Luke 12:41,42 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Then Peter said, &c.— St. Peter, who had been giving great attention to the whole of this sermon, was, it seems, at a loss to know, whether the parable of the watching servants was spoken to the multitude in general, or to the apostles in particular; he therefore begged his Master to satisfy him as to that point. The parable wasdirectedtoall the disciples; but it contained instructions which Peter thought were peculiar to the twelve: accordingly, by the steward Jesus shewed him, that though his exhortations were directed to all, they had a more especial relation to those who were entrusted with the care of the souls of others. The interrogation, Who then, &c. Luke 12:42 had a lively force to turn their thoughts inward, that each one might ask himself whether he was the man. The meaning is, "What do you think ought to be the character and conduct of a steward, to whom his Lord committeth the care of his family in his absence, as I do the care of my church to you? Why certainly he should be both wise to know in what manner to govern the family, and faithful in executing whatever his wisdom and prudence directed as fit to be done; for thus only all the members of the family under his care will have due provision made for them." The word θεραπεια, rendered household, exactly answers to the Latin famulitium, all the servants of a family, for which we have no one English word;— any more than for σιτομετριον, which strictly signifies "a determinate measure of wheat," but is here put for all the daily-food. By such a version the distinction between this and the 44th verse is set in a clearer light than critics have generally given it. To be raised from the care of giving out food to the servants, to have the charge of the whole estate, was a noble preferment.