Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 18:31

"So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were exceeding sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done." — Matthew 18:31 (ASV)

The servant’s attitude is appalling. The amount owed him is not insignificant: though worth but a few dollars in terms of metal currency, it represented a hundred days’ wages for a foot soldier or common laborer. Yet the amount is utterly trivial compared with what has already been forgiven him. The similarity of his fellow servant’s plea (v.29) to his own (v.26) does not move this unforgiving man, and he has him thrown into a debtor’s prison (v.30). Even an inexpensive slave sold for five hundred denarii, and it was illegal to sell a man for a sum greater than his debt. But the other servants (v.31), deeply distressed by the inequity, tell the master everything.

These are the two sides of a Roman denarius coin, many of which have been found in Palestine.