Worthy.Bible » STRONG » Luke » Chapter 20 » Verse 13-19

Luke 20:13-19 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

13 Then G1161 said G2036 the lord G2962 of the vineyard, G290 What G5101 shall I do? G4160 I will send G3992 my G3450 beloved G27 son: G5207 it may be G2481 they will reverence G1788 him when they see G1492 him. G5126

14 But G1161 when the husbandmen G1092 saw G1492 him, G846 they reasoned G1260 among G4314 themselves, G1438 saying, G3004 This G3778 is G2076 the heir: G2818 come, G1205 let us kill G615 him, G846 that G2443 the inheritance G2817 may be G1096 ours. G2257

15 So G2532 they cast G1544 him G846 out of G1854 the vineyard, G290 and killed G615 him. What G5101 therefore G3767 shall G4160 the lord G2962 of the vineyard G290 do G4160 unto them? G846

16 He shall come G2064 and G2532 destroy G622 these G5128 husbandmen, G1092 and G2532 shall give G1325 the vineyard G290 to others. G243 And G1161 when they heard G191 it, they said, G2036 God forbid. G3361 G1096

17 And G1161 he beheld G1689 them, G846 and said, G2036 What G5101 is G2076 this G5124 then G3767 that is written, G1125 The stone G3037 which G3739 the builders G3618 rejected, G593 the same G3778 is become G1096 the head G2776 of G1519 the corner? G1137

18 Whosoever G3956 shall fall G4098 upon G1909 that G1565 stone G3037 shall be broken; G4917 but G1161 on G1909 whomsoever G3739 G302 it shall fall, G4098 it will grind G3039 him G846 to powder. G3039

19 And G2532 the chief priests G749 and G2532 the scribes G1122 the same G1722 G846 hour G5610 sought G2212 to lay G1911 hands G5495 on G1909 him; G846 and G2532 they feared G5399 the people: G2992 for G1063 they perceived G1097 that G3754 he had spoken G2036 this G5026 parable G3850 against G4314 them. G846

Commentary on Luke 20 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 20

Lu 20:1-19. The Authority of Jesus Questioned, and His ReplyParable of the Wicked Husbandmen.

(See on Mt 21:23.)

2. these things—particularly the clearing of the temple.

4. baptism of John—his whole ministry and mission, of which baptism was the seal.

5. Why then believed ye him not?—that is, in his testimony to Jesus, the sum of his whole witness.

7. could not tell—crooked, cringing hypocrites! No wonder Jesus gave you no answer (Mt 7:6). But what dignity and composure does our Lord display as He turns their question upon themselves!

9-13. vineyard—(See on Lu 13:6). In Mt 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 Mr 4:26.)

10. beat, &c.—(Mt 21:35); that is, the prophets, extraordinary messengers raised up from time to time. (See on Mt 23:37.)

13. my beloved son—Mark (Mr 12:6) still more affectingly, "Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved"; our Lord thus severing Himself from all merely human messengers, and claiming Sonship in its loftiest sense. (Compare Heb 3:3-6.)

it may be—"surely"; implying the almost unimaginable guilt of not doing so.

14. reasoned among themselves—(Compare Ge 37:18-20; Joh 11:47-53).

the heir—sublime expression of the great truth, that God's inheritance was destined for, and in due time to come into the possession of, His Son in our nature (Heb 1:2).

inheritance … ours—and so from mere servants we may become lords; the deep aim of the depraved heart, and literally "the root of all evil."

15. cast him out of the vineyard—(Compare Heb 13:11-13; 1Ki 21:13; Joh 19:17).

16. He shall come, &c.—This answer was given by the Pharisees themselves (Mt 21:41), thus pronouncing their own righteous doom. Matthew alone (Mt 21:43) gives the naked application, that "the kingdom of God should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof"—the great evangelical community of the faithful, chiefly Gentiles.

God forbid—His whole meaning now bursting upon them.

17-19. written—(in Ps 118:22, 23. See on Lu 19:38). The Kingdom of God is here a Temple, in the erection of which a certain stone, rejected as unsuitable by the spiritual builders, is, by the great Lord of the House, made the keystone of the whole. On that Stone the builders were now "falling" and being "broken" (Isa 8:15), "sustaining great spiritual hurt; but soon that Stone should fall upon them and grind them to powder" (Da 2:34, 35; Zec 12:3)—in their corporate capacity in the tremendous destruction of Jerusalem, but personally, as unbelievers, in a more awful sense still.

19. the same hour—hardly able to restrain their rage.

Lu 20:20-40. Entangling Questions about Tribute and the ResurrectionThe Replies.

20-26. sent forth—after consulting (Mt 22:15) on the best plan.

spies—"of the Pharisees and Herodians" (Mr 12:13). See Mr 3:6.

21. we know, &c.—hoping by flattery to throw Him off His guard.

22. tribute—(See on Mt 17:24).

25. things which be Cæsar's—Putting it in this general form, it was impossible for sedition itself to dispute it, and yet it dissolved the snare.

and unto God—How much there is in this profound but to them startling addition to the maxim, and how incomparable is the whole for fulness, brevity, clearness, weight!

27-34. no resurrection—"nor angel nor spirit" (Ac 23:8); the materialists of the day.

34. said unto them—In Mt 22:29, the reply begins with this important statement:—"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures," regarding the future state, "nor the power of God," before which a thousand such difficulties vanish (also Mr 12:24).

36. neither … die any more—Marriage is ordained to perpetuate the human family; but as there will be no breaches by death in the future state, this ordinance will cease.

equal—or "like."

unto the angels—that is, in the immortality of their nature.

children of God—not in respect of character but nature; "being the children of the resurrection" to an undecaying existence (Ro 8:21, 23). And thus the children of their Father's immortality (1Ti 6:16).

37, 38. even Moses—whom they had just quoted to entangle Him.

38. not … of the dead, … for all, &c.—To God, no human being is dead, or ever will be; but all sustain an abiding conscious relation to Him. But the "all" here meant "those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world." These sustain a gracious covenant relation to God, which cannot be dissolved. In this sense our Lord affirms that for Moses to call the Lord the "God" of His patriarchal servants if at that moment they had no existence, would be unworthy of Him. He "would be ashamed to be called their God, if He had not prepared for them a city" (Heb 11:16). How precious are these glimpses of the resurrection state!

39. scribes … well said—enjoying His victory over the Sadducees.

they durst not—neither party, both for the time utterly foiled.

Lu 20:41-47. Christ Baffles the Pharisees by a Question about David and Messiah, and Denounces the Scribes.

41. said, &c.—"What think ye of Christ [the promised and expected Messiah]? Whose son is He [to be]? They say unto Him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit [by the Holy Ghost, Mr 12:36] call Him Lord?" (Mt 22:42, 43). The difficulty can only be solved by the higher and lower—the divine and human natures of our Lord (Mt 1:23). Mark the testimony here given to the inspiration of the Old Testament (compare Lu 24:44).

46, 47. Beware, &c.—(See on Mt 23:5; and Lu 14:7).

47. devour, &c.—taking advantage of their helpless condition and confiding character, to obtain possession of their property, while by their "long prayers" they made them believe they were raised far above "filthy lucre." So much "the greater damnation" awaits them. What a lifelike description of the Romish clergy, the true successors of "the scribes!"