[They may receive me,] Let it be noted that the expreaeion "they" is here used generally and indefinitely. We are not told to whom it is applied. Precisely the same expression will be found in the ninth verse.
6. -{An hundred.;, fifty!] The dishonesty of the steward, we should observei consisted in this : — He struck off part of what was due to his master. He remitted debts which were law^ly due to his lord. Instead of attending to his employer's interest, he robbed him, and made a present to his debtors. His master apparently had no means of checking this dishonesty. If his steward told him that a debtor only owed him one half, or one fifth, of his real debt, he could apparently only take it for granted that the statement was correct.
[Of oil!] We should remember that olive oil was largely used in eastern countries, and formed a large portion of the annual produce of the land.
8. — [The lord commended.] Let it be always noted in reading this parable, that the expression "lord" here, does not mean the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the " master or lord " of the unjust steward. He saw the result of the steward's schemes, in his reception at his creditors' houses. It is not, however, quite (dear that he saw that he himself had been cheated.
Compare with this expression the words of David, "Men will praise thee when thou doest well unto thyself." (Psa. xlix. 18.)
Perhaps it is well to mention here, that some think the deal- ings of the steward with his lord's debtors were not really so dis- honest and fraudulent as they appear to us in the present day. They say that this steward had a plenary power to remit or abate part of the debts due to his master, and that he simply exercised this power at a time when it very much promoted nis own interests. If this explanation were true, it would certainly account for the absence of angry expressions on the part of the master. But it is an explanation which is slenderly supported.
[The unjust steward!] The Greek words here are remarkal^e. They mean literally the " steward of- unrighteousness." The expression translated the "unjust judge/' in Luke xviiL 6, ie precisely similar.
. [Done wisely!] The word translated "wisely," might heave been better rendered "prudently." The wisdom commeoided in the steward, is wisdom in attending to his own interests. It is not wisdom unto salvation. The Greek adjective of the adverb " wisely,'' is the very word that is used in the Septuagint about the serpent in Genesis iii. 1 : "He was more ^subtle* than all tke beasts.'
[ChUdten of the world!] This expression means worldly people ; and the opposite expression, " children of lig^t," means
LITKBy COAP. XVI. VSB. 1 12. 203
godly people, people who follow the light, and walk in the light. See John xii. 36 : Ephes. v. 8. Compare also Luke yii. Sd.
[In their generation wiser.l The meaning of this expression is, " The children of this world are wiser towards their generation — ^that is, in what relates to this world — than the children of light are towards their generation — that is, in what relates to the kingdom of God." It might even he rendered more closely, "The children of this world are wiser towards their own gene- ration, that is, in their intercourse with worldly people like themselves, — than the children of light are in their intercourse with their own brethren."
U. — [Make to yourselves friends, de.] The meaning of this saying of our Lord's is often much misunderstood. The true sense of it I believe to be as follows, " Make to yourselves iriends with your money, — by a right use of it, — in order that when ye die, ye may be received into everlasting habitations."
[Friends.] This question is often raised who these friends are, whom we are to "make" in life, and to be "received by" in death. Some have thought the Three persons of the Trinity are intended, — some the angels, — and some the people to whom our money has done good
I cannot assent to any of these three views. The expression appean to me to be geueral and indefinite, and to be borrowed mxn. the conduct of the unjust steward, in order to make the lesson more pointed. The meaning seems to me to be no more than this, " Use your money with an eye to the future, as the steward did his. Spend your money in such a way that your expenditure shall be a Mend to you, and not a witness against you in another world."
IThe mammon of unrighteousness.] This is a very remarkable expression. It means " riches." But why " riches " are so called in this chapter and no where else in the Bible, we do not know.
The word " mammon " is Syriac ; or, according to Augustine, Punic. It means, aU are agreed, riches or gain. Some*think that it was a name given to the god of riches. But this is questionable.
The expression, " riches of unrighteousness," is very peeoliar. Some think that our Lord meant " riches acquired unrighteous- It," like " treasures of wickedness." (Pro v. x. 2.) — Some think that He meant " riches which in the nature of things can never be got without some unrighteousness or sin." — ^Some think that He meant " uncertain, unstable riches." — ^This last, compared with the expression, " true riches," in the 11th verse, appears most likely to be the true meaning. Pearce quotes in support of this Tiew, John vii. 18, and 2 Thes. ii. 12. Compare 1 Tim. vi. 17.
[When ye fail.] This expression evidently means "when ye die." It is very peculiar, and the Greek word is only found in diis sense here. It is the root of our English word " edipse."