30 rity I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from Heaven, or of men? answer Me.

31

32

That is,-Did John Baptist receive from GoD a Commission to Baptize? or was it a mere human device, an assumption of his own?

And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From Heaven; He will say, Why then did ye not believe him?

By which they probably alluded, above all, to the witness borne by the Baptist to our LORD as the MESSIAH'.

But if we shall say, Of men,-they feared the people for all men counted John, that 33 he was a prophet indeed. And they answered

and said unto JESUS, We cannot tell. And JESUS answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

For that which is holy may not be given to dogs; neither are pearls to be cast before swine m "Even if He had told them, it would have profited them nothing; because the darkened will cannot perceive the things of the Light. Him that inquires, we are bound to instruct; but him that tempts, we may defeat with a stroke of reasoning"." See more in the note on St. Matthew xxi. 27.

1 See St. John i. 29 to 34: 36.
■ Pseudo-Chrysostom.

m St. Matth. vii. 6.

A

PLAIN COMMENTARY

ON THE TWELFTH CHAPTER OF

St. Mark's Gospel.

1 In a Parable of the Vineyard let out to unthankful Husbandmen, CHRIST foretelleth the reprobation of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles. 13 He avoideth the snare of the Pharisees and Herodians about paying tribute to Cæsar: 18 convinceth the error of the Sadducees, who denied the Resurrection: 28 resolveth the Scribe, who questioned of the first Commandment: 35 refuteth the opinion that the Scribes held of CHRIST: 38 bidding the people to beware of their ambition and hypocrisy: 41 and commendeth the poor Widow for her two mites, above all.

XII. AND He began to speak unto them by parables.

Our SAVIOUR, who had already delivered the Parable of 'the Two Sonsa,' proceeds, (as the heading of the present chapter reminds us,) in a parable of the Vineyard let out to unthankful husbandmen,' to foretel the reprobation of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles.'-It cannot be doubted that the present parable, (addressed not only to the Pharisees, but to the people at large,) is entitled to especial notice; since, of the three parables which our LORD now deli

St. Matth. xxi. 23 to 32.

b St. Luke xx. 9.

vered, according to St. Matthew, it is the only one noticed by St. Mark or St. Luke,-who both repeat it, and in very similar language.

A certain Man planted a Vineyard, and set an Hedge about it, and digged a place for the Winefat, and built a Tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.

For the literal meaning of the hedge,'' winefat,' and 'tower,' see the note on St. Matthew xxi. 33.

Now, 'the Vineyard of the LORD of Hosts [was] 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.' It is not only remarkable, but highly instructive also, to observe how faithfully the Gospel reproduces the language with which GOD's people had been made familiar under the Law: thus, how is it possible to read the words which go before, without recalling the description of the prophet Isaiah?" My well-beloved hath a Vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and 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 thereind." It is certain that our LORD intended, by the language He employed on the present occasion, to remind His hearers of that well-known place in fulfilled Prophecy; and thereby to sug

c Isaiah v. 7.

d Isaiah v. 1, 2.

gest to as many as had ears to hear' the equally certain, equally terrible retribution which now awaited the guilty city.

This image of a Vineyard, in fact, "runs throughout the Old Testamente; and has this especial fitness, that no property was considered to yield so large a returnf: none was therefore of such price and esteem, even as none required such unceasing care and attentions."

The Jewish nation, that Vine which GOD brought out of Egypt, casting out the heathen in order to plant it,-had been 'hedged' about in a surprising manner. The Law, (a'wall of par

tition' as the great Apostle terms it,) was, in itself a cause that the people dwelt alone, and were not reckoned among the nations. The natural features of the Holy Land further constituted a physical cause of isolation,-mountains and a river, the desert and the sea, fencing off Palestine from the other nations. But chiefly the loving protection of Almighty GoD it was, which had made an hedge about' His people, 'and about all that they had on every side'.'

Have not the 'winefat' and the 'tower' a mystical meaning? or do they merely denote that nothing more could have been done to God's Vineyard,

e Ps. lxxx. 8 to 16. Is. xxvii. 1 to 6. Nahum ii. 2. Jer. ii. 21.

Ezek. xv. 1 to 6: xix. 10 to 14.

f Solomon's Song viii. 11.

Trench.

h Ps. lxxx. 8.

See more on this subject in the notes on St. John xv.

k Numb. xxiii. 9.

than He had done in itm?' It is obvious to suspect that, by the 'Tower,' the Temple of Jerusalem,(the Tower of the flock, the strong-hold of the Daughter of Sion","')-may be intended. The object of a 'Tower,' (as elsewhere stated,) was for the overseeing and watching of the Vineyard: and are not God's priests 'overseers,' and 'watchmen ?" St. Paul addressed the elders of the Church of Ephesus by the former name, exhorting them to 'watch' by the latter, God Himself addresses His prophet Ezekiel; saying, 'I have set thee a Watchman unto the House of Israel'.' And what if,-guided by that striking expression, 'the blood of grapes','-we should suspect that the altar of sacrifice at Jerusalem was specially designated by the 'wine-press?'-We certainly need not perplex ourselves as to who are meant by the Husbandmen, here. The nation in general, and their rulers in particular, are obviously intended,-who are known to have entered into solemn covenant with the LORD of the Vineyard.

2 And at the season He sent to the husbandmen a Servant, that He might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.

m Isaiah v. 4.

• See the note on St. Matth. xxi. 33.

P Acts xx. 17, 28, 31.

9 Ezek. xxxiii. 7: also iii. 17. Gen. xlix. 11. Deut. xxxii. 14. 2, 3. Rev. xiv. 19, 20; xix. 15.

n Micah iv. 8.

Read Ezek. xxxiii. 2 to 9.

Consider also well, Is. lxiii.