Ezekiel 15

Jerusalem the Useless Vine

1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 “Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any other branch among the trees in the forest?

3 Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can one make from it a peg on which to hang utensils?

4 No, it is cast into the fire for fuel. The fire devours both ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything?

5 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!

6 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the people of Jerusalem.

7 And I will set My face against them. Though they may have escaped the fire, yet another fire will consume them. And when I set My face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.

8 Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

Ezekiel 15 Commentary

Chapter 15

Jerusalem like an unfruitful vine.

- If a vine be fruitful, it is valuable. But if not fruitful, it is worthless and useless, it is cast into the fire. Thus man is capable of yielding a precious fruit, in living to God; this is the sole end of his existence; and if he fails in this, he is of no use but to be destroyed. What blindness then attaches to those who live in the total neglect of God and of true religion! This similitude is applied to Jerusalem. Let us beware of an unfruitful profession. Let us come to Christ, and seek to abide in him, and to have his words abide in us.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 15

The destruction of Jerusalem is again prophesied of in this chapter, and is set forth under the simile of a vine tree, which, for its uselessness, is committed to the fire. The simile is in Eze 15:1-5; the application of it in Eze 15:6-8.