*H I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place.
Ver. 1. My cousin. So the prophet calls Christ, as being of his family and kindred, by descending from the house of David. Ch. M. — Heb. and Sept. "beloved." Dod may also mean a near relation. C. — Isaias being of the same tribe, sets before us the lamentations of Christ over Jerusalem. Lu. xix. 41. W. — The Hebrews had canticles of sorrow, as well as of joy. The prophet thus endeavours to impress more deeply on the minds of the people what he had been saying. The master of the vineyard is God himself. v. 7. C. — Hill. Lit. in the horn, the son of oil. Ch. — The best vines grew among olive and fig trees. Doubdan 21. — Sept. "in a horn, (mountain) in a fat soil." H.
* Footnote * Jeremias 2 : 21
Yet, I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto me into that which is good for nothing, O strange vineyard?* Footnote * Matthew 21 : 33
Hear ye another parable. There was a man, an householder, who planted a vineyard and made a hedge round about it and dug in it a press and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went into a strange country.*H And he fenced it in, and picked the stones out of it, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and set up a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Ver. 2. Stones. They burn and starve in different seasons. Col. xii. 3. — Choicest. Heb. sorek. H. — There was a famous valley of this name. Judg. xvi. 4. The angels guarded the vineyard, in which Abraham, Moses, &c. were found. — Tower. To keep the wine, &c. Mat. xxi. 33. It denotes the temple, (C.) Scriptures, &c. M. — Wild. Sour. Deut. xxxii. 32.
*H And now, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard.
Ver. 3. Judge. God condescends to have his conduct scrutinized. C. xli. 1.
*H What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? was it that I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it hath brought forth wild grapes?
Ver. 4. Was it. "Why has it produced wild grapes, while I looked?" &c.
*H And now I will shew you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted: I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.
Ver. 5. Down. By the Chaldees, and after the death of Christ. C. — When God withdraws his aid, man is unable to stand. Yet he falls by his own fault, which God only permits. W.
*H And I will make it desolate: it shall not be pruned, and it shall not be digged: but briers and thorns shall come up: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.
Ver. 6. It. During the whole of the captivity, the land might keep its sabbaths. Lev. xxvi. 34. C. — The people shall be deprived of saving doctrine. M.
*H For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Juda, his pleasant plant: and I looked that he should do judgment, and behold iniquity: and do justice, and behold a cry.
Ver. 7. Israel. This comparison is very common. Ps. lxxix. 9. Mat. xx. 1. C. — The preceding parable is explained. M. — Cry. For vengeance. Jer. xii. 8. Gen. iv. 10. and xviii. 20. C.
*H Woe to you that join house to house and lay field to field, even to the end of the place: shall you alone dwell in the midst of the earth?
Ver. 8. Even. Sept. "to take from your neighbour: shall," &c. H.
*H These things are in my ears, saith the Lord of hosts: Unless many great and fair houses shall become desolate, without an inhabitant.
Ver. 9. Things. Unjust practices. — Inhabitant. What will your avarice avail, (H.) since you must abandon all? C.
*H For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one little measure, and thirty bushels of seed shall yield three bushels.
Ver. 10. Measure. Heb. "both." — Thirty. Heb. "a chomer shall yield an epha."
*H Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness, and to drink in the evening, to be inflamed with wine.
Ver. 11. To follow. Heb. "for shecar," (C.) palm wine, (Theod.) or any inebriating liquor. S. Jer. in c. xxviii. Our version is conformable to Aquila and Sym. H. — Num. vi. 3. Eccle. x. 16.
*H The harp, and the lyre, and, the timbrel and the pipe, and wine are in your feasts: and the work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the works of his hands.
Ver. 12. Work. Chastisement. v. 19. and c. xxviii. 21. C. — They are admonished to observe the festivals of the Lord, and not to indulge in riotousness. W.
* Footnote * Amos 6 : 6
That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments: and they are not concerned for the affliction of Joseph.*H Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds, and their strong ones, and their people, and their high and glorious ones shall go down into it.
Ver. 14. Hell. Or the grave, which never says enough. Prov. xxx. 15. Isaias alludes to what should happen under Nabuchodonosor, as if it were past. G.
*H And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified in justice.
Ver. 16. Justice. All will be taught to adore him. H.
*H And the lambs shall feed according to their order, and strangers shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness.
Ver. 17. Strangers. Ammonites, &c. (C.) shall occupy part of the land. H.
*H Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as the rope of a cart.
Ver. 18. Cart. Fatiguing themselves with iniquity, (Wisd. v. 7. C.) and delaying your conversion. S. Isid. M.
*H That say: Let him make haste, and let his work come quickly, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it.
Ver. 19. It. The Jews were often guilty of the like insolence. Jer. xvii. 15.
*H Woe to you that are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own conceits.
Ver. 21. Conceits. Blind guides. Mat. xv. 14.
* Footnote * Proverbs 3 : 7
Be not wise in thy own conceit: fear God, and depart from evil:* Footnote * Romans 12 : 16
Being of one mind one towards another. Not minding high things, but consenting to the humble. Be not wise in your own conceits.*H Woe to you that are mighty to drink wine, and stout men at drunkenness.
Ver. 22. Drink. Heb. "mix shecar." People generally mixed wine and water. They also strove who could drink most, and the Greeks had a feast for this purpose, (C.) which they styled Choas, for the measure which was to be swallowed down. Aristoph. Acharn. act. iv. 4. and 5. ult. — Cyrus the younger boasted to the Gr. ambassadors, that "he could drink and bear more wine than his brother." Plut. in Artax.
*H That justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just from him.
Ver. 23. Justice. Declaring the righteous guilty. v. 20. H.
*H Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched out his hand upon them, and struck them: and the mountains were troubles, and their carcasses became as dung in the midst of the streets. For after this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Ver. 25. Still. After the ruin of Jerusalem, the people were led away. C. — Grievous sins must be severely punished, as was that of the murderers of Christ. W.
*H And he will lift up a sign to the nations afar off, and will whistle to them from the ends of the earth: and behold they shall come with speed swiftly.
Ver. 26. Off. Like a king, leading all his subjects to battle. C. — Whistle. He alludes to the custom of leading forth bees by music. C. vii. 18. S. Cyr. — Earth. The Chaldees, (c. xli. 9. Jer. vi. 22.) and not the Romans, as some would suppose. — Swiftly. Like an eagle. Dan. vii. 4. Jer. xlviii. 40.
*H There is none that shall faint, nor labour among them: they shall not slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken.
Ver. 27. Broken. They shall march incessantly. Ezec. xxvi. 7. and xxx. 11.
*H Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. The hoofs of their horses shall be like the flint, and their wheels like the violence of a tempest.
Ver. 28. Hoofs. They were hardened, but not shod. Xenoph. Amos vi. 13.
*H Their roaring like that of a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea they shall roar, and take hold of the prey, and they shall keep fast hold of it, and there shall be none to deliver it.
Ver. 29. Lion. Nabuchodonosor is compared to one. v. 26. Jer. iv. 7.
*H And they shall make a noise against them that day, like the roaring of the sea; we shall look towards the land, and behold darkness of tribulation, and the light is darkened with the mist thereof.
Ver. 30. Mist. Denoting calamity. Heb. "ruin." Sept. "indigence." C.