Ezekiel
Ezekiel 15
Big idea: Eight verses of pure logic. Vine wood is worthless as timber — you cannot even make a peg from it — so a vine is valuable only for fruit; and this vine has already been burned at both ends and charred in the middle. What is it good for now?
The vine image is Israel's own favourite self-description; chapter 17 and chapter 19 both use it again, differently.
15:1–8 — What is the vine tree more than any tree?
The argument is carpentry. Vine wood is thin, crooked and brittle; nobody makes anything from it, not even a peg to hang a pot on. Its whole value is fruit, and a fruitless vine is fuel — and one already burned at both ends and scorched in the middle is not even good fuel.
1 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? 3 Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it? 4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work? 5 Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it has been burned, will it yet be suitable for any work?” 6 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “As the vine wood among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7 I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will still devour them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them. 8 I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).