Discovery BoxMatthew 21:33-36 
Context21:33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner 1 who planted a vineyard. 2 He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then 3 he leased it to tenant farmers 4 and went on a journey. 21:34 When the harvest time was near, he sent his slaves 5 to the tenants to collect his portion of the crop. 6 21:35 But the tenants seized his slaves, beat one, 7 killed another, and stoned another. 21:36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way.
1 tn The term here refers to the owner and manager of a household.
2 sn The vineyard is a figure for Israel in the OT (Isa 5:1-7). The nation and its leaders are the tenants, so the vineyard here may well refer to the promise that resides within the nation. The imagery is like that in Rom 11:11-24.
3 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
4 sn The leasing of land to tenant farmers was common in this period.
5 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.
sn These slaves represent the prophets God sent to the nation, who were mistreated and rejected.
6 tn Grk “to collect his fruits.”
7 sn The image of the tenants mistreating the owner’s slaves pictures the nation’s rejection of the prophets and their message.
