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? – Isaiah 5:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 28, 2020): Isaiah 5

A few years ago, some ladies decided that what my office desperately needed was a plant. But that decision came with an important question; what plant could survive the best in the desert wasteland known as my office? I don’t remember the species of green thing that they decided on, but I remember the day that my new friend arrived in my office. It was placed gently in one corner, and then one lady promised to come twice a week and care for it (because no one thought that I was capable of doing something that complex). And it worked, probably until the lady in charge of caring for the plant passed away. And the plant soon followed the fate of its caregiver. It appears that the ladies were right about my capabilities all along.

In most agricultural endeavors, there is an expectation. If the one who cares for the garden does everything right, and if the weather is good, then the garden should grow. (Unless I am the gardener. And even then, it is ‘me’ that is the problem, not the garden.) Growing a plant should be a smooth operation, provided that the seed is good and that the gardener understands what it is that the plant requires.

Isaiah poses an accusation at his garden. It is a ridiculous indictment, and the prophet knows it. The charge is that even though Isaiah has planted the proper seed and has cared for his garden, doing everything right, the garden will only produce bad fruit. Isaiah demands that his readers judge between him and his garden. Logic insists that the problem has to belong to the gardener. A garden, or vineyard, can only produce in such a way that is in keeping with the seed planted and the care and weather provided for the plants and fruit to grow. If there is a problem, it doesn’t lie with the garden. Plants do not have the power to choose what to produce. They produce only in keeping with their genetic makeup and the care that is given to them. As posed, the judgment can only go against the gardener.

Of course, that is not the real problem that Isaiah has laid in front of his audience. The vineyard that Isaiah has in mind does have the ability to choose what kind of fruit it wants to produce. And if you had a garden in which you had fully invested yourself, and all the garden would give to you is pain and thorns, what would you do.

The answer is relatively simple. You would dig up the garden and start over again with fresh seed. Judah was not ignorant of the morality play that was taking place in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. God looked like he was digging up that part of the vineyard and was getting ready to start over. Could Jerusalem honestly believe that their fate would be any different if they chose to only produce bad fruit for the gardener who had planted them?

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 6