Matthew 6:24

24 "¹No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot * serve God and ²wealth.

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Matthew 6:24 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters
Whose orders are directly contrary to one another: otherwise, if they were the same, or agreed, both might be served; but this is rarely the case, and seldom done. This is a proverbial expression, and is elsewhere used by Christ, ( Luke 16:13 ) . The Jews have sayings pretty much like it, and of the same sense as when they say ^F23,

``we have not found that (twnxlwv ytvl hkwz Mda lk) , "any man is fit for two tables."''

And again ^F24,

``that it is not proper for one man to have two governments:''

their meaning is, that two things cannot be done together:

for, either he will hate the one, and love the other;
he will have less affection and regard to the one, than to the other; as the service or orders of the one, are less agreeable to him than the others;

or else he will hold to the one;
hearken to his commands, obey his orders, and abide in his service;

and despise the other;
show disrespect to his person, neglect his orders, and desert his service:

ye cannot serve God and mammon.
The word "mammon" is a Syriac word, and signifies money, wealth, riches, substance, and everything that comes under the name of worldly goods. Jerom says, that riches, in the Syriac language, are called "mammon"; and so the word is often used in the above senses, in the Chaldee paraphrases ^F25, and in the Talmudic writings; where ^F26 (twnwmm ynyd) , "pecuniary judgments", or causes relating to money affairs, in which were pecuniary mulcts, are opposed to (twvpn ynyd) , "judgment of souls", or causes relating to life and death. The account and interpretation Irenaeus ^F1 gives of the word, is very wide and foreign; who says, that

``Mammon, according to the Jewish way of speaking, which the Samaritans used, is one that is greedy, and would have more than he ought; but, according to the Hebrew language, it is called adjectively Mam, and signifies one that is gluttonous; that is, who cannot refrain himself from gluttony.''

Whereas it is not an Hebrew word, nor an adjective, but a substantive, and signifies riches; which are opposed to God, being by some men loved, admired, trusted in, and worshipped, as if they were God; and which is incompatible with the service of the true God: for such persons, whose hearts go after their covetousness, and are set upon earthly riches, who give up themselves to them, are eagerly and anxiously pursuing after them, and place their confidence in them; whatever pretensions they may make to the service of God, as did the Scribes and Pharisees, who are particularly struck at by this expression, both here and elsewhere, they cannot truly and heartily serve the Lord. "Mammon" is the god they serve; which word may well be thought to answer to Pluto, the god of riches, among the Heathens. The Jews, in Christ's time, were notorious for the love of "mammon"; and they themselves own, that this was the cause of the destruction of the second temple: the character they give of those, who lived under the second temple, is this:

``we know that they laboured in the law, and took care of the commandments, and of the tithes, and that their whole conversation was good; only that they (Nwmmh ta Nybhwa) , "loved the mammon", and hated one another without a cause ^F2.''

FOOTNOTES:

F23 Praefat. Celi Jaker, fol. 3. 1.
F24 Piske Tosephot Cetubot, art. 359.
F25 Vid. Targum Onkelos & Jon. in Gen. xiii. 13. & in Jud. v. 19. & in Prov. iii. 9. & in Isa. xlv. 13. & passim.
F26 Misn. Sanhed. c. 1. sect. 1. & c. 4. sect. 1.
F1 Adv. Haeres. l. 3. c. 8. p. 249.
F2 T. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 38. 3.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Matthew 6:24 In-Context

22 "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.

23 "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

25 "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?