Matthew 18:21-35

The Duty of Forgiveness Illustrated by the Parable of the Ungrateful Servant. With Matthew 18:21 cf. Luke 17:4, which makes repentance a condition. The Rabbis taught (Yoma, 86 b) that one must forgive one's brother (OT neighbour) three times (cf. Amos 1:3; Amos 1:6; Amos 1:9). According to Jesus, men's forgive ness should be limitless, like that of His Father in heaven. The natural man longs for limitless revenge (Genesis 4:24), the spiritual man's ambition is to exercise the privilege of boundless forgiveness. The parable that follows presents no difficulty. Judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy (James 2:13). The Divine forgiveness is not so absolute as it seems: he who fails to observe its conditions loses even that which he seems to have. Note the vast discrepancy between the two sums, say two million pounds against ten, and cf. the beam and the splinter of Matthew 7:3. The great defaulter must be one of the king's ministers, through whose hands the royal taxes passed. For the king's order cf. Leviticus 25:39; Leviticus 25:47; 2 Kings 4:1, and note the subsidiary lesson that the wrongdoer involves others in the consequences of his sin. Torture (Matthew 18:34) had been introduced into Judæ a by Herod, its mention here is a literary detail not to be pressed for interpretation.