Wim J.C. Weren, «The Use of Isaiah 5,1-7 in the Parable of the Tenants (Mark 12,1-12; Matthew 21,33-46)», Vol. 79 (1998) 1-26

This article attempts to prove the following theses. The parable of the tenants in Mark 12,1-12 has been constructed on the basis of the vineyard song in Isa 5,1-7. There are connections with the Hebrew text as well as with the LXX version. The later exegesis of Isa 5,1-7 as it is found in the Targum and in 4Q500 has also left traces in the parable. The connections with Isaiah were already present in the original form and they are enlarged in the subsequent phases of the tradition. Matthew has taken almost all references from Mark but he additionaly made links to Isa 5,1-7 which he did not derive from Mark.

      Let us now look at the use of Isa 5,2 in Mark 12,1. On a number of points the parable gives the impression of having been influenced not only by the LXX but also by the Hebrew text. Dependence on the LXX appears from the four activities mentioned in Mark which are also present in the LXX. The most striking of this foursome is the fencing in of the vineyard. This element can only have been taken from the LXX, which differs from the Hebrew text on this point ²². This activity is described twice in the LXX: e0xara/kwsa and fragmo\n perie/q0hka. In Mark the first verb is missing, perhaps because e0xara/kwsa partly covers fragmo\n perie/q0hka. Further differences are that in Mark a1mpelon swrhx ²³ is replaced by a0mpelw~na (this word is used in Isa 5,1), that the exact place of the tower (e0n me/sw| au0tou~) is not mentioned and that e0n au0tw=| has been omitted. Mark's having u9polh/nion instead of prolh/nion suggests his independence of the LXX ²⁴. The use of third person singular verb forms in Mark 12,1 corresponds to the formulation of Isa 5,2 in the Hebrew text.

      However, there are more fundamental changes. Recently, P.C. Beentjes has pointed at two remarkable phenomena. First, the order in which the various activities are presented in Mark differs from the order in the LXX ²⁵. Numbers 1 and 3 from the LXX reoccur in Mark, but in exactly the reversed order; the same goes for numbers 4 and 5. Secondly, in Mark 12,1, the