Who was the wife that was to be sold for a debt?

       The wife who was to be sold for debt (Matt. 18:25) appears in Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant and illustrates the principle of the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.''
       Here Jesus is comparing our heavenly Father to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. One was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents (approximately ten million dollars). When the servant could not pay, the king ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had. The servant begged the king to have patience with him, and the king, moved with compassion, loosed his servant and let him go.
       But the servant went forth and cast into prison a fellow servant who owed him a very small debt. Then the king called back the servant he had forgiven of his large debt and asked why he had not showed the same compassion to his fellow servant that had been shown to him. The man was then jailed until he should pay all that he owed.
       Jesus, concluding the parable, said, "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." Matthew 18:35
       The Old Testament tells of selling people into slavery to pay a debt (Amos 2:6; 8:6; Neh. 5:4, 5), but this is the only reference of a woman's being sold, along with her children, to pay a debt.