Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 18:24
And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
24. ten thousand talents ] Even if silver talents are meant, the sum is enormous at least two million pounds of our money. It was probably more than the whole annual revenue of Palestine at this time; see Joseph. Ant. xii. 4, 4. The modern kingdoms of Norway or Greece or Denmark hardly produce a larger national income.
The vast sum implies the hopeless character of the debt of sin.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ten thousand talents – A talent was a sum of money, or weight of silver or gold amounting to three thousand shekels. A silver shekel was worth, after the captivity, not far from half a dollar of our money. A talent of silver was worth (circa 1880s) 1,519.23 =342 British pounds, 3 shillings, 9d.; of gold, 243,098.88 =5,475 British pounds. If these were silver talents, as is probable, then the sum owed by the servant was 15,180,000, or about 3,421, 875 British sterling (circa 1880s), a sum which proves that he was not a domestic, but some tributary prince. The sum is used to show that the debt was immensely large, and that our sins are so great that they cannot be estimated or numbered. Compare Job 22:5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 24. Ten thousand talents] , a myriad of talents, the highest number known in Greek arithmetical notation. An immense sum, which, if the silver talent be designed, amounts to 4,500,000 sterling; but if the gold talent be meant which is by far the most likely, then the amount is 67,500,000 sterling, a sum equal to the annual revenue of the British empire! See the note on Ex 25:39. The margin above is incorrect.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
24. And when he had begun to reckon,one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talentsIfAttic talents are here meant, 10,000 of them would amount toabove a million and a half sterling; if Jewish talents, to amuch larger sum.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when he had begun to reckon,…. To open the book of conscience, and to bring to account by some awakening providence, and strong conviction: one was brought unto him; whether he would or no, through the force of an awakened conscience, under guilt and terror;
which owed him ten thousand talents; which must be understood, either of gold, or silver: a talent of silver contained 3,000 shekels, as appears from Ex 38:25, and was in value of our money 375l. but a talent of gold was equal to 4,500l. of our f money. According to Dr. Prideaux g, a talent of silver was 450l. and a talent of gold, the proportion of gold to silver being reckoned as sixteen to one, was 7,200l. and according to Bishop Cumberland, a talent of silver was 353l. 11s. 10d. ob. and a talent of gold of the same weight, was 5,075l. 15s. 7d. ob. The whole, according to Dr. Hammond, was a thousand eight hundred seventy five thousand pounds, reckoning them silver talents; but if talents of gold are meant, what an immense sum must ten thousand of them be! According to some, seventy two millions sterling. The design of the phrase, is to set forth the exceeding greatness of the debt. Munster’s Hebrew Gospel reads it, “ten thousand manehs”, or pounds; and so the Persic version: now the value of a maneh of gold, was 75l. and of silver, 7l 10s. h take the sum in the least quantity and value, it was exceeding large. The Arabic version renders it a “sum of talents”, without mentioning the number, and may mean an innumerable one. Mention is made of such a number of talents of silver, in Es 3:9, which Aben Ezra says is defective, and signifies ten thousand thousand talents. The “second” Targum on the place says, that the sum of six hundred thousand zuzim, drachms, or pence (i.e. Roman ones) is ten thousand talents of silver. These “ten thousand talents” intend sins, which are called debts, in Scripture; not that they are properly so, or owing to God, for then it would be right to pay them, but because they bind over to punishment. All men owe a debt of thankfulness to God, for their beings, the preservation of them, and all the mercies of life; and a debt of obedience to the whole law, in failure of which, they are obliged to punishment: hence every sin becomes a debt, and these are numerous; indwelling sin, and the lusts thereof, are innumerable; as are actual sins and transgressions, they are more than the hairs of a man’s head, and are fitly expressed, both for the weight and quantity of them, by “ten thousand talents”. In this light they appear to the conscience of an awakened sinner, who sees that he has been doing nothing but sin, all the days of his life; and that he has been continually breaking the law, one precept or another of it, in thought, word, or deed: which violations of the law, even in word and deed, are risen up to so great a sum, that he is not able to give it to any nearness, and with any exactness; he cannot understand all his errors, nor express the full number of them, or declare all their aggravated circumstances; besides the swarms of corruption of internal lusts and sins, which he observes dwelling in his heart, and are as innumerable as the motes and atoms in a sunbeam. The sins of God’s people, which have been all made to meet upon Christ, have been laid upon him by his Father’s imputation of them to him, with his own consent, are represented in this manner; see Ps 40:12. And indeed, if the debts of one of them amount to ten thousand talents, what must the sum of all be, put together! and how great must be the strength and power of Christ, to bear the weight of these sins, and not be broken or discouraged, and fail, as he did not! and what a rich virtue and efficacy must there be in his blood, to pay off all these debts, and make satisfaction for them, which could never have been done, if he had not done it! for, it is impossible that a person in such circumstances as here described, should ever be able to recover himself, or pay his debts, as follows.
f Brerewood de Nummis Heb. c. 4. g Connection, Vol. 1. Preface, p. 20. h Brerewood de Numuis. Heb. c. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ten thousand talents ( ). A talent was 6,000 denarii or about a thousand dollars or 240 pounds. Ten thousand times this is about ten or twelve million dollars, an enormous sum for that period. We live today in the age of national debts of billions of dollars or even of pounds sterling. The imperial taxes of Judea, Idumea, and Samaria for one year were only 600 talents while Galilee and Perea paid 200 (Josephus, Ant. xi. 4). But oriental kings were free in the use of money and in making debts like the native kings of India today.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Which owed him [] . Lit., a debtor of ten thousand talents. Ten thousand talents. An enormous sum; about twelve millions of dollars.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
(24) Ten thousand talents.It is hardly necessary to discuss in detail the value in modern coinage of the sum thus described. Assuming the Greek talent to have been rightly used by the LXX. translators for the Hebrew kikar in Exo. 38:25-26, we have a basis of calculation which makes the talent equal to 3,000 shekels; and taking the shekel as equal to four drachm, this makes the 10,000 talents about 2,500,000 sterling. The sum is evidently named in its vague vastness to indicate the immensity of the debt which man owes to God, the absolute impossibility of his ever clearing off the aggregate, ever-accumulating, of sins of omission and commission which are brought home to his conscience when God takes account with him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“And when he had begun to call them to account, one was brought to him, who owed him ten thousand talents (that is in our terms ‘many billions’).”
One servant was brought before Him whose debt was so large that it was larger than the gross national product of many smaller countries. It was ‘ten thousand talents’. The talent was not so much a coin as a unit of monetary measurement (a little like having ‘a million pound bank note’). In one measurement it was the equivalent of two hundred and forty gold coins. Gold coins were rarely in use apart from by the very rich (although see Mat 10:9 which suggests that some disciples came from fairly wealthy backgrounds). And ten thousand talents was the equivalent in this case of two million four hundred thousand gold coins. It was a fabulous amount. It was over three times more than was in David’s treasury at the highest point of his reign (1Ch 29:4), when he was fabulously rich, and more than all the gold used in building and furnishing the Temple of Solomon (1Ch 29:7).
This huge debt was Jesus’ indication of the huge debt that each of us owes to God at the moment of our repenting and believing. It is basically incalculable (‘ten thousand’ is a round number based on the fact that ‘a thousand’ usually indicates a large incalculable number. Thus ten times a thousand is even more incalculable). It symbolises a debt that can never be paid off. There is no idea here of our good deeds being able to balance off the bad. Rather the opposite is the case. It is that our good deeds cannot even remotely approach the level of our bad deeds. For in the end our so-called ‘good deeds’ are only really the doing of what we should do anyway (Luk 17:10). There are therefore no ‘good deeds’. So this man’s only hope was ‘forgiveness’ of the debt.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The staggering debt:
v. 24. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents.
v. 25. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
v. 26. The servant, therefore, fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
v. 27. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. With solemn emphasis the Lord says; Hardly had he begun to look over the accounts, the servants appearing before him one after the other with their certificates of debt, when a debtor of a thousand talents was brought forward. The exact sum of money represented by this weight of silver or gold cannot be accurately determined and is immaterial, since the text itself does not state whether the silver or the gold talent is meant. Figures varying from ten to more than three hundred million dollars have been given. The point of the story is that the sum was incalculably great, it staggered the imagination, and purposely so. The proceedings are simple: Since he had not to pay, the lord gave command that he and his wife and his children be sold as slaves, with all their possessions. Thus only could he hope to get a part of the debt paid. It was a hard, but just sentence, in full accord with the absolute power of an Oriental monarch over the lives and property of his subjects, Exo 22:3; Lev 25:39; 2Ki 4:1. The terror and distress of the condemned servant were naturally pitiful, the prospect of his being sold into slavery, perhaps to a hard and cruel master, seared his soul. Throwing himself down, therefore, crouching and almost groveling before the monarch in absolute submission and anxiety, he pleads for an extension of time; he promises to pay all. It was a promise beyond his ability to keep, but this fact did not even occur to him in the greatness of his distress. The king was deeply moved by this picture of terror and misery. He set that servant, whose pitiful plea had touched his heart, free from imprisonment, and the debt he canceled in its totality. The text implies also that he was continued in the service of the king, the latter assuming that the impression made would be a lasting one, that the lesson conveyed to him would never be forgotten.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 18:24. One was brought unto him, &c. When the king began to inspect the accounts of his servants, one was brought unto him, probably his steward or treasurer,who had so abused the eminent station in which he had been placed, and the high confidence which his prince had reposed in him, that he owed him a most immense sum, and stood accountable for ten thousand talents; that is to say, upwards of 1,870,000. sterling. The Prussian editors say, that the ten thousand talents are here put for an immense sum. Our Lord seems to mention so large a sum with a design to intimate the number and weight of our offences against God, and our utter incapacity of making him any satisfaction. See Prideaux’s Connection, vol. 1: preface, p. 20: and vol. 2: p. 138.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 18:24 ff. According to Boeckh, Staatshaush. d. Athener , I. p. 15 ff., an (Attic) talent, or sixty minae, amounted to 1375 thalers [about 206 sterling]. Ten thousand talents, amounting to something considerably over thirteen millions of thalers, are intended to express a sum so large as to be well-nigh incalculable. So great was the debt of one ( ).
] according to the Mosaic law; Lev 25:39 ; Lev 25:47 ; 2Ki 4:1 ; Exo 22:2 . See Michaelis, M. R. 148; Saalschtz, M. R. p. 706 f. The word is emphatic: that he should be sold, etc. On the present indicative (see critical notes), which is derived from the idea of the narrative being direct , comp. Khner, II. 2, p. 1058.
] and that payment be made . This was the king’s command: it must be paid , viz. the sum due. The fact of the proceeds of the sale not proving sufficient for this purpose did not in any way affect the order; hence . is not to be referred merely to the proceeds (Fritzsche). The king wants his money, and therefore does the best he can in the circumstances to get it.
] in his distress and anguish he promises far more than he can hope to perform. And the king in his compassion goes far beyond what was asked ( ).
For , money lent , comp. Deu 24:11 ; found frequently in classical writers since the time of Demosth. 911. 3.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Ver. 24. Which owed him ten thousand talents ] A talent is said to be 600 crowns; 10,000 talents are well nigh 12 tons of gold. As often therefore as thy brother offends thee, think with thyself what a price is put into thy hands, what an opportunity is offered thee of gaining so great a prize, of gathering in so rich a harvest.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
24. ] Whether these are talents of silver or of gold, the debt represented is enormous, and far beyond any private man’s power to discharge.
10,000 talents of silver is the sum at which Haman reckons the revenue derivable from the destruction of the whole Jewish people, Est 3:9 . Trench remarks (Parables, p. 124) that we can best appreciate the sum by comparing it with other sums mentioned in Scripture. In the construction of the tabernacle, twenty-nine talents of gold were used ( Exo 38:24 ): David prepared for the temple 3000 talents of gold, and the princes 5000 ( 1Ch 29:4-7 ): the Queen of Sheba presented to Solomon 120 talents ( 1Ki 10:10 ): the King of Assyria laid on Hezekiah thirty talents of gold ( 2Ki 18:14 ): and in the extreme impoverishment to which the land was brought at last, one talent of gold was laid on it, after the death of Josiah, by the King of Egypt ( 2Ch 36:3 ).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 18:24 . : one stood out above all the rest for the magnitude of his debt, who, therefore, becomes the subject of the story. . .: a debtor of, or to the extent of, a thousand talents an immense sum, say millions sterling; payment hopeless; that the point; exact calculations idle or pedantic. It may seem to violate natural probability that time was allowed to incur such a debt, which speaks to malversation for years. But the indolence of an Eastern monarch must be taken into account, and the absence of system in the management of finance. As Koetsveld ( De Gelijk. , p. 286) remarks: “A regular control is not in the spirit of the Eastern. He trusts utterly when he does trust, and when he loses confidence it is for ever.”
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
to reckon = to compare accounts, as in Mat 18:23. See note above.
one . . . -which owed = one debtor. Found in Sophocles and Plato as well as the Papyri, though said to be only Biblical.
talents. See App-51. Greek. talanton. Occurs only in Matthew.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
24.] Whether these are talents of silver or of gold, the debt represented is enormous, and far beyond any private mans power to discharge.
10,000 talents of silver is the sum at which Haman reckons the revenue derivable from the destruction of the whole Jewish people, Est 3:9. Trench remarks (Parables, p. 124) that we can best appreciate the sum by comparing it with other sums mentioned in Scripture. In the construction of the tabernacle, twenty-nine talents of gold were used (Exo 38:24): David prepared for the temple 3000 talents of gold, and the princes 5000 (1Ch 29:4-7): the Queen of Sheba presented to Solomon 120 talents (1Ki 10:10): the King of Assyria laid on Hezekiah thirty talents of gold (2Ki 18:14): and in the extreme impoverishment to which the land was brought at last, one talent of gold was laid on it, after the death of Josiah, by the King of Egypt (2Ch 36:3).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 18:24. , when He had begun) Before the servant knew what was the condition[838] of his fellow-servants.- , there was brought unto Him) though against his will.-, one) sc. a servant, who owed, etc. How great must be the debts of all, if that of one is so great! Every one ought to consider himself as that one; cf. Mat 18:35; Mat 18:12, ch. Mat 20:13; for the condition[839] of all is equal.- , of ten thousand talents[840]) The Greek language cannot express by two words, as a distinct and continuous quantity, a larger sum than this. If we ought to remit an hundred denarii to our brother, i.e. forgive him seventy-seven times, what a vast amount of sins does the Lord forgive us in remitting ten thousand talents! A talent contains about six thousand denarii; therefore a thousand talents contain sixty million denarii, of which how small a part are one hundred denarii! For six denarii make a florin, and nine denarii an imperial dollar, or not much more; one Hebrew talent, or two Attic ones, are two thousand two hundred and fifty florins.[841]
[838] Ratio, lit. reckoning-i.e. what was the state of their balance or deficit in the debtor and creditor account with their Lord.-(I. B.)
[839] Ratio. See preceding footnote.-(I. B.)
[840] The Jewish talent was about 342, 3s. 9d. The talent of gold was worth about 5475.-(I. B.)
[841] There thus results a sum of 15,000,000 thalers, or 22,500,000 florins. If even one servant can become liable for such a debt-and Peter, as also the other Apostles, ought to have considered that servant as a type, each one of himself-what will not the load amount to, which is made up of the accumulated debts remitted by the Lord to the whole collective body of those who obtain grace? And still more of those sins which must be atoned for in the place of torture by those who are the vast majority, whose debt is not remitted in any measure.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
owed: Luk 7:41, Luk 7:42, Luk 13:4, *marg. Luk 16:5, Luk 16:7
ten thousand: [Strong’s G3461], [Strong’s G5007], a myriad of talents, the highest number known in Greek arithmetical notation. According to Prideaux, the Roman talent was equal to 216; ten thousand of which would amount to 2,160,000. If the Jewish talent of silver be designed, which is estimated by the same learned writer at 450, this sum amounts to 4,500,000; but if the gold talent is meant, which is equal to 7,200, then the amount is 72,000,000. This immense sum represents our boundless obligations to God, and our utter incapacity, as sinners infinitely indebted to Divine justice, of paying one mite out of the talent. 1Ch 29:7, Ezr 9:6, Psa 38:4, Psa 40:12, Psa 130:3, Psa 130:4
talents: “A talent is 750 ounces of silver, which after five shillings the ounce is 187. 10s.”
Reciprocal: Gen 44:10 – he with whom Est 3:9 – ten thousand Mat 25:15 – talents Mat 25:19 – reckoneth Luk 16:1 – a certain
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8:24
With the material subject as an illustration we would realize that ten thousand talents ( $2,000,000) would constitute a great obligation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 18:24. But when he had begun. With one foremost among the servants.
Ten thousand talents = 2,437,500, $11,700,000, if we understand Attic talents of silver. The Syrian talent was much smaller, but a talent of gold would, of course, be of much greater value. It signifies a debt which no one man could discharge, though he might incur it.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 18:24-27. One was brought who owed him ten thousand talents That is, according to the lowest computation, about two millions sterling. But it is probable, as the Prussian editors say, that the ten thousand talents are here put for an immense sum. Hereby our Lord intimates the vast number and weight of our offences against God, and our utter incapacity of making him any satisfaction. As he had not to pay Was utterly unable to discharge this immense debt; his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, &c. Such was the power which creditors had over insolvent debtors in several countries of Europe, as well as Asia, in ancient times; and payment to be made With the price of them, as far as it would go. The servant, therefore, fell down and worshipped him That is, prostrated himself at his masters feet; saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all The confusion he was in made him say this without consideration; for the debt which he owed was a sum by far too great for any one, who had nothing, ever to think of acquiring. Then the Lord of that servant Being of an exceeding generous and merciful disposition; was moved with compassion Was touched with his distress, and ordered him to be loosed; and forgave him the debt Discharged him from all obligation to pay it, on condition of his future good behaviour.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 24
Ten thousand talents; a very large sum of money.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
18:24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him {m} ten thousand talents.
(m) Here is set down a very great sum of six thousand crowns, that the difference may be the greater, for there is no proportion between them.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
This servant had great authority under an even greater king (cf. Mat 18:1). However, he had amassed a debt of such huge proportions that he could not possibly repay it. A talent was a measure of weight equivalent to 75 pounds. The exact or even the relative buying power of 10,000 talents of silver is really secondary to the point Jesus was making, namely, that the debt was impossible to repay. Depending on the current price of silver, the slave owed the equivalent of many millions of dollars. There was no way he could begin to pay off such a debt.
"Ten thousand (myria, hence our ’myriad’) is the largest numeral for which a Greek term exists, and the talent is the largest known amount of money. When the two are combined, the effect is like our ’zillions.’" [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., p. 706.]
The king commanded that the servant sell everything he had to compensate him even though what he could pay amounted to a mere fraction of what he owed. The servant pleaded for time promising to repay everything, an obvious impossibility in view of the amount of the debt. Moved by compassion for the hopeless servant, the lord graciously cancelled the entire debt.
The Greek word for "debt" in Mat 18:27 is daneion and really means "loan." Evidently the king decided to write off the indebtedness as a bad loan rather than view it as embezzlement, another indication of his grace.