For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
Ver. 7. For the vineyard, &c.] Exponit breviter mentem huius cantici. Here we have the parable expounded and applied: the Scripture is its own best interpreter; sometimes, as here and John 7:39, the sense is annexed. The Rabbis have a saying, Nulla est obiectio in lege quae non habet solutionem in latere. Nothing is exposed in law which does not have a solution in parts.
His pleasant plant.] Delectabilis in patriarchis, infructifera in palmitibus. Heb., "His plant of delights," but now turned into the degenerate plant of a "strange vine" unto him. Jer 2:21 Good progenitors may have a bad offspring: the reason whereof is given by Augustine, a Homo liberos gignit ex carne vetusta et peccatrice, non ex spivitu, &c. Man begetteth children of the old and sinful flesh, and not of the Spirit.
And he looked for judgment, but behold oppression.] Or, Conspiracy; or, as some render it, a scab, a cleaving scab, such as a man cannot easily be rid or recovered from. And here in the original is excellent rhetoric past interpretation. It is as if we should say, a preacher, a prevaricator rather; a dispensation, a dissipation: the sound is almost the same the sense much different. There is a lawful use of rhetoric in divine discourses. Augustine confesseth that while he heard Ambrose for his eloquence only, together with his words which he loved, the matter which he at first cared not for, came into his mind: and while, saith he, I opened my heart to listen how trimly he spoke, I came to consider also how truly he spoke; gradatim quidem, even by decrees.
For righteousness, but behold a cry.] The clamour of the oppressed entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth, who heareth their groans, and beholdeth their grievances. Job 34:28 Psalms 12:5 Jam 5:4
“ Clamitat in coelum vex sanguinis et Sodomorum,
Vex oppressorum, mercesque retenta laborum. ”
The twofold Ecce, "Behold oppression," "Behold a cry," showeth it to be an evil action with an accent, a wickedness with a witness. Aliam Hebroeorum labrusiam notat.
a Con. Pelag., lib. ii. cap. 9.