13:6 vineyard. Jesus’ listeners should have recognized (from Isaiah 5:1-7) that “the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant.” In Isaiah’s parable, the vineyard produced only wild grapes and, in Jesus’ parable, the fig tree was barren. Later He cursed a barren fig tree on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 21:18-20) when it should have been bearing early figs, just as the tree in the parable. It should have been obvious that this was both an oral and a visual parable directed against the spiritually barren religious leaders of Israel.