Ver. 1. A certain rich man which had a steward] Masters had need look well, 1. To the choosing of their servants. Solomon saw Jeroboam, that he was industrious, and therefore, without any respect at all to his religion, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph, but to his singular disadvantage. 1 Kings 11:28 cf. Lu 12:3 2. To the using of them; most men make no other use of their servants than they do of their beasts; while they may have their bodies to do their service, they care not if their souls serve the devil. Hence they so often prove false and perfidious.
Ver. 2. Give an account of thy stewardship] Villicus rationem cum Domino suo crebro putet, said Cato. Stewards should often account with their masters.
Ver. 3. I cannot dig, &c.] They that will get wisdom must both dig and beg, Proverbs 2:3,4.
Ver. 4. They may receive me] This is that wit he showed for himself, and for the which he is here commended: teaching us by all lawful means (not by any unlawful, as he) to provide for ourselves, and to preserve our reputation.
Ver. 5. How much owest thou?] Some are ever owing; and may say of debt, as the strumpet Quartilla did of her virginity, Iunonem meam iratam habeam, si unquam me meminerim virginem fuisse. Petron.
Ver. 6. Take thy bill] The scope of this parable is, ut profusionem charitate erga pauperes compensemus, saith Beza, that we expiate, as it were, our prodigality, by showing mercy to the poor, Daniel 4:27.
Ver. 7. See Luke 16:5.
Ver. 8. And the lord commended] Gr. ο κυριος, that lord, viz the steward’s lord, not the Lord Christ who relateth this parable. Or if we understand it of Christ (as the Syriac here doth), ye t he herein no more approveth of this steward’s false dealing than he doth of the usurer’s trade, Matthew 5:27; or the thieves, 1 Thessalonians 5:2; or the dancers, Matthew 11:17; or the Olympic games, 1 Corinthians 9:24. Because he had done wisely] The worldling’s wisdom serves him (as the ostrich’s wings) to make him outrun others upon earth, and in earthly things; but helps him never a wit toward heaven. Are in their generation wiser] A swine that wanders can make better shift to get home to the trough than a sheep can to the fold. We have not received the spirit of this world, 1 Corinthians 2:12, we cannot shift and plot as they can; but we have received a better thing. The fox is wise in his generation, the serpent subtle, so is the devil too. When he was but young, he outwitted our first parents, 2 Corinthians 11:3. Than the children of light] As the angels are called angels of light, 2 Corinthians 11:14. God’s children are the only earthly angels, have a Goshen in their bosoms, can lay their hands on their hearts with dying Oecolampadius, and say, Hic sat lucis, Here is enough light. (Melch. Adam.)
Ver. 9. Make unto yourselves friends] Quibus officia praestita fidem defuncti apud Deum testificentur, illa comprobantem, et gratis coronantem (Beza.) Testify your faith by your works, that God of his free grace may commend and crown you. Of the mammon of unrighteousness] The next odious name to the devil himself. This mammon of iniquity, this wages of wickedness, is not gain, but loss. They may receive you] That is, that either the angels, or thy riches, or the poor, may let you into heaven.
Ver. 10. He that is faithful] Mr Diodati’s note here is, “The right use of riches in believers is a trial of their loyal use of their spiritual graces and gifts. And, on the contrary, the abuse of the one showeth the abuse of the other. God likewise taketh away his spiritual graces from them, who do not use the temporal ones well.”
Ver. 11. In the unrighteous mammon] Or the uncertain, vain, deceitful wealth of this world, which yet most rich men trust in, as if simply the better or safer for their abundance. Hence Drusius derives mammon from amans, which signifieth to trust.
Ver. 12. In that which is another man’s] Riches are not properly ours, but God’s, who hath intrusted us, and who doth usually assign them to the wicked, those men of his hand, for their portion, Psalms 17:14, for all the heaven that they are ever to look for. Better things abide the saints, who are here but foreigners, and must do as they may. Who shall give you that which is your own?] Quod nec eripi nec surripi potest. Aristotle relateth a law like this made by Theodectes, that he that used not another man’s horse well should forfeit his own.
Ver. 13. See Matthew 6:24.
Ver. 14. And they derided him] Gr. εξεμυκτηριζον, they blew their noses at him in scorn and derision. They fleered and jeered, when they should have feared, and fled from the wrath to come. Naso suspendere adunco. Horat.
Ver. 15. For that which is highly esteemed, &c.] A thing that I see in the night may shine, and that shining proceed from nothing but rottenness. There may be malum opus in bona materia, as in Jehu’s zeal. Two things make a good Christian, good actions and good aims. And though a good aim doth not make a bad action good (as in Uzzah), yet a bad aim makes a good action bad (as in Jehu, Hosea 1:4, whose justice was approved, but his policy punished).
Ver. 16. See Matthew 11:11.
Ver. 17. See Matthew 5:18.
Ver. 18. See Matthew 5:32 19:9 Mr 10:5
Ver. 19. There was a certain rich man] Not once named, as Lazarus was, though never so little esteemed of men. God knew him by name, as he did Moses; when the rich man’s name is written in the earth, rots above ground, is left for a reproach. Which was clothed in purple, &c.] Gr. ενεδιδυσκετο, was commonly so clothed. It was his every day’s wear, as the word implieth. (Verbum est quasi frequentativum. Pasor.)
Ver. 20. A certain beggar named Lazarus] Or Eleazar (as Tertullian and Prudentius call him), who having been Abraham’s faithful servant, now resteth in his bosom.
Ver. 21. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs] Many poor folk have but prisoners’ pittances, which will neither keep them alive nor suffer them to die. The dogs came and licked his sores] When Sabinus was put to death for whispering against Sejanus, his dog lay down by his dead body, brought to his mouth the bread that was cast to him; and when Sabinus was thrown into the river Tiber, the dog leapt after him, endeavouring to keep him up, that he might not sink into the bottom. Pliny.
Ver. 22. Into Abraham’s bosom] A metaphor from feasts, say some; from fathers, say others, who imbosom and hug their children when wearied with long running about, or have met with a knock, and come crying unto them. And was carried by the angels] Through the air, the devil’s region, do the angels conduct the saints at death; who may therefore call death, as Jacob did the place where he met the angels, Mahanaim, Genesis 32:2. For like as the palsyman was let down with his bed through the tiling before Jesus, Luke 5:18, so is every good soul taken up in a heavenly couch through the roof of his house, and carried into Christ’s presence by these heavenly courtiers; who as in life they are our supporters, Psalms 91:10,11, so after death our porters, as here, by the angels; as if they had striven which should have a part. And was buried] Possibly with as much noisome stench and hurry in the air, as at Cardinal Wolsey’s burial. A terrible example there is in the Book of Martyrs of one Christopher Landsdale, an unmerciful courtier, who suffering a poor lazar to die in a ditch by him, did afterwards perish himseff in a ditch. The rich man also died] Perhaps he was choked, as Hardicanutus (noted for epicurism, A.D. 1041) was at a marriage at Lambeth, most men rejoicing to be rid of him; in memory whereof Hocktide (a feast of scorning) was a long time after continued in this kingdom, saith our chronicler. A poor and diseased person, usually one afflicted with a loathsome disease; esp. a leper. ŒD
Ver. 23. Being in torments] Having punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without succour, crying without compassion, mischief without measure, torments without end, and past imagination. And Lazarus in his bosom] Which more vexed him than his own torments, saith Chrysostom. He lifted up his eyes] So often lifted up (saith one) in a false devotion.
Ver. 24. And cool my tongue] In his tongue he was most tortured, quia plus lingua peccaverat, saith Cyprian. So Nestorius the heretic had his tongue eaten up with worms. So Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester (two notorious persecutors), died with their tongues thrust out, big swollen, and black with inflammation of their bodies. A spectacle worthy to be noted of all such bloody burning persecutors. Nestorii lingua vermibus exesa. Evang.
Ver. 25. Son, remember, &c.] Son he calls him, with respect either ad procreationem carnis, aut ad aetatem, saith Piscator. But as it was but cold comfort to Dives in flames that Abraham called him son, so those that have no more to shroud themselves under than a general profession, shall find that an empty title yields but an empty comfort at last. That thou in thy lifetime] Gregory the Great could never read these words without horror: lest himself, having such honours here, should be shut out of heaven. James 5:5 “Ye have lived in pleasure upon earth”; which is a purgatory, not a paradise. Receivedst thy good things] Wicked men then have not only a civil title, but a right before God to earthly things. It is their portion, Psalms 17:14. And what Ananias had was his own, Acts 5:4, while he had it. God gave Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar for his pains at Tyre. It is hard to say they are usurpers. They shall not (saith one) be called to an account at the last day for possessing what they had, but for abusing that possession. As when the king gives a traitor his life, he gives him food and drink that may maintain his life. So here God deals, not as that cruel d’Alva did, who starved some prisoners after he had given them quarter, saying, Though I promised you your lives, I promised not to find you food. (Grimst. Hist. of the Netherl.).
Ver. 26. There is a great gulf fixed] viz. By the unmovable and immutable decree of God, called mountains of brass, Zechariah 6:1, from between which all effects and actions come forth as so many chariots. εστηρικται. Firmissimum Dei statutum. Jansen.
Ver. 27. I pray thee therefore] Are not the Popish doctors hard driven, when they allege this text to prove that the dead do take care of the living, and pray for them?
Ver. 28. Lest they also come into this place] This he wisheth, not for their good, but for his own. For he knew that if they were damned, he should be double damned, because they were brought thither partly by his lewd and loose example.
Ver. 29. Let them hear them] Hell is to be escaped by hearing the word read and preached, John 5:25 Isa 55:3.
Ver. 30. They will repent] Bellarmine is of the opinion that one glimpse of hell were enough to make a man not only turn Christian and sober, but anchorite and monk; to live after the strictest rule that might be. Such a sight or report might work much upon the judgment, but it is the gospel only that works upon the affections, and produceth repentance never to be repented of.
Ver. 31. Though one rose from the dead] As Lazarus did, and yet they listened as little to him as to Christ, John 12:10; but sought to kill him also.