But he that had received one went and dug in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
All Commentaries on Matthew 25:18 Go To Matthew 25
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
But he that had received one . . . hid his lord"s money; Arab. buried his lord"s silver. To bury a talent Isaiah , through negligence and sloth, not to use or exercise the grace bestowed upon one. Here observe, that this burying of his talent is ascribed to him who only received one talent. This is not because others, who have received more, do not often do the same, but in order that we may understand that if Hebrews , who had only misused his one talent, was thus severely punished by his master, far sharper will be the Lord"s censure and punishment of those who have misused more and greater talents. Wherefore Paul says, "We exhort you, that ye receive not the grace of God in vain" (2Cor. vi11). And again, "His grace in me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all" ( 1 Corinthians 15:10); and, "Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel."
Let those who do not use genius, learning, prudence, or other gifts of God, for their own or others" benefits, on account of sloth, or fear of sinning, or for any similar reason, note this. For of them will Christ demand an exact account of these gifts in the Day of Judgment. Observe also, that those who have received few talents, often, through sloth, leave them idle, and, as it were, bury them; whilst those who have received more are stimulated by them, and either use them rightly and meritoriously, or else abuse them to vanity. And these last are punished not so much for letting their talents lie idle, as for misusing them! Thus we commonly see that those who have great powers of intellect, if they do not employ them for good purposes, do so for bad.
