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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 20:1 - 20:7
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_20:1-7
1"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4and to those, he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.'And so they went. 5Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long? 7They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.'He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'"
Mat_20:1 "For the kingdom of heaven" The parable was given as an example of how the material rewards offered by this world were totally different from the spiritual rewards of the kingdom of God. This parable is unique to Matthew. The "kingdom of heaven" was a central topic in Jesus' teaching and preaching ministry. It referred to the reign of God in human hearts now which will one day be consummated over the earth (cf. Mat_6:10). The present yet future aspects of the kingdom of God are the origin of the "already" and "not yet" tension and paradox of the two comings of Christ and the Christian life.
▣ "landowner" This is a compound term "house" plus " master" (despotçs). It translates a Hebrew phrase, "the owner of the land." Matthew uses this designation often (cf. Mat_10:25; Mat_13:27; Mat_13:52; Mat_20:1; Mat_20:11; Mat_21:33; Mat_24:43).
In this passage it reflects the grace of God in dealing with His human creation. In Mat_10:24-25 Jesus is the true "household master," but they call Him Beelzebub" (head demon or Satan).
Grant Osborne, The Hermeneutical Spiral, p. 244 has an interesting comment.
"God appears in several fuises in the parables as king, father, landowner, employer, father and judge. Throughout, the picture is of one who graciously and mercifully offers forgiveness, but at the same time demands decision. . .salvation is present and insistently demanding response. God's rule is typified by grace but that grace challenges the hearer to recognize the necessity of repentance."
▣ "vineyard" Many assume that this was a reference to the nation of Israel. It is true that a vineyard often stood for Israel in the OT (cf. Isaiah 5, Jer_2:21; Jer_12:10; Psa_80:8-13), but that does not mean it does in every context in the NT. In this context, it seems to simply be the setting of the parable and does not have major symbolic truth.
Mat_20:2 "when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day" This first group of laborers was the only one for whom a set pay for a day's work was discussed. The term "denarius," like all monetary values in translations, is linked to one's own historical equivalent. It would be much better to see this monetary amount in light of its usage in the first century, as a day's wage for a soldier or an agricultural worker. It was enough money to provide food and the necessities of life for a day for a Palestinian family.
Mat_20:3
NASB, NKJV,
NJB " about the third hour"
NRSV, TEV " about nine o'clock"
All of the designations (Mat_20:3; Mat_20:5-6) for time in the parable are based on the assumption of the day beginning at 6 a.m. (Roman time); therefore, it was nine o'clock in the morning. The Jews began their day at 6 p.m. (i.e., Gen_1:5).
One questions why the vineyard owner would hire so many people throughout the day. It has been assumed by scholars that it was the peak of the grape harvest and the Sabbath was close at hand; therefore, it was urgent that as many of the grapes as possible be gathered before they ruined.
Mat_20:6 "found others standing around" Although in English this phrase sounds derogatory, as if the vineyard owner were chiding these people for not working all day, in reality he simply had found some workers who had not been hired earlier. There is no hint that these were lazy or indifferent workers, but ones who had not been able to find work for that day (cf. Mat_20:7).