Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen.

  ^a 38 But the {^b those} ^a husbandmen, when they saw {^c him} ^a the son, ^c they reasoned one with another, ^a said among themselves, {^c saying,} ^a This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance. ^c that the inheritance may be ours. ^b and 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 ( John 12:19 ; 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 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,

  ^c 15 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.]

  ^c 15 And they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him.

  ^a 40 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.

  ^c 16

[Jesus said] He will come and destroy these {^b the} husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. ^c And 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 ( Galatians 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.]

  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.

  ^c 16

  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

  ^a 42 Jesus saith {^c said,} ^a unto them, ^c What then is this that is written,

  ^b 10 Have ye not read even this scripture:

read in the scriptures, ^c The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner?

^a This was from the Lord, And it is marvellous in our eyes?

[The quotation is from Psalms 118:22 Psalms 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.]

  ^a 42 Jesus saith {^c said,} ^a unto them, ^c What then is this that is written,

  ^b 10 Have ye not read even this scripture:

^a This was from the Lord, And it is marvellous in our eyes?

  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 {^c 18 Every one} ^a that falleth on this {^c that} ^a stone 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 ( Matthew 27:3-5 ; Luke 23:48 ; Acts 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-- Revelation 6:15-17 .]

  44 And he {^c 18 Every one} ^a that falleth on this {^c that} ^a stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust.

  45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees,

  ^c 19 And the scribes ^a heard his parables, they ^c sought to lay hands on him in that very hour, ^b for they perceived that he ^a spake of them. ^b spake the {^c this} parable against them.

  ^a 46 And when they sought to lay hands on him, ^c they feared the people: {^b multitude; ^a multitudes,} because they took him for a prophet. ^b and 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 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.]

  ^c 19 And the scribes ^a heard his parables, they ^c sought to lay hands on him in that very hour, ^b for they perceived that he ^a spake of them. ^b spake the {^c this} parable against them.

  ^a 46 And when they sought to lay hands on him, ^c they feared the people: {^b multitude; ^a multitudes,} because they took him for a prophet. ^b and they left him, and went away.