Adam Clarke on Matthew 18:25
Commentary and Critical Notes. Browse this work.
Read Matthew 18. Compare commentaries on this chapter.
Source and publication rights
Public domain. Public Domain. Source edition.
Berean Blue opens December 1, 2026. Explore this passage in the app preview.
Matthew18:25
He had not to pay - That is not being able to pay. As there could not be the smallest probability that a servant, wholly dependent on his master, who was now absolutely insolvent, could ever pay a debt he had contracted of more than 67 millions! - so is it impossible for a sinner, infinitely indebted to Divine justice, ever to pay a mite out of the talent.
Commanded him to be sold - his wife - children, etc. - Our Lord here alludes to an ancient custom among the Hebrews, of selling a man and his family to make payment of contracted debts. See Exo 22:3; Lev 25:30, Lev 25:47; 2Kgs 4:1. This custom passed from among the Jews to the Greeks and Romans. I have already remarked (see Gen 47:19) that in the Burman empire the sale of whole families, to discharge debts, is very common.
Adam Clarke, Commentary and Critical Notes, Matthew 18:25. Public domain.
Permanent link. Source edition.