Luke 20:19

And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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

19. the same hour—hardly able to restrain their rage.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 19,20. There is nothing in these verses, but what we before met with, and is opened in the notes on Matthew 21:45,46, or Mark 12:12,13. They let us see as in a glass the spirit and genius of wicked men filled with malice against the gospel. They are continually seeking to destroy such as have any relation to Christ, and, to effect their ends, they will judge no means unfair; and their great art is to represent them as dangerous persons to the civil government: so as if good men find the same things still, they have this to comfort them, that the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the chief priests, and the Scribes, that same hour,.... As soon as he had delivered the above parable, together with that of the two sons:

sought to lay hands on him; they had a good will to it, being exceedingly gravelled with the question he put to them concerning John's baptism, which confounded them, and put them to silence; and with the parables he delivered, in which they were so manifestly pointed at:

and they feared the people; lest they should rise and stone them, as in Luke 20:6 or rescue him out of their hands;

for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them: and that they were the husbandmen that had used the servants of God so ill, and would put to death the son of God, the Messiah; and who would at length be destroyed themselves, and the kingdom of God be taken from them, though they seem to detest and deprecate it, saying in Luke 20:16 God forbid; that we should kill the heir, or that we should be destroyed, and the vineyard given to others: these things grievously nettled them, and exasperated them against him; but they knew not how to help themselves at present.

Geneva Study Bible

And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 20:19 states the effect of the parabolic discourse of Jesus on the men whom it satirised. They desired to apprehend the obnoxious Speaker on the spot.—ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρᾳ, καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν, etc.: the καὶ here, as in Mk., is in effect = but; vide notes on Mk.—ἔγνωσαν, they, that is the Pharisees and scribes, knew.—πρὸς αὐτούς = with reference to themselves.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. against them] This decidedly shews the primary sense of the Parable. As yet they hardly realized its wider significance. So when the priests and rulers saw that Jeremiah spoke against them, “Come,” said they, “and let us devise devices against Jeremiah...come, and let us smite him with the tongue,” Jeremiah 18:18.

After this parable our Lord added the Parable of the Marriage of the King’s Son. Thus in three continuous Parables He convicted the Priests and Scribes (1) of false professions; (2) of cruel faithlessness; (3) of blind presumption. This with their public humiliation about John’s baptism made them thirst for speedy vengeance.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 20:19. Ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ὥρα, in the same hour) The hatred against Him increasing in violence. Comp. ch. Luke 19:47.—καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν) καὶ, but [and yet], they feared.—γὰρ, for) Refer this, for, to ἐζήτησαν, “they sought to lay hands on Him.”—πρὸς αὐτοὺς, in reference to themselves) against themselves.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them. Again the Sanhedrim take counsel. They long to arrest him on some capital charge; but they dared not, for the people, joined by the Passover pilgrims, had exalted him to the rank of a hero. Not a few evidently looked on him at that period as King Messiah, But the feeling of the great council was intensely bitter. They felt their power and influence was slipping away from them. These last parables were scarcely veiled attacks on them. In the last spoken words he had calmly announced that he was to die, and their hands were to carry out the bloody work. And then, in the simile of the corner-stone, he, in no ambiguous terms, told them that in killing him they will not be done with him, for that in the end they will be utterly crushed by his power. Luke 20:19