Ezekiel 15:1-8

Chapter Eight

PARABLES AND PICTURES
15:1-17:24

The justification of God's judgment against Judah continues in Chapter s 15-17, but the nature of the defense changes. Here Ezekiel employs parables or allegories to paint a rather gruesome word picture of the ingratitude, sin and rebellion of God's people. He describes (1) the useless vine (Ezekiel 15:1-8); (2) the faithless wife (Ezekiel 16:1-43); (3) the fallen sister (Ezekiel 16:44-63); and (4) the lowly vine (Ezekiel 17:1-21). The section closes with a brief and optimistic parable of the stately cedar (Ezekiel 17:22-24).

I. ISRAEL: A USELESS VINE 15:1-8

TRANSLATION

(1) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any other tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? (3) Is wood taken from it to make any work? or will men take a peg from it to hang any vessel thereon? (4) Behold, it is cast to the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both ends of it while the middle is singed. Is it profitable for any work? (5) Behold, when it is whole it is not suitable for work; how much less when the fire consumes it, and it is singed, shall it yet be suitable for work? (6) Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Like the vine tree among the trees of the forest which I have appointed for fuel for the fire, thus I have appointed the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (7) And I will set My face against them; from the fire they have come forth and the fire shall consume them; and you shall know that I am the LORD when I set My face against them. (8) And I will make the land a desolation because they have grievously transgressed (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

The earlier prophets frequently had spoken of Israel as the vine of God.[314] That figure, while beautiful to contemplate, can lend itself to gross distortion in the minds of hypocrites. Jews might begin to think that because of the accident of birth they were branches of the true vine which could never be destroyed. In chapter 15 Ezekiel sets forth a parable, as later the Greater Son of Man would do (John 15), to expose the groundlessness of this hope.

[314] Genesis 49:22; Psalms 80:9; Hoses Ezekiel 10:1; Isaiah 5; Deuteronomy 32:32; Jeremiah 2:21

The Lord here directed Ezekiel's thinking to the vine tree the wild vine of the woods that was virtually valueless (Ezekiel 15:2). It was a fruitless vine and its wood was useless as timber. No one would think of using that wood as material for making furniture. The wood of the vine was even too thin and pliable to be fashioned into a wall peg (Ezekiel 15:3). The wild vine was fit only for kindling for the fire. Should it be snatched from the fire before being completely consumed it would still be good for nothing (Ezekiel 15:4). Before it was cast into the fire it was good for nothing; how much less after it had been charred and burned (Ezekiel 15:5).

The application of the vine-tree parable comes in Ezekiel 15:6. The purpose of the vine is fruit bearing. If a vine bears no fruit, or wild and sour fruit, it is, in comparison to other trees, of no value. So it was with Israel. If Israel bore no fruit did not fulfill its mission then it was poorer and weaker than the heathen nations round it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were like that vine tree good for nothing except destruction by fire (Ezekiel 15:6), Israel was God's vine which He hoped would bear precious fruit. But that vine had degenerated into a wild vine and thus had become valueless. The whole nation consisting of the twelve tribes failed in its purpose. Into the fire of affliction that vine had already been put. Israel already had been weakened by the loss of the ten northern tribes, and the Judaean exile of 597 B.C. All that remained was Jerusalem, and that city is like a charred piece of wood which was good for nothing save further burning.

God had set His face against the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The city had passed through the fire of earlier Babylonian invasions in 597 and 605 B.C. -and had been charred but not consumed. But that was no guarantee that the city was inviolable. In the next fire the city would be consumed, and when that happened the inhabitants would know that the destruction had not happened by chance, but that it was the decree of God (Ezekiel 15:7). Their land would become a desolation because of the grievous transgression of the people (Ezekiel 15:8).