i, publicans} who were unjust. — ai topua/, the harlots} who were unchaste. — It may be asked whether these, and conse quently women in general, and also infants, were baptized by John : cf. Acts xvi. 15. — ov psrs/AtXfoqre, did not alter your way of thinking.1 — uenpov^afterwards) when you had seen their example.
33. OlxodsffvoTys, a householder} who had a large family [sc. of servants, labourers, etc.] — d/j,vtX5>vct,, a vineyard) i.e. the Jewish Church. — ppay/^c, a hedge) i.e. the law.2 — Xr,vbv, a wine press) i.e. Jerusalem. — nvpyov, a tower) i.e. the temple ; see ver. 23.3 — anedrifAqsiv, ivent into a far country) The time of Divine silence is meant, when men act according to their own will and pleasure [pro arbitrio] : cf. ch. xxv. 14, and Mark xiii. 34.
34. "Ore ds rlyyiffsv o xaip^ r£v xapvuv, But when the season of the fruit drew near) Comp. John iv. 35. Here also lurks the reason why the Messiah had not come sooner. — roi)$ SouXouc, His servants) Servants here represent the extraordinary and greater ministers of God ; labourers, the ordinary.4 — rov$ x.apvoi/s, the
1 Bengal's words are, non mutastis sententiam. In his German Version he renders it, " habt euch hernach nicht anders bedacht" " have not after that changed your mind."
In his Harmony, however, he renders it, " tliatet ihr dennoch nicht busse," "notwithstanding did not repent." E. V. has "repented not afterward." -(I. B.)
2 In the note in the Germ. Vers., Bengel interprets the Hedge, with a slight change of the figure, of the separation of the people of Israel from all the nations of the earth, including at the same time the idea of the divine protection afforded to the former against the latter : the Winepress, the order of the priesthood : the Tower, the Kingdom (Theocracy). We should not, however, on account of this difference between his former and his latter views in this instance, conclude that such details in Parables are mere empty flowers of ornament. The parts of an enigma, however abstruse, are not idle. Comp. what is said below in Gnomon on ch. xxii. 11. — E. B.
3 l|fSoTO ati-rdi/, let it out) This is the ground on which rests the power of the Church. The vineyard was let out to husbandmen. They who preside in either political or ecclesiastical offices, can indeed act according to their own pleasure, and, like the holders of the vineyard, consult only their own private interests : they can maltreat the servants of the Lord : they can wantonly wrest aside the laws of the Church according to their caprice : and can in this way, though not now as then kill the Heir Himself, yet thrust Him out for some time from Flis own proper place. But — the time of Visitation is com ing at last. — V. g.
4 Of whom the former are for the most part received badly by the latter,