Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, September 22nd, 2024
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
Attention!
Partner with StudyLight.org as God uses us to make a difference for those displaced by Russia's war on Ukraine.
Click to donate today!

Read the Bible

Updated Bible Version

Isaiah 5:2

and he dug it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a wine press therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Fence;   Fort;   God Continued...;   Isaiah;   Judgment;   Parables;   Punishment;   Unfaithfulness;   Unfruitfulness;   Vineyard;   War;   Wine Press;   Scofield Reference Index - Parables;   Thompson Chain Reference - Fruit, Sinful;   Fruitfulness-Unfruitfulness;   Israel;   Israel-The Jews;   Sin;   Sin's;   Sinful;   Social Duties;   Temperance;   Temperance-Intemperance;   Unfruitfulness;   Vine;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Agriculture or Husbandry;   Hedges;   Ingratitude to God;   Prophets;   Towers;   Vine, the;   Vineyards;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Grapes;   Sorek;   Towers;   Vine;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Farming;   Grapes;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Allegory;   Branch;   Parable;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Cockle;   Grape;   Stone;   Towers;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Agriculture;   Fat;   Old Testament;   Towers;   Wine;   Zorah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Agriculture;   Castle;   Economic Life;   Friend, Friendship;   Imagery;   Isaiah;   Jonah;   Parables;   Stone;   Vine;   Watchtower;   Winepress;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Arts and Crafts;   Government;   Isaiah;   Isaiah, Book of;   Love, Lover, Lovely, Beloved;   Parable;   Symbol;   Vine, Vineyard;   Wine and Strong Drink;   Wisdom;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Agriculture;   Isaiah;   Vine ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Husbandman;   Wine-Press, Wine-Fat;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Garden;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Vine;   Winepress;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Agriculture;   Vine,;   Wine-Press;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Fence;   Ather;   Rapes;   Plant (verb);   Vine;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Cockle;   Grape;   Parable;   Tower;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fable;   Fence;   Grapes, Wild;   Isaiah;   Look;   Parable;   Vine;   Wine;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Agriculture;   Gemaṭria;   Grape;   Parable;   Poetry;   Tower;   Well, Song of the;   Wine;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for January 24;  

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
He dug it all around, removed its stones,And planted it with the choicest vine.And He built a tower in the middle of itAnd also hewed out a wine vat in it;Then He hoped for it to produce good grapes,But it produced only worthless ones.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
This he hedged, and gathered out the stones from it, and planted it with the choysest vine: In the middest of it builded he a towre, also made a wine presse therin: and he loked that it shoulde bring him grapes, and it brought foorth wylde grapes.
Darby Translation
And he dug it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine; and he built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.
New King James Version
He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes.
Literal Translation
And He dug it, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in its midst, and also hewed out a wine vat in it. And He waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced rotten grapes.
Easy-to-Read Version
He dug and cleared the field and planted the best grapevines there. He built a tower in the middle and cut a winepress into the stone. He expected good grapes to grow there, but there were only rotten ones.
World English Bible
He dug it up, Gathered out its stones, Planted it with the choicest vine, Built a tower in its midst, And also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, But it yielded wild grapes.
King James Version (1611)
And hee fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a towre in the middest of it, and also made a winepresse therein: and he looked that it should bring foorth grapes, and it brought foorth wilde grapes.
King James Version
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
This he hedged, this he walled rounde aboute, and planted it with goodly grapes. In the myddest of it buylded he a towre, and made a wyne presse therin And afterwarde when he loked yt it shulde bringe him grapes, it brought forth thornes.
Amplified Bible
He dug it all around and cleared away its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine (the people of Judah). And He built a tower in the center of it; And also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then He expected it to produce [the choicest] grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.
American Standard Version
and he digged it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Bible in Basic English
And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes.
Webster's Bible Translation
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-press therein: and he expected that it would bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
New English Translation
He built a hedge around it, removed its stones, and planted a vine. He built a tower in the middle of it, and constructed a winepress. He waited for it to produce edible grapes, but it produced sour ones instead.
Contemporary English Version
My friend dug the ground, removed the stones, and planted the best vines. He built a watchtower and dug a pit in rocky ground for pressing the grapes. He hoped they would be sweet, but bitter grapes were all it produced.
Complete Jewish Bible
He dug up its stones and cleared them away, planted it with the choicest vines, built a watchtower in the middle of it, and carved out in its rock a winepress. He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only sour, wild grapes.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And hee hedged it, and gathered out the stones of it, and he planted it with the best plants, and hee builte a towre in the middes thereof, and made a wine presse therein: then hee looked that it should bring foorth grapes: but it brought foorth wilde grapes.
George Lamsa Translation
He cultivated it and fenced it and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a watchtower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress in it; and he expected that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.
Hebrew Names Version
He dug it up, Gathered out its stones, Planted it with the choicest vine, Built a tower in its midst, And also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, But it yielded wild grapes.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he digged it, and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a vat therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
New Living Translation
He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle he built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter.
New Life Bible
He dug all around it and took away its stones, and planted it with the best vine. He built a tower in the center of it, and cut out a place in it for crushing grapes. Then He expected it to give good grapes, but it gave only wild grapes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I made a hedge round it, and dug a trench, and planted a choice vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and dug a place for the wine-vat in it: and I waited for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns.
English Revised Version
and he made a trench about it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Berean Standard Bible
He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!
New Revised Standard
He dug 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; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And he thoroughly digged it, And gathered out the stones thereof, And planted it with a precious vine, And built a tower in the midst thereof, Moreover also a wine-press, hewed he therein, - Then waited he that it should bring forth grapes. And it brought forth wild grapes:
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he fenced it in, and picked the stones out of it, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and set up a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Lexham English Bible
And he dug it and cleared it of stones, and he planted it with choice vines, and he built a watchtower in the middle of it, and he even hewed out a wine vat in it, and he waited for it to yield grapes— but it yielded wild grapes.
English Standard Version
He dug 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.
New American Standard Bible
He dug it all around, cleared it of stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it, And also carved out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.
New Century Version
He dug and cleared the field of stones and planted the best grapevines there. He built a tower in the middle of it and cut out a winepress as well. He hoped good grapes would grow there, but only bad ones grew.
Good News Translation
He dug the soil and cleared it of stones; he planted the finest vines. He built a tower to guard them, dug a pit for treading the grapes. He waited for the grapes to ripen, but every grape was sour.
Christian Standard Bible®
He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he heggide it, and chees stoonys therof, and plauntide a chosun vyner; and he bildide a tour in the myddis therof, and rerede a presse ther ynne; and he abood, that it schulde bere grapis, and it bare wielde grapis.
Revised Standard Version
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.
Young's Literal Translation
And he fenceth it, and casteth out its stones, And planteth it [with] a choice vine, And buildeth a tower in its midst, And also a wine press hath hewn out in it, And he waiteth for the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!

Contextual Overview

1 Let me sing for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My wellbeloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2 and he dug it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a wine press therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth 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 could have been done to my vineyard, that I haven't done in it? why, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? 5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6 and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. 7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, look, oppression; for righteousness, but, look, a cry.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

fenced it: or, made a wall about it, Exodus 33:16, Numbers 23:9, Deuteronomy 32:8, Deuteronomy 32:9, Psalms 44:1-3, Romans 9:4

planted: Jeremiah 2:21

the choicest vine: Sorek in Arabic, sharik certainly denotes an excellent vine; but some with Bp. Lowth, retain it as a proper name. Sorek was a valley lying between Askelon and Gaza, so called from the excellence of its vines. Judges 16:4

and built: Isaiah 1:8, Micah 4:8

made: Heb. hewed

a winepress: Isaiah 63:2, Isaiah 63:3, Nehemiah 13:15, Revelation 14:18-20

he looked: Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 1:2-4, Isaiah 1:21-23, Deuteronomy 32:6, Matthew 21:34, Mark 11:13, Mark 12:2, Luke 13:7, Luke 20:10-18, 1 Corinthians 9:7

wild grapes: Deuteronomy 32:32, Deuteronomy 32:33, Hosea 10:1

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 18:8 - from the tower Ezra 9:9 - a wall Job 1:10 - an hedge Psalms 80:15 - vineyard Ecclesiastes 3:2 - a time to plant Song of Solomon 6:11 - to see the Jeremiah 11:17 - that Jeremiah 30:15 - for the Jeremiah 45:4 - that which Matthew 3:10 - is hewn Matthew 20:1 - a man Mark 4:19 - unfruitful Romans 6:5 - planted Philippians 1:11 - filled James 3:12 - the fig tree

Cross-References

Genesis 1:27
And God created the man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 2:15
And Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Genesis 2:23
And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called a woman, because she was taken out of a man.
Malachi 2:15
And did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? And why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
Matthew 19:4
And he answered and said, Have you not read that he who created from the beginning made them male and female,
Mark 10:6
But from the beginning of the creation, Male and female he made them.
Acts 17:26
and he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined [their] appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he fenced it,.... With good and wholesome laws, which distinguished them, and kept them separate from other nations; also with his almighty power and providence; especially at the three yearly festivals, when all their males appeared before God at Jerusalem:

and gathered out the stones thereof; the Heathens, the seven nations that inhabited the land of Canaan, compared to stones for their hardness and stupidity, and for their worshipping of idols of stone; see Psalms 80:8

and planted it with the choicest vine; the seed of Abraham, Joshua, and Caleb, who fully followed the Lord, and the people of Israel with them, who first entered into the land of Canaan, and inhabited it; such having fallen in the wilderness, who murmured and rebelled against God, Jeremiah 2:21

and built a tower in the midst of it; in which watchmen stood to keep the vineyard, that nothing entered into it that might hurt it; this may be understood of the city of Jerusalem, or the fortress of Zion, or the temple; so Aben Ezra, the house of God on Mount Moriah; and the Targum,

"and I built my sanctuary in the midst of them:''

and also made a winepress therein; to tread the grapes in; this the Targum explains by the altar, paraphrasing the words,

"and also my altar I gave to make an atonement for their sins;''

so Aben Ezra; though Kimchi interprets it of the prophets, who taught the people the law, that their works might be good, and stirred them up and exhorted them to the performance of them.

And he looked that it should bring forth grapes; this "looking" and "expecting", here ascribed to God, is not to be taken properly, but figuratively, after the manner of men, for from such a well formed government, from such an excellent constitution, from a people enjoying such advantages, it might have been reasonably expected, according to a human and rational judgment of things, that the fruits of righteousness and holiness, at least of common justice and equity, would have been brought forth by them; which are meant by "grapes", the fruit of the vine, see Isaiah 5:7

and it brought forth wild grapes; bad grapes; corrupt, rotten, stinking ones, as the word s used signifies; these, by a transposition of letters, are in the Misnah t called אבשים, which word signifies a kind of bad grapes, and a small sort: evil works are meant by them, see Isaiah 5:7 the Targum is,

"I commanded them to do good works before me, and they have done evil works.''

s באשים. The Septuagint render it "thorns". t Maaserot c. 1. sect. 2. Vid. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And he fenced it - Margin, ‘Made a wall about it.’ The word used here is supposed rather to mean “to dig about, to grub,” as with a pick-axe or spade. - “Gesenius.” It has this signification in Arabic, and in one place in the Jewish Talmud. - “Kimchi.” The Vulgate and the Septuagint understands it of making a hedge or fence, probably the first work in preparing a vineyard. And as ‘a hedge’ is expressly mentioned in Isaiah 5:5, it seems most probable that that is its meaning here.

And gathered out the stones ... - That it might be easily cultivated. This was, of course, a necessary and proper work.

And planted it with the choicest vine - Hebrew, ‘With the sorek.’ This was a choice species of vine, the grapes of which, the Jewish commentators say, had very small and scarcely perceptible stones, and which, at this day, is called “serki” in Morocco; in Persia, “kishmis.” - “Gesenius.”

And built a tower - For the sake of watching and defending it. These towers were probably placed so as to overlook the whole vineyard, and were thus posts of observation; compare the note at Isaiah 1:8; see also the note at Matthew 21:33.

And also made a wine-press - A place in which to put the grapes for the purpose of expressing the juice; see the note at Matthew 21:33.

And he looked - He waited in expectation; as a farmer waits patiently for the vines to grow, and to bear grapes.

Wild grapes - The word used here is derived from the verb באשׁ bâ'ash, “to be offensive, to corrupt, to putrify;” and is supposed by Gesenius to mean “monk’s-hood,” a poisonous herb, offensive in smell, which produces berries like grapes. Such a meaning suits the connection better than the supposition of grapes that were wild or uncultivated. The Vulgate understands it of the weed called “wild vine - labruscas.” The Septuagint translates it by “thorns,” ἄκανθας akanthas. That there were vines in Judea which produced such poisonous berries, though resembling grapes, is evident; see 2 Kings 4:39-41 : ‘And one went out into the fields to gather pot herbs, and he found a field vine, and he gathered from it wild fruit.’ Moses also refers to a similar vine; Deuteronomy 32:32-33 : ‘For their vine is as the vine of Sodom; their grapes are grapes of gall; their clusters are bitter.’ Hasselquist thinks that the prophet here means the “nightshade.” The Arabs, says he, call it “wolf-grapes.” It grows much in vineyards, and is very pernicious to them. Some poisonous, offensive berries, growing on wild vines, are doubtless intended here.

The general meaning of this parable it is not difficult to understand; compare the notes at Matthew 21:33. Jerome has attempted to follow out the allegory, and explain the particular parts. He says, ‘By the metaphor of the vineyard is to be understood the people of the Jews, which he surrounded or enclosed by angels; by gathering out the stones, the removal of idols; by the tower, the temple erected in the midst of Judea; by the wine-press, the altar.’ There is no propriety, however, in attempting thus minutely to explain the particular parts of the figure. The general meaning is, that God had chosen the Jewish people; had bestowed great care on them in giving them his law, in defending them, and in providing for them; that he had omitted nothing that was adapted to produce piety, obedience, and happiness, and that they had abused it all, and instead of being obedient, had become exceedingly corrupt.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 5:2. And gathered out the stones - "And he cleared it from the stones"] This was agreeable to the husbandry: "Saxa, summa parte terrae, et vites et arbores laeduct; ima parte refrigerant;" Columell. de arb. iii. "Saxosum facile est expedire lectione lapidum;" Id. ii. 2. "Lapides, qui supersunt, [al. insuper sunt,] hieme rigent, aestate fervescunt; idcirco satis, arbustis, et vitibus nocent;" Pallad. i. 6. A piece of ground thus cleared of the stones. Persius, in his hard way of metaphor, calls "exossatus ager," an unboned field; Sat. vi. 52.

The choicest vine - "Sorek"] Many of the ancient interpreters, the Septuagint, Aquila, and Theod., have retained this word as a proper name; I think very rightly. Sorek was a valley lying between Ascalon and Gaza, and running far up eastward in the tribe of Judah. Both Ascalon and Gaza were anciently famous for wine; the former is mentioned as such by Alexander Trallianus; the latter by several authors, quoted by Reland, Palaest., p. 589 and 986. And it seems that the upper part of the valley of Sorek, and that of Eshcol, where the spies gathered the single cluster of grapes, which they were obliged to bear between two upon a staff, being both near to Hebron were in the same neighbourhood, and that all this part of the country abounded with rich vineyards. Compare Numbers 13:22-23; Judges 16:3-4. P. Nau supposes Eshcol and Sorek to be only different names for the same valley. Voyage Noveau de la Terre Sainte, lib. iv., chap. 18. See likewise De Lisle's posthumous map of the Holy Land. Paris, 1763. See Bochart, Hieroz. ii., col. 725. Thevenot, i, p. 406. Michaelis (note on Judges 16:4, German translation) thinks it probable, from some circumstances of the history there given, that Sorek was in the tribe of Judah, not in the country of the Philistines.

The vine of Sorek was known to the Israelites, being mentioned by Moses, Genesis 49:11, before their coming out of Egypt. Egypt was not a wine country. "Throughout this country there are no wines;" Sandys, p. 101. At least in very ancient times they had none. Herodotus, ii. 77, says it had no vines and therefore used an artificial wine made of barley. That is not strictly true, for the vines of Egypt are spoken of in Scripture, Psalms 78:47; Psalms 105:33; and see Genesis 40:11, by which it should seem that they drank only the fresh juice pressed from the grape, which was called οινος αμπελινος; Herodot., ii. 37. But they had no large vineyards, nor was the country proper for them, being little more than one large plain, annually overflowed by the Nile. The Mareotic in later times is, I think, the only celebrated Egyptian wine which we meet with in history. The vine was formerly, as Hasselquist tells us it is now, "cultivated in Egypt for the sake of eating the grapes, not for wine, which is brought from Candia," c. "They were supplied with wine from Greece, and likewise from Phoenicia," Herodot., iii. 6. The vine and the wine of Sorek therefore, which lay near at hand for importation into Egypt, must in all probability have been well known to the Israelites, when they sojourned there. There is something remarkable in the manner in which Moses, Genesis 49:11, makes mention of it, which, for want of considering this matter, has not been attended to it is in Jacob's prophecy of the future prosperity of the tribe of Judah: -

"Binding his foal to the vine,

And his ass's colt to his own sorek;

He washeth his raiment in wine,

And his cloak in the blood of grapes."


I take the liberty of rendering שרקה sorekah, for שרקו soreko, his sorek, as the Masoretes do by pointing עירה iroh, for עירו iro, his foal. עיר ir, might naturally enough appear in the feminine form; but it is not at all probable that שרק sorek ever should. By naming particularly the vine of Sorek, and as the vine belonging to Judah, the prophecy intimates the very part of the country which was to fall to the lot of that tribe. Sir John Chardin says, "that at Casbin, a city of Persia, they turn their cattle into the vineyards after the vintage, to browse on the vines." He speaks also of vines in that country so large that he could hardly compass the trunks of them with his arms. Voyages, tom. iii., p. 12, 12mo. This shows that the ass might be securely bound to the vine, and without danger of damaging the tree by browsing on it.

And built a tower in the midst of it — Our Saviour, who has taken the general idea of one of his parables, Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1, from this of Isaiah, has likewise inserted this circumstance of building a tower; which is generally explained by commentators as designed for the keeper of the vineyard to watch and defend the fruits. But for this purpose it was usual to make a little temporary hut, (Isaiah 1:8,) which might serve for the short season while the fruit was ripening, and which was removed afterwards. The tower therefore should rather mean a building of a more permanent nature and use; the farm, as we may call it, of the vineyard, containing all the offices and implements, and the whole apparatus necessary for the culture of the vineyard, and the making of the wine. To which image in the allegory, the situation the manner of building, the use, and the whole service of the temple, exactly answered. And so the Chaldee paraphrast very rightly expounds it: Et statui eos (Israelitas) ut plantam vineae selectae et aedificavi Sanctuarium meum in medio illorum. "And I have appointed the Israelites as a plant of a chosen vine, and I have built my sanctuary in the midst of them." So also Hieron. in loc. AEdificavit quoque turrim in medio ejus; templum videlicet in media civitate. "He built also a tower in the midst of it, viz., his own temple in the midst of the city." That they have still such towers or buildings for use or pleasure, in their gardens in the East, see Harmer's Observations, ii. p. 241.

And also made a wine-press therein. - "And hewed out a lake therein."] This image also our Saviour has preserved in his parable. יקב yekeb; the Septuagint render it here προληνιον, and in four other places υποληνιον, Isaiah 16:10; Joel 3:13; Haggai 2:17; Zechariah 14:10, I think more properly; and this latter word St. Mark uses. It means not the wine-press itself, or calcatorium, which is called גת gath, or פורה purah; but what the Romans called lacus, the lake; the large open place or vessel, which by a conduit or spout received the must from the wine-press. In very hot countries it was perhaps necessary, or at least very convenient, to have the lake under ground, or in a cave hewed out of the side of the rock, for coolness, that the heat might not cause too great a fermentation, and sour the must. Vini confectio instituitur in cella, vel intimae domus camera quadam a ventorum ingressu remota. Kempfer, of Shiras wine. Amaen. Exot. p. 376. For the wind, to which that country is subject, would injure the wine. "The wine-presses in Persia," says Sir John Chardin, "are formed by making hollow places in the ground, lined with masons' work." Harmer's Observations, i., p. 392. See a print of one in Kempfer, p. 377. Nonnus describes at large Bacchus hollowing the inside of a rock, and hewing out a place for the wine-press, or rather the lake: -

Και σκοπελους ελαχηνε· πεδοσκαφεος δε σιδηρου

Θηγαλεῃ γλωχινι μυχον κοιληνατο πετρης·

Λειηνας δε μετωπα βαθυνομενων κενεωνων

Αφρον [f. ακρον] εΰστραφυλοιο τυπον ποιησατο λενου.

DIONYSIAC. lib. xii., l. 331.

"He pierced the rock; and with the sharpen'd tool

Of steel well-temper'd scoop'd its inmost depth:

Then smooth'd the front, and form'd the dark recess

In just dimensions for the foaming lake."


And he looked - "And he expected"] Jeremiah, Jeremiah 2:21, uses the same image, and applies it to the same purpose, in an elegant paraphrase of this part of Isaiah's parable, in his flowing and plaintive manner: -

"But I planted thee a sorek, a scion perfectly genuine:

How then art thou changed, and become to me the degenerate

shoots of the strange vine!"


Wild grapes - "poisonous berries."] באשים beushim, not merely useless, unprofitable grapes, such as wild grapes; but grapes offensive to the smell, noxious, poisonous. By the force and intent of the allegory, to good grapes ought to be opposed fruit of a dangerous and pernicious quality; as, in the explication of it, to judgment is opposed tyranny, and to righteousness, oppression. גפן gephen, the vine, is a common name or genus, including several species under it; and Moses, to distinguish the true vine, or that from which wine is made, from the rest. calls it, Numbers 6:4, גפן היין gephen haiyayin, the wine-vine. Some of the other sorts were of a poisonous quality, as appears from the story related among the miraculous acts of Elisha, 2 Kings 4:39-41. "And one went out into the field to gather potherbs; and he found a field vine, and he gathered from it wild fruit, his lapful; and he went and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they knew them not. And they poured it out for the men to eat: and it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out and said, There is death in the pot, O man of God; and they could not eat of it. And he said, Bring meal, (leg. קחו kechu, nine MSS., one edition,) and he threw it into the pot. And he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was nothing hurtful in the pot."

From some such sorts of poisonous fruits of the grape kind Moses has taken these strong and highly poetical images, with which he has set forth the future corruption and extreme degeneracy of the Israelites, in an allegory which has a near relation, both in its subject and imagery, to this of Isaiah: Deuteronomy 32:32-33.

"Their vine is from the vine of Sodom,

And from the fields of Gomorrah:

Their grapes are grapes of gall;

Their clusters are bitter:

Their wine is the poison of dragons,

And the cruel venom of aspics."


"I am inclined to believe," says Hasselquist, "that the prophet here, Isaiah 5:2-4, means the hoary nightshade, solanum incanum; because it is common in Egypt, Palestine, and the East; and the Arabian name agrees well with it. The Arabs call it anab el dib, i.e., wolf grapes. The באשים beushim, says Rab. Chai., is a well known species of the vine, and the worst of all sorts. The prophet could not have found a plant more opposite to the vine than this; for it grows much in the vineyards, and is very pernicious to them; wherefore they root it out: it likewise resembles a vine by its shrubby stalk;" Travels, p. 289. See also Michaelis, Questions aux Voyageurs Danois, No. 64.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile