"Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes" (Isaiah 5:4)?
In Israel great events were usually described in poetic form that they might be more easily remembered and repeated by everyone and a lasting record of them might thus be preserved. Isaiah composed a poem about a vineyard on behalf of God. It is a love song, a lament of unrequited love.
The house of Israel is likened to a vineyard - a metaphor frequently used by the prophets. Few possessions were dearer to a man in that culture than his vineyard. None demanded more care and persevering toil. The song reminded God’s people of the love and benefits bestowed upon them. There was the favorable situation of the “horn of a hill” (Is. 5:1). There were the hedge and the tower for protection. The tower had a place in the base for the husbandman to live at harvest time, and the top served as a lookout for enemies who would spoil the fruit (see vv.2, 5). Yet in spite of all this, the vineyard produced sour grapes. “What more could I have done?” Jehovah cried.
Our lives are like a vineyard. Those of us who live in the Western world have been hedged about; we live in the most fruitful of hills. What is more, we have a place within our personalities that is like the tower in the vineyard. God can come within that place and abide. He rightly expects sweet fruit from our lives, so why do we produce sour grapes?
Do you have an acid spirit? Why do you imagine the Husbandman came into your life? To attend to your whims and caprices, or to prune your life for spiritual fruitfulness? When God asks, “Why the sour grapes?," He expects an answer. Let’s be certain it’s a good one.
