Matthew 20:10

10 And [when] the first came, they thought that they would receive more, and they also received a denarius apiece.

Matthew 20:10 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 20:10

But when the first came
Who were early hired into the vineyard; and design either the first saints that were in the world; or the Jews that first believed in Christ, either really or nominally; or such, who were called by grace in their early days:

they supposed,
or "hoped", as the Syriac version renders it,

that they should have received more;
than a penny, a greater reward: not that they could expect it on the foot of their agreement, or on account of their work; but because they observed, that they that came last into the vineyard, had as much as they agreed for; and therefore hoped, from the goodness of their Lord to them, that they should receive more:

and they likewise received every man a penny;
the selfsame privileges of the Gospel, and a title to the selfsame reward of free grace, the selfsame glory and happiness.

Matthew 20:10 In-Context

8 And [when] evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last up to the first.'

9 And [when] the ones [hired] about the eleventh hour came, they received a denarius apiece.

10 And [when] the first came, they thought that they would receive more, and they also received a denarius apiece.

11 And [when they] received [it], they began to complain against the master of the house,

12 saying, 'These last [people] worked one hour and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the burning heat!'

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("came") which is understood as temporal