It was for the purpose of bringing the best gifts of
Heaven to all the peoples of earth that God called Abraham
out from his idolatrous kindred and bade him dwell in
the land of Canaan. "I will make of thee a great nation," He
said, "and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and
thou shalt be a blessing." Genesis 12:2. It was a high honor
to which Abraham was called--that of being the father of
the people who for centuries were to be the guardians and
preservers of the truth of God to the world, the people
through whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed
in the advent of the promised Messiah.
Men had well-nigh lost the knowledge of the true God.
Their minds were darkened by idolatry. For the divine
statutes, which are "holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:
12), men were endeavoring to substitute laws in harmony
with the purposes of their own cruel, selfish hearts. Yet God
in His mercy did not blot them out of existence. He purposed
to give them opportunity for becoming acquainted with Him
through His church. He designed that the principles revealed
through His people should be the means of restoring the
moral image of God in man.
God's law must be exalted, His authority maintained; and
to the house of Israel was given this great and noble work.
God separated them from the world, that He might commit
to them a sacred trust. He made them the depositaries of
His law, and He purposed through them to preserve among
men the knowledge of Himself. Thus the light of heaven
was to shine out to a world enshrouded in darkness, and a
voice was to be heard appealing to all peoples to turn from
idolatry to serve the living God.
"With great power, and with a mighty hand," God
brought His chosen people out of the land of Egypt. Exodus
32:11. "He sent Moses His servant; and Aaron whom He
had chosen. They showed His signs among them, and wonders
in the land of Ham." "He rebuked the Red Sea also,
and it was dried up: so He led them through the depths."
Psalms 105:26,27;106:9. He rescued them from their servile
state, that He might bring them to a good land, a land which
in His providence He had prepared for them as a refuge from
their enemies. He would bring them to Himself and encircle
them in His everlasting arms; and in return for His goodness
and mercy they were to exalt His name and make it glorious
in the earth.
"The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His
inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste
howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him,
He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirreth up
her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her
wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord
alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him."
Deuteronomy 32:9-12. Thus He brought the Israelites unto
Himself, that they might dwell as under the shadow of the
Most High. Miraculously preserved from the perils of the
wilderness wandering, they were finally established in
the Land of Promise as a favored nation.
By means of a parable, Isaiah has told with touching
pathos the story of Israel's call and training to stand in the
world as Jehovah's representatives, fruitful in every good
work:
"Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved
touching His vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in
a very fruitful hill: and He fenced it, and gathered out the
stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and
built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine press
therein: and He looked that it should bring forth grapes."
Isaiah 5:1,2.
Through the chosen nation, God had purposed to bring
blessing to all mankind. "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts,"
the prophet declared, "is the house of Israel, and the men of
Judah His pleasant plant." Isaiah 5:7.
To this people were committed the oracles of God. They
were hedged about by the precepts of His law, the everlasting
principles of truth, justice, and purity. Obedience to these
principles was to be their protection, for it would save them
from destroying themselves by sinful practices. And as the
tower in the vineyard, God placed in the midst of the land
His holy temple.
Christ was their instructor. As He had been with them
in the wilderness, so He was still to be their teacher and
guide. In the tabernacle and the temple His glory dwelt in
the holy Shekinah above the mercy seat. In their behalf He
constantly manifested the riches of His love and patience.
Through Moses the purpose of God was set before them
and the terms of their prosperity made plain. "Thou art an
holy people unto the Lord thy God," he said; "the Lord thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself,
above all people that are upon the face of the earth."
"Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God,
and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes, and His
commandments, and His judgments, and to hearken unto
His voice: and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be
His peculiar people, as He hath promised thee, and that thou
shouldest keep all His commandments; and to make thee
high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and
in name, and in honor; and that thou mayest be an holy
people unto the Lord thy God, as He hath spoken." Deuteronomy
7:6; 26:17-19.
The children of Israel were to occupy all the territory
which God appointed them. Those nations that rejected
the worship and service of the true God were to be dispossessed.
But it was God's purpose that by the revelation of
His character through Israel men should be drawn unto
Him. To all the world the gospel invitation was to be given.
Through the teaching of the sacrificial service, Christ was to
be uplifted before the nations, and all who would look unto
Him should live. All who, like Rahab the Canaanite and
Ruth the Moabitess, turned from idolatry to the worship of
the true God were to unite themselves with His chosen people.
As the numbers of Israel increased, they were to enlarge
their borders until their kingdom should embrace the world.
But ancient Israel did not fulfill God's purpose. The Lord
declared, "I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right
seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of
a strange vine unto Me?" "Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth
forth fruit unto himself." "And now, O inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt Me
and My vineyard. What could have been done more to My
vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I
looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth
wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do
to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it
shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it
shall be trodden down: and I will lay it waste: it shall not
be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and
thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no
rain upon it. For . . . He looked for judgment, but behold
oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry." Jeremiah
2:21; Hosea 10:1; Isaiah 5:3-7.
The Lord had through Moses set before His people the
result of unfaithfulness. By refusing to keep His covenant,
they would cut themselves off from the life of God, and His
blessing could not come upon them. At times these warnings
were heeded, and rich blessings were bestowed upon
the Jewish nation and through them upon surrounding peoples.
But more often in their history they forgot God and
lost sight of their high privilege as His representatives. They
robbed Him of the service He required of them, and they
robbed their fellow men of religious guidance and a holy
example. They desired to appropriate to themselves the
fruits of the vineyard over which they had been made stewards.
Their covetousness and greed caused them to be
despised even by the heathen. Thus the Gentile world was
given occasion to misinterpret the character of God and the
laws of His kingdom.
With a father's heart, God bore with His people. He
pleaded with them by mercies given and mercies withdrawn.
Patiently He set their sins before them and in forbearance
waited for their acknowledgment. Prophets and messengers
were sent to urge His claim upon the husbandmen; but,
instead of being welcomed, these men of discernment and
spiritual power were treated as enemies. The husbandmen
persecuted and killed them. God sent still other messengers,
but they received the same treatment as the first, only that
the husbandmen showed still more determined hatred.
The withdrawal of divine favor during the period of the
Exile led many to repentance, yet after their return to the
Land of Promise the Jewish people repeated the mistakes
of former generations and brought themselves into political
conflict with surrounding nations. The prophets whom
God sent to correct the prevailing evils were received with
the same suspicion and scorn that had been accorded the
messengers of earlier times; and thus, from century to
century, the keepers of the vineyard added to their guilt.
The goodly vine planted by the divine Husbandman upon
the hills of Palestine was despised by the men of Israel and
was finally cast over the vineyard wall; they bruised it and
trampled it under their feet and hoped that they had
destroyed it forever. The Husbandman removed the vine
and concealed it from their sight. Again He planted it, but
on the other side of the wall and in such a manner that the
stock was no longer visible. The branches hung over the
wall, and grafts might be joined to it; but the stem itself was
placed beyond the power of men to reach or harm.
Of special value to God's church on earth today--the
keepers of His vineyard--are the messages of counsel and
admonition given through the prophets who have made
plain His eternal purpose in behalf of mankind. In the
teachings of the prophets, His love for the lost race and His
plan for their salvation are clearly revealed. The story of
Israel's call, of their successes and failures, of their restoration
to divine favor, of their rejection of the Master of the vineyard,
and of the carrying out of the plan of the ages by a
goodly remnant to whom are to be fulfilled all the covenant
promises--this has been the theme of God's messengers to His
church throughout the centuries that have passed. And
today God's message to His church--to those who are occupying
His vineyard as faithful husbandmen--is none other
than that spoken through the prophet of old:
"Sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep
it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it
night and day." Isaiah 27:2, 3.
Let Israel hope in God. The Master of the vineyard is even
now gathering from among men of all nations and peoples
the precious fruits for which He has long been waiting. Soon
He will come unto His own; and in that glad day His eternal
purpose for the house of Israel will finally be fulfilled. "He
shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall
blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit."
Verse 6.