So, this has been a very busy week, so this is late and incomplete, but I hope that it is helpful.
The Text
Last Time on Tales of Faith
It is a time of injustice. The descendants of David continue to reign in the southern nation of JUDAH, but many have been lured by wealth and power. Economic disparity is growing as an aristocratic class gains wealth while the people suffer. The ASSYRIAN Empire remains a threat, but the BABYLONIAN Empire is rising, and will eventually conquer Jerusalem, taking many of the rich and powerful into EXILE.
The PROPHET ISAIAH is called to speak to to people in and around Jerusalem in a vain attempt to bring repentance before that point. He does so with vivid imagery of two Jerusalems, the God on the throne, and a lover’s vineyard…
Overview of Isaiah
Ch 1-12: Isaiah’s Vision of Judgement and Hope for Jerusalem
1:1 Historical marker
1:2-20 Judah’s wickedness
1:21-31 The City (Jerusalem) has become a whore
2:1-4 A vision of a righteous Zion
2:5-4:1 Call to repentance and warning of destruction
4:2-6 A vision of hope and holiness
5:1-7 Song for a Vineyard
5:8-23 Social Injustice of the People
5:24-30 Warning of invasion
6:1-8 A vision of YHWH in the Temple
6:9-13 Isaiah’s unfruitful call
7:1-9 Isaiah reassures king Ahaz
7:10-23 Immanuel (YHWH with us)
8:1-15 Performative signs of destruction
8:16-22 Isaiah and his disciples
9:1-7 A coming righteous king (Messiah)
9:8-10:4 Judah and Israel will be judged
10:5-19 But Assyria will also be judged
10:20-34 the remnant will be repentant and righteous
11:1-9 A shoot out of Jesse and the Peaceful Kingdom
12:1-6 Thanksgiving and praise
Ch 13-27: Judgment and Hope for the Nations
13-23 Fall of Babylon & Israel’s neighbors
24-27 A Tale of Two Cities
Ch 28-39: the Rise and Fall of Jerusalem
28-35 Accusation against Jerusalem’s Leaders
36-38 Hezekiah’s Rise
39 Hezekiah’s Fall, Exile
EXILE
Ch 40-66: Hope
40-48 Announcement of Hope
49-55 The Servant™ fulfills YHWH’s mission
56-66 The Servant™ inherits YHWH’s kingdom
Characters
Isaiah (Salvation of YHWH) son of Amoz (Strong, Brave)
A Prophet of God called to prophesy primarily against Judah and Jerusalem before the exile
My Beloved/Lover, the creator and owner of a vineyard
Jesse (YHWH exists) father of David, king of the United Israel
Today’s Story
Genealogy_of_the_kings_of_Israel_and_Judah.png: User:Mr. Absurdderivative work: Jon C, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, Edited by Rev. Aaron Ochart.
Historical Setting:
If the above picture looks really familiar, it is because Isaiah and Hosea were contemporaries, serving during the same dynasties. Where Hosea was called to the northern country of Israel, Isaiah was called to the southern kingdom of Judah and its capital city of Jerusalem. Isaiah calls the elite of Jerusalem back to the righteousness of Torah. Where Israel's major issue was idolatry, Judah’s issue was a lack of righteousness (though idolatry was also an issue). Isaiah was more of a ‘court prophet’ with connections with the ruling authorities of Jerusalem. It is also a time of existential concern: sometimes from Israel, from the Assyrian Empire (which would absorb Israel during Isaiah’s time), and rumors of the growing empire of Babylon.
A Vineyard Song
Much like Hoseah’s poetic exploration of parenting last week, Isaiah uses evocative imagery to express his message. In this case, the relationship is between a vineyard and its owner.
Again in contrast to Hosea, it is interesting to consider the voice that this story is told from. Hosea’s song last week was told from a first-person perspective of a divine parent reflecting on a relationship to a child. This song, however, is a second-hand account of the speaker’s ‘beloved’ and their relationship with their vineyard. This allows for more of a reflective tone in Isaiah than the more emotionally rooted one in Hosea.
The message is remarkably similar, the beloved/parent doing everything that they can for the child/vineyard, yet being disappointed by the outcome. They differ in the conclusion, while Hosea has the divine parent relenting from punishing (though perhaps still allowing for natural consequences), the beloved vineyard owner takes away the hedge of protection.
Lovers in a Dangerous Time
It is interesting to note that the song is addressed from the author, to their ‘beloved’ concerning the beloved’s vineyard. This is especially interesting if we assume that the author is male, and calling YHWH, also assumed male in the language at least, a lover. The Bible Worm Podcast suggest that this should only be read as ‘my good friend’ which is certainly possible (though a bit strong and quick of a protest). There are other readings however. Yoo Yeon-hee, in their article, “Reading Isaiah as a Book from a Queer-Feminist Perspective” published in the Korean Journal of Old Testament Studies, suggests that there may be more. Yeon-hee commends some interpreters, like Brueggemann, for translating the original as ‘my beloved’ rather than the purified ‘friend,’ but notes that they do not at all comment on the relationship. Yeon-hee translates the title as ‘lover’ and notes the deep relationship between the prophet, YHWH, and the vineyard, suggesting that it has the overtones of a consensual polyamorous relationship. Yeon-hee continues by connecting the love between the prophet and YHWH to Isaiah 61, where the relationship between YHWH and the prophet/people is described as a bride and groom. Overall, Isaiah has features of intimate language used for God, and a certain gender fluidity that is a fertile hill for queer interpretation.
Preparation
The prophet here sings a song about all of the work that their lover has undergone to prepare this vineyard. Great pains are taken to describe all of the work to turn this very fertile hill into a beautiful vineyard. There are elements of this song that bring to mind the creation narratives from Genesis, where God/YHWH brings order to the unordered chaos. This hill may be beautiful and fertile, but it is disordered and wild. It takes time and effort to cultivate it into something else.
First the lover digs and clears the hill of stones, making sure that the land is free of debris. Then they plant ‘choice vines’ (Not just the ones you pick up at Home Depot). Once the vines are planted, the lover needs to work to protect them, so builds a watchtower in order to see clearly anything that might threaten his vines. Though it is not described here, the lover also builds a wall around the vineyard to protect it from the encroaching chaos. Finally the lover builds a wine vat, making clear the intention of all this work, to make wonderful wine.
However, all of that work is wasted when instead of the sweet ripe grapes that the lover was expecting, the vines produce sour wild grapes instead. Implied in this is the wine making process itself, where natural sugars from the grapes are turned into alcohol. If there are small and sour grapes, there is not going to be any wine.
Expected Fruit
We have spent the last few weeks focusing on the northern country of Israel, and its historical issues with idolatry. Elijah the prophet faced off against the prophets of Ba’al, in order to prove to the people who the God in Israel was. Hosea used the image of an unfaithful spouse to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness to YHWH.
While their northern siblings were struggling with loving their God with all of their heart and soul and strength, Judah was having trouble with loving their neighbors as themselves. As we will see, the primary critique of the prophets of Judah was that the people were being unrighteous. With all that YHWH has done for these people, bringing them out of enslavement to Egypt, giving them a land, and instructing them in righteousness through the Law, there was an expectations that they would actually do justice. “God expected justice,/ but saw bloodshed;/ righteousness,/ but heard a cry.”
We must ask the same questions of ourselves as the present day Church, perhaps especially the church in America. How much power and prestige, how much wealth and influence have we inherited? And how much have we done with it? Have we, in fact, done justice, loved kindness, and walked humbly with God? Have we spent our time feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, housing the unhoused, visiting the prisoner? For the most part, we have not even done these bare minimums, let alone considering why people are hungry, thirsty, unhoused, and in prison. I will say it again (and louder so the people in back can hear) that one of the reasons that the church is in decline, is that we have been more focused on our own power and comfort, and our children are sick of it. There are generations of could-be Christians who were taught to love their neighbor and that everyone is made in the image of God. Then shown a churches who are more interested in their facilities than the poor in their neighborhood, who hate and exclude certain neighbors because of who they love, who refuse to restrict the number or kinds of guns that keep getting into our schools and being used to murder children, who cross to the other side of the road because of a person’s skin, who refuse to even think about the underlying causes of poverty, and so many other examples. As Brendon Manning put it, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” Or as Mahatma Gandhi put it, “much of what passes as Christianity is a negation of the Sermon on the Mount.”