Did nahala ever include vineyards? One's first impulse is to answer in the negative. Such a vineyard as that which is described in Isaiah's parable is evidently freehold; for no one would go to the expense of building a surrounding wall, and a tower, and constructing a wine-press in a vineyard of which he had the use for only six years [ISAIAH 5:1f]. Moreover the prediction in Isa. vii. 23f. clearly refers to fenced-in vineyards, since they are pictured as places in which in the cessation of agriculture wild animals, such as leopards, can find cover, but which will not be trodden down by oxen and sheep.
- from pages 78-79, Ancient Hebrew Social Life and Custom