Brit Chadasha Foundations-Concepts in Matthew-Chapter 20

Matt 20.1-34 gives us more information on the concept of the “last shall be first and the first shall be last” and the salvation of the non-Jews. It will also bring out a controversy among the talmidim as to who will sit in honor during the kingdom.

v 1…For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner (Yehovah)) who went out early in the morning (the day here is compared to the Olam ha Zeh, this present age of 6000 years) to hire laborers for his vineyard (Yeshua expounds on what he meant in 19.30 with this parable. Going out early and hiring laborers refers to Adam, Enoch, Seth, Noah etc.  In the peshat, or literal level, this says that salvation is not based on how long you have been a believer.  In the remez, or hint level, the workers who went out first can refer to Abraham and the fathers and Israel.  Those coming later are the non-Jews).

v 2…And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard (Adam, Enoch, Seth, Noah were sent into the world).

v 3… And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses etc);

v 4…and to those he said, ‘You too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went.

v 6…And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing (could be alluding to Israel, the judges, kings and prophets leading to the first century).

v 6…And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’

v 7…They said to him, “Because no one hired us (the non-Jews as a whole).’ He said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’

v 8…And when evening had come (the end of the Olam Ha Zeh) the owner of the vineyard said to the foreman (Yeshua), ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages (benefits of God’s grace and promises), beginning with the last group to the first.’

v 9…And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius (God’s grace, promises).

v 10…And when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more (they were jealous); and they also received one denarius (God’s grace, his promises, the inheritance).

v 11… And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner,

v 12…saying, ‘These last men (the non-Jews) have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us (in status before God-Eph 2.11-22) who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day (persecution and suffering of Israel through the ages).’

v 13…But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius (my grace and promises)?

v 14…Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as you.

v 15… Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own (Rom 9.18-21)? Or is your eye envious (evil, stingy) because I am generous (a good eye; Israel, having the advantage of the Torah, should have known that the Lord is not a respecter of persons-Acts 10.34).

v 16…Thus the last (the non-Jews) shall be first, and the first last (as we have said in Matt 19.30, this has to do with equality, not changing the arrangement of things or replacing Israel; Israel is equal with the non-Jews in salvation and grace, the same status). For many are called (invited) but few are chosen (by God, elected from the foundation of the world-Eph 1.4; 2 Thes 2.13).

v 17… And Yeshua was about to go up to Jerusalem (no matter where you were, you always “went up” to Jerusalem, an indication it had a higher spiritual level than any other place), he took the twelve talmidim aside by themselves, and on the way he said to them,

v 18… “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man (“bar Enosh”, a messianic title from Dan 7.13) will be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,

v 19…and will deliver him up to the Gentiles (the Romans-Gentiles were involved, too) to mock and scourge and crucify him, and on the third day he will be raised up.”

v 20…Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons (James/Jacob and John/Yochanon), bowing down, and making a request of him.

v 21…And he said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to him, “Command that in your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on your right and one on your left (as he sits on the throne of David as king, a high post of honor and power. They possibly put their mother up to ask this question).

v 22… But Yeshua answered and said, “You do not know what you are asking for (he said this to the two sons because he knew they were behind the question). Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink (endure much persecution for his name)? They said to him, “We are able (to suffer reproaches, suffering and death).”

v 23… He said to them, “My cup you shall drink (they will suffer persecution, James died at the hands of Herod and John was imprisoned and beaten by the Sanhedrin and eventually banished to Patmos by Domitian); but to sit on my right and on my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father (according to his plan).”

v 24…And hearing this, the ten became indignant (resented their question and what they were after) at the two brothers.

v 25…But Yeshua called them to himself, and said (he knew there was trouble brewing, they did not understand the nature of his kingdom), “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

v 26… It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant (humility is the key, they all had an ambitious view)

v 27…and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave (like Moses, Joshua, David and others, servant-hood will make one mighty in the kingdom);

v 28… just as the Son of Man (“bar Enosh”, a messianic title from Dan 7.13) did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many (notice he doesn’t say “all” because Eph 1.4 says that some were ordained to eternal life before the foundation of the world. The “many” here is the “us” of Eph 1.4 and Gal 1.4, the Kahal, assembly or eschatological called-out congregation-Eph 5.26-27; Titus 2.14, as opposed to those from the world-Rom 5.10; 2 Cor 5.19; Gal 3.13; Rom 3.13; Heb 13.12).

v 29… And as they were going out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

v 30…And behold, two blind men sitting on the road (begging), hearing that Yeshua was passing by, cried out, saying, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David (a messianic, kingly title)!”

v 31…And the multitude sternly told them to be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

v 32…And Yeshua stopped and called them, and said, “What do you wish me to do for you?”

v 33…They said to him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.”

v 34…And moved with compassion (a trait of the messianic king-Psa 27), Yeshua touched their eyes; and immediately they received their sight, and followed him.

Posted in Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Tying into the New Testament, Verse-by-Verse Bible Studies

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