Luk 20:9-19 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Luke 20:9-19: 20:9-19 This story adapts Isaiah’s Song of the Fruitful Vineyard (Isa 5:1-7 ) to allegorize Jesus’ rejection by Israel’s leaders. In Isaiah’s allegory, the vineyard owner is God and Israel is the unfruitful vineyard that will be judged. Jesus added new characters—the tenant farmers were Israel’s unrighteous leaders, the servants were the Old Testament prophets (repeatedly rejected by Israel), and the son was Jesus. God would judge Israel’s leaders for rejecting and murdering his son. 20:9 leased it to tenant farmers: This was a common practice in first-century Palestine, especially in Galilee, where peasants would lease the right to raise crops from wealthy landowners.

Summary for Luke 20:9-19: 20:9-19 ^a This story adapts Isaiah’s Song of the Fruitful Vineyard (Isa 5:1-7 ^b) to allegorize Jesus’ rejection by Israel’s leaders. In Isaiah’s allegory, the vineyard owner is God and Israel is the unfruitful vineyard that will be judged. Jesus added new characters—the tenant farmers were Israel’s unrighteous leaders, the servants were the Old Testament prophets (repeatedly rejected by Israel), and the son was Jesus. God would judge Israel’s leaders for rejecting and murdering his son. 20:9 ^c leased it to tenant farmers: This was a common practice in first-century Palestine, especially in Galilee, where peasants would lease the right to raise crops from wealthy landowners.
20:10 ^d the farmers attacked the servant: God’s prophets were often mistreated and opposed (1 Kgs 19:10 ^e, 14 ^f; 2 Chr 24:21 ^g; 36:16 ^h; Neh 9:26 ⁱ; Jer 2:30 ^j; 26:20-24 ^k; 37:15 ^l).
20:13 ^m my cherished son: The Messiah was predicted to have a unique father-son relationship with God (see 2 Sam 7:14 ⁿ; Pss 2:7 ^o; 89:26-29 ^p).
20:14 ^q Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves! They believed that killing the heir would give them power over the estate. They foolishly failed to realize that the owner was still alive and would demand justice. Similarly, the religious leaders thought that they could keep their authority over the people of Israel by killing Jesus.
20:17 ^r The stone ... cornerstone: Jesus cited Ps 118:22 ^s to predict his rejection and restoration. The cornerstone was the key part of a building, used to support and align adjoining walls. Jesus was rejected by the builders (the religious leaders), but he would become the foundation of a new building (the church).
20:18 ^t Jesus expanded the stone metaphor (20:17 ^u) with allusions to Isa 8:14-15 ^v and Dan 2:34 ^w, 44-45 ^x. Although Israel rejected him, Jesus was the foundation for the new people of God, and he inaugurated a Kingdom that would last forever.
20:19 ^y they realized he was telling the story against them: The story provoked the religious leaders to act it out by arresting and killing Jesus.