Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 20:9

"And when they came that [were hired] about the eleventh hour, they received every man a shilling." — Matthew 20:9 (ASV)

Every man a penny — The scale of payment was based on a principle of generous equity. The laborers' idleness was no fault of theirs. Their readiness to come at the eleventh hour implied that they would have come just as willingly if they had been called at daybreak. Therefore, they received a full day’s wages for their fraction of a day’s work.

The standard of payment was qualitative, not quantitative. In the interpretation of the parable, the “penny,” as before, represents the eternal life of the kingdom of heaven. No true laborer could receive less; the longest life of labor could claim no more.