AR 12{Verses 1-12. In a parable the Lord shows Israel's failure to answer to their privileges.
Israel was Jehovah's vineyard. (Isa. 5:1-71Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. (Isaiah 5:1‑7).) He had bestowed upon it much attention and care, but it rendered to Him no return of acceptable fruit. Here it is the husbandmen's responsibility. From time to time He sent servants to them. They maltreated them shamefully, beating some and killing some. Lastly, He sent His Son, His well beloved, saying, "They will reverence My Son." But those husbandmen said among themselves: "This is the heir; come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took Him and killed Him and cast Him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the Lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen and will give the vineyard unto others." This is Israel's history, it is one of complete failure to answer to God's will, and proved their hearts were at enmity against God.
How well the Lord know what they would do to Him, yet He tells it out in this lesson with quiet dignity. He is willing to do the Father's will, and they are filling up the measure of their wickedness, their iniquity is manifest. The Lord further quotes, Psa. 118, which foretold their rejection of Him, and also the sovereign grace that will after all work out their blessing as a nation through the Stone the builders rejected. This was the Lord's doing and would be marvelous in their eyes in the day of its fulfillment, when He will set up His new covenant of grace.
In the meantime they have lost their place as the people of God. And the Church is being called out, and is now God's testimony on the earth.
The scribes, chief priests, and Pharisees-the husbandmen-to whom this parable had its immediate application, sought to lay hold of Him for they knew He spake of them, but they feared the people. And thus went their way.
Verses 13-17. The classes of Jews come to catch or judge the Lord. In reality He judges them, defeating their intentions, exposing their ignorance and wickedness.
The Pharisees and Herodians, opposites in doctrine, but united in wicked contradiction of the Lord, come to catch Him with smooth, flattery covering diabolical enmity. "Master, we know that Thou art true, and carest for no man: for Thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give?" His answer shows His divine wisdom, makes manifest their sin, and God's just chastening upon them for it. He would not assert His right to the throne of Israel, till He had made atonement. He must suffer first before the glories follow. So He answers as the Rich One, now become poor. "Why tempt ye Me? bring Me a penny that I may see it." And they brought it. He saith unto them, "Whose is this image and superscription?" They said unto Him, "Caesar's." Jesus answered, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
What a complete answer; it rebuked their sin in departing from Jehovah, so that He allowed the enemy to triumph over them, and thus put them under tribute. They should have been head, but were now the tail (Deut. 28:13, 4413And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: (Deuteronomy 28:13)
44He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. (Deuteronomy 28:44)); now paying tribute to those who should have paid tribute to them. It was Jehovah's chastening. Jesus' answer says they should bow to it. It also shows their need of humbling and repentance, "Render to God the things that are God's." The Lord saw their hypocrisy, they were rebels before God and toward men. They marveled at Him; well they might, they were in His presence who could read the thoughts and intents of their hearts.
Verses 18-27. Then come to Him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection: They cite a case which they think corresponds with what Moses wrote. (Deut. 25:55If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. (Deuteronomy 25:5).) The Lord meets their reasoning with the Word of God, and lets the folly of their reasoning be seen. They reasoned that if there was a resurrection, all would be in confusion of relationships, and because it seemed folly to them, they rejected the truth. The Lord's answer is, “Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage: but are as the angels which are in heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of, Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err." In this answer the Sadducees are silenced, and the resurrection is proved to be a truth found in Scripture, a truth running through from beginning to end.
The Lord quotes Moses, for that was the part the Sadducees professed to believe. The books of Moses contain it; and the Old Testament saints found in it that which they needed to fulfill God's promises, and to enable them to look on to a city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
It is a truth of vital importance in all dispensations. It is the evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. (Rom. 1:44And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: (Romans 1:4).) And that God has accepted His atoning work. (Rom. 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25).) And that He is the Judge of this world. (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31).) It declares His victory over death and hades. (Rev. 1:1818I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (Revelation 1:18).) By it we enter into a new state of full conformity to Christ, and leave all that is of the flesh and sin behind.
All God's plans and purposes of blessing to man are to be fulfilled in resurrection, through the redemption work of Christ the Lord. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who had died, would in resurrection realize the promises made to them by Jehovah.
Verses 28-34. One of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that He answered well, asked Him, "which is the first commandment of all?" The fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, seems to be working in this man's heart. It is no idle question he asks. The scribes believed some of the commandments were more important than others for to make up the measure of a man's righteousness. The Lord's answer gives God His true place in man's heart. "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment than these.”
This was Israel's duty, man's duty, plainly expressed. All the rest are covered by these. The Lord brings them out from their places in the divine Word. ( Lev. 19:1818Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:18); Deut. 6:4, 5; 10:124Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 5And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:4‑5)
12And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, (Deuteronomy 10:12).) The scribe feels the truth of it in his soul, and said, "Well, Master, Thou past said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but He: And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that He answered discreetly, He said unto him, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." He recognizes the working of truth in the scribe that was forming him morally for the kingdom of God. No man after that durst ask Him any question. He was the faithful and true Witness, the pattern for all His servants to be formed after. (Titus 1:99Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. (Titus 1:9).)
Verses 35-37. The Lord asks and answers the question, Whose Son is Christ? And shows that David's Son is David's Lord. Psa. 110 showing Him as the One rejected by men, glorified by God at His right hand, waiting till the time when He will take His great power and reign. The leaders of Israel had refused Him, but the common people heard Him gladly.
Verses 38-40. The Lord denounces the scribes for their practices: they loved the honor of men, assumed the leadership of the people, while they defrauded helpless widows who trusted them because of their religious character, and for, a pretense made long prayers, heaping to themselves greater judgment.
Verses 41-44. Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. He knew how to value the gifts. He knew the spirit and motives that led each to give. He knew how those rich men had obtained the riches. And saw them giving out of their abundance. It did not cause them trial or suffering, they had plenty left. He knew whether they were giving to Jehovah, or to make themselves great before others. And some of them would be the very ones who robbed widows' estates to enrich themselves. (James 5:1-61Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 4Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. (James 5:1‑6).) And their gifts would but add to their judgment. There came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. The Lord draws His disciples' attention, and said, "Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury: for all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living." She gave her all to the Lord, and He knew it. She did not keep one mite and give the other. She gave both, and her creator God knew it, like another widow in 1 Kings 17:1313And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. (1 Kings 17:13). She was a widow indeed (1 Tim. 5:55Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. (1 Timothy 5:5)), and would be the object of the Lord's care. Another has said, "Perhaps it helped to pay Judas Iscariot, but it was given to the Lord, and the widow's heart which was occupied about the mite, did not escape the Lord's eyes, nor the notice of His love.