Isaiah 5:3

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. AND NOW, O INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM... judge. Appeal of God to themselves, as in ; . So Jesus Christ, in , alluding in the very form of expression to this, makes them pass sentence on themselves, "When the Lord of the vineyard cometh, what will He do unto those farmers? They say unto Him He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out His vineyard unto other farmers, which shall render Him the fruits in their seasons." God condemns sinners "out of their own mouth" (;...

3._Now, therefore, O inhabitant of Jerusalem! _Those persons with whom he contends are made judges in their own cause, as is usually done in cases so plain and undoubted that the opposite party has no means of evasion. It is, therefore, a proof of the strongest confidence in his cause, when he bids the guilty persons themselves declare if this be not the true state of the fact; for immediately afterwards we shall find him declaring that the accusation is decided against those persons to whom he now commits the decision....

1-7 Christ is God's beloved Son, and our beloved Saviour. The care of the Lord over the church of Israel, is described by the management of a vineyard. The advantages of our situation will be brought into the account another day. He planted it with the choicest vines; gave them a most excellent law, instituted proper ordinances. The temple was a tower, where God gave tokens of his presence. He set up his altar, to which the sacrifices should be brought; all the means of grace are denoted thereby. God expects fruit from those that enjoy privileges. Good purposes and good beginnings are good things, but not enough; there must be vineyard fruit; thoughts and affections, words and actions, agreeable to the Spirit. It brought forth bad fruit. Wild grapes are the fruits of the corrupt nature. Where grace does not work, corruption will. But the wickedness of those that profess religion, and en...

Verse Isaiah 5:3. _INHABITANTS_] ישבי _yoshebey_, in the plural number; _three_ MSS., (_two_ ancient,) and so likewise the _Septuagint_ and _Vulgate_....

AND NOW ... - This is an appeal which God makes to the Jews themselves, in regard to the justice and propriety of what he was about to do. A similar appeal he makes in Micah 6:3 : ‘O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me.’ He intended to “punish” them Isaiah 5:5, and he appeals to them for the justice of it. He would do to them as they would do to a vineyard that had been carefully prepared and guarded, and which yet was valueless. A similar appeal he makes in Isaiah 1:18; and our Saviour made an application remarkably similar in his parable of the vineyard, Matthew 21:4

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 5:1 ISRAEL REBUKED BY THE PARABLE OF A VINEYARD. This chapter stands in a certain sense alone, neither closely connected with what precedes nor with what follows, excepting that it breathes throughout a tone of denunciation. There is also a want of connection between its parts, the allegory of the first section being succeeded by a series of rebukes for sins, expressed in the plainest language, and the rebukes being followed by a threat of punishment, also expressed with plainness. The resemblance of the parable with which the chapter opens to one of those delivered by our Lord, and recorded in the three synoptic Gospels, has been frequently noticed....

AND NOW, O INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM, AND MEN OF JUDAH,.... All and everyone of them, who were parties concerned in this matter, and are designed by the vineyard, for whom so much had been done, and so little fruit brought forth by them, or rather so much bad fruit: JUDGE, I PRAY YOU, BETWEEN ME AND MY VINEYARD; between God and themselves; they are made judges in their own cause; the case was so clear and evident, that God is as it were willing the affair should be decided by their own judgment and verdict: so the Targum, "judge now judgment between me and my people.''...

Isaiah 5:1. _Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:_ You and I, dear friends, are placed in a position where we have very choice opportunities of glorifying our God, we are like «a vineyard in a very fruitful hill,» most favourably placed for fruitfulness. The Well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: Isaiah 5:2. _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._ Is that my case? Is it your case, dear friend? Has even our religion been a false thing? Has it been like wild gra

CHAPTER 5 The Song of the Vineyard and the Six Woes 1. _The song of the vineyard and Jehovah's lament (Isaiah 5:1)_ 2. _The judgment upon the vineyard (Isaiah 5:5)_ 3. _The wild grapes (Isaiah 5:8)_ 4. _First woe against covetousness (Isaiah 5:8)_ 5. _Second woe against fleshly lusts (Isaiah 5:11)_ 6. _Third woe against mockers (Isaiah 5:18)_ 7. Fourth woe against moral insensibility ...

THE PARABLE OF THE THANKLESS VINEYARD. Isaiah probably at a vintage festival, when Judæ ans from the country (Isaiah 5:3), as well as the inhabitants of Jerusalem, are present, comes forward as a minstrel. He sings this song of his friend's vineyard in light popular measure, making it attractive with beautiful plays upon words. He skilfully heightens the interest of his hearers, and by concealing the true nature of the vineyard he wins from them a mental self-condemnation. Then he throws off the mask and points the moral in a sentence made unforgettable by a pair of splendid assonances. The date is quite uncertain, but it may belong to the same period as Isaiah 2:6 to Isaiah 4:1 The minstrel sings of his Beloved. He had chosen for his