The ancient vineyards of Israel: Lessons for the soul

Matthew 21:33-34  – “Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country. And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits.”

From ancient times, the grapevine was one of the most famous climbing trees in Israel and is the first tree in the list of the seven fruits of the earth. The Bible refers to Noah as the first to plant a vineyard (Deuteronomy 8:8; Genesis 9:20).

There is another passage that helps us understand the subject: “My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he digged it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes… I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down” (Isaiah 5:1-5).

The farmer began the planting process by digging the ground to remove the large stones, then he removed the small stones, after which he planted the vine seedling. He usually chose a good quality one such as the “soreq”, translated above as the choicest vine, which was a luxury variety that produced red wine.

The vinedresser continued to care for the young plant, watering it sparingly to prevent its roots from rotting due to excessive watering—the meaning of the phrase "I water it every moment" (Isaiah 27:3).

As for protection, the vinedresser built a stone wall around the vineyard to prevent any encroachment. On top of it, he placed a hedge of thorny plants called " mesukhah" in Hebrew (Proverbs 15:19), to prevent small animals from climbing over the wall to enter the vineyard and damaging the harvest.

Finally, the vineyard owner built a tower in the middle of the vineyard which was used for guarding, monitoring, and storage. The tower usually consisted of two stories of stones arranged on top of each other. The ground floor was used as a storage area for crops, and the upper floor was used for guarding and sleeping during the grape harvest season. The tower was called "shomerah," which means "guard" in Jewish texts, and in the words of the Bible, "I will guard it night and day" (Isaiah 27:3).

Two types of vine are mentioned: "the vine of Sodom" (which may refer to its original place of cultivation (Deuteronomy 32:32)),  and "the spreading vine" (Ezekiel 17: 6) – a short-stemmed vine with branches that spread along the ground and was called "rogleet" in the Mishnah (Mishnah, Pe’ah (Corner) 7:8). There is also "Gefen Aderet," which translates as "a goodly vine" (Ezekiel 17:8), and it was tied to a tree or hedge to grow up and climb over it, and in the second temple era it was called a hanging vine or "daleet" (Mishnah, Pe’ah (Corner) 4:1). Even today we call it colloquially “dalia” in Arabic and Hebrew, in which the fruit is called a cluster “ishkol”. When it is dried it is called raisins, and since ancient times has been eaten as a sweet (1 Samuel 25:18; Numbers 13:23-24).

This is not merely a lesson in agriculture offered by a historian, but a reminder of the one who called himself the true vine, and “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15: 5) ... God cares, protects, and nurtures, yet if you and me are true branches, then we are alive, growing, and fruitful for God... May each one of us be so.