Lukas 16

1 6 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was saying also to the talmidim, A certain oisher (rich man) had a sochen (steward, estate manager or agent), and the charge brought against him was that he was squandering the property of the oisher (rich man).

2 And having called him, the oisher said to the sochen, What is this I hear about you? Submit to a bikoret beshbonot (audit) for that which is under your pekuddat (stewardship care), for you are no longer able to be sochen.

3 And the sochen said to himself, What may I do, because Adoni takes away the pekuddat from me? I am not strong enough to dig, I am ashamed to beg.

4 Oh! I have daas of what I may do, that when I am removed from the work of the sochen, they may receive me into their batim.

5 And having summoned his Adon’s debtors one by one, he was saying to the first, How much do you owe Adoni?

6 And he said, One hundred jugs of olive oil. And the sochen said to him, Take your bill, sit down, quickly write fifty.

7 Then to another he said, And you, how much do you owe? And he said, One hundred containers of wheat. He says to him, Take your bill and write eighty.

8 And the Baal Bayit praised the unrighteous sochen because he acted with chochmah. Because the Bnei HaOlam HaZeh have more seichel in dealing with their own generation than the Bnei HaOhr. [Psa 17:14; 18:26]

9 And I say to you, use the mammon (the wealth of the Olam HaZeh) to make for yourselves yedidim (friends, chaverim), so that when unrighteous mammon fails, they may welcome you into the mishkenot olam (eternal dwellings of the Olam HaBah).

10 The one oisgehalten in little, also is neeman in much, and the one who is unrighteous in little, also in much is unrighteous.

11 If, then, you were not ne’eman with unrighteous mammon, who will entrust you with hon emes ?

12 And if you were not neeman with that which belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

13 No eved is able to serve two adonim; for either he will have sinah (hatred) toward the one and he will have ahavah (love) toward the other, or one he will be devoted to and the other he will despise. Your avodas service cannot be for both Hashem and Mammon.

14 And the Perushim, who were ohavei kesef (lovers of money), heard all this and they made leitzonus (fun) of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.

15 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said to them, You are the ones who in the sight of Bnei Adam credit yourself as being yitzdak im Hashem (justified with G-d, IYOV 25:4), but Hashem has daas (knowledge) of your levavot. Because the thing highly esteemed among Bnei Adam is a to’eva (abomination) before Hashem.

16 The Torah and the Neviim were proclaimed until Yochanan; since then it is the Malchut Hashem that is being preached as Besuras HaGeulah, and anyone entering it must strive to do so.

17 But it is easier for HaShomayim and HaAretz to pass away than for one tag (ornamental flourish) of the Torah to fail.

18 Anyone giving the get to his isha and taking another wife commits ni’uf (adultery), and the one marrying a gerusha (divorcee) commits ni’uf (adultery).

19 Now there was a certain oisher (rich man). He was dressed in purple and fine linen, and yom yom (daily) he feasted sumptuosly and every day for him was to make a simcha. [YECHEZKEL 16:49]

20 And there was a certain ish oni (poor man) covered with sores, Elazar by name, who had been laid at the oisher’s sha’ar (gate).

21 And the ish oni Elazar longed to fill his mogen (stomach) with what fell from the oisher’s tish. But even the kelevim (dogs) were coming and licking the sores of the ish oni (poor man).

22 And it came to pass that Elazar died, and he was carried away by the malachim to the tish at the kheyk (bosom) of Avraham Avinu. And then the oisher (rich man) died also, and he was buried.

23 And lifting up his eynayim in Sheol, where he was in the torments of agony, he sees Avraham Avinu off in the distance and Elazar at tish at his kheyk (bosom).

24 And he called, Avraham Avinu! Chaneni na and send Elazar that he may dip the tip of his finger into the mayim and cool my tongue, because I am in torment in this moked (fire). [YESHAYAH 66:24]

25 But Avraham Avinu said, Beni, have zikaron (recollection) that you received your tov in the span of your days, and Elazar likewise received the ra’ah. But now he is given nechamah (comfort) here, but you, yisurim (sufferings, torments). [TEHILLIM 17:14]

26 And, in addition to all these things, there has been fixed between us and you a tehom gedolah (a great abyss, chasm), so that the ones wishing to come over from here to you are not able, neither from there to us may they cross over.

27 And the oisher said, I ask you then, Avraham Avinu, that you may send Elazar to the bais of Avi,

28 for I have chamesh achim (five brothers) that he may warn them, lest also they may come to this place of yisurim (torments).

29 But Avraham Avinu says, They have Moshe Rabbeinu and the Neviim. Let them listen to them.

30 But the oisher said, Lo (no), Avraham Avinu, but if someone from the Mesim should go to them, they will make teshuva.

31 But Avraham said to him, If Moshe Rabbeinu and the Neviim they do not listen to, neither if someone should make his Techiyah from the Mesim should they be persuaded.

Lukas 16 Commentary

Chapter 16

The parable of the unjust steward. (1-12) Christ reproves the hypocrisy of the covetous Pharisees. (13-18) The rich man and Lazarus. (19-31)

Verses 1-12 Whatever we have, the property of it is God's; we have only the use of it, according to the direction of our great Lord, and for his honour. This steward wasted his lord's goods. And we are all liable to the same charge; we have not made due improvement of what God has trusted us with. The steward cannot deny it; he must make up his accounts, and be gone. This may teach us that death will come, and deprive us of the opportunities we now have. The steward will make friends of his lord's debtors or tenants, by striking off a considerable part of their debt to his lord. The lord referred to in this parable commended not the fraud, but the policy of the steward. In that respect alone is it so noticed. Worldly men, in the choice of their object, are foolish; but in their activity, and perseverance, they are often wiser than believers. The unjust steward is not set before us as an example in cheating his master, or to justify any dishonesty, but to point out the careful ways of worldly men. It would be well if the children of light would learn wisdom from the men of the world, and would as earnestly pursue their better object. The true riches signify spiritual blessings; and if a man spends upon himself, or hoards up what God has trusted to him, as to outward things, what evidence can he have, that he is an heir of God through Christ? The riches of this world are deceitful and uncertain. Let us be convinced that those are truly rich, and very rich, who are rich in faith, and rich toward God, rich in Christ, in the promises; let us then lay up our treasure in heaven, and expect our portion from thence.

Verses 13-18 To this parable our Lord added a solemn warning. Ye cannot serve God and the world, so divided are the two interests. When our Lord spoke thus, the covetous Pharisees treated his instructions with contempt. But he warned them, that what they contended for as the law, was a wresting of its meaning: this our Lord showed in a case respecting divorce. There are many covetous sticklers for the forms of godliness, who are the bitterest enemies to its power, and try to set others against the truth.

Verses 19-31 Here the spiritual things are represented, in a description of the different state of good and bad, in this world and in the other. We are not told that the rich man got his estate by fraud, or oppression; but Christ shows, that a man may have a great deal of the wealth, pomp, and pleasure of this world, yet perish for ever under God's wrath and curse. The sin of this rich man was his providing for himself only. Here is a godly man, and one that will hereafter be happy for ever, in the depth of adversity and distress. It is often the lot of some of the dearest of God's saints and servants to be greatly afflicted in this world. We are not told that the rich man did him any harm, but we do not find that he had any care for him. Here is the different condition of this godly poor man, and this wicked rich man, at and after death. The rich man in hell lifted up his eyes, being in torment. It is not probable that there are discourses between glorified saints and damned sinners, but this dialogue shows the hopeless misery and fruitless desires, to which condemned spirits are brought. There is a day coming, when those who now hate and despise the people of God, would gladly receive kindness from them. But the damned in hell shall not have the least abatement of their torment. Sinners are now called upon to remember; but they do not, they will not, they find ways to avoid it. As wicked people have good things only in this life, and at death are for ever separated from all good, so godly people have evil things only in this life, and at death they are for ever put from them. In this world, blessed be God, there is no gulf between a state of nature and grace, we may pass from sin to God; but if we die in our sins, there is no coming out. The rich man had five brethren, and would have them stopped in their sinful course; their coming to that place of torment, would make his misery the worse, who had helped to show them the way thither. How many would now desire to recall or to undo what they have written or done! Those who would make the rich man's praying to Abraham justify praying to saints departed, go far to seek for proofs, when the mistake of a damned sinner is all they can find for an example. And surely there is no encouragement to follow the example, when all his prayers were made in vain. A messenger from the dead could say no more than what is said in the Scriptures. The same strength of corruption that breaks through the convictions of the written word, would triumph over a witness from the dead. Let us seek to the law and to the testimony, ( isaiah 8:19 isaiah 8:20 ) , for that is the ( 2 Peter. 1:19 ) Circumstances in every age show that no terrors, or arguments, can give true repentance without the special grace of God renewing the sinner's heart.