Verse 3: “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, O men of Judah, please judge Between Me and My vineyard.”

Now: This word carries with it a degree of urgency.

Judge: God wants them to make an evaluation. He wants them to consider all the facts and reach the correct conclusion. He wants them to consider whether their works are fulfilling or meeting His expectations. Do their works please Him? Do ours?

Verse 4: “What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I hope for the yielding of grapes, but it yielded only bad ones?”

What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it?: God is asking an important question. He wants to know what else He could have provided, prepared etc in order that this vineyard would have been better equipped to fulfil His expectations.
Hope: There is an inherent relationship between hope and the promises of God. God has been faithful and true to His promises. He has done everything that was necessary to be done so that there would be good grapes/produce. He wanted to experience joy in His people, and He wanted them to experience joy (wine is related to joy – Ecclesiastes 9:7), but He was not able to rejoice in them and nor did they experience the joy and satisfaction of a good and pleasing harvest.

Verse 5: “And now I will inform you of what I am doing to My vineyard; I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and a bursting of its fence so that it will be trampled.”

I will inform you: God speaks to the people with great sorrow. He loves them, but He is disappointed in what they are doing. God now begins to speak about the consequences His people are going to face.

Take away its hedge: A hedge is a border. God had marked out the boundaries of His vineyard (Psalm 16:6). However, now, God is going to remove His protection from them. When we are walking in obedience and are fulfilling God’s expectations, we can expect His protection. But the converse of this statement is also true: when we are walking in our own expectations, rebelling against the will of God, He is going to remove His protection from us. Throughout Israel’s history, whenever God removed His protection Israel’s enemies moved to attack them.

It shall be burned: A reference to judgment.

A bursting of its fence so that it will be trampled: They have an enemy who is just waiting for the opportunity to attack – bringing sorrow, despair, adversity etc

Trampled: We see this same thing happening in the last days. The enemy, under the leadership of the antichrist, is going to trample the holy city underfoot for 3½ years (Luke 21:24, Daniel 8:13, Revelation 11:2).

Verse 6: “I will set it as a wasteland, and it will not be pruned or dug. But there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”

Pruned: No one will care for it or tend it.

Dug: Neither will anyone soften the land – the ground will be too hard for any plants to receive water or nutrients.

Briars and thorns: It is always a good idea to evaluate what we are producing in our lives (Haggai 1:5-7). Are we producing grapes, or are we producing thorns and thistles? How do we know? If we have joy in our lives, despite any circumstance we find ourselves in, then we
know that we are in the midst of God’s will. If we are not experiencing joy, then we need to consider carefully that we might be outside of His will. Outside of His will we feel the pain of those thorns and thistles around us.

The clouds…rain no rain: Biblically, rain is seen as a blessing (Acts 14:17, Leviticus 26:4). Not only was their protection removed, but also their ability to be fruitful, their ability to bear fruit that is pleasing to God.

Verse 7: “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasure plant. He hoped for justice, and behold there was striking. Instead of righteousness, behold there is crying out.”

The house of Israel: When Isaiah speaks of the ‘house of Israel’ he is talking about all the Jewish people in general and not just the house of Judah. Many of the rabbinical scholars say that when Isaiah uses this phrase it has an end times context. In the last days Israel is
going to be far removed from the expectations of God. This is why they are going to go through the time known as ‘Jacob’s trouble’ (Jeremiah 30:7).

The men of Judah: Now Isaiah is specifically referring to that southern kingdom. Pleasure: In modern Hebrew this word refers to an amusement park – a place where children play and laugh and enjoy themselves. God had found great delight and enjoyment in creating, blessing and placing a call upon Judah. They however did not find delight in this and, instead, rebelled against the calling of God in their lives.

Hoped for justice: God’s expectation of them was that they would be a people who administered righteous judgments in the land (pleading the case of the widow, orphan and stranger). God did not expect them to be people who oppressed others. Israel used the
blessing, anointing, provision etc from the Lord to manifest their power against others.

Striking: They used their power to oppress others.

Crying out: People yelling out for help.

Note: God was displeased because instead of justice there was oppression, instead of righteousness there was the crying out of those in turmoil, those in pain.