Stoned-Campbell Disciple

HOW MUCH MONEY was the “politician” forgiven in Jesus’s Jubilee parable in Matthew 18.23-35?

There are two amounts of money owed in Jesus’s parable. The “evil” “politician” owed an astronomical sum. Jesus says he owed “ten thousand TALENTS” (v.24). The abused servant owed “one hundred denarii” (v.28).

A “talent” was a lot of money, ten thousand was beyond comprehension for an average person in first century Galilee and Judea. According to Josephus, the ANNUAL tax revenue of Galilee and Perea combined was 200 hundred talents. The combined tax revenue of Judea, Samaria and Idumea was 600 talents. With a six day work week (no work on the Sabbath), scholars have calculated ten thousand talents is somewhere between 200,000 and 325,000 YEARS (yes YEARS) of the day’s wage of labor! Not even Elon Musk can cough up the annual tax revenue of the USA (for a comparison sake). Thousands and thousands of lifetimes were required to pay back ten thousand talents.

A huge amount of money! Some one will lose an astronomical sum of money when the debt is “forgiven.”

Verse 33 (which is essentially restated in v.35) is the key to the whole Jubilee parable. No Jew steeped in the Story of God would miss it either.

“Should you not have had mercy (eleeo) on your fellow slave, as I had mercy (eleeo) on you?“

This has Exodus finger prints all over it. The People are constantly commanded to “remember” that they were “slaves in Egypt” and that “is why I give you this command today.” The Sabbath principle whether we are talking about the “day,” the sabbath “year,” or the sabbath of sabbaths, “Jubilee,” the principle is the enactment of MERCY. The principle is not how much this will cost but will it be “mercy.”

A number of scholars have noted that the “evil” politician in the parable is rooted in the story of Esther and is modeled upon Haman the arch enemy of God’s people. Haman offered “ten thousand talents” out of his unmerciful heart to destroy the helpless people of God. If this is the case, then what Jesus may be saying, is that some folks no matter how much mercy they receive will never BECOME merciful to others … even when the debt is microscopic. One hundred denarii, or 100 days of wages, is about four months wages. Nothing to sneeze at. However, it was a workable amount yet literally “nothing” by comparison.

The sabbath principle (Jubilee principle) invites us, fundamentally, to IMITATE GOD. Which is the Lord’s Prayer,

“forgive us our DEBTS,
as we also have forgiven our DEBTORS” (Mt 6.12).

Divine imitation of Jubilee is our very prayer.

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The Jubilee People: Jesus and His “Old Testament” Theology of Forgiveness for the Church (Mt 18.21-35)

Two or Three are Gathered in My Name: God’s Shekinah, the Temple and Rabbi Jesus

This entry was posted on Monday, August 26th, 2024 at 11:02 am and is filed under Forgiveness, Grace, Jesus, Jewish Backgrounds, Kingdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.