saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants which owed him an hundred1 pence, and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. a Ps 78.38. 1 The Roman penny is the 8th part of an ounce, which, at 58. the ounce, is 7d. halfpenny. c.20.22. as though the sale would pay the claim. 26. Fell down, and worshipped him. That is, prostrated himself as a worshipper in a posture of humblest entreaty, and as was customary for Eastern subjects before their king. He asked indulgence, and declared his disposition, pledged all for the future, and pleaded his present inability. The hardest sinners, and even infidels, do cry for mercy when death and judgment are at hand. Convinced sinners, not yet aware of the immensity of their debt, are ready to promise full satisfaction. 27. Moved with compassion. This represents the tender pity of God toward sinners in their destitute and helpless case, and His prompt response to the prayer of suppliants. God's severity endures only till the sinner, burdened under his debt, seeks forgiveness. Then it proves, like Joseph's harshness, only love in disguise. So, the reckoning was good for the man (Isa. 1. 18). The parable would show that men's sins against us, cannot compare in magnitude with ours against God. Therefore we should be lenient toward them, even as we hope for mercy from God. But see. 28. But the same servant. The grace was not received aright.- -T Went out. It is thus from going out of the presence of our gracious Lord that we are ready so to act. This very man, just treated with such lenity by his lord, finds a fellow-servant who owes him the merest trifle in comparison-" a hundred pence." A Roman penny was equal to about 12 of ours. This debt would be about 12 dollars. Trench makes the proportion of the two debts to be "One million two hundred and fifty thousand, to one." As a drop (says Chrysostom) to the ocean. He asked for the debt in a most severe and abusive way. The gospel grace demands a “benign retaliation," to forgive as we are forgiven. 29. Besought-entreated, begged. Observe, he promised the same as this man had just promised to his lord! But with what different success ! Only the truly 'spiritual' can restore one" overtaken in a fault." Gal. 6. 1. 31. This was a mode of treatment even beneath the common feelings of humanity. How base when one who professes to have been pardoned, out of mere grace, should show himself a monster of cruelty and severity to others.¶ Told. The Greek word is expressive, told fully. 32. Then his lord. We are now brought to see what judgment such conduct may reasonably expect of our Lord and Master. Christ, the Saviour, is also the Judge! As to this man, his lord had forgiven him, not a part but the whole of his debt, and that not a small debt, but im mense. And he refers him also to his own feelings, when he desired the release in his destitution and extremity. Infinite grace has come to sinners, in the gospel of Christ, and now the great question is, whether we have so received it, as that it has power with us in our lives, fashioning our conduct. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." (See James 2. 13.) 33. Shouldest not thou also? The man is judged out of his own mouth. He had besought forgiveness and it was granted, and all this bound him to grant it to the fellow-servant, on his own principles. Besides, that was a debt of 12 dollars, the merest pittance, compared with the infinite sum which he had been forgiven. The golden rule applies here," As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them likewise, for this is THE LAW." 34. Tormentors. In early times of Rome, the debtor was condemned to wear a chain of fifteen pounds weight, and to live on the scantiest fare, that he might be brought to terms. In the East, those who appear the poorest will often have secret hoards of wealth. Hence the torture would be applied to elicit information. He was to be treated for crime now, which was worse than indebtedness. He was to be delivered up to the tormentors. These were executioners who applied all kinds of tortures. This iniquity of his incurred a penalty which the selling of himself, and wife, and children could not pay.--¶ Till he should pay. Now he was to be treated, not merely as a criminal, but as a criminal and debtor also. All his debts and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. d Pr.21.13. c.6.12. Ja.2.13. were to be rigorously exacted of him, because he thus testified that he had never been a true recipient of the pardon. 35. So likewise. A sinner is like the servant in question, because he is utterly unable to satisfy God's infinite claims upon him. Men are in debt to God for every thing they have received, because they have deserved nothing but punishment. And they are in debt to Him in the way of numberless sins, of which they must give account. They owe Him thanks and service beyond account, and the debt they have incurred by constant transgression none can estimate. It is for ten thousand times ten thousand; and "he cannot answer for one of a thousand." Job. They are not only unable to pay, but if called to account, they could give no excuse for this inability, which is wilful and wicked. Yet God forgives us for Christ's sake. Therefore we should forgive men their sins, never forgetting how much greater crimes we have had forgiven. We should forgive, not merely in the act, but from the heart, that is, sincerely, meaning to pass by the offence, and to treat the offender as though he had not done us the wrong. There is a forgiveness in name, which retains the ill feeling, and forgets not the injury. This is a mere pretence, and if we should be so forgiven by our heavenly Father, how different were our case! OBSERVE, (1.) HOW FREELY Christ forgives, NOT because we have forgiven others, or done any other good thing, but THAT WE MAY. (2.) How FULLY He forgives us the most immense indebtedness, "all that debt" CHAPTER XIX. these sayings, he departed from came into the AND it came to pass, that Galilee, and when Jesus had finished coasts of Judea beyond Jordan: Festival of Tabernacles, and the subsequent transactions until our Lord's arrival at Bethany, six days before the fourth Passover. Time-six months, less one week. § 83. Jesus at the Festival of Tabernacles. His public teaching. Matt. Mark. Luke. John. 7. 11-53 8.1 2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there. unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for 3 The Pharisees also came every cause? CHAPTER XIX. 94. JESUS BEYOND JORDAN, IS FOLLOWED BY MULTITUDES. The healing of the infirm woman on the Sabbath.-Valley of Jordan. Perea. Matt. Mark. Luke. 19. 1, 2 10. 1. 13. 10-21 John. The Evangelist here gives, at a glance, the course of our Lord, as seen in the Harmony, declaring in a word, that He had departed from Galilee after His discourse (see 81), and that at length He came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan, where we now find Him. It was in this quarter, that he healed the woman who had an infirmity (see Luke 13. 10-21). We find that He had passed through Samaria (see ◊ 81 and 82) to Jerusalem, where He was present at the feast of tabernacles (83), and at the feast of dedication (91), when He retires beyond Jordan (91 and 93). We find now many_incidents related of Him in Perea. Perea was a region belonging to Judea, and so called from a word which signifies beyond, as it lay beyond Jordan, and was formerly part of the tribes Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. § 95. Our Lord goes teaching and jour- Matt. Mark. Luke. John. neying toward Jerusalem. He is warned against Herod.-Perea. § 96. Our Lord dines with a chief Pharisee on the Sabbath. Incidents.. 13.22-35 14. 1-24 mit Him either against the friends or the enemies of the Roman government. But in both cases, He confounded their hypocrisy by His answer. For every cause, i. e., for any reason. Christ had laid down the true doctrine on this subject, in His Sermon on the Mount (ch. 5. 32), viz.: that there was but one sufficient cause, and that such as was in its very nature fatal to the marriage relation. 4. Have ye not read? Literally, "Do ye not know ?" that is, by reading. He here refers them to their scriptures, and to the original institution of marriage. Mark has it, "What did Moses command you?" 5. And said. By the mouth of Adam (Gen. 2. 24).- -T Shall cleave. Shall adhere firmly. The Greek word is from a noun, signifying glue. 6. Joined together. The term is from a metaphor taken from the yoking of oxen. 7. Why did Moses? They now appeal to Moses' regulations in Deut. 24. 1. Yet it was not a command,' but only a permission, the spirit of which was still in the line of our Lord's legislation, making a writing of divorcement requisite, and thus giving a lower testimony to the essential sanctity of marriage. See note on ch. 5. 31, 32. But Moses' permission had been abused, until, as in the text, they called it a command, and without reference to the original institution of marriage, they held among them, that divorce might be for any and every cause. There were two schools or sects among the Jews who took opposite sides on this subject. The school of Shammai interpreted Moses, as allowing divorce "only for give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be fc.5.32. Lu. 16.18. the cause of fornication." The school of Hillel construed it as referring to any cause or pretext. And instead of being entangled, by siding with either, our Lord declares that Moses' permission only showed their hardness which had gone so much beyond this allowance; so that this civil regulation of that day, was meant as a check upon their worse habits, and that from the beginning, as Moses himself had recorded (Gen. 2)," it was not so.”- - Hardness of your heartsintractable disposition.-Campbell. 9. This verse is almost in the same language as ch. 5. 32, and states again the Christian law of marriage and divorce. Marriage has special sanctity as the shadow of that great mystery, Christ's union with His church. Mark adds (ch. 10. 12) "And if a woman shall put away her husband," &c. The practice of divorcing the husband unwarranted by the law, had been introduced (says Josephus) by Salome, sister of Herod the Great, who sent a bill of divorce to her husband Coslobarus, which bad example was afterward followed by Herodias and others.-Campbell. 10. An objection is here urged making against the very institution of marriage, if such strictness is to be observed. |