rights of his employer.

The lord, that is the injured proprietor, commended the unjust steward,
because, or in that, he had done wisely. The difficulty here lies on the
surface,--lies, as it were, in the sound; upon a close examination it
vanishes. First of all, the lord who praised the steward is, as the
translators have indicated by printing the word without a capital, not
the Lord Jesus, the speaker of the parable, but the master, whom the
cunning agent had robbed. Further, this praise obviously did not
indicate moral approval. The master praised the servant when all was
over, not for the faithfulness with which he had been served, but for
the cleverness with which he had been cheated. The commendation which
the master bestowed upon the servant was that of sharply looking after
himself. It is the commendation which one whose house has been robbed
during the night might bestow in the morning upon the robber, after
noticing how adroitly he had opened the locks, and carried off the
booty.

This nefarious transaction was, from the perpetrator's view-point,
cleverly planned and promptly executed. It was no sooner said than done;
delay might have ruined the steward's prospects. He must have everything
done before he is summoned actually to transfer his books to his
successor's hands. He provided in his own way for his own future need;
the plan was well-contrived, and successfully carried into effect. This
praise, but expressly and only this, the injured master bestowed upon
the man.

"And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into
everlasting habitations." Such is the lesson which the Lord draws from
the picture. Difficulties, indeed, adhere to the phraseology in its
details; but the interpretation, in its main line, is determined and
made evident by landmarks which can neither be overlooked nor removed.
The mammon of unrighteousness means the world with all its business and
its possessions; mammon is denominated unrighteous, generally on account
of the manner in which it is employed by worldly men, and specially on
account of the case in hand, where a gross injustice was perpetrated
without scruple, and as an ordinary matter of business. Alas, how
prevalent is this form of unrighteousness still! Although justice in a
large measure pervades and so sustains the vast commerce of the country,
many mean tricks insinuate themselves between its m