20:1 {For} (\gar\). The parable of the house illustrates the
aphorism in 19:30. {A man that is a householder} (\anthrōpōi
oikodespotēi\). Just like \anthrōpōi basilei\ (18:23). Not
necessary to translate \anthrōpōi\, just "a householder."

{Early in the morning} (\hama prōi\). A classic idiom. \Hama\ as
an "improper" preposition is common in the papyri. \Prōi\ is just
an adverb in the locative. At the same time with early dawn,
break of day, country fashion for starting to work. {To hire}
(\misthōsasthai\). The middle voice aorist tense, to hire for
oneself.

20:2 {For a penny a day} (\ek dēnariou tēn hēmeran\). See on
¯18:28. "Penny" is not adequate, "shilling" Moffatt has it. The
\ek\ with the ablative represents the agreement (\sunphōnēsas\)
with the workmen (\ergatōn\). "The day" the Greek has it, an
accusative of extent of time.

20:3 {Standing in the marketplace idle} (\hestōtas agorāi
argous\). The market place was the place where men and masters
met for bargaining. At Hamadan in Persia, Morier in _Second
Journey through Persia_, as cited by Trench in his _Parables_,
says: "We observed every morning, before the sun rose, that a
numerous band of peasants were collected, with spades in their
hands, waiting to be hired for the day to work in the surrounding
fields."

20:4 {Whatsoever is right} (\ho ean ēi dikaion\). "Is fair"
(Allen), not anything he pleased, but a just proportionate wage.
Indefinite relative with subjunctive \ean=an\.

20:6 {All the day idle} (\holēn tēn hēmeran argoi\). Extent of
time (accusative) again. \Argoi\ is \a\ privative and \ergon\,
work, no work. The problem of the unemployed.

20:10 {Every man a penny} (\ana dēnarion kai autoi\). Literally,
"themselves also a denarius apiece" (distributive use of \ana\).
Bruce asks if this householder was a humorist when he began to
pay off the last first and paid each one a denarius according to
agreement. False hopes had been raised in those who came first
who got only what they had agreed to receive.

20:11 {They murmured} (\egogguzon\). Onomatopoetic word, the
meaning suiting the sound. Our words murmur and grumble are
similar. Probably here inchoative imperfect, began to grumble. It
occurs in old Ionic and in the papyri.

20:12 {Equal unto us} (\isous autous hēmin\). Associative
instrumental case \hēmin\ after \isous\. It was a regular protest
against the supposed injustice of the householder. {The burden of
the day and the scorching wind} (\to baros tēs hēmeras kai ton
kausōna\). These last "did" work for one hour. Apparently they
worked as hard as any while at it. A whole day's work on the part
of these sweat-stained men who had stood also the sirocco, the
hot, dry, dust-laden east wind that blasted the grain in
Pharaoh's dream (Ge 41:6), that withered Jonah's gourd (Jon
4:8), that blighted the vine in Ezekiel's parable (Eze 17:10).
They seemed to have a good case.

20:13 {To one of them} (\heni autōn\). Evidently the spokesman of
the group. "Friend" (\hetaire\). Comrade. So a kindly reply to
this man in place of an address to the whole gang. Ge 31:40; Job
27:21; Ho 13:15. The word survives in modern Greek.

20:14 {Take up} (\aron\). First aorist active imperative of
\airō\. Pick up, as if he had saucily refused to take it from the
table or had contemptuously thrown the denarius on the ground. If
the first had been paid first and sent away, there would probably
have been no murmuring, but "the murmuring is needed to bring out
the lesson" (Plummer). The \dēnarius\ was the common wage of a
day labourer at that time. {What I will} (\ho thelō\). This is
the point of the parable, the _will_ of the householder. {With
mine own} (\en tois emois\). In the sphere of my own affairs.
There is in the _Koinē_ an extension of the instrumental use of
\en\.

20:15 {Is thine eye evil?} (\ho ophthalmos sou ponēros estin?\)
See on ¯6:22-24 about the evil eye and the good eye. The
complainer had a grudging eye while the householder has a liberal
or generous eye. See Ro 5:7 for a distinction between \dikaios\
and \agathos\.

20:16 {The last first and the first last} (\hoi eschātoi prōtoi
kai hoi prōtoi eschatoi\). The adjectives change places as
compared with 19:30. The point is the same, though this order
suits the parable better. After all one's work does not rest
wholly on the amount of time spent on it. "Even so hath Rabbi Bun
bar Chija in twenty-eight years wrought more than many studious
scholars in a hundred years" (Jer. _Berak._ ii. 5c).

20:17 {Apart} (\kat' idian\). This is the prediction in Matthew
of the cross (16:21; 17:22; 20:17). "Aside by themselves"
(Moffatt). The verb is \parelaben\. Jesus is having his inward
struggle (Mr 10:32) and makes one more effort to get the Twelve
to understand him.

20:19 {And to crucify} (\kai staurōsai\). The very word now. The
details fall on deaf ears, even the point of the resurrection on
the third day.

20:20 {Then} (\tote\). Surely an inopportune time for such a
request just after the pointed prediction of Christ's
crucifixion. Perhaps their minds had been preoccupied with the
words of Jesus (19:28) about their sitting on twelve thrones
taking them in a literal sense. The mother of James and John,
probably Salome, possibly a sister of the Master's mother (Joh
19:25), apparently prompted her two sons because of the family
relationship and now speaks for them. {Asking a certain thing}
(\aitousa ti\). "Asking something," "plotting perhaps when their
Master was predicting" (Bruce). The "something" put forward as a
small matter was simply the choice of the two chief thrones
promised by Jesus (19:28).

20:22 {Ye know not what ye ask} (\ouk oidate ti aiteisthe\). How
often that is true. \Aiteisthe\ is indirect middle voice, "ask
for yourselves," "a selfish request." {We are able}
(\dunametha\). Amazing proof of their ignorance and
self-confidence. Ambition had blinded their eyes. They had not
caught the martyr spirit.

20:23 {Ye shall drink} (\piesthe\). Future middle from \pinō\.
Christ's cup was martyrdom. James was the first of the Twelve to
meet the martyr's death (Ac 12:2) and John the last if reports
are true about him. How little they knew what they were saying.

20:24 {Moved with indignation} (\ēganaktēsan\). A strong word for
angry resentment. In the papyri. The ten felt that James and John
had taken advantage of their relation to Jesus.

20:25 {Called them unto him} (\proskalesamenos autous\). Indirect
middle again, calling to him.

20:26 {Would become great} (\hos an thelēi megas genesthai\).
Jesus does not condemn the desire to become great. It is a
laudable ambition. There are "great ones" (\megaloi\) among
Christians as among pagans, but they do not "lord it over" one
another (\katakurieuousin\), a LXX word and very expressive, or
"play the tyrant" (\katexousiazousin\), another suggestive word.
{Your minister} (\h–mōn diakonos\). This word may come from \dia\
and \konis\ (dust), to raise a dust by one's hurry, and so to
minister. It is a general word for servant and is used in a
variety of ways including the technical sense of our "deacon" in
Php. 1:1. But it more frequently is applied to ministers of the
Gospel (1Co 3:5). The way to be "first" (\prōtos\), says Jesus,
is to be your "servant" (\doulos\), "bond-servant" (verse 27).
This is a complete reversal of popular opinion then and now.

20:28 {A ransom for many} (\lutron anti pollōn\). The Son of man
is the outstanding illustration of this principle of
self-abnegation in direct contrast to the self-seeking of James
and John. The word translated "ransom" is the one commonly
employed in the papyri as the price paid for a slave who is then
set free by the one who bought him, the purchase money for
manumitting slaves. See examples in Moulton and Milligan's
_Vocabulary_ and Deissmann's _Light from the Ancient East_, pp.
328f. There is the notion of exchange also in the use of \anti\.
Jesus gave his own life as the price of freedom for the slaves of
sin. There are those who refuse to admit that Jesus held this
notion of a substitutionary death because the word in the N.T.
occurs only here and the corresponding passage in Mr 10:45. But
that is an easy way to get rid of passages that contradict one's
theological opinions. Jesus here rises to the full consciousness
of the significance of his death for men.

20:29 {From Jericho} (\apo Iereichō\). So Mr 10:46. But Luke
(Lu 18:35) places the incident as they were drawing near to
Jericho (\eis Iereichō\). It is probable that Mark and Matthew
refer to the old Jericho, the ruins of which have been
discovered, while Luke alludes to the new Roman Jericho. The two
blind men were apparently between the two towns. Mark (Mr
10:46) and Luke (Lu 18:35) mention only one blind man,
Bartimaeus (Mark). In Kentucky there are two towns about a half
mile apart both called Pleasureville (one Old Pleasureville, the
other New Pleasureville).

20:30 {That Jesus was passing by} (\hoti Iēsous paragei\). These
men "were sitting by the wayside" (\kathēmenoi para ten hodon\)
at their regular stand. They heard the crowd yelling that Jesus
of Nazareth was passing by (\paragei\, present indicative of
direct discourse retained in the indirect). It was their one
opportunity, now or never. They had heard of what he had done for
other blind men. They hail him as "the son of David" (the
Messiah). It is just one of many such incidents when Jesus stood
still and opened their eyes, so many that even the multitude was
impatient with the cries of these poor men that their eyes be
opened (\anoigōsin\, second aorist passive subjunctive).

20:34 {Touched their eyes} (\hēpsato tōn ommatōn\). A synonym for
\ophthalmōn\ in Mr 8:23 and here alone in the N.T. In the LXX
and a common poetic word (Euripides) and occurs in the papyri. In
modern Greek \matia mou\ (abbreviation) means "light of my eye,"
"my darling." The verb \haptomai\ is very common in the Synoptic
Gospels. The touch of Christ's hand would sooth the eyes as they
were healed.