For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

A Useless Vine 

Ezek 15:1-8

 1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? 3 Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on? 4 And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything? 5 If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?

6 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem. 7 I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the Lord. 8 I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

A. Find Out

1. What question does the Lord ask? v.2
2. What two further questions does He ask v.3
3. What then? v.4
4. And then what finally? v.5
5. What parallel does the Lord make? v.6
6. How does He conclude it? v.7
7. And finally? v.8

B. Think:

1. What point is the Lord making in the first 5 verses?
2. What warning is He conveying?
3. So what warning should the people take?

C. Comment:

In prophecy Israel had so often been pictured as a vine (Isa 3:14, Jer 2:21,Psa 80:8-) but a vine is cultivated for it’s fruit. It has no other use than to be burnt. So the Lord asks Ezekiel to think about how the wood of the vine is different from other wood (v.2), is it used for anything other than fruit growing (v.3). If it is burnt and charred is it useful for anything? (v.4) i.e. will burning improve it? No. Indeed, when you think about it, if it had no other use before, how much less useful will it be if it is burnt? (v.5)

So it is, that God is giving over this vine, Israel, to be burnt (in the invasion of the Babylonians), the people of Jerusalem (v.6). Indeed they will go through the fire of destruction by this enemy (in BC 597) and there is no saving the city, the destruction will be complete (v.7) and when this happens they will know that all their hopes of evading the things Jeremiah and Ezekiel had been saying will have come to nothing and they will know this was the work of the Lord.

Indeed, it won’t just be Jerusalem, it will be the whole land that will be laid waste and left desolate (v.8a) and they should understand the reason for all this is their unfaithfulness, their abandoning and rejecting the Lord and breaking their covenant with Him  (v.8b). The warning is sharp and clear: there is no escape (except repentance!).               

D. Application:

1. Repentance is the only escape after sin, from the Lord’s judgment.
2. Hopes of Him relenting are futile hopes.