MAMMON. This Aram. term, māmōnā' (emphatic state of māmōn), apparently signified “wealth” or “property,” and was of frequent occurrence in the Targum. It appears in the Heb. text of Ecclesiasticus 31:8, in the Mishna Abot 2, 12, and in the Damascus Document p. 14, 20. Although it does not appear in the OT, it occurs in the NT as mamōnās: (1) Matthew 6:24 (“You cannot serve God and mammon”), where it prob. retains the ordinary meaning of “material riches,” rather than some otherwise unknown god of wealth; (2) Luke 16:9, 11, 13, which speak of the “mammon of unrighteousness (adikia)” or “the unrighteous mammon” (v. 13 is the same dictum as Matt 6:24). There has been much discussion of the implications of unrighteousness in connection with wealth, but the simplest explanation seems to be that material wealth (whether money or gems or landed property) is a resource open to misuse and characteristically employed by wicked, unscrupulous men for wicked purposes. Yet it is possible for a true servant of God to use wealth for good and salutary purposes, and thus procure for himself treasure in heaven such as money cannot buy. (A thorough discussion of the etymology and significance of this word in the NT is found in E. Nestle’s article in Encyclopaedia Biblica 2914-2915.)