Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 18:30
And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
Verse 30. And he would not, c.] To the unmerciful, God will show no mercy this is an eternal purpose of the Lord, which never can be changed. God teaches us what to do to a fellow-sinner, by what HE does to us. Our fellow-servant’s debt to us, and ours to God, are as one hundred denarii to ten thousand talents! When we humble ourselves before him, God freely forgives us all this mighty sum! And shall we exact from our brother recompense for the most trifling faults? Reader, if thou art of this unmerciful, unforgiving cast, read out the chapter.
“All the souls that are were forfeit once,
And he who might the ‘vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If HE, who is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are? O! think on that,
And mercy then will breathe within your lips
Like man new made.
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of Mercy.-”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
30. And he would not; but went andcast him into prison, till he should pay the debt, &c.Jesushere vividly conveys the intolerable injustice and impudence whicheven the servants saw in this act on the part of one so recently laidunder the heaviest obligation to their common master.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he would not,…. Have patience with him, give him time for payment, and forbear severity at present, as he requested:
but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt; had him before a proper officer, and proved his debt, and got him sent to jail, there to lie till the whole debt was paid; which, as it discovered ill nature, severe usage, so, great ignorance and stupidity; for a prison will pay no debt: which sets forth the rigorous proceedings of some church members against their brethren, that have displeased them; who immediately bring the matter before the church, and will not be easy unless some censure is laid upon them, or they are cast out, until full satisfaction is given them, whereby oftentimes an useful member of a church is lost.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And he would not ( ). Imperfect tense of persistent refusal.
Till he should pay ( ). This futuristic aorist subjunctive is the rule with for a future goal. He was to stay in prison till he should pay. “He acts on the instinct of a base nature, and also doubtless in accordance with long habits of harsh tyrannical behaviour towards men in his power” (Bruce). On imprisonment for debt among the Greeks and Romans see Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, pp. 270,330.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Went [] . Lit. went away : dragging the other with him to judgment.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
(30) Till he should pay the debt.Neither the memory of his lords mercy, nor any touch of pity, restrains the man who broods over the memory of wrong. But the course which he takes is, it may be noted, as unwise as it is ungenerous. He, as a slave, cannot command his fellow-slave to be sold. He can cast him into prison; but in so doing he cuts the debtor off from all opportunities of gaining the money by which he might pay his debt. His vindictiveness is so far suicidal. This surely is not without its analogue in the interpretation of the parable. Whatever be the nature of the offence, patience and forbearance at once encourage and enable the offender to make restitution. Harshness shuts him up as in the prison of a sullen defiance.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
30. Till he should pay the debt Until with nothing he should pay fifteen millions of dollars that is, for evermore; for it can scarce be doubted that this is the very implication of our Lord. He puts the amount intentionally large, to show the immensity of our liability to God’s account. He then expresses the duration of the imprisonment by the expressive words until he should pay the debt. It seems difficult to avoid the conclusion that our Lord meant to teach that for the unforgiven man there is no possibility of ever exhausting the penalty of the law.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And he would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay what was due.”
But there was no forgiveness in the heart of the unforgiving servant. His own experience had left him untouched. So he had the servant cast into a debtor’s prison until he could pay all that was due. And there he would languish until someone could pay his debt.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
Ver. 30. And he would not, but went, &c. ] The true portraiture of an ungrateful and cruel man, that plucketh up the bridge before others, whereby himself had passed over. He that will lend no mercy, how doth he think to borrow any?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 18:30 . : no pity awakened by the words which echoed his own petition. “He would not.” Is such conduct credible? Two remarks may be made on this. In parabolic narrations the improbable has sometimes to be resorted to, to illustrate the unnatural behaviour of men in the spiritual sphere, e.g. , in the parable of the feast (Luk 14:16-24 ) all refuse; how unlikely! But the action of the pardoned debtor is not so improbable as it seems. He acts on the instinct of a base nature, and also doubtless in accordance with long habits of harsh tyrannical behaviour towards men in his power. Every way a bad man: greedy, grasping in acquisition of wealth, prodigal in spending it, unscrupulous in using what is not his own.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
cast him into prison. The Papyri show that this was a widespread Graeco-Roman-Egyptian custom.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 18:30. , would not) opposed to , being moved with compassion, in Mat 18:27.[848]-, having departed) sc. to the officer.-, …, east, etc.) By which act he invaded the right of his Lord.
[848] Of how great consequence, frequently, is the presence or absence of willingness (Velle-Nolle) in cases which are not in themselves of the greatest weight.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
but: 1Ki 21:27-29, 1Ki 22:27
Reciprocal: Deu 15:7 – thou shalt 2Ki 4:1 – the creditor Pro 21:13 – at Luk 12:58 – into
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8:30
Another ancient law permitted a debtor to be put into prison if he failed to make payment. While there he would be induced in some way to make arrangements to pay his
debt.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 18:30. And he would not, etc. Entreaty did not move him, his idea of justice must be carried out. Bitter controversy, unforgiving acts of discipline, are defended with justice as the plea.