Matthew 20:11

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

Matthew 20:11 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 20:11

And when they had received it
The external privileges of the Gospel dispensation, an inheritance among them that are sanctified, and a right unto it, on the foot of free grace,

they murmured against the good man of the house;
who had been so kind and liberal, to those who came last into the vineyard, and had done no injury to them, but gave them a full reward. So the Jews that first believed in Christ, were at first uneasy at the Gospel being preached to the Gentiles, at the calling of them, and their partaking of the same privileges in a Gospel church state with them, without submitting to the ceremonies of the law, as they had done; just as the Pharisees, in Christ's time, murmured against him; for receiving sinners, and eating with them: though in the latter day, the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and in the ultimate glory there will be no murmuring at each other's happiness.

Matthew 20:11 In-Context

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!'
13 But he answered one of them [and] said, 'Friend, I am not doing you wrong. Did you not come to an agreement with me for a denarius?

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("received") which is understood as temporal
  • [b]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [c]. The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began to complain")
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