Isaiah 5:5-7 - I will take away its hedge

5:5,6

So God now tells them what He will do. Men so often argue as if we are in charge, as if God will do nothing. This is a monumental mistake to make. “I will tell you what I will do”. The land had been protected, this protection would be removed. They did not want to trust in God, so all help from God would be taken away. We might say that the same is happening in the West. We do not want our Christian heritage, so the Christian foundations of society will be taken away, and we will suffer the consequences. Briars and thorns will grow, instead of culture, peace and democracy.

5:7

Isaiah now states quite clearly, just in case anyone had missed the point, that the vineyard was the nation of Israel. While Israel was divided between the southern (Judah) and northern kingdoms, this division was always temporary, and not part of God’s eternal plan. So prophets sometimes referred to Israel. However, Isaiah was addressing Judah directly, and the events that he was going to be talking about were most directly relevant to Judah. The people of Judah needed to know that God had expected good fruit from them, justice and righteousness, but had found only bloodshed and cries of distress. Judah needed to respond.