Luke 20:17

And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) And he beheld them.—Better, He looked on them. The Greek verb implies the gaze turned and fixed on its object, in addition to the mere act of beholding.

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

17-19. written—(in Ps 118:22, 23. See on [1709]Lu 19:38). 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" (Isa 8:15), "sustaining great spiritual hurt; but soon that Stone should fall upon them and grind them to powder" (Da 2:34, 35; Zec 12:3)—in their corporate capacity in the tremendous destruction of Jerusalem, but personally, as unbelievers, in a more awful sense still.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 20:9"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he beheld them,.... Looked very earnestly and wistly at them, speaking as it were by his looks, signifying, that verily so it would be, as he had said; that they would reject the Messiah, and put him to death, and bring utter ruin upon themselves, and deprive their posterity of many advantages and privileges:

and said, what is this then that is written; that is, what else is the meaning of such a Scripture? is not the sense of that perfectly agreeable to what has been said, that the Messiah shall be rejected by the principal men among the Jews in church and state, and yet he shall be exalted, who will then take vengeance on them?

the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? The passage is in Psalm 118:22. See Gill on Matthew 21:42.

Geneva Study Bible

And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 20:17-19.—ἐμβλέψας, looking intently, to give impressiveness to what He is going to say in reply.—τί οὖν, etc., what then is (means) this Scripture? the οὖν implying that the words point to the very doom they deprecate. Yet the oracle does not directly indicate the fate of the builders, but rather the unexpected turn in the fortunes of the rejected and despised Stone. In Mt. and Mk. the citation is introduced, without any binding connection with what immediately goes before, to state a fact concerning the future of the “Son” lying outside the parable. They give the citation in full. Lk. omits the last clause: παρὰ κυρίου, etc.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. he beheld them] Rather, looking fixedly on them, to add solemnity to His reference to their own Scriptures.

that is written] He here refers them to the very Psalm from which the Hosanna of the multitude had been taken.

The stone which the builders rejected] This is a quotation from Psalm 118:22, comp. Isaiah 28:16. The stone is regarded both as a foundation-stone, and a stone at the angle of the building, binding the two walls together. These words made a deep impression on St Peter (1 Peter 2:7-8).

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 20:17. Ἐμβλέψας, having looked stedfastly upon them) in order to whet (stimulate) the attention of their minds respecting their own selves. The accent or tone, the gesture, and the expression of countenance, often render the force of the words more expressive.—γεγραμμένον, which is written) See Matthew 21:42, note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 17, 18. - And he beheld them, and said, What is this then thai; is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. In spite of the deprecating expression, the severity of the tone of Jesus increases in his next words, when, looking at them with grave anger (ἐμβλέψας), he proceeds to speak of himself under the figure of the rejected stone. Quoting a well-known psalm (Psalm 118:22), and using the imagery of Isaiah 8:14, 15 and Daniel 2:44, he describes his fortunes under the imago of a corner-stone - that stone which forms the junction between the two most prominent walls of a building, and which is always laid with peculiar care and attention. In Luke 2:34 of our Gospel Simeon refers to the same well-known prophetic saying. The husbandmen who had just been described as vine-dressers are now described as builders, and the murdered son is reproduced under the image of a corner, stone tossed aside as useless. In the first part of the picture, the earthly humiliation of Messiah is portrayed when the stone is laid in the earth. In the second, the stone falling from the top of the building represents the crushing of all earthly opposition by Messiah in his glory. Woe to the builders, then, who had scornfully rejected him Luke 20:17

Vincent's Word Studies

The stone, etc

See on 1 Peter 2:4-7.