THE CONCEPT OF talent as innate skill comes from an interpretation of one of Jesus’ parables (Matthew 25:14–30). In the parable, a man entrusted his slaves to grow his wealth by investing his money for him. A talent was a unit of currency and roughly represented 20 years of wages for an average worker.
The story goes: The rich man gave one slave five talents, another two talents, and another one talent. When he returned, the first slave had doubled his investment to 10 talents. The master said, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” The second slave also doubled his investment and received the same reward.
The third slave returned the one talent he was given. “Master,” he explained, “I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.”
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