ᾱ---δ.
κυρίῳ µου;
6. Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν, Ἑκατὸν βάτους ἐλαίου.
585
Kat! εἶπεν
αὐτῷ, Δέξαι σου τὸ ypdupa,? καὶ καθίσας ταχέως γράψον πεντήκοντα.
7. Ἔπειτα ἑτέρω etme, Σὺ δὲ πόσον ὀφείλεις ;
κόρους σίτου. ε] / ὀγδοήκοντα.
Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν, Εκατὸν
Καὶ ὃ λέγει αὐτῷ, Δέξαι σου τὸ γράμμα," καὶ γράψον 8. Καὶ ἐπῄνεσεν ὁ κύριος τὸν οἰκονόμον τῆς ἀδικίας,
here only
9 b , 3 , 9 ς ey A 2A , , b he OTL φρονίµως εποιησεν * OTt οι ULOL TOU ALWYOS τουτου Φρονιμώτεροι in Ν.Τ.
1 For και NABLR al. have ο δε.
2 τα γραμματα in $BDLR 1 (Tisch., W.H.). 3 Omit και BLR 13, 69 al. (Tisch., W.H.).
4 Again τα γραμματα in SBDLR. e
parable = to one. Two cases mentioned, a first and a second (étépw), two, out of many; enough to exemplify the method. It is assumed that all would take ad- vantage of the unprincipled concession ; those who had accused him and those who had possibly been already favoured in a similar manner, bribed to speak well of him.—Ver. 6. τὰ γράμματα: literally, the letters, then a written document; here a bill showing the amount of in- debtedness. The steward would have all the bills ready.—ypawov, write, 7.¢., write out a new bill with fifty in place of a hundred ; not merely change a hundred into fifty in the old bill.—rayéws, no ‘time left for reflection—“‘is this right 2” Some think that the knavery had come in before, and that fifty was the true amount. That might be, but the steward would keep the fact to himself. The debtors were to take it that this was a bond fide reduction of their just debt.— Ver. 7. ὀγδοήκοντα, eighty, a small re- duction as compared with the first. Was there not a risk of offence when the debtors began to compare notes? Not much; they would not look on it as mere arbitrariness or partiality, but as policy: variety would look more like a true account than uniformity. He had not merely to benefit them, but to put himself in as good a light as possible before his master.
Vv. 8-13. Application of the parable. There is room for doubt whether ver. 8 should form part of the parable (or at least as far as bpovipws ἐποίησεν), or the beginning of the application. In the one Case 6 κύριος refers to the master of the steward, in the other to Jesus, who is often in narrative called Lord in Lk.’s Gospel. On the whole I now incline to the latter view (compare my Parabolic Teaching of Christ). It sins rather against natural probability to suppose
the steward’s master acquainted with his new misconduct. The steward in his final statement, of course, put as fair a face as possible on matters, presenting what looked like a true account, so as to make it appear he was being unjustly dismissed, or even to induce the master to cancel his purpose to dismiss. And those who had got the benefit of his sharp practice were not likely to tell upon him. The master therefore may be supposed to be in the dark; it is the speaker of the parable who is in the secret. He praises the steward of iniquity, not for his iniquity (so Schleiermacher), but for his prudence in spite of iniquity. His unrighteousness is not glozed over, on the contrary it is strongly asserted: hence the phrase τὸν ο. τῆς ἀδικίας, which is stronger than τ. ο. τὸν ἄδικον. Yet however bad he still acted wisely for himself in providing friends against the evil day. What follows—étu ot vioi, etc.—applies the moral to the disciples = go ye and do likewise, with an implied hint that in this respect they are apt to come short. The counsel would be immoral if in the spiritual sphere it were impossible to imitate the steward’s prudence while keeping clear of his iniquity. In other words, it must be possible to make friends against the evil day by unobjectionable actions. The mere fact that the lesson of prudence is drawn from the life of an unprincipled man is no difficulty to any one who understands the nature of parabolic in- struction. The comparison between men of the world and the “sons of light” explains and apologises for the pro- cedure. If you want to know what prudent attention to self-interest means it is to men of the world you must look. Of course they show their wisdom suo more, in relation to men of their own kind, and in reierence ‘3 worldly matters