In the Old Testament, during a period lasting 1500 years, God dealt in patient goodness with His people Israel. It is important to bear in mind that Israel only was taken by God under His especial care. In the same way, a person might take a specimen of a certain class of trees, cultivate it, and judge of the whole class or family of trees by the result of his experiment.
Now God selected Israel out of all the nations of the earth as the vine of His choice, and He set it in the most favorable circumstances. As we read, “I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed” (Jer. 2:21). We scarcely think of a vine as a tree, but it is so described in Scripture. This is perhaps because, at least in former times, the vines in Palestine often grew to a great size and height, and thus could resemble a tree.
The Beginning of Israel
When speaking of Israel by the prophet Isaiah, God compared them to “a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and He fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine” (Isa. 5:1-2). If we turn to Psalm 80:8, Israel is thus spoken of: “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.”
In the parable of the trees in the Book of Judges, the vine was to bring “joy to God and man.” Such would have been the result had Israel been able to keep the law. The law said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and thy neighbor as thyself,” and what a scene of joy would have been those “holy fields” had Israel really fulfilled this. Alas, man has no love for God in his heart, and the long trial of 15 centuries only proved that man was irreclaimable. Jehovah had to speak to Israel in these touching words: “How art thou turned into a degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me” (Jer. 2:21).
The Time of Fruit
What was God’s answer to the psalmist’s question? It was, “Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself.” And again, “Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty” (Hos. 10:1-2). Our Lord charged them with this in His parable in Matthew 21:34-35: “When the time of the fruit drew near, he [the householder] sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.” We know well how the last part was fulfilled, when, “last of all, he sent unto them his own son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance” (Matt. 21:37-38).
Make the Tree Good First
Yes, this was the sad end to the story of God’s faithful love and tender care for Israel, and their history ought to teach us this lesson, that we can do nothing to bring forth fruit to God apart from the grace that gives us a new nature, for, as our Lord says, make the “tree good” first, then the fruit good. What is Israel’s present condition? It is described in Ezekiel 19:13-14: “Now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule.” Well might Ezekiel say, “This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation,” and the apostle, “The wrath is come upon them to the uttermost” (1 Thess. 2:16).
A New, Fruitful Life
However, Israel will not always be an unfruitful vine. There could be no fruit for God from the natural man, but in a coming day, during the millennial reign of Christ, we read prophetically concerning Israel, “They that dwell under His shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon” (Hos. 14:7). The vine of Israel will indeed bring forth fruit in that day, not on the basis of keeping the law, but rather on the ground of grace, and with that new life which was prophesied to them in Ezekiel 36:26: “A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” In that day spiritual blessing will be combined with material blessing, for we also read, “The seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things” (Zech. 8:12).
H.N., Faithful Words for Young and Old, Vol. 11 (adapted)