Because of the long Christian tradition that “the Jews” rejected Jesus, Christians have often surmised that the wicked and greedy tenants are the Jewish people as a whole. We emphasize, however, that the identification of the tenants with the Jewish people is both profoundly and wickedly wrong. The tenants are not “Israel,” not “the Jews.” Rather, the vineyard is Israel—both the land and its people. And the vineyard belongs to God, not to the greedy tenants—the powerful and wealthy at the top of the local domination system—who want its produce for themselves.
