Ezekiel · chapter 15 of 48
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Ezekiel 15 is a short parable about the vine. The Lord asks what value the wood of the vine has compared with any other tree: it cannot even make a peg to hang things on, and once burned it is even less useful. So he will treat the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who have already come through the fire: he will set his face against them and make the land desolate because of their faithlessness.
Ezekiel 15 is one of the shortest chapters in the book and opens a series of allegories (chapters 15, 16, 17 and 19) by which God interprets Judah's history. In the Bible Israel is often compared to a vine or vineyard, a symbol of blessing and fruit. Here the image is used with an unexpected turn: it speaks not of the fruit, but of the wood.
The word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel with a question: how does the wood of the vine compare with the wood of any other tree in the forest? Is wood taken from it to make anything useful? Do people make a peg of it to hang any vessel on? No. The vine is given to the fire for fuel, and if the fire has consumed both ends and the middle is charred, is it good for anything? Even when it was whole it was used for nothing; how much less when the fire has consumed it and it is charred.
The Lord applies the image: like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which he has given to the fire for fuel, so he will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He will set his face against them; though they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And they will know that he is the Lord when he sets his face against them.
The chapter concludes with the reason: God will make the land desolate because they have acted faithlessly, that is, they have been unfaithful to the Lord. The parable is brief and deliberately uncomfortable, because it removes from Jerusalem every ground for pride.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord asks what advantage the wood of the vine has over that of any other tree. The vine is valued for its fruit; without it, its wood offers nothing useful.
The vine is thrown into the fire for fuel, and once burned it is of even less use. The image prepares the application: Judah, which does not bear the fruit God expected, has no other value before him.
Like the wood of the vine given to the fire, the Lord will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. It is not a capricious judgment but the consequence of a life without the expected fruit.
The Lord will make the land desolate because of their faithlessness. The word points to a breach of trust within a covenant relationship.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The wood of any other tree in the forest, to show that vine wood has no special use. — Ezekiel 15:2
Answer: Not a useful object, not even a peg to hang vessels on. — Ezekiel 15:3
Answer: It is thrown into the fire for fuel. — Ezekiel 15:4
Answer: It is still good for nothing useful. — Ezekiel 15:4-5
Answer: The inhabitants of Jerusalem. — Ezekiel 15:6
Answer: Because they have acted faithlessly. — Ezekiel 15:8
The vine is not made to be admired for its wood but to bear fruit. This parable invites us to check how much fruit we bear for God, rather than trusting in our history, our name or our privileges. A chosen people who do not live for the Lord lose their reason for being.
For believers, this leads to Jesus, who said he is the true vine (John 15). We do not bear fruit by our own effort but by abiding in him. In a small group, talk about what abiding in Christ means and what fruit looks like in daily life.
Ezekiel 15 sums up in a short parable the uselessness of a fruitless Jerusalem. In chapter 16, God will use another, much longer image to tell the story of his people's love and unfaithfulness.
In the Old Testament Israel is often called God's vine or vineyard (Psalm 80, Isaiah 5). A vine is valued for its fruit; if it bears none, it is only good for firewood. Ezekiel uses this image to say that Jerusalem, without the faithfulness God expected, has no value other than to be destroyed.
It probably refers to the deportations and judgments they had already suffered, including that of 597 BC. The charred vine represents a people who, even after those trials, have not turned to God, and so the fire will reach them again.