The prophet attempts to reach the apostate Jews in Judah with a parabolic song. Metaphorically the Promised Land of Israel is the vineyard and the people are the vine to produce fruit. The Lord did all that could be done for the people to be a fruitful people to Him but because of their apostasy and idolatry they produced only foul fruit. Join to this were the consequences of their disobedience pronounce in seven woes. The prophet told them that Hell (Sheol) could consume them, the wicked would be meals for Hell.

With satire and caricature, the prophet tried to reach the people in Judah who have either turned their backs on Yahweh completely or have mingled idols into their understanding of Yahweh, both in violation of their ten commandments. Yahweh sent the prophets to stop these egregious sins, the remedies were simple, obey. But they ruined this and behaved in arrogance and evil, ruining remedies given by God.

This section begins with the prophet sharing a vision of Israel’s future kingdom under the rule of the Messiah, who we know is Jesus Christ. Then the prophet once again addressed the sin in the land, the idolatry, the immorality and arrogance. This brought the call for accountability and judgment, along with an order to separate from those separated from God by their apostasy, idolatry and arrogance.

Isaiah delivers an indictment against those in Judah who are carefree about outward devotion with inward disobedience. Full of satire and rebuke the message from God is delivered without leaving doubt as to the severity of their twofaced, artificial religion, which essentially rendered God to a status of a mascot. God asks the guilty, “What is the point of religion when the God of that religion is disrespected?” Then comes the offer to resolve this and finally a lamentation over what God’s people could have been but refused to be.

 

The first recorded sermon of the Lord Jesus was not from Genesis or Psalms, but instead the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is the most quoted OT prophet in the NT. To summarize an outline of the book we may divided it into three parts: Prophetic, to Israel and Gentile nations, especially Assyria (1–35); Historic, relating to the reign of Hezekiah (36–39); Messianic, especially regarding the deliverance of a remnant in Israel (40–66). As was the manner of the prophets, Isaiah preached required righteousness and redemption for those who failed.