New Testament · Gospel

Matthew 21:35

The King Enters

But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Matthew 21:35 · Berean Standard Bible
What It Means

Matthew 21:35, in plain English

But the tenants grab the servants. They beat one, kill another, and stone a third.

Why it's here

This is a compressed history of how God's messengers were treated. It happened over and over again.

Who's speaking

The narrator describes the shocking violence of the tenants.

Where it sits in the story

God sent messengers, and they were met with violence. The pattern repeated throughout Israel's history.

A Closer Look

The scholarly reading

The tenants beat, kill, and stone the servants — a compressed history of Israel's treatment of the prophets (cf. 2 Chr 36:15-16, Neh 9:26).

Language and setting

Stoning was a particularly Jewish form of execution; the three verbs encompass the full range of prophetic persecution in Israel's history.

Voice

The narrator describes the tenants' violent rejection of the owner's servants.

Significance

The tenants' treatment of the servants mirrors Israel's historical pattern of persecuting and killing the prophets.

In context

Matthew 21:33–37

33Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.

34When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit.

35But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

36Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group. But the tenants did the same to them.

37Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

Read all of Matthew 21 — Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey while the crowds shout hosanna. Within hours, he's overturning tables in the temple.

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