Judge between me and my vineyard. (Isaiah 5:3)In yesterday's reading Isaiah contrasts Judah, who doesn't have the sense to know it owes its sustenance to God, with a donkey who at least knows it can trust its master for food and water. In chapter five, the writer describes Judah using the metaphor of a well tended vineyard that nonetheless refuses to produce grapes.
The prophet speaks in the name of God the consequences for the vineyard's failure: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled (5:5).
The Book of Isaiah is full of judgment and consequence, but one of the keys to understanding Isaiah is to look beyond the judgment. God certainly does. According to Walter Brueggemann: The harsh judgments announced by the prophet are roughly matched by promises . . . that after the judgment of YHWH upon the city, there will be a renewal and restoration. That renewal and restoration does not in any way soften or diminish the judgment to come, but asserts that judgment is not the ultimate prophetic word to YHWH's city. [1]
If you've ever suffered the consequences of bad decisions and thought, That's it; life as I know it is over; then you need to hear the message of Isaiah. There are definitely consequences to our bad choices, but there is also hope that transcends those consequences.
What consequences have you suffered and then lived to tell about?
[1] Walter Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 161.
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