I Will Remove Its Hedge

by Joe Hickman
via Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 2, February 2015

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Mozambique. While there, I noticed an abundance of bushes covered with enormous thorns. Sometimes these thorn bushes were just sitting in no particular place, as though waiting to give a big surprise to anyone passing by. But often the bushes were planted densely around some buildings to form hedges that were nearly impenetrable because of the threatening thorns. Thorn bushes, like many other things, can be either a help or a hindrance (See Proverbs 15:19; Hosea 2:6; Micah 7:4 - concerning thorn hedges). There is a Mozambican proverb that says, “A man does not run among thorns for no reason; either he is chasing a snake or a snake is chasing him.”

Thorn hedges weren’t the only defensive barriers in Mozambique. Some buildings were surrounded by large block walls, similar to those we see in the U.S.A. Both hedges and walls provided a substantial impediment to mischief or damage.

This all makes me think of Isaiah 5:1-7, which contains a parable about a “vineyard on a fertile hill.” Please read the passage if you haven’t read it lately. The vineyard had been tended and cared for in every way, and good grapes should have been produced. Instead, this vineyard yielded only wild, worthless grapes.

So the LORD then said, “And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.” He declared that He would remove the protective hedge and break down the wall around His vineyard. As a result, the vineyard would be devoured and trampled. The vineyard would become a wasteland. Where once there had been a cultivated vineyard, there would come to be a patch of dirt bearing only briars and thorns. The supply and shield of the LORD would be taken away.

In Isaiah 5:7, the LORD interprets the parable: “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but, behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.” Over the next century or so, both Israel and Judah would fall prey to other nations. The LORD would take his defensive hand from His people, who failed to bear the fruit that He requires. The door would open for judgment to fall upon the rebels. The remainder of Isaiah 5 describes the kinds of “wild grapes” the people had brought before God and the consequences of such attitudes and conduct.

In Matthew 23:33ff, Jesus spoke another parable to and about the descendants of those to whom Isaiah had prophesied (Take time to read this parable too, if you can). Again, the LORD is expecting fruit from a vineyard. This time, the workers are the accountable ones. Again, God does not receive the fruit that He has every reason to expect. This time, the very rejection and death of Jesus are anticipated. Jesus indicts His listeners, saying, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”

The subject of a spiritual nation, a spiritual kingdom, is clearly addressed in Matthew 23, as in such passages as John 18:36, Romans 2:28-29, and Philippians 3:1-3. We also learn from what Jesus brought to pass that even the Old Testament prophecies were not ultimately concerned with just a physical nation. The Jewish Messiah was the world’s Savior. “God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.. .God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power... To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:34-43).

We learn from both the Old and New Testaments that God takes care of His people. But we also learn that His “hedges and walls” of protection are ultimately promised to those who “produce the fruit” of His kingdom. Jesus taught kingdom righteousness in Matthew 5-7, and said that the assurance of His abiding provision is for those who ”seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Truly, God’s people are those “who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (I Peter 1:5).

As bleak as the picture of the removal of the hedge around the vineyard in Isaiah 5 is, we know that the parable depicts a much greater loss than is evident in the physical representation. And as severe as the judgment was that came upon physical Israel and Judah, we can readily recognize the greater importance of being eternally hedged about by the hand of Almighty God.