The bunch of grapes
The Lost Joy and the Return to the Red Sea
The speaker laments that his former joy has been stolen, leaving him feeling spiritually regressed to a place of shame.
Joy, I locked you up—but some bad man has let you out again. And now, it seems to me, I'm back where I began seven years ago: one same fashion and vein, one climate of thoughts, has taken over my mind. I was drawing toward Canaan; but now I've been brought back to the Red Sea, the sea of shame.1
The Pattern of the Journey
The speaker reflects on how the journey of the Israelites in the wilderness serves as a pattern for every Christian's life, where God's justice and mercy unfold over time.
For just as the Jews of old traveled by God's command and saw no town, so now each Christian has his journeys measured out: their story writes us down and sets us in place.2 A single deed is little renown. God's works are vast and open into future times; his ancient justice overflows our crimes.3
The Wilderness and the Longing for the Cluster
The speaker acknowledges the shared wilderness experience of God's people, including their grumbling, and cries out for the promised cluster of the inheritance, asking to share in their joy as well as their sorrow.
Then we too have our guardian fires and clouds; the dew of Scripture falls thick and fast. We have our sands and serpents, our tents and shelters. Alas!✦✦✦4 Our grumbling doesn't lag behind either.5 But where's the cluster?✦ Where's the taste of my inheritance? Lord, if I must borrow, let me take up their joy as well as their sorrow.
The Wine of the Gospel
The speaker concludes with a note of confident faith, affirming that the one who has the wine of the Gospel also has the grape of the promise, and praising God for the sweet wine pressed from the Law for our sake.
But can someone who has the wine still lack the grape? I have their fruit and more. Blessed be God, who prospered Noah's vine and made it produce grapes in abundance. But even more, I must adore the one who made sweet wine from the Law's sour juice—even God himself, pressed for my sake.6
Read the original English
JOy, I did lock thee up: but some bad man Hath let thee out again: And now, me thinks, I am where I began Sev’n yeares ago: one vogue and vein, One aire of thoughts usurps my brain I did towards Canaan draw; but now I am Brought back to the Red sea, the sea of shame.
For as the Jews of old by Gods command Travell'd, and saw no town; So now each Christian hath his journeys spann'd: Their storie pennes and sets us down. A single deed is small renown. Gods works are wide, and let in future times: His ancient justice overflows our crimes.
Then have we too our guardian fires and clouds; Our Scripture-dew drops fast: We have our sands and serpents, tents and shrowds; Alas! our murmurings come not last. But where's the cluster? where's the taste Of mine inheritance? Lord, if I must borrow, Let me as well take up their joy, as sorrow.
But can he want the grape, who hath the wine? I have their fruit and more. Blessed be God, who prosper'd Noahs vine, And made it bring forth grapes good store. But much more him I must adore, Who of the Laws sowre juice sweet wine did make, Ev'n God himself, being pressed for my sake.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Exod.13.21-Exod.13.22;Num.9.15-Num.9.23 — And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Exod.13.22 — The pillar of cloud did not depart by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. Num.9.15 — And on the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony; and in the evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. Num.9.16 — So it was continually—the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night. Num.9.17 — And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the Israelites set out; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the Israelites would camp. Num.9.18 — At the command of the LORD the Israelites set out, and at the command of the LORD they camped. All the days that the cloud dwelt over the tabernacle, they camped. Num.9.19 — And when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the LORD and did not set out. Num.9.20 — And there were times when the cloud remained over the tabernacle for a number of days; at the command of the LORD they encamped, and at the command of the LORD they set out. Num.9.21 — And whenever the cloud remained from evening until morning, and the cloud lifted in the morning, they would set out; or if it lifted by day or by night, they would set out. Num.9.22 — Whether it was two days, or a month, or many days—when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, dwelling upon it, the Israelites would camp and would not set out; but when it was lifted, they would set out. Num.9.23 — At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out. They kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD through Moses.
- ↩Exod.16.13-Exod.16.15;Deut.32.2 — And in the evening the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay around the camp. Exod.16.14 — And when the layer of dew had lifted, behold, on the face of the wilderness there was a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. Exod.16.15 — When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.' Deut.32.2 — May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as showers upon fresh grass, and as raindrops upon tender plants.
- ↩Num.21.4-Num.21.9 — They set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people grew short on the way. Num.21.5 — And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul is weary of this worthless bread." Num.21.6 — And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. Num.21.7 — Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. Num.21.8 — And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." Num.21.9 — So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And whenever a serpent had bitten a man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
- ↩Num.13.23-Num.13.24 — They came to the Valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them, and also some of the pomegranates and some of the figs. Num.13.24 — That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes that the sons of Israel cut from there.
Notes
- 1 ↩Early modern vogue and vein mean a prevailing fashion/current and a temper or streak of feeling; aire is the atmosphere or cast of mind. Rendered as fashion, vein, and climate to keep the sense of a single recurring mood seizing the speaker.
- 2 ↩"spann'd" is taken as measured/allotted (the span of the journey marked out), not as stretched thin. "pennes and sets us down" is taken as writes/records us and situates us in the same pattern, not as "puts us off" a journey.
- 3 ↩"let in future times" rendered as admit/open onto later ages (God's works make room for what comes). "overflows our crimes" keeps the flood image: his long-standing justice pours out beyond and over our sins.
- 4 ↩Early modern 'shrowds' (shrouds) means coverings/shelters—the temporary dwellings of the wilderness journey—not burial cloths.
- 5 ↩'Murmurings' is the biblical wilderness term for Israel's complaints against God; rendered as 'grumbling' for plain modern English while keeping that force.
- 6 ↩Pressed keeps Herbert’s winepress image: God himself (Christ) is crushed like grapes, turning the Law’s harsh sourness into the sweet wine of the gospel and Passion.
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