Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 20:6
And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
6. the eleventh hour ] The various hours may be referred in the first instance to the call of a Paul, a Barnabas, or a Timothy, who adopted the Cause later than the Twelve. In a secondary and less immediate sense they seem to indicate the successive periods at which the various nations were admitted to the Church of Christ. Was it unjust that European nations should have equal privileges with the Jews in the Church of Christ, or that Paul should be equal to Peter?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The eleventh hour – About five oclock in the afternoon, or when there was but one working hour of the day left.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 20:6
Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Spiritual idleness
I. The evil censured. Spiritual idleness. Often accompanied with great secular activity, and a flaming profession. Consists in neglect-of lifes mission; the souls salvation and sanctification (Php 2:12-13); works for the spiritual benefit of others seeking in order to save them that are lost (1Co 10:24). This neglect is highly criminal.
1. As injurious to ones self. Deteriorates the moral nature.
2. As injurious to others.
3. As disobedience to the Divine summons, Go work, etc. Christ came to do the Fathers will, and summons us to follow Him.
II. The continuance and aggravation of the evil. All the day idle, etc. Youth, manhood, age. The reproach increases with the passing months and years.
1. When so much work for yourself and others ought to have been done.
2. When others have been so long labouring.
3. When there has been so much time and opportunity-eleventh hour-market place.
4. When the working day is drawing to a dose.
III. The excuses offered for the evil. Why stand ye? asks the Master, and what are the usual replies?-
1. We have not been invited by the minister, etc. Dont wait for such invitations-offer)-our services-I must work, etc.
2. We lack the necessary qualifications, etc.
3. We lack opportunity, etc.
4. We give money, etc. This will not be accepted by the Master as a substitute for personal service. You cannot do this work by proxy. Work for Christ is personal, and cannot be delegated to others, etc.
IV. The motives go abandon the evil.
1. The urgency of the work.
2. The activity of Satan and his emissaries.
3. The honour and pleasure of active service. Work in which the Son of Man was employed when on earth. No less happy than honourable.
4. The assurance of Divine help. May be difficulties you fear to meet, but God will strengthen and direct, etc.
5. The brevity of lifes golden opportunity. Difficulty increases with delay. You will get accustomed to idleness and it will become chronic. Whether early or late in the day, begin Now.
6. The promise of reward. Present; future-in and for. Whatsoever is right that shall ye receive. They that turn, etc. (Alfred Tucker.)
Standing idle
The text contains-
I. An implication-That there is work to be done.
1. Knowledge to acquire-of God, self, etc.
2. Blessing, to secure. Pardon, etc.
3. Duties to discharge. Notwithstanding, many are idle.
II. An expostulation. Why stand ye who are active, rational, responsible, rewardable creatures? Why stand ye here idle? Here on a theatre of action. In this the day of your probation. In this state of uncertainty. Why stand ye? Standing not working.
III. An inquiry? Why? Some are idle because they have no work. Some do not like the master. Some do not love the work. Some imagine themselves unable to work. Some do not like the wages. Some no man hath hired. Does not the Bible, memory, and conscience supply instances in which He would have hired you, but you were unwilling to have your old Master and desert His work, etc. (W. Atherton.)
Idleness deteriorates the moral nature
Here lies what was once a bar of iron, but the joint action of air and water has reduced it to a bar of rust. It has now no strength, and consequently no value. To how many varied and useful purposes it might have been put some years ago and in its work have found its strength, beauty, and preservation; but it is too late now; it will soon be blended with the earth upon which it passively lies, a striking emblem of the man who through sloth and love of ease refuses to face the hammer and anvil of active life and honest work; who flies from the purifying tire of lifes adversities, and who will fight no battle for truth and the higher interests of his soul. (Anon.)
Lazy Christians
A lazy Christian shall always want four things, viz., comfort, content, confidence, and assurance. God hath made separation between joy and idleness, between assurance and laziness, and therefore it is impossible for thee to bring these together. (T. Brooks.)
A busy man is troubled but with one devil, but the idle man with a thousand. (Anon.)
Idleness a sin
Idleness is a sin, for it involves disobedience to Christs command, Go into My vineyard and work. It is a sin, for it shows an utter want of sympathy with the Master, who went about doing good, and who expected His followers to do good to all as they have opportunity. It is a sin, for it indicates a selfish love of ease; and a Divine woe is pronounced on all who are at ease in Zion. It is a sin, for it reveals a callous heart, insensible to the woes of a lost world. Every idler in the church is a sinner, for to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Alas! how many sinners are found in Zion, and what must be their doom when the Master cometh to judge the unfaithful servants who have hid their talent in place of using it! (W. Durant.)
Busy about nothing
The bee and the butterfly are both busy creatures; there is an activity that ends in nothing; there are lives that store no honey,
Working and rusting
Two ploughshares were once made by the same blacksmith, in the same smithy, from the same kind of iron, and they were bought by the same farmer. He took them home; one he took into instant employment, but he left the other unemployed for twelve months in a barn, till the poor thing got covered with rust: at last the farmer had occasion for another ploughshare, so he drew it forth from its laziness and obscurity, and sent it into the field, where it met its old fellowploughshare. Why, said the lazy one, what has kept you so bright? I declare I am quite ashamed to be seen. Ah! said the bright ploughshare, it is labour and exercise that has kept me bright. Your rest and idleness has been injurious to you; but when you have been driven a few times through the earth, you will lose your rust and become beautiful and bright too. (Blind Amos.)
Busy idleness
There is such a thing as laborious idleness. Busy? So was the shepherd on the Alps, mentioned by Dugald Stewart, who spent fifteen years of life learning to balance a pole on his chin: and the philosopher sagely remarks how much good, had they been directed to a noble object, this diligence and perseverance would have accomplished. Busy: So have I seen the millers wheel, which went round and round: but idly, grinding no corn. Busy? So, in a way, was the Russian who, facing the winters cold, nor regarding the cost of massive slabs brought at great labour from frozen lake and river, built him an icy palace, within whose glittering, translucent wails, wrapped in furs and shining in jewels, rank and beauty held their revelry., and the bowl and the laugh and the song went round. But width soft breath, and other music, and opening buds, spring returned; and then before the eves that had gazed with wonder on the crystal walls of that fairy palace as they gleamed by night with a thousand lights, or flashed with the radiance of gems in the bright sunshine, it dissolved, nor left a rack behind; its pleasures, vanity; its expense, vexation of spirit. Busy? be, in a way, are the children who, when the tide is at the ebb, with merry laughter and rosy cheeks and nimble hands build a castle of the moist sea sand-the thoughtless urchins, types of lovers of pleasure and of the world so intent on their work as not to see how the treacherous, silent tide has crept around them, not merely to sap and undermine, and with one rude blow of her billow demolish the work of their hands, but to cut off their retreat to the distant shore, and drown their frantic screams and cries for help in the roar of its remorseless waves. From a death-bed, where all he toiled and sinned and sorrowed for is slipping from his grasp, fading from his view, such will his life seem to the busiest worldling; he spends his strength for naught, and his labour for that which profiteth not. With an eye that pities because it foresees our miserable doom, God calls us from such busy trifling, from a life of laborious idleness, to a service which is as pleasant as it is profitable, as graceful as it is dutiful, saying, Work out your salvation-Work while it is called to-day, seeing that the night cometh when no man can work. (Dr. Guthrie.)
Standings idle
Have you never thought with extreme sadness of the many men and women upon our earth whose lives are useless? Have you never reflected upon the millions of people who waste in nothingness their thoughts, affections, energies, all their powers, which frivolity dissipates as the sand of the desert absorbs the water which is sent upon it from the sky? These beings pass onward, without even asking themselves toward what end they journey, or for what reason they were placed here below. (Eugene Bersier.)
Activity out of Christ vain
All activity out of Christ, all labour that is not labour in His Church, is in His sight a standing idle. (Archbishop Trench.)
Proverbs on idleness
Evil thoughts intrude in an unemployed mind as naturally as worms are generated in a stagnant pool. No pains, no gains. No sweat, no sweet. No mill, no meal. An idle brain is the devils workshop. He that would eat the kernel, must crack the nut.
Idleness unprofitable
It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service; but idleness taxes many of us much more. Sloth, by bringing on disease, absolutely shortens life. Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labour wears: while the used key is always bright. How much more time than is necessary do we spend in sleep, forgetting that the sleeping fox catches no poultry, and there will be sleeping enough in the grave! (Franklin.)
Work for all in Gods vineyard
A good minister, now in heaven, once preached to iris congregation a powerful sermon founded upon the words, Why stand ye here all the day idle? The sermon did good to many, among whom was a lady who went to the minister the next day, and said, Doctor, I want a spade. We should be happy to put spades into the hands of all our idle friends. There are Sunday-school spades. Mission-room spades, Tract-distribution spades, Sick-visitation spades, etc.. etc. Who will apply for them?
Idleness
Idleness was one of the sins of Sodom, and it is often the forerunner of temporal and eternal ruin. No evil is more common, though none is more dangerous.
I. To whom the charge of idleness is applicable.
1. It will in a certain sense apply to all unconverted men, who with respect to the highest interests of life, may be said to be always idle.
a. They are content to do nothing at all for God; nothing that He approves, nothing that He will accept,
b. They do nothing for their own souls, any more than for the glory of God.
c. They do nothing for their generation, according to the will of God.
d. They do nothing to any good purpose, or that will turn to account another day.
2. It will apply in too many instances, even to Christians themselves, of whom there are but few who can be applauded for their diligence and fidelity.
II. Point out the inexcusableness of such conduct.
1. The talents committed to our trust require to be occupied and must be finally accounted for.
2. The want of a capacity to labour in the Lords vineyard cannot be pleaded with success.
3. We are placed in a situation where our services are expected and required.
4. We have lost too much time already. (B. Beddome.)
Labourers not loiterers
Jacob saw the angels, some ascending, others descending, but none standing still. God hath made Behemoth to play in the water, not so men; they must be doing, that will keep in with God. (John Trapp.)
The inexcusable idleness
I. Why? The vineyard is so spacious.
II. The reward is so liberal.
III. The Master is so kind.
IV. The hour of working is so short. (J. T. Van Osberzee, D. D.)
Satans work and wages
While the Lord of heaven is employing various means and instruments to engage labourers into His vineyard, Satan is going through the earth, with the pleasures of sin in one hand, and the allurements of the world in the other, to engage poor deluded souls into his thorny wilderness. Would you startle if we could now summon forward the Prince of Hell, and say, Well, Devil, and what wilt thou give? Listen. Hear that hoarse murmur from the pit: I will find them work that they love. It shall please their senses, gratify their appetites, indulge their passions, and delight their grossly carnal hearts. Every one shall find the pleasure for which he lusts, his own besetting sin; the swine shall have husks and mire. And what more? I will exempt them from the persecutions of religion, the contempt of the world, the reproach of the cross of Christ, from the irksome discharge of duty, and the gloomy services of piety. Go on. What more? I will keep them in the fashion; lind them abundance of associates: for wide is my gate, broad is my way, and many there are that enter therein. But what will be their food? The chaff of worldly pleasure and deceitfulness of sin, producing disappointment and dissatisfaction. What their drink? The gall of hitter reflections, tormenting passions, reproaches of reason, and dread anticipations. Where do they rest? Nowhere. Like a troubled sea, they cannot rest. They lie down in sorrow. But what wages, Devil, wilt thou give? Darkness, outer-darkness, blackness of darkness. A bad master, hard disgraceful work, and tremendous wages! Why stand ye here all the day idle? Set to work. Have you sinned? now repent. Are you in the world? come out and be separate. Have you time? use it. Powers? employ them. A Bible? read it. A throne of grace? fall down before it. Is there a God? serve Him. A Saviour? believe in him. (W. Atherton.)
Divine sovereignty
Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? We shall divide Gods gifts into five classes:-
I. Gifts temporal. What a difference in men personally; one is born like Saul, head and shoulders taller than the rest; another like Zaccheus. So in mental gifts; what a difference exists! The differences of mens conditions in this world. God is ruler and shall He not do as He will with His own. Bless God that thou hast more than others, and thank Him also that He has given thee less than others; for thou hast a higher burden.
II. Gifts saving.
1. The fallen angels not redeemed.
2. Note, again, God chose the Israelitish race and left the Gentiles for years in darkness.
3. Why is it that God has sent His word to us, while a multitude of people are still without it.
4. Why do some listen to the truth and others not. Salvation is of the Lord alone.
III. Gifts honourable.
1. One man hath the gift of knowledge, another hath little.
2. Office.
3. Utterance.
IV. Gifts of usefulness.
V. Gift comfortable. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Eleventh] Five o’clock in the evening, when there was only one hour before the end of the Jewish day, which, in matters of labour, closed at six.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
6. And about the eleventh hourbutone hour before the close of the working day; a most unusual hourboth for offering and engaging
and found others standingidle, and saith, Why stand ye here all the day idle?Of coursethey had not been there, or not been disposed to offer themselves atthe proper time; but as they were now willing, and the day was notover, and “yet there was room,” they also are engaged, andon similar terms with all the rest.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And about the eleventh hour he went out,…. About five o’clock in the afternoon. The Persic version reads it, “the twelfth hour”, which was six o’clock in the afternoon, the last hour of the day. The Jews divided their day into twelve hours,
Joh 11:9 and these twelve hours into four parts; Ne 9:3 each part containing three hours, to which division there is a manifest respect in this parable. These different seasons of the husbandman’s going out to hire labourers, may have regard either to the several periods of time, and ages of the world, as before the law, under the law, the times of the Messiah, and the last days; or the various dispensations of the Gospel, first by Christ, and John the Baptist to the Jews, then by the apostles to the same in their first mission, afterwards when their commission was renewed, first to the Jews in Judea, and then to the same among the nations of the world, and last of all to the Gentiles; or to the several stages of human life, and may regard Christ’s call of persons in childhood, youth, manhood, and old age; which last may be signified by the eleventh hour, as also the Gentiles, and the remainder of God’s elect in the last day:
and found others standing idle; in the same place and position as before: for the state and condition of God’s elect, by nature, as it is the same with others, it is the same with them all. The word “idle” is omitted here by the Vulgate Latin, the Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, and in Munster’s Hebrew Gospel; but is retained in the Syriac and Persic versions; and stands in the Greek copies:
and saith unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle? for being about the eleventh hour, the day was far spent, it was almost gone, a small portion of it remained, but one hour, as appears from
Mt 20:12.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
All the day idle ( ). Extent of time (accusative) again. is privative and , work, no work. The problem of the unemployed.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
(6) About the eleventh hour.The working day, which did not commonly extend beyond twelve hours (Joh. 11:9), was all but over, and yet there was still work to be done in the vineyard, all the more urgent because of the lateness of the hour. The labourers who had been first hired were not enough. Is there not an implied suggestion that they were not labouring as zealously as they might have done? They were working on their contract for the days wages. Those who were called last of all had the joy of feeling that their day was not lost; and that joy and their faith in the justice of their employer gave a fresh energy to their toil.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Eleventh Leaving but one hour for the next hired to labour in. All the day idle And, therefore, busy serving the devil, or in danger of being so.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing, and he says to them, ‘Why do you stand here all the day idle?’ ”
But still the workers prove insufficient and the call comes for more workers (compare Mat 9:38). So at around 5 pm (17:00 hours), at ‘the eleventh hour’, He goes out and He still find labourers whom no one has hired. And He asks them why no one has hired them. The purpose of the question is in order to demonstrate that they are not layabouts, but have genuinely been there all day waiting for work. By this time they were aware that for that day at least, their children would go hungry.
It should be noted here that the assumption is that those who are not labouring for the estate owner are ‘idle’ (not working). It visualises only one occupation that is worthwhile in this coming new age, that of serving the Lord of the vineyard.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
DISCOURSE: 1384
THE LABOURERS
Mat 20:6-7. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
THERE is a manifest sovereignty observable in the dispensations of Gods grace to man. His ways are often unsearchable to us, and even extremely contrary to our natural expectations. Moral persons are often left to perish in their sins, while the most immoral have been made illustrious monuments of divine mercy. And the richest rewards have in many instances been bestowed on those, who, according to human apprehensions, appeared the least likely to receive them. A moral and exemplary youth had deliberately renounced all hopes of an interest in Christ, that he might retain his worldly possessions [Note: Mat 19:21-22.]. Our Lord, in his improvement of this event, declared that many, who, like him, seemed to he first in respect to spiritual advantages, would prove last in respect to the benefit derived from them. But none have any right to murmur against God, seeing that he may dispense his blessings as he will. To illustrate this truth our Lord delivered the parable before us [Note: Compare Mat 19:30 with 20:16.].
The part of it just read, suggests to us many important observations:
I.
The Gospel provides for men a daily and laborious employment
We need not speak of a Christians work in general. We shall confine ourselves to the figure of a labourer in a vineyard
[A labourer must first clear his ground from briers and noxious weeds; he must then dig up the earth, and endeavour to fertilize it with manure [Note: Luk 13:8.]. After that he must carefully select his plants, and put them into the ground; he has then to water them, and to prune the luxuriant branches [Note: Joh 15:2.]; and finally, he must keep up the fences that nothing enter to destroy them [Note: Isa 5:2-6; Isa 27:3.]. If the Christians duties accord not with his in respect of order, yet they are the same in substance; he must root out of his soul all earthly, sensual, and devilish affections. If his open gross sins be not mortified, no heavenly plant can grow within him; he must dig deep into the recesses of his heart, and not be satisfied with a slight and superficial work. Without much meditation, and diligent self-examination, he can never know the desperate wickedness and deceitfulness of his own heart; nor must he expect fruit from the unimproved energy of the natural soil. He must get his soul ameliorated and enriched with the grace of God; he must apply to his Lord for plants of heavenly growth: above all he must be careful to possess the plant of renown [Note: Eze 34:29. This certainly refers to Christ. See Eze 34:23-24, of that chapter.]. Without this, no other valuable plant will ever thrive [Note: Christ must dwell in our hearts by faith. Christ in us is the hope of glory. Without him we can do nothing; through him, all things.]; with this, humility, meekness, love, &c. will spring up, and flourish. Nor must he forget to water these plants with his prayers and tears. However fruitful he be, he will find reason enough to weep for his unfruitfulness; he will also find many luxuriant branches which require to be pruned. Lastly, he must remember that his adversary will be glad to spoil his labour; he must therefore fence every good desire with constant watchfulness [Note: Eph 6:12; Eph 6:16; Eph 6:18.]. This, it must be confessed, is a difficult and laborious task. It cannot be performed without much diligence and self-denial: but he who prescribes the duty will assist us to perform it [Note: Rom 8:26.]: and, as it is fit, he informs us of our work before he hires us into his service.]
Had the Gospel its full effect upon us, it would lead us to fulfil these duties as cheerfully as Adam wrought in cultivating the garden of Eden.
II.
However long we may have been idle hitherto, it now calls us to begin our labour
The parable in its primary sense relates to the Jews and Gentiles
[The patriarchs, together with Moses, the prophets, John Baptist, and Christ himself, had sought in their successive ages to engage the Jews in their proper work. Thus the Jews had been called, as it were, at the third, sixth, and ninth hours. The Gentiles, who had hitherto been overlooked, were now to be invited at the eleventh hour.]
But it may also be applied to individuals of every description
[The occasion on which it was spoken relates equally to all [Note: Mat 19:29.]; and persons of different ages or circumstances may fitly represent the different hours. Some, like Samuel and Timothy, enter into the service of their God in very early life [Note: The hours are reckoned from six in the morning, that is, from sun-rise to sun-set; so that the third hour is early in the day.]: happy indeed are they; and thankful should they be for the grace that inclined their hearts. Others have attained a considerable age before they begin their appointed work. What reason have they to bless God for having subdued their reluctant spirits! But many are now arrived at the eleventh hour. All who are far advanced in life are certainly of this description; they too, who are weak and sickly, are probably drawing to the close of their day: yea, there may be some whose day of grace is nearly terminated, while they are yet in full vigour both of body and mind. Surely all such persons may well conceive themselves to be addressed in the text.]
To us then is the invitation of the Gospel now sent
[The Saviours voice to every one of us is, Go into my vineyard. He justly expostulates with us, Why stand ye here all the day idle? Nor can any of us offer that excuse that might be justly urged by the Gentiles. We have received numberless calls to enter into the service of our God [Note: Rom 10:21.]. If we delay therefore any longer we shall be utterly without excuse. We know indeed that they, who dislike Gods service, will find pleas enough for declining it [Note: I must attend to my worldly business; I have a family to provide for, &c.]. But have we provided an excuse that will be accepted in the day of judgment? If so, we may go on securely in our career of sin: but if not, let us not, by hardening our hearts, provoke God finally to exclude us [Note: Heb 3:7-11.]. It is in vain to urge, that we are incapable of performing the work assigned us. To the weakest person upon earth God will assuredly fulfil that promise [Note: Deu 33:25.]If indeed we attempt to serve him in our own strength, we must expect to fail; nor, if we only engage occasionally in his work, can we hope to succeed. Every intermission renders our task so much the more difficult. A vineyard long neglected will afford more trouble to the labourer; but if we regularly persevere in duty, our labour will be light and easy [Note: Mat 11:30.]. Let us then be thankful that the invitation is sent us at this late hour; and let the account once given of the Jews now be realized amongst us [Note: Luk 16:16.]]
That this invitation may not be slighted as others have been, we observe,
III.
To every one that will labour in earnest, the Gospel promises a suitable reward
We must not suppose that the same reward will be given to all persons
[The Jews had borne the burthen of the ceremonial law; and the Gentiles, though delivered from that yoke, are made fully equal with them. This is the circumstance referred to in the parable, and which so offended the Jews [Note: Mat 20:11; Mat 20:15.]. But to us there will be given a recompence according to our works [Note: 2Co 5:10.]. Not that the reward will be bestowed for any merit that is in us [Note: Rom 3:27; Rom 4:4-5; Rom 11:6.]. The happiness of heaven will be altogether the gift of God for Christs sake [Note: Rom 6:23.]: nevertheless God of his infinite goodness will reward us in proportion to our labour [Note: 1Co 3:8.].]
To every one will be given whatsoever is right, and equitable
[If none shall have room to boast, so none shall have reason to repine. The lowest degrees of happiness shall infinitely exceed any thing we could claim. Every vessel too shall be full; though all have not the same dimensions. The word of God is pledged that not the smallest service shall be unrewarded [Note: 1Co 15:58. Mat 10:42.]. We may rest assured therefore that we shall find his promise true [Note: Pro 11:18.].]
Address
1.
To loiterers
[What readiness would you not shew if a great earthly recompence were tendered you! And will you draw back when all the glory of heaven is offered you? Would the devils and damned spirits regard the overtures of mercy as you have done? O think, how soon the night is coming in which no man can work! Think, how awful will be the doom of the wicked and slothful servant! and instantly begin the Lords work, that you may at last receive his wages.]
2.
To labourers
[Ye serve the best of masters, and have the most honourable of all employments. Doubtless ye see but too much reason to lament your unprofitableness. But God is not extreme to mark what is omitted or done amiss. If ye really make it your meat to do his will, be of good cheer; the evening, when your labours will end, is fast approaching: then shall you be called into the presence of your Lord and Master; nor shall the least or most unworthy of you all be overlooked by him. Be not weary then of well-doing, for you shall all reap in due season [Note: Gal 6:9.]. To every one of you shall those delightful words be addressed [Note: Mat 25:21.]]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Ver. 6. And about the eleventh hour ] About five o’clock in the afternoon; when it was well nigh time to leave work. Nunquam sero si serio. Never too late if in earnest. Howbeit delays are dangerous, opportunities are abrupt and headlong, and, if once past, irrecoverable. If, therefore, ye will inquire, inquire; return, come, Isa 21:12 . They that say men may repent hereafter, say truly, but not safely. They that allege these here that came in at the eleventh hour, must consider that these were never called till then. But now God calleth, yea, “commandeth all men everywhere to repent,” Act 17:30 . And now he is more peremptory, sure, than ever heretofore. SeeHeb 2:3Heb 2:3 . How many are daily taken away in their offers and essays, before they have prepared their hearts to cleave to God!
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 20:6 . .: the marks this final procedure as noteworthy. We begin to wonder at all this hiring, when we see it going on even at the last hour . Is the master a humorist hiring out of benevolence rather than from regard to the exigencies of the work? Some have thought so (Olshausen, Goebel, Koetsveld), and there seems good ground for the suggestion, though even this unusual procedure may be made to appear probable by conceiving the master as anxious to finish the work on hand that day, in which case even an hour’s work from a sufficient number of willing hands may be of value. , etc., why stand ye here ( ., perfect active, neuter in sense, and used as a present) all the day idle? The question answers itself: no man would stand all the day in the market-place idle unless because he wanted work and could not get it.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
the eleventh hour. The Art. is emphatic, as with the “third”. See note on “even” (Mat 20:8). It was immediately before the end.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 20:6. , the eleventh) The article is emphatic, as it does not occur in the case of the ninth, sixth, or even third hour.- , all the day) They could not offer themselves for hire elsewhere.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
the eleventh: Ecc 9:10, Luk 23:40-43, Joh 9:4
Why: Pro 19:15, Eze 16:49, Act 17:21, Heb 6:12
Reciprocal: Jos 18:3 – How long are Mat 20:3 – standing Mat 20:9 – they received 2Pe 1:8 – barren
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE REFORM OF THE IDLER
Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us.
Matthew 20 part Mat 20:6-7
This parable is one of the most difficult in the New Testament, because, at first sight, there seems to have been a serious miscarriage of justice. But the householder represents God, and such an imputation is therefore impossible. Two considerations diminish the difficulty.
I. Motive of sacrifice.Our Lord taught that God estimates sacrifice by (a) the motive which prompts it, (b) the spirit that graces it, (c) the character that is evolved from it. The first labourers who came forward had to be bargained with; a definite agreement was struckand adhered toa penny a day. Those who came at the eleventh hour seem to have been of different character; less mercenary, more trustful; and they are treated generously in return.
II. Lack of opportunity.Listen to their reason for being idlebecause no man hath hired us. Here, then, is a conspicuous instance, not of injustice, but the great and infinite justice of God, Who will not treat a lack of opportunity as a lack of service. If you have had no chance, but have longed, and sought, and hoped to serve Him, but failed to find opportunity, when the hour comes, God will accept your good intentions and sincere desires; there is only one thing He will not accept, but punish, that is lack of willingness to do anything.
III. Go, work.If there is one aspect of the Gospel more than another put before us in this parable, it is the aspect of work. It is not Come and save your souls, but Go ye and work! The world is full of unflagging energy; the one anomaly is the man who is idle. A man may not have to work for his living, and yet he may work in Gods vineyard, by devoting his money, talents, time, and himself to the service of his country, the Church, and God. Idleness, in the Bible sense of the word, is the non-realisation that life is a service. All have not the same, some not many, some very few, gifts; but the honest doing of the smallest service for God, if according to our power, will hallow all the life.
IV. The hire given.Call the labourers and give them their hire. When the quick and dead shall answer to that call, God grant that we may appear before Him, not as idlers, but as labourers, even though we be the last amongst the last.
Prebendary J. Storrs.
Illustration
Why stand ye here all the day idle? Very few of us can say, Because no man hath hired us. We are living in the midst of a thousand necessities. The cry, calling for us to work for God, comes from all sides, from undermanned parishes, from the underfed masses, and indeed the overfed classes; from many of our own clergy, crushed by penury, to the breaking of the spirit and the clouding of the brain; from the countless thousands of the lost and tempted, the sick and the suffering. It is for us to keep ears and eyes open, and hearts in touch with our fellows, and then the opportunity will arise, the call, in some form, will come.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
A PARABLE WITHIN A PARABLE
This fragment of the parable is itself a parable. Let us separate from the rest of the parable these five words: No man hath hired us.
I. Gods care.The text shows us that there is a God Who concerns Himself about us, Who comes in, as it were, day by day to notice and to questionnay, who rather does not need to come in, for He is herehere in necessity of a Divine omnipresence.
II. Gods call.God has a work going on everywhere. The work for which He employs men is the work of mans moral culture. He has to form in man a God-like character. All His redeemed are the workmen. The work which God permits to every man is a twofold work.
(a) Each individual soul is a vineyard, and he has charge of itthe weeding and tending of that heart out of which issues the life.
(b) Life itself is a vineyardthe life of a man as it is lived amongst his fellows. The life of the family in which each one of us is a son, a brother, a daughter, a sisterhere is a sheltered spot of the vineyard in which God bids us work, and in which many stand in Gods sight all the day idle.
III. What answer are we making?We are here some of us in the early morning of life, and some have reached the eleventh hour. Still the same call, patient and long-suffering, is in all our ears. Honestly, are we really at work in Gods vineyard, or are we in Gods sight still standing idle? The selfish life is an idle life.
The Rev. A. Clark.
Illustration
There must of necessity be great variety in the work to be done by each in the vineyard of life, but amidst all this variety there is unity. Go where you may, you cannot escape the call to be Gods workman. God bids clergyman to go into the vineyard, but call to him is not substantially different from the call to any other man. God calls the soldier, the lawyer, the business man to work in His vineyard. Neither is sex any restriction. God calls the woman in her many duties to work in His vineyard. God bids us set before ourselves in youth as in age this one objectso to live as to make others better, so to live as to make God known.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
20:6
The last time he went was about the eleventh hour which would correspond with our 5 P. M., an hour before quitting time at least, depending on what part of the eleventh hour it was when he hired them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 20:6-7. And about the eleventh hour About five in the afternoon; he went and found others standing idle Others are hired into the vineyard in old age, when the day of life is almost wholly spent, and there is but one hour of the twelve remaining. None are hired at the twelfth hour: when life is done, opportunity is done; but while there is life, there is hope. There is hope for old sinners; for, if in sincerity they turn to God, they shall doubtless be accepted: true repentance is never too late. And, 2d, There is hope of old sinners, that they may be brought to repentance. Nothing is too hard for Almighty grace to do, that can change the Ethiops skin and the leopards spots. A man may be born again when he is old; and the old man which is corrupt may be put off. Yet let none, upon this presumption, put off their repentance till they are old. These were sent into the vineyard, it is true, at the eleventh hour; but nobody had hired them, or offered to hire them before. The Gentiles came in at the eleventh hour, but it was because the gospel had not been preached to them. Those that have had gospel offers made them at the third and sixth hour, and have resisted and refused them, will not have that to say for themselves, at the eleventh hour, which these had, No man hath hired us: nor can they be sure that any man will hire them at the ninth or eleventh hour. And therefore, not to discourage any, but to awaken all, be it remembered, that now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation: and, if we will hear his voice, it must be today. Henry.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:6 And about the {b} eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
(b) The last hour: for the day was twelve hours long, and the first hour began at sunrise.