The first half of Chapter 5 contains a song that is a parable. In this song Israel (Israel and Judah combined, since they were two separate nations in Isaiah's day) is the vineyard and the Lord is the owner of the vineyard. Just as every song in our own day is not about pleasant circumstances, the song contained in Chapter 5 is not about pleasant circumstances. The vineyard in this song is unfruitful, despite everything the Lord has done to make it prosper and grow.
Isaiah, not the Lord, appears to be the composer of this song, for he speaks of the Lord as "the one I love". But although these are Isaiah's words, they have been given to him by the Lord; therefore they are inspired by the Holy Spirit and are regarded as Scripture just as David's songs are regarded as Scripture.
"I will sing for the one I love a song about His vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines." (Isaiah 5:1-2a) The Lord, like a man clearing a field to make it usable for planting, cleared the land of Canaan of the idolatrous tribes living there and planted Israel in their place. He planted them in fertile ground, with plenty of room to grow. They were good seedlings at first; Isaiah refers to them as "the choicest vines". There was no reason for them not to grow and bear fruit.
In addition to preparing the ground for them and giving them plenty of room to spread out, the Lord protected them from the enemies all around them. "He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then He looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit." (Isaiah 5:2b) He watched over the nation so no one could come in and destroy her. He also cut out a winepress, as a man would do when planting a vineyard, because anyone who plants a vineyard must plan for a harvest. Instead of a fine grape harvest, only bad fruit emerged. The bad fruit is a symbol of the sin and idolatry the people had fallen into by the time of Isaiah.
This isn't a new situation, for the northern kingdom of Israel has been on a spiritual downturn for centuries now. Judah has not yet drifted as far from the Lord, since the temple is in her midst, but she will have reached the same level of apostasy as Israel within about 130 years after the fall of the northern kingdom. We might expect the citizens of Judah to take the fall of Israel to heart and refrain from falling into the same spiritual condition, but the majority of the people will listen to the false prophets who assure them that the Lord will never allow Jerusalem and His temple to fall to an enemy.
He will allow this though. He gives a very clear warning about that by saying, "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and the people of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it." (Isaiah 5:3-6)
In case any of his listeners do not understand the proverb, Isaiah explains it to them. "The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines He delighted in. And He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but He heard cries of distress." (Isaiah 5:7) The vineyard is comprised of all twelve tribes---Israel and Judah collectively. As we know from our study of the kings, Israel will be invaded and defeated by the Assyrian Empire and Judah will be invaded and defeated by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. If the people had not turned from the Lord, these calamities would have been impossible. The Lord promised the people before ever bringing them into the promised land that no enemy could ever stand against them if they would remain faithful to Him.
No nation is too powerful to fall. Israel and Judah both enjoyed an era of great prosperity right before everything began falling apart. Economically they looked strong right before their decline but a strong economy is useless when a nation is spiritually ill. We should take a lesson from the passages we are studying because even though the United States of America is a strong and prosperous nation, the Lord may allow our nation to fall if our spiritual condition reaches a tipping point of sin and lawlessness. Just as Judah should have taken to heart what happened to Israel, we should take to heart what happened to both of those nations. It's time to double down on praying for our people and on monitoring the condition of our own hearts.
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