Recovering Jewish-Christian Sects and Gospels (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae)

 chapter three

Luke’s parables have found it difficult to reconstruct the order of servants
and their punishments. It is clear that the servant who spent the money
for his own entertainment was thrown into prison but what was the des-
tiny of the other two servants? Because Eusebius describes the servants
in the order (.) spent, (.) multiplied, (.) hid, and describes the punish-
ment of the first servant last, it would seem that he presents the punish-
ment in the reversed, khiastic order:

The Gospel of the Hebrews The Gospel of Matthew

Servant Judgment
(Eusebius’s order
reversed)

Servant Judgment

. spent the
fortune with flute
girls

thrown into

prison

. doubles five

talents

was praised

. multiplied the
trade

rebuked . doubles two

talents

was praised

. hid the talent accepted . hid the talent was thrown into
darkness

However, the assumption about the khiastic order is difficult because
then the servant who hid the talent would have been the one who was
accepted, not the one who multiplied his trade as in the synoptic versions.
Therefore, Klijn suggests that Eusebius’ first listing does not follow the
original order. Eusebius focused on the servant who was punished and
therefore mentioned him first. According to Klijn, the original order and
the corresponding punishments were as follows:^93

. multiplied the trade→was accepted

. hid the talent→was rebuked

. spent the money→was thrown into prison

However, Malina and Rohrbaugh think that Eusebius did not make a
mistake. He described the judgments in the same (reversed) order as
they were in theGospel of the Hebrews.^94 This suggestion draws on

(^93) Klijn , .
(^94) Malina & Rohrbaugh , –. However, Malina and Rohrbaugh follow the
standard GH classification and attribute the passage to the “Gospel of the Nazarenes.”