Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 18:34

"And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due." — Matthew 18:34 (ASV)

Delivered him to the tormentors — The words seem deliberately vague. We dare not say that the “tormentors” are avenging angels or demons, though in medieval poetry and art, the latter are almost exclusively represented as the instruments of punishment. More truly, we may see in them the symbols of whatever agencies God employs in the work of righteous retribution: the stings of remorse, the scourge of conscience, and the scorn and reproach of others, not excluding, of course, whatever elements of suffering lie behind the veil in the life beyond the grave.

Till he should pay all that was due to him — As in Matthew 5:26, these words suggest both the possibility of a limit and the difficulty, if not impossibility, of ever reaching it. How could the man in the hands of the tormentors obtain the means to pay the ten thousand talents? The parable excludes the idea that the debt could be, as it were, paid off through torments, with a quantitative punishment being accepted as the discharge for what could not otherwise be paid. The imagery of the parable leaves us in silent awe, and we only find refuge from our questioning in the thought that the things that are impossible with man are possible with God (Matthew 19:26).