Ezekielchapter 15
8 verses · KJVEzekiel book hub →
Key verse
Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
It stands in scene A of the chapter, verses 1 to 5.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The shortest of the parables and among the sharpest. What is the wood of the vine more than any tree of the forest? It cannot be made into any work; men will not even take a pin of it to hang a vessel on. Cast into the fire for fuel, with both ends burned and the middle scorched, it is fit for less than it was before. 'As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.' Israel's whole worth was fruit-bearing; barren, the vine has no second use.
Context
Prophecy · Ezekiel · Ezekiel overview
Where the chapter sits
Ezekiel 15 falls in Symbolic acts and judgment on Jerusalem (chapters 4–24). Lying on his side for 430 days; shaving the head with a sword; eating food in anxiety; the glory departs in stages (8–11); the prophet survives his wife's death without mourning (24).
Before it: Call and wheels-vision, chapters 1–3. After it: Oracles against the nations, chapters 25–32.
The whole shape of Ezekiel→The world behind this chapter
Ezekiel 15The history
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.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
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.
What it meant to them
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.
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.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel
A. Vine wood is good for nothing but fuel
1. (vv. 1-3)
a.And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying: The parable opens with a question that already carries its own answer: the vine is not valued for its wood, unlike forest trees which yield beams or pins to hang a vessel on, because a vine's whole worth is in its fruit. Henry reads the comparison as deliberately unflattering to a nation that prided itself on being God's own planting, since a fruitless vine has less practical use than a common forest branch. Gill notes the question form forces the hearer to supply the humbling answer before the application ever arrives.
Ezekiel 15:1, 1 voiceWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
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.”
Ezekiel 15:2, 3 voices
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.”
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
Ezekiel 15:3, 2 voices
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.”
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
2. (vv. 4-5)
a.cast into the fire for fuel: Fire is the vine wood's only use, and the parable pushes the point further, if it was useless even whole, how much less use is it once the fire has already devoured both ends and charred the middle. Keil reads the double negative built into verse 5, how much less shall it be meet, as the argument's real center, a wood already worthless made doubly worthless by partial burning. The image anticipates Jerusalem specifically, a city that has already survived one round of judgment and stands no better for it.
Ezekiel 15:4, 3 voices
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.”
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
Ezekiel 15:5, 1 voice
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
B. Jerusalem handed over to the fire
1. (vv. 6-8)
a.so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem: The application is made without disguise: as the vine is given to the fire, so the Lord will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a people who will go out from one fire only to be devoured by another. Fairbairn reads the parable as a direct answer to any confidence the exiles or the remaining city might have placed in their status as the vine, chosen people, since the chapter argues that election without fruit invites the fire rather than exempting from it. The recognition formula closes the short oracle, and the land is left desolate because of the trespass the people have committed.
Ezekiel 15:6, 3 voices
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.”
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
Ezekiel 15:7, 3 voices
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.”
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.”
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 15:8, 2 voices
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.”
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
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Ezekiel 15. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 9 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Calvin, Commentaries (1554); John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765); Matthew Henry and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.
Keep studying
On this page