Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 19:17

"And he said unto him, Well done, thou good servant: because thou wast found faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities." — Luke 19:17 (ASV)

Jesus singles out three of the ten servants as examples. The first two did well, one so well as to receive a special commendation for being “trustworthy.” The test was “small,” not because the amount itself was so small, but because of its relative insignificance in comparison to the cities awarded the trustworthy servants.

Jesus follows up the people’s exclamation by quoting from Ps 118:22 (cf. the quote in 19:38, from the same psalm). Not only will God vindicate his Son, who is the “stone” (v.17), but those who oppose him will meet destruction. This point is tacitly acknowledged in the reaction of the leaders (v.19). This carries forward the hostile scheming against Jesus referred to in 19:47.