Matthew 21:39 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

NIV: So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

NASB: And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

CSB: So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

NLT: So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.

KJV: And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

NKJV: So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

This concludes this parable about wicked tenants and the owner of the vineyard they are responsible to tend. Instead of paying their rent to the owner, in the form of a share of the crops, these tenants have mistreated and killed every servant the owner has sent to collect from them (Matthew 21:33–37). Now the owner has sent his son (Matthew 21:38), and the tenants have thrown him out of the vineyard and killed him, as well. They imagine that with the son dead, they will be able to take his inheritance.

Perhaps Jesus' listeners in the temple do not see it, yet, but His story is meant to show how Israel's religious leaders—including those Jesus is talking to—have failed to tend the vineyard of Israel faithfully. The have mistreated God's prophets, servants sent to collect righteousness from Israel (Acts 7:52), and they will soon kill God's Son (Matthew 17:22–23). Jesus is once again predicting His own death, this time in parable form and to the very men who will condemn Him in the coming days.

The question Christ poses in the following verse will begin to make this plain.

Matthew 21:33–46 begins with another vineyard-related parable from Jesus. This one involves tenants who refused to pay the owner His agreed upon share of the crops. Instead, they mistreated and killed the servants he sent and then killed the owner's son. Jesus compares Israel's religious leaders to these tenants, saying the kingdom of God will be taken from them. Jesus identifies Himself in a psalm about a stone rejected by the builders but chosen by the Lord to be the cornerstone. All who reject Him will fall on the cornerstone or have it fall on and crush them.

Jesus fulfills a prophecy from Zechariah about the coming of the king to Jerusalem by riding in on a donkey. The people celebrate and praise Him as the Messiah. Jesus drives the marketers and moneychangers out of the temple and heals some people. He curses a fig tree and tells the disciples nothing will be impossible for them with faith. Jesus forces cowardly and hypocritical religious leaders to back down with a question about John the Baptist. He then exposes their fraudulent spirituality with two parables about vineyards. Jesus applies to Himself a psalm about a rejected stone being made the cornerstone by the Lord.

Matthew 21 finds Jesus arriving near Jerusalem after leaving Jericho in the previous chapter. His triumphal entry is accomplished riding a donkey, and to raucous praise, fulfilling a prophecy about the Messiah. Jesus cleanses the marketplace from the temple, heals, and presents lessons about faith and Israel's failed leadership. This leads into further conversations which Matthew compiles from Jesus' interactions with the Pharisees.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.