Matthew 21:34 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.

NIV: When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

NASB: And when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit.

CSB: When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit.

NLT: At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop.

KJV: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

NKJV: Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.

Jesus is telling another parable about a vineyard. The vineyard in this story has been developed and is leased out by a landowner to some tenants. The landowner moves away to another country. When harvest time comes, he sends a servant to collect his part of the fruit from the farmers renting his vineyard. "His fruit" means his share of the crop. It is the rent the tenants rightly owe, and would have agreed to, for the use of the vineyard.

This parable shares similarities with a metaphor given to Isaiah by the Lord in Isaiah 5:1–7. As there, the owner of this vineyard is God, and the crop is Israel. Jesus, though, adds tenants to the story. Those tenants represent the Jewish religious leaders, the ones given responsibility for "tending" Israel. In a similar sense, Scripture sometimes refers to spiritual leaders as "shepherds," who are symbolically charged with protecting and guiding a flock of sheep.

In this story, the tenants will not respond well to the owner's attempts to claim what is owed to him.

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.

Accessed 5/4/2024 9:50:49 PM