Woe to the vineyard

Isaiah tells a tale of a vineyard (5:1-7), and then issues a series of woes (5:8-23) that culminates in a warning that a nation is going to be summoned to Judah (5:24-30). Jesus follows the same sequence: Parables of the vineyard in chapters 20-21 are followed by woes (ch. 23) and a warning about the impending destruction of the temple (ch 24).

Does Matthew continue to follow the outline of Isaiah? It would seem not; Isaiah 6 is Isaiah’s temple vision and call, and chapters 7-8 focus on the threat from Aram and the looming threat of Assyria. Besides, chapters 7-11 of Isaiah include some of the best-known prophecies of the Messiah’s birth and early ministry.

But perhaps the latter chapters of Matthew do track with Isaiah, and the death and resurrection of Jesus form a kind of second, fuller fulfillment of some of the prophecies of His birth. Matthew may be hinting at something like that in the series of inclusios that surround the book: Jerusalem (ch. 2, 20); chief priests (ch 2, 21); slaughter of infants/of Jesus; John’s ministry/debates about John’s ministry.

Maybe we can say this: Jesus is virgin-born, but also firstborn from the dead, the first to emerge from the virgin womb of death.