Page 14 - Isaiah Student Worktext

V. 7 Very much like Jesus did in many of His parables, after the story was told, He now gives the
explanation. The vineyard is Israel. And the judgment that follows is for them. He looked for justice but
found oppression, for righteousness but found a cry for help.

The following judgments are like clusters of bad grapes.

V. 8-10 The first cluster of bad grapes is excessive greed. Adding house to house and field to field is an
illustration of greed, never having enough.

Remember the passage about King Ahab who was envious of a vineyard that adjoined the king’s
property. 1 Kings 21 The vineyard belonged to a man named Naboth. Ahab offered to buy it, but
Naboth refused because it was his family’s, his inheritance. Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, arranged for Naboth’s
murder and Ahab took the property. Ahab and Jezebel both paid for this with their lives.

Of course, Nathan’s ‘parable’ 2 Samuel 12 to David about the single lamb that was taken, which in
reality was a picture of David’s sin with Bathsheba. God does not look kindly upon greed, and at least
one of the reasons is because we get to thinking WE are responsible for our good fortune.

V. 11-12 Woe to those who rise early to follow intoxicating drink. They do not consider or regard the
work of the Lord. Sinful excess: living for sensual pleasures rather than for God.

V. 13-17 these verses detail the consequences: captivity, famine, defeat. God’s people have gone into
captivity and His honorable men are famished.

V. 18-19 Enslavement to sin: admittedly, many of us, probably all of us, occasionally ‘fall’ into sin. We
need to repent and turn from our wicked ways. These people tied their sin to them with cords of vanity
and pulled it with them everywhere they went.

V. 20 Redefining truth: those who call evil good and good evil. This one hit harder than the others for
me when thinking about America today. Someone who is a faithful Christian is belittled and criticized
while someone who lives a life of continual sin is praised. Evil is good, dark is light, bitter is sweet.

V. 21 Arrogant False Wisdom: V. 21 This kind of wisdom is characterized by self-worship, the ultimate
form of idolatry.

V. 22-23 Corrupt justice system: One of the fundamental functions of a just government is that it assures
justice for ALL of its citizens. No one gets preferential treatment because of their economic class or
their ancestry. They justify the wicked for a bribe and take away justice from a righteous man.

Do you know the symbol of justice in the United States? It is a blindfolded woman holding a scale. The
blindfold indicates that justice is blind to anything that might prejudice it. The scale indicates weighing
the evidence in the balance and making a determination only from the facts.

Each of these clusters of bad grapes carries with it its own consequence, its own judgment, and this was
detailed in V. 15-17. God does not delight in exacting justice on His people. He has offered them
common grace as well as exceptional grace, but they have failed to take advantage of it.

This brings us back to the question at the beginning. What more could He have done?

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