A Root out of Dry Ground
David
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Let me sing for my Beloved my love song concerning His vineyard:
My Beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines;
He built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine press in
it;
and He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded worthless ones.
"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between Me and My vineyard.
What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield good grapes, why did it yield worthless
ones?
"And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard.
I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it."
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah are His pleasant planting;
Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress! (Isaiah 5:1-7)
The One who identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
sang this love song through the prophet Isaiah about 2,700 years ago,
expressing His heartache over His people Israel. He longed for a
harvest of righteousness and justice from them, but they bore only the
bitter fruit of division, violence, and injustice.
Seven centuries later Yahshua[*] re-told Isaiah's love song as a
parable to the chief priests and elders of what remained of old Israel:
"There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge
around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to
vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew
near, he sent his servants to the vine dressers, that they might
receive its fruit. And the vine dressers took his servants, beat one,
killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than
the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his
son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the vine
dressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' So they took him
and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the
owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine dressers?"
They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and
lease his vineyard to other vine dressers who will render to him the
fruits in their seasons."
Jesus [Yahshua] said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief
cornerstone. This was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our
eyes'? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from
you and given to a nation bearing the fruit of it." (Matthew
21:33-43)In a jealous rage they cast the Son out of the vineyard and
killed Him, and the Owner of the vineyard took it away from them and
gave it to a nation that would bear the fruit He had longed for.
Of course, the Master's words that day proved true. In a jealous
rage[1] they cast the Son out of the vineyard and killed Him,[2] and
the Owner of the vineyard took it away from them and gave it to a
nation that would bear the fruit He had longed for - righteousness
and justice. But who was that nation, and how and when did they bear
that fruit? And what is the nature of that fruit?
The answer to these questions is found in the Gospel of the Kingdom,
which is what Yahshua was constantly infusing into His disciples......
(excerpted from "A Root out of Dry Ground" at: