The parable shows Israel rejecting and killing God's prophets and then His Son.
Les Feldick explains that the parable pictures God's dealings with Israel. God sent His prophets to the nation, and Israel killed them. Finally God sent His Son, and Israel's leaders killed Him too. The parable therefore shows why Israel as a nation rejected her Messiah and came under judgment.
Matthew 21:33 — Jesus begins the parable by picturing God as the householder who establishes and entrusts His vineyard.
Matthew 21:37 — The householder's decision to send his son after the servants were rejected points to God sending Christ to Israel.
Matthew 21:39 — The tenants' murder of the son pictures the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus by Israel's leaders.
Jesus told this parable during His earthly ministry, speaking to Jewish hearers. A householder planted a vineyard, equipped it, and let it out to husbandmen while he went into a far country. When the time of fruit drew near, he sent servants to the husbandmen to receive the fruits of the vineyard. The husbandmen took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. When the householder sent more servants, they treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son, saying, 'They will reverence my son.' But the husbandmen said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.' They caught him, cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. The parable itself describes a pattern of rejection that culminates in the murder of the heir.
Les Feldick teaches that the parable pictures God's dealings with the nation of Israel. God sent His prophets to Israel throughout the Old Testament, but Israel mocked God's messengers, despised His words, and killed the prophets. In the parable, the servants represent those prophets, and the son represents Christ. Les says that when the father sent his son, the tenants killed him—showing how Israel rejected and killed the Son after rejecting the prophets. Les also connects the parable to the broader context of Israel's national rejection. He points to Stephen's speech in Acts 7, where Israel is accused of the same pattern: persecuting and slaying the prophets who announced the coming of the Just One, and then resisting the Holy Spirit. Les emphasizes that this parable was God's dealing with Israel and has nothing to do with the Gentile age.
Les identifies the householder as God, the vineyard as Israel, and the servants as the prophets God sent to His people. The son is Christ. Les summarizes the parable by saying that God sent prophets into Israel and they were killed; finally God sent His Son and He was killed. The parable therefore depicts the nation's treatment of God's messengers and His Son.
Les points to Israel's Old Testament pattern: they mocked God's messengers, despised His words, and misused His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people with no remedy. The parable Jesus told repeats the picture—the servants were beaten, killed, and stoned. Les says the parable refers to that history of Israel's rejection of the prophets.
Les explains that Stephen in Acts 7 showed Israel the same pattern: their fathers persecuted and killed the prophets who announced the coming of the Just One, and then they rejected Him. In the parable, the tenants destroyed the servants and then the son. Les connects this to Acts 7 where Israel also stoned Stephen, rejecting the Holy Spirit's testimony after having rejected the Father and the Son.
Les is emphatic that the parable has nothing to do with the Gentile age. It was part of Christ's earthly ministry under the Law, still operating within God's covenant dealings with Israel. The parable explains Israel's rejection of the kingdom offer and why national judgment fell on them.
The Parable Introduced to Jewish Hearers
Les reads Matthew 21:33 forward, showing that Jesus told this parable during His earthly ministry to Jewish hearers, setting up the vineyard-owner picture.
Israel Killed the Prophets and the Son
Les points out that the parable describes servants being killed and finally the son being killed, and he connects Stephen's Acts 7 speech to the same pattern.
The Old Testament Pattern of Killing Prophets
Les reviews Israel's history of mocking God's messengers and misusing His prophets, the very history that the vineyard parable retells.
The Parable Means God's Dealings With Israel
Les directly interprets the parable: the vineyard is God's dealing with Israel, the prophets were killed, and finally God's Son was killed.
Stephen Accuses Israel of Slaying the Prophets
Les shows Stephen confronting Israel with the same history—fathers persecuted and killed the prophets who announced the coming Just One.
Christ's Ministry Directed to Israel Under the Law
Les sets these parables in the period when Christ was dealing only with the nation of Israel under the Law and the covenants.
A Parable for Israel, Not the Gentile Age
Les stresses that the parable was God's dealing with Israel: they killed the prophets, killed the son, and then in Acts 7 stoned Stephen, rejecting the Holy Spirit.
Israel Rejected the Offered Kingdom
Les describes Israel's repeated rejection of the valid kingdom offers—first in Christ's earthly ministry and again through Peter after the crucifixion.
Matthew 21:33: Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
This verse opens the parable and introduces God as the householder who entrusted His vineyard to tenants.
Matthew 21:34: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
The sending of servants to collect fruit represents God sending prophets to receive the obedience due from Israel.
Matthew 21:35: And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
The tenants' violent response pictures Israel's mistreatment and murder of the prophets.
Matthew 21:36: Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
God continued to send prophets despite their rejection, and Israel continued to abuse them.
Matthew 21:37: But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
The householder's final, patient act of sending his son points to God sending Christ to Israel.
Matthew 21:38: But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
The tenants recognized the son's identity and still chose to kill him, showing deliberate rejection.
Matthew 21:39: And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
This verse directly describes the murder of the son, which Les identifies with Israel's rejection and crucifixion of Christ.
Acts 7:52: Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Stephen uses the same pattern of Israel killing the prophets and then rejecting the Just One, a point Les connects to the vineyard parable.
According to Les Feldick, the parable pictures God's dealings with Israel: God sent prophets to His people, they were killed, and then God sent His Son, whom they also killed. It explains why Israel rejected the kingdom and came under judgment.
Les identifies the householder as God, who planted the vineyard, prepared it, and let it out to husbandmen while He went into a far country. The vineyard represents Israel.
The son represented the heir, Christ. Les says the tenants' murder of the son pictures how Israel's leaders rejected and killed Jesus when He presented Himself to the nation.
Stephen accused Israel of resisting the Holy Spirit just as their fathers did, persecuting and slaying the prophets who announced the coming of the Just One. Les sees this as the same pattern as the vineyard parable.
Watch the Teaching: The Unpardonable Sin: What It Really Means for Israel