Vine

The vine (Vitis vinifera) was planted on the hillsides above many Galilean and Judean villages. The farmer first cleared the slope of stones and stacked them into terraces; he often built a watchtower at the top corner of the vineyard for the long, anxious weeks before harvest, when foxes and thieves were a constant threat. The vines were trained low, sometimes spreading across the warm stones, sometimes lifted on wooden frames. Pruning was severe: each spring the vinedresser cut back almost everything, leaving only a short spur for the new season's growth. Isaiah's "Song of the Vineyard" (Isa.5) is the formative biblical image — God is the vinedresser, Israel the vineyard, and the failure to bear good fruit is a covenant lawsuit. Jesus picks up the same image in John 15: "I am the true vine; my Father is the vinedresser." Branches that bear fruit are pruned to bear more; branches that bear no fruit are gathered and burned. The cluster of grapes itself becomes the cup of Passover and, in the upper room, the cup of the new covenant.