Reflections on Isaiah 1:30

For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades,
and as a garden that has no water.
Isaiah 1:30 Modern English Version (MEV)

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For ye ... - The mention of the tree in the previous verse, gives the prophet occasion for the beautiful image in this. They had desired the oak, and they should be like it. That, when the frost came, was divested of its beauty, and its leaves faded, and fell; so should their beauty and privileges and happiness, as a people, fade away at the anger of God.

A garden that hath no water - That is therefore withered and parched up; where nothing would flourish, but where all would be desolation - a most striking image of the approaching desolation of the Jewish nation. In Eastern countries this image would be more striking than with us. In these hot regions, a constant supply of water is necessary for the cultivation, and even for the very existence and preservation of a garden. Should it lack water for a few days, everything in it would be burned up with neat and totally destroyed. In all gardens, therefore, in those regions; there must be a constant supply of water, either from some neighboring river, or from some fountain or reservoir within it. To secure such a fountain became an object of indispensable importance, not only for the coolness and pleasantness of the garden, but for the very existence of the vegetation. Dr. Russell, in his Natural History of Aleppo, says, that ‘all the gardens of Aleppo are on the banks of the river that runs by that city, or on the sides of the rill that supplies their aqueduct;’ and all the rest of the country he represents as perfectly burned up in the summer months, the gardens only retaining their verdure, on account of the moistness of their situation.

Albert Barne’s Notes on the Bible

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As a gardener myself, I can fully appreciate when a garden goes very long without water. There are, of course, plants that are adapted to such conditions. They either have very deep roots or are able to store enough water within their own plant structure to survive long dry periods. We are no different than these plants, physically or spiritually. If we don’t drink regularly and deeply, we will not be able to survive the inevitable times of drought.