97—16.
καὶ Tov? καύσωνα. οὐκ
καὶ ὕπαγε.
ἀδικῶ σε: οὐχὶ δηναρίου συνεφώνησάς por;
255
13. ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν ἑνὶ αὐτῶν, Ἑταῖρε, j Lk. xii.55
2 jas. i. αχ. 14. dpov τὸ σὸν
θέλω Se} τούτῳ τῷ ἐσχάτῳ δοῦναι ds καὶ σοί"
15. 47 οὐκ ἔξεστί por ποιῆσαι ὃ θέλω» ἐν τοῖς ἐμοῖς; εἰ" ὁ
ὀφθαλμός σου πονηρός ἐστιν, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἀγαθός εἰμι ;
16.
οὕτως
»” ε a a ε lal »” 9 ἔσονται οἱ ETXATOL πρῶτοι, καὶ οἱ πρῶτοι έσχατοι’ πολλοὶ γάρ
..”. εἶσι κλητοί, ὀλίγοι δὲ ἐκλεκτοί.’ ὅ
1 θελω εγω in B (W.H. in margin).
? BDLZ omit q.
* 9 θελω ποιησαι in $$BDLZ, so giving to ο θελω due emphasis (Tisch., W.H.).
«η in ΝΒΟΡΝΣ (Tisch., W.H.).
"πολλοι γαρ . . . εκλεκτοι wanting in $BLZ; brought in from chap. xxii. 14.
is used in this sense (e.g., Acts xv. 33), and one is strongly tempted to adopt this rendering as true to the con- temptuous feeling of the twelve-hour men for the one-hour men. Kypke remarks against it that if ἐποίησαν had been meant in this sense = ‘‘ commorati sunt,” the word ὧδε = ἐν τῷ ἀμπελῶνι would have been added. Perhaps the strongest reason against it is that the one-hour men had worked with such good will (that goes without saying) that even pre- judiced fellow-workers could not ignore the fact. So we must take ἐποίησαν = ννοτ]εἀ.----τὸ βάρος, τὸν καύσωνα: these the points of their case: not that they had worked hard while the others had not, but that they had borne the burden of a whole day’s work, and worked through the heat of the day, and now came to be paid, weary and sweat- stained. (Some take καύσωνα as re- ferring to the sirocco or south-east wind ; hot, dry and dust-laden. On the winds of Palestine, vide Benzinger, Heb. Arch., p. 30.) What was one hour in the late afternoon, however hard the last comers worked, to that! And yet they are made equal (icovs)! Surely good ground for complaint!
Vv. 13-15. The master’s reply.—Ver. 13. évi, toone of them. It would have been undignified to make a speech in self-defence to the whole gang. That would have been to take the matter too seriously, The master selects a man, and quietly speaks his mind to him.— éraipe, friend, comrade; familiar and kindly. Cf. Lk, xv. 31.—Ver. 14. Gpov τὸ σὺν, take thine, thy stipulated denarius. It looks as if this particular worker had refused the penny, or was saucily handing it back.—@éAw, I choose, it is my pleasure; emphatically spoken. Summa hijus verbi potestas, Beng.—
τούτῳ τ. ἐσχ.: one of the eleventh-hour men singled out and pointed to.—Ver. 15. οὐκ ἔξεστι: right asserted to act as he chooses in the matter.—év τοῖς ἐμοῖς, in matters within my own dis- cretion—a truism ; the question is: what belongs to that category? Fritzsche and De Wette render: in my own affairs; Meyer: in the matter of my own property. — (W.H.) introduces an alternative mode of putting the case, which explains how the complainants and the master see the matter so differently, they seeing in it an injustice, he a legitimate exercise of his discretion.—ovnpds, vide on vi. 22-24. --ἀγαθός, generous; doing more than justice demands. So Bengel. Cf. Rom. v. 7 for the distinction between δίκαιος and ἀγαθός.
Ver. 16. Christ here points the moral of the parable = xix. 30, the terms ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι changing places, the better to suit the story. The meaning is not: the last as the first, and the first as the last, all treated alike. True, all get the same sum; at least the last and first do, nothing being said of those between ; but the point of the parable is not that the reward is thesame. The denarius given to all is not the central feature of the story, but the will of the master, whose character from a com- mercial point of view is distinctly eccentric, and is so represented to make it serve the didactic purpose. The method of this master is commercially unworkable ; combination of the two systems of legal contract and benevolence must lead to perpetual trouble. All must be dealt with on one footing. And that is what it will come to with a master of the type indicated. He will abolish contract, and engage all on the footing of generously rewarding generous service. The parable does not bring