{He began to speak unto them in parables} ((8872)xato autois en
parabolais lalein). Mark's common idiom again. He does not mean
that this was the beginning of Christ's use of parables (see
 4:2 ), but simply that his teaching on this occasion took the
parabolic turn. "The circumstances called forth the parabolic
mood, that of one whose heart is chilled, and whose spirit is
saddened by a sense of loneliness, and who, retiring within
himself, by a process of reflection, frames for his thoughts
forms which half conceal, half reveal them" (Bruce). Mark does
not give the Parable of the Two Sons ( Mt 21:28-32 ) nor that of
the Marriage Feast of the King's Son ( Mt 22:1-14 ). He gives
here the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen. Also in  Mt 21:33-46 
and  Lu 20:9-19 . See discussion in Matthew.  Mt 21:33  calls the
man "a householder" (oikodespot(8873)). {A pit for the winepress}
(hupol(886e)ion). Only here in the N.T. Common in the LXX and in
late Greek. Matthew had l(886e)on, winepress. This is the vessel or
trough under the winepress on the hillside to catch the juice
when the grapes were trodden. The Romans called it _lacus_ (lake)
and Wycliff _dalf_ (lake), like delved. See on Matthew for
details just alike. {Husbandmen} (ge(9372)gois). Workers in the
ground, tillers of the soil (ergon, g(885c)).