translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MAT

label: NET study note

text: The point of the comparison become like little children has more to do with a child’s trusting spirit, as well as willingness to be dependent and receive from others, than any inherent humility the child might possess.


text: In Greek there is a wordplay that is difficult to reproduce in English here. The verb translated “causes…to sin” ( σκανδαλίζω , skandalizw ) comes from the same root as the word translated “stumbling blocks” ( σκάνδαλον , skandalon ) in the previous verse.


text: This individual with a hundred sheep is a shepherd of modest means, as flocks often had up to two hundred head of sheep.


text: Look for the one that went astray . The parable pictures God’s pursuit of the sinner. On the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, see John 10:1-18 .


text: A quotation from Deut 19:15 .


text: To treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector means not to associate with such a person. See the note on tax collectors in 5:46 .


text: A talent was a huge sum of money, equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius was the usual day’s wage for a worker. L&N 6.82 states, “a Greek monetary unit (also a unit of weight) with a value which fluctuated, depending upon the particular monetary system which prevailed at a particular period of time (a silver talent was worth approximately six thousand denarii with gold talents worth at least thirty times that much).”