The Parable of the Vineyard.

The fact was that Isaiah did not grieve particularly over King Uzziah's illness and approaching death. What troubled him was the attitude taken by his dear friend, the Crown Prince, Jotham, toward the political future of the Kingdom of Judah, since his sick father had placed the reins of government in his hands.

The differences of opinion between Isaiah and Jotham, as to what was best for the nation were so great as to be almost hopeless. So that, even before Uzziah died the two stopped discussing problems of State, although they continued their warm friendship.

As long as King Uzziah lived, it was plain nothing serious could happen to the country. To the south, Uzziah was feared by the Philistines and Arabians, whom he had subdued, and his name was honored even at the Court of Egypt. To the north Jeroboam II was prosperous and at peace; Syria was weak and Assyria had not yet made its power felt. Within the extended borders of his own country, Uzziah had established peace and had built up commercial enterprise and prosperity.

To the average citizen of Judah, therefore, the country was all right, the king was all right, and the future had not the slightest cloud before it. To Isaiah, the keen-sighted and well-posted young statesman, however, neither the country nor the king was fit to deal with a great national crisis—and the future had one in store.

When Uzziah became sick and abdicated, quietly, in favor of Jotham, then a young man of twenty-five, Isaiah began to call Jotham's attention to the internal social conditions of the country; but Jotham had such a high respect for his father's ruling power that he would not alter a single law nor make a single reform.

When Isaiah attempted to drum into Jotham's head the causes of the reign of anarchy in Samaria and the lessons to be drawn therefrom for Judah, Jotham, desiring to show his power as a ruler while his father was yet alive, busied himself fighting with the Ammonites and extending the boundaries of his kingdom.

When, finally, in the year 788 B. C. E., the news came to Jerusalem that King Menahem, of Israel, had sent a heavy tribute to the Assyrian Tiglath-Pileser, Isaiah's worries over the future of his own country became very acute.

It was in this year Uzziah died; and it was on the day of the king's funeral that Isaiah saw the remarkable vision in the Temple.

Up to that hour Isaiah was conscious only of the fact that something must be done in Judah to save it from the evils of injustice and unrighteousness that were being practiced by the rich and powerful upon the poor and weak. From that hour on he knew that God had called him to be His prophet, that God had selected him to bring the truth home to the Judeans and, if possible, to save the nation from the doom that awaited the sister-nation, Israel.

What Isaiah saw and heard in the Temple at the close of that memorable day, gave him the germ of an idea as to what God demanded of him to do. Time, thought and experience ripened that idea into a plan. The course of events offered him the opportunity to put the plan into action.

Isaiah could not count on Jotham to institute and carry out reforms in the religious beliefs and practices of the people, in their commercial wrongdoings, in the corrupt law courts and in the general oppression of the lower classes. He had to begin work on his own initiative; and he began it with the people themselves, in the City of Jerusalem.

He came to the Temple Mount one day, when many pilgrims were gathered there. He listened attentively, with the rest, to travelers from Arabia, who were relating wonderful tales of adventure. From stories of adventure in foreign lands the pilgrims drifted into stories of happenings in their own country. Some related rumors of what was going on in Samaria; others spoke of the possibility of Judah's being forced to fight Assyria some day. Some laughed at such a suggestion; others were in grave doubt whether such an emergency would find the nation prepared. Some spoke of the evils that were sapping the strength of the people; others complained that the king, instead of attending to his business of State, was busying himself with his wealth of herds and vineyards.

Here Isaiah, who had been silently listening to the discussions, offered to recite a poem, an original composition. The suggestion was received with loud applause and Isaiah began:

"Let me sing a song of my friend,
My friend's song about his vineyard."

At this introduction everybody settled down comfortably to listen, and Isaiah continued:

"My friend hath a vineyard
On a fertile hill;
He digged it and gathered out the atones,
And planted it with choicest vine;
A tower he built in the midst of it
And hewed out a wine press.
He looked to find grapes that were good,
And it yielded only wild grapes."

Isaiah's listeners were disappointed. The story not only lacked excitement, it even lacked interest. They shifted in their places uneasily, but Isaiah caught their attention again by continuing:

"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem,
And ye people of Judah.
Judge, I pray you, betwixt me
And betwixt my vineyard.
What more could be done to my vineyard
Than that which I have done?
When I looked to find grapes that were good
Why yielded it wild grapes?

"And now, pray, I will tell you
What I will do to my vineyard:
I will take away the hedge thereof,
That it shall be devoured;
I will break down the wall thereof,
That it shall be trodden down;
Yea, I will make a waste thereof,
That it shall not be pruned or weeded.
Then it shall put forth thorns and thickets of brambles;
The clouds I will command that they rain not thereon."

Everybody understood now that Isaiah was speaking a parable and that its application was to them and to their country. But who was the "friend" who possessed this vineyard? Isaiah did not hold the questioners in long suspense:

"For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the House of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His cherished plant;
And he looked for justice, but, behold! bloodshed;
For righteousness, but, behold! a cry of distress."

Then Isaiah launched forth into a powerful denunciation of the social evils of which Judah and the leading Judeans were guilty—a sixfold woe that was rushing the Nation on to destruction.

"Woe unto them that join house to house,
Who add field to field,
Until there is no space left,
And they dwell alone in the midst of the land.

"Woe unto them that rise at dawn
To pursue strong drink,
Who tarry late into the night
Until wine inflames them;
But they regard not the work of the lord
And see not what His hands have made

"Woe unto them that draw guilt upon themselves
With cords of folly,
And sin as with a cart rope!

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
That put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

"Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own conceit!

"Woe unto them that are heroic in drinking wine,
And valiant in mixing strong drink!
Who, for a bribe, justify the wicked
And strip the innocent man of his innocence!

"Therefore, as the fire devours stubble,
And as hay shrivels in a flame,
So their root shall be as rottenness
And their blossom go up as dust;
Because they have rejected the teaching of the Lord of hosts,
And despised the word of Israel's Holy One."

So intensely absorbed in his speech was Isaiah, and so deeply interested was the vast assembly whom he was addressing, that no one took note of a splendidly arrayed group of men who had come up and stood with the rest, listening.

When Isaiah had finished speaking, and the people had caught their breath again, some one shouted:

"Behold! The king!"

Isaiah looked over the heads of the crowd toward the newcomers, and there he beheld Jotham and a retinue of nobles, laughing heartily, no doubt, at his masterful effort.

Fearlessly, and without a moment's hesitation, the prophet did what he had threatened Jotham he would do—he denounced his friend, the king, before his people:

"The Lord standeth forth to present his case,
And He standeth up to judge His people.
The Lord entereth into judgment
With the elders of His people and their princes.
'Ye, yourselves, have devoured the vineyard.
The spoils of the needy are in your houses.
What do you mean by crushing my people
And by grinding the face of the needy?'
Saith the Lord, God of hosts."

Laughing still more heartily at this madness of his old friend, Jotham easily made his way to where the prophet stood. He placed his arm around Isaiah's shoulder and invited him to go with him and his companions to the palace.

Isaiah did as he was bidden. All the way Jotham and his friends made fun of the feverish enthusiasm with which the denunciations were delivered, but Isaiah did not feel hurt. His heart was quite at peace. At last he had launched forth upon the work to which God had so unexpectedly and so marvelously called him!

When Jotham and his friends arrived at the palace, a joint embassy from Rezin, the king of Syria, and from Pekah, the king of Israel, was awaiting them. To the amazement of them all, the ambassadors placed before Jotham a demand that Judah join forces with Syria and Israel, forthwith, and fight Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria, who was then threatening to invade Damascus and Samaria!