<p>12:46 <i>The master of that servant shall come in a day when he does not expect, and at an hour he does not know- </i>The implication is that the unfaithful servant should have &lsquo;known&rsquo; and &lsquo;been aware of&rsquo; his Lord&rsquo;s coming. He should have lived every moment as if&nbsp;<i>this&nbsp;</i>were the day and hour of the Lord&rsquo;s coming; even whilst recognizing that he does not finally know it. There is another possibility, discussed in a separate digression- and that is simply that the faithful in literally the very last few days&nbsp;<i>will&nbsp;</i>in fact know that the day and hour. The language of the Olivet prophecy brims with certainty as to the faithful&nbsp;<i>knowing</i>&nbsp;the time: &quot;When you shall see these things come to pass,&nbsp;<i>know</i>&nbsp;that it is near... you&nbsp;<i>know</i>&nbsp;that Summer is near...&nbsp;<i>when</i>&nbsp;you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then&nbsp;<i>know</i>&nbsp;that the desolation thereof is near... when you therefore shall&nbsp;<i>see</i>&nbsp;(same Greek translated &quot;know&quot;) the abomination of desolation... when you&nbsp;<i>see</i>&nbsp;(Gk. know, understand, perceive) all these things come to pass,&nbsp;<i>know</i>&nbsp; that the Kingdom of God is near&quot;. The idea is that we will understand clearly certain signs, and know&nbsp;<i>therefore</i>&nbsp;that the Lord is imminent. This all seems in marked contrast to the Lord's conclusion to the prophecy: &quot;of that day and that hour&nbsp;<i>knoweth</i>&nbsp;no man&quot;. There is a marked connection here with the fact that he has just been saying that it will be possible to know once the signs are seen and understood. Surely he must be talking specifically to the twelve;&nbsp;<i>they</i>&nbsp;didn't&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;know the time, neither could they; but those who saw the signs by implication&nbsp;<i>would</i>&nbsp;know. In the context of these words about them not&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;knowing the day and hour, the Lord said that the believer&nbsp;<i>at the time of his return</i>&nbsp;who didn't know the day and hour of his coming would be found unprepared (Mt. 24:50). This is surely proof enough that the last generation&nbsp;<i>will</i>&nbsp;in some way know the day and hour, i.e. the appointed time (cp. Rev. 9:15), of the Lord's return. This point is a very powerful one.</p><p>This word&nbsp;<i>ginosko </i>is used of how the world of Noah&rsquo;s day did not &ldquo;know&rdquo; until all too late (Mt. 24:39). We are to &ldquo;know&rdquo; the time (Mt. 24:33 &ldquo;know that it is near&rdquo;, &ldquo;know this&rdquo; Lk. 21:31). And yet we cannot know the time in terms of a calendar date. Therefore we are to &ldquo;know&rdquo; the time in living according to the principle that the Lord&nbsp;<i>could&nbsp;</i>come imminently, at this very moment.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><i>And shall cut him into pieces- </i>Gk. &lsquo;to cut him in two&rsquo;, literally &lsquo;to dichotomize&rsquo;. This unreal and severe punishment- to cut a slave in half as punishment- emphasizes the extreme nature of the wrongdoing. This may also allude to the idea of cutting a covenant. The parties to the covenant passed between the pieces of the covenant sacrifice and thereby proclaimed that they should be cut in two if they broke the covenant. These condemned persons, in this particular teaching, would therefore refer to those who had already entered covenant with God and are being judged for it. And the hint is that they broke that covenant because they preferred to be hypocrites, to look good in the eyes of men when their heart was somewhere else. The evil servant will be &quot;cut asunder&quot;, i.e. his hypocrisy will be openly revealed for the first time (remember, he was an ecclesial elder in mortal life, according to the parable). There will be a public dimension to the judgment process, for the whole purpose of it is for the learning of those present at it, rather than for God&rsquo;s benefit. What we have spoken in the Lord's ear will be revealed by him openly (&quot;from the housetops&quot;) at the judgment (Lk. 12:3). When the righteous receive their inheritance (i.e. at the judgment), then the fool will be held up to shame (Prov. 3:35 NIV).</p><p><i>And put him with the unbelievers</i>- The Lord will appoint (the wicked servant) his portion with the unbelievers, his portion with the hypocrites (Mt. 24:51), reminiscent of a &quot;goat&quot; in the later parable&nbsp;being told to go to the group of goats at the left-hand side. They represent &quot;the unbelievers&quot;, i.e. those responsible but lacking in real faith (the word is used concerning this group in Jn. 20:27; Mt. 17:20; Rom. 11:20; Heb. 3:12; Tit. 1:15; Rev. 21:8). The Lord&rsquo;s self-indulgent servant will be cut asunder at judgment day- revealed for who he really is- and then be appointed his portion with the other hypocrites (Mt. 24:41). The rejected servants, who appeared to believe but who only play-acted, are in fact unbelievers. They have as little faith as the unbelieving world, although they think they believe and serve the Lord.</p>