Then why call it a talent? Its meaning is established in Exodus 38:24 when describing the materials used for the tabernacle.
All the gold that was used for the work, in all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering, was twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary.
The parable corroborates the association meant in the story is financial. The moral is being communicated in this fashion. The application is another matter. All things which God bestows unto us is the point.
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.
But his master answered him, You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
He calls him slothful for a reason. The teachings on sloth are plentiful in Proverbs and we’re shown the fate of the sluggard.
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. —Proverbs 13:4
And in like fashion, the parable states:
So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
The key to the passage is found in these lines:
He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
They are purposely noting the differences in response to its receipt.
did you notice that there are two different forms of money being discussed in those scriptures?
The talent was the money minted by the Temple, and was used to buy and sell different supplies/animals that were then used for the sacrifices. That's why they used the Talents as an offering to God as well, because in the offering (tithe) were two different functions.
1. the money given to the Temple was used to support the priests who served God in the Temple.
2. God provides for the Jews needs, and in exchange they offer God a Tithe, paid in Temple coinage, and thus they return to God what was God's in the first place.
The Shekel was money minted by the government, and that was what was used to pay the government taxes to Rome, and the Temple taxes were paid to the Temple, using the shekel.
Note the last two letters in the word "shekel". The letters "el" when they fall at the end of any Hebrew word refer to God's name, El.
And that's why Jesus responded when asked about the tithe :"Give to God what is God's..." because He knew that it was common practice for the tax collectors to "cook the books" so to speak when collecting the taxes.
So if a coin is a shekel, then it belongs to God. And all God asked for was a tithe (10% off the top. In other words the best of the spoils.)
Giving God the top 10% is not only right, but it allows us to show God our respect, our admiration, our gratitude, and most of all, our love for Him. And He who has everything, allows us to do this one thing for Him, and it pleases Him to be recognized and loved by us, His children, in this way.
