Verse 3. - Shall wood be taken thereof, etc.? As a timber tree, then, the vine was confessedly valueless. No carpenter would use it, even for the peg upon which men hang their cups, and which had become, as in Isaiah 22:23, the symbol of political stability (comp. also Zechariah 10:4). For the unfruitful vine branch these remained the doom of being cast into the fire (John 15:6). What was its worth when it was half burned at either end and in the middle? What would Israel be fit for when it had been laid low by the "fire" of God's judgment? Probably the vivid picture of the charred branch points to the successive judgments which had fallen first on the ten tribes, then on Judah, and lastly on Jerusalem itself. The word "trespass" may refer either to the general guilt of the people, or to the last crowning crime of Zedekiah's rebellion. I rather incline to the latter, the noun being in the singular.
15:1-8 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.
Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work?.... The carpenter and joiner, the house or ship builder, are employed in; as to build houses of, make beams, rafters, floors, &c. build ships with, make masts of, &c. or any vessel or utensil for the use of man? it never is; it is not fit for any such purpose. Pliny (d) speaks of some rarities made of the wood of vines, but not things of common use; and these not of any vines, but of some peculiar ones, favoured by the air and soil
or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? it is not fit to make a peg of to hang a hat on; and much less for anything that requires more strength.
or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? it is not fit to make a peg of to hang a hat on; and much less for anything that requires more strength.
(d) Nat. Hist. l. 14. c. 1.