NOTES for Eze 15:1-8

Ever since the time of the earliest prophets, the vine has been a symbol of God’s people: Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah and other prophets used it. This image became so familiar that when the Lord Jesus Christ turns to it, His hearers immediately understand what He is talking about. The prophet Ezekiel also takes up this image. The short parable in chapter 15 of his book contains one very important idea that immediately attracts attention.

The Lord says that the vine is good for nothing except producing grapes. It differs from other kinds of wood in that nothing can be made from it. Consequently, the chosen people are ‘good for nothing’ except living within the covenant that has been made. Those who participate in the covenant with God differ from other peoples in that the whole meaning of their existence lies in that covenant. The creation of world empires and the accumulation of incalculable wealth, treasures of wisdom and the rise of technology—all these may be theirs, but they cannot be the purpose and meaning of life. Outside the covenant, by breaking it, the people of the covenant become unnecessary, out of place in this world. And the Lord says that it is impossible to leave the covenant for an ‘ordinary’ life: one can only perish in the fire, which is what happens to Israel before the exile.

Need we stress that this applies to the New Covenant and those who participate in it far more than to the Old?