It seems that Peter was not merely asking the question for his own private information, but was urged to inquire

by reason of the great responsibility he felt at having the keys of the kingdom committed to him, and the power in a

special manner of binding and loosing connected therewith.  How long should he exercise forbearance and

forgiveness? The Rabbis taught from Amos 1:3, etc., to forgive three times, and no more. This seems to receive

some colour from the words of the Lord in Matthew 18:15-17 :

(1) `Between thee and him alone', then

(2) `If he will not hear, take with thee one or two more', then

(3) `If he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican'.

Peter seemed to realize something of the new spirit, and ventures to put a tentative reply to his own question by

saying, `till seven times?' If Peter had any hesitancy in advancing beyond the tether of Rabbinical teaching it was

entirely dispelled by the glorious fulness given in the Lord's answer, `I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but,

Until seventy times seven'. These words seem to refer back to two passages of Old Testament Scripture, both

written during the times of the Gentiles, the one uttered before the nation of Israel had been formed, the other after

they had been taken captive to Babylon.

The first reference is Genesis 4:24, `If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold'.

Lamech is often spoken of as arrogating to himself divine prerogatives; it may be, however, that he has been blamed

by Commentators for that which he did not intend. Cain was protected by the Lord, a token was appointed for him

in mercy (nearly everyone speaks of the `brand of Cain' as though God set a mark upon him in wrath), the word

mark in Genesis 4:15 being the word token, used of the bow in the clouds (Gen. 9:12), and of the blood of the

passover (Exod. 12:13). Lamech seems to say to his wives, Be still, fear not, for if Cain who was a murderer was

thus protected by a seven-fold avenging, surely I shall be avenged seven and seventy-fold; for the words relative to

the slaying and wounding in verse 23 may indicate a query rather than state a fact. There seems to be an emphasis,

markedly so in the case of Cain, of the great long-suffering and mercy of our gracious God.

The other reference to this seventy times seven is found in Daniel 9, and there in a light infinitely worse than that

of Cain or of Lamech. The Lord intervenes and tells the anxious prophet that his prayers shall receive an abundant

answer. Daniel had prayed for the forgiveness of his people (9:19), and in answer the man Gabriel is sent to reveal

the future of his people to him. `Seventy-sevens are severed off upon thy people and upon thy holy city'.

Seventy-sevens - the period of time seems to convey also some lesson of the Lord's long-suffering and forbearance

with his rebellious people. If ever a people could be expected to exercise forgiveness to others Israel surely should

be the first, for have they not had extended to them untold forbearance from a long-suffering God? The Lord did not

omit this from the kingdom prayer of Matthew 6. `Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors' has a direct

bearing upon the parable of the servant who, having been forgiven `all that debt', would not forgive his

fellow-servant who was his debtor to a much less extent. How many of our readers could say, without reference,

what one clause of the Lord's prayer is immediately expanded after the conclusion of the petition? It is not the

reference to hallowing the Name, nor the coming kingdom, but just this very clause:

`For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men

their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses'.

These words are echoed in the closing verse of Matthew 18. Here in this parable we have in all its hatefulness

one of the factors of Israel's failure. They forgave not; they were not forgiven. Their measure of iniquity was filled

up when in their implacable antagonism to the widening mercy of God they forbade the apostle Paul to speak to the

Gentiles that they might be saved, and so wrath came upon them to the uttermost (1 Thess. 2:16).

This passage from 1 Thessalonians should be read with the parable before us, when the `wrath to the uttermost'

is echoed in the words, `His lord was wroth', and `till he should pay all that was due unto him'.

This last clause compels us to consider another passage in the Sermon on the Mount, that message calculated to

reveal the failure of Israel's attempt at attaining a righteousness by law, and to bring them to repentance. In

Matthew 5:22 the Lord says:

`But I say unto you (in contradistinction to what had been taught them), That whosoever is angry with his

brother ... shall be in danger of (liable to) the judgment'.