BEMA Episode Link: 51: 1 Isaiah — Vineyard
Episode Length: 37:32
Published Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2017 01:00:00 -0800
Session 2
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings look at the first of four voices found in Isaiah — the pre-Assyrian voice that condemned the greed and injustice of the people of Judah.

NB: Due to a malfunction with our original recording, this episode was recorded in 2021. Our environments and equipment setups have changed, but we did our best to present it as it was in 2017.

1 Isaiah — Vineyard Presentation (PDF)

Discussion Video for BEMA 51

Out of Babylon by Walter Brueggemann

The Prophets by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Transcript for BEMA 51

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

BEMA Episode 51: 1 Isaiah — Vineyard

Title & Source Summary

This episode introduces the first of four distinct prophetic voices found within the book of Isaiah, specifically examining First Isaiah (chapters 1-12). The episode explores Isaiah’s pre-Assyrian prophetic ministry during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, focusing on God’s condemnation of Judah’s greed and injustice despite their correct religious observance.

Key Takeaways

  • The book of Isaiah contains multiple prophetic voices spanning different historical periods, likely written by different authors or disciples carrying forward Isaiah’s prophetic tradition
  • First Isaiah (chapters 1-12) addresses the pre-Assyrian period and focuses overwhelmingly on issues of justice and injustice (Story B) rather than idolatry (Story A)
  • God rejects the people’s technically correct worship because it exists alongside systemic injustice and failure to care for the vulnerable
  • The central metaphor of First Isaiah is the vineyard (Hebrew: gan, a terraced garden), representing God’s community and the interdependence required for communal flourishing
  • God prepared the perfect vineyard with the choicest vines (soreq) but received only bad grapes (betushim) because the people failed to care for one another
  • The primary sins condemned are greed, accumulation of wealth, and neglect of the alien, orphan, and widow—the same sins as Sodom and Gomorrah
  • Despite severe condemnation, Isaiah offers a small measure of hope pointing to future restoration

Main Concepts & Theories

Multiple Voices of Isaiah

The scholarly consensus recognizes that the book of Isaiah contains multiple prophetic voices from different historical periods:

  1. First Isaiah (Chapters 1-12): Pre-Assyrian period, 8th century BC, during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah
  2. Second Isaiah (Chapters 13-39): Later historical period, including historical records of events like Sennacherib’s invasion
  3. Third Isaiah (Chapters 40-55): The “Servant Discourse” portion
  4. Fourth Isaiah (Chapters 56-66): Final prophetic voice

The theory suggests that disciples or students of Isaiah carried forward his prophetic message over generations, writing under Isaiah’s name and authority. This practice mirrors the rabbi-disciple relationship pattern seen with Elijah and Elisha. The existence of “prophet schools” in ancient Israel supports this understanding of how prophetic traditions were transmitted.

Story B: Justice Over Idolatry

First Isaiah presents an unambiguous focus on Story B (justice and resistance to empire) rather than Story A (idolatry and immorality). The people are condemned despite:

  • Bringing correct Levitical offerings to the temple
  • Using the proper Levitical priesthood
  • Observing all required festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths
  • Offering prayers and following religious protocols

God’s response is emphatic: “I have more than enough burnt offerings… I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats… Your new moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being” (Isaiah 1:11-14). The issue is not their worship practices but their failure to “seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).

The Sodom Comparison

Isaiah directly addresses the leaders as “rulers of Sodom” and the people as “people of Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10). This is significant because, as established earlier in the BEMA series, the sin of Sodom was not primarily sexual immorality but rather social injustice. Ezekiel 16:49 clarifies: “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.”

The comparison emphasizes that Judah’s leaders, like Sodom’s, were haughty, wealthy, arrogant, and failed to care for the vulnerable. They accumulated houses and fields while ignoring the cries of the oppressed.

The Vineyard Metaphor

The terraced vineyard (gan in Hebrew) serves as the central image of First Isaiah, particularly in Isaiah 5. This agricultural system was common in ancient Israel and involved:

Physical Structure:

  • Hillsides carved into horizontal terraces
  • Stone walls holding back the soil on each level
  • Olive trees and grapevines planted on the terraces
  • Watchtowers and winepresses built into the vineyard

Community Dynamics:

  • Each family received a terrace as their inheritance
  • Individual owners could not see their own retaining walls from above
  • Neighbors below could see the walls of those above them
  • The stability of all lower terraces depended on the maintenance of upper terraces
  • One failing wall could wash out all terraces below during heavy rains

Metaphorical Significance:

  • Represents the necessity of community accountability and mutual care
  • Demonstrates that individual flourishing depends on communal health
  • Shows the importance of receiving correction from neighbors who can see your “wall”
  • Illustrates that isolation and independence lead to communal collapse

The number three appears in the vineyard structure (three people involved with each terrace: the owner, the neighbor above, and the neighbor below), representing community—a qualitative rather than quantitative significance.

God’s Perfect Preparation and Judah’s Failure

Isaiah 5 presents God as the loving vineyard owner who:

  • Selected a fertile hillside
  • Cleared it of stones
  • Planted it with soreq (the finest grapevines available in the ancient world)
  • Built a watchtower for protection
  • Cut out a winepress for production

Despite perfect preparation and the best resources, the vineyard produced only betushim (bad grapes). These are grapes that droop to the ground without proper care, resulting in stunted, worthless fruit. The failure was not in God’s provision but in the people’s maintenance of their communal relationships.

The Hebrew Wordplay

Isaiah 5:7 contains a powerful wordplay that emphasizes the contrast between what God expected and what he found:

  • God looked for mishpat (justice) but found bloodshed
  • God looked for tzedakah (righteousness) but heard tze’akah (cries of distress)

The sonic similarity between tzedakah and tze’akah creates a jarring contrast, emphasizing how close the people were to what God desired, yet how far they had fallen.

The Six Woes

Isaiah 5 pronounces six woes on the people, specifically targeting:

  1. Those who add house to house and field to field (accumulation of wealth and property)
  2. Those who rise early to pursue drinks and stay up late with wine (luxurious, indulgent living)
  3. Those who have harps, lyres, pipes, and timbrels at their banquets but no regard for the Lord’s deeds

These woes focus on greed, wealth accumulation, luxury, and indifference to God’s values—all markers of economic injustice and empire-building rather than community care.

Hope Amid Judgment

Despite the severe condemnations, Isaiah 4 offers a glimpse of hope:

  • “The branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious” (4:2)
  • Those who remain will be called holy (4:3)
  • God will wash away filth and cleanse bloodstains (4:4)
  • God will create a cloud by day and fire by night over Mount Zion (4:5)
  • God will provide shelter, shade, refuge, and hiding place (4:6)

These promises recall the wilderness experience from Session 1, suggesting that the coming exile will lead to a new desert period where God’s intimate presence will be known again. The judgment is not the end but a means to restoration.

Examples & Applications

The Terraced Vineyard in Action

The episode includes actual photographs from 2008 of ancient terraced vineyards in Israel, some potentially 3,000 years old. These physical examples demonstrate:

Maintained Vineyard: One side of the valley shows beautiful, operational terraces with olive trees and grape hedges, demonstrating what community looks like when members care for one another and maintain their responsibilities.

Ruined Vineyard: The opposite side of the same valley appears as merely a pile of rocks—the remnants of a terraced vineyard that has been neglected and washed away over centuries. This stark visual represents the consequences of communal breakdown and failure to maintain mutual accountability.

Modern Application: The Retaining Wall

The episode shares a contemporary example of the vineyard principle: a neighborhood dispute where the owner of a house on a rise neglected their retaining wall, threatening the property of the neighbor below. This created conflict because the lower neighbor needed the upper neighbor to fulfill their responsibility for both parties to flourish.

This illustrates how modern Western individualism (“mind your own business”) conflicts with the biblical vision of community interdependence. We resist others watching our “walls,” yet we desperately need that accountability for communal health.

Worship Without Justice in Contemporary Context

The First Isaiah critique applies to modern religious communities that:

  • Maintain correct theological orthodoxy but ignore systemic injustice
  • Participate in worship services while accumulating wealth at others’ expense
  • Offer prayers and sing songs while remaining “unconcerned” (like Sodom) about the poor and needy
  • Focus on personal piety while ignoring communal responsibility

God’s response to such worship is the same as in Isaiah’s day: “I cannot bear your worthless assemblies… When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you” (Isaiah 1:13-15).

The Prophet School System

The concept of prophet schools provides context for understanding how prophetic traditions were maintained. Biblical examples include:

  • Elijah and Elisha’s relationship (considered the first rabbi-disciple relationship)
  • Elisha surrounded by a community of prophets
  • Groups of prophets learning together

This suggests that First Isaiah may have trained disciples who later wrote Second, Third, and Fourth Isaiah, carrying forward his prophetic message through changing historical circumstances. This is similar to how rabbinic traditions were passed down through generations of students.

Potential Areas for Further Exploration

  1. Prophetic Schools and Discipleship: How did ancient prophet schools function? What was the training process? How does this compare to later rabbinic academies? Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The Prophets may provide deeper insights into this system.

  2. The Other Voices of Isaiah: How do Second, Third, and Fourth Isaiah develop and expand the themes introduced in First Isaiah? How does the Servant Discourse (Third Isaiah) relate to the vineyard imagery?

  3. Comparative Prophetic Images: How does the vineyard imagery in Isaiah compare to and complement the images from other prophets (Amos’s plumb line, Hosea’s prostitute, Micah’s judge)? What does each reveal about God’s expectations and Israel’s failures?

  4. Hebrew Wordplay in Prophecy: What other instances of wordplay exist in prophetic literature? How does the sonic quality of Hebrew enhance the prophetic message in ways that translations cannot fully capture?

  5. The Theology of Communal Accountability: How should modern communities practice mutual accountability without becoming legalistic or invasive? What are the biblical principles for “watching each other’s walls” in healthy ways?

  6. Economic Justice in the Prophets: How do the specific economic critiques in Isaiah (accumulating houses and fields, luxury living, exploitation) translate to modern economic systems and practices?

  7. The Relationship Between Worship and Justice: Can true worship exist without justice? What is the proper relationship between liturgical practice and social action? How do other prophets address this tension?

  8. Historical Context of First Isaiah: What specific events in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah prompted Isaiah’s prophecies? How did Hezekiah’s repentance temporarily stay the judgment?

  9. The Rebuilder of Ancient Walls: Later in Isaiah, there is reference to “rebuilder of ancient walls.” How does this connect to the vineyard imagery and the restoration theme?

  10. The Wilderness Theology: How does the hope passage in Isaiah 4 connect to the broader biblical theme of wilderness as a place of intimate encounter with God? What is the relationship between judgment, exile, wilderness, and restoration?

Comprehension Questions

  1. Multiple Authorship: Explain the scholarly theory of multiple voices within Isaiah. Why do scholars believe the book was written by different authors at different times? What evidence supports this view, and how might prophet schools explain the continuity of Isaiah’s message?

  2. Story A vs. Story B: First Isaiah clearly emphasizes Story B over Story A. Describe what God finds unacceptable about Judah’s worship in Isaiah 1, and explain why their technically correct religious observance is rejected. What does God say he actually desires from his people?

  3. The Sodom Comparison: Isaiah calls the leaders of Judah “rulers of Sodom” and the people “people of Gomorrah.” Based on the episode’s teaching (and earlier BEMA content), what was the primary sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? How does this comparison clarify what God is condemning in Judah?

  4. The Vineyard Metaphor: Describe the physical structure of a terraced vineyard (gan) and explain how it functions as a metaphor for community. Why is it significant that you cannot see your own retaining wall? What happens when one terrace fails, and what does this teach about communal responsibility?

  5. God’s Perfect Vineyard: In Isaiah 5, what specific preparations did God make for his vineyard? What did he expect to harvest, and what did he actually find? Explain the Hebrew terms soreq and betushim and what they represent in terms of Israel’s spiritual and communal condition.

Personal Summary

First Isaiah presents a sobering and counter-cultural message: religious correctness without justice is worthless to God. The people of Judah had their worship services perfectly organized according to Levitical law—correct sacrifices, proper festivals, regular prayers—yet God declared, “I hate your assemblies. When you pray, I’m not listening.”

The problem was not theological or liturgical but relational and economic. Like Sodom before them, Judah’s leaders were “arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned,” failing to help the poor and needy. They accumulated houses and fields, enjoyed luxurious banquets, and lived indulgently while ignoring the cries of the alien, orphan, and widow. Their worship became an empty performance, disconnected from the justice and righteousness (mishpat and tzedakah) that God truly desires.

The vineyard metaphor powerfully illustrates God’s vision for community. He prepared the perfect terraced garden, planted the finest vines, and expected a harvest of good grapes. Instead, he found stunted, worthless fruit because the people failed to maintain their communal relationships. Just as a terraced vineyard requires each owner to accept accountability from neighbors who can see what they cannot, God’s people must embrace mutual care and correction. One failing terrace can wash out all those below it—individual failure becomes communal catastrophe.

This challenges modern Western individualism profoundly. We resist others “watching our walls,” insisting they “mind their own business.” Yet the biblical vision requires interdependence, accountability, and the humility to receive correction from those positioned to see our blind spots. The number three embedded in the vineyard structure reminds us that community, not isolation, is God’s design.

Despite the severity of Isaiah’s condemnation, hope remains. God promises to be present in the coming wilderness, providing cloud and fire, shelter and shade, just as he did in the exodus. The judgment is not destruction but correction, not abandonment but discipline leading to restoration. For those willing to “learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17), the path remains open to become the vineyard God intended—a community where righteousness flourishes and every wall stands strong because neighbors care for one another.

The question for us today remains the same as for ancient Judah: Will our worship flow from lives committed to justice, or will we offer God the empty performance of religious activity while ignoring the cries of the vulnerable? God is still looking for tzedakah and listening for the sounds he hears. Will it be righteousness or cries of distress?

Related Episodes:

  • BEMA 50: Micah
  • BEMA 52: 2 Isaiah (upcoming)
  • Episode 0: Introduction to Numbers and Symbols

Key Terms:

  • Gan: Terraced garden/vineyard
  • Soreq: Finest quality grapevines
  • Betushim: Bad/stunted grapes
  • Mishpat: Justice
  • Tzedakah: Righteousness
  • Tze’akah: Cries of distress
  • Story A: Idolatry and immorality
  • Story B: Injustice and empire

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