{His lord commended} (ep(8869)nesen ho kurios). The steward's
lord praised him though he himself had been wronged again (see
verse  1  "wasting his goods"). {The unrighteous steward} (	on
oikonomon t(8873) adikias). Literally, the steward of
unrighteousness. The genitive is the case of genus, species, the
steward distinguished by unrighteousness as his characteristic.
See "the mammon of unrighteousness" in verse  9 . See "the
forgetful hearer" in  Jas 1:25 . It is a vernacular idiom common
to Hebrew, Aramaic, and the _Koin(825f). {Wisely} (phronim(9373)). An
old adverb, though here alone in the N.T. But the adjective
phronimos from which it comes occurs a dozen times as in  Mt
10:16 . It is from phrone(935c) and that from phr(886e), the mind
( 1Co 14:20 ), the discerning intellect. Perhaps "shrewdly" or
"discreetly" is better here than "wisely." The lord does not
absolve the steward from guilt and he was apparently dismissed
from his service. His shrewdness consisted in finding a place to
go by his shrewdness. He remained the steward of unrighteousness
even though his shrewdness was commended. {For} (hoti).
Probably by this second hoti Jesus means to say that he cites
this example of shrewdness because it illustrates the point.
"This is the moral of the whole parable. Men of the world in
their dealings with men like themselves are more prudent than the
children of light in their intercourse with one another"
(Plummer). We all know how stupid Christians can be in their
co-operative work in the kingdom of God, to go no further. {Wiser
than} (phronim(9374)eroi huper). Shrewder beyond, a common Greek
idiom.