The Wood of the Vine
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.
The vine was Israel's proudest image of itself, and this chapter asks what its timber is good for.
The question is put as a piece of carpentry and it is genuinely a question: what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? A forest tree yields planks and beams. Vine wood is crooked, soft and short. The second question makes the point domestic: will anyone take a piece of it even to make a peg to hang a pot on? That is the humblest use a piece of wood has, and the answer is no.
The force of this depends on knowing what a vine meant. Israel was the vine brought out of Egypt and planted Psalms 80:8, the choice vine that turned degenerate Jeremiah 2:21, the vineyard that yielded wild grapes Isaiah 5:2. In every one of those passages the point of a vine is its fruit. The value of the plant is measured entirely by what it produces. This chapter takes the same image and asks about the wood. It is asking what the nation is worth apart from the one thing it was planted for.
Then the case is made worse in a single step. If whole vine wood is useless, what about vine wood that has already been in a fire, charred at both ends and burned through the middle? The question answers itself, and the description is not abstract. The northern kingdom had gone. Judah had been through two deportations. The piece of wood being discussed had scorching at both ends and damage in the center.
The conclusion is applied without softening. As the vine wood among the trees of the forest is given to the fire for fuel, so God will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the closing line has one turn left in it: They will go out from the fire, but the fire will still devour them. Coming out of one burning is not the end of the matter. The chapter is eight verses long, asks four questions, gives no comfort, and is the shortest complete argument in the book.
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