Luke 16:1-9

Parable of the Unjust Steward (Lk. only). It has been suggested that a better title would be The Shrewd Agent. At any rate the epithet unrighteous has as much reference (if not more) to Luke 16:1 as to Luke 16:5. A steward in danger of dismissal for mismanagement of his master's estate seeks to provide for the future by making friends with the tenants. That this is at his master's expense has nothing to do with the point of the parable-, it is a parable, not an allegory. The agent summons the tenants, who are under bond to pay part of their rent in kind (or perhaps they are merchants having supplies of goods on credit) and encourages them to alter their contracts in their own favour. Who is the lord that praises the overseer for his action? Apparently it is the landlord (cf. Luke 16:5), himself a man of the world, though some commentators, e.g. Wellhausen and J. Weiss, say it is Jesus (cf. Luke 18:6). In any case the steward's cleverness is commended (along the lines of Matthew 10:16), and the comment is made (by Jesus) that the children of this world display more shrewdness and common-sense, at least in their everyday and present life affairs, than the children of light. (There is a Johannine ring about this antithesis.) The former are keener on temporal, than the latter on eternal, well-being. Men are more resourceful, resolute, and zealous about material gain (and we may add sport) than in social and moral reform, or the spread of the Kingdom of God. An interesting but not convincing interpretation of the parable is given in Latham, Pastor Pastorum, pp. 386- 398. Luke 16:9 refers not to general alertness or worldly wisdom, but to a wise use of money, especially money wrongly acquired, and we could understand it better if it were addressed to tax-gatherers (like Zacchæ us). Unjust gains cannot always be restored to their owners, but they can be given in alms, and so win friends or even heaven. It is perhaps better to take the parable as ending with Luke 16:8, and Luke 16:9 as a comment on it, a link with Luke 16:10, and a prelude to Luke 16:19.

Luke 16:1. accused: the papyri have the Gr. word diaballô in the sense of complain, so we need not assume any malice or falsehood in its use here.

Luke 16:4. they: the tenants or debtors of Luke 16:5

Luke 16:8. The emphasis is on wisely (which is not honestly).

Luke 16:9. when it fails: we should probably read when you fail, i.e. die. the eternal tabernacles: in contrast to the houses of Luke 16:4. The parallel does not necessarily stamp the verse as a moralising accretion to the parable.