Ch. 15 The vine tree among the other trees of the forest

The chapter pursues the same general line of thought as ch. Ezekiel 14:12-23, and ch. 16. In ch. Ezekiel 14:12-23 the prophet had replied to a feeling that might arise in men’s minds that Jehovah would spare the sinners of the people for the sake of the righteous. Here he replies to another thought—were these predictions of wholesale destruction upon Israel, the people of the Lord, and Jerusalem where he had placed his name, probable? Other nations might perish, but Israel was the Lord’s heritage, the vine of his planting. The prophet accepts the idea of the vine and replies to it.

Like Isaiah’s song of the vineyard (Isaiah 5) the passage has two parts, first, the similitude of the vine, Ezekiel 15:1-5; and secondly, the application to Israel, Ezekiel 15:6-8.

Founding on old similitudes the prophet assumes that Israel is the vine, and compares it as a tree or as wood with the other trees of the forest. It is as wood that it is put in comparison with the trees. He is studiously silent in regard to the fruit of the vine. This, which gave the vine its preeminence (Jdg 9:13), cannot be touched upon, for it does not exist. It is the wood of the vine only that can be compared with the other trees of the forest, the feeble, creeping plant with the lofty trees around it. Judah never had any pretensions to be a powerful state, or to enter into competition in wealth or military resources with the kingdoms round about. As a tree among the trees, a state among the states, what was it good for? And especially now what is it good for, when it has already been in the fire, its ends consumed and its heart charred? What is it fit for, or need it expect, but to be flung again into the fire and wholly consumed?

2. or than a branch] Perhaps: the vine-branch which is,—the words taking up “the vine tree” of previous clause. Owing to the verb the natural sense is: what shall be made of the wood of the vine among all wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? Cf. Ezekiel 15:3. With the comparative sense the accents should be disregarded: what is the wood of the vine more than any wood of the branch which is &c. On Israel as the vine cf. Genesis 49:22; Isaiah 5:1; Deuteronomy 32:32; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 17:5; Ezekiel 19:10; Psalms 80; Hosea 10:1.

3. Uselessness of the wood of the vine.

to do any work] i.e. use for any work or purpose. The words may mean, to make it into any work or article of workmanship. It has too little firmness even to be made into a pin to hang any article upon.

4. A hypothetical sentence: Behold, when it hath been cast into the fire for fuel, when the fire hath devoured both the ends of it, and the midst of it is charred, will it be meet for any work? This part of the similitude is borrowed from the actual instance of Israel. As it is Jerusalem, including Judah, that is compared to the vine, the burning of the ends and scorching of the middle probably refers to the calamities sustained by that kingdom, such as the captivity under Jehoiachin and other severe reverses.

5. meet for no work] Lit., it could not be made into, or, used for any work; how much less, when the fire hath devoured it and it is charred, shall it be any more used for, or made into any work.

6–8. Application of the figure to Jerusalem

6. which I have given] The reference is to the supposition in Ezekiel 15:4. It is nowhere said in the passage that the vinewood is fit only fur fuel, nor that it has been appointed (when created by God) to be burnt; Ezekiel 15:4 is a supposition that in a particular case it has been flung into the fire for fuel, and its ends burnt, and the inference is drawn that, good for little when whole, much less will it be good for anything in that condition. The use of the first person “I have given” is peculiar. Cornill suggests “it has been given,” considering “I have given” which follows immediately to have been the source of the error.

so will I give] Lit., so have I given. The comparison is not between Jerusalem and a vine when whole, but between Jerusalem and a vine with its two ends burnt. Naturally the supposition is made that the vinewood flung into the fire has been plucked out after having been burnt and charred, and the question is asked, Is it good for anything now? This is the condition of Jerusalem: it has been given into the fire for fuel, plucked out of it, as it were, half-burnt; is it good for anything?

7. go out from one fire] Rather: they have come out of the fire, but the fire shall devour them. They are in the condition of a brand that has been plucked for a moment from the fire (Ezekiel 15:4-5), but they shall be plunged again into it to be burnt. Only scathed and charred as yet, they shall be wholly consumed.

I am the Lord] The object of these chastisements is that they may know that he who inflicts them is Jehovah, and what Jehovah is; and this shall be the result of them.

8. The figure of “burning” in the fire is expressed in literal language: the land shall be made a desolation. Like his predecessor Jeremiah, the prophet sets little store by the existence of Israel as a state or kingdom among other states. Israel’s mission is religious, not political. See on ch. Ezekiel 13:3.