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use a piece of cloth which they call “ sudar,” the word used in this passage. This the p arties lay hold of to ratify and confirm the bargain. This man made no use of his sudar or napkin in buying or selling. He trad ed no t a t all, but wrapped up his money in it and both lay useless.— Burder. v. 21. I feared thee. This man rep resents a professing believer who had not found the offer of salvation to be as attractiv e as he had expected. He is a legalist who knows nothing of the grace of the Gospel and is acquainted only w ith its moral requirem ents. It seems to him th a t the Lord asks a g reat deal and gives very little. This feeling leads him to do as little as possible. He thinks th a t God ought to be content w ith abstinence from evil-doing and w ith mere outward respect to His Gos pel.— Godet. Takest up th a t th o u lay- est n o t down. P roverbial expressions to describe a hard, grasping disposition.J§| Sel. v. 22. Out of-thine own m outh will I judg e thee. Men will be th e ir own ac c u s e ^ and condemnation in th a t day. They will speak out th e inmost un avowed motives, however ugly and fool ish they sound. Men darken th e ir own spirits by thinking of God as de manding ra th e r than as giving, and such thoughts paralyze activity and de stroy th e ,all-powerful motive for ser vice.—-Maclaren. This complete m isap prehension of Christ’s character shows th a t he had never really known Christ w ith saving knowledge.— Dummelow. v. 23. Gavest n o t my money to th e bank. The reply of the Lord is v irtu al ly, “ If thou wouldst not do and dare for me in th e g reat ventures of faith, yet at all events, in humbler paths, in safer and less perilous, thou m ightest have shown fidelity and have preserved me a t least from loss ”— Trench. v. 25. H e h a th ten 'pound s. An in teresting proof of th e intense, absorbing in terest w ith which they listened to these parables.—Fisher. v. 26. To everyone which h a th shall be given. As a g reat ethical principle we see th is in operation everywhere. Moral principles become stronger by exercise, while by disuse or the exercise of th eir contraries they wax weaker and a t length expire. Here it is viewed as a trad ition al retribu tion in continual op eration under th e divine adm inistration. — Brown. v. 27. B ring h ith er, and slay. They
comes. Chr. W orker’s Com. W ill no t have th is man. The Jews were espe cially His fellow citizens and they hated Him un til His departure out o f this world. Twice th e very declaration ( “We will not have th is man to reign over u s” ) found formal utterance from th e ir lips— once when they cried to P i late, “We have no king but Caesar,” and again when they said, “W rite not th e King of th e 1Jew s.” it is capable also of the w ider application, for a t the coming day the rebellious citizens will be no longer merely Jews, bu t all such evil men as by word or deed openly deny th e ir relation and subjection to Jesus as Lord and. King.-|||Trench. v. 15. Having received th e kingdom. The elevation of th eir m aster to sover eignty places the servants in a totally new position. Not only does He man ifest tow ard them a satisfaction propor tionate to th e success of th eir labors, b u t acting now as th eir King, He as signs them to posts in the government corresponding in importance to the re spective results of th eir activity. So will it be a t the second coming o f Christ. The humble work accomplished during the absence of th e Lord will be the measure of th e power entrusted by Him to each, in His app earing .^G od et. v. 16. Thy pound h a th gained ten. He did not say, “ I have made ten pounds more.” He gave all the credit for th e increase to His Lord (1 Cor. 1 5 :10 ). A tru e disciple will never talk of what he has done, but only of what God has done through him.— Torrey. v. 17. Thou h a st been faith fu l in a very little . This is th e essence of the parable. It is the faithfulness of the service rendered to which th e Lord looks, and not to th e am ount gained. The rew ard is proportionate to the faithfulness manifested.— Crit. Com. A uthority over te n cities. “We shall reign w ith H im” (2 Tim. 2 :1 2 ). It is perhaps not unduly spiritualizing a mere detail of the parable to th ink of th e rew ard being the privilege of com municating sp iritual benefits to others. —Willcock. v. 19. Be th o u also. Notice th a t no special words of commendation are be stowed on th is servant. He had not been as faith fu l as the other.—-Horn. Com. v. 20. L aid up in a napkin. The Jews had a custom which they called “possession by a napkin,” which is th a t when they buy or sell anything they
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