My Wellbeloved Hath a Vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-7)

2023-12-06

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: (Isaiah 5:1)

When you read Isaiah 5:1-7, it should sound very similar to the parable Jesus told after His triumphal entry. It is a related passage, but it is not exactly the same story. The “wellbeloved” owns this vineyard. I posit that this is Jesus. Consider Jesus’ parable, when He said, “Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son” (Mark 12:6). Jesus surely was calling to remembrance this former Old Testament passage.

The vineyard is defined in Isaiah 5:7: “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry” (Isaiah 5:7).

The Son was He who established this vineyard in a fruitful location with stones, a tower, and a winepress. In this case there was fruit, but wild grapes rather than grapes. Judah and Jerusalem were supposed to tend to this vineyard so that there would be the expected fruit. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” (Isaiah 5:3-4).

Because the expected fruit was not received, the Lord would come and destroy the vineyard, namely, Israel and Judah, and only thorns would grow there.

Fast-forward to Jesus’ day, when He told the people His parable in Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; and Luke 20:9-18. The Father planted this vineyard and prepared it with the same elements in the Isaiah passage. He let it out to husbandmen, which corresponds to the scribes and the Pharisees (Matthew 21:45). Instead of discussing the type of fruit received, the householder sent many servants to these husbandmen to receive any fruit at all. The servants were beaten and killed. The wellbeloved Son was then sent, and He was cast out and destroyed, clearly representing Jesus being cast out of Jerusalem and being crucified.

They really thought that by killing the vineyard owner’s son they would receive the inheritance. Foolish thinking. The vineyard in this case is not Israel and Judah so much as it is the kingdom of God. “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matthew 21:43).

The audience gasped at the thought. “And when they heard it, they said, God forbid” (Luke 20:16). Israel no longer being the stewards of the things of God in the world? A new nation would be entrusted with the kingdom of God, and we are that nation.

This is not a “replacement” of Israel, but rather a renewed, regenerated, and later resurrected kingdom of the one judged under the law. The scope is much larger, as those who were afar off are now fellow citizens. We cannot ignore this element of the story. Israel according to the flesh is not what makes someone one of God’s chosen people. It is faith in Christ and being found in Him that makes someone a member of God’s family. This includes not only Jewish believers, but any believer from any nation on earth. The real replacement is the removal of scribes and Pharisees from being the real leaders. They were replaced by Galilean fishermen. Today, the church leaders are like men scattered to various local church nooks across the world.