Matthew 20:9

Mat 20:9. They that were hired about the eleventh hour — Either the Gentiles, who were called long after the Jews into the vineyard, the Church of Christ; or those in every age who did not hear, or at least understand and obey, the gospel call, till their day of life was drawing to a period. Some circumstances of the parable seem best to suit the former, some the latter of these senses. All, whether of Jewish or Gentile race, on believing in Jesus, with their hearts unto righteousness, are admitted to the same gospel blessings of justification, adoption, regeneration, and communion with God on earth; (which, perhaps, may be first and principally intended by the penny a day, given to all that obey the call of God’s messengers, and enter the vineyard:) and all that by a patient continuance in well-doing, after their justification, seek for glory, honour, and immortality, shall undoubtedly obtain eternal life, Rom 2:7; not indeed as wages for the value of their work, but as the gift of God. Though there be degrees of glory in heaven, yet it will be to all a complete happiness. They that come from the east and the west, and so come in late, that are taken from the highways and the hedges, yet shall sit down with Abraham, &c., at the same feast, Mat 8:11. Every vessel will be full, though every vessel be not alike large and capacious. The giving of a whole day’s wages to those that had not done the tenth part of a day’s work, is designed to show that God distributes his rewards by grace, and not of debt.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CONVERSION OF MATTHEW

Mat 20:9; Mar 2:13-14; & Luk 5:27-28. Mark: “And He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He continued to teach them. And passing along He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the toll; and He says to Him, Follow Me. And rising, he followed Him.” Luke: “And leaving all things, rising, he followed Him.” Matthew: “Jesus, going on from thence, saw a man sitting at the toll called Matthew, and says to him, Follow Me, and rising up, he followed Him.” This took place in the city of Capernaum, the home of Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew, who is also called Levi. Here we have the very brief account of the conversion and call to the apostleship of Matthew, one of the writers of our Lord’s Gospel. He and John were apostles among the original Twelve, Mark serving as Peter’s amanuensis and Luke that of Paul. Matthew’s conversion, here so briefly given, is quite remarkable. He is not only in the bloom of youth, bat the incumbent of a lucrative office. He is no poor man, but he is rich, living in affluence, with the broadest possibilities of worldly aggrandizement spread out before him. He suddenly and unhesitatingly leaves all for a life of toil, poverty, and persecution, and a cruel death to wind up. Suddenly converted, we never afterward hear of his wavering. In the distribution of the world among the apostles, pursuant to the Commission, receiving Ethiopia as his field of labor, he faithfully went, and preached heroically till he sealed his faith with his blood, and flew up to join his Master in celestial glory.

We have now followed our Lord through the first year of His ministry, all of which He spent in Galilee, His home and favorite field, except about two months at the beginning. The Feast of the Passover, instituted and perpetuated to commemorate the Divine mercy shown to Israel the last night of their sojourn in Egypt, when the destroying angel came down and slew the firstborn in every house in all the land, but in mercy passing over the houses of Israel besprinkled with the blood of the slain lamb, symbolic of the “Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” Our Savior gave special attention and peculiar honor to this institution, beginning His ministry at a Passover, and winding it up at another three years subsequently, two Passovers intervening in the interim. Now, the first year of His ministry having passed away, the fame of His mighty works having filled Palestine and mightily stirred the Gentile world, till all eyes are turned toward Him, most momentous inquiries are everywhere ringing from the popular lip, “Is not this the Shiloh of prophecy, the Christ of God, the Savior of the world, and the Redeemer of Israel? If He is not truly the Messiah who is to come, He is certainly the greatest prophet whom God has ever given to Israel.”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 20:9. Ἀνὰ, apiece) See Joh 2:6.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_20:9 ff. Οἱ περὶ τὴν ἑνδεκ. ὥραν] that is, those who, according to Mat_20:6, were sent into the vineyard about the eleventh hour.

πλεῖον] more than a denarius, plainly not more denarii.

ἀνά] used distributively; Winer, p. 372 [E. T. 496]. The article τό before ἀνὰ δην., Mat_20:10 (see critical notes), denotes: the sum amounting in each case to a denarius, so that in analyzing ὄν would require to be supplied.

According to Mat_20:10 f., they do not contemptuously decline to lift the denarius (Steffensen), but begin to murmur after receiving it (Münchmeyer).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 20:9 . ἀνὰ δηνάριον , a denarius each ; ἀνὰ is distributive = “accipiebant singuli denar.”. For this use of ἀνὰ vide Herrmann’s Viger , p. 576.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny--a full day's wages.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(9) Every man a penny.—The scale of payment rested on the law of a generous equity. The idleness of the labourers had been no fault of theirs, and the readiness with which they came at the eleventh hour implied that they would have come as readily had they been called at daybreak, and therefore they received a full day’s wages for their fraction of a day’s work. The standard of payment was qualitative, not quantitative. In the interpretation of the parable, the “penny,” as before, represents the eternal life of the kingdom of heaven. No true labourer could receive less; the longest life of labour could claim no more.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But when the first came,.... Who were early hired into the vineyard; and design either the first saints that were in the world; or the Jews that first believed in Christ, either really or nominally; or such, who were called by grace in their early days:

they supposed, or "hoped", as the Syriac version renders it,

that they should have received more; than a penny, a greater reward: not that they could expect it on the foot of their agreement, or on account of their work; but because they observed, that they that came last into the vineyard, had as much as they agreed for; and therefore hoped, from the goodness of their Lord to them, that they should receive more:

and they likewise received every man a penny; the selfsame privileges of the Gospel, and a title to the selfsame reward of free grace, the selfsame glory and happiness.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.

Ver. 9. And when they came] These last labourers were first paid, because they trusted not to the worth of their own works, but to God’s free grace and goodness; when the other are fumed off in displeasure, with Tolle quod tuum est, et vade: Take thy penny, and be packing.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They received every man a penny - There was no agreement how much they should receive, but merely that justice should be done, Mat 20:4-5, Mat 20:7. The householder supposed they had earned it, or chose to make a present to them to compensate for the loss of the first part of the day, when they were willing to work, but could not find employment.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They received every man a penny. The steward, of course, was acting according to his master"s instructions (though nothing is said of any previous orders on the subject) when he thus bounteously remunerated those that had been hired at the eleventh hour. Some commentators have endeavoured to show that the "penny" allotted to each set differed greatly in value; but this is an unwarrantable conjecture, and it is indispensable to the purport of the parable that the wages should be alike to all.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who were hired about the eleventh hour - Either the Gentiles, who were called long after the Jews into the vineyard of the Church of Christ; or those in every age who did not hear, or at least understand the Gospel call, till their day of life was drawing to a period. Some circumstances of the parable seem best to suit the former, some the latter of these senses.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

received

(See Scofield "1Co 3:14"). Also, 1Co 9:24; 2Ti 4:7; 2Ti 4:8.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. They received every man a penny. More than most of them expected. God does not measure our reward by the length, but by the faithfulness of service.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

9. ἀνὰ δηνάριον, ‘a denarius each.’

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9.] After ὥραν supply ἀπεσταλμένοι εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. And they came (who had been hired) about the eleventh hour, and received each a denarius.]

(L)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.