Ezekiel 15, A Charred Vine

Ezekiel continues to minister to elders of Israel, while in exile in Babylon.

Ezekiel 15:1-5, Useless after fire

The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, how is the wood of a vine better than that of a branch on any of the trees in the forest? Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on? And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything? If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?   

In the agriculture of the ANE, a fruitful vine is a wonderful thing. Israel has often been pictured as a vine that God chose and planted (see Jeremiah 2:21 and Hosea 10:1.) Isaiah sings of God's vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7 and Asaph sings of it in Psalm 80.  Joseph is described as a fruitful vine in Genesis 49:22. Messiah Yeshuah, eight centuries later, will use the vine metaphor in John 15:1-8.

But here the value of the vine is questioned. A vine is of value only if it is bearing ripe fruit. It does not serve as a peg to support other things. And charred wood is useless; a vine plucked for fuel has no value.

Ezekiel 15:6-8, Vines for fuel

"Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem. I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.   

I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign LORD."  

The people of Israel are viewed as a burned and charred vine. The first burning (says Duguid) alludes to the attack on Jerusalem in 597 BC. But another fire is coming. That fire (in 586 BC) will not just char the vine but consume it.

This chapter asks a question: Why has God, who planted the beautiful vine of Israel, allowed it to be destroyed? Why has the gardener, so proud of His vine, allowed this destruction?

We will have another parable involving a vine in chapter 17. But between chapters 15 and 17 of Ezekiel is chapter 16, a very different parable, forming the longest chapter of the prophetical works.