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In the parable before us, the Jewish church is compared to a vineyard, God the father to an householder, his planting, pruning, and fencing his vineyard, denotes his care to furnish his church with all needful helps and means to make it fruitful; his letting it out to husbandmen, signifies the committing the care of his church to the priests and Levites, the public pastors and governors of the church; his servants are the prophets and apostles whom he sent from time to time, to admonish them to bring forth answerable fruits to the cost which God had expended on them; his son is Jesus Christ, whom the rulers of the Jewish church slew and murdered. So that the design and scope of the parable is, to discover to the Jews, particularly to the Pharisees, their obstinate impenitency under all the means of grace, their bloody cruelty towards the prophets of God, their tremendous guilt in crucifying the Son of God; for all which God would unchurch them finally, ruin their nation, and set up a church among the Gentiles, that should bring forth much better fruit than the Jewish church ever did.
From the whole, note,
1. That the church is God's vineyard; a vineyard is a place inclosed, a place well planted, well fruited, and exceeding dear and precious to the planter, and the owner of it.
2. That as dear as God's vineyard is unto him, in case of barrenness and unfruitfulness, it is in great danger of being destroyed and laid waste by him.
3. That the only way and course to engage God's care over his vineyard, and to prevent its being given to other husbandmen, is to give him the fruits of it; it is but a vineyard that God lets out, it is no inheritance: no people ever had so many promises of God's favor as the Jews; nor ever enjoyed so many privileges while they continued in his favor, as they did; but for rejecting Christ and his holy doctrine they are a despised, scattered people throughout the world. See the note on Mat_21:39-40