Isaiah 5:3-7
God expected good grapes and it
produce worthless ones
“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge
between Me and My vineyard. 4“What more was there to do
for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it
to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? 5“So
now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I
will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its
wall and it will become trampled ground. 6“And I
will lay it waste; it will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and
thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain
on it.” 7For 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," (Isaiah
5:3-7).
Here is a
perfect example of anthropomorphism, of where God speaks in human terms.
God expects one thing and gets another. Is this an example of God
being surprised and learning? No it is not.
First of all, it is a parable in the form of a song.
A parable is meant to illustrate a point not expound doctrine and a song
takes much liberty with its words and phrases. Therefore, the
poetic license taken in this song need not be construed as God actually
being surprised, especially when we realize that God speaks to us in
reference to our time frame and uses human emotions and conditions.
We know that from all eternity, God has known all
things (1 John 3:20). He is not surprised by anything. So,
what we have here is a song, using poetic license, to convey meaning.
|