Зұлым шаруалардың уағызы (Zulym sharuarlarдың uaghyzy)

Parable taught by Jesus

The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, also known as the Parable of the Bad Tenants, is a parable of Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew , the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke It is also found in the non canonical Gospel of Thomas. It describes a landowner (KJV: householder) planting a vineyard and letting it out to husbandmen (tenants in some translations) who failed in their duties. A common Christian interpretation is that this parable was about the chief priests and Pharisees, and was given to the people present within the Temple in Jerusalem during the final week before the death of Jesus.

The parable, according to the Q hypothesis, probably appeared first in Mark, then was copied and slightly altered by Matthew and Luke. Mark's source is in dispute, with the earliest tradition given by Papias as Mark's source being Peter. It is also found in the Gospel of Thomas as sayings 65–66, which some have suggested preceded the canonical Gospels, although its dating is still largely uncertain to scholars.

Craig Evans surveys the use of "tenant" (γεωργοὶ cf. Matt 21:38) in lease agreements in antiquity to contextualize how these tenants should be viewed. He concludes that: Interpreters should not assume that these farmers would necessarily have been understood as poor sharecroppers who out of desperation for land resorted to theft and murder. The farmers who entered into a legal agreement with the owner of the vineyard could very well have been understood by Jesus’ hearers as commercial farmers hungry for profits. Hence, their equation with the ruling priests would have been readily perceived. There is no reason to assume that the γεωργοὶ would necessarily have been understood as impoverished or marginalized. Their high handed actions against the servants and son of the owner parallel Jeddous’ rough treatment of the emissaries of Zenon’s associate, while the owner’s military response parallels the action taken against the Senators of Salamis. These parallels from history are consistent with an interpretation of the parable that identifies the tenant farmers as the ruling priests.