“Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: a very: Heb. the horn of the son of oil”
My cousin. So the prophet calls Christ, as being of his family and kindred, by descending from the house of David. (Challoner) (Menochius) — Hebrew and Septuagint, “beloved.” Dod may also mean a near relation. (Calmet) — Isaias being of the same tribe, sets before us the lamentations of Christ over Jerusalem, Luke xix. 41. (Worthington) — 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, ver. 7. (Calmet) — Hill. Literally, in the horn, the son of oil. (Challoner) — The best vines grew among olive and fig trees. (Doubdan 21.) — Septuagint, “in a horn, (mountain) in a fat soil.” (Haydock)
“And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. fenced: or, made a wall about made: Heb. hewed”
Stones. They burn and starve in different seasons, Colossians xii. 3. — Choicest. Hebrew sorek. (Haydock) — There was a famous valley of this name, Judges xvi. 4. The angels guarded the vineyard, in which Abraham, Moses, &c., were found. — Tower. To keep the wine, &c., Matthew xxi. 33. It denotes the temple, (Calmet) Scriptures, &c. (Menochius) — Wild. Sour, Deuteronomy xxxii. 32.
“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.”
Judge. God condescends to have his conduct scrutinized, chap. xli. 1.
“What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?”
Was it. “Why has it produced wild grapes, while I looked?” &c.
“And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: trodden: Heb. for a treading”
Down. By the Chaldeans, and after the death of Christ. (Calmet) — When God withdraws his aid, man is unable to stand. Yet he falls by his own fault, which God only permits. (Worthington)
“And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.”
It. During the whole of the captivity, the land might keep its sabbaths, Leviticus xxvi. 34. (Calmet) — The people shall be deprived of saving doctrine. (Menochius)
“For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. his: Heb. plant of his pleasures oppression: Heb. a scab”
Israel. This comparison is very common, Psalm lxxix. 9., and Matthew xx. 1. (Calmet) — The preceding parable is explained. (Menochius) — Cry. For vengeance, Jeremias xii. 8., and Genesis iv. 10., and xviii. 20. (Calmet)
“Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! they: Heb. ye”
Even. Septuagint, “to take from your neighbour: shall,” &c. (Haydock)
“In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. In: or, This is in mine ears, saith the LORD, etc Of a: Heb. If not, etc”
Things. Unjust practices. — Inhabitant. What will your avarice avail, (Haydock) since you must abandon all? (Calmet)
“Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.”
Measure. Hebrew, “both.” — Thirty. Hebrew, “a chomer shall yield an epha.”
“Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! inflame: of, pursue”
To follow. Hebrew, “for shecar,” (Calmet) palm wine, (Theodoret) or any inebriating liquor. (St. Jerome in chap. xxviii.) Our version is conformable to Aquila and Symmachus. (Haydock) — Numbers vi. 3., and Ecclesiastes x. 16.
“And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.”
Work. Chastisement, ver. 19., and chap. xxviii. 21. (Calmet) — They are admonished to observe the festivals of the Lord, and not to indulge in riotousness. (Worthington)
“Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.”
Hell. Or the grave, which never says enough, Proverbs xxx. 15. Isaias alludes to what should happen under Nabuchodonosor, as if it were past. (G.[Calmet?])
“But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. God: or, the holy God: Heb. the God the holy”
Justice. All will be taught to adore him. (Haydock)
“Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.”
Strangers. Ammonites, &c., (Calmet) shall occupy part of the land. (Haydock)
“Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:”
Cart. Fatiguing themselves with iniquity, (Wisdom v. 7.; Calmet) and delaying your conversion. (St. Isidore) (Menochius)
“That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!”
It. The Jews were often guilty of the like insolence, Jeremias xvii. 15.
“Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! in their own sight: Heb. before their face”
Conceits. Blind guides, Matthew xv. 14.
“Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:”
Drink. Hebrew, “mix shecar.” People generally mixed wine and water. They also strove who could drink most, and the Greeks had a feast for this purpose, (Calmet) which they styled Choas, for the measure which was to be swallowed down. (Aristophanes, Acharn. act. iv. 4. and 5. ultra) — Cyrus the younger boasted to the Greek ambassadors, that “he could drink and bear more wine than his brother.” (Plut.[Plutarch?] in Artax.)
“Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!”
Justice. Declaring the righteous guilty, ver. 20. (Haydock)
“Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. torn: or, as dung”
Still. After the ruin of Jerusalem, the people were led away. (Calmet) — Grievous sins must be severely punished, as was that of the murderers of Christ. (Worthington)
“And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:”
Off. Like a king, leading all his subjects to battle. (Calmet) — Whistle. He alludes to the custom of leading forth bees by music, chap. vii. 18. (St. Cyprian) — Earth. The Chaldeans, (chap. xli. 9., and Jeremias vi. 22.) and not the Romans, as some would suppose. — Swiftly. Like an eagle, Daniel vii. 4., and Jeremias xlviii. 40.
“None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:”
Broken. They shall march incessantly, Ezechiel xxvi. 7., and xxx. 11.
“Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:”
Hoofs. They were hardened, but not shod. (Xenophon) (Amos vi. 13.)
“Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.”
Lion. Nabuchodonosor is compared to one, ver. 26., and Jeremias iv. 7.
“And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof. sorrow: or, distress and the light: or, when it is light, it shall be dark in the destructions thereof”
Mist. Denoting calamity. Hebrew, “ruin.” Septuagint, “indigence.” (Calmet)