Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 18:25

"But forasmuch as he had not [wherewith] to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made." — Matthew 18:25 (ASV)

We glimpse some idea of the size of the indebtedness when we recall that David donated three thousand talents of gold and seven thousand talents of silver for the construction of the temple, and the princes provided five thousand talents of gold and ten thousand talents of silver (1 Chronicles 29:4, 7). Such indebtedness could not possibly be covered by selling the family into slavery: top price for a slave fetched about one talent, and one-tenth that amount or less was more common. The practice of being sold for debt was sanctioned by the OT (Leviticus 25:39; 2 Kings 4:1), though such slaves had to be freed in the year of Jubilee.

In this parable selling the slave and his family does not mean the debt is canceled but rather highlights the servant’s desperate plight. With neither resources nor hope, he begs for time and promises to pay everything back (v.26) —an impossibility. So the master takes pity on him and cancels the indebtedness (v.27). The king mercifully then decides to look on the loss as a bad loan rather than embezzlement.