cularly the change of relative condition which was to occur be tween the Jews and the Gentiles. — Cf. ch. viii. 10, 11, 12; Luke xiii. 28-30 (taken in connection with ib. ver. 23-27), and Rom. ix. 30, 31.
1. Tap, for) referring to the last verse of the preceding chapter. There is a similar connection of a parable with what immediately preceded it, in ch. xviii. 23. Peter is taught to be more diffident in asking questions (cf. ch. xix. 27), and in comparing himself with others ; cf. Luke xvii. 5, 10, where we see that they think more rightly who consider themselves as unprofitable servants, than they who consider themselves better than others.
2. Su/ipwKjjffas, when he had agreed} He deals with the first labourers more by legal compact ; with the latter, more by mere liberality, even in the hiring them, though He blames them for standing idle ; see ver. 4, 6, 7. They make up for their pre vious idleness by their obedience, without stipulating for a fixed amount of wages. The day, divided into twelve hours, signifies not the whole duration of the world, nor that of the New Tes tament dispensation, which the life of a single labourer can never equal ; neither, as it seems, does it represent the space of life given to each human being, in which one labours a longer and another a shorter time from his call to his death : although one who came before us might labour only one hour (i.e. the last), and another who comes after us may begin at the first ; so that in this passage that saying should hold good, " In any hour is any hour',"1 — But it represents the space of time from the first calling of the apostles to the ascension of Christ and the descent
1 u Qualibet bora est quselibet hora." In every hour whatever, there is the hour of some one or other [some hour or other, whatsoever that hour be]. Any hour of labour whatsoever is counted to the labourer as such, whensoever it be, whether at an earlier or later date. This seems to me Bengel's mean ing, though the words are rather ambiguous. — ED.