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Mat_21:40 f. According to Mark and Luke, it is Jesus who replies. But how appropriate and how striking (comp. Mat_21:31) that the adversaries themselves are forced to pronounce their own condemnation (in answer to Schneckenburger, de Wette, Bleek)!
κακοὺς κακῶς ἀπολέσει αὐτ .] as despicable creatures (scoundrels), He will miserably destroy them. The collocation κακοὺς κακῶς serves to indicate in an emphatic manner the correspondence between the conduct in question and its punishment. See Wetstein’s note; Fritzsche, Diss. in 2 Cor. ii. p. 147 f.; Lobeck, Paralip. p. 58. Comp. Eur. Cycl. 270: κακῶς οὗτοι κακοὶ ἀπόλοινθʼ ; and, in general, Lobeck, ad Soph. Aj. 866; Elmsl. ad Eur. Med. 787. If we are to apply the parable in accordance with the order of thought, and, therefore, in conformity with the meaning intended by Jesus Himself, we cannot understand the coming of the κύριος and the execution of the punishment as denoting the second advent and the last judgment; for, apart from the fact that it is God and not Christ that is represented by the κύριος , the words οἵτινες ἀποδώσουσιν , κ . τ . λ ., would point to the period subsequent to the advent and the judgment,—a reference not in keeping with the sense of the passage. The true reference is to the destruction of Jerusalem, the shape in which the divine judgment is to overtake the then guardians of the theocracy, whereupon this latter would be entrusted to the care of other guides (i.e. the leaders of the Christian church as representing the true Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ ), who as such will be called upon to undertake the duties and responsibilities of their unfaithful predecessors. Comp. Mat_22:7; Joh_7:34; Eph_4:11 f. Such are the things which those hostile questioners “ ἄκοντες προφητεύουσι ” (Euthymius Zigabenus).
ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς αὐτῶν ] αὐτῶν refers to the γεωργοί : at the terms prescribed to them for doing so.