The third hour - Nine o'clock in the morning. Market-place - Where laborers usually stood till they were hired. I have often seen laborers standing in the market places of large towns in these countries, waiting to be employed. read more
The sixth hour - Twelve o'clock. Ninth hour - three o'clock in the afternoon. read more
Eleventh - Five o'clock in the evening, when there was only one hour before the end of the Jewish day, which, in matters of labor, closed at six. read more
No man hath hired us - This was the reason why they were all the day idle. And whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive - Ye may expect payment in proportion to your labor, and the time ye spend in it; but this clause is wanting in some of the best MSS., versions, and fathers. read more
When the even was come - Six o'clock, the time they ceased from labor, and the workmen came to receive their wages. Steward - Επιτρωπος . A manager of the household concerns under the master. The rabbinical writers use the very same word, in Hebrew letters, for the same office, אפיטרופוס epitropos . See Kypke. read more
They murmured - The Jews made the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles, a pretense why they should reject that Gospel; as they fondly imagined they were, and should be, the sole objects of the Divine approbation. How they murmured because the Gentiles were made partakers of the kingdom of God; see Acts 11:1 , etc., and Acts 15:1 , etc. There are many similitudes of this kind among the Jews, where the principal part even of the phraseology of our Lord's parable may be found. Several of... read more
Friend, I do thee no wrong - The salvation of the Gentiles can in itself become no impediment to the Jews; there is the same Jesus both for the Jew and for the Greek. Eternal life is offered to both through the blood of the cross; and there is room enough in heaven for all. read more
Is it not lawful for me - As eternal life is the free gift of God, he has a right to give it in whatever proportions, at whatever times, and on whatever conditions he pleases. Is thine eye evil - An evil eye among the Jews meant a malicious, covetous, or envious person. Most commentators have different methods of interpreting this parable. Something was undoubtedly designed by its principal parts, besides the scope and design mentioned at the conclusion of the last chapter. The... read more
So the last shall be first, and the first last - The Gentiles, who have been long without the true God, shall now enjoy all the privileges of the new covenant; and the Jews, who have enjoyed these from the beginning, shall now be dispossessed of them; for, because they here rejected the Lord, he also hath rejected them. Many are called, etc. - This clause is wanting in BL, one other, and in the Coptic and Sahidic versions. Bishop Pearce thinks it is an interpolation from Matthew 22:14 ... read more
Obtenga el versículo bíblico diario todos los días en su bandeja de entrada
Leer en el móvil
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 20:2
A penny - A Roman coin, as noted before, Matthew 18:28 , worth about seven-pence halfpenny or seven-pence three farthings of our money, and equal to the Greek drachma. This appears to have been the ordinary price of a day's labor at that time. See Tobit 5:14. In 1351 the price of labor was regulated in this country by parliament; and it is remarkable that "corn-weeders and hay-makers, without meat, drink, or other courtesy demanded," were to have one penny per day! In 1314 the pay of a... read more