Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 18:24

"And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, that owed him ten thousand talents." — Matthew 18:24 (ASV)

Ten thousand talents. It is hardly necessary to discuss in detail the value of this sum in modern currency. Assuming the Greek talent was correctly used by the Septuagint translators for the Hebrew kikar in Exodus 38:25-26, we have a basis for calculation that makes the talent equal to 3,000 shekels; taking the shekel as equal to four drachmae, this makes the 10,000 talents worth approximately £2,500,000 sterling. The sum is evidently named for its vague vastness to indicate the immensity of the debt humanity owes to God—the absolute impossibility of ever clearing the total, ever-accumulating sins of omission and commission that are brought home to our conscience when God “takes account” with us.