CHAPTER 15 Sep. 19 
A Useless Vine
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2Son of man, what is the vine plant more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? 3Shall wood be taken of it to make any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? 4See, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and its midst is burned. Is it profitable for any work? 5Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be of any use! 6Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: As the vine plant among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7I will set My face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and you shall know that I am Yahweh, when I set My face against them. 8I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, says the Lord Yahweh.

Commentary

15:5 There in Babylon they were as the vine tree, burned up and fit for no work; and yet, still used to perform God’s work, by grace alone. And these men were truly types of us. Even before they were burnt up, the vine tree of God’s people wasn’t good for any work (:3), and had no superiority over the other trees (:2). God’s people aren’t better, of themselves, than the peoples around them; we’re not good at works, even if we think we are; the way God uses us is a reflection of pure grace, and how He delights in using the humanly worthless and useless to do His work.