Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 20:15

"Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? or is thine eye evil, because I am good?" — Matthew 20:15 (ASV)

Is it not lawful...? The question is not that of one who asserts an arbitrary right; it tacitly appeals to a standard that no one could question. As far as the laborer was concerned, the householder had a right to give freely from what was his own. He was responsible to God only. In the interpretation of the parable, God is the Householder Himself, and people ought to have sufficient faith in Him to accept that His gifts to some, which did no wrong to others, are in harmony with absolute righteousness.

Is your eye evil? The "evil eye," as in Proverbs 28:22, was a look of envy and ill will toward the prosperity of others. In Mark 7:22, it appears among the "evil things" that come from the heart. Popularly, as the derivation of the word "envy" (from invidere) shows, such a glance was thought to carry with it a kind of magical power to injure. In the superstitious belief that still lingers in the East and many parts of Europe, this glance was to be averted by charms and amulets.