Ezekiel 15

Jerusalem as a Useless Vine

1 The word of the LORD came to me:

2 “Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest?

3 Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on?

4 And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything?

5 If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?

6 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem.

7 I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.

8 I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

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.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 80:8-16; Isaiah 5:1-7; Isaiah 27:2-6; Jeremiah 2:21; Hosea 10:1; S John 15:2
• 2. Jeremiah 13:10
• 3. S Isaiah 22:23
• 4. Ezekiel 17:3-10; Ezekiel 19:14; John 15:6
• 5. S Leviticus 26:17; Psalms 34:16; Ezekiel 14:8
• 6. S Ezekiel 5:2
• 7. S Ezekiel 5:4
• 8. Isaiah 24:18; Amos 9:1-4
• 9. S Ezekiel 14:13
• 10. Ezekiel 17:20; Ezekiel 18:24

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.