Jerusalem the Useless Vine
The word of the LORD comes with a question about the wood of the vine: how does it surpass the branch of any other tree in the forest? Vine wood is not suitable for making useful objects or even a simple peg, and once it has been thrown into the fire so that both ends are burned and the middle is charred, its uselessness is obvious. The point is that even before burning it had no special structural value, and after burning it is plainly fit only for disposal.
T1hen 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? 3Can wood be taken from it to make something useful? Or can one make from it a peg on which to hang utensils? 4No, it is cast into the fire for fuel. The fire devours both ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything? 5Even 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!
The LORD then applies the image directly: just as vine wood among the trees is given to the fire for fuel, so the people of Jerusalem will be handed over to judgment. God will set His face against them so that even if they seem to come out from one fire, another will consume them. Their unfaithfulness will end in a desolate land and in the certain knowledge that the LORD Himself has acted.
6Therefore 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. 7And 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. 8Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’ declares the Lord GOD.”