understanding, all grown over with thorns. 5. That which completes its wo, is, that the dews of heaven shall be withheld; he that has the key of the clouds, will command them that they rain no rain upon it; and that alone is sufficient to turn it into a desert. Note, God, in a way of righteous judgment, denies his grace to those that have long received it in vain. The sum of all is, that they who would not bring forth good fruit, should bring forth none. The curse of barrenness is the punishment of the sin of barrenness; as Mark xi. 14. This had its accomplishment, in part, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, its full accomplishment in the final rejection of the Jews, and has its frequent accomplishment in the departure of God's Spirit from those persons who have long resisted him, and striven against him, and the removal of his gospel from those places that have been long a reproach to it, while it has been an honour to them. It is no loss to God to lay his vineyard waste; for he can, when he pleases, turn a wilderness into a fruitful field; and when he does thus dismantle a vineyard, it is but as he did by the garden of Eden, which, when man had by sin forfeited his place in, was soon levelled with common soil.
V. The explanation of this parable, or a key to it, (v. 7.) where we are told, 1. What is meant by the vineyard; it is the house of Israel, the body of the people, incorporated in one church and commonwealth; and what by the vines, the pleasant plants, the plants of God s pleasure, which he had been pleased in, and delighted in doing good to; they are the men of Judah; these he had dealt graciously with, and from them he expected suitable returns. 2. What is meant by the grapes that were expected, and the wild grapes that were produced; he looked for judgment and righteousness, that the people should be honest in all their dealings, and the magistrates should strictly administer justice; this might reasonably be expected among a people that had such excellent laws and rules of justice given them; (Deut. iv, 8.) but it was quite otherwise; instead of judgment there was the cruelty of the oppressors, and instead of righteousness the cry of the oppressed; every thing was carried by clamour and noise, and not by equity, and according to the merits of the cause. It is sad with a people, when wickedness has usurped the place of judgment, Eccl. iii. 16. It is very sad with a soul, when, instead of the grapes of humility, meekness, patience, love, and contempt of the world, which God looks for, there are the wild grapes of pride, passion, discontent, malice, and contempt of God; instead of the grapes of praying and praising, the wild grapes of cursing and swearing, which are a great offence to God. Some of the ancients apply this to the Jews in Christ's time, among whom God looked for righteousness, that they should have received and embraced Christ, but behold, a cry, that cry, Crucify him, crucify him.
8. Wo unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! 9. In mine ears, said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth, many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah. 11. Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! 12. And the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. 13. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. 14. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. 15. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: 16. But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God, that is holy, shall be sanctified in righteousness. 17. Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
The world and the flesh are the two great enemies that we are in danger of being overpowered by; yet we are in no danger, if we do not ourselves yield to them. Eagerness of the world, and indulgence of the flesh, are the two sins against which the prophet in God's name, here denounces woes; these sins abounded then among the men of Judah, and were some of the wild grapes they brought forth, (v. 4. ) for which God threatens to bring ruin upon them; they are sins which we have all need to stand upon our guard against, and dread the consequences of.
I. Here is a wo to those who set their hearts upon the wealth of the world, and place their happiness in that, and increase it to themselves by indirect and unlawful means, (v. 8.) who join house to house, and lay field to field, till there be no place, no room for any body to live by them; could they succeed, they would be placed alone in the midst of the earth, would monopolize possessions and preferments, and engross all profits and employments to themselves. Not that it is a sin for those who have a house and a field, if they have wherewithal to purchase another; but their fault is, 1. That they are inordinate in their desires to enrich themselves, and make it their whole care and business to raise an estate; as if they had nothing to mind, nothing to seek, nothing to do, in this world, but that. They never know when they have enough, but the more they have, the more they would have; and, like the daughters of the horseleech, they cry, Give, give; they cannot enjoy what they have, nor do good with it, being so intent on contriving and studying to make it more. They must have variety of houses, a winter-house, and a summer-house; and if another man's' house, or field, lie convenient to theirs, as Naboth's vineyard to Ahab's, they must have that too, or they cannot be easy. Their fault is, 2. That they are herein careless of others, nay, and injurious to them; they would live so as to let nobody live but themselves; so that their insatiable covetings be gratified, they matter not what becomes of all about them: what encroachments they make upon their neighbour's rights, what hardships they put upon those that they have power over, or advantage against, or what base and wicked arts they use to heap up treasure to themselves. They would swell so big as to fill all space, and yet are still unsatisfied, Eccl. v. 10. As Alexander, who, when he fancied he had conquered the world, wept because he had not another world to conquer: Deficiente terra, non
