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Luk 16:8. Ἐπῄνεσεν) Not merely did He ratify the measure adopted by the steward, but He approved of and praised it.-ὁ κύριος, the Lord) of the steward: see Luk 16:3; Luk 16:5.-τὸν οἰκονόμον τῆς ἀδικίας, the steward of injustice [i.e. Hebraicè, the unjust steward]) The steward is called unjust, not merely on account of the original squandering away of his master’s goods, but also on account of his newly-adopted plan, whereby he intercepted fifty baths (measures) of oil and twenty cori,[168] and bestowed them on the debtors, though the property did not belong to him but to another, viz. his master, in order that he might provide for himself. Compare with one another verses 4 and 9, in both of which ἵνα, ὅταν, in order that, when, occur [and mutually correspond]. Furthermore, from this injustice of the steward the mammon of injustice (unrighteousness) himself takes his denomination, Luk 16:9; in the same way as a little after the term unjust is first said of the man, and from him subsequently the term is applied to the mammon, Luk 16:10 [“He that is unjust,” ἌΔΙΚΟς], 11 [“in the unjust” or “unrighteous mammon”]. Moreover, the steward was unjust, not towards the debtors of his master, but towards his master himself: therefore man is regarded as “unjust,” who does not use mammon precisely for the advantage of God, so to speak, but for that of his own self. That injustice is either of a kind, coarse, nefarious, and calculated to accumulate punishment on him: such as is described in the verses after this parable, 10, 11; or else, softening the expression injustice by the parable [to accord with its qualified meaning in the parable], it is of a kind refined, noble, and inoffensive. For as the term just is used according to the aspect of it presented in Isa 49:24 [“Shall the lawful captive delivered” or “the captivity of the just-be taken from the mighty”], so is injustice here used.[169] To wit, those goods, which are denoted by the term mammon are the goods of another (“another man’s,” ἐν τῷ ἀλλοτρίω, Luk 16:12), in the same sense as spiritual and eternal goods on the other hand (on the opposite side) are our own (τὸ ὑμέτερον, Luk 16:12, “that which is your own”). Moreover, whosoever seeks and derives his own advantage from the goods of another is so far unjust. Therefore, it is admirable indulgence, and as it were an exceeding degree of connivance, that God concedes to us, nay even advises us, that we should acquire friends for ourselves by means of His goods. He would have the just right of demanding, that we who are His stewards should dispense His goods precisely and exclusively to His advantage, so to speak, so as not to derive any benefit from them ourselves; whereas, as it is, He wishes that we should, with a noble exercise of the discretion given us, blend with the consideration of His interest, or substitute for it, a regard to our own interest. So God waives His just right, exhibiting thereby great condescension, to which the case is similar of which Rom 3:4 treats; where see the note. When we, right or wrong, i.e. indefatigably[170] receive and embrace the right so waived by God, we incur the charge of injustice, but an injustice of such a kind as is not only not censured itself, but is even regarded as combined with praiseworthy prudence. O how much more unjust as also more imprudent are they, who in the case of the goods of God seek solely their own self-indulgence. All injustice is no doubt a sin against God; and so the injustice, which is ascribed to mammon, might be taken in the bad sense which is the ordinary one: as Lightfoot, who compares the case of Zaccheus [who restored the goods which he had wrongfully taken and in this sense made friends of the mammon of unrighteousness], shows the phraseology ממון שקר, to be most common. But at the same time in this passage the injustice lay in the very act itself of the steward, whereby he acquired friends for himself; and that act drives us to adopt the recondite meaning of injustice given above.[171] Moreover it is a frequent catachresis [not strictly proper use of a word] often combining at once sweetness and grandeur, whereby a term for a thing which is not good is, notwithstanding, used in a good sense, there being extant no other more appropriate term. For instance we have ἄλογον (strictly absurd, unreasonable) in the catachrestic sense, that which is not calculated upon: ἀχάριστον (ungrateful) catachrestically, that for which no sufficiently great thanks can be returned: So also, ἐξέστημεν (“we are beside ourselves” with Christian zeal and love) καταναρκᾶν, and ἐσύλησα, 2Co 5:13; 2Co 11:8 [“I robbed other churches, taking wages of them,” etc., “When I was in want I was chargeable (burdensome) to no man”]; and what comes nearer in point to the present case, διὰ κενῆς, Job 2:3; Job 9:17 [without cause]; 2Ki 2:10, ἐσκλήρυνας αἰτήσασθαι [“Thou hast asked a hard thing;” strictly, σκληρύνω would imply a hardening of the heart]: Jer 49:12 or 11, οὐ νόμος:[172] ΒΙΑΣΤΑΙ [in a good sense] ἉΡΠΆΖΟΥΣΙΝ in Mat 11:21 : ἈΝΑΊΔΕΙΑ (importunity in a good cause) in Luk 11:8. If this interpretation be thought too far-fetched, the ‘Mammon’ may be supposed to be called unjust, because it does not justly admit of the appellation ‘goods’-ὍΤΙ, since) Jesus adds to the parable the reason for which the steward obtained such high commendation for prudence.-οἱ υἱοὶ) The sons of this world [“the children of this world”] (ch. Luk 20:34), are those who make this world, covered over as it is with thick darkness, and the world’s goods their chief aim: the children [sons] of light (1Th 5:5; Eph 5:8), are they who though living in this world yet seek those goods of the light which the Father of lights bestows, Jam 1:17. This is a sublime sentiment, most worthy to come from the Divine lips of Jesus Christ.-ΦΡΟΝΙΜΏΤΕΡΟΙ, more prudent) The comparative is here used, and that in a not strict and a diminishing sense: For the prudence of the world does not deserve to be called prudence in the positive. The force of the comparative is already in the ὙΠῈΡ [ΤΟῪς ΥἹΟῪς ΤΟῦ ΦΩΤΌς] ὙΠῈΡ) Above. The sons of the light do not exceedingly care for this world. On this account the sons of this world easily excel them, and carry off from them the commendation (ἘΠῄΝΕΣΕΝ) of superiority in this respect; nor do the sons of the light always in very deed (in their actual conduct) evince as much prudence and vigilance even in spiritual matters [as the sons of the world evince in temporal matters]. See Mat 25:5. They hardly have as much carefulness as is needed; the worldly have more than is necessary. [Hardly any son of the light would expend either fifty baths of oil or twenty cori of wheat, in order that he might gain for himself the favour of a certain (any particular) saint; but the men of this world at times acquire for themselves a friend or a patron at an enormous cost.-V. g.]-ΕἸς ΤῊΝ ΓΕΝΕᾺΝ, in respect to their generation) εἰς, in respect to, is a qualifying limitation. [In truth, even the smallest spark of the more sublime prudence is more excellent than the highest degree of worldly prudence. For the latter, whether you have regard to the affairs of politics, or of war, or merchandise, or literature, or works of art, etc., sets before it an object which is continually fleeting and transitory: Whereas, the former aims at reaching the farthest goal, which alone is of the greatest moment, however ordinarily treated as secondary and utterly neglected it be by the men of the world.-V. g.] The fruit of worldly prudence is brought to its termination in not many years. The antithesis to εἰς τὴν γενεὰν is αἰωνιους in Luk 16:9, everlasting habitations.
[168] Also translated in Engl. Vers. measures. But the Cor, Eze 45:14, which the Hellenists write κόρος, is the same as the ancient homer חמר (a heap), the largest measure of dry goods. The Ephah is the tenth of this: and the bath in liquids answers to the ephah in dry goods.-E. and T.
[169] That is, not in the sense of what is positively unjust, but in the negative sense of God not insisting on that which is His rightful claim, viz. supreme Lordship over earthly goods, so that His interest solely, and man’s not at all, should be looked to: as in 2Co 12:13, Paul, when he did not avail himself of his rightful claim of maintenance from the Corinthians, says to them, “Forgive me this wrong” ἀδικίαν, the non-exercise of my right.-E. and T.
[170] ‘Improbe;’ Beng. refers to the double sense of improbum, that which is not our strict right, and that which is bold and excessively persevering. The same double sense holds good of the ἀδικιά here.-E. and T.
[171] And this sense alone gets over the difficulty, which there is in any other view, viz. that God commended the injustice of the steward.-E. and T.
[172] “They whose judgment was not to drink.” See Biel’s Thesaurus, νόμος being there משפט.-E. and T.