Luke 20:16

He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) He shall come and destroy these husbandmen.—St. Luke agrees with St. Mark in putting these words into our Lord’s lips, and not, as St. Matthew does, into those of the by-standers.

They said, God forbid.—No other English phrase could well be substituted for this, but it is worth remembering that the name of God does not appear in the original, and that the ejaculation is simply, as it were, a negative Amen, “So be it not.” Its insertion hero is peculiar to St. Luke, nor does it occur elsewhere in the Gospels. St. Paul uses it frequently, as in Romans 3:4; Romans 3:6; Romans 3:31; Romans 6:2; Romans 6:15, et al.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:9-19 Christ spake this parable against those who resolved not to own his authority, though the evidence of it was so full. How many resemble the Jews who murdered the prophets and crucified Christ, in their enmity to God, and aversion to his service, desiring to live according to their lusts, without control! Let all who are favoured with God's word, look to it that they make proper use of their advantages. Awful will be the doom, both of those who reject the Son, and of those who profess to reverence Him, yet render not the fruits in due season. Though they could not but own that for such a sin, such a punishment was just, yet they could not bear to hear of it. It is the folly of sinners, that they persevere in sinful ways, though they dread the destruction at the end of those ways.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this parable explained in the notes at Matthew 21:33-45.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. He shall come, &c.—This answer was given by the Pharisees themselves (Mt 21:41), thus pronouncing their own righteous doom. Matthew alone (Mt 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.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 20:9"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He shall come and destroy these husbandmen,.... Which had its accomplishment at the destruction of Jerusalem: according to the other evangelists, these words are the answer of the chief priests, Scribes, and elders, to the above questions put to them by Christ, after he had delivered the parable; but here they seem to be the words of Christ, who also said the same, and confirmed what they had observed, and could not but own, that it was just and right, and what might be expected, with what follows:

and shall give the vineyard to others; the land of Judea to the Romans in particular, and the church state, with the Gospel and ordinances of it, to the Gentiles in general, sometimes called "others"; See Gill on Luke 5:29 and See Gill on Luke 18:11.

and when they heard it, they said, God forbid; though they were their own words, yet repeated and confirmed by Christ, and perceiving that they were the persons intended, deprecate the fulfilment of them; at least so far as they understood they related to the killing of the Messiah, and to the destruction of their nation, city, and temple.

Geneva Study Bible

He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 20:16. μὴ γένοιτο: here only in the Gospels, frequent in St. Paul’s Epistles (“a Pauline phrase,” Holtzmann, H. C.). Sturz (De Dialecto Mac. et Alex.) reckons it an Alexandrine usage, because found in the sense of deprecation only in Sept[164], N.T., and late Greek writers. Raphel cites an example from Herodotus. This μὴ γένοιτο is put by Lk. into the mouth of the people, as unable to contemplate the doom pronounced on the husbandmen as described by Jesus. In Mt. (Matthew 21:41) the people themselves pronounce the doom. The sentiment thus strongly expressed prepares the way for the reference to the “rejected stone”.

[164] Septuagint.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. He shall come and destroy] In Matthew 21:41 this is the answer of the people themselves to our Lord’s question.

shall give the vineyard to others] “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles,” Acts 13:46.

God forbid] Literally, “Might it not be!” Heb. Chalilah. In this utterance we hear the groan oi the Jewish people when the truth that they were indeed to be rejected burst upon them. It woke an echo even in the heart of the Apostle of the Gentiles. For the Hebrew expression Chalilah see Genesis 44:7; Genesis 44:17; Joshua 22:29. It occurs ten times in the Epistle to the Romans alone. See Life of St Paul, 11. 206. It is the opposite of Amen, but occurs here alone in the Gospels.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 20:16. Μὴ γένοιτο) So the LXX. render the Hebrew חלילה. They mean to say this, Far be it from us, God forbid, that we should kill the heir. Comp. the following verse, and John 12:34.[214] [Frequently it happens that men refuse to acknowledge as in them that degree of wickedness which God upbraids them with.—V. g.]

[214] Comp. John 7:20 : “Who goeth about to kill thee,” with the, “God forbid” here.—E. and T.

Luke 20:16

Vincent's Word Studies

Destroy

See on Matthew 21:41.

God forbid (μὴ γένοιτο)

Lit., may it not be.