Luk 16:6-7, Act 28:21, Gal 6:11 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 6. An hundred measures . The measure here mentioned is the bath , which contained, according to Dr. Arbuthnot's tables, 7 1/2 gallons, or, according to the marginal note, about 9 gallons and 3 quarts. Oil . Oil of olives, or sweet oil. It was much used for lamps, as an article of food ( ), and also for anointing, and, of course, as an article of commerce, . These were persons, doubtless, who had rented land of the rich man, and who were to give him a certain proportion of the produce. Thy bill . The contract, obligation, or lease . It was probably written as a promise by the debtor and signed by the steward, and thus became binding. Thus he had power to alter it, without supposing that his master would detect it. The bill or contract was in the hands of the steward, and he gave it back to him to write a new one. Quickly . He supposed that his master would soon remove him, and he was therefore in haste to have all things secure beforehand. It is worthy of remark, also, that all this was wrong. His master had called for the account; but, instead of rendering it, he engaged in other business, disobeyed his lord still, and, in contempt of his commands, sought his own interest. All sinners would be slow to give in their account to God if they could do it; and it is only because, when God calls them by death, they cannot but go , that they do not engage still in their own business and disobey him. (1) "Measures of oil" = "The measure Batos , in the original, contained nine gallons and three quarts. See

Luke 16:6-7

Verse 6. An hundred measures. The measure here mentioned is the bath, which contained, according to Dr. Arbuthnot's tables, 7 1/2 gallons, or, according to the marginal note, about 9 gallons and 3 quarts.

Oil. Oil of olives, or sweet oil. It was much used for lamps, as an article of food (Ex 29:2), and also for anointing, and, of course, as an article of commerce, 1Kgs 5:11. These were persons, doubtless, who had rented land of the rich man, and who were to give him a certain proportion of the produce.

Thy bill. The contract, obligation, or lease. It was probably written as a promise by the debtor and signed by the steward, and thus became binding. Thus he had power to alter it, without supposing that his master would detect it. The bill or contract was in the hands of the steward, and he gave it back to him to write a new one.

Quickly. He supposed that his master would soon remove him, and he was therefore in haste to have all things secure beforehand. It is worthy of remark, also, that all this was wrong. His master had called for the account; but, instead of rendering it, he engaged in other business, disobeyed his lord still, and, in contempt of his commands, sought his own interest. All sinners would be slow to give in their account to God if they could do it; and it is only because, when God calls them by death, they cannot but go, that they do not engage still in their own business and disobey him.

(1) "Measures of oil" = "The measure Batos, in the original, contained nine gallons and three quarts. See Eze 45:10-14 Verse 7. Measures of wheat. The measure here mentioned--the kor, or homer--contained, according to the tables of Dr. Arbuthnot, about 32 pecks, or 8 bushels; or, according to the marginal note, about 14 bushels and a pottle. A pottle is 4 pints. The Hebrew kor, ^hebrew^--or homer, ^hebrew^--was equal to 10 baths or 70 gallons, and the actual amount of the measure, according to this, was not far from 8 gallons. Robinson (Lex.), however, supposes that the bath was 11 1/2 gallons, and the kor or homer 14.45 bushels. The amount is not material to the proper understanding of the parable.

Fourscore. Eighty.

(2) "measures" = "The measure here indicated contained about fourteen bushels and a pottle"

Acts 28:21

Verse 21. We neither received letters, etc. Why the Jews in Judea had not forwarded the accusation against Paul to their brethren at Rome, that they might continue the prosecution before the emperor, is not known. It is probable that they regarded their cause as hopeless, and chose to abandon the prosecution. Paul had been acquitted successively by Lysias, Felix, Festus, Agrippa; and as they had not succeeded in procuring his condemnation before them, they saw no prospect of doing it at Rome, and chose therefore not to press the prosecution any farther.

Neither any of the brethren that came. Any of the Jews. There was a very constant intercourse between Judea and Rome; but it seems that the Jews, who had come before Paul had arrived, had not mentioned his case, so as to prejudice them against him.

(*) "shewed" "related"

Galatians 6:11

Verse 11. Ye see. This might be rendered see, in the imperative. So Tindal renders it, "Behold." But it is more commonly supposed that it should be rendered in the indicative. The sense is not materially different, whichever translation is adopted. The object of the apostle is to direct their attention to the special proof of his love, which he had manifested in writing such a letter.

How large a letter. Considerable variety has existed in regard to the interpretation of this phrase. The word here used and translated how large πηλικοις means, properly, how great. Some have supposed that it refers to the size of the letters which Paul made in writing the epistle --the length and crudeness of the characters which he used. Such interpreters suppose that he was not well versed in writing Greek, and that he used large letters, and those somewhat rudely made, like the Hebrew. So Doddridge and Whitby interpret it; and so Theodoret, Jerome, Theophylact, and some others. He might not, says Doddridge, have been well versed in the Greek characters; or "this inaccuracy of his writings might have been owing to the infirmity or weakness of his nerves, which he had hinted at before." Jerome says that Paul was a Hebrew, and that he was unacquainted with the mode of writing Greek letters; and that because necessity demanded that he should write a letter in his own hand, contrary to his usual custom, he was obliged to form his characters in this crude manner. According to this interpretation, it was

(1) a pledge to the Galatians that the epistle was genuine, since it bore the marks of his own handwriting; and

(2) it was proof of special affection for them that he was willing to undergo this labour on their account. Others suppose that he means to refer to the size of the epistle which he had written. Such is the interpretation of Grotius, Koppe, Bloomfield, Clarke, Locke, Chandler, and is, indeed, the common interpretation, as it is the obvious one. According to this, it was proof of special interest in them, and regard for them, that he had written to them a whole letter with his own hand. Usually he employed an amanuensis, and added his name, with a brief benediction or remark at the close. Rom 16:22; 1Cor 16:21. What induced him to depart from his usual custom here is unknown. Jerome supposes that he refers here to what follows from this verse to the end of the epistle, as that which he had written with his own hand; but the word εγραψα, says Rosenmuller, refers rather to what he had written, than to that which he intended to write. On this verse, the reader may consult with advantage, Tholuck on the Life and Writings of Paul; German Selections, by Edwards and Park, Andover, 1839, pp. 35, 64, 65.