Theme:
Yahweh is just and righteous and so he expects justice and
righteousness from his people. If
the people fail to produce justice and righteousness, the judgment of Yahweh is
inevitable; the façades of justice that are constructed to hide injustice will
be dismantled.
An Introduction to
Isaiah 5:1-24 and its Importance to the Book of Isaiah as a Whole
Within the
fifth chapter of Isaiah one encounters a peculiar pericope commonly referred to
as the “Song of the Vineyard.” This poetic parody of a love ballad serves a
significant juridical function in relation to the prophetic narrative of Isaiah
as a whole. It is immediately followed
by verses 8-23, which provide a clarified portrait of the injustice of
Judah-Israel that was described poetically in verses 1-7. These two passages function as a rhetorical
foil that provides an important interval in the text during which the reader is
invited (though only facetiously) to help adjudicate the problematic situation
that exists between Yahweh and Judah-Israel.
Thus it invited the original readers-hearers of this portion of the
Isaianic prophecy to “participate” in their own judgment. This particular method of prophetic praxis is
one that was used elsewhere in the Old Testament[1]
and by Jesus in the New Testament, sometimes even borrowing the language of the
vineyard song itself and transforming it into his distinct parabolic form.[2] It is important that one develop a better
understanding of this significant text in order to grasp its full significance
in relation to the entire prophetic corpus of Isaiah, as it functions as an
artful guide to the prophecies of judgment found within this biblical
text.
Isaiah 5:1-24 in its
Broader Context
The “Song of the Vineyard” (Isaiah
5:1-7) is found in the text that most scholars refer to as First Isaiah
(consisting of Isaiah 1-39).[3] This title designates the section of the
Isaiah prophecies collected during the eighth century BCE.[4] More specifically, Isaiah 5 is located within
the early oracles of Isaiah, which were given during the reign of King Ahaz,
after the reign of Uzziah.[5] This is significant because it because it
provides socio-historical insight into the context of Isaiah 1-5 in general and
in relation to Isaiah’s “Song of the Vineyard” specifically. This helps to make the poetry of these
Isaianic texts more intelligible. While
the reign of King Uzziah had been marked by prosperity and opulence, the wealth
was not equitably distributed. Poverty,
oppression and exploitation were prevalent throughout the community. The biblical scholar Victor Zinkuratire has
clarified this point:
The long and peaceful reign of
Uzziah (783-742 BCE) had brought relative wealth and prosperity to Judah, but
most of this wealth was in the hands of the ruling class and the merchants who
controlled the economy by exploiting the majority poor.[6]
Walter Brueggemann has also noted that the judgment Yahweh declares
through Isaiah against the people of Judah is of an economic and
socio-political nature. He has asserted
that Judah’s “defiance concerns self-indulgent autonomy in matters economic,
military, and political at the high cost of the viability of the community.”[7] Significantly, Judah’s transgression is not
merely apostasy or idolatry, particularly in relation to the paronomasia found
in the final lines of Isaiah’s vintner’s song.
Judah had not simply turned to other deities and overtly rejected Yahweh,
though some within Judah had undoubtedly come under the influence of alien
religious practices. Rather the idolatry
of Judah had assumed a more subtle form, and was more implicit. Wealth, gained and protected by military prowess,
along with the corruption of the judicial and cultic infrastructure of Judah’s
society were symptomatic of its apostasy.[8] This conception of the Judahite transgression
being denounced by the prophet Isaiah is pivotal for understanding the imagery
of the “song of the vineyard,” and is a theme which will be dealt with in more
detail below.
The Genre and Style
of Isaiah 5:1-24
While the genre
of the Isaiah 5:1-7 passage is apparently simple to determine, some remarks
about its format will provide further insight regarding its function. Upon initial inspection, this appears to be
another example of biblical Hebrew poetry with a tone and voice similar to that
of the Psalms or Song of Songs. Indeed,
there seems to be a close kinship with the style of the Hebrew Psalter, as the
poems and songs contained within this collection often have a prophetic tone,
with a focus on socio-economic justice.[9] The literary voice of Isaiah’s vintner song
is, however, distinct from the psalms and other forms of early Hebrew in at
least one way: Isaiah’s song is a powerful and prophetic parody. Susan Ackerman has noted that this section in
the Isaianic text “is a traditional song of the wine harvest that First Isaiah
reinterprets in order to describe God’s relationship with the nations of Israel
and Judah.”[10] William Holiday has elaborated even further
suggesting that, “on the face of it,” it could be song of the harvest festival,[11]
a wedding song concerning the bridegroom, or a parody of a fertility-cult hymn.[12] As the imagery of the “song” is allowed to
develop, it becomes clear that whatever initial form Isaiah began with, parody
becomes the underlying tone of the passage.
This style
of communication is not without precedent in biblical literature. In the Psalms of the Hebrew scriptures,
elements of parody appear as the Psalter puts words into the mouths of those
who have transgressed Yahweh’s law.[13] The Isaianic parody differs from this
biblical mode in an important manner.
Isaiah’s text does not merely give voice to the latent idolatry within the
socio-cultural context of Judah. Isaiah,
at least initially, mimics the tone and lyric of that tradition vineyard
song. This is more powerful than simple
mockery, because it invites the reader/hearer to participate in the song and,
in so doing, participate in the prophetic judgment that is to be developed as
the song progresses.[14]
Commentary:
As the first lines of the song
begin, there is little to distinguish the Isaianic format from the traditional
festival tune. Here the prophet begins
the traditional wine harvest song with a direct quote, presumably from the
perspective of a young woman.[15] The prophet’s quotation continues on until
the end of the second verse. This verse
provides a graphic description of the intense labor that went into the establishment
and cultivation of the vineyard. The
tone of the song, however, changes in the third verse when the voice of the
young woman is overtaken by that of the owner of the vineyard. This verse is also crucial to the development
of the prophetic progression of Isaiah’s canticle because it is where the
juridical elements of song are first introduced:
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people 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
expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? (Isaiah 5:3-4)
Here the people of Judah and Israel are asked to participate
in an adjudication process in order to decide what the owner of the vineyard
should do with his vineyard. At this
point the owner of the vineyard is not yet identified, and the significance of
the vineyard is not yet clear. It soon
becomes evident that the request for mediation is rhetorical, and that the prophet
and the owner of the vineyard have already decided the fate of the
mal-producing estate. This is the
subject of the fifth and sixth verses of the passage. The owner, who at this point remains unnamed,
has decided to tear down the barriers that have protected his vineyard and let
it “be devoured.” He will neglect his
winery and “make it a waste.” In the
midst of this destructive passage, the identity of the vineyard owner is hinted
at. In Isaiah 5:6b the owner declares
that he “will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon” his derelict
estate. Clearly, the owner is not an
ordinary human being, but either a god or a prophet of a powerful divine being.[16] Finally, in Isaiah 5:7 the vintner’s song is
shown to be a parable as well as a parody.
The identity of the owner and his vineyard are revealed. Additionally, clarification is provided
regarding the reason for the owner’s disappointment in the “produce” of the
winery:
For the vineyard of the LORD of
hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant
planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a
cry. (Isaiah 5:7)
In the
final lines (v. 7b.) of this passage the prophet reveals his literary and
poetic genius. He employs paronomasia in
conjunction with the agricultural metaphors he has been using to create a
juridical climax for this prophetic utterance.
Isaiah uses a striking series of wordplays formed into homo-phonetic
couplets. It is stated that Yahweh
expected his vineyard to produce justice (mišpāt), but instead he found
bloodshed (miśpāh); that he expected to see righteousness (sědāqâ), but instead
heard an outcry (sěāqâ).[17] This wordplay is only obvious when one sees
the words in written form. Phonetically,
these words are nearly identical, and they function, not only as a poetic pun,
but in a way that brings the previously used agrarian imagery into sharp
relief. The fact that the words have a
striking similarity in both written and phonetic form is meant to echo the
similarity between the “grapes” and “wild grapes” that Yahweh expected to find
in his vineyard. This in turn heightens
the juridical and prophetic tone of this particular Isaianic text. Thomas Leclerc has noted this significance in
the paronomasia found in this section of Isaiah:
The paronomasia thus provides the
aural counterpart to the visual image of the grapes. Just as grapes and wild grapes may at first
look alike to the untrained eye, so, too mišpāt-miśpāh and sědāqâ-sěāqâ sound
alike but are radically different…The interpretive significance of this crucial
connection between the agricultural image of the parable and the summary
indictment of v.7b is that while the outward forms of “justice and
righteousness” (social justice) are there for the eyes to see, closer
inspection reveals the most rank forms of injustice. That the enactment of “justice” results in
“bloodshed” and the life of “righteousness” produces an “outcry” confirms what
we have seen above, namely, that judicial and social structures intended to
protect the poor have been corrupted and perverted to exploit and oppress
them. The outward machinery of justice
is there but it produces injustice. This
is more insidious than overt evil or brazen exploitation because it is
masquerading as virtue – the same complaint Isaiah made about hands raised in
prayer but covered with blood (1:15), zealous sacrificial offerings accompanied
by evil deeds (1:11-16), wine diluted with water, and silver corrupted with
rust (1:22). All of these images speak
of outward appearances hiding inner corruption (whitened sepulchers housing
dead men’s bones, Matt 23:27), and they all come to a powerful, concise exposé
for what they are in 5:7b.[18]
The fact
that Isaiah’s pronouncement of divine justice is directed at this subtle,
covert evil as opposed to overt malevolence is divulged in vs. 8-24. This biblical passage is composed of a series
of six “woes,” each directed against a group of people who participate in a
specific violation of Yahweh’s intended covenant justice. These “woes” or curses are then immediately
followed by two sentences that declare God’s judgment along with the impending
destruction of these illicit and immoral people. The crimes of the people to whom the “woes”
are addressed consist of aggressive economic and agrarian accumulation,
drunkenness, idleness, pride and the perversion or corruption of justice. These critiques appear to be class-based,
directed at the nobility and ruling echelon of Judah-Israel.[19] This is apparent in relation to the first
curse which is directed toward those who abuse wealth and power, accumulating
property and houses beyond what is needed, resulting in latifundia in the extreme.
In the case of the other curses, the class nature of the offense is not
as apparent, but still present. The
Marxist biblical scholar Roland Boer has clarified this point:
While these woes appear to be a
series of moral denunciations, there is a distinct class element that points
towards the first paradox of Isaiah 5.
Who are ‘those who rise early in the morning that they may run after
strong drink, who tarry late into the evening till wine inflames them’ (Isa.
5.11)? Who are the party animals who do
not ‘regard the deeds of Yahweh or see the work of his hands’ (Isaiah
5:12)? Are they the latifundiaries of
vv. 8-10? Only in v. 14 does the class
identifier appear, namely, the ‘nobility’…[20]
Thus Isaiah is directing his prophetic pronouncement of
divine judgment against the ruling class.
This would be consistent with his insistence that the people of
Judah-Israel have perverted justice.
Only those who control the economic and socio-juridical institutions of
Judah-Israel can be seen to be responsible for their perversion and corruption.
While the transition from the
vintner’s song of vs. 1-7 may appear abrupt, there is no disjunction. Indeed, Daniel Berrigan has noted the
continuity between these two sections of scripture stating that “[t]hese curses
would seem naturally to follow the song of the vineyard in verses 1-7,” because
the “ancient biblical enterprise” of cursing was often designed to function as
a “wrench in the apparently unstoppable machinery of the worldly system.”[21] In this instance Yahweh maybe seen as a
divine Luddite,[22]
sabotaging the idolatrous economic superstructure of Judah-Israel. God is attempting, through Isaiah’s prophecy
to correct the social-economic apostasy of Judah-Israel, and bring his people
back in line with his covenant purposes.[23]
A Problem within the
Text: Is Yahweh’s Justice Just?
In light of the concluding
sentences of this Isaianic prophetic parable, declaring the destruction that
results from divine judgment, a final question must be considered. This is a question regarding the culpability
of Judah-Israel with regard to the impending sentence of destruction, delivered
with Yahweh’s verdict of guilt. Is
Yahweh’s justice just? Though this
question may appear an anathema in relation to the verses that preceded Isaiah
5:24, there is some justification for the query. This justification arises out of the fact
that in the parable in Isaiah 5:1-7 Yahweh is portrayed as the progenitor and
creator of the vineyard. In any
agricultural situation, it is the farmer, and not the crop itself that are to
blame for an ill harvest. If the parable
of the vineyard is taken to the extreme, one could assume that Yahweh and not
the people of Judah-Israel are to blame for the lack of justice. Roland Boer has brought light to this issue
in his discussion of Isaiah’s vintner’s song:
…if Yahweh has constructed the
vineyard in order to yield grapes, the only reason for the unacceptable yield
is Yahweh himself. There is a flaw in
the cultivation itself that leads not to cultivated grapes but to wild grapes.[24]
This position, however, ignores a crucial point. Part of Yahweh’s “cultivation” of
Judah-Israel was his provision of the Mosaic Law and covenant.[25] An integral element in his labor to create a
people who “produce” justice and righteousness was his own explicit directive
concerning Judah-Israel’s economic and socio-political organization. They were to be his people, but only to the
extent that they produced justice according to the directives of Mosaic Law.
It is also
important to note that in the giving of Mosaic Law, Yahweh provides an
indication that the precepts of the Law correspond in a natural way to the
functioning of humanity’s terrestrial existence. Moses admonishes his people to follow the
commands of Yahweh and, in doing so, to choose life.[26] In recognition of this fact, the destruction
that accompanies the divine judgment at the end of Isaiah 5:1-24, can be seen
as the natural result of Judah-Israel’s rejection of Mosaic Law and Yahweh’s
authority. Daniel Berrigan provides a
similar understanding of the judgment that is revealed in this particular
prophetic utterance of First Isaiah:
One has a sense that a voracious
economy is its own undoing; it soon falls flat, the real estate proves to be
unreal indeed, at least in benefiting those in possession. Something akin to intensive farming has
soured and thinned the soil. In sum,
greed has brought scant return, even of a material sort…The empty houses and
barren landscape are stark images of spiritual desolation. The souls of those who would be tycoons are
parched. Once again, the condition of
nature and of human artifacts, thriving or failing, offer apt images of the
spiritual condition of ourselves.[27]
The spiritual condition of those at the helm of the
political and socio-cultural institutions of Judah-Israel, and not Yahweh, is
seen as the reason for the economic destruction that has befallen the people of
Judah-Israel. This point appears
extremely pertinent to those of us who live in the affluent West, especially
those who reside in the United States (the only remaining global
superpower). One has only to reflect
upon the global economic devastation of 2007-8 to note the veracity of the
principle developed in Isaiah’s prophecy of judgment. According to Isaiah’s perspective, the global
financial collapse could be seen as a consequence of the West’s failure to
acknowledge the economics of justice established by Yahweh.
Sources Cited
The New Interpreter’s Study Bible: New
Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon
Press, 2003).
Ackerman, Susan
“Introductory Article for Isaiah” in The
New Interpreter’s Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha
(Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2003).
Ackerman, Susan
“Commentary notes on Isaiah 5:1-7” in The
New Interpreter’s Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha
(Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2003).
Anonymous, The Big Red Song Book (Chicago: Charles
H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1998).
Berrigan, Daniel Isaiah: Spirit of Courage, Gift of Tears
(Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1996).
Boer, Roland Marxist Criticism of the Bible (London:
T&T Clark International, 2003).
Brueggemann,
Walter Isaiah 1-39: Westminster Bible
Companion (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998).
Goldingay, John
“Isaiah” in The New Interpreter’s Bible:
On Volume Commentary (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2010).
Guthrie, Woody
“This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings Vol. 1” (Smithsonian Folkways
Music Recording Company, 1997.
Holiday, William Unbound By Time: Isaiah Still Speaks
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cowley Publications, 2002).
Horsley, Richard Covenant Economics: A Biblical Vision of
Justice for All (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009).
Leclerc, Thomas
L. Yahweh is Exalted in Justice:
Solidarity and Conflict in Isaiah (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press,
2001).
Meyers, Eric M. and
John Rogerson “The World of Israel’s Prophets” in The Cambridge Companion to the Bible (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1997).
Pablo Richard, ET
AL. The Idols of Death and the God of
Life (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1983).
Perlman, Freddy Against His-tory, Against Leviathan
(Detroit, Michigan: Black and Red Press, 2002).
Pleins, J. David The Psalms: Songs of Tragedy, Hope and
Justice (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1993).
Sale, Kirkpatrick
Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites
and Their War on the Industrial Revolution (Jackson, Tennessee: Basic
Books, 1996).
Zinkuratire, Victor
“Isaiah,” in The Global Bible Commentary
(Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2004).
[1]
1 Samuel 12:1-10. All biblical
references will be taken from The New
Interpreter’s Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha
(Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2003), unless otherwise indicated.
[2]
Matthew 21:33-44; Mark 12:1-11
[3]
Susan Ackerman, “Introductory Article for Isaiah” in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with
Apocrypha (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2003), 955.
[4]
Eric M. Meyers and John Rogerson, “The World of Israel’s Prophets” in The Cambridge Companion to the Bible
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 189.
[5]
John Goldingay, “Isaiah” in The New
Interpreter’s Bible: On Volume Commentary (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon
Press, 2010), 387 and 389.
[6]
Victor Zinkuratire, “Isaiah,” in The
Global Bible Commentary (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2004),
190.
[7]
Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 1-39:
Westminster Bible Companion (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox
Press, 1998), 35.
[8]
A number of scholars have assessed the significance of wealth/Mammon, military
and political power, and structural injustice as indicators of the sympotmal
torsion which often accompanies idolatry.
For more on this subject, especially in relation to the modern
historical epoch of global capital, the interested reader should refer to the
articles found in the book The Idols of
Death and the God of Life (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1983).
[9]
The prophetic voice of the Hebrew Psalter has been analyzed in depth by the
biblical historian J. David Pleins in his book The Psalms: Songs of Tragedy, Hope and Justice (Maryknoll, New
York: Orbis Books, 1993). Those
interested in an analysis of the prophetic aspects of the psalms should read
the twelfth chapter, which is entitled “‘Arise, God! Judge the Earth’:
Prophetic Oracles of Judgment,” on pages 173 to 186.
[10]Susan
Ackerman, a commentary note on Isaiah 5:1-7 in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with
Apocrypha (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2003), 964.
[11]
Know as the Jewish feast of ingathering or the “festival of booths” (Exodus
23:16b).
[12]
William Holiday, Unbound By Time: Isaiah
Still Speaks (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cowley Publications, 2002), 38.
[13]
See Psalm 10:1-11, paying particular attention to verses 4, 6 and 11.
[14]
There are several contemporary examples that closely follow the parodic format
created by Isaiah’s vineyard canticle.
In the early twentieth century the anarcho-syndicalist union adapted a
large number of American Baptist hymns.
They changed the lyrical content of each hymn, while retaining its
original melody and meter, with the consequence of creating a song book (The Big Red Song Book [Chicago: Charles
H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1998]) full of familiar sounding revolutionary
refrains. Around the same time, the
American socialist folk singer Woody Guthrie adapted an old American folk song
about the outlaw Jessie James, changing the main character of the epic folk
tune. Instead of Jessie James, it is now
Jesus being executed by “the cops, and soldiers, and rich men,” of the American
capitalist structure. This Smithsonian
Folkways Music Recording company has recently released a collection of Woody
Guthrie’s early songs, entitled “This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings
Vol. 1,” which includes the Jesus Christ song.
What is most interesting to note about these examples is that they have
reversed the Isaianic method of using a common or profane song to deliver a
sacred or divine message. They have
taken sacred hymns and subject matter, and transformed them to deliver a
message of secular concern. Even more interesting, however, is the fact that
these songs were composed to convey a prophetic message against injustice
similar to that found in Isaiah 5:1-7.
The songs of the IWW and Woody Guthrie were written in order to denounce
the inhuman results of capitalist accumulation and the class conflict inherent
in the capitalist system.
[15]
Susan Ackerman, a commentary note on Isaiah 5:1-7 in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with
Apocrypha (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2003), 964.
[16]
One is reminded here of 1 Kings 17:1, when the prophet Elijah confronted King
Ahab and prophesied that a great drought was going to afflict Israel for
several years.
[17]
Susan Ackerman, a commentary note on Isaiah 5:7 in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with
Apocrypha (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2003), 965.
[18]
Thomas L. Leclerc, Yahweh is Exalted in
Justice: Solidarity and Conflict in Isaiah (Minneapolis, Minnesota:
Fortress Press, 2001), 56-57.
[19]
Roland Boer, Marxist Criticism of the
Bible (London: T&T Clark International, 2003), 169.
[20]
Ibid., 170.
[21]
Daniel Berrigan, Isaiah: Spirit of
Courage, Gift of Tears (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1996),
20-21.
[22]
For an elucidation regarding the nature and praxis of the Luddite movement
please refer to Freddy Perlman’s book Against
His-tory, Against Leviathan (Detroit, Michigan: Black and Red Press, 2002)
and Kirkpatrick Sale’s book Rebels
Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution (Jackson,
Tennessee: Basic Books, 1996).
[23]
The biblical scholar and historian Richard A. Horsley has noted that the fact
that each curse begins with a “woe,” or “ah” (as the NRSV translates it) is
suggestive of the fact “that a convenantal curse is being enacted.” See Richard Horsley’s book Covenant Economics: A Biblical Vision of
Justice for All (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009)
especially pages 70 and 71.
[24]
Roland Boer, Marxist Criticism of the
Bible (London: T&T Clark International, 2003), 174.
[25]
Exodus 20:1-23:19
[26]
Deuteronomy 30:11-20.
[27]
Daniel Berrigan, Isaiah: Spirit of
Courage, Gift of Tears (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1996), 21.
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