Isaiah 5

So, There's a few things in this that, as Isaiah is saying this, right, and for our context, we'll come back to this in a minute, but for our context, in the Old Testament, God's people embodied kind of in the nation of Israel, right? And we'll see kind of how that plays out for us later, but that's who Isaiah is speaking to, and then that's who God's speaking to, where this vineyard that the Lord has built, the vineyard is actually the venue of the nation of Israel.

And so next week, you know, and the weeks after, as Ben walks through the values that they look at this, the values that they look at for us as the people of God were very much the same as the values that God said the nation of Israel was meant to embody.

And so he gives it this image of a vineyard that he has cultivated the vineyard on a fertile hillside.

And so there's a few things in this that I think are like really cool and really important, right? So if you look at the first part, He says, my loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.

He dug it up and cleared it of stones, planted it with the choicest vines.

What God's saying is a couple things.

Like, I built this vineyard.

I created this body of people and I actually placed it and built it and cultivated it and created it in a way that was fertile.

I created it in a way that it was going to bear fruit.

I dug up all the crap.

I got rid of all the stones.

I did the things that I'd like to think I did for my sweet potato garden, but probably didn't.

But that he actually created and cultivated the land around it so that it was made to flourish.

Not only did he choose a fertile spot on a hillside, he kind of chose the choicest place, the most beautiful place, the most place that it was likely to thrive.

But then he actually dug out all the rocks and all the stuff and everything that would kind of go against it and mess it up.

And then in that, he actually planted what they call the choicest vines.

So everything he's doing is like the best of the best of the best, right? And then he built a watchtower in it.

which actually would have been typical kind of for vineyards at that time, right? The watchtower does a couple things.

One, it helps me actually see what's growing and what's not.

Helps me see like if something sets on fire and something's not.

It also helps me actually see if it's in danger.

So God says, hey, I created this nation of Israel as this vineyard and I've cultivated it with all these beautiful things and all these things that are set up for it to grow and for it to thrive.

And I'm also, I also built a watchtower in the middle so that I could protect you.

I built a watchtower in the middle so that I can see what could harm you, what could attack you, and so I can see how you can thrive.

built a watchtower in it, and he cut out a wine press as well.