Luke 20:10

10 When the time came, he sent a servant^[a] to the tenants, so that ¹they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. ²But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

Luke 20:10 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 20:10

And at the season
Or "when it the time of fruit", as the Ethiopic version renders it, agreeably to (See Gill on Matthew 21:34):

he sent a servant to the husbandmen;
or servants, as in ( Matthew 21:34 ) ; the prophets of the Lord, his messengers, whom he sent to them, to exhort them to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, as follows:

that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard;
that is, that they, bringing forth good fruit in their lives and conversations, whereby it might appear that they were trees of righteousness, and the planting of the Lord; he, or they observing them, might give an account of them to the Lord, to the glory of his name:

but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty;
the Jews not only mocked these messengers of the Lord, and despised their words, but misused them, ( 2 Chronicles 36:15 2 Chronicles 36:16 ) they beat them with their fists, smote them on the cheek, and scourged them with scourges; so that they had no account to give of their fruitfulness in good works, but the contrary; (See Gill on Matthew 21:35) and (See Gill on Mark 12:3).

Luke 20:10 In-Context

8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. ”

9 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.

10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.

12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.

Cross References

• 1. 20:10 [See ver. 9 above]
• 2. 20:10 Matt. 5:12; 22:6; 23:34, 37; [2 Chr. 24:19; 36:15, 16; Neh. 9:26; Jer. 37:15; 38:6; Acts 7:52; 2 Cor. 11:24-26; 1 Thess. 2:15; Heb. 11:36, 37]

Footnotes

• [a] 20:10 Greek 'bondservant'; also verse 11