---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Luke 20"
description: "CHAPTER 20   :-. THE AUTHORITY
OF JESUS
QUESTIONED, AND HIS
REPLY—PARABLE
OF THE WICKED
HUSBANDMEN. (See on  :-.) 2. these things—particularly
the clearin"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/luke/20"
---

CHAPTER 20

. THE AUTHORITY
OF JESUS
QUESTIONED, AND HIS
REPLY—PARABLE
OF THE WICKED
HUSBANDMEN.
(See on .)

**2. these things**—particularly
the clearing of the temple.

**4. baptism of John**—his whole
ministry and mission, of which baptism was the seal.

**5. Why then believed ye him
not?**—that is, in his testimony to Jesus, the sum of his whole
witness.

**7. could not tell**—crooked,
cringing hypocrites! No wonder Jesus gave you no answer (). But what dignity and composure does our Lord display as He
turns their question upon themselves!

**9-13. vineyard**—(See on ). In [Matthew 21:33](../../../kjv/matthew/21/33)
additional points are given, taken literally from [Matthew 21:33](../../../kjv/matthew/21/33), to fix down the application and sustain it by Old Testament
authority.
**husbandmen**—the ordinary
spiritual guides of the people, under whose care and culture the
fruits of righteousness might be yielded.
**went,** &c.—leaving
it to the laws of the spiritual husbandry during the whole length of
the Jewish economy. (See on [Matthew 21:33](../../../kjv/matthew/21/33).)

**10. beat,** c.— () that is, the prophets, extraordinary messengers raised up
from time to time. (See on .)

**9-13. vineyard**—(See on ). In [Matthew 21:33](../../../kjv/matthew/21/33)
additional points are given, taken literally from [Matthew 21:33](../../../kjv/matthew/21/33), to fix down the application and sustain it by Old Testament
authority.
**husbandmen**—the ordinary
spiritual guides of the people, under whose care and culture the
fruits of righteousness might be yielded.
**went,** &c.—leaving
it to the laws of the spiritual husbandry during the whole length of
the Jewish economy. (See on [Matthew 21:33](../../../kjv/matthew/21/33).)

**13. my beloved son**—Mark () still more affectingly, "Having yet therefore one son,
his well-beloved"; our Lord thus severing Himself from all
merely *human* messengers, and claiming *Sonship* in its
loftiest sense. (Compare .)
**it may be**—"surely";
implying the almost unimaginable guilt of *not* doing so.

**14. reasoned among
themselves**—(Compare [Genesis 37:18-20](../../../kjv/genesis/37/18-20);
[John 11:47-53](../../../kjv/john/11/47-53)).
**the heir**—sublime
expression of the great truth, that God's inheritance was destined
for, and in due time to come into the possession of, His Son *in
our nature* ([Hebrews 1:2](../../../kjv/hebrews/1/2)).
**inheritance . . . ours**—and
so from mere *servants* we may become *lords;* the deep aim
of the depraved heart, and literally "*the root of all evil.*"

**15. cast him out of the
vineyard**—(Compare [Hebrews 13:11-13](../../../kjv/hebrews/13/11-13);
[1 Kings 21:13](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/13); [John 19:17](../../../kjv/john/19/17)).

**16. He shall come,** &c.—This
answer was given by the Pharisees themselves (), thus pronouncing their own righteous doom. Matthew alone
([Matthew 21:43](../../../kjv/matthew/21/43)) gives the naked
application, that "the kingdom of God should be taken from them,
and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof"—the
great evangelical community of the faithful, chiefly Gentiles.
**God forbid**—His whole
meaning now bursting upon them.

**17-19. written**—(in [Psalms 118:22](../../../kjv/psalms/118/22);
[Psalms 118:23](../../../kjv/psalms/118/23). See on [Psalms 118:23](../../../kjv/psalms/118/23)). The Kingdom of God is here a Temple, in the erection of
which *a certain stone,* rejected as unsuitable by the spiritual
builders, is, by the great Lord of the House, made the keystone of
the whole. On that Stone the builders were now "falling"
and being "broken" ([Psalms 118:23](../../../kjv/psalms/118/23)), "sustaining great spiritual hurt; but soon that Stone
should fall upon *them* and grind them to powder" ([Daniel 2:34](../../../kjv/daniel/2/34);
[Daniel 2:35](../../../kjv/daniel/2/35); [Zechariah 12:3](../../../kjv/zechariah/12/3))
—in their *corporate* capacity in the tremendous destruction
of Jerusalem, but *personally,* as unbelievers, in a more awful
sense still.

**19. the same hour**—hardly able
to restrain their rage.
. ENTANGLING
QUESTIONS ABOUT TRIBUTE
AND THE RESURRECTION—THE
REPLIES.

**20-26. sent forth**—after
consulting ([Matthew 22:15](../../../kjv/matthew/22/15)) on the
best plan.
**spies**—"of the
Pharisees and Herodians" ([Matthew 22:15](../../../kjv/matthew/22/15)). See [Mark 3:6](../../../kjv/mark/3/6).

**21. we know,** &c.—hoping by
flattery to throw Him off His guard.

**22. tribute**—(See on ).

**20-26. sent forth**—after
consulting ([Matthew 22:15](../../../kjv/matthew/22/15)) on the
best plan.
**spies**—"of the
Pharisees and Herodians" ([Matthew 22:15](../../../kjv/matthew/22/15)). See [Mark 3:6](../../../kjv/mark/3/6).

**25. things which be Cæsar's**—Putting
it in this general form, it was impossible for sedition itself to
dispute it, and yet it dissolved the snare.
**and unto God**—How much
there is in this profound but to them startling addition to the
maxim, and how incomparable is the whole for fulness, brevity,
clearness, weight!

**20-26. sent forth**—after
consulting ([Matthew 22:15](../../../kjv/matthew/22/15)) on the
best plan.
**spies**—"of the
Pharisees and Herodians" ([Matthew 22:15](../../../kjv/matthew/22/15)). See [Mark 3:6](../../../kjv/mark/3/6).

**27-34. no resurrection**—"nor
angel nor spirit" ([Acts 23:8](../../../kjv/acts/23/8));
the *materialists* of the day.

**34. said unto them**—In , the reply begins with this important statement:—"Ye
do err, not knowing the Scriptures," regarding the future state,
"nor the power of God," before which a thousand such
difficulties vanish (also ).

**36. neither . . . die any
more**—Marriage is ordained to perpetuate the human family; but
as there will be no breaches by death in the future state, this
ordinance will cease.
**equal**—or "like."
**unto the angels**—that
is, in the *immortality* of their nature.
**children of God**—not in
respect of *character* but *nature;* "being the
children of the resurrection" to an undecaying existence
([Romans 8:21](../../../kjv/romans/8/21); [Romans 8:23](../../../kjv/romans/8/23)).
And thus the children of their Father's immortality ([Romans 8:23](../../../kjv/romans/8/23)).

**37, 38. even Moses**—whom they
had just quoted to entangle Him.

**38. not . . . of the dead, . . . for
all,** c.—To God, no human being is dead, or ever will be but all
sustain an abiding conscious relation to Him. But the "all"
here meant "those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that
world." These *sustain a gracious covenant relation to God,
which cannot be dissolved.* In this sense our Lord affirms that
for Moses to call the Lord the "God" of His patriarchal
servants if at that moment they had no existence, would be unworthy
of Him. He "would be *ashamed* to be called their God, if
He had not prepared for them a city" (). How precious are these glimpses of the *resurrection
state!*

**39. scribes . . . well said**—enjoying
His victory over the Sadducees.
**they durst not**—neither
party, both for the time utterly foiled.
. CHRIST
BAFFLES THE PHARISEES
BY A QUESTION ABOUT
DAVID AND MESSIAH,
AND DENOUNCES THE
SCRIBES.

**41. said,** c.—"What think
ye of Christ [the promised and expected Messiah]? Whose son is He [to
be]? They say unto Him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How
then doth David in spirit [by the Holy Ghost, ] call Him Lord?" ([Matthew 22:42](../../../kjv/matthew/22/42)
[Matthew 22:43](../../../kjv/matthew/22/43)). The difficulty can
only be solved by the *higher* and *lower*—the *divine*
and *human* natures of our Lord ([Matthew 22:43](../../../kjv/matthew/22/43)). Mark the testimony here given to the *inspiration* of
the Old Testament (compare [Matthew 22:43](../../../kjv/matthew/22/43)).

**46, 47. Beware,** c.—(See on and [Luke 20:1](../../../kjv/luke/20/1)).

**47. devour,** &c.—taking
advantage of their helpless condition and confiding character, to
obtain possession of their property, while by their "long
prayers" they made them believe they were raised far above
"filthy lucre." So much "the greater damnation"
awaits them. What a lifelike description of the Romish clergy, the
true successors of "the scribes!"

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