But those mine enemies,— "Those who are guilty of rebellion against me, by doing all in their power to hinder my obtaining the kingdom, bring hither, and put them to death this instant." Κατασφαξατε, is literally, slay them with the sword; and it properly expresses the dreadful slaughter of the impenitent Jews, by the sword of each other, and of the Romans. That does not seem, however, the only design of the passage; for it plainly relates to the far more terrible execution which shall be done on all impenitent sinners in the great day, when the faithful servants of Christ shall be rewarded.
Thus Jesus taught his disciples, that though they might imagine his kingdom was speedily to be erected, and that they were soon to partake of its joys; yet he was to go away, or die, before he obtained it; and that they were to perform a long course of laborious services before they received their reward. That, having obtained the kingdom at his resurrection, he would return, and reckon with his servants, to whom he had given ability and opportunity for his work; and would treat them according to the fidelity which they shewed in the trust committed unto them. Particularly, that he would execute vengeance on those, who, for his conversing familiarly with sinners, or for the difficulty or disagreeableness of his laws, or any other cause whatever, had refused to let him reign over them, or hindered the erection of his kingdom among others. This Jesus did, in some measure, when he destroyed the Jewish nation by the Roman armies; and still continues to do, by the extraordinary judgments with which he sometimes visits mankind: but he will do it more eminently at the end of the world, when he shall come with millions of angels, finally to reward his faithful servants, and to punish his enemies. The kingdom of Christ, spoken of in this parable, is his mediatorial kingdom; in which he rules men by his word and Spirit, and exercises the highest acts of kingly power; calls all his subjects without distinction to his tribunal, judges them, and rewards or punishes them according as he knows they deserve.
They who affix a more generalmeaning to the parable, suppose that the character and end of three sorts of persons are described in it. 1. The character of those who profess themselves the servants of Christ, and who act in a manner suitable to their profession. 2. The character of those who take upon them the title, but do not act up to it. 3. The character of those, who, though they be in some sense Christ's subjects, neither profess themselves his servants, nor yield him obedience, but endeavour to shake off his yoke, and oppose him with all their might. The first sort are the true disciples of Christ. The second sort are hypocrites. The third are the openly profane. The judgment which the servants met with from their lord, represents the judgment and end of the different sorts of Christians just now mentioned: True and faithful disciples shall be munificently rewarded with the honours and pleasures of immortality; hypocritesshallbespoiledofalltheadvantages on which they relied, and stripped of those false virtues for which they valued themselves; so that, being shewed to all the world in their proper colours, their pride shall be utterly mortified, and they themselves loaded with eternal infamy. Lastly, the detection and punishment of hypocrites shall add to the honours of the truly holy and pious, whose glory will thus shine more conspicuously: for, as the houses and lands which our Lord promised to those who followed him in the regeneration, Mark 10:30 signify not the things themselves, but the satisfaction arising from them; so the pound in the parable, given to him that had the ten pounds, signifies, that holy persons in heaven shall have satisfactionsinfinitelygreaterthananywhichthehypocritescouldpossessherebelow, from their false presumption on the favour of God. Thus shall the men who possess true goodness be rewarded: having in their own eyes always appeared as nothing, they shall be raised, by the approbation of God, through the Blood of his eternal Son, to a becoming sense of the excellent qualities with which they are adorned by his grace. And as for the open enemies of Jesus they shall be punished with exemplary punishment, severe in proportion to the degrees of their guilt.