Luke 16: The Unjust Steward (Accompanies "Notes on Luke 16")
See Also Notes on Luke 16
Through this parable, the Lord admonishes the Jews for their adultery against the covenant as described in Malachi 2&3. The Jews in their generation were known for their love of money as is described in this very chapter of Luke (vs. 14...And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.) , and, therefore, their prudence with worldly riches would be their means of survival once they were cast out of the stewardship. This same love of money, however, was one of the ways in which they had gone astray from God's covenant in that their love of money and greed caused them not to follow the ways of charity and holiness to God and Israel. One cannot serve money and the Lord.
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Mal 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
The Jews had been commiting fornication with the surrounding nations and God was about to turn them over to the nations to be received into their "eternal habitations" which simply means that once the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70ad, the Jews would have no nation and be dependant on buying their survival for an indefinite amount of time until God "grafts them back in".
Rom 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Rom 11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
Rom 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
Rom 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
In verse 8 of the parable the commendation from the steward's lord was not an implication of righteousness, but, a simple recognition of the steward's prudence in the ways of the world. It may also be perceived that the Jews were being abandoned to their love of money since in being unfaithful in the least thing, which would be the mammon of unrighteousness, they were not to be entrusted with the true riches of the law and covenant.
One interesting aspect of this parable is that the steward was apparently a handler of goods or potentially a money-lender dealing in another's goods. During the Dark Ages the church forbad lending with interest among Christians which in turn made Christians less likely to loan to each other. Similarly, based on the same Old Testament rules, the Jews could not lend money with interest to fellow Jews, but, could lend to the gentile Christians and therefore, with the limited rights afforded the Jews by the church, the only successful occupation left to the Hebrews was in fact: money-lending. This stigma has been with the Jews ever since.
This parable should in no way be used to teach that Christians have any justification or use for unrighteous riches.
1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Through this parable, the Lord admonishes the Jews for their adultery against the covenant as described in Malachi 2&3. The Jews in their generation were known for their love of money as is described in this very chapter of Luke (vs. 14...And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.) , and, therefore, their prudence with worldly riches would be their means of survival once they were cast out of the stewardship. This same love of money, however, was one of the ways in which they had gone astray from God's covenant in that their love of money and greed caused them not to follow the ways of charity and holiness to God and Israel. One cannot serve money and the Lord.
Mal 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Mal 3:9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
The Jews had been commiting fornication with the surrounding nations and God was about to turn them over to the nations to be received into their "eternal habitations" which simply means that once the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70ad, the Jews would have no nation and be dependant on buying their survival for an indefinite amount of time until God "grafts them back in".
Rom 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Rom 11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
Rom 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
Rom 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
In verse 8 of the parable the commendation from the steward's lord was not an implication of righteousness, but, a simple recognition of the steward's prudence in the ways of the world. It may also be perceived that the Jews were being abandoned to their love of money since in being unfaithful in the least thing, which would be the mammon of unrighteousness, they were not to be entrusted with the true riches of the law and covenant.
One interesting aspect of this parable is that the steward was apparently a handler of goods or potentially a money-lender dealing in another's goods. During the Dark Ages the church forbad lending with interest among Christians which in turn made Christians less likely to loan to each other. Similarly, based on the same Old Testament rules, the Jews could not lend money with interest to fellow Jews, but, could lend to the gentile Christians and therefore, with the limited rights afforded the Jews by the church, the only successful occupation left to the Hebrews was in fact: money-lending. This stigma has been with the Jews ever since.
This parable should in no way be used to teach that Christians have any justification or use for unrighteous riches.
1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home