When the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they knew that Jesus was speaking about them.
45. They knew that he spoke of them. The Evangelists show how little success Christ had, that we may not wonder if the doctrine of the Gospel does not bring all men, in the present day, to yield obedience to God.
And when the chief priests and Pharisees,.... Which latter, though not before mentioned, were many of them of the grand sanhedrim, as well as the chief priests, scribes, and elders: "had heard his parables"; that of the two sons being sent into the vineyard, and that of the letting out the vineyard to husbandmen, they perceived that he spake of them: they plainly saw that...
Verse 45. They at last perceived that he spoke of them, and would have gratified their malice at once, but they feared the people.