One of the more interesting parables in the Gospel of Matthew is the Parable of the
Workers, found in the first half of Chapter 20.
Usually interpreted by evangelicals to mean that all Christians stand on
equal ground regardless of when they are “saved and born again”, this ignores
the undeniable fact that in the early first century CE, when Yeshu bar Yosef is
supposed to have told this parable, there were no Christians at all. The writer places the story in the context of
the final journey to Jerusalem from Galilee.
Once again, KJV chosen because it is free from copyright,
not out of preference.
For the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the
morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
And when he had agreed with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent
them into his vineyard.
And he went out about
the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, And said unto
them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you.
And they went their way.
Again he went out
about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
And about the eleventh
hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why
stand ye here all the day idle? They say
unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the
vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
So when even was come,
the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give
them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the
eleventh hour, they received every man a denarius.
But when the first
came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise
received every man a denarius. And when
they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, Saying,
These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us,
which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
But he answered one of
them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a
penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as
unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
So the last shall be
first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Christians, and most Jews reading the passage too, miss the
social, political, and religious message contained therein because of a total
ignorance of actual first century political and social realities in Roman
Palestine. To Hebraic-descended
Palestinians of the time, the message would have been glaringly clear. It wasn’t that new converts to Christianity
are equal in right to older Christians but that converts to Judaism and
descendants of converts to Judaism, New Coke so to speak, are every bit as much Coca-Cola as Classic Coke (descendants of the original Jews-by-birth).
In the last century and a half, the Hasmoneans, the former
royal-priestly dynasty ruling all of Palestine after conquering the surrounding
territories of Idumea, Nabatea (Perea), and Galilee from their base in Yehud,
or Judea, had forcibly converted all their subject peoples. The Idumeans and some of those in Nabatean
lands were closely related Canaanite-descended peoples like the Jews and the Samaritans. The Nabateans of Perea and vicinity were
Arabs with an Aramean elite, while those in Galilee were Iturean Arabs. In the latter case, their population was
supplemented by politically and socially undesirables internally exiled to the
Galil ha-Goyim, or District of the Gentiles.
In the first century Palestine, the word “Jew” carried
meaning more ethno-geographic than religious, partly because of the wide
diversity among the adherents of the religion centered in Jerusalem (Beth
Hillel Pharisee, Beth Shammai Pharisee, Sadducee, Essene, Hellenist, etc.). Since the Hasmoneans had annexed their lands to
the core territory of Judea, the Nabateans and the Idumeans were held to be
technically Jews, but relegated to second-class status. Most Jews of the time held
Galileans such as Jesus and his followers below that, barely kosher.
To draw a modern parallel, the Ashkenazim in the State of
Israel are the first century Jews of Judea, the Sephardim, Temanim, Mizrahim, and
Maghrebim are the Idumeans and Nabateans, while the less accepted groups such
as the Karaim and the Falashim are the Galileans. As for the Palestinians, they correspond to the Samaritans.
In the context in which it is presented, the true meaning of
the Parable of the Workers is that Galileans are every bit as much heirs of
Israel, or Jacob, as the Jews of Judea.
Too bad the writer of the Gospel of Matthew was not as free from bigotry toward the
Samaritans as were the composers of the Gospel
of John and the Gospel of Luke. His only reference to them is to compare them
to dogs. And that, my friends, is the
status to which the overwhelming majority of modern Israelis assigns to
Palestinians. Ironically, most of the Palestinians in the West Bank are descended
from the original Samaritan inhabitants.
2 comments:
Sadly, I see that the domestic partnership ordinance lost in the public vote. Chattanooga could and should do better than that. At least, the mayor is not a teabagger.
It happens that I have a gay son. I am glad that he lives in Maryland and not in Tennessee.
Here in Georgia, we have the same corruption: all statewide elected offices and the legislature controlled by right-wingers.
Tiocfaidh ar la, my friend. Our day will come.
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