When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to the first.’
8. And when the evening was come. It would be improper to look for a mystery in the injunction of the householder to begin with the last, as if God crowned those first who were last in the order of time; for such a notion would not at all agree with the doctrine of Paul.
And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour,.... Who were the last that were hired; and signify either such, as are called in their last days, in old age; or Gentile sinners; or the last of God's elect, that will be called by grace, in the end of the world: they received every man a penny: the same they first agreed for...
Verse 8. When even was come. That is, when the twelfth hour was come; the day was ended, and the time of payment was come. The steward. A steward is one who transacts business in the place of another. He was one who had the administration of affairs in the absence of the householder; who provided for the family; and who was entrusted with the payment of labourers and servants.