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory. And he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks.

51:5 My righteousness is near; My salvation has gone out, and My arms shall judge peoples; the coastlands shall wait on Me, and on My arm they shall trust.  Moshiach יהוה arm,  is the one that comes to restore peace – to walk on water.