(Please read the passage above before reading this.)
Israel was a luxuriant vine, so luxuriant that it was growing wildly. The more abundant his fruit, the more wildly he grew. If you know anything about growing vines or flowers or other garden foods, you know that you have to trim or prune so that the fruit plant produces better fruit.
It is like raising a child. If you allow the child to grow wildly, without discipline, you will have a wild adult n your hands eventually. A child needs the discipline that only love can give. With the skillful direction given by love, a child can grow into a mature, stable and responsible adult.
Israel was a luxuriant vine. The more he grew, the more he wanted. He needed to be tamed, to learn his limits, to consider others than himself.
Israel’s problem is our basic human problem. It is the problem of the nations that bully other nations. It is the problem of the individuals that bully or hurt other people. It can be out problem when we let our wants and desires direct what we think or say or do.Israel was a luxuriant vine that needed to sow justice, not more grapes. It needed to reap the fruit of piety. Not of luxury. It needed to become a field of the Lord’s and the Lord’s harvest.