The Vineyard, the Cedars, and the Thorns Left to Guard Israel

"And these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them" (Judges 3:1). A parable: to what may this be compared? To a king who planted a vineyard, and within it were great cedars and thorns. The king went and cut down the cedars and left the thorns. His servants said to him: "Our lord the king, you have left the thorns that catch our garments, and you have cut down the cedars?" He said to them: "If I had cut down the thorns, with what would I have hedged my vineyard?" So Israel is the vineyard of the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is said, "For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel" (Isaiah 5:7). He brought them into the land and cut down the cedars that were in it, as it is said, "Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars" (Amos 2:9). And He left their sons, so that Israel would keep the Torah, as it is said, "These are the nations that He left" (Judges 3:1). And when the vineyard stands firm in its place through the keeping of the Torah, then "the peoples shall be burnings of lime, thorns cut up that are burned in the fire" (Isaiah 33:12).