A tormentor may mean a torturer or jailer, especially one holding a debtor until restitution was made. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, the term refers to those who inflicted imprisonment and suffering.
Definition
A tormentor is a torturer or jailer. In the parable of the unforgiving servant, the term refers to persons who held a debtor in imprisonment until restitution was made. In another passage, the King James Version uses “tormentor” where the Revised Version has “butcher,” meaning a public executioner.
Biblical Usage
Jesus’ parable uses tormentors in the setting of a debtor who was delivered to imprisonment after failing to meet an obligation. The suffering associated with confinement is treated as torment.
Historical Background
A bankrupt debtor was normally sold into slavery. In extreme cases, especially where concealment of assets was suspected, a defaulter might instead be imprisoned until restitution was made. The jailers may therefore be understood simply as those responsible for the imprisonment.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>tor-men'-ter: the King James Version 2 Macc 7:29 for demios "belonging to the people," and so "public executioner," the Revised Version (British and American) "butcher." A term of utter contempt, whose force is lost in the King James Version. Also Mt 18:34 for basanistes, "torturer." Normally the bankrupt debtor was sold into slavery. But, apparently, in extreme cases (where concealment of assets was suspected?) the defaulter was sent to prison until restitution should be made. Probably the imprisonment itself was regarded as "torment" (as it doubtless was), and the "tormentors" need mean nothing more than jailers.</p><p>Burton Scott Easton</p>
