Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 21:33

"Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country." — Matthew 21:33 (ASV)

Hear another parable. (See Barnes on Matthew 13:3).

A certain householder. (See Barnes on Matthew 20:1).

Planted a vineyard. This means a place for the cultivation of grapes. It is often used to represent the church of God, as a place cultivated and valuable. Judea was favorable to vines, and the figure is therefore frequently used by sacred writers . It is used here to represent the Jewish people—the people chosen by the Lord, cultivated with care, and signally favored—or perhaps more definitely, the city of Jerusalem.

Hedged it round about. This means he enclosed it, either with a fence of wood or stone, or more probably with thorns, thickly set and growing—a common way of enclosing fields in Judea, as it is in England.

And digged a winepress in it. Mark says, digged a place for the wine-vat. This should have been so rendered in Matthew. The original word does not mean the press in which the grapes were trodden, but the vat, or large cistern, into which the wine ran. This was commonly made by digging into the side of a hill.

The wine-press was made of two receptacles. The upper one, in Persia at present, is about eight feet square and four feet high. In this, the grapes are thrown and trodden by men, and the juice runs into the large receptacle, or cistern, below. (See Barnes on Isaiah 63:2-3).

And built a tower. . In Eastern countries, these towers are often eighty feet high and thirty feet square at present. They were for the keepers who defended the vineyard from thieves and animals, especially foxes (Song of Solomon 1:6; Song of Solomon 2:16).

And let it out, etc. This was not an uncommon thing. Vineyards were often planted to be let out for profit.

Into a far country. This means, in the original, only that he departed from them. It does not mean that he went out of the land. Luke adds, for a long time. That is, it appears, until the time of the fruit; perhaps for a year.

This vineyard doubtless denotes the Jewish people, or Jerusalem. However, these specific circumstances are not to be particularly explained in detail.

They serve to keep up the story. They denote in general that God had taken proper care of his vineyard (that is, his people); but beyond that, we cannot affirm that these circumstances—such as building the tower, etc.—mean any particular thing, for he has not told us that they do. And where he has not explained them, we have no right to attempt it.