The song of the vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-7) is an Edenic song. Yahweh forms Israel as His garden, and waits eagerly for it to produce grapes and wine to bring joy to His heart. The creation motif is reinforced by the structure of the passage.
Verse 2 is a sevenfold sequence of clauses. Six describe Yahweh’s care of His vineyard, and the last describes the disappointing results: 1) He dug; 2) He removed stones; 3) He planted; 4) He built a tower; 5) He hewed a wine vat; 6) He looked for grapes; 7) the vineyard produced only worthless grapes. He has done all He can for His vineyard; devoted a sixfold labor like the labor of the six days of creation, but the vineyard doesn’t produce fruit (v. 4).
In response (v. 5), Yahweh describes what He plans to do to His vineyard, a sequence that parallels the humiliation of the bride that we find in other prophetic passages. This sequence is organized by four first-person clauses, each of which has a subordinate clause describing the consequences. Yahweh says, I will will 1) remove the hedge and leave it to be burned; 2) break down the wall to be trampled; 3) lay it waste so that it is not hoed and briers grow; 4) charge clouds to give no rain. The sevenfold creation is undone by a fourfold, global judgment.
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