Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 20:3
And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
About the third hour – The Jews divided their days into twelve equal parts, or hours, beginning at sunrise and ending at sunset. This was, therefore about nine oclock in the morning.
Standing idle in the market-place – A place where provisions are sold in towns. Of course, many resort to such places, and it would be the readiest place to meet persons and find employers. They were not, therefore, disposed to be idle, but were waiting in the proper place to find employers.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. The third hour] Nine o’clock in the morning.
Market-place] Where labourers usually stood till they were hired. I have often seen labourers standing in the market places of large towns in these countries, waiting to be employed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
3. And he went out about the thirdhourabout nine o’clock, or after a fourth of the working dayhad expired: the day of twelve hours was reckoned from six to six.
and saw others standing idlein the market placeunemployed.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he went out about the third hour,…. About nine o’clock in the morning,
and saw others standing idle in the market place: the place where labourers used to be hired: and may design the world, because a place full of people, and of great wickedness, for the whole world lies in it; a place of trade and traffic in worldly things, and likewise of worldly and carnal pleasure, and also of idleness. Now God’s elect before calling, are in this place: they are natives of it, have their conversation according to it: here Christ came in person, and here he sends his ministers, his Gospel, to find them out, and by his Spirit and grace he calls them from hence; so that afterwards they are no more of it, though they are in it: but before conversion they belong to it, and their posture then is standing idle; being sluggish, and slothful in business, unwilling to work, and afraid of a little danger and trouble, sauntering away their time in carnal pleasures, and so clothed with rags, and in a starving, famishing condition: but Christ’s eye is upon them; he observes, and takes notice of them in this disagreeable position and situation, and speaks of them in the following manner.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Standing in the marketplace idle ( ). The market place was the place where men and masters met for bargaining. At Hamadan in Persia, Morier in Second Journey through Persia, as cited by Trench in his Parables, says: “We observed every morning, before the sun rose, that a numerous band of peasants were collected, with spades in their hands, waiting to be hired for the day to work in the surrounding fields.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
(3) About the third hour.Reckoning the day after the Jewish mode, as beginning at 6 A.M., this would bring us to 8 A.M. The market-place of a town was the natural place in which the seekers for casual labour were to be found waiting for employment. In the meaning which underlies the parable we may see a reference to those who, like St. Matthew (Mat. 9:9) and the disciples called in Mat. 8:19-22, were summoned after the sons of Jonas and of Zebedee.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Third hour Nine in the morning. Marketplace The forum, where marketings, lawsuits, public meetings, orations, and all general business were transacted. It was the place for idlers, newsmongers, and persons needing employment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing in the marketplace idle, and to them he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And they went their way.”
Presumably the work was falling behind with the result that His manager informed Him that more workers were needed. Or perhaps we are to see in it simply the goodness of heart of the estate owner although in that case why not hire all at once? But the purpose of the details is not in order to explain the estate owner’s reasons but in order to get over the idea of a gradually ongoing situation. So He again goes out to look for labourers, this time at roughly 9:00 am. And in the marketplace He finds that there are still many labourers who have not found work. So He again selects out some workers. They would have been there from early morning, but no one had previously hired them (Mat 20:7). To these He promises that He will pay ‘whatever is right’. To this they agree, for they know that they cannot expect a full denarius, and they are desperate to get work. And like the others they go to work in His vineyard. Note the deliberate emphasis on the fact that they are to trust the estate manager to do what is right.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 20:3-7. He went out about the third hour, &c. The hiring of labourers at the subsequent third, sixth, and ninth hours, signifies the various interpositions of Providence, by which many of the Gentiles in the different ages of the world were converted, either in whole or in part, to the knowledge of the true God; becoming some proselytes of righteousness, others proselytes of the gate. The invitation given at the eleventh hour signifies God’s calling the Gentiles to the Gospel dispensation, when the Gospel was preached in every civilized nation of the world.The Jews were ready to look upon themselves with complacency, as a people who had for manyages adhered to the worship of the true God, and in some periods had endured great extremities out of a regard to it: and it seems natural to interpret what is said, Mat 20:12 of bearing the burden and heat of the day, with a reference to this, rather than to any peculiar hardship which the earlier converts among the Jews might have endured, more than the believing Gentiles, many of whom met with much the same treatment on their embracing Christianity. See 1Th 2:14. The hours are mentioned according to the ordinary division of the day among the Jews, the third hour being nine in the morning, and so on. The word , Mat 20:4 rendered right, signifies not only what a person may legally claim, but what he might equitably expect from a person of honour and humanity; whatsoever is reasonable. See Macknight, and Doddridge. The word , rendered idle, Mat 20:6 should rather be rendered unemployed; for they were willing to work.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 20:3 . The third hour: somewhere about nine o’clock in the morning . In ordinal numbers the article is unnecessary. See note on 2Co 7:2 .
] where they were waiting in expectation of getting employment. The men in question belonged to the class of free labourers; Poll. iii. 82: , .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
Ver. 3. Others standing idle ] For any good they did, or could do, till sent into the vineyard, and set awork by God. Till then we are mere excrements of human society. Nos numerus sumus, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3, 4. ] The third hour , = at the equinox, our 9 a.m., and in summer 8, was the , or when the market was fullest.
“The market-place of the world is contrasted with the vineyard of the Kingdom of God: the greatest man of business in worldly things is a mere idle gazer, if he has not yet entered on the true work which alone is worth any thing or gains any reward.” Stier, ii. p. 307.
No positive stipulation is made with these second, but they are to depend on the justice of the householder. They might expect ths of a denarius. From the same dialogue being implied at the sixth and ninth hour ( ) the is probably in each case the corresponding part of the denarius, at least in their expectation ; so that it cannot be said that no covenant was made .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 20:3 . .: the article before in T. R., omitted in W. H [111] , is not necessary before an ordinal. . . .: the marketplace there as here, the place where masters and men met. ( a and ), not = idle in habit, but unemployed and looking for work.
[111] Westcott and Hort.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
the third hour = 9am. The hour named in connection with Pentecost (Act 2:15).
others. Not there at the first hour. Other labourers were then engaged (Act 4:36; Act 6:1, Act 6:5; Act 8:4, Act 8:12; Act 9:10, Act 9:25, Act 9:27, Act 9:30).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3, 4.] The third hour, = at the equinox, our 9 a.m., and in summer 8, was the , or -when the market was fullest.
The market-place of the world is contrasted with the vineyard of the Kingdom of God: the greatest man of business in worldly things is a mere idle gazer, if he has not yet entered on the true work which alone is worth any thing or gains any reward. Stier, ii. p. 307.
No positive stipulation is made with these second, but they are to depend on the justice of the householder. They might expect ths of a denarius. From the same dialogue being implied at the sixth and ninth hour ( ) the is probably in each case the corresponding part of the denarius, at least in their expectation; so that it cannot be said that no covenant was made.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 20:3. , others) who had not been there at the first hour.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
the third: Mar 15:25, Act 2:15
standing: Mat 20:6, Mat 20:7, Mat 11:16, Mat 11:17, Pro 19:15, Eze 16:49, Act 17:17-21, 1Ti 5:13, Heb 6:12
Reciprocal: 2Pe 1:8 – barren
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
20:3
The householder found he needed more workers and went out about the third hour (9 A. ‘M. our time) and found others unemployed which indicates he had secured the first laborers in this place. Marketplace is from AGORA and it is defined in the lexicon of Thayer as follows: “In the New Testament the forum or public place,–where trials are held, and citizens resort, and commodities are exposed for sale.” It is easy to see why a man would go to such a place to hire workmen.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 20:3. Third hour. About nine oclock in the morning, when the market-place would be full.
Idle. The greatest man of business on the market-place of the world is a mere idle gazer (Stier). On the special interpretations of the different hours, see the close of the section.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 3
Third hour; that is, after three of the hours of labor had expired.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The third hour would be about 9:00 a.m., the sixth hour about noon, and the eleventh hour about 5:00 p.m. The market place would have been the central square of the town where day laborers obtained work and pay. The landowner did not promise a particular wage, only that He would deal justly with the laborers. Jesus did not explain why the landowner kept hiring more workers throughout the day. That was an irrelevant detail in His story. All the workers trusted the landowner to give them what was fair at the end of the day.
"The day laborer did not have even the minimal security which a slave had in belonging to one master. There was no social welfare program on which an unemployed man could fall back, and no trade unions to protect a worker’s rights. An employer could literally ’do what he chose with what belonged to him’ (Mat 20:15)." [Note: France., The Gospel . . ., p. 749.]