r: come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto
those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those
wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen,
which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto
them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the
builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this
is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say
I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to
a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall
on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees
had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But
when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude,
because they took him for a prophet."--MATT. xxi. 33-46.

When a proprietor has determined to appropriate as a vineyard a portion
of ground which had previously lain waste, or been employed for some
other purpose, his first care is to plant the vines. As some time must
necessarily elapse before the young plants begin to bear fruit, he may
prosecute the other departments of his undertaking at leisure. In due
time, accordingly, he constructs a fence around the field to keep out
depredators, whether men or beasts; digs a vat for receiving the juice,
and prepares an apparatus above it for squeezing the clusters quickly
in the hurry of the vintage; builds a tower as at once a shelter for the
keeper and an elevated stand-point for the watcher by night or day.

In the case which this parable represents, the owner did not continue to
reside on the spot and cultivate his own vineyard; "he let it out to
husbandmen, and went into a far country." This lease, granted by a
non-resident proprietor, throws an interesting light on the habits of
the place and the time. In regard both to the tenants and the terms, the
information, though very brief, is very definite. The vineyard was let
not to one capitalist, who might employ labourers to do the necessary
work, but to a kind of joint-stock company of labourers who proposed to
cultivate the property with their own hands for the common benefit.