Matthew 18:24 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

NIV: As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.

NASB: And when he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.

CSB: When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him.

NLT: In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.

KJV: And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

NKJV: And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

Jesus is telling a parable to illustrate why His followers should plan to forgive each other, always (Matthew 18:21–22). He has begun by saying the kingdom of heaven can be compared to the king of a large nation. That king was ready to settle accounts with his servants or slaves. This mean that his slaves owed the king money.

One of the servants who was brought before the king owed him the astronomical figure of 10,000 talents. Depending on how one calculates things like inflation, gold prices, and so forth, the modern value of this figure can change quite a bit. Generally speaking, a talent was about as much money as a low-level laborer could make in twenty years.

The sum Jesus mentions here is so large that it becomes meaningless to calculate an exact number—this is literally many thousands of lifetimes worth of debt. What's owed is exponentially beyond what the debtor can ever hope to pay. Likewise, how any servant could ever come to owe his king this much money is impossible to imagine. That, also, is not the point of the story. However, it also factors into the king's merciful nature that he allowed the servant to go so far into debt in the first place.

Jesus might even have been using a deliberately exaggerated figure simply to make His teaching clear (Matthew 18:25–27).

Matthew 18:21–35 answers Peter's question about how many times he should forgive a brother who sins against him. Jesus tells a parable about the servant of a king. The king forgives the man's enormous, unpayable debt. In turn, the servant refuses to forgive the much smaller debt owed him by another and has that man thrown in prison. The king is furious and asks the servant why he did not show the same mercy he had been given. The king has the man jailed until he pays everything. Jesus says that God the Father will do the same to those who do not forgive their brothers.

Jesus uses two questions from the disciples to teach important lessons. The "greatest" in the kingdom is the one who humbles himself like a child. Temptation is unavoidable in earthly life, but it's worth going to extremes to avoid falling for it. Even so, those who fall should not be hated and despised. God the Father values them highly and wants none of them to perish. In fact, Jesus lays out a clear, careful process to confront sin in others before removing them from the community. Christ also replies to Peter's question about forgiveness with a parable. This story represents both God's amazing forgiveness, and the way we ought to respond as Christians.

Matthew 18 follows the action of the previous chapter with teaching from Jesus on several issues. These include humility, using the example of a child. Jesus also teaches about avoiding sin and offering forgiveness to others. Interestingly, the following chapter will also feature references to children and to wealth, as Christ continues to explain the will of God to His disciples.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.