"“And He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.” Isaiah 5:2 . The people of Christ's day made a greater show of piety than did the Jews of earlier ages, but they were even more destitute of the sweet graces of the Spirit of God. The precious fruits of character that made the life of Joseph so fragrant and beautiful, were not manifest in the Jewish nation. COL 215.1"
"And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes."
Ellen White directly references Isaiah 5:2 in this passage.
"God in His Son had been seeking fruit, and had found none. Israel was a cumberer of the ground. Its very existence was a curse; for it filled the place in the vineyard that a fruitful tree might fill. It robbed the world of the blessings that God designed to give. The Israelites had misrepresented God among the nations. They were not merely useless, but a decided hindrance. To a great degree their religion was misleading, and wrought ruin instead of salvation. COL 215.2"
"Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?"
EGW's statement about Israel being a 'cumberer of the ground' directly relates to the parable in Luke 13:7, where the owner of the vineyard wants to cut down the fruitless fig tree because it 'cumbereth the ground.'
"And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away."
Both passages use the fig tree as a symbol of unfruitfulness and judgment. While not a direct quote, the EGW passage echoes the theme of the fig tree parable in Matthew 21:19, representing a nation or people who fail to produce the expected fruit.
"In the parable the dresser of the vineyard does not question the sentence that the tree, if it remained fruitless, should be cut down; but he knows and shares the owner's interest in that barren tree. Nothing could give him greater joy than to see its growth and fruitfulness. He responds to the desire of the owner, saying, “Let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well.” COL 215.3"
"And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:"
EGW directly quotes Luke 13:8.