And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.
At the appointed time the owner sent a second servant to receive the fruit owed to him and to call the husbandmen to account, but they beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty without what was due. The servants are the prophets and messengers God sent to ancient Israel before He sent His Son, and the husbandmen are the Jewish nation, especially the priests, rulers and teachers entrusted with His vineyard. Their repeated violence shows God's patient, repeated efforts to claim His due through messengers whom Israel would not heed, met with contempt, injustice, cruelty and increasingly determined hatred. Their guilt was robbing God of the service He claimed by misleading the people and turning them away from Christ, so for rejecting His Son the kingdom would be taken from them and given to those who will obey its Ruler. The same warning belongs to the church in every generation, which has received great privileges and is held accountable to return fruit in love, humility and self-sacrificing obedience to God's law.
Parable Narrative and Symbols
In the parable, after the first servant is mistreated the owner sends another servant at the season to receive the vineyard's fruit owed to him and to call the husbandmen to account. The husbandmen beat the second servant, treat him shamefully, and send him away empty with nothing, without the fruit they owed. The next servant is treated like the first, and the repeated beating and shaming and empty sending show repeated rejection and abuse of the owner's messengers and continuing refusal to give what was due. Their violence depicts contempt, injustice and cruelty toward God's servants and exposes their deceptions.
The servants are the prophets and messengers God sent to ancient Israel before He sent His Son. The parable concerns His first advent and the treatment He received, and the abuse of the servants shows that Israel did not heed their message. The husbandmen are the Jewish nation, especially the priests, rulers and teachers entrusted with God's vineyard, who were to return its fruits to its owner through loyal, unselfish service. This account belongs to His final warning to the temple leaders to expose a corrupt priesthood and to give the people evidence of His divine mission, though reforming the leaders would be in vain, for God expects faithful stewardship that works every part of the vineyard instead of keeping blessings and facilities concentrated under one's own care, and He will hold those entrusted accountable.
Israel's Rejection and Judgment
The beating and shameful dismissal of the second servant with nothing in his hands was not an isolated act but a continuing refusal to render to the owner the fruit that was due him. The owner made patient, repeated efforts to claim what was his through messengers sent to call the husbandmen to account, and Israel did not heed their message. With each sending the hatred of the husbandmen toward those messengers grew more determined.
That violence reveals contempt, injustice, and cruelty toward God's servants and lays bare the deceptions of the husbandmen. The servant stands for God's messengers, and the tenants' treatment of him depicts the Jewish nation's contemptuous, unjust, and cruel handling of those whom God sent.
Their guilt lay in robbing God of the service He claimed by misleading the people and turning the nation away from Christ. The priests and teachers set human teaching above God's word, turned the people away from His precepts, and would not give up their man-made commandments to obey the requirements of His word. When the claim of God's law was set before the people they used their influence to lead men to reject it, teaching that it is not binding, educating in transgression instead of obedience, and exalting human traditions, ordinances, and customs while ignoring God's claims.
When Christ presented the law of God unmixed with human tradition as the great standard of obedience and pressed the claims of God upon the nation, it aroused their enmity. They would not for truth's sake sacrifice pride of reason and the praise of men, denied His right to interpose between them and the people, and would not accept His rebukes and warnings. Instead they set themselves to turn the people against Him and to compass His destruction.
As a final appeal God sent His Son to turn the people's hearts to Him, but they killed Him. For that rejection of Christ with the results that followed they were responsible, for a nation's sin and a nation's ruin were due to the religious leaders. Because of this course the Lord will punish the Jewish nation with fearful severity, and the kingdom will be taken from them and given to those who will obey its Ruler.
Warning to Church Today
The vineyard parable reaches beyond the Jewish nation to the church in every generation, which has received great privileges and blessings and is expected to return fruit accordingly. Those entrusted with the vineyard are held accountable for faithful stewardship, to return its fruits through loyal, unselfish service that works every part of the vineyard rather than keeping blessings and facilities concentrated under their own care. The fruits the owner claims are love and humility and self-sacrificing service produced by obedience to God's law.
He still sends His messengers at the Master's bidding to demand obedience to His word and to present His claim to those fruits, and many husbandmen meet that claim with anger and rejection, as did the Jewish priests and teachers and as do religious teachers today who follow in their steps. When the claim of God's law is set before the people, these teachers use their influence to lead men to reject it, teaching from the pulpits that God's law is not binding and educating the people in transgression instead of obedience. They exalt human traditions, ordinances, and customs while ignoring God's claims, and as such they are unfaithful servants guilty of withholding the Lord's fruits and preventing the people from bearing fruit to His glory, placing themselves outside the channel where His blessings flow.
At the appointed time the owner sent a second servant to receive the fruit owed to him and to call the husbandmen to account, but they beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty without what was due. The servants are the prophets and messengers God sent to ancient Israel before He sent His Son, and the husbandmen are the Jewish nation, especially the priests, rulers and teachers entrusted with His vineyard. Their repeated violence shows God's patient, repeated efforts to claim His due through messengers whom Israel would not heed, met with contempt, injustice, cruelty and increasingly determined hatred. Their guilt was robbing God of the service He claimed by misleading the people and turning them away from Christ, so for rejecting His Son the kingdom would be taken from them and given to those who will obey its Ruler. The same warning belongs to the church in every generation, which has received great privileges and is held accountable to return fruit in love, humility and self-sacrificing obedience to God's law.
Parable Narrative and Symbols
In the parable, after the first servant is mistreated the owner sends another servant at the season to receive the vineyard's fruit owed to him and to call the husbandmen to account. The husbandmen beat the second servant, treat him shamefully, and send him away empty with nothing, without the fruit they owed. The next servant is treated like the first, and the repeated beating and shaming and empty sending show repeated rejection and abuse of the owner's messengers and continuing refusal to give what was due. Their violence depicts contempt, injustice and cruelty toward God's servants and exposes their deceptions.
The servants are the prophets and messengers God sent to ancient Israel before He sent His Son. The parable concerns His first advent and the treatment He received, and the abuse of the servants shows that Israel did not heed their message. The husbandmen are the Jewish nation, especially the priests, rulers and teachers entrusted with God's vineyard, who were to return its fruits to its owner through loyal, unselfish service. This account belongs to His final warning to the temple leaders to expose a corrupt priesthood and to give the people evidence of His divine mission, though reforming the leaders would be in vain, for God expects faithful stewardship that works every part of the vineyard instead of keeping blessings and facilities concentrated under one's own care, and He will hold those entrusted accountable.
Israel's Rejection and Judgment
The beating and shameful dismissal of the second servant with nothing in his hands was not an isolated act but a continuing refusal to render to the owner the fruit that was due him. The owner made patient, repeated efforts to claim what was his through messengers sent to call the husbandmen to account, and Israel did not heed their message. With each sending the hatred of the husbandmen toward those messengers grew more determined.
That violence reveals contempt, injustice, and cruelty toward God's servants and lays bare the deceptions of the husbandmen. The servant stands for God's messengers, and the tenants' treatment of him depicts the Jewish nation's contemptuous, unjust, and cruel handling of those whom God sent.
Their guilt lay in robbing God of the service He claimed by misleading the people and turning the nation away from Christ. The priests and teachers set human teaching above God's word, turned the people away from His precepts, and would not give up their man-made commandments to obey the requirements of His word. When the claim of God's law was set before the people they used their influence to lead men to reject it, teaching that it is not binding, educating in transgression instead of obedience, and exalting human traditions, ordinances, and customs while ignoring God's claims.
When Christ presented the law of God unmixed with human tradition as the great standard of obedience and pressed the claims of God upon the nation, it aroused their enmity. They would not for truth's sake sacrifice pride of reason and the praise of men, denied His right to interpose between them and the people, and would not accept His rebukes and warnings. Instead they set themselves to turn the people against Him and to compass His destruction.
As a final appeal God sent His Son to turn the people's hearts to Him, but they killed Him. For that rejection of Christ with the results that followed they were responsible, for a nation's sin and a nation's ruin were due to the religious leaders. Because of this course the Lord will punish the Jewish nation with fearful severity, and the kingdom will be taken from them and given to those who will obey its Ruler.
Warning to Church Today
The vineyard parable reaches beyond the Jewish nation to the church in every generation, which has received great privileges and blessings and is expected to return fruit accordingly. Those entrusted with the vineyard are held accountable for faithful stewardship, to return its fruits through loyal, unselfish service that works every part of the vineyard rather than keeping blessings and facilities concentrated under their own care. The fruits the owner claims are love and humility and self-sacrificing service produced by obedience to God's law.
He still sends His messengers at the Master's bidding to demand obedience to His word and to present His claim to those fruits, and many husbandmen meet that claim with anger and rejection, as did the Jewish priests and teachers and as do religious teachers today who follow in their steps. When the claim of God's law is set before the people, these teachers use their influence to lead men to reject it, teaching from the pulpits that God's law is not binding and educating the people in transgression instead of obedience. They exalt human traditions, ordinances, and customs while ignoring God's claims, and as such they are unfaithful servants guilty of withholding the Lord's fruits and preventing the people from bearing fruit to His glory, placing themselves outside the channel where His blessings flow.