Vineyards in scripture can be an enormous study. We will look at just a small corner of the topic here. The LORD equates His people to a vineyard. Let's learn about it from some verses in Isaiah:
"Now let me sing to my Well-beloved; A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard (kerem: a field set with plants of nobler quality; a garden of wine) on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones (see detail below), and planted it with the choicest vine (sorek: purple grapes, the richest variety; redness of these grapes; noble wine).
He built a tower (migdal: pulpit, rostrum; Root meaning-be magnified, become great, praise, do great things, nourish) in its midst, and also made a winepress (yehkev: two chambers-the upper in which the grapes are crushed, and the lower into which juice drains; it is dug in the earth, or cut out in rock) in it;
So He expected it to bring forth good grapes (anav: bear fruit; cluster of grapes), but it brought forth wild grapes (be'ushiym: stinking, worthless things; stinkberries; stench, foul odor, sour, unripe)." Isa. 5:1-2
The song is being sung to "my Well-beloved", and the vineyard belongs to this same "my Beloved". The phrase has for its root, the word, dov, which is the root of the name "David". So the vineyard belongs to David, making the vineyard spoken of here in these verses from Isaiah, to be Israel, specifically Judah and Jerusalem (Isa. 5:3), but "David" is also a Messianic name, referring to Jesus, the Son of David. Scripture also refers to Jesus as "My beloved Son" (Mt. 3:17). So these verses from Isaiah pertain directly to us as well. Also in scripture, and as a part of Jesus, we believers are called "beloved" (Rom. 1:7). Here is our acceptance into the Beloved:
"...just as He (the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." Eph. 1:4-6
Jesus also tells us that there is a vineyard directly related to Him:
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me, you can do nothing." Jn. 15:4-5
So the varietal, or cultivar in this vineyard of God is the "Jesus Varietal". Jesus goes on to say that if anyone becomes separated from Him, they become a withered branch, and be thrown into the fire. In a vineyard, withered branches are burned, in order to protect the rest of the vines against the spread of the disease that caused this branch to wither. Burning is a form of disease and pest control.
Are we growing and producing the noble fruit expected of us? Are we careful to abide in the Vine of Christ?
The fact that the LORD is singing to the Beloved, above, also makes sense when connected to the vineyard (see also Isa. 27:2-3). At harvest time, the people would sing and shout as they gathered in the grapes (also Feast of Tabernacles), because it was to be a joyful time. In this case, however, the LORD's song is a lament, because of what He found in the vineyard (refer. Isa. 16:10, Amos 5:16-17). Would the Father's song over me be a rejoicing, or a lament?
Jesus is also greatly identified with wine, the product of a grape vineyard. His first public miracle in Cana, was turning water into wine at a wedding on the third day-not just any wine, but the finest, or most noble variety (Jn. 2:1-11), as Isaiah referred to in the verses above. His atoning blood is the wine of the new covenant. In Isaiah's verses, the LORD spoke of clearing out the "stones" that had been in the vineyard. This is not the usual Hebrew word for stone, which is eben, but instead the word sakal is used, meaning "to stone to death, pelt with stones", which was the method of execution for those who broke the Law of Moses. The Beloved's vineyard has been freed from the sentence of death through the breaking of the Law, as we have been set free by Christ Jesus from the Law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). Viewed in Christ, the winepress, from its word description is a place of crushing or death, dug in the earth, or as in the case of Jesus' burial, cut into a rock. However, from this place of pressing, or death, emerges something more precious than even the noble grapes of the vineyard- the deep, red, rich wine they produce in the same manner as the spiritual winepress of Christ produced the blood of atonement, the resurrection life. Do we run from the idea of anything that "crushes" us? However, it is the crushing that brings forth the fine wine, which is the whole point. To me, the vineyard is Christ, the Gospel, and all of us, who are His fruit, and it represents our fruit as well. An important purpose of a vineyard, according to my research, is also to establish the best environment for the noble cultivars to produce seed, and reproduce, or multiply themselves. Not only are these qualities of the vineyard related directly to Jesus, but to our lives in Christ as well.
Vineyards were so valuable that kings coveted them (1 Sam. 8:11-18). Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, had the owner of a vineyard killed, because he refused to sell his vineyard to the king.The vineyard owner's name was Naboth ("fruits") the Jezreelite ("Sown of God"). Naboth said that the vineyard was "the inheritance of my fathers", and God forbid that he should give it to the king. The prophetic promise of Messiah is also an inherited promise from God to the patriarchs, that was to be carried to all future generations. Even sadder in this case, Ahab wanted to tear up Naboth's vineyard and plant herbs and vegetables there instead, because it was conveniently near the king's home. Perhaps this king found the odor of the grapes in the vineyard spiritually objectionable, and preferred the fragrance of herbs. That would have been very ignorant of him, as we will see later. Jezebel had Naboth set up and falsely accused of blasphemy, and taken out and stoned to death (1 Ki. 21:1-13). Because of the terrible thing that Jezebel and Ahab did, the great prophet Elijah was given the word of the LORD's judgment regarding their soon humiliating death.
Isaiah's verses above, also give us an interesting revelation regarding the fragrance associated with the vineyard. There was a revealing foul odor, when the grapes produced in the vineyard that were supposed to be "noble", turned out to be "stinkberries" instead. So if there is a bad odor associated with "wild grapes", is there also an odor associated with the noble grapes in the vineyard? The answer is yes!.
As I researched I found that grapes have a chemical that emits different fragrances during the grape's growth stages. The fragrances are so specific, the different cultivars can be identified by its fragrance. A fragrance is present while the grape vines blossom. A different fragrance is released when the grapes develop, but are still unripened, or sour. A separate, stronger fragrance is present as the grapes come into maturity, and yet a fourth perfume is released as the ripened grapes are crushed. The fragrances of the grapes are caused by chemicals called terpenes. There is a direct connection between terpene concentrations in the grapes and later wine quality. The different terpene fragrances serve to attract pollinators, and also help to defend the plant against pests. The small size of the terpene fragrance compounds in the grapes enables them to more easily volatize and give off odors. The grower can tell how close his vineyard is to harvesting based in part upon the fragrances being emitted by his grapes. Terpenes, the fragrance powerhouses in grapes, are also used in pharmaceuticals, aromatherapy, and even as an anticancer agent for breast cancer treatment. So regarding the LORD's spiritual vineyard, its fragrance identifies what kind of grapes are ripening, and how mature they are, but it also has healing qualities.
King Ahab was wrong to destroy the spiritual inheritance of the promise of Messiah represented by that vineyard. Naboth the Jezreelite's name should have given him his first clue. Ahab was also undiscerning to say the least, to prefer the fragrance of herbs instead of that of the noble grapes contained in Naboth's vineyard.
Christ said regarding identifying false prophets: "You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?" (Mt. 7:16). Not only the type of fruit, but I think also the fragrance of our fruits will identify whether we are of the nobler grapes in His vineyard, or foul "stinkberries". The vineyard of my Beloved is supposed to carry a certain specifically identifiable fragrance. I want my life to emit this special fragrance of the vineyard of the Beloved before God. I want the LORD to be able to sing and shout with joy as He visits, and prepares to harvest, His vineyard.
Our Father is looking for mature, perfumed, noble grape fruits in the vineyard of His Beloved Son.
