Ezekielchapter 15
8 verses · Ezekiel · 593 to 571 BC · The Prophets
“Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any other branch among the trees in the forest?
Introduction
Ezekiel, The Prophets, Ezekiel Overview.
Ezekiel spoke this short parable to exiles raised in a farming country of terraced vineyards. Israel's poets had long called the nation a vine, and every hearer knew the picture as praise. The chapter takes that familiar picture and asks a plain working question of it. It is the shortest chapter in the book, and it moves from a question to a verdict with nothing between. Listen for the carpenter's view of wood and for the two fires it mentions. The parable asks what a people chosen for fruit is worth when the fruit is gone.
Context
- Who
- Exiles raised in a farming country who had pruned vines and burned the cuttings
- What
- A parable of a vine branch that is useless as timber and is fit only to be burned, applied to Jerusalem.
- Where
- Tel Abib in Babylonia, spoken with the vineyards of the Judean hills in view.
- When
- About 591 BC, after the first deportation of 597 BC and before the city's fall.
- Why
- To answer the exiles' pride that Israel was worth preserving for its own sake whatever it produced.
Historical context
Israel had been called a vine before this, in the Psalms, in Isaiah, in Hosea, and the exiles knew the compliment. What this chapter does is ask a carpenter's question about it instead of a poet's.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Vine wood is useless as timber. The stem is twisted and soft, it splits, and it is never straight or long enough for a beam. You cannot even shape it into a peg strong enough to hang a pot on. Every farmer knew this because every winter he pruned hard and threw the cuttings on the fire; vine prunings were fuel and nothing else.
Then the picture gets worse. Take a vine branch that has already been half burned, charred at both ends and scorched in the middle, and ask what it is good for now. Nothing. It was worthless before the fire and it is less than worthless after it.
The application in the chapter names the two burnings without fuss. Jerusalem had already been through fire once, in the deportation of 597 BC, and it will go into the fire again.
Significance
The exiles' pride ran on the assumption that Israel was inherently valuable, chosen, special, worth preserving for its own sake. This short chapter says a vine has exactly one value, and that is fruit. Take away the fruit and there is nothing structural left to admire.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
It is a hard word aimed at a specific comfort, and it explains the strangeness of what had happened to them: the nation was not being destroyed because it was too small to defend, but because a fruitless vine is only good for the fire.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's table of synagogue readings ties no weekly portion and no Haftarah to this chapter. Probed for this lane, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot 0 and haftarah uses 0 for Ezekiel 15, and no festival reading for the book. The table holds the Haftarah of each weekly portion and the six books read whole on a feast or a fast. Across chapters 1 to 24 of Ezekiel the same probe found a Haftarah only in chapters 20 and 22.
How it is read
Rashi is the main commentator on this chapter in the corpus. He is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. The translation is modern, so every quotation from it is fifty words or fewer.
The vine of this chapter is the wild vine of the forest. God does not ask "about the vine of the vineyards, which produces fruit" but about "the branch of a vine that grows in the forest" (Rashi on Ezekiel 15:2:2). Its wood is fit for no tool, and when fire has eaten both ends it is fit for less (Rashi on Ezekiel 15:4:1).
So is Jerusalem. The two ends burned by the fire are "the two exiles" (Rashi on Ezekiel 15:6:1). The first was the exile of Jehoiakim with some of the royal seed, and the second was the exile of his son Jeconiah with the craftsmen. The people came out of the fire, and Rashi reads the fire two ways. "They transgressed the words of the Torah, which were given from fire, and nations as strong as fire will destroy them" (Rashi on Ezekiel 15:7:1).
The corpus carries 16 notes on this chapter without an English text, marked linked. Radak's notes stand at 15:1:1, 15:2:1, 15:3:1, 15:4:1, 15:5:1, 15:6:1 and 15:7:1. Metzudat David's notes stand at 15:2:1, 15:3:1, 15:4:1, 15:5:1, 15:6:1, 15:7:1 and 15:8:1. Rashi's own note stands at 15:5:1. Malbim's note stands at 15:8:1. Each stands cited and unquoted, because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 8 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 2 filed under the Talmud and 6 under the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 4 it holds Shabbat 20a:7. On verse 5 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 92:6 and Bereshit Rabbah 92:7. On verse 7 it holds Bava Batra 79a:2, Ein Yaakov, Bava Batra 5:21, Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 19:18 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 1:8. It also holds Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:15:1.
The corpus files one more locator under this chapter on a verse it does not have. Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 6:1 is filed on Ezekiel 15:13. It is left out of the list above rather than cited on a verse that is not there. This chapter has 8 verses.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Ezekiel 15:2:2 to 15:7:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Ezekiel 15:1:1 to 15:7:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Ezekiel 15:2:1 to 15:8:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; Rashi, Rashi on Ezekiel 15:5:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; Malbim, Malbim on Ezekiel 15:8:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/ezekiel/15.json, the 8 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Ezekiel 15: parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, no festival reading for the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Vine wood is good for nothing but fuel
Ezekiel 15:1-3
Then the word of the LORD came to me: The parable opens with a question: “how does the wood of the vine surpass any other branch among the trees in the forest?” The question makes the hearer supply the humbling answer before the application, aimed at a nation proud to be God’s planting.
Ezekiel 15:1
“And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. The destruction of Jerusalem had been represented under various types and similes before, as of a siege, and a sharp razor; and here of a fruitless and useless vine, only fit for the fire; which was delivered out by a spirit of prophecy. The Targum calls it the word of prophecy, as usual.”
the wood of the vine: Psalm 80:8 and Isaiah 5:1-7 picture Israel as a vine and judge it by its fruit. Ezekiel asks about the wood. Wesley adds that one branch of a forest tree is worth more than the whole vine once its fruit is gone.
Ezekiel 15:2
“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree,.... Or, "the wood of the vine than any wood" (b); it is not better than other wood; it is not so good as any other wood; nay, it is good for nothing. The fruit of the vine tree is good, but its wood is of no use: a vine tree, if it bears fruit, is valuable; but if it does not, it is of no account.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 15:2
“What is the vine tree more than any tree - It is certain that the vine is esteemed only on account of its fruit. In some countries, it is true, it grows to a considerable size and thickness: but, even then, it is not of a sufficient density to work into furniture. But whatever may be said of the stock of the vine, it is the branch that the prophet speaks of here; and I scarcely know the branch of any tree in the forest more useless than is the branch of the vine.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 15:2
“The vine-tree - Israel is here compared to a vine, which, when fruitless, is utterly unprofitable. This the prophet minds them of to humble them, and awaken them to fruitfulness. A branch - One branch of a tree in the forest is of more use than the whole vine- tree is, except for its fruit.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
peg on which to hang utensils?: A peg held a household's utensils, and it needed hard, straight wood. Vine wood is soft and twisted. Gill runs through the builder's trades and finds nothing useful that could be made from it.
Ezekiel 15:3
“Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work?.... The carpenter and joiner, the house or ship builder, are employed in; as to build houses of, make beams, rafters, floors, &c. build ships with, make masts of, &c. or any vessel or utensil for the use of man? it never is; it is not fit for any such purpose.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 15:3
“Among the plants, the roots of some, the seeds or fruits of others, the leaves of others, and of some the stalks, are most serviceable to us; so, among trees, some are strong and not fruitful, as the oaks and cedars; others are weak but very fruitful, as the vine, which is unsightly, low, and depending, yet of great use.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 15:4-5
cast into the fire for fuel: Verse 5 argues from lesser to greater: “Even when it was whole, it could not be made useful. How much less can it ever be useful when the fire has consumed it and charred it!” The image points to Jerusalem, already burned once and no better for it.
Ezekiel 15:4
“Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel, That is; a vine tree when cut down, or a branch when cut off, it is good for nothing else; and that is the use it is generally put to; see Joh 15:6; and this, it is suggested, would be the end of the Jewish nation; who were become by their sins like a wild vine, and were fit fuel for the fire of divine wrath: the fire devoureth both the ends of it; the branch cast into it, and so is quickly consumed.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 15:4
“The fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned - Judea is like a vine branch thrown into the fire, which seizes on both the ends, and scorches the middle: so both the extremities of the land is wasted; and the middle, Jerusalem, is now threatened with a siege, and by and by will be totally destroyed.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 15:4
“When it is good for nothing else it is useful this way, and answers a very needful intention, for fuel is a thing we must have, and to burn any thing for fuel which is good for other work is bad husbandry.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Even when it was whole: Calvin found Judah's worth in the gift of God alone. The people of Jerusalem had been useful by what the LORD gave them, and apart from that gift they were vine wood like any other. Pride in their own standing had no ground.
Ezekiel 15:5
“But the Prophet here uses a simile to show the Jews that they were not intrinsically but only accidentally excellent, since God had treated them as worthy of remarkable benefits. Since it is so, their arrogance is easily refuted, when they oppose their superiority to God, as if it were peculiar to them, and not God's special gift.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
Jerusalem handed over to the fire
Ezekiel 15:6-8
so I will give up the people of Jerusalem: The application is plain. They escape one fire only to meet another, for “another fire will consume them.” Fruitless election brings the fire rather than exemption, and the land is made desolate “because they have acted unfaithfully.”
Ezekiel 15:6
“Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Now follows the application of the simile: as the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel; to be burnt, as other trees of the forest are, and along with them: so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem; to be destroyed along with other nations by the Chaldeans; they being no better, but as bad, if not worse, like wild vines among forest trees; and therefore must fare no better: this was the decree and determination of the Lord.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 15:6
“Therefore thus saith the Lord - As surely as I have allotted such a vine branch, or vine branches, for fuel; so surely have I appointed the inhabitants of Jerusalem to be consumed. The design of this parable is to abate the pride of the Jews; to show them that, in their best estate, they had nothing but what they had received, and therefore deserved nothing; and now, having fallen from all righteousness, they can have no expectation of any thing but judgment unmixed with mercy.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 15:6
“Note, Those who are not fruitful to the glory of God's grace will be fuel to the fire of his wrath; and thus, if they give not honour to him, he will get himself honour upon them, honour that will shine brightly in that flaming fire by which impenitent sinners will be for ever consumed.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
another fire will consume them: The first fire is the deportation of 597 BC, which left Jerusalem charred. The people who escaped it would meet a second fire in 586 BC. Fire stands for every calamity, as at Psalm 66:12.
Ezekiel 15:7
“And I will set my face against them,.... In wrath to destroy them; see Eze 14:8; and they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them: from one calamity to another; those that escaped the famine and pestilence in the city fell by the sword; and those that escaped famine, sword, and pestilence, were carried into captivity, and there passed from one hardship and affliction to another.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 15:7
“And I will set my face against them--(See on Le 17:10). from one fire . . . another--(Compare Isa 24:18). "Fire" means here every kind of calamity (Ps 66:12). The Jewish fugitives shall escape from the ruin of Jerusalem, only to fall into some other calamity.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 15:7
“They shall go out ... - Rather, they have gone forth from the fire, and the fire shall devour them. The condition of the people is here depicted. The people of Israel - as a whole and as separate kingdoms - had become worthless. The branch torn from the living stem had truly been cast into the fire, which had devoured both ends of it; what remained was a brand plucked from the burning. Those who had escaped the general calamity were reserved for a like fate. Compare Joh 15:6.”
The Hebrew is maal, a breach of trust against the LORD, the word Leviticus 26:40 uses for the sin that sends His people into exile. Gill names the breach as idolatry. The desolate land is the covenant sanction carried out.
Ezekiel 15:8
“And I will make the land desolate,.... The land of Judea uncultivated, men and beast being cut off; see Eze 14:15; because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord God; acted a treacherous and perfidious part; apostatized from God, having committed idolatry, which was the cause of their ruin; and therefore it was not without a cause that the Lord did what he did, in it; see Eze 14:23.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 15:8
“They have committed a trespass - They have prevaricated; they are the worst of sinners, and shall have the heaviest of punishments. Can men suppose that it is possible to hide even their dark hearts from God?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.