Ezekiel – 15:1-8
Jerusalem is a Useless Vine – Poetically or liturgically, Lutherans are aware of the two meanings of “tree” or “vine.” In the proper preface for Lent, we say: “that He who by a tree once overcame might likewise by a tree be overcome,” the rst instance refers to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Eden, while the second refers to the wooden cross. Structurally, chapter 15 belongs with 14:12-23. 15:1-5 – The metaphor of a useless vine is developed in a series of rhetorical questions. The vineyard and grapevine are common biblical images for the church in both testaments—for Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem in the OT, and for Christ and Christians in the NT. The metphor appears in the poems of Jacob’s blessing (Gen 49:22) and the Song of Moses (Deut 32:32). The “blood of the grapes” alludes to human blood (Is 63:1-3; Rev 14:20; Rev 19:13, 15) and for “the fruit of the vine” in the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood (Mt 26:29; Mk 14:25; Lk 22:18). In Psalm 80, God is described as having transplanted Israel from Egypt to Canaan and is asked to restore it after its having been burned by re. In the prophets, the imagery is polemical. Most notable is Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard (Is 5:1-7) and similar expressions in Hos 10:1 and Jer 2:21. The image is used for Christ’s connection to faithful believers. However, in Jn 15:1-8, Christ is the vine and believers are the true branches. The description of the nal judgment as a grape harvest (Is 63:1-6; Joel 3:13; Rev 14:17-20; 19:15). 15:6 – “Therefore” announces the divine judgment, with the point of the analogy now made. Just as it is given, part of the order of creation, that the wood of the grapevine is good for nothing but fuel, so also in the order of redemption, apostate Jerusalem is t for nothing but re. As with any metaphor, it is not exact, of course. Jerusalem had been God’s “church and state” on earth. This is not to be misunderstood as determinism or predestination for damnation. Israel’s consignment to the ames was no matter of God’s eternal, immutable will (antecedent), but His consequent will. His decree is a consequence of Jerusalem’s violation of His covenant and rejection of Him. Two waves of exiles have been taken (605 and 597 B.C.) and the…