THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS (MATTHEW 25:14-30)

Rather than review this parable verse by verse, I would just like to briefly point out some literary characteristics present in it although much more of use can be derived from it. In this parable of Jesus, he tells the three servants who are entrusted with large sums of money by their master before he leaves on an extended trip. As you may recall, on the master's return he asks for an accounting from each of them and rewards each of them accordingly. Jesus employs several storytelling techniques in this story worth rehearsing.

One phenomenon present throughout the Bible is to highlight symbolic numbers such as 3, 7, 10, 12, and multiples thereof to make some subtle points. Thus, it is no accident that the Greek word for “master/lord” is utilized exactly ten times in the story. That number is also closely associated with God in such details as the furnishing of the tabernacle and, most notably, in the Ten Commandments. Thus, we are on safe ground in assuming, with almost all other commentators, that the master is a representation of God Himself. And as J.A. Thompson says, “The number ten...also signifies completeness.”

But the other word in the parable appearing repeatedly is doulos (meaning slave or servant). Its exactly six appearances are also no accident. Quoting Thompson again: “In the creation narrative God created man and woman on the sixth day (Gn. 1. 27). Six days were allowed to man for labor (Ex. xx. 9, xxiii. 12, xxxi. 15; cf. Lk. xxx. 14). A Hebrew servant had to serve for six years before he was freed. The number six is therefore closely associated with man.” In addition, and even more importantly in the case of this parable, the number six falls short of the symbolic perfection represented by the number seven.

From the above understandings of the use of numbers in the Bible we can thus subtly but securely derive the fact that the master in the story is a representation of God Himself as well as the understanding that the human servants in the parable will somehow fall short of perfection.

Another ubiquitous number occurring in folk tales and fairy stories is three. Thus, in this parable there are three discrete stages to the narrative: the master entrusts three servants with money, they deal in various ways with the money they are given, and the master gets an accounting from each of them with concomitant rewards for each.

But there is an even more common use of “three” found in these types of narratives. Quoting from an Internet source: “If a protagonist is part of a family, there are usually three siblings of the same sex, as in Cinderella and her two stepsisters, or King Lear’s three daughters...If so, the youngest and humblest will be the protagonist. Often the two older siblings set out on some kind of quest but fail. The youngest is the one who succeeds in the task, even though he or she may be scorned, mocked, or denigrated by the older siblings.” I am sure each of you could add even more examples of this pattern, such as the King Arthur and the sword in the stone or Hans Christian Andersen's Ugly Duckling.

However, note how that stereotyped formula is totally turned on its head here by Jesus so that we are caught by surprise when we see how the story resolves in the end. From the relative amounts of money entrusted to each of the three servants, we get the clear idea that the master does not have nearly the same hopes for the third one as he does for the other two. So we might say that the third servant is equivalent to the youngest son or daughter in other similar tales. And true to the stereotyped pattern we are quite used to, that last servant departs notably in his actions from the other two. Thus, when we get to the conclusion, our unspoken and unconscious expectation is that the prudence of that last servant will be praised and he will receive a reward by the master even greater than the other two received. Of course that is not at all the case, and again Jesus has fooled his audience with a surprise ending that upsets all their prior thought processes and sticks with them until they have figured out the meaning on their own.

As far as the overall literary pattern exhibited by this parable, it appears to consist of three major parts, with some verbal parallels between the prelude and conclusion.

                                     Figure 1: Organization of the Parable of the Talents

1. Introduction: The master makes plans to go away (v. 14a)

Key words: apodymon (“going from”); ekalesen (“called out”)

        2. Master gives servants money to invest (vv. 14b-15)

        (Third servant given the least)

                3. Actions of the three servants (vv. 16-18)

                (Third servant buries his rather than investing it)

        2'.Master asks for an accounting when he returns and treats them accordingly (vv. 19-28)

        (First two servants rewarded and third one chastized)

1'. Conclusion: The useless servant is taken away (vv. 29-30)

Key words: apate (“take from “); apthasetai (“taken from”); ekbalete (“cast out”)