Luke 20:9

Christ spoke this parable against those who were resolved not to own his authority, though the evidence of it was ever so full and convincing; and it comes very seasonably to show that by questioning his authority they forfeited their own. Their disowning the lord of their vineyard was a defeasance of their lease of the vineyard, and giving up of all their title.

I. The parable has nothing added here to what we had before in Matthew and Mark. The scope of it is to show that the Jewish nation, by persecuting the prophets, and at length Christ himself, had provoked God to take away from them all their church privileges, and to abandon them to ruin. It teaches us, 1. That those who enjoy the privileges of the visible church are as tenants and farmers that have a vineyard to look after, and rent to pay for it. God, by setting up revealed religion and instituted orders in the world, hath planted a vineyard, which he lets out to those people among whom his tabernacle is, Luk 20:9. And they have vineyard-work to do, needful and constant work, but pleasant and profitable. Whereas man was, for sin, condemned to till the ground, they that have a place in the church are restored to that which was Adam's work in innocency, to dress the garden, and to keep it; for the church is a paradise, and Christ the tree of life in it. They have also vineyard-fruits to present to the Lord of the vineyard. There are rents to be paid and services to be done, which, though bearing no proportion to the value of the premises, yet must be done and must be paid. 2. That the work of God's ministers is to call upon those who enjoy the privileges of the church to bring forth fruit accordingly. They are God's rent-gatherers, to put the husbandmen in mind of their arrears, or rather to put them in mind that they have a landlord who expects to hear from them, and to receive some acknowledgment of their dependence on him, and obligations to him, Luk 20:10. The Old Testament prophets were sent on this errand to the Jewish church, to demand from them the duty and obedience they owed to God. 3. That it has often been the lot of God's faithful servants to be wretchedly abused by his own tenants; they have been beaten and treated shamefully by those that resolved to send them empty away. They that are resolved not to do their duty to God cannot bear to be called upon to do it. Some of the best men in the world have had the hardest usage from it, for their best services. 4. That God sent his Son into the world to carry on the same work that the prophets were employed in, to gather the fruits of the vineyard for God; and one would have thought that he would have been reverenced and received. The prophets spoke as servants, Thus saith the Lord; but Christ as a Son, among his own, Verily, I say unto you. Putting such an honour as this upon them, to send him, one would have thought, should have won upon them. 5. That those who reject Christ's ministers would reject Christ himself if he should come to them; for it has been tried, and found that the persecutors and murderers of his servants the prophets were the persecutors and murderers of himself. They said, This is the heir, come let us kill him. When they slew the servants, there were other servants sent. "But, if we can but be the death of the son, there is never another son to be sent, and then we shall be no longer molested with these demands; we may have a quiet possession of the vineyard for ourselves." The scribes and Pharisees promised themselves that, if they could but get Christ out of the way, they should for ever ride masters in the Jewish church; and therefore they took the bold step, they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 6. That the putting of Christ to death filled up the measure of the Jewish iniquity, and brought upon them ruin without remedy. No other could be expected than that God should destroy those wicked husbandmen. They began in not paying their rent, but then proceeded to beat and kill the servants, and at length their young Master himself. Note, Those that live in the neglect of their duty to God know not what degrees of sin and destruction they are running themselves into.

II. To the application of the parable is added here, which we had not before, their deprecation of the doom included in it (Luk 20:16): When they heart it, they said, God forbid, Mē genoito - Let not this be done, so it should be read. Though they could not but own that for such a sin such a punishment was just, and what might be expected, yet they could not bear to hear of it. Note, It is an instance of the folly and stupidity of sinners that they proceed and persevere in their sinful ways though at the same time they have a foresight and dread of the destruction that is at the end of those ways. And see what a cheat they put themselves, to think to avoid it by a cold God forbid, when they do nothing towards the preventing of it; but will this make the threatening of no effect? No, they shall know whose word shall stand, God's or theirs. Now observe what Christ said, in answer to this childish deprecation of their ruin. 1. He beheld them. This is taken notice of only by this evangelist, Luk 20:17. He looked upon them with pity and compassion, grieved to see them cheat themselves thus to their own ruin. He beheld them, to see if they would blush at their own folly, or if he could discern in their countenances any indication of relenting. 2. He referred them to the scripture: "What is this then that is written? How can you escape the judgment of God, when you cannot prevent the exaltation of him whom you despise and reject? The word of God hath said it, that the stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner." The Lord Jesus will be exalted to the Father's right hand. He has all judgment and all power committed to him; he is the corner-stone and top-stone of the church, and, if so, his enemies can expect no other than to be destroyed. Even those that slight him, that stumble at him, and are offended in him, shall be broken - it will be their ruin; but as to those that not only reject him, but hate and persecute him, as the Jews did, he will fall upon them and crush them to pieces - will grind them to powder. The condemnation of spiteful persecutors will be much sorer than that of careless unbelievers.

Lastly, We are told how the chief priests and scribes were exasperated by this parable (Luk 20:19): They perceived that he had spoken this parable against them; and so he had. A guilty conscience needs no accuser; but they, instead of yielding to the convictions of conscience, fell into a rage at him who awakened that sleeping lion in their bosoms, and sought to lay hands on him. Their corruptions rebelled against their convictions, and got the victory. And it was not because they had any fear of God or of his wrath before their eyes, but only because they feared the people, that they did not now fly in his face, and take him by the throat. They were just ready to make his words good: This is the heir, come let us kill him. Note, When the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil, the fairest warnings both of the sin they are about to commit and of the consequences of it make no impression upon them. Christ tells them that instead of kissing the Son of God they would kill him, upon which they should have said, What, is thy servant a dog? But they do, in effect, say this: "And so we will; have at him now." And, though they deprecate the punishment of the sin, in the next breath they are projecting the commission of it.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_20:9-19

A certain man planted a vineyard

Lessons

1.

Let us be thankful that God has planted His vineyard among us. We are situated, not in any of the deserts, or wastes, or commons, of the world, but in the vineyard, in a garden inclosed, in the very garden of the Lord.

2. Let us inquire whether we be rendering to the Lord of the vineyard the fruit which He expects in its season.

3. Beware of resembling these wicked husbandmen in their conduct, lest you also resemble them in their doom. What reception, then, are you giving to Gods ministers, and especially to Gods beloved Son?

4. In the last place, see that you give to the Lord Jesus that place in your spiritual building which is His due. Let Him be both at its foundation and at its top. Let Him be both the author and the finisher of your faith. (J. Foote, M. A.)

Gods manifold mercy

Like the drops of a lustre, which reflect a rainbow of colours when the sun is glittering upon them, and each one, when turned in different ways, from its prismatic form shows all the varieties of colour, so the mercy of God is one and yet many, the same yet ever changing, a combination of all the beauties of love blended harmoniously together. You have only to look at mercy in that light, and that light, and that light, to see how rich, how manifold it is. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

Fruitfulness the test of value

Years ago in Mentone they estimated the value of land by the number of olive-trees upon it. How many bearers of the precious oil were yielding their produce? That was the question which settled the value of the plot. Is not this the true way of estimating the importance of a Christian Church? Mere size is no criterion; wealth is even a more deceiving measure, and rank and education are no better. How many are bearing fruit unto the Lord in holy living, in devout intercession, in earnest efforts for soul winning, and in other methods by which fruit is brought forth unto the Lord? (Sword and Trowel.)

Abused mercy

Nothing so cold as lead, yet nothing more scalding if molten; nothing more blunt than iron, and yet nothing so keen if sharpened; the air is soft and tender, yet out of it are engendered thunderings and lightnings; the sea is calm and smooth, but if tossed with tempests it is rough beyond measure. Thus it is that mercy abused turns to fury; God, as He is a God of mercies, so He is a God of judgment; and it is a fearful thing to fall into His punishing hands. He is loath to strike, but when He strikes, He strikes home. If His wrath be kindled, yea, but a little, woe be to all those on whom it lights; how much more when He is sore displeased with a people or person! (John Trapp.)

The Son rejected

Turning to the parable, notice--

I. THE OWNERS CLAIM. His right and authority are complete. God presses His right to our love and service. Blessings are privileges, and privileges are obligations.

II. THE OWNERS LOVING PATIENCE. There never was an earthly employer who showed such persistent kindness towards such persistent rebellion. The account of servants sent again and again, in spite of insults and death, is a faint picture of His forbearance towards Israel. Mercies, deliverances, revelations, pleadings, gather, a shining host, around all their history, as the angelic camp was close to Jacob on his journey. But all along the history stand the dark and bloodstained images of mercies despised and prophets slain. The tenderness of God in the old dispensation is wonderful; but in Christ it appears in a pathos of yearning.

III. THE REJECTION.

IV. THE JUDGMENT. It was just, necessary, complete, remediless.

V. THE FINAL EXALTATION OF THE SON. (Charles M. Southgate.)

The rejected Son

I. GODS INTEREST IN HIS VINEYARD. The great truths of the Old Testament are from the prophets rather than from the priests. The grand progress of truth has depended upon these fearless men. The age without its prophet has been stagnated. The priesthood is conservative; prophecy, progressive. The true prophet is always great; truth makes men great. Only by a clear understanding of the accumulating prophecies of the Old Testament can we appreciate the Divine care. In this lesson as to the care of God for His vineyard, Christ has marked the distinction between the functions of the prophets and Himself. They had spoken as servants; He as the Son. In such a comparison is seen the transcendent revelation of God in Christ. He was the heir. The interests of the Father were identical with His own. It was in such a comparison that Christ declared the infinite grace of God in the incarnation and its purpose.

II. THE IRREVERENCE OF MEN. The whole attitude of God toward His Church is that of an infinite condescension and pity.

1. The attitude of these men toward the truth. The greatest conflicts have been between the truth of God and the personal desires of men.

2. This antagonism is manifested in the treatment of those who are righteous. In one sense he who accepts a truth becomes its personation, and as a consequence must bear all the malignity of those who hate that same truth. Witness the treatment of the prophets in evidence. Because Micaiah uttered that which was displeasing to the government of Israel he was scourged and imprisoned. Because the prophet Jeremiah gave an unwelcome prophecy to his king, although it was the word of the Lord, he was thrown into a dungeon for his courage. No better fate awaited the prophet Isaiah than to be sawn asunder by order of the ruler of Gods chosen people. It was the high priest who obtained a decree for the expulsion of Amos from Jerusalem.

3. This antagonism to the prophets of the truth is only a lesser expression of a burning hatred toward God. The spirit of hatred to the prophets would result in the killing of the Son of God. Whether the truth or man or God stands in the way of this lust for power, the result is the same.

III. THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE. Repeatedly this truth is brought out in the life of Christ. They sought to lay hold on Him, but feared the people. In these few words we recognize the corrective of the terrible accusation against human nature. If such a history is the expression of what is universal, then we must discern the fact that the truth is more safe in the hands of the many than of the few.

IV. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE OWNER OF THE VINEYARD. In the parallel account of this parable in Matthew, we read the question of Christ: When the lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? In all history this same truth has been often witnessed. The rejecters of God are self-rejected from Him. The power that is not used for God is taken from us and given to those who will use it. There are two practical suggestions very intimately connected with this theme that we briefly notice. First: The greatest hindrance to Christs kingdom may come from those who are the highest in the administration of its affairs. Second: The stupidity of wickedness. These very men who robbed God were robbing themselves. By planning to possess the vineyard they lost it. By attempting to keep the owner away they cast themselves out. God controls His own kingdom and Church. The stone which the builders rejected, is become the head of the corner: this was the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. (D. O. Mears.)

Parable of the vineyard let to husbandmen

I. THE MATERIALS OF WHICH THE PARABLE IS COMPOSED are objects which were familiar in Palestine, or common in warm countries; a vineyard, a proprietor, and tenants.

II. Let us next attend to THE OBJECTS WHICH OUR SAVIOUR HAD IN VIEW IN DELIVERING THIS PARABLE; or, what is the same thing, inquire what are the important truths contained in it. The objects of our Saviour in this parable seem to be

1. To point out the singular advantages bestowed on the Jews as a nation.

2. Their conduct.

3. Their punishment.

4. The transference of their advantages to others

Inferences:

1. From this passage we may learn that we, as Christians, possess a portion of that kingdom which the Lord Jesus came to establish. For the Christians came in the place of the Jews. This kingdom consists in privileges, in blessings, in superior knowledge, and superior means of improvement. Of those privileges we have much cause to be grateful, but none whatever to be proud. For they were not given because we were better than other nations: but they were bestowed solely that we might cultivate and improve them, and become the blessed instruments of conveying them to others.

2. That if we cease to bring forth the fruit of holiness, the kingdom of God will also be taken from us. God has given us much, and therefore of us much will be required. (J. Thomson, D. D.)

The Herodians and Pharisees combined against Jesus

1. The combination of men of opposite sentiments, in a particular case, affords no proof that truth and justice are connected with their temporary union.

2. In the conduct of the scribes and Pharisees on this occasion we see the disgraceful artifices which malice leads men to employ.

3. From this passage we may observe the perfect knowledge which Jesus had of the characters, principles, and intentions of His enemies.

4. The wisdom of Jesus was also conspicuous on this occasion. Had He been a mere man, we should have said He was distinguished by presence of mind. Now His wisdom is strongly displayed here. He might have refused to answer the question of the Pharisees and Herodians, as the Pharisees had done to Him. Or He might have given some dark enigmatical reply which they could not have perverted. But, instead of doing so, He gave a plain decided answer, without fear or evasion.

5. The fearless regard to truth which the Lord Jesus displayed on this occasion deserves to be carefully noticed. He did not mean to decline answering the question, Whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. On the contrary, He instantly declared that it was lawful; and not only lawful, but obligatory, as they themselves had unwillingly confessed. For the allusion to the denarius struck them forcibly; and they went away admiring the person whom they had come to expose and overwhelm.

6. Lastly, we may observe the disposition which our Saviour always showed to direct the attention of His hearers to the duty which they owed to God. If, then, we are to render to God the things that are Gods, we must render everything to God; for everything we have belongs to Him--our capacities, our opportunities, our advantages, our blessings. (J. Thomson, D. D.)

It will grind him to powder

The madness of opposing Christ

It is said that a hundred thousand birds fly against the lights of the lighthouses along the Atlantic coast of the United States, and are killed annually. So says a slip cut from this mornings newspaper. We need not be afraid in these excited times that captious cavillers will put out our hope. The dark wild birds of the ocean keep coming forth from the mysterious caverns; they seem to hate the glitter of the lenses. They continue to dash themselves upon the thick panes of glass in the windows. But they usually end by beating their wings to pieces on the unyielding crystal till they fall dead in the surf rolling below. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)

The wreck of infidelity

Some years ago, a man and his wife were found living in a wretched broken-down house in a low part of London; and although the husband was down with illness, his only bed was a little straw, with a coarse dirty wrapper for a covering, and a brick for a pillow. An old chair and a saucepan appeared to be the only other furniture on the premises, while the wife in attendance was subject to fits, which made her for the time more like a wild animal than a woman. Though reduced to so wretched a condition, this man was really gifted and educated; and in days of health and strength he had worked with his pen for an infidel publisher. What, then, was the cause of his downfall? It so happened that the sufferer answered this question himself; for, casting his dull, leaden-looking eyes around the room after a visitor had entered, he remarked, This is the wreck of infidelity!

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 20:9-19. A certain man planted a vineyard, &c. — See this paragraph explained on Mat 21:33-46, and Mar 12:1-12. And went into a far country for a long time — It was a long time from the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan to the birth of Christ. He shall destroy those husbandmen — Probably he pointed to the scribes, chief priests, and elders; who allowed, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, Mat 21:41, but could not bear that this should be applied to themselves. They might also mean, God forbid that we should be guilty of such a crime as your parable seems to charge us with, namely, rejecting and killing the heir. Our Saviour means, But yet ye will do it, as is prophesied of you. He looked on them — To sharpen their attention.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk_20:9. Then began He.—The opening of a fresh series of parables and discourses. This parable.—The substance of which is partly a history of the ingratitude and rebelliousness of the Jewish people, and partly a prophecy of their final act of apostasy in rejecting and slaying their Messiah, and of the punishment that would follow. A certain man.—The man represents God, the vineyard the Jewish nation, the husbandmen the rulers of the Jews. This parable is intimately connected with Isa_5:1 ff. For a long time.—The idea implied is that abundant opportunity was given for a return for all God’s mercy to Israel.

Luk_20:10. A servant.—By the servants are to be understood the prophets. For the treatment they received see 1Ki_18:4; 1Ki_22:24-27; 2Ch_24:21; Jer_26:20-23; Jer_37:15 :cf. also Neh_9:26; Heb_11:36-37. Of the fruit.—I.e., payment in kind.

Luk_20:12. Cast him forth.—A certain gradation in acts of insolence and violence is implied.

Luk_20:13. My beloved son.—The distinction between the son and the other servants is plainly indicated (cf. Heb_3:5-6). Yet the Son takes upon Him “the form of a servant” (Php_2:7). Christ here speaks of Himself, not as Redeemer, but as preacher of righteousness. When they see him.—Omitted in the best MSS.; omitted in R.V.

Luk_20:14. This is the heir.—An implication that the leaders of the Jews were secretly conscious that Christ’s claims were well founded. Nicodemus, speaking for his class, said, early in Christ’s ministry, “We know that thou art a teacher come from God” (Joh_3:2). The words, too, of Caiaphas seem to imply a latent consciousness that Jesus was the Messiah (Joh_11:49-52).

Luk_20:15. So they cast him out.—Here the prophetical part of the parable begins. The allusion is either to excommunication, to delivering Him over to the heathen, or to His suffering death outside the walls of the city. If this last be the fulfilment of the prophecy, we may compare with these words, Joh_19:17; Heb_13:11-12.

Luk_20:16. He shall come.—In St. Matthew this reply is given by the people in answer to Christ’s question. This coming of the Lord is here plainly identified with the destruction of Jerusalem. God forbid,—Lit., “Be it not so”; a phrase found here only in the Gosples. There seems no special reason why, in the passages in the New Testament where it occurs, the Divine name should be used in translating it; it is scarcely reverent so to use it.

Luk_20:17. And He beheld them.—Rather, “But He looked upon them” (R.V.); a fixed glance to add force to the quotation from Scripture which He was about to make. That is written.—Psa_118:22; a psalm from which the multitude had quoted in acclamations the day before. (Hosanna, Mat_21:9, is from the twenty-fifth verse of that psalm, where it is rendered “save now.”) Head of the corner.—“The stone is regarded both as a foundation-stone and a stone at the angle of the building, binding the two walls together” (Farrar).

Luk_20:18. Broken.—Rather, “broken to pieces” (R.V.). Grind him to powder.—Rather, “it will scatter him as dust” (R.V.). In the latter there is probably an allusion to Dan_2:35. They fall on the stone who are offended at Christ in His low estate (Isa_8:14; Luk_2:34). “Of this sin His hearers were already guilty. There was yet a worse sin which they were on the point of committing, which He warns them would be followed by a more tremendous punishment: they on whom the stone falls are those who set themselves in distinct and self-conscious opposition against the Lord; who, knowing who He is, do yet to the end oppose themselves to Him and to His kingdom” (Trench).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_20:9-18

The Vineyard and its Keepers.—The pungent severity of this parable, with its transparent veil of narrative, is only appreciated by keeping clearly in view the circumstances and the listeners. They had struck at Him with their question of His authority, and He parries the blow. Now it is His turn, and the sharp point goes home.

I. The preparation of the vineyard.—

1. It is planted and furnished with all needful appliances for making wine (see Matthew), which is its great end. The direct Divine origin of the religious ideas and observances of “Judaism” is thus asserted by Christ. The only explanation of them is that God enclosed that bit of the wilderness, and with His own hands set growing there these exotics. Neither the theology nor the ritual is of man’s establishing.

2. Thus prepared, the vineyard is next handed over to the husbandmen. These are the Jewish people. No doubt the Sanhedrim was the chief object at which Christ aimed the parable. But they only gave form and voice to the national spirit, and “the people loved to have it so.” National responsibilities are not to be slipped out of by being shifted on to the broad shoulders of governments or influential men. Who lets them be governments, and influential? Christ teaches both rulers and ruled, then, here, the ground and purpose of their privileges. They prided themselves on these as their own, but they were only tenants. They made boast of the law, but they forgot that fruit was the end of the Divine planting and equipment. Holiness and glad obedience were what God sought.

3. Having installed the husbandmen, the owner goes into another country. Centuries of comparative Divine silence followed the planting of the vineyard. Having given us our charge, God, as it were, steps aside to leave us room to work as we will, and so to display what we are made of. He is absent in so far as conspicuous oversight and retribution are concerned. He is present to help, love, and bless. The faithful husbandman has Him always near, a joy and a strength, else no fruit would grow; but the sin and misery of the unfaithful are that he thinks of Him as far off.

II. The habitual ill-treatment of the messengers.—These are, of course, the prophets, whose office was not only to foretell, but to plead for obedience and trust, the fruits sought by God. The whole history of the nation is summed up in this dark picture. There is no more remarkable historical fact than that of the uniform hostility of the Jews to the prophets. That they should have had prophets in long succession is surely inexplicable on any naturalistic hypothesis. Such men were not the natural product of the race nor of its circumstances, as their fate shows. How did they spring up? The only explanation is that stated here: “He sent His servants.” Christ treats the whole long series of violent rejections as the acts of the same set of husbandmen. The class, or nation, was one, as the stream is one, though all its particles were different; and the Pharisees and scribes, who stood with frowning hatred before Him as He spoke, were the living embodiment of the spirit which had animated all the past. In so far as they inherited the taint, and repeated the conduct, the guilt of all the former generations was laid at their door. They declared themselves their predecessors’ heirs; and as they reproduced their actions, they would have to bear the accumulated weight of the consequences.

III. The mission of the son and its fatal issue (Luk_20:13-15).—Three things are noticeable here.

1. The unique position which Christ here claims, with unwonted openness and decisiveness, as apart from, and far above, all the prophets. They constitute one order, but He stands alone, sustaining a closer relation to God. They were faithful as servants, but He as a son. Rulers and people must decide whether they will own or reject their king, and they must do it with their eyes open.

2. The owner’s vain hope in sending his son. He thought that he would be welcomed, and he was disappointed. It was his last attempt. Christ knew Himself to be God’s last appeal, as He is to all men, as well as to that generation. He is the last arrow in God’s quiver. When He has shot that bolt, the resources even of Divine love are exhausted, and no more can be done for the vineyard than He has done for it.

3. The vain calculation of the husbandmen. Christ puts hidden motives into plain words, and reveals to His hearers what they scarcely knew of their own hearts. But how was the rulers’ or the people’s wish to “seize on His inheritance” their motive for killing Jesus? Their great sin was their desire to have their national prerogatives and to render no true obedience. The ruling class clung to their privileges, and forgot their responsibilities, while the people were proud of their standing as Jews, and careless of God’s service. Neither wanted to be reminded of their debt to the Lord of the vineyard, and their hostility to Jesus was mainly because He would call on them for the fruits. If they could get this unwelcome and persistent voice silenced, they could go on in the comfortable old fashion of lip-service and real selfishness. It is an account of the hostility of many men who are against Him. They want to possess life and its good, without being for ever pestered with reminders of the terms on which they hold it, and of God’s desire for their love and obedience. They have a secret feeling that Christ has the right to ask for their hearts, and so they turn from Him with anger, and sometimes with hatred.

IV. The application of the parable.—Our Lord, in this last portion of His address, throws away even the thin veil of parable, and speaks the sternest truth in the nakedest words. He puts His own claim in the plainest fashion, as the corner-stone on which the true kingdom of God was to be built. He brands the men who stood before Him as incompetent builders, who did not know the stone needed for their edifice when they saw it. He declares, with triumphant confidence, the futility of opposition to Himself—even though it kill Him. He is sure that God will build on Him, and that His place in the building, which shall rise through the ages, will be, to even careless eyes, the crown of the manifest wonders of God. Strange words from a man who knew that in three days He would be crucified! Stranger still, they have come true! He is the foundation of the best part of the best men; the basis of thought, the motive for action, the pattern of life, the ground of hope, for countless individuals; and on Him stands firm the society of His Church, and is hung all the glory of His Father’s house. Rejection of Christ involves an awful doom. The doom has two stages: one, a lesser misery, which is the lot of Him who stumbles against the stone, while it lies, passive, to be built on; one more dreadful, when it has acquired motion and comes down with irresistible impetus. To stumble at Christ, or to refuse His grace, and not to base our lives and hopes on Him, is maiming and damage, in many ways, here and now. But suppose the stone endowed with motion, what can stand against it? And suppose that the Christ, who is now offered for the rock on which we may pile our hopes and never be confounded, comes to judge, will He not crush the mightiest opponent as the dust of the summer threshing-floor?—Maclaren.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_20:9-18

Luk_20:9-18. The Parable of the Vineyard.—

I. Its references to the Jews.—Its special reference was to the teachers, the scribes and Pharisees. The lesson is very plain. They or their fathers had rejected the prophets who had come in the name of God, and now they were about to cast out and even kill the beloved Son of God Himself. Here, therefore, they are warned solemnly that their privileges will be taken from them, and they themselves will suffer the just punishment of their abuse of these privileges.

II. But the parable reaches to us also.—We have each our own vineyard to keep—that is to say, our work to do for God, and our life to live for God. He will call us to account for the deeds done in the body. To teach us to live for Him, He has sent us also prophets and apostles and martyrs, preachers and teachers. They come in humble guise, perhaps; but when they are pure and true, the conscience and the Spirit of God tell us they are God’s messengers. According to our treatment of them shall be our judgment.—Hastings.

The Wicked Husbandmen.—This parable tells—

I. The greatest favour.

II. The greatest sin.

III. The darkest doom.—Wells.

I. The vineyard.—

1. The owner of the vineyard.

2. What he did with it.

II. The husbandmen.—

1. Their privileges, and how they used them.

2. Their rebellion, and how it ended.—Watson.

I. The circumstances in which the vine-dressers (as representing the leaders of the Jewish people) are placed.

II. Their past conduct (Luk_20:10-12).

III. Their present conduct (Luk_20:13-15).

IV. The chastisement to be inflicted on them.

The History of the Theocracy.—Jesus here traces the course of the history of the theocracy. The true significance of that history is unveiled in a most profound manner. From the foundation of the ancient covenant, down through the ministry of the prophets to the advent of Jesus Himself, His rejection and death, the very consequences of His death not yet consummated—the rejection of Israel and the transference of the kingdom of God from the Jews to the Gentiles;—all is presented in the simplest imagery and with the most terrible clearness. At the same time an answer is given to the question of the priests as to the source of His authority. He is the Son, the Heir, the last messenger from their Master.—Godet.

Luk_20:9. “To the people.”—Christ had repelled the attack, but now He carries the war into His enemies’ quarters. He had unmasked the hypocrisy of His enemies, and shown the dilemma in which their pretended ignorance placed them: now He brings their guilt to light and foretells that their rejection of Him will lead to the bringing in of the Gentiles.

“Went into a far country.”—In the miracles which went along with the deliverance from Egypt, the giving of the law from Sinai, and the planting in Canaan, God openly dealt with His people—made, as we know, an express covenant with them; but, this done, withdrew for a while, not speaking any more to them face to face (Deu_34:10-12), but waiting in patience to see what the Law would effect, and what manner of works they, under the teaching of their appointed guides, would bring forth.—Trench.

Luk_20:10. “Sent a servant to the husbandmen.”—Nothing is more remarkable in the history of Israel than the constant co-existence within her pale of two entirely opposite classes of men—that of the moral triflers, too numerously represented among those exercising official influence; and that of the men of consuming zeal for righteousness, that is, the prophets.—Bruce.

“Give him of the fruit.”—These fruits which are demanded are in no wise to be explained as particular works, nor yet as a condition of honesty and uprightness, but much rather as the repentance and the inward longing after true inward righteousness which the Law was unable to bring about. It is by no means implied that the Law had not an influence in producing uprightness; it cuts off the grosser manifestations of sin, and reveals its hidden abomination, so that a righteousness according to the Law can, even under the Law, come forth as fruit. While yet, to be sufficing, this must have a sense of the need of redemption for its basis (Rom_3:20-25). The servants, therefore, here appear as those who seek for these spiritual needs, that they may link to them the promises concerning a coming Redeemer; but the unfaithful husbandmen, who had abused their own position, denied and slew these messengers of grace.—Olshausen.

Luk_20:11. “Entreated him shamefully.”—Cf. Neh_9:26 : “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against Thee, and cast Thy law behind their backs, and slew Thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to Thee; and they wrought great provocations.” See also 2Ch_24:20-21; Jer_44:4.

Luk_20:12. Cast him out.”—The vinedressers proceed from bad to worse: the first messenger they beat; the second they beat and outrage; the third they wound and fling out of the vineyard.

Luk_20:13. “I will send my beloved Son.”—The failure of this attempt implies

(1) that the resources even of heavenly love are exhausted, and

(2) that the impenitent fill up the measure of their guilt.

“It may be they will reverence.”—Two alternatives:—

I. Reverence shown to the Son.

II. Or, at least, hesitation to inflict on Him ill-treatment like that suffered by the servants previously sent.

Anthropomorphism.—Strictly speaking, indeed, this thought does not apply to God, for He knew what would happen, and was not deceived by the expectation of a more agreeable result; but it is customary, especially in parables, to ascribe to Him human feelings. And yet this was not added without reason, for Christ intended to represent, as in a mirror, how deplorable their impiety was, of which it was too certain a proof that they rose in diabolical rage against the Son of God, who had come to bring them back to a sound mind. As they had formerly, as far as lay in their power, driven God from His inheritance by the cruel murder of the prophets, so it was the crowning point of all their crimes to slay the Son, that they might reign as in a house which was without an heir.—Calvin.

“They will reverence him.”—The lord of the vineyard has one expedient left. He will send his only and well-beloved son. The thought which lies on the surface is the estimate formed in heaven of the mission of the Son of God. It was something different, not in degree, but in kind, from any other instrumentality that had been or could be employed for touching hard hearts and awakening dormant sensibilities. We know how opposite was the result. Hearts were only stimulated into a greater degree of resistance by the mission of the Divine Son. Not one generation or one nation only which has thus argued. Men in all ages have felt the critical nature of the interposition of Jesus Christ, and have roused themselves to put Him down with an energy stimulated by the thought of the finality of the enterprise. In this recognition of the greatness of the stake at issue, Christians find nothing to complain of, everything to rejoice in. Jesus Christ is the key of the position. The text describes the anticipation in heaven, chronologically antecedent to the reception below. “It may be they will reverence Him when they see Him.” The word “reverence” used here occurs in several other places and contains three elements:—

I. Attention.—This is the first element of reverence. Can there be reverence without attention? Is there not much irreverence among priests and people alike? Neglect of Christ’s word? Careless living?

II. Awe is the second element in reverence.—There is much unhallowed familiarity in present-day religion. Too much emotional fondness. Christ risen and enthroned is too much forgotten. How little is felt of St. John’s awe in His presence!—“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.”

III. Shame is the third element.—It might have been thought that the sight of the son would awaken in the husbandmen a sense of shame for those misdeeds of theirs which had made his coming necessary. Whether shame enters into all reverence is a question which may wait. It must, however, enter into all that reverence which forgiven sinners feel for Jesus Christ. There is nothing like the sight of the Saviour for quickening the sense of the multitude and the shamefulness of personal sins. Because I am ashamed before Him now, I hope not to be ashamed before Him at His coming.—Vaughan.

Luk_20:14. “Let us kill him.”—We, on the contrary, say, “This is the Son of the Eternal God; let us believe on Him, and the inheritance shall be ours.”—Sutton.

Luk_20:15. “And killed him.”—Jesus relates, with striking calmness, and as a fact already accomplished, the crime which they are preparing to commit upon His person. It is as though He told them that He would not seek to escape out of their hands.—Godet.

Luk_20:16. Give the vineyard to others.—If the husbandmen who are dispossessed represent the heads of the Jewish theocracy, the others who take their place must be understood to represent the apostles and their successors.

Luk_20:17-19. The Rejected Stone.—A codicil added to the parable of the vineyard. The Jews were familiar with the ideas connected with the cornerstone.

I. The stone at rest.—Men falling or rushing on a big rock hurt, not the rock, but themselves. The Redeemer resisted in the day of grace, means loss and harm to those resisting. We must come into some kind of contact with the Son of God. Alas! He has, on earth, to bear the weight of many sinners striking against Him.

II. The stone in motion.—The rock is raised in mid-heaven, hovers over the assailants for a while, and then falls on their heads. Here the destruction is final and complete. Christ’s enemies will be overwhelmed by His own power put forth in the day of judgment. The first bruising may be cured: the grinding to powder accomplished by the Judge when the day of grace is done can never be healed. Many resented this doctrine from the lips of Christ. Some resent it keenly still. But there is no escape from the solemn truth that those who in this life reject Christ must bear the weight of His judgment in the world to come.—Arnot.

Luk_20:17. “What is this, then?”—I.e., if the evil-doers were not to be overthrown, the prophecy of Scripture would not be fulfilled.

Luk_20:18. “Fall on this stone.”—Those persons are said to fall upon Christ who rush forward to destroy Him; not that they occupy a more elevated position than He does, but because their madness carries them so far that they endeavour to attack Christ as if He were below them. Christ tells them that all they will gain by it is, that by the very conflict they will be broken. But when they have thus proudly exalted themselves, He tells them that another thing will happen, which is that they will be bruised under the stone against which they so insolently dashed themselves.—Calvin.

I. An injury which may be healed.—The bruising caused by a man’s unbelieving opposition to Christ under the gospel.

II. Irremediable destruction.—Accomplished by the wrath of the Judge when the day of grace has passed.

Rejection of The Gospel.—The two clauses of the text figuratively point to two different classes of operation on the rejection of the gospel. The one class represents the present hurts and harms which, by the natural operation of the thing, without the action of Christ judicially at all, every man receives in the very act of rejecting the Gospel, and the other represents the ultimate issue of that rejection.

I. Every man has some kind of connexion with Christ.

II. The immediate issue of rejection of Christ is loss and maiming.

III. The ultimate issue of unbelief is irremediable destruction when Christ begins to move.—Maclaren.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luke

TENANTS WHO WANTED TO BE OWNERS

Luk 20:9 - Luk 20:19.

As the crisis came near, Jesus increased His severity and plainness of speech. This parable, which was spoken very near the end of the protracted duel with the officials in the Temple, is transparent in its application, and hit its mark immediately. The rulers at once perceived that it was directed against them. The cap fitted too well not to be put on. But it contains prophecy as well as history, and the reference to Jesus’ impending fate is almost as transparent as the indictment of the rulers, while the prediction of the transference of the vineyard to others is as easy of translation as either of the other points.

Such plain speaking was fitting for last words. The urgency of Christ’s pleading love, as much as the intensity of His moral indignation, made them plain.

I. We note, first, the vineyard, its lord and its tenants.

The metaphor was familiar, for Isaiah had ‘sung a song touching’ Israel as God’s vineyard, and other prophets had caught up the emblem, so that it had become a commonplace, known by all. The parable distinctly alludes to Isaiah’s words, and almost reproduces them. Matthew’s version enlarges on details of the appliances provided by the owner, which makes the parallel with Isaiah still more noticeable. But Luke summarises these into the simple ‘planted.’ That covers the whole ground.

God had given Israel a system of revelation, law, and worship, which was competent to produce in those who received it, the fruit of obedience and thankfulness. The husbandmen are primarily the rulers, as the scribes and chief priests perceived; but the nation which endorsed, by permitting their action, is included. The picture drawn applies to us as truly as to the Jews. The transference of the vineyard to another set of tenants, which Christ threatened at the close of the parable, has been accomplished, and so we, by our possession of the Gospel, are entrusted with the vineyard, and are responsible for rendering the fruits of holy living and love.

The owner ‘let it out, and went into another country for a long time.’ That is a picturesque way of saying that we have apparent possession, and are left free to act, God not being manifestly close to us. He stands off, as it were, from the creatures whom He has made, and gives them room to do as they will. But all our possessions, as well as the revelation of Himself in Christ, are only let to us, and we have rent to pay.

The collectors sent for the fruit are, of course, the series of prophets. Luke specifies three-a round number, indicating completeness. He says nothing about the times between their missions, but implies that the three covered the whole period till the sending of the son. Their treatment was uniform, as the history of Israel proved. The habit of rejecting the prophets was hereditary.

There is such a thing as national solidarity stretching through ages. The bold charge made by Stephen was only an echo of this parable, when he cried, ‘As your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute?’ Each generation made the ancestral sin its own, and staggered under a heavier burden of guilt, till, at last, came a generation which had to bear the penalty of all the blood of prophets shed from the beginning. Nations live, though their component atoms die, and only national repudiation of bequeathed sins can avert the crash which, sooner or later, avenges them.

The husbandmen treated the messengers with increasing contumely and cruelty. Content with beating the first, they added shameful treatment in the second case, and proceeded to wounding in the third. If God’s repeated appeals do not melt, they harden, the heart. The persistence of His messengers leads to fiercer hatred, if it does not produce yielding love. There is no bitterness equal to that of the man who has often stiffened conscience against the truth.

II. So far, no doubt could be entertained of the meaning of the scathing parable.

There was probably as little about that of the next part. We cannot but notice the broad distinction which Jesus draws between Himself and the mightiest of the prophets. They were the owner’s ‘slaves’; He was His ‘beloved Son.’ The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews begins his letter with the same contrast, which he may have learned from the parable. It is a commonplace for us, but let us ponder how it must have sounded to that hostile, eager crowd, and ask ourselves how such assumptions can be reconciled with the ‘sweet reasonableness’ of Jesus if he belonged to the same category as an Isaiah or a Micah.

The yearning of divine love for the fruit of reverence and obedience is wonderfully expressed by the bold putting of an uncertain hope into the owner’s mouth. He must have known that he was running a risk in sending his son, but he so much desires to bring the dishonest workmen back to their duty that he is willing to run it. The highly figurative expression is meant to emphasise God’s longing for men’s hearts, and His patient love which ‘hopeth all things’ and will not cease from effort to win us so long as an arrow remains in His quiver.

III. Our Lord now passes to prophecy.

Deep sadness is in His tone as He tells how the only effect of His coming had been to stir up opposition. They ‘saw Him’ and were they touched? No, they only gripped their privileges the tighter, and determined more fiercely to assert their ownership.

Nothing is more remarkable in the parable than the calmness of Jesus in announcing His impending fate. He knows it all, and His voice has no tremor, as He tells it as though He were speaking of another. The very announcement that He penetrated the murderous designs hidden in many of the hearers’ hearts would tend to precipitate their execution of these; but He is ready for the Cross, and its nearness has no terror, not because He was impassive, or free from the shrinking proper to flesh, but because He was resolved to save. Therefore He was resolved to suffer.

The husbandmen’s reasonings with one another bring into plain words thoughts which probably were not consciously held by any even of the rulers. They open the question as to how far the rulers knew the truth of Christ’s claims. They at least knew what these were, and they had fought down dawning convictions which, fairly dealt with, would have broadened into daylight. They would not have been so fiercely antagonistic if they had not been pricked by an uneasy doubt whether, after all, perhaps there was something in these claims.

Nothing steels men against admitting a truth so surely as the suspicion that, if they were to inquire a little farther, they might find themselves believing it. Knowledge and ignorance blended in these rulers as in us all. If they had not known at all, they would not have needed the Saviour’s dying prayer for their forgiveness; if they had known fully, its very ground would have been taken away.

The motive put into their mouths is the wish to seize the vineyard for their own; and was not the very soul of the rulers’ hostility the determination to keep hold of the prerogatives of their offices, while priests and people alike were deaf to Jesus, because they wished to be no more troubled by being reminded of their obligations to render obedience to God? The root of all rejection of Christ is the desire of self-will to reign supreme. Men resent being reminded that they are tenants, and are determined to assert ownership.

Jesus carries the hearers beyond the final crime which filled the measure of sin, and exhausted the resources of God. The sharp turn from narrative to question, in Luk 19:15, not only is like the sudden thrust of a spear, but marks the transition from the present and immediate future to a more distant day. The slaying of the heir was the last act of the vine-dressers. The owner would act next. Luke, like Mark, puts the threatening of retribution into Christ’s lips, while Matthew makes it the answer of the rulers to his question. Luke alone gives the exclamation, ‘God forbid!’ The ready answer in Matthew, and the pious interjection in Luke, have the same purpose,-to blunt the application of the parable to themselves by appearing to be unconcerned.

Their levity and reluctance to take home the lesson moved our Lord to sternness, which burned in His steadfast eyes as He looked on them, and must have been remembered by some disciple whose memory has preserved that look for us. It was the prelude to a still less veiled prophecy of the fall of Israel. Jesus lays His hand on the ancient prophecy of the stone rejected by the builders, and applies it to Himself. He is the sure foundation of which Isaiah had spoken. He is the stone rejected by Israel, but elevated to the summit of the building, and there joining two diverging walls.

The solemn warning closing the parable had its special meaning in regard to Israel, but its dread force extends to us. To fall on the stone while it lies lowly on the earth is to lame one’s self, but to have it fall on a man when it rushes down from its elevation is ruin utter and irremediable. ‘If they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE WICKED HUSBANDMAN

Mat 21:33-46; Mar 12:1-12; Luk 20:9-19. Matthew: “Hear another parable: A man who is a landlord planted a vineyard, and placed a hedge round it, and dug a wine-trough in it, and built a tower.” The dense thorn-hedge was to protect it from the intrusion of animals as well as thieves. The wine-trough was located deep down beneath the press, in order to catch the sweet juice of the delicious grapes expressed and running into it. The tower was for rest and recreation, and especially for vigilance against thieves, who might stealthily intrude into the vineyard and spoliate the fruit. It is difficult for Occidentals to conceive the paradoxical abundance of grapes produced by a Palestinian vineyard. I have seen the whole earth burdened with the great clusters of grapes, almost sweet as honey. I could not forbear making myself sick eating them. American grapes, with the exception of California, have no such flavor and sweetness. Truly, the land abounds in corn and wine.

“He gave it out to husbandmen, and went away. But when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandman to receive his fruits; and the husbandmen, taking his servants, beat one, slew one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did unto them likewise.” These servants were the prophets. Isaiah was cut in two with a cruel saw; Jeremiah, imprisoned in a deep well to starve to death; King Ahab ordered the imprisonment and starvation of the prophet Micaiah; John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets, was beheaded by King Herod.

“And afterward he sent unto them his own son, saying, They will reverence my son. But those farmers, seeing the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take possession of his inheritance.” This is precisely what they did. The leading preachers and official laymen regarded him as a competitor, who, if successful, would deprive them of their fat offices. Consequently they conspired against him, and slew him, thus taking possession of the Church, to conduct it in their own way, and receive the emoluments of office. “Having taken him, they cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.” They actually arrested Him at midnight of the ensuing day, and on the following morning cast Him out of the city, and nailed Him to the cross on Calvary.

“Then, when the lord of the vineyard may come, what will he do to those farmers? They say to Him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and give out the vineyard to other farmers, who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” This was literally done very quickly. God the Father has no incarnation, and is consequently invisible to mortal eyes. He actually came in those vast and formidable Roman armies, who slew a million of Jews with sword, pestilence, and famine, doubtless every one who had been guilty of the above crimes falling in the awful death-harvest that rolled over the city. Then, you see, the Church was turned over to the Gentiles — the new people becoming the cultivators of the vineyard during the time of their fidelity to the Proprietor. Otherwise, the same awful calamity awaits them. Here you see clearly that the gospel Church is not a de novo institution, but substantially identical with the Church organized in the house of Abraham, and perpetuated nearly two thousand years under the prophetical and Mosaic economy. You see that the vineyard was not destroyed, but, surviving, was given into the hands of other husbandmen; showing clearly and demonstratively that the identical Church of the patriarchs and prophets, in which Jesus lived and died, was perpetuated and given to the Gentiles. Precisely as those wicked farmers, who met the awful fate, were not the vineyard, so the carnal, self-righteous priests, elders, and Pharisees who killed the prophets and Jesus were not the Church. God has had a holy people in all ages, who have eaten the delicious grapes and drunk the sweet wine of His spiritual kingdom.

“Jesus says unto them, Have you not read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner: this was wonderful with the Lord, and was marvelous in our eves? Therefore I say unto you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given unto a nation bringing forth the fruit of the same. The one falling on this rock shall be dashed to pieces; and on whomsoever it may fall, it will grind him to powder. [Psa 118:22; Isa 8:14; Zec 12:3; Dan 2:34-44] And the chief priests and Pharisees hearing His parables, knew that He was speaking concerning them. And seeking to arrest Him, they were afraid of the multitudes, since they had Him as a prophet.” The impression that the Jewish people killed Jesus is a slander on them which they do not deserve. You see here, the leading preachers and Church officers were anxious to arrest Him, and were only restrained through fear of the people. Jesus was an exceedingly popular preacher with the common people, but awfully unpopular with the higher clergy and ruling elders, because they looked upon Him as an official rival, feeling satisfied that if He succeeded, deposing all of them, He would promote His friends to office. You see in the above Scriptures that Jesus is that Chief Corner-stone rejected by the builders — i.e., the Jewish officials rebut by the power of the Holy Ghost becoming the Head of the corner. All houses in that country are stone. At the corner a great, solid, and elegantly-dressed stone is laid, with both walls built on it, and thus held together: as they both rest on this one corner-stone, and consolidate the house, since the wonderfully tenacious calcareous cement of that country actually unifies the different stones of the wall into one grand conglomeration. Thus Jesus, the Chief Corner-stone of the gospel Church, not only unites Jews and Gentiles, but all sects, races, and nationalities. How momentous the awful responsibility of dealing with this Stone, since if you fall on it, you are dashed to pieces; and if it falls on you, you are ground to powder! People may be saved, if sincere and true, despite multitudes of heresies. Meanwhile heresy on the Christhood of Jesus, as here you see, is necessarily fatal. O the infinite importance of preaching Christ, as all are necessarily lost who have the misfortune, through Satanic intrigue, to assume position either antagonistical to Him or depreciative of Him. Let us take the alarm. Unitarianism is rapidly, though occultly, everywhere stealing into the Protestant Churches. It bears blight and desolation in its wake.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20:9-19 This story adapts Isaiah’s Song of the Fruitful Vineyard (Isa 5:1-7) to allegorize Jesus’ rejection by Israel’s leaders. In Isaiah’s allegory, the vineyard owner is God and Israel is the unfruitful vineyard that will be judged. Jesus added new characters—the tenant farmers were Israel’s unrighteous leaders, the servants were the Old Testament prophets (repeatedly rejected by Israel), and the son was Jesus. God would judge Israel’s leaders for rejecting and murdering his son.

20:9 leased it to tenant farmers: This was a common practice in first-century Palestine, especially in Galilee, where peasants would lease the right to raise crops from wealthy landowners.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 20:9. Ἤρξατο, He began) After that the scribes had given Him new cause for speaking.—λαὸν, the people) who needed to be fortified against the cavilling objections of the chief priests; [as also who needed to be fortified against the impending offence of His cross.—V. g.]—χρόνους ἱκανοὺς, during long periods of time) after the people’s entrance into the land of Canaan; [from which event down to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans was a period of more than 1500 years.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_20:9-19. See on Mat_21:33-46; Mar_12:1-12.

ἤρξατο] after that despatch of the members of the Sanhedrim.

πρὸς τ. λαόν] muniendum contra interpellationem antistitum, Bengel. Otherwise in Matt. and Mark, according to whom the discourse is addressed directly to the members of the Sanhedrim, and these, according to Luke, are also present (Luk_20:19).

Luk_20:10. δώσουσιν] (see the critical remarks): see on 1Co_9:18; Eph_6:3.

αὐτῷ] to him, the possessor of the vineyard, by the servants.

Luk_20:11. προσέθετο πέμψαι] a Hebraism, Gen_4:2, and elsewhere. Comp. on Luk_19:11, and see Valckenaer, p. 253 f.

Luk_20:13. ἴσως] perchance. The corresponding German word (vielleicht) expresses not mere conjecture, but, although in a still doubting form, his expectation (spem rationi congruentem, Bengel). See Locella, ad Xen. Eph. p. 213; Bornemann, Schol. p. 122 f.; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 855. Only here in the New Testament.

Luk_20:14. ἰδόντες δὲ αὐτόν] with emphasis, corresponding to the previous τοῦτον ἰδόντες.

Luk_20:16. εἶπον] Persons from the people in Luk_20:9, who have comprehended, although dimly, the foreshadowing of evil.

μὴ γένοιτο] (see on Rom_3:4), to wit, that the γεωργοί lay hands themselves on the son, kill him, and bring about the ἀπολέσει κ.τ.λ.!

Luk_20:17. οὖν] what then, if your μὴ γένοιτο is to be allowed, what then is this scriptural saying, etc. It is meaningless, there is nothing in it.

Luk_20:19. καὶ ἐφοβ.] καί, and yet; comp. on Mar_12:12.

ἔγνωσαν] the people, to wit,[235] whose understanding the passage of Scripture, Luk_20:17 f., accompanied by the heart-penetrating glance of Jesus (ἘΜΒΛΈΨΑς), has opened.

[235] See on Mar_12:12. The reference to the scribes and chief priests involves us in subtleties as in Grotius, Lange, L. J. III. p. 494, and others. πρὸς αὐτούς refers first of all to the hierarchs.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 20:9-19 . The parable of the wicked vinedressers (Mat 21:33-46 , Mar 12:1-12 ). Between the last section and this comes, in Mt., the parable of the Two Sons .

Luk 20:9 . ἤρξατο : this word is less appropriate here than in Mk., where it means: made a beginning in teaching by parables by uttering this particular parable. Here it may signify turning to the people again after disposing of the question of the Pharisees concerning authority. ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελῶνα : Lk. contents himself with this general statement, omitting the details given in parallels, which explain what planting a vineyard involves. χρόνους ἱκανούς : literally, “for long times,” peculiar to Lk. here; similar phrases are of frequent occurrence in his writings. The “long times” cover the whole period of Israel’s history. The absenteeism of God during these long ages represents the free scope given in providence to the will of man in the exercise of his moral responsibility.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. The Parable of the Husbandmen: Luk 20:9-19. — This parable, in Matthew, is preceded by that of the two sons. If, as the terms of the latter suppose, it applies to the conduct of the chiefs toward John the Baptist, it is admirably placed before that of the husbandmen, which depicts the conduct of those same chiefs toward Jesus.

Vers. 9-12. We have just attested the accuracy of the introduction, and especially that of the words to the people, Luk 20:9. Holtzmann judges otherwise: “A parable inappropriately addressed to the people in Luke,” says he. Is it possible to pronounce a falser judgment? The vine denotes the theocratic people, and the husbandmen the authorities who govern them. Luke speaks neither of the tower meant to receive the workmen’s tools and to guard the domain, which perhaps represents the kingly office; nor of the wine-press, the means of turning the domain to account, which is perhaps the image of the priesthood (comp. Matthew and Mark). The absence of the proprietor corresponds to that whole period of the O. T. which followed the great manifestations by which God founded the theocracy—the going out of Egypt, the giving of the law, and the settlement of Israel in Canaan. From that moment Israel should have offered to its God the fruits of a gratitude and fidelity proportioned to the favour which it had received from Him. The three servants successively sent represent the successive groups of prophets, those divine messengers whose struggles and sufferings are described (Hebrews 11) in such lively colours. There is a climax in the conduct of the husbandmen: Luk 20:10, the envoy is beaten; Luk 20:11, beaten and shamefully abused; Luk 20:12, wounded to death and cast out of the vineyard. In this last touch, Jesus alludes to the fate of Zacharias (Luk 11:51), and probably also to that of John the Baptist. In Mark, the climax is nearly the same: ἔδειραν (to beat), ἐκεφαλαίωσαν (here, to wound in the head), ἀπέκτειναν (to kill). Mark speaks also of other messengers who underwent the same treatment; it is perhaps this last description which should be applied to John the Baptist. Matthew speaks only of two sendings, but each embracing several individuals. Should we understand the two principal groups of prophets: Isaiah, with his surrounding of minor prophets, and Jeremiah with his? The Hebraistic expression προσέθετο πέμψαι (Luk 20:11-12) shows that Luke is working on an Aramaic document. No similar expression occurs in Matthew and Mark.

Vers. 13-16. The master of the vineyard rouses himself in view of this obstinate and insolent rejection: What shall I do? And this deliberation leads him to a final measure: I will send my beloved son. This saying, put at that time by Jesus in the mouth of God, has a peculiar solemnity. There is His answer to the question: By what authority doest thou these things?

Here, as everywhere, the meaning of the title son transcends absolutely the notion of Messiah, or theocratic king, or any office whatever. The title expresses above all the notion of a personal relation to God as Father. The theocratic office flows from this relation. By this name, Jesus establishes between the servants and Himself an immeasurable distance. This was implied already by the question, What shall I do...? which suggests the divine dialogue, Gen 1:26, whereby the creation of inferior beings is separated from that of man. ῎Ισως, properly, in a way agreeable to expectation; and hence, undoubtedly (E. V. improperly, it may be). But does not God know beforehand the result of this last experiment? True; but this failure will not at all overturn His plan. Not only will the mission of this last messenger be successful with some, but the resistance of the people as a whole, by bringing on their destruction, will open up the world to the free preaching of salvation by those few. The ignorance of the future which is ascribed to the master of the vineyard belongs to the figure. The idea represented by this detail is simply the reality of human liberty.

The deliberation of the husbandmen (Luk 20:14) is an allusion to that of the chiefs, Luk 20:5 (διελογίζοντο or —σαντο; comp. with συνελογίσαντο). Jesus unveils before all the people the plots of their chiefs, and the real cause of the hatred with which they follow Him. These men have made the theocracy their property (Joh 11:48: our place, our nation); and this power, which till now they have turned to their advantage, they cannot bring themselves to give up into the hands of the Son, who comes to claim it in His Father’s name.

At Luk 20:15, Jesus describes with the most striking calmness the crime which they are preparing to commit on His person, and from which He makes not the slightest effort to escape. Is the act of casting out of the vineyard, which precedes the murder, intended to represent the excommunication already pronounced on Jesus and His adherents (Joh 9:22)? In Mark the murder precedes; then the dead body is thrown out.

The punishment announced in Luk 20:16 might, according to Luke and Mark, apply only to the theocratic authorities, and not to the entire people. The ἄλλοι, the other husbandmen, would in this case designate the apostles and their successors. But the sense appears to be different according to Matthew. Here the word to others is thus explained, Mat 21:43: “The kingdom of God shall be given to a nation (ἔθνει) bringing forth the fruits thereof.” According to this, the point in question is not the substitution of the chiefs of the N. T. for those of the Old, but that of Gentile peoples for the chosen people. What would our critics say if the parts were exchanged, if Luke had expressed himself here as Matthew does, and Matthew as Luke? Matthew puts the answer of Luk 20:16 in the mouth of the adversaries of Jesus, which on their part could only mean, “He shall destroy them, that is evident; but what have we to do with that? Thy history is but an empty tale.” Yet, as it is said in Luk 20:19 that it was not till later that His adversaries understood the bearing of the parable, the narrative of Luke and Mark is more natural. The connection between ἀκούσαντες and εἶπον is this: “they had no sooner heard than, deprecating the omen, they said...”

Vers. 17-19. ᾿Εμβλέψας, having beheld them, indicates the serious, even menacing expression which He then assumed. The δέ is adversative: “Such a thing, you say, will never happen; but what meaning, then, do you give to this saying...?” Whether in the context of Psalms 118 the stone rejected be the Jewish people as a whole, in comparison with the great world-powers, or (according to Bleek and others) the believing part of the people rejected by the unbelieving majority in both cases, the image of the stone despised by the builders applies indirectly to the Messiah, in whom alone Israel’s mission to the world, and that of the believing part of the people to the whole, was realized. It is ever, at all stages of their history, the same law whose application is repeated.

The acc. λίθον is a case of attraction arising from the relative pron. which follows. This form is textually taken from the LXX. (Psa 118:22). The corner-stone is that which forms the junction between the two most conspicuous walls, that which is laid with peculiar solemnity.

A truth so stern as the sentence of Luk 20:18 required to be wrapped up in a biblical quotation. The words of Jesus recall Isa 8:14-15, and Dan 2:44. In Isaiah, the Messiah is represented as a consecrated stone, against which many of the children of Israel shall be broken. Simeon (Luk 2:34) makes reference to this saying. The subject in question is the Messiah in His humiliation. A man’s dashing himself against this stone laid on the earth means rejecting Him during the time of His humiliation. In the second part of the verse, where this stone is represented as falling from the top of the building, the subject is the glorified Messiah crushing all earthly oppositions by the manifestations of His wrath. In Dan 2:44 the word λικμᾲν is also found (λικμήσει πάσας τὰς βασιλείας), strictly: to winnow, and hence to scatter to the wind. It is therefore dangerous to encounter this stone, either by dashing against it while it is yet laid on the ground, as Israel is doing, or whether, when it shall be raised to the top of the building, men provoke it to fall on their own head, as the other nations shall one day do.

A new deliberation among the rulers follows this terrible shock (Luk 20:19). But fear of the people restrains them. There is a correspondence between the two καί before ἐφοβήθησαν and before ἐζήτησαν. The two feelings, fearing and seeking (to put Him to death), struggle within their heart. The for at the end of the verse bears on the first proposition; and the πρὸς αὐτούς signifies, with a view to them (Luk 20:9, Luk 19:9).

In Matthew there occurs here the parable of the great supper. It is hardly probable that Jesus heaped up at one time so many figures of the same kind. The association of ideas which led the evangelist to insert the parable here is sufficiently obvious.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is no new thing to have them the chiefest enemies of Christ and his servants, which are conversant in the very Sanctuary of God’s holy place: but at length they shall not escape unpunished.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

vineyard--(See on Luk 13:6). In Mat 21:33 additional points are given, taken literally from Isa 5:2, to fix down the application and sustain it by Old Testament authority.

husbandmen--the ordinary spiritual guides of the people, under whose care and culture the fruits of righteousness might be yielded.

went, &c.--leaving it to the laws of the spiritual husbandry during the whole length of the Jewish economy. (See on Mar 4:26.)

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. A certain man planted a vineyard, &c.] See this parable largely explained, Mt 21:33-46. See also Clarke on Mr 12:4-9.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9-19) Then began he to speak to the people.—See Notes on Mat_21:33-46; Mar_12:1-12. The presence of this, as well as of the last section, in the first three Gospels, with so little variation, indicates the impression which these facts and teaching made at the time, and probably also that they occupied a prominent place in the early records that served as the basis of our present Gospels.

A certain man planted a vineyard.—The absence of the fuller detail in St. Matthew and St. Mark shows that St. Luke’s report was not derived from them, but probably from a version, orally repeated, of that which they reported more fully. On the other hand, the addition of “for a long time” is peculiar to St. Luke, and reminds us of the like phrase in Mat_25:19.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9-19. The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard.

9. to the people] but still in the hearing of the priests and scribes who had only withdrawn a little into the background (Luk_20:19; Mat_21:32; Mat_21:45). St Luke here omits the Parable of the Two Sons (Mat_21:28-32), in which, as in this Parable, the hidden meaning—applicable in the first instance to Pharisees and the people, and in the second to Jews and Gentiles—was hardly veiled.

a vineyard] As in Isa_5:1-7; Psalms 80; Eze_15:1-6; Jer_2:21. St Luke omits the special isolation, &c. of the vineyard. Vines, grapes, and vineleaves were symbols of Palestine, on the coins of the Maccabees.

to husbandmen] namely, (1) the Jewish nation; (2) their rulers and teachers.

for a long time] The nearly two thousand years of Jewish History. Comp. Mat_25:19. In this long time they learnt to say “the Lord hath forsaken the earth,” Eze_8:12; Psa_10:5.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And again he sent another servant,.... Or set of prophets in after times, and yet before the Babylonish captivity:

and they beat him also; as they had done the other; they continued in their malpractices, yea increased in them:

and entreated him shamefully; putting him to open shame, using him in a very ignominious and shameful manner, which it was a shame to relate, and which was shameful for them to do:

and sent him away empty; as they had done the other.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9 Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

Ver. 9. See Mat 21:33; Mar 12:1.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See this parable explained in the notes at Mat 21:33-45.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

A long time. Not that God (who is here represented by the man that planted a vineyard) confines himself to any particular place, either distant or near; but he only seems to absent himself in order that when he comes to receive the fruit of the vineyard, he may punish the negligent more severely, and reward the diligent with greater liberality. Likewise God is more intimately present with the good, by continually showering down upon them his special graces; and less so with the wicked, by refusing them, on account of their indispositions, any of his favours. (St. Ambrose)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

We met with this parable at large both in Mat 21:33-41, and in Mar 12:1-11. Its obvious scope is to let them know, that God in righteous judgment, for the Jews’ abusing the Lord’s prophets, John the Baptist, and himself, who was in a few days to be killed by them, would unchurch and destroy them, and raise up to himself a church amongst the Gentiles; and that this was no more than was prophesied of, Psa 118:22.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 9-19. Parable of the wicked husbandmen in the vineyard, and the simile of the corner-stone.

A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen. Under a very thin parabolic veil, Jesus foretells the awful tragedy of the next few days. He adopts a well-known imagery, and seems to say, "Listen to Isaiah"s well-known story of the vineyard, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, which is the house of Israel. I will expand it a little, that I may show you how it stands with you as regards this matter of "authority," that we may see whether you have as much respect for the ascertained will of God as ye pretend, so that ye should be sure to submit to me if only ye were satisfied that I was an accredited Messenger of God" (Professor Bruce). For a long time. Representing the nearly two thousand years of Jewish history.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A long time - It was a long time from the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan to the birth of Christ. Matt. xxi, 33; Mark xii, 1.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The parable of the wicked husbandmen:

v. 9. Then began He to speak to the people this parable: A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

v. 10. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard. But the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty.

v. 11. And again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

v. 12. And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also, and cast him out.

Luke gives the beginning of this parable in a very brief form, omitting the detailed account of the planting of the vineyard. See Mat 21:33-46; Mar 12:1-12. Jesus told this parable to the people, but in the presence of at least some of the Jewish leaders. They all would understand the reference to the vineyard, since a very similar description is found Isa 5:1-7. The owner, having made all the necessary arrangements, gave his vineyard into the charge of certain vine-dressers, and himself went on a long journey, to be away for a long time. At the proper time, however, at the season of fruit each year, he sent servants to the husbandmen, to whom the latter should give that part of the fruit or of its proceeds which belonged to the owner. But the wicked vine-dressers had determined, if possible, to get the vineyard into their own possession, to do therewith what they pleased; and they carried out their intention of discouraging the owner in their own way. Just as regularly as the master sent servants, so regularly did they heap indignities upon them. The first one they beat, literally, gave him a sound thrashing; the second one they not only beat, but they also treated him in a shameful manner, putting him up to disgrace before all the people; the third one they wounded severely, and then cast him out of the vineyard. It was a picture of such utter wickedness that the Lord drew that it stood before the eyes of all the hearers with great vividness and distinctness. And in every case the wicked husbandmen sent the servant away empty.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In the parable before us, the Jewish church is compared to a vineyard, God the father to an householder, his planting, pruning, and fencing his vineyard, denotes his care to furnish his church with all needful helps and means to make it fruitful; his letting it out to husbandmen, signifies the committing the care of his church to the priests and Levites, the public pastors and governors of the church; his servants are the prophets and apostles whom he sent from time to time, to admonish them to bring forth answerable fruits to the cost which God had expended on them; his son is Jesus Christ, whom the rulers of the Jewish church slew and murdered. So that the design and scope of the parable is, to discover to the Jews, particularly to the Pharisees, their obstinate impenitency under all the means of grace, their bloody cruelty towards the prophets of God, their tremendous guilt in crucifying the Son of God; for all which God would unchurch them finally, ruin their nation, and set up a church among the Gentiles, that should bring forth much better fruit than the Jewish church ever did.

From the whole, note,

1. That the church is God’s vineyard; a vineyard is a place inclosed, a place well planted, well fruited, and exceeding dear and precious to the planter, and the owner of it.

2. That as dear as God’s vineyard is unto him, in case of barrenness and unfruitfulness, it is in great danger of being destroyed and laid waste by him.

3. That the only way and course to engage God’s care over his vineyard, and to prevent its being given to other husbandmen, is to give him the fruits of it; it is but a vineyard that God lets out, it is no inheritance: no people ever had so many promises of God’s favor as the Jews; nor ever enjoyed so many privileges while they continued in his favor, as they did; but for rejecting Christ and his holy doctrine they are a despised, scattered people throughout the world. See the note on Mat 21:39-40

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CVIII. C. The Wicked Husbandmen].

CVIII. IN REPLY TO THE QUESTIONS AS TO HIS AUTHORITY, JESUS GIVES THE THIRD GREAT GROUP OF PARABLES. (In the Court of the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, A. D. 30.) Subdivision C. PARABLE OF THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN. aMATT. XXI. 33-46; bMARK XII. 1-12; cLUKE XX. 9-19.

b1 And he began to speak unto them cthe people [not the rulers] bin parables. cthis parable: a33 Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder [this party represents God], who planted a vineyard [this represents the Hebrew nationality], and set a hedge about it, and digged a bpit for the awinepress in it [The winepress consisted of two tub-shaped cavities dug in the rock at different levels, the upper being connected with the lower by an orifice cut through from its bottom. Grapes were placed in the upper cavity, or trough, and were trodden by foot. The juice thus squeezed from them ran through the orifice to the trough below, from which it was taken and stored in leather bottles until it fermented and formed wine], and built a tower [a place where watchmen could be stationed to protect the vineyard from thieves as the grapes ripened for the vintage], and let it out to husbandmen [the rulers are here [590] represented; and the rental was, as usual, a part of the fruits], and went into another country. cfor a long time. [Jesus frequently refers to this withdrawal of the visible presence of God from the world, always bringing out the point that the withdrawal tests faithfulness. God had come down upon Mt. Sinai, given the law and established the Hebrew nation, after which he had withdrawn. That had indeed been a long time ago; and for four hundred years before the appearance of John the Baptist, God had not even sent a messenger to demand fruit. Some think the hedge refers to the manner in which Palestine was protected by sea and desert and mountain, but the hedge and the winepress and the tower are mere parabolic drapery, for every man who planted a vineyard did all three.] a34 And when cat the season aof the fruits drew near, che sent unto the husbandmen a servant, ahis servants i. e., the prophets] cthat they should give him bthat he might receive ato receive from the husbandmen of the ahis bfruits of the vineyard. [ Luk_3:8--He expected the children of Israel to bring forth joy, love, peace, and all the other goodly fruit of a godly life. And he looked to those in authority to bring forth such results, and the prophets were sent to the rulers to encourage them to do this.] 3 And { cbut the husbandmen btook him, and beat him, and sent him away empty, 4 And again he sent unto them cyet another servant: him also they beat, bwounded in his head, and handled shamefully. cand sent him away empty. b5 And he sent cyet banother; ca third: and him also they wounded, band him they killed: cand cast him forth. band many others; beating some, and killing some. a35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them in like manner. [For the treatment of the prophets, see such passages as 1Ki_18:13, 1Ki_22:24-27, 2Ki_6:31, 2Ch_24:19-22, 2Ch_36:15, 2Ch_36:16. For a summary of the treatment of the prophets or messengers of God, [591] see Heb_11:35-38.] 37 But b6 He had yet one, a beloved son: aafterward bhe sent him last unto them, c13 And the lord of the vineyard said, bsaying, cWhat shall I do? [ Isa_5:4.] I will send my beloved son; it may be they will reverence him. bThey will reverence my son. [The lord of the vineyard was thoroughly perplexed. The conduct of his husbandmen was outrageous beyond all expectation. He had no better servants to send them unless his only son should take upon him the form of a servant and visit them ( Phi_2:5-8). Being tender and forgiving, and unwilling to resort to extreme measures, the lord of the vineyard resolved to thus send his son, feeling sure that the son would represent the person, authority and rights of the father so much better than any other messenger ( Heb_1:1-5, Heb_2:1-3), that it would be well-nigh impossible for the husbandmen to fail of reverence towards him. In striking contrast, however, with this expectation of the Father, the rulers, or the husbandmen, had just now harshly demanded of the Son that he tell by what authority he did anything in the vineyard.] a38 But the bthose ahusbandmen, when they saw chim athe son, cthey reasoned one with another, asaid among themselves, csaying, aThis is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance. cthat the inheritance may be ours. band the inheritance shall be ours. [In thus bringing the story down to the immediate present, and stating a counsel which his enemies had just spoken privately in each other's ears, Jesus must have startled them greatly. He showed them, too, that those things which made them deem it necessary to kill him were the very things which proved his heirship. They regarded the Jewish nation as their property, and they were plotting to kill Jesus that they might withhold it from him ( Joh_12:19, Joh_11:47-50). That men might hope by such high-handed lawlessness to obtain a title to a vineyard seems incredible to us who have always been familiar with the even-balanced justice of constitutional government; but in the East the looseness of governments, the selfish apathy and lack [592] of public spirit among the people, and the corrupt bribe-receiving habits of the judges makes our Lord's picture even to this day, though rather exceptional, still true to life. At this point Jesus turns from history to prophecy.] 8 And they took him, c15 And they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. [After two intervening days the Jews would fulfill this detail by thrusting Jesus outside the walls of Jerusalem and crucifying him there.] a40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. c16 [Jesus said] He will come and destroy these { bthe husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. cAnd when they heard it, they said, God forbid. [Part of the multitude, hearing only the story, pronounced unhesitatingly the judgment which ought to be inflicted upon such evil-doers, and Jesus confirmed their judgment. But others, perceiving the meaning underlying the parable, shrank from accepting what would otherwise have been to them a very proper ending, and said, Mee genoito, which means literally, Be it not so, and which might properly be paraphrased by our emphatic "Never!" but which the revisers in translating have, with small warrant, seen fit to paraphrase by using the semi-profane expression, "God forbid." There are fourteen such mistranslations in the epistles of Paul according to the King James version and only one of them ( Gal_6:14) is corrected in the Revised version. In defense of these translations it is asserted that the phrase is an idiomatic invocation of the Deity, but the case can not be made out, since the Deity is not addressed.] 17 But he looked upon them [Thus emphasizing the fact that they had repudiated a most just decree. His look, doubtless, resembled that of a parent surprised at the outspoken rebellion of his children], and a42 Jesus saith csaid, aunto them, cWhat then is this that is written, b10 Have ye not read even this scripture: aDid ye never [593] read in the scriptures, cThe stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner? aThis was from the Lord, And it is marvellous in our eyes? [The quotation is from Psa_118:22, Psa_118:23, which is here by Jesus applied as a prophecy to the Pharisees, who, in their treatment of him, were like unskilled builders who reject the very corner-stone of the building which they seek to erect. The Pharisees were eager enough in their desire to set up a Messianic kingdom, but were so blindly foolish that they did not see that this kingdom could not be set up unless it rested upon Christ Jesus, its corner-stone. They blundered in constructing their theory of the coming kingdom, and could find no room for one such as Jesus in it.] 43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44 And he { c18 Every one athat falleth on this cthat astone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust. [The stone, of course, represents Jesus, and the two fallings set forth his passive and active state. In the day when he passively submitted to be judged, those who condemned him were broken ( Mat_27:3-5, Luk_23:48, Act_2:37); but in the great day when he himself becomes the acting party and calls his enemies to judgment, they shall prefer, and pray, that a mountain fall upon them-- Rev_6:15-17.] 45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees, c19 And the scribes aheard his parables, they csought to lay hands on him in that very hour, bfor they perceived that he aspake of them. bspake the cthis parable against them. a46 And when they sought to lay hands on him, cthey feared the people: bmultitude; amultitudes, because they took him for a prophet. band they left him, and went away. [Despite the warning which Jesus gave them that they were killing the Son and would reap the consequences, and despite the fact that he showed that the Psalm which the people had used so recently with regard to him foretold a great rejection which would prove to be a [594] mistake, yet the rulers persisted in their evil intention to take his life, and were only restrained by fear of the people, many of whom were Galilæans, men of rugged courage, ready to draw swords on Jesus' behalf. Since they could neither arrest nor answer him, they withdrew as a committee, but returned again in the person of their spies.]

[FFG 590-595]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9–19. A certain man planted a vineyard. This parable is found in Matt. 21:33–46 and Mark 12:1–12. See notes on Matthew.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

Jesus begins to tell a parable to the people in the temple. (See: Parables)

rented it out to vine growers

"allowed some vine growers to use it in exchange for payment" or "allowed some vine growers to use it and pay him later." Payment might be in the form of money, or a portion of the harvest.

vine growers

These are people who tend grape vines and grow grapes. AT: "grape farmers"

the appointed time

"the time they had agreed to pay him." This would have been at the harvest time.

of the fruit of the vineyard

"some of the grapes" or "some of what they produced in the vineyard." It could also refer to the things they made from grapes or the money they earned by selling the grapes.

sent him away empty-handed

An empty hand is a metaphor for "nothing." AT: "sent him away without paying him" or "sent him away without the grapes" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

parable

vineyard

appoint

servant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

9–19. THE PARABLE OF THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD

9. πρὸς τὸν λαόν. But still in the hearing of the priests and scribes who had only withdrawn a little into the background (Luk 20:19; Mat 21:32; Mat 21:45). St Luke here omits the Parable of the Two Sons (Mat 21:28-32), in which, as in this Parable, the hidden meaning—applicable in the first instance to Pharisees and the people, and in the second to Jews and Gentiles—was hardly veiled. This passage (9–18) was arbitrarily omitted by Marcion, because it recognises the divine economy of the O. T. dispensation.

ἀμπελῶνα. As in Isa 5:1-7; Psalms 80; Eze 15:1-6; Jer 2:21. St Luke omits the special isolation, &c. of the vineyard. Vines, grapes, and vine-leaves were symbols of Palestine, on the coins of the Maccabees.

γεωργοῖς. Namely, (1) the Jewish nation; (2) their rulers and teachers.

χρόνους ἱκανούς. The nearly two thousand years of Jewish History. Comp. Mat 25:19. In this long time they learnt to say “the Lord hath forsaken the earth,” Eze 8:12; Psa 10:5.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9-19.] Parable of the vineyard let out to husbandmen. Mat 21:33-46. Mar 12:1-12. See notes on Matt. for the sense; and for comparison of the reports, on Mark.

9.] The parable was spoken πρός, to, the people—but (ver. 19), πρός, at, with reference to, the chief priests and scribes. Bengel suggests that He addressed it to the people, to guard against interruption on the part of the chief priests.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9-19. The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen. Mat 21:33-46; Mar 12:1-12. Mt. here gives a trilogy of parables, placing this one between the Two Sons and the Marriage of the King’s Son. Godet thinks that the Two Sons cannot have been uttered where Mt. places it. But it fits the preceding discussion about the Baptist very well; and Mk., who records one parable only, says ἤρξατα αὐτοῖς ἐν παραβολαῖς λαλεῖν, which agrees well with the fact that more than one parable was spoken. The idea of “work in the vineyard” is common to both parables. In this parable Christ lets His enemies know that He is aware of their murderous plans against Himself; an in it He warns both them and the people generally of the fatal results co themselves, if their pans are carried out.1 It is the special characteristic of this parable that it does not teach general and perinanent truths for the guidance of Christians, but refers to post, present, and future events. From the conduct of His traditional enemies, especially at that very time, He predicts His own end and theirs. The parable is capable of spiritual application as to God’s dealings with churches and individuals, but its primary reference is to the treatment which He is receiving from the Jewish hierarchy. The parable contains the answer to the question which they had raised. He is acting in the authority of His Father who sent Him to them. The imagery is taken from the O. T. and would be readily understood by the audience. The inairl source is the similar parable Isa 5:1-7; but comp. Jer 2:21; Eze 15:1-6, 19:10-14; Hos 10:1; Deu 32:32, Deu 32:33, and the many other passages in which Israel is spoken of as a vineyard or a vine; Psa 80:8 ff.; Joe 1:7, etc.

It has been said that be main difference between this parable and Is. v. or other O.T. figures is, that there the husbandmen or leaders and teachers of the people are not mentioned: it is the nation as a whole that fails in its duty to Jehovah. Here it is those who have charge of the nation that are condemned: the vineyard itself is not destroyed for its unfruitfulness, but is treansferred to more faithful stewards. And, in support of this view, it has been pointed out that in the first times of the Kingdom the nation went voluntarily into idolatry; it was not led into it by the priests and other teachers: but now it was mainly the official teachers who prevented the people from acceptin Jesus as the Messiah. This, however, does not fit vv. 15, 16, which show that the tenants are the Jewish nation, and not merely the leaders, and that the vineyard is not the nation, but its spiritual privileges. The nation was not to be transferred to other rulers, but its privileges were to be transferred to other nations.

9. Ἤρξατο δὲ πρὸς τὸν λαὸν λέγειν. There is a pause after the discomfiture of the deputation from the Sanhedrin; and then Jesus “begins” to address a different company. But while He speaks to the people He also speaks at the hierarchy, who are still present, though silenced. Mt. and Mk. regard the parable as addressed to the latter. Syr-Sin. has “to speak to them.” D, a d e omit πρὸς τὸν λαόν. Comp. 5:36.

Ἄνθρωπος. Lk. commonly adds τις: see small print note on 13:19. TR. follows A in adding τις here.

ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελῶνα . The phrase is freq. in O.T. (Gen 9:20; Deu 20:6, 28:30, 39; Psa 106:37, etc.). Lk. omits the fence, the winepress, and the tower.

ἐξέδετο. In all three narratives in this place, but nowhere else in N. T. In LXX it is used of giving a daughter in marriage; Exo 2:21; Ecclus. 7:25; 1 Mac. 10:58: but the sense of letting out for hire is classical; Plat. Leg. vii:806 D, γεωργίαι δὲ ἐκδεδομέναι δούλοις ἀπαρχὴν τῶν ἐκ τῆς ανποτελοῦσιν ἱκανήν. Among the Jews rent was sometimes paid in money, but generally in kind. If in kind, it was either a fixed amount of produce, whether the harvest was good or bad; or a certain proportion, e.g. a third or fourth, of each harvest. This latter system led to much disputing and dishonesty, and does so still wherever it is adopted. The tenants in the parable have a long lease and pay in kind; but it is not clear whether they pay a fixed or a proportionate amount.

The same form (ετο, not -οτο is found in the best MSS. in all three. Comp. διεδίδετο (Act 4:35) and παρεδίδετο (1Co 11:23). Gregory, Proleg. p. 124.

Χρόνους ἱκανούς . This addition is peculiar to Lk. See on 7:12. We may understand several years.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let it out. See on Mt 21:33.

Went into a far country. Not necessarily far, but as Rev., another country. See on Mr 13:34.

A long time [ικανους] . See on ch. Luk 7:6.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.