addresses this parable to all the people who were listening to His teaching, and not to the priests and elders only.
The parable itself is a remarkable combination of figure, history, and prophecy. Cyril calls it " the history of Israel in a compendium." The parable of the sower, the parable of the mustard seed, and the parable of the wicked husbandmen, are the only parables which are three times recorded in the Gospels.
[A vineyard.] This expression is one which we find used parabolically in Isaiah : " The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel." (Isa. v. 7 ; &c.) Here it seems to mean the land of JudaBa, and the peculiar privileges of the Jewish nation.
[ffusbandmen.'] These are the Jewish people and their rulers and priests.
[Went into a far country.] This expression must not be pressed too closely. It signifies that as the lord of the vine- yard left his vineyard to the occupation of the tenants, so God left the privileges of the Jews to be turned to good account by the nation.
10, 11, 12. — [A servant.] In all these three verses the " servants " sent signify the prophets and others whom God sent to call the Jews to repentance, and rouse them to a sense of their privileges and responsibilities. The treatment the prophets received from the Jews is figiu*ed by the beating and wounding of the servants.
13. — [My beloved Son.] This part of the parable admits of only one interpretation. The Lord Jesus speaks of Himself and the treatment which he was on the point of receiving at the hands of the priests and elders. He knew that whOe He spoke they were already plotting His death, and saying '' let us kill him."
16. — [He shall come and destroy.] Here the parable passes into prophecy. Our Lord predicts the destruction of Jerusalem, the scattering of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles to enjoy their privileges.
[They said, God forbid.] These words would be rendered more literally " may it not be." The word ** God," is not in the Greek. The exclamation appears to me to show clearly, that those who heard this parable saw the application of it.
17. — [Tlie stone.] This means Christ. Though rejected by those who called themselves leaders and builders in the Jewish church, it was prophecied that He would become the head-stone of the comer. And as it was foretold, so it would be. (Psa. cxviii. 22.)
18. — [Whosoever shall faU, dc] The meaning of this verse has perplexed some commentators. The distinction between the first and last parts of it has been thought a difficulty. Some
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