And the farmers took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Matthew 23:31-37 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets…
1 Kings 18:4,13 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) …
They beat one,
The beating of the servant signifies the physical and verbal abuse that many prophets endured. For example, Jeremiah was beaten and put in stocks (Jeremiah 20:2). This action highlights the hostility and violence that God's messengers faced, emphasizing the tenants' (religious leaders') unwillingness to heed God's warnings and calls for repentance.
killed another,
The killing of the servant underscores the extreme rejection and hatred towards God's prophets. This can be seen in the martyrdom of prophets like Zechariah, who was stoned to death (2 Chronicles 24:21). It foreshadows the ultimate rejection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son, by the religious leaders.
and stoned a third.
Stoning was a common method of execution in ancient Israel, often used for those deemed to have committed blasphemy or serious transgressions. This act of stoning another servant further illustrates the tenants' (leaders') complete disregard for God's messengers. It connects to the broader biblical narrative of Israel's history of rejecting prophets, as seen in the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7:58, which parallels the rejection of Christ and His message.
• In Jesus’ parable, the vineyard owner represents God, the tenants picture Israel’s leaders, and the servants portray His prophets.
• “Seized” shows deliberate, forceful rejection of God’s messengers, not a momentary slip (cf. Jeremiah 26:8–9; Luke 13:34).
• The act echoes Israel’s history of gripping resistance whenever truth confronted their complacency (2 Chronicles 24:19).
• Physical assault signals escalating contempt—brutality replaces mere dismissal.
• Prophet Micaiah was struck for telling the king the unwelcome word of the LORD (2 Chronicles 18:23–27).
• Jeremiah was “beaten and put in the stocks” for preaching repentance (Jeremiah 20:2).
• Hebrews 11:35–36 reminds believers that faithful witnesses have long endured “mocking and flogging.”
• Murder of a servant underscores the tenants’ hardened hearts: silencing the voice of God by ending the life of His herald.
• Elijah lamented, “They have killed Your prophets” (1 Kings 19:10).
• Zechariah son of Jehoiada was stoned to death in the temple court for calling the nation back to covenant faithfulness (2 Chronicles 24:20–22).
• Jesus later told the leaders, “You will kill and crucify… prophets” (Matthew 23:34), linking their fathers’ violence to their own.
• Stoning—Israel’s legal execution method—ironically turns covenant justice into covenant treachery.
• Stephen asked, “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?” just before being stoned himself (Acts 7:52–60).
• Hebrews 11:37 records unnamed prophets “were stoned,” affirming the pattern Jesus exposes here.
• The piling up of beatings, killings, and stonings shows cumulative guilt; every fresh prophet was another chance spurned.
Matthew 21:35 portrays the long‐standing, intensifying hostility of Israel’s leaders toward God’s prophets: seizing, beating, murdering, and stoning. Each verb magnifies their rebellion, setting the stage for the ultimate rejection of God’s Son. The verse warns against resisting God’s truth and urges humble reception of every word He sends.
(35) Beat one, and killed another.--The language paints the general treatment of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, being the most conspicuous instances. The language of our Lord in Matthew 23:30; Matthew 23:34, not less than that of Hebrews 11:37, implies that the prophets, as a class, had no light or easy task, and were called upon, one by one, to suffer persecution for the faithful exercise of their office.Verse 35. - Took his servants. The exaction of rent in kind has always been a fruitful source of dispute, fraud, and discontent. In the Jewish Church God's messengers had been ill treated and put to death (see ch. 23:34-37). "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" cried St. Stephen; "and they have slain them which showed before the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been the betrayers and murderers" (Acts 7:52). Beat... killed... stoned. A climax of iniquity and guilt. The statement is probably meant to be general; some, however, endeavour to individualize it, referring the "beating" to the treatment of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:1, 2), "killing" to Isaiah (Hebrews 11:37, "sawn asunder"), "stoning" to Zechariah son of Jehoiada (2 Chronicles 24:20, 21). Doubtless, the incidents in such persecutions were often repeated.