Luke 16:3

16:3 I’m too proud to beg: The Jewish wisdom writer Sirach said, “It is better to die than to beg” (Sirach 40:28), a reflection of Jewish attitudes.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 16:3. Σκάπτειν· ἐπαιτεῖν, dig; beg) Death leaves no opportunity of either labouring or begging: Ecc 9:10 [There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest]. This accessory ornament of the parable [the digging and begging] is accommodated to the spiritual sense in the Apodosis, as far as the circumstances of the case admit.[167] The complete and utter ἀπορία, helplessness, of the steward is implied, if he is to have no place of refuge with the debtors of his Lord.—αἰσχύνομαι, I am ashamed) We may suppose him to mean, that he was ashamed to beg, by reason of excessive modesty, and a sense of his unworthiness.

[167] The Apodosis to the parable is in Luk 16:9; and ὅταν ἐκλίπῃ, when ye fail, there, corresponds to σκάπτειν οὐκ ἰσχύω, ἐπαιτεῖν αὐσχύνομαι, I cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed, in this ver., implying utter ‘failure’ of resources.—E. and T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_16:3. This reflexion of the steward issued from the consciousness that he cannot deny his guilt, for he sees his dismissal as the near and certain result (ἀφαιρεῖται, present) of the rendering of the account demanded of him. If he were to be represented as innocent, the parable must needs have placed in his mouth a justification, or at least have assigned to him the corresponding epithet. This is also in opposition to Francke,[188] Hölbe.

ὅτι] equivalent to ΕἸς ἘΚΕῖΝΟ ὍΤΙ, see on Mar_16:14.

ΣΚΆΠΤΕΙΝ] in fields, gardens, vineyards; it is represented in Greek writers also as the last resource of the impoverished;[189] Aristoph. Av. 1432: σκάπτειν γὰρ οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι. See Wolf and Kypke.

οὐκ ἰσχύω] not being accustomed to such labour, he feels that his strength is not equal to it.

ἐπαιτεῖν] infinitive, not participial. On the distinction in sense, see Maetzner, ad Lycurg. p. 165. These reflections are not inserted with a view to the interpretation, but only for the depicting of the crisis.

[188] According to Francke, Jesus desires to represent the risks of being rich in the passionate rich man, who arranges the dismissal without any inquiry. He is the indebted chief person. The steward is falsely accused: he is driven from the house as not ἄδικος; but the rich man, first of all, drives him by his cruelty to the ἀδικία, which, moreover, was only a momentary one, as the (inequitable) γράμματα were only once used; while, on the other hand, they were only used for the purpose of putting matters on an equitable footing again. In the latter reference Dav. Schulz precedes with the assumption, that the steward wished before his dismissal to do some good. He assumes with equal contradiction of the text, that the setting down of the items of account was done with the knowledge of the master. Comp. also Schneckenburger, p. 57.

[189] Hencefor the steward, before he decides on the expedient, ver. 4, sees digging and begging before himit is not to be supposed, with Brauns, that he paid the amounts written down, ver. 6 f., from his own funds. Contrary to the text, contrary to ver. 3 f., and contrary to τῆς ἀδικίας, ver. 8, which refers to that writing down. This, moreover, is in opposition to Hölbe, who, in a similar misinterpretation of vv. 6, 7, brings out as the meaning of the parable, that the publicans, decried by the Pharisees as robbers, etc., are frequently not so. In spite of their being repudiated, they are equitable people, and frequently combine with great experience of life and prudence a heart so noble that they acquire friends as soon as this is only known.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 16:3 . εἶπε ἐν ἑ .: a Hebraism, as in Mat 3:9 ; Mat 9:3 . The steward deliberates on the situation. He sees that his master has decided against him, and considers what he is to do next, running rapidly over all possible schemes. σκάπτειν , ἐπαιτεῖν : these two represent the alternatives for the dismissed: manual labour and begging; digging naturally chosen to represent the former as typical of agricultural labour, with which the steward’s position brought him much into contact (Lightfoot). But why these two only mentioned? Why not try to get another situation of the same kind? Because he feels that dismissal in the circumstances means degradation. Who now would trust him? ἐπαιτεῖν = προσαιτεῖν (Mar 10:46 , Joh 9:8 ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

cannot dig . . . to beg, ashamed--therefore, when dismissed, shall be in utter want.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. I cannot dig] He could not submit to become a common day-labourer, which was both a severe and base employment: To beg I am ashamed. And as these were the only honest ways left him to procure a morsel of bread, and he would not submit to either, he found he must continue the system of knavery, in order to provide for his idleness and luxury, or else starve. Wo to the man who gets his bread in this way! The curse of the Lord must be on his head, and on his heart; in his basket, and is his store.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.—In the outer framework of the parable there is something eminently characteristic in this utterance of the steward’s thoughts. He has lost the manliness and strength which would have fitted him for actual labour. He retains the false shame which makes him prefer fraud to poverty. He shudders at the thought that it might be his lot to sit, like Lazarus, and ask an alms at the rich man’s door. Spiritually, we may see what happens to a religious caste or order, like the Pharisees, when it forfeits its true calling by misuse. It has lost the power to prepare the ground for future fruitfulness by the “digging,” which answers, as in Luk_13:8, to the preliminary work of education and other influences that lie outside direct religious activity. It is religious and ecclesiastical, or it is nothing. It is ashamed to confess its spiritual poverty, and to own that it is “poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev_3:17). Anything seems better than either of those alternatives.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. 1 cannot dig] Rather, to dig I am not strong enough.

to beg I am ashamed] Sir_40:28, “better die than beg.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then the steward said within himself,.... As the Scribes and Pharisees were wont to do, Mat 3:9

what shall I do? he does not say, what will become of me? I am undone, and what shall I do to be saved? or what shall I do for my Lord and Master I have so much injured? or what shall I do to make up matters with him? or what account shall I give? but what shall I do for a maintenance? how shall I live? what shall I do to please men, and gain their opinion and good will, and so be provided for by them? of this cast were the Pharisees, men pleasers, and self-seekers:

for my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship: the priesthood was changed, and there was a change also of the law; the ceremonial law was abrogated, and the ordinances of the former dispensation were shaken and removed; so that these men must of course turn out of their places and offices:

I cannot dig; or "plough", as the Arabic version renders it; or do any part of husbandry, particularly that which lies in manuring and cultivating the earth; not but that he was able to do it; but he could not tell how to submit to such a mean, as well as laborious way of life; for nothing was meaner among the Jews than husbandry: they have a saying, that , "you have no trade", or business, "lesser", or meaner "than husbandry" (g):

and to beg I am ashamed; for nothing could be more disagreeable, to one who had lived so well in his master's house, and in so much fulness and luxury, as the Scribes and Pharisees did. The Jews have a saying, that (h).

"want of necessaries, , "is better than begging": (and says one) I have tasted the bitterness of all things, and I have not found any thing more bitter "than begging:"''

and which was literally true of the Jews, after the destruction of Jerusalem; when multitudes of them were condemned to work in the mines; and vast numbers were scattered about every where as vagabonds, begging their bread; both which were very irksome to that people: though both these phrases may be mystically understood: and "digging" may intend a laborious searching into the Scriptures, and a diligent performance of good works: neither of which the Pharisees much cared for, though they made large pretensions to both; nor did they dig deep to lay a good foundation whereon to build eternal life and happiness: nor could they attain to the law of righteousness by all their toil and labour, they would be thought to have taken: and for "begging", they were above that: read the Pharisee's prayer in Luk 18:11 and you will not find one petition in it. To ask any thing at the throne of grace, in a way of mere grace and favour, and not merit: or to beg any thing at the hands of Christ, as life, righteousness, pardon, cleansing, healing, food, &c. they were ashamed of, and cared not for.

(g) T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 63. 1. (h) Mischar Hapeninim apud Buxtorf. Florileg, Heb. p. 262.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

Ver. 3. I cannot dig, &c.] They that will get wisdom must both dig and beg, Pro 2:3-4.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Said within himself - Thought, or considered.

My lord - My master, my employer.

I cannot dig - This may mean either that his employment had been such that he could not engage in agriculture, not having been acquainted with the business, or that he was “unwilling” to stoop to so low an employment as to work daily for his support. “To dig,” here, is the same as to till the earth, to work at daily labor.

To beg - These were the only two ways that presented themselves for a living - either to work for it, or to beg.

I am ashamed - He was too proud for that. Besides, he was in good health and strength, and there was no good reason “why” he should beg - nothing which he could give as a cause for it. It is proper for the sick, the lame, and the feeble to beg; but it is “not” well for the able-bodied to do it, nor is it well to aid them, except by giving them employment, and compelling them to work for a living. He does a beggar who is able to work the most real kindness who sets him to work, and, as a general rule, we should not aid an able-bodied man or woman in any other way. Set them to work, and pay them a fair compensation, and you do them good in two ways, for the habit of labor may be of more value to them than the price you pay them.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Said within himself—When death approaches the most worldly man begins to reflect. But with the Christian all this has been thought of, and the provision made in due time. He has prepared for death before the king of terrors drew near.

I cannot dig—No work or device, no skill of science can postpone the inevitable hour, to make provisions for the better world.

To beg I am ashamed—To supplicate for life is as useless as it is cowardly. The ear of the destroyer is deaf to all expostulations.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship. This day of dismissal must be prepared for; very carefully, very anxiously, the man who has received the sentence of doom ponders over his future. The lesson of the Master is spoken to all; it is a solemn warning to each of us to see what we can do by way of providing for the inevitable day when we shall find ourselves alone and naked and perhaps friendless in the great, strange world to come. The hero of the parable seems suddenly, after a life of carelessness and thoughtlessness, to have awakened to a sense of his awful danger. So the voice of the real Owner of the goods, which we have so long deluded ourselves into thinking were our own, comes to us, bidding us make ready to give them back again to him, their Owner, and at the same time to render an account of our administration of them. The voice comes to us in the varied forms of conscience, sickness, misfortune, old age, sorrow, and the like; well for us if, when we hear it, we at once determine, as did the steward of the parable, to make a wise use of the goods in our power for the little time they are still left to us to dispose of as we will.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To beg I am ashamed - But not ashamed to cheat! This was likewise a sense of honour! "By men called honour, but by angels pride."

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The deliberations with their result:

v. 3. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my lord taketh away from me the stewardship; I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

v. 4. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

v. 5. So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?

v. 6. And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

v. 7. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill and write fourscore.

v. 8. And the lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely; for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

The unfaithful steward found himself in a very unpleasant situation, out of which only his wit could extricate him. Jesus reproduces the resulting monolog with realistic faithfulness. The steward was in a quandary, he was racking his brains for some way out of the difficulty. Dismissal under the circumstances meant degradation; no other master would give him a clerical position. He must be content, if he finds work at all, with such as involves little responsibility. His thoughts turn to farming, since his work had brought him into contact with agricultural labor; but he is physically not strong enough to dig, he could never stand that. The other alternative seems to be begging, and to do that he is ashamed. But finally he hits upon a scheme that ought to work. By means of it he hopes, even now yet, either to avert the threatened blow, or, in case he should not succeed in doing this, to provide for himself a comfortable old age. Should he lose his position and be degraded, the people whom he has in mind would be under obligations to take him into their houses. He carries his plan into execution at once. One after the other of his lord’s debtors he summons to the office. Since he still had charge of the whole business, he could easily do this. "These debtors might be farmers, who paid their rents in kind, or persons that had gotten supplies of goods from the master’s stores. " In each case, as he speaks to the individual debtor, he follows the same plan, although only two examples are given. At his direction, they changed or rewrote their bills of indebtedness, putting down a smaller amount than that which had been stipulated or which was due to the owner. One man owed a hundred measures, about seven hundred and fifty gallons, of oil. The amount was changed to read only one-half as much. Another owed one hundred measures, between seven and eight hundred bushels, of wheat. The amount was reduced to eighty. The object of the steward was to meet either contingency. If this scheme would prove successful, the shortage would no longer exist, for the income would appear to have been much smaller than the lord thought. Should the plan be found out, the bills of indebtedness would legally stand, and the debtors would show their gratitude by providing for him. It has even been suggested that the steward had falsified the amounts in the bills of indebtedness originally and pocketed the surplus, and was now returning to the original correct figures. At any rate, it was a clever scheme. Even the master, when he received information concerning this latest trick of the steward, could not withhold a certain commendation. He praised him, not on account of his unfaithfulness and his fraud, but on account of the cleverness in handling the situation and extricating himself out of an unpleasant predicament.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What should I do ... job?

The manager asks this question of himself, as a means of reviewing his options. AT: "I need to think about what I should do ... job" (See: Rhetorical Question)

my master

This refers to the wealthy man. The manager was not a slave. AT: "my employer"

I do not have strength to dig

"I am not strong enough to dig the ground" or "I am not able to dig"

when I am removed from my management job

This can be stated in active form. AT: "when I lose my management job" or "when my master takes away my management job" (See: Active or Passive)

people will welcome me into their houses

This implies that those people will provide a job, or other things that he needs to live. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

manager

lord

shame

beg

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

3. σκάπτειν οὐκ ἰσχύω. ‘To dig I am not strong enough.’

ἐπαιτεῖν αἰσχύνομαι. Sir 40:28, “better die than beg.”

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3.] The steward sets before himself the certainty of poverty and misery. He has not by his waste of his lord’s property been laying up any store for himself;—that is not the point of the parable;—he has lived softly and effeminately, and cannot do an honest day’s work:—σκάπτειν, for all manual labours; so Aristoph. Av. 1432, σκάπτειν γὰρ οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι. This speech, of digging and begging, must not be sought for in the interpretation; it belongs to the truth of the parable itself as introducing the scheme which follows, but has no ulterior meaning.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. εἶπεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ. Not then and there, but when he thought the matter over afterwards. Comp: 7:39, 18:4; Mat 9:3 Note the pres. ἀφαιρεῖται, “is taking away,” i.e. what he is doing amounts to that. He does not say, “has taken away.”

σκάπτειν οὐκ ἰσχύω. “I have not strength to dig.” Comp. σκάπτειν γὰρ οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι (Aristoph. Aves, 1432). Only here and 18:35 does ἐπαιτεῖν occur in N.T. Comp. Psa 108:10; Ecclus. 40:28. It means “to ask again and again, ask importunately,” and so “to beg for alms.” Soph. O.C. 1364. Comp. προσαιτεῖν, Joh 9:8.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Taketh away. Or is taking away. He was not yet dispossessed, as is shown by what follows.

I cannot [ουκ ισχυω] . See on ch. Luk 14:30. "I have not strength." His luxurious life had unfitted him for hard labor. In Aristophanes (" Birds, "1431), a sycophant is asked :" Tell me, being a young man, do you lodge informations against strangers ? "He replies :" Yes; why should I suffer, for I know not how to dig ? " To beg [επαιτειν] . See on besought, Mt 14:23.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.