The Vine Wood

Ezekiel 15 is the shortest chapter in the book, a single parable built on a question. What is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? Israel prided itself on being God's vine, an image used in Psalm 80 and Isaiah 5. But God reminded them that a vine's value lies only in its fruit. As timber it is worthless: no one takes a pin of it to hang any vessel on.

The parable presses further. Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it? Jerusalem had already been through the fire, like a vine burned at both ends. The people in the city thought they had survived as the favored branch, but a fruitless, charred vine is even less useful.

God then applied the parable directly: as the vine wood among the trees of the forest, so he would give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They would go out from one fire only to meet another. The reason is stated in the final verse: they have acted unfaithfully. Privilege without fruit offered no protection. In the New Testament, John 15:5 says: I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.