Ezekiel 15:3

Ezekiel 15:3 KJV Commentary: The Useless Vine Wood

Ezekiel 15:3 is a rhetorical question that powerfully underscores the worthlessness of the wood from a vine that has failed to bear fruit. After being stripped of its leaves and fruit, such wood is so insignificant that it cannot even be used for the most basic tasks, like making a peg to hang a vessel.

Context

Chapter 15 of Ezekiel presents a vivid and sobering parable of the vine, used by God to illustrate the spiritual state of Jerusalem and the house of Israel. The imagery of a vine, often used to represent Israel in the Old Testament (e.g., Isaiah 5:7, Jeremiah 2:21), is central. Unlike other trees valued for their timber (like the cedar or oak), the vine's primary purpose is to bear grapes. If it fails in this, its wood is exceptionally weak and twisted, making it unsuitable for construction, furniture, or even a simple tool. This verse, therefore, highlights Jerusalem's utter uselessness in God's eyes due to its unfaithfulness and failure to produce righteousness, rendering it fit only for destruction by fire, symbolizing divine judgment.

Key Themes

• Worthlessness of Unfruitfulness: The verse emphasizes that without its primary function (bearing fruit), the vine wood is utterly useless. This serves as a stark metaphor for Israel's spiritual barrenness and lack of obedience to God, which made them worthless in His plan for blessing the nations.
• Divine Judgment and Purity: God's judgment is portrayed as a purifying fire. Just as useless vine wood is thrown into the fire, so too would unfaithful Jerusalem face destruction to purge its wickedness and prepare for a future remnant.
• The Nature of God's Relationship: The passage implies that God expects fruitfulness from those He has chosen and invested in. When that expectation is unmet, the relationship is broken, and consequences follow.

Linguistic Insights

The power of Ezekiel 15:3 lies in its rhetorical questions, which demand an obvious negative answer. "Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will [men] take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?" The Hebrew structure emphasizes the absolute impossibility of using such weak, knotty wood for anything of value. The word "pin" (yātēd) refers to a small peg or nail, highlighting that even for the most minor, mundane task, the wood is insufficient. This underscores the depth of Israel's spiritual decay – they were not just unproductive, but actively detrimental and utterly without purpose in their current state.

Practical Application

For believers today, Ezekiel 15:3 serves as a profound warning and a call to introspection:

• Bearing Spiritual Fruit: This verse reminds us of the importance of bearing spiritual fruit in our lives. As followers of Christ, who describes Himself as the true vine, we are called to abide in Him and produce fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) that glorifies God and benefits others. Without this, our spiritual lives can become spiritually barren and useless.
• Avoiding Complacency: It challenges us not to become complacent in our faith. Mere existence or a nominal association with God is not enough; active obedience and spiritual vitality are expected.
• God's Holiness and Justice: The passage reiterates that our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), and He will judge unfaithfulness. This should inspire reverence and a desire to live lives pleasing to Him.

Ezekiel 15:3, therefore, is not just a historical judgment on Israel but a timeless principle about the divine expectation of fruitfulness and the consequences of spiritual barrenness.