XVI. (1) THERE WAS A CERTAIN RICH MAN, WHICH HAD A STEWARD. — There is, perhaps, no single parable that has been subjected to such various and discordant interpretations as this of the Unjust Steward. It seems best to give step by step what seems to be a true exposition of its meaning, and to reser... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW IS IT THAT I HEAR THIS OF THEE? — (1) The opening words of the steward’s master imply wonder as well as indignation. They remind us so far of the words of the lord of the vineyard in another parable, “Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” (Isa... [ Continue Reading ]
I CANNOT DIG; TO BEG I AM ASHAMED. — In the outer framework of the parable there is something eminently characteristic in this utterance of the steward’s thoughts. He has lost the manliness and strength which would have fitted him for actual labour. He retains the false shame which makes him prefer... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM RESOLVED WHAT TO DO. — More literally, _I know,_ or even, _I knew,_ as of a man to whom a plan occurs suddenly. The dramatic abruptness of the parable leaves us uncertain who “they” are that are to “receive” him. The context that follows immediately supplies the deficiency. What answers to this... [ Continue Reading ]
SO HE CALLED EVERY ONE OF HIS LORD’S DEBTORS. — The debtors might be either men who had bought their wheat and their oil at the hands of the steward; or, as the sequel renders more probable, tenants who, after the common custom of the East, paid their rent in kind. Who, we ask, are the “debtors,” in... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE THY BILL, AND SIT DOWN QUICKLY. — The better MSS. give, _thy bills,_ or _thy documents,_ in the plural. These would include that which answered to the modern lease, the contract which specified the rent, and probably also the memorandum of the due delivery of the annual share of the produce. In... [ Continue Reading ]
AN HUNDRED MEASURES OF WHEAT. — Here the measure is the Hebrew _cor,_ which is reckoned as equal to ten _baths_ (the latter, however, is a liquid, the former, a dry measure), and accordingly varies, according to the estimate given above, from thirteen to about ninety-seven gallons. One calculation m... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD COMMENDED... — The “lord” is, of course, the rich man of the parable, the steward’s master. He too, in the outer framework of the story, is one of the children of this world, and he admires the sharpness and quickness of the steward’s action. In the interpretation of the story, we trace... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAY UNTO YOU. — The pronoun is emphatic, and stands, as in Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:28; Matthew 5:32, in contrast with what had gone before. MAKE TO YOURSELVES FRIENDS OF THE MAMMON OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. — On “mammon,” comp. Note on Matthew 6:24. The word was Syriac in its origin, and was found a... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT IS FAITHFUL IN THAT WHICH IS LEAST... — The context shows that by “that which is least” is meant what men call wealth, and which to most of them seems as the greatest, highest good. To be faithful in that is to acknowledge that we have it as stewards, not as possessors, and shall have to giv... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THEREFORE YE HAVE NOT BEEN FAITHFUL IN THE UNRIGHTEOUS MAMMON. — Better, _if ye were not,_ or, _became not._ Here the “true riches” stand in contrast with the vain, deceitful, unrighteous mammon, and answer to the true spiritual wealth of peace, pardon, wisdom, or, in St. Paul’s language, here ag... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE HAVE NOT BEEN FAITHFUL IN THAT WHICH IS ANOTHER MAN’S... — The ruling idea of the verse is clearly that which the parable had enforced, that in relation to all external possessions and advantages we are stewards and not possessors. The Roman poet had seen that to boast of such things was the e... [ Continue Reading ]
NO SERVANT CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS. — See Notes on Matthew 6:24. Here it obviously comes in close connection with the previous teaching. But its occurrence, in an equally close sequence, in the Sermon on the Mount, shows that it took its place among the axioms of the religious life which our Lord, if... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PHARISEES ALSO, WHO WERE COVETOUS. — The words are important as showing that they had been listening during the previous parable, and that the words, though addressed to the disciples, had been meant also for them. (See Note on Luke 16:1.) The word for “covetous” is literally _lovers of mone... [ Continue Reading ]
YE ARE THEY WHICH JUSTIFY YOURSELVES BEFORE MEN. — The character described is portrayed afterwards more fully in the parable of Luke 18:9. The word there used, “this man went down to his house _justified_ rather than the other,” is obviously a reference to what is reported here. They forgot, in thei... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS WERE UNTIL JOHN. — See Notes on Matthew 11:14. What had then been said to the disciples of the Baptist is now reproduced to our Lord’s own disciples and to the Pharisees. The latter had closed their eyes to the fact that all previous revelations led up to the work of John, a... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS EASIER FOR HEAVEN AND EARTH TO PASS. — See Notes on Matthew 5:18. Our first impression on reading the words here is that there is less logical sequence in their position. They seem unconnected with the teaching as to the mammon of unrighteousness. It is possible that here, as elsewhere, some l... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER PUTTETH AWAY HIS WIFE. — On the special points involved, see Notes on Matthew 5:31; Matthew 19:3. Here, again, the explanation that has been given of the parable of the Unjust Steward, offers the only satisfactory explanation of the introduction of a topic apparently so irrelevant. The doc... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS A CERTAIN RICH MAN... — Here, also, there is a certain appearance of abruptness. But the sneer of Luke 16:14 explains the sequence of thought. On the one side, among those who listened to our Lord, were the Pharisees, living in the love of money and of the enjoyments which money purchased;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WAS A CERTAIN BEGGAR NAMED LAZARUS. — The word for “beggar,” it may be noted, is the same as the “poor” of Luke 6:20. The occurrence in this one solitary instance of a personal name in our Lord’s parables, suggests the question, What was meant by it? Three answers present themselves, each... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DESIRING TO BE FED WITH THE CRUMBS. — The habits of the East, the absence of knives and forks and the like, made the amount of waste of this kind larger than do the habits of modern Europe. (Comp. the language of the Syro-Phœnician woman, in Mark 7:28.) Here the picture is heightened by two touc... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS CARRIED BY THE ANGELS INTO ABRAHAM’S BOSOM. — Of the three terms in common use among the Jews to express the future state of blessedness — (1) the Garden of Eden, or Paradise; (2) the Throne of Glory; (3) the bosom of Abraham — this was the most widely popular. It rested on the idea of a great f... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN HELL. — The Greek word is Hades, not Gehenna; the unseen world of the dead, not the final prison of the souls of the lost. (See Note on Matthew 5:22.) It lies almost on the surface of the parable that it describes an earlier stage of the life after death than that in Matthew 25:31. There is n... [ Continue Reading ]
SEND LAZARUS, THAT HE MAY DIP THE TIP OF HIS FINGER... — The words, in their relation to the effect of the punishment on the rich man’s character, offer two tenable explanations. On the one hand, they have been thought to indicate the old selfish arrogance and heartlessness of the man who still look... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ABRAHAM SAID, SON,... — There is surely something suggestive that the Patriarch is represented as not disowning the relationship. If we find a meaning in the “friend” of the parables of the Labourers in the Vineyard (see Note on Matthew 20:13) and the Wedding Garment (see Note on Matthew 22:12),... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS A GREAT GULF FIXED. — Literally, a _chasm,_ the opening or gaping of the earth. The scene brought before us is like one of the pictures of Dante’s _Commedia_ — steep rocks and a deep gorge, and on one side the flames that burn and do not consume, and on the other, the fair garden of Paradis... [ Continue Reading ]
I PRAY THEE THEREFORE, FATHER. — The re iterated appeal to Abraham as “father” is suggestive in many ways: (1) as speaking out that in which too many of the rich man’s class put an undue trust, resting on the fatherhood of Abraham rather than on that of God (Matthew 3:9); (2) as showing that the ref... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I HAVE FIVE BRETHREN. — Here again we are left to choose between opposite views of the motive which prompted the request. Was it simply a selfish fear of reproaches that might aggravate his sufferings? Was it the stirring in him of an unselfish anxiety for others, content to bear his own anguish... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. — The words are in entire harmony with all the teaching of our Lord. The right use of lower knowledge is the condition of attaining to the higher, and without it signs and wonders avail but little: “He that hath, to him shall be given” (Mark 4:25); “He that willeth... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF ONE WENT UNTO THEM FROM THE DEAD. — The words are in accordance with the general Jewish craving for a “sign,” as the only proof of a revelation from God. (See Notes on Matthew 12:33; Matthew 16:1; 1 Corinthians 1:22.) The return of one who had passed into the unseen world and brought back a r... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THEY HEAR NOT MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. — We are accustomed, rightly enough, to look on our Lord’s own Resurrection as leading to the great fulfilment of these words. We should not forget, however, that there was another fulfilment more immediately following on them. In a few weeks, or even days, a... [ Continue Reading ]