Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 18:25
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.
25. he had not to pay ] He had wasted in extravagance the provincial revenues, or the proceeds of taxation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
His lord commanded him to be sold … – By the laws of the Hebrews they were permitted to sell debtors, with their wives and children, into servitude for a time sufficient to pay a debt. See 2Ki 4:1; Lev 25:39-46; Amo 8:6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 25. He had not to pay] That is not being able to pay. As there could not be the smallest probability that a servant, wholly dependent on his master, who was now absolutely insolvent, could ever pay a debt he had contracted of more than 67 millions! – so is it impossible for a sinner, infinitely indebted to Divine justice, ever to pay a mite out of the talent.
Commanded him to be sold – his wife – children, c.] Our Lord here alludes to an ancient custom among the Hebrews, of selling a man and his family to make payment of contracted debts. See Ex 22:3 Le 25:30; Le 25:47; 2Kg 4:1. This custom passed from among the Jews to the Greeks and Romans. I have already remarked (see Ge 47:19) that in the Burman empire the sale of whole families, to discharge debts, is very common.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
25. But forasmuch as he had not topay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children,and all that he had, and payment to be made(See 2Ki 4:1;Neh 5:8; Lev 25:39).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But forasmuch as he had not to pay,…. Every sinner is insolvent; sinful man has run out the whole stock of nature, and is become a bankrupt, and has nothing to offer by way of composition; nor has he any righteousness to answer for him, nor any works of righteousness which deserve that name: and if he had, these are nothing in point of payment: for a debt of sin cannot be discharged by a debt of obedience; since God has a prior right to the latter; and in paying it, a man does but what is his duty. Sin being committed against an infinite God, contracts the nature of an infinite debt, which cannot be paid off by a finite creature. Christ only was able to pay this debt, and he has done it for his people; and without an interest in his blood, righteousness, and satisfaction, every debtor is liable to be cast, and will be cast into the prison of hell, there to lie till the uttermost farthing of the ten thousand talents is paid, which will be to all eternity. We see what a sad condition sin has brought men into; it has stripped them of their estates and possessions; it has reduced them to want and beggary; it exposes them to a prison; to the just resentments of their creditor; to the wrath of God, and the curses of the law; and what little reason there is to think, yea, how impossible it is, that a man should be able to merit anything at the hands of God, to whom he is so greatly indebted: he must first pay his debts, which is a thing impracticable, before he can pretend to do anything deserving the notice of God; and even was he set free, and clear of all his debts, and entered upon a new life of obedience, and this strictly attended to, without contracting any debts for the future, yet all this would be but what is due to God, and could merit nothing of him; see Lu 17:10. We see also from hence, how much the saints are obliged to Christ Jesus, and how thankful they should be to him, who became a surety for such insolvent creatures; has paid all their debts for them, and procured for them every blessing of grace they stand in need of: but think, O sinner, what thou wilt be able to say and do, when God comes to reckon with thee, and thou hast nothing to pay, nor any to pay for thee, or be thy surety; a prison must be thy portion ever.
His Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had; according to the Jewish laws, in such a case: of a man’s being sold, or selling himself when poor, see Le 25:47, for the law in Ex 22:3, referred to by some as an instance of this, respects the selling of a man for theft, and not for debt. Of the selling of a man’s wife for the payment of his debts, I do not remember to have read any law concerning it, or instances of it; but of children being taken for bondmen by the creditor, for their father’s debts, mention is made, 2Ki 4:1. These children, by the Jewish writers i, are said to be the children of Obadiah, who contracted the debt to feed the prophets in a cave, when they were persecuted by Jezebel; and the creditor, according to them, was Jehoram, the son of Ahab, who lent him money on usury for this purpose, in his father’s time; and now Obadiah being dead, he takes his children for the debt, and makes them bondmen; see also Ne 5:5. There seems to be an allusion to this practice, in Isa 50:1, and it was not only the custom of the Jews to come upon children for the debts of parents, but of other nations: with the Athenians, if a father could not pay his debts, the son was obliged to pay, and in the mean while to be kept in bonds till he did k: and as Grotius, in 2Ki 4:1 proves from Plutarch and Dionysius Halicarnassensis, children were sold by the creditors of their parents, as in Asia, at Athens, and at Rome. Now this expresses the state of bondage, sin, as a debt, brings men into; they become slaves to their own lusts, vassals of Satan, and in bondage to the law; and also the ruin and destruction it exposes them to; as, the curse and condemnation of the law, the wrath of God, eternal death, even the destruction of body and soul in hell:
and payment to be made by punishment, which will always be making, and never finished. This order of the king was not intended to be executed, as the sequel shows; but declares the will of God, that the sad and woeful condition of man should be set before him by the ministers of the word; signifying what his state is, how deserving of vengeance, and what must be his portion, if grace prevent not: the view of which is to vindicate the rights of law and justice, to express the sinner’s deserts, and move him to apply to the Lord for grace and mercy, which effect it had.
i Targum Jon. in loc. Tanchuma in Abarbinel in loc. Jarchi, Kimchi & Laniado in ib. k Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Had not wherewith to pay ( ). There is no “wherewith” in the Greek. This idiom is seen in Luke 7:42; Luke 14:14; Heb 6:13. Genitive absolute though in the same clause as often in the N.T.
To be sold (). First aorist passive infinitive of . This was according to the law (Exod 22:3; Lev 25:39; Lev 25:47). Wife and children were treated as property in those primitive times.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
To be sold. According to the law of Moses : Exo 22:3; Lev 25:39, 47.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
25. His master ordered him to be sold. It would be an idle exercise of ingenuity to examine here every minute clause. For God does not always display severity at first, till, constrained to pray, we implore pardon, but rather meets us with undeserved goodness. But Christ only shows what will become of us, if God shall treat us with the utmost severity; and again, if He shall choose to demand from us what we owe, how necessary it is for us to betake ourselves to prayer, because this is the only refuge that remains for transgressors. We must also attend to the wide difference of the sums; for, since one talent is worth more than a hundred pence, what proportion will a hundred pence bear to ten thousand talents?
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(25) His lord commanded him to be sold.The framework of the parable was necessarily drawn from human laws, and, except as indicating the sentence of condemnation passed upon the sinner himself, there is no occasion of pressing the details as we unfold the spiritual meaning that lies below the imagery.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Sold The Roman law as well as the Jewish allowed the sale of a debtor. By Jewish law the servitude would last but six years.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“But because he did not have the wherewithal to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.”
And when he could not pay his debt his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all his possessions so that something of what he owed might be paid. This was a normal procedure with a largish debt, or a huge one like this. They then joined the ranks of bondmen and bondwomen, and slaves. This was always the fate of the bankrupts of the day. But none of them would fetch even a talent in the markets of that day, and most a good deal less. The thought was not of repayment of the debt so much as punishment for letting the situation arise. It is a reminder that if we give all that we have, and our own lives also, it could not even put a scratch on the debt that we owe to God.
We should note that even this act is merciful. Once sold off nothing more will be done to him. He is not suffering the worst possible scenario, that of being tortured so as to ensure that he is not hiding his assets and then in order to squeeze out of his family whatever they could pay (compare Mat 18:34).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 18:25. But, forasmuch as he had not to pay As it plainly appeared by this servant’s having run through such vast sums, that he had been both negligent and extravagant, his lord, according to frequent custom in such cases, ordered him, &c. to be sold. See Exo 22:3. Lev 25:39. 2Ki 4:1. Neh 5:5. Isa 50:1. Not that the value of him, his family and effects, was any way equal to the debt, but as a punishment for his wickedness; for on any other supposition, it is hard to conceive how his lord, whose humanity was so great, came to take so rigorous a measure, especially as the advantage accruing to himself therefrom must have been but a trifle in comparison of his loss. See Macknight and Olearius.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
Ver. 25. His lord commanded him to be sold ] Those that sell themselves to do wickedly with Ahab, will sure repent them sore of their bargain, when God shall sell them off to the devil; who when he hath well fed them (as they do their slaves in some countries for like purpose) will broach them and eat them, saith Mr Bradford, chaw them and champ them, world without end in eternal woe and misery. One reason why the wicked are eternally tormented, is, because being worthless, they cannot satisfy God’s justice in any time; and he will be no loser by them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25. . . . .] See Exo 22:3 ; Lev 25:39 ; Lev 25:47 ; 2Ki 4:1 . The similitude is however rather from Oriental despotism: for the selling was under the Mosaic law softened by the liberation at the year of jubilee. The imprisonment also, and the tormentors, Mat 18:30 ; Mat 18:34 , favour this view, forming no part of the Jewish law.
, impersonal, as in E. V., payment to be made.
Mat 18:25 . : the order is given that the debtor be sold, with all he has, including his wife and children ; hard lines, but according to ancient law, in the view of which wife and children were simply property . Think of their fate in those barbarous times! But parables are not scrupulous on the score of morality. : the proceeds of sale to be applied in payment of the debt.
to be sold. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 22:3. Lev 25:39, Lev 25:47).
and. Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6), for emphasis.
children. App-108.
25. . …] See Exo 22:3; Lev 25:39; Lev 25:47; 2Ki 4:1. The similitude is however rather from Oriental despotism: for the selling was under the Mosaic law softened by the liberation at the year of jubilee. The imprisonment also, and the tormentors, Mat 18:30; Mat 18:34, favour this view, forming no part of the Jewish law.
, impersonal, as in E. V., payment to be made.
Mat 18:25. , …, he commanded, etc.) The Lord shows His right, but does not use it: the servant, however, abuses whatever right he possesses.- , all that he had) The peculium,[842] which, indeed, itself belonged to the Lord.
[842] Amongst the Romans, slaves had a certain allowance granted them for their sustenance, commonly four or five pecks of grain a month, and five denarii. They likewise had a daily allowance. Whatever they saved of these, or procured by any other means, with their masters consent, was called their PECULIUM. This money, with their masters permission, they put out at interest, or sometimes purchased with it a slave for themselves, from whose labours they might make profit. Such a slave was called servi vicarius, and formed part of the PECULIIM, with which also slaves sometimes purchased their own freedom. See Adamss Roman Antiquities in voc.-(I. B.)
commanded: Lev 25:39, 2Ki 4:1, Neh 5:5, Neh 5:8, Isa 50:1
Reciprocal: Gen 17:13 – bought Gen 44:10 – he with whom Exo 21:2 – an Hebrew Deu 15:2 – exact it Deu 32:30 – sold them Jdg 4:2 – sold 1Sa 22:2 – was in debt Pro 6:31 – he shall give Pro 22:7 – the borrower Luk 7:42 – when Rom 7:14 – sold
8:25
According to ancient laws a debtor and his family could be sold into slavery by his creditor to recover the debt; this master threatened to use that law.
Mat 18:25. To be sold, etc. The Mosaic law permitted something of this kind (Exo 22:3; Lev 25:39; 2Ki 4:1). But Mat 18:34 favors a reference to the severer customs of Oriental despots.
And payment to be made. As far as possible, however insufficient. In the ordinary course of Gods dealings, strict justice is not only insisted upon, but begins its work.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament