Mark 12:1-12 And he began to speak to them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and dig a place for the winefat… Whether in the parable the hedge and winefat and tower had each a special application in the system of God's providential care for His ancient people, we cannot say; but at least in one particular we may trace a peculiar fitness in the figure of "the hedge." What was it that protected the land of Israel year by year during the three Great Festivals, when by the Divine Law the country was denuded of its male population; when every man from north, south, east, and west, from the most unguarded districts, leaving their flocks and herds, their wives and little ones, totally unprotected from their bitterest enemies, went up to Jerusalem, the centre of religious worship? What was it that held in check the Moabite and Ammonite, and the robber tribes of Arabia? It was the fence of Divine protection, which, like a wall of fire, God in His providence had built up, so that no one dared to pass it. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. |
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