1 Talent of Gold

[28Orot]

Shylock doesn't seem to have gotten the message.

To fellow Jews its forbidden with interest, but you can lend money to gentiles with an interest...

[Madiel]

Anyone reading the text of the parable has not gained an iota of insight as to what the kingdom of heaven is like.

Well then, the parable failed, because as has already been pointed out the explicit point of the parable (like many of Jesus' parables) was to talk about the kingdom of heaven.

You seem intent on disliking the answer you've been provided about the connection between the 2 meanings of the word "talent". The fact that you don't like the answer is not going to cause the answer to change. Yes, over the course of many centuries people buggered it up. So be it.

[(poco) Sforzando]

To fellow Jews its forbidden with interest, but you can lend money to gentiles with an interest...

Ah.

[28Orot]

Ah.

Yes, its biblical, so your *shylock* had gotten the biblical message really crystal clear.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Its a little weird that the word Talent which is derived from Greek is a monetary measurement by weight, and this word also means talent as to describe heightened skill.

Anyone can see any connection between these two very different things?
Maybe the connection is that a gifted person has better chances to be successful monetarily?

Like saying, you are so gifted in this skill you will have much success in gathering many talents of gold....

There are many people in our modern sense of talent who are not doing well financially, and vice versa (unless you consider the ability to make money a talent, which I suppose it is unless you are born into or acquire wealth by marriage or inheritance).

The metaphor appears to be that a talent being a unit of weight, those with the greatest weight are by extension those with the greatest gifts - not those who are necessarily the most financially successful.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Yes, its biblical, so your *shylock* had gotten the biblical message really crystal clear.

Not my "shylock" [sic]. Shakespeare's.

[28Orot]

Not my "shylock" [sic]. Shakespeare's.

I was kidding 

[28Orot]

There are many people in our modern sense of talent who are not doing well financially, and vice versa (unless you consider the ability to make money a talent, which I suppose it is unless you are born into or acquire wealth by marriage or inheritance).

The metaphor appears to be that a talent being a unit of weight, those with the greatest weight are by extension those with the greatest gifts - not those who are necessarily the most financially successful.

The metaphor would have worked *mabye* with the dude who received only 1 talent, 1 talent if it should mean :skill: is enough to succeed where 5 talents have failed...but the story is written in such a way where the possibility of a measuring unit to be turned into some kind of a gifted skill is unattainable.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Matthew 25:14-30New King James Version (NKJV)

The Parable of the Talents

14 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

20 "So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' 21 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.' 23 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

24 "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'

26 "But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

29 'For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Of course we could also say that if the value of a talent varies, and the servants with 5 and 2 had invested their talents in high-risk stocks that plunged in value when the stock market crashed, the servant with 1 talent who kept his in cash was really the smartest of all, since he may not have earned much but he preserved his capital.

[28Orot]

Of course we could also say that if the value of a talent varies, and the servants with 5 and 2 had invested their talents in high-risk stocks that plunged in value when the stock market crashed, the servant with 1 talent who kept his in cash was really the smartest of all, since he may not have earned much but he preserved his capital.

Good point, that supports my previous statement rite the one before yours. But the way the story is now, its narrative and conclusion from the text ,its simply impossible to turn a measuring unit into a gifted skillful individual.

[Ken B]

The connection to the parable is explicit in Milton, so it goes back a long way. The connection is pretty simple too: you are given something of value anD it's up to you to use.

[28Orot]

The connection to the parable is explicit in Milton, so it goes back a long way. The connection is pretty simple too: you are given something of value anD it's up to you to use.

I don't know but if you had asked me, the greater point is, that someone who has 1 talent and achieves more is more talented then the those others who had received 5 or 2.

So if the comparison should work in the context of the parable, then the parable needs to change so it would make sense.

[(poco) Sforzando]

The connection to the parable is explicit in Milton, so it goes back a long way. The connection is pretty simple too: you are given something of value anD it's up to you to use.

Indeed. The sonnet "On his Blindness," explicitly alluding to death as the hiding of the one talent:

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."

[(poco) Sforzando]

I don't know but if you had asked me, the greater point is, that someone who has 1 talent and achieves more is more talented then the those others who had received 5 or 2.

So if the comparison should work in the context of the parable, then the parable needs to change so it would make sense.

We'll get Jesus to work on it.

[Jo498]

It would not be too hard to find a "counter-parable", e.g. the workers in the vineyard who all get the same day's wage despite some having labored for the whole day and others who were hired in the afternoon only a few hours.
But the point is not what some parables might tell about the kingdom of heavens (and how they can contradict each other) but where our meaning of talent comes from.
And as some others here I am pretty certain that it does come from this very parable. It is among the best known ones. E.g. in German there is the phrase "mit seinem Pfund wuchern" (to get interest out of one's [literally] pound) because "Pfund" was used by Luther who in his translation always used coins and measures common in 1500s Germany, not oboloi, drachmai or talents (therefore some names of coins that have been obsolete for hundreds of years still remain in sayings drawn from Luther's bible translation)
There is also a somewhat flippant name "Matthaeus-Doktrin" (when talking about distributive justice) for "For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away."

[Spineur]

The origin of the greenback:
Talent->Thaler->Dollar

[28Orot]

The origin of the greenback:
Talent->Thaler->Dollar

Vallet...

[28Orot]

I see.  Sorry to have wasted your time.

I accept your Apology...

[Karl Henning]

The origin of the greenback:
Talent->Thaler->Dollar

♫ "Shoot that turkey buzzard flying through the holler;
Shoot that turkey buzzard, I'll give you a thaler."

[28Orot]

♫ "Shoot that turkey buzzard flying through the holler;
Shoot that turkey buzzard, I'll give you a thaler."

Thats some wild turkey...