SEV Biblia, Chapter 6:24
Ninguno puede servir a dos seores; porque o aborrecer al uno y amar al otro, o se llegar al uno y menospreciar al otro; no podis servir a Dios y a las riquezas.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:24
Verse 24. No man can serve two masters] The master of our heart may be fitly termed the love that reigns in it. We serve that only which we love supremely. A man cannot be in perfect indifference betwixt two objects which are incompatible: he is inclined to despise and hate whatever he does not love supremely, when the necessity of a choice presents itself. He will hate the one and love the other.] The word hate has the same sense here as it has in many places of Scripture; it merely signifies to love less-so Jacob loved Rachel, but hated Leah; i.e. he loved Leah much less than he loved Rachel. God himself uses it precisely in the same sense: Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated; i.e. I have loved the posterity of Esau less than I have loved the posterity of Jacob: which means no more than that God, in the course of his providence, gave to the Jews greater earthly privileges than he gave to the Edomites, and chose to make them the progenitors of the Messiah, though they ultimately, through their own obstinacy, derived no more benefit from this privilege than the Edomites did. How strange is it, that with such evidence before their eyes, men will apply this loving and hating to degrees of inclusion and exclusion, in which neither the justice nor mercy of God are honoured! Ye cannot serve God and mammon.] wmm mamon is used for money in the Targum of Onkelos, Exodus xviii. 21; and in that of Jonathan, Judg. v. 19; 1 Sam. viii. 3. The Syriac word anwmm mamona is used in the same sense, Exodus xxi. 30. Dr. Castel deduces these words from the Hebrew ma aman, to trust, confide; because men are apt to trust in riches. Mammon may therefore be considered any thing a man confides in. Augustine observes, "that mammon, in the Punic or Carthaginian language, signified gain." Lucrum Punic mammon dicitur. The word plainly denotes riches, Luke xvi. 9, 11, in which latter verse mention is made not only of the deceitful mammon, (tw adikw,) but also of the true (to alhqinon.) St. Luke's phrase, mamwno adikiav, very exactly answers to the Chaldee rqd wmm mamon dishekar, which is often used in the Targums. See more in Wetstein and Parkhurst.
Some suppose there was an idol of this name, and Kircher mentions such a one in his OEdip. Egyptiacus. See Castel.
Our blessed Lord shows here the utter impossibility of loving the world and loving God at the same time; or, in other words, that a man of the world cannot be a truly religious character. He who gives his heart to the world robs God of it, and, in snatching at the shadow of earthly good, loses substantial and eternal blessedness. How dangerous is it to set our hearts upon riches, seeing it is so easy to make them our God!
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 24. No man can serve two masters , etc.] 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 f435 , we have not found that twnjlw ytl hkwz da lk , any man is fit for two tables. And again f436 , 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 f437 , and in the Talmudic writings; where twnwmm ynyd , pecuniary judgments, or causes relating to money affairs, in which were pecuniary mulcts, are opposed to twpn ynyd , judgment of souls, or causes relating to life and death. The account and interpretation Irenaeus 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 Christs 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 wmmh ta ybhwa , loved the mammon, and hated one another without a cause f440 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 19-24 - Worldly-mindedness is a common and fatal symptom of hypocrisy, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a profession of religion. Something the soul will have, whic it looks upon as the best thing; in which it has pleasure an confidence above other things. Christ counsels to make our best thing the joys and glories of the other world, those things not seen whic are eternal, and to place our happiness in them. There are treasures in heaven. It is our wisdom to give all diligence to make our title to eternal life sure through Jesus Christ, and to look on all things her below, as not worthy to be compared with it, and to be content with nothing short of it. It is happiness above and beyond the changes an chances of time, an inheritance incorruptible. The worldly man is wron in his first principle; therefore all his reasonings and action therefrom must be wrong. It is equally to be applied to false religion that which is deemed light is thick darkness. This is an awful, but common case; we should therefore carefully examine our leadin principles by the word of God, with earnest prayer for the teaching of his Spirit. A man may do some service to two masters, but he can devot himself to the service of no more than one. God requires the whol heart, and will not share it with the world. When two masters oppos each other, no man can serve both. He who holds to the world and love it, must despise God; he who loves God, must give up the friendship of the world.
Greek Textus Receptus
ουδεις 3762 A-NSM δυναται 1410 5736 V-PNI-3S δυσι 1417 A-DPM κυριοις 2962 N-DPM δουλευειν 1398 5721 V-PAN η 2228 PRT γαρ 1063 CONJ τον 3588 T-ASM ενα 1520 A-ASM μισησει 3404 5692 V-FAI-3S και 2532 CONJ τον 3588 T-ASM ετερον 2087 A-ASM αγαπησει 25 5692 V-FAI-3S η 2228 PRT ενος 1520 A-GSM ανθεξεται 472 5695 V-FDI-3S και 2532 CONJ του 3588 T-GSM ετερου 2087 A-GSM καταφρονησει 2706 5692 V-FAI-3S ου 3756 PRT-N δυνασθε 1410 5736 V-PNI-2P θεω 2316 N-DSM δουλευειν 1398 5721 V-PAN και 2532 CONJ μαμμωνα 3126 N-DSN 3126 ARAM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
24. The other (eteron). Implying distinction in quality rather than numerical distinction (allov). For example, "whoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other (thn allhn); i.e., the other one of the two (Matt. v. 39). At Pentecost, the disciples began to speak with other (eteraiv) tongues; i.e., different from their native tongues. Here the word gives the idea of two master of distinct or opposite character and interests, like God and Mammon.Hold to (anqexetai). The preposition ajnti, against, indicates holding to the one master as against the other. He who is for God must be against Mammon.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
6:24 {No man can serve two masters} (oudeis dunatai dusi kuriois douleuein). Many try it, but failure awaits them all. Men even try "to be slaves to God and mammon" (qewi douleuein kai mam"nai). Mammon is a Chaldee, Syriac, and Punic word like _Plutus_ for the money-god (or devil). The slave of mammon will obey mammon while pretending to obey God. The United States has had a terrible revelation of the power of the money-god in public life in the Sinclair-Fall-Teapot-Air-Dome-Oil case. When the guide is blind and leads the blind, both fall into the ditch. The man who cannot tell road from ditch sees falsely as Ruskin shows in _Modern Painters_. He will hold to one (henos anthexetai). The word means to line up face to face (anti) with one man and so against the other.
