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8. Isaiah 5:1-7, the Parable of the Tenants and Vineyard Leases on Papyrus
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8 ISAIAH 5:17, THE PARABLE OF THE TENANTS AND VINEYARD LEASES ON PAPYRUS JOHN S. KLOPPENBORG VERBIN Mark's parable of the tenants (Mark 12:112) has from the beginning of parables research presented difficulties. It is one of the few parables that contains an obvious allusion to the Tanak and one whose point seems largely dependent on allegorization. While it isclear that Matthew, and certainly later Christian writers, displayed a strong tendency to interpret the parable as allegory, the dominant (though hardly unanimous) assumption in modern parables interpretation is that Jesus did not tell stories that required an allegorical code for their intelligibility. Hence, Synoptic parables are normally stripped ofallegorical details in order to arrive at the "original" level. A parable that resists deallegorization or whose point appears to require allegory, therefore, offers special problems. Either it must be treated as inauthentic, the creation of some later tradent; or, if a case for authenticity could be made, it constitutes evidence that might undermine a dominant assumption ofparables research1. 1 Abbreviations of papyricited: BGLJ, Agyptische [Jrkunden aus den koniglichen [staatlichen] Museen zu Berlin, Griechische Urkunden. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 18951912; CPR, Corpus Papyrorum Raineri,eds. C. Wessely etat.Wien:Verlag der kaiserlichen koniglichen Hof und Staatsdruckerei, 18951995; PAmh, The Amherst Papyri, eds. B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt. London: H. Frowde, 19001901; PBerlFrisk, Bankakten aus dem Faijum nebst anderen Berliner Papyri, ed. H. Frisk. Goteborg: Elander Boktr., 1931; PBerlLeihg, Berliner Leihgabe griechischer Papyri, eds. T. Kalen and the Greek Seminar at Uppsala. Uppsala: Almqvist &.Wiksell International, 193277;PCairMasp, Papyrusgrecs d'epoque byzantine, ed. J. Maspero. Le Caire: Institut franjais d'archeologie orientale, 191113; PCairZen, Zenon Papyri, ed. C. C. Edgar.Le Caire: Institut francais d'archeologie orientale, 192540; PColZen, Columbia Papyri. Ill: Zenon Papyri: Business Papers of the Third Century B.C. Dealing with Palestine and Egypt, eds. W. L. Westermann and E. S. Hasenoehrl. New York: Columbia University Press, 193440; PEdg, "Selected Papyri from the Archives of Zenon," ed. C. C. Edgar. Annales du Service desAntiquites de I'Egypte 1824 (191824); PFlor, Papiri 112 TEXT ANDARTIFACT 1. The Problem of Realism in the Parable The parable in Mark narrates one story but contains intertextual "tags" that refer to another. The first narrative is of a vineyard owner who leases a vineyard to tenants who, in violation of an implied tenancy agreement, default on their obligations. Hisseveral attempts to extract the rent result in the abuse of his agents and the death of his son, and, in turn, his destruction of the tenants and the releasing of the property. The parable in Mark invokes a second story,borrowedfrom Isaiah 5:17, and by means of the intertextual tag causes the first narrative to be read in the light of the second. The second narrative is of a vineyard owner who builds a wall, plants a vineyard, tends it and, contrary to reasonable expectation, finds it producingthorns. Hisrecourse is to break down the wall and to let the plot of land return to its original wild state. The two narratives obviouslyintersect at severalpoints: both have to do with an owner and his vineyard and both involve scenarios in which the owner's reasonable expectations for gain are frustrated; in both cases he takes remedial steps that adversely affect the vineyard (Isa 5:56) or the tenants (Mark 12:9). From the point of view of style, the remedy of the owner is grecoegizii, Papiri Florentini, ed. G. Vitelli. Milan: U. Hoepli, 190615; PGiss, Griechische Papyri imMuseum desoberhessischen Geschichtsvereins zu Giessen,eds. O. Eger, E. Kornemann and P. M. Meyer. Leipzig/Berlin: Museum des oberhessischen Geschichtsvereins zuGiessen, 191012; PHamb, Griechische Papyrusurkunden der Hamburger Stoats und Universitdts bibliothek, ed. P. M. Meyer. Leipzig/Berlin: Teubner, 19111984; PHarr, The Rendel Harris Papyri of Woodbrooke College, Birmingham, eds. J. E. Powell et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 193685; PKoln, Kolner Papyri, eds. B. Kramer et al. Ofpladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 19761991; PLaur, Dai Papiri della Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, ed. R. Pintaudi. Firenze: Gonnelli, 197684; PLond, Greek Papyri in theBritish Museum, eds. F. G. Kenyon, H. I. Bell, W. E. Crum and T. C. Skeat. London: British Museum, 189374; POry, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, eds. B.P. Grenfell etal. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1898; PRyl, Catalogue of the Greek Papyri in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, eds. A. S. Hunt et al. Manchester: Manchester...