Luke 16:7

Luke 16:7

5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’

7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred¹ measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’

8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than ^athe sons of light.

9 “And I say to you, ^amake friends for yourselves by unrighteous¹ mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

10 ^aHe who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your ^aown?

13 ^a“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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A hundred measures of wheat - ̔ , a hundred cors. , from the Hebrew cor , was the largest measure of capacity among the Hebrews, whether for solids or liquids. As the bath was equal to the ephah, so the cor was equal to the homer. It contained about seventy-five gallons and five pints English. For the same reason for which I preserve the names of the ancient coins, I preserve the names of the ancient measures. What idea can a mere English reader have of the word measure in this and the preceding verse, when the original words are not only totally different, but the quantity is as seven to seventy-five? The original terms should be immediately inserted in the text, and the contents inserted in the margin. The present marginal reading is incorrect. I follow Bishop Cumberland' s weights and measures. See on Luke 15:8 (note).

In the preceding relation, I have no doubt our Lord alluded to a custom frequent in the Asiatic countries: a custom which still prevails, as the following account, taken from Capt. Hadley' s Hindostan Dialogues, sufficiently proves. A person thus addresses the captain: "Your Sirkar' s deputy, whilst his master was gone to Calcutta, established a court of justice.

"Having searched for a good many debtors and their creditors, he learned the accounts of their bonds.

"He then made an agreement with them to get the bonds out of the bondsmen' s hands for half the debt, if they would give him one fourth.

"Thus, any debtor for a hundred rupees, having given fifty to the creditor, and twenty-five to this knave, got his bond for seventy-five rupees.

"Having seized and flogged 125 bondholders, he has in this manner determined their loans, and he has done this business in your name." Hadley' s Gram. Dialogues, p. 79. 5th edit. 1801.

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