Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
Parahle of the Good Samaritan. LUKE X. Christ Eeprehendeth Martha.
of their enemy, Deuteronomy 22. 4; Exodus 23. 4, 6. (Ct Isaiah 58. 7.) 33. Samaritan — one excommunicated by the Jews, a by-word among them, synonymous with heretic and devil (John 8. 48). See on ch. 17. 18. had compassion—His best is mentioned first; for 'He who gives outward things gives something external to himself, but he who Imparts compassion and tears gives him something from his very self.' [Gregory the Great, in Trench.] No doubt tlie priest and Levite had their excuses-' Tisii't safe to be lingering here; besides, he's past recovery; and then, mayn't suspicion rest upon ourselves? So miglit the Samaritan have reasoned, btU did not.' [Trench.] Kor did he say. He's a Jew, who would have had no dealings with me (John 4. 9), and why should I with him? oil and wine—the remedies used in such cases all over tlie East (Isaiah 1. 6), and elsewhere ; the wine to cleanse tlie wounds, the oil to assuage their smartings. on Itis own beast—himself going on foot. 35. two pence—equal to two days' wages of a labourer, and enough for several days' support. 36. Which was neighbour 1—a most dexterous way of putting the question : (1.) Turning the question from 'Whom am I to love as my neighbour ?' to ' Wlio always used for those spiritual agents employed In demoniacal possessions— never for the ordinary agency of tsatan in rational men. When thereforethe Seventy say, " Uie devils ^demons) are subject to us," and Jesus replies, 'Mine eye was beholding <Sa<are falling,' It is plain that He meant to raise their minds not only from the particular to tlie general, but from a very temporary form of satanlc operation to the entire kingdom of evil. (See John 12. 31 ; and of. Isaiah 14. 12.) 19. beliold I give you, <fec.—not for any renewal of their mission, though probably many of them afterwards became ministers of Christ; but simply as disciples, serpents and scorplonththe latter more venomous than the former: literally, in the first Instance (Mark 16. 17, 18 ; Acts 28. 5) ; but the next words, " and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurl you," show that the glorious power of faitli to " overcome the world" and "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one," by the communication and maintenance of which to his people He makes them innocuous, is what is meant. (1 John 5. 4; Epheslans 6. 16.) 20. rejoice not, Ac—i. e., not so much. So far from forbidding it. He takes occasion from It to tell them what had been passing in His own mind. But as power over demons was after all Intoxicating, He gives them a higher joy to balance it, the Joy of having their names in Heaven's register. (Phillppians 4. 3.) 21, 23. Jesns aald, &c.—The very same sublime words were uttered by our Lord on a former similar occasion. Matthew U. 25-27 (on which see note); but (1.)
Is tlie man that shows that love?' (2.) Compelling tlie lawyer to give a reply very difierent from what he would like—not only condemning his own nation, but those of them who should be tlie most exemplary. (3.) Making him commend one of a deeply-hated race. And he does it, but it is almost extorted. For he does not answer, 'The Samaritan' — that would have sounded iieterodox, lieretical—but " He that showed mercy on hini." It comes to the same thing, no doubt, but the circumlocution is signifloant. 37. Go, <fec. — O exquisite, matchless teucliing ! What new fountains of charily has not this opened up in the human spirit—rivers in the wilderness, streams in the desert! what noble Christian institutions have not such words founded, all undreamed of till that wondrous One came to bless this heartless world of ours witli His incomparable love — first in words, and then in deeds which have translated His words into flesh and blood, and poured the life of them through that humanity wliicli He made His own! Was this parable, now, designed to magnify the law of love, and to show who fulfils it and who not? And who did this as never man did it, as our Brother Man, "our Neighbour?" The priests and Levites had not strengthened the diseased, nor bound up the broken (Ezeklel 34. 4), while He bound up the brokenhearted (Isaiah 61. 1), and poured into all wounded spirits the balm of sweetest consolation. All the Fathers saw througli the thin veil of this noblest of stories, the Story of love, and never wearied of tracing the analogy (though sometimes fancifully enough). [Trench.] ' He hungered,' exclaims Gregory of Nazianzen (in the fourth century), tliere we are merely told that He "answered and said" thus; here. He "rejoiced in spirit and said." (2.) Tliere it was merely "at that time (or season)" that he spoke thus, meaning with a general reference to the rejection of His gospel by the self-sufficient; here, "In that hour Jesus said," with express reference probably to the humble class from which He had to draw the Seventy, and the similar class that had chiefly welcomed their message. " Rejoice" is too weak a word. It is " exulted in spirit" evidently giving visible expression to His unusual emotions, while, at the same time, the words " in spirit" are meant to convey to the reader the depth of them. This Is one of those rare cases in which the veil is lifted from olT the Redeemer's inner man, that, angel-like, we may "look into it" for a moment. (1 Peter 1. 12.) Let us gaze on it with reverential wonder, and as we perceive what it was that produced that mysterious ecstasy, we sliall find rising In our hearts a still rapture—" Oh the depths 1" 23, »*.—See on Matthew 13. 16, 17.
QoESTioN OP A Lawyer, and Parable of the Good Samaritan. 25. tempted him— ' tested him;' in no hostile spirit, yet with no tender anxiety for light on that question of questions, but just to see what insight this great Galilean teacher had. 26. what is written in the law— apposite question to a doctor of the law, and patting him in turn to the test. [Benqel.] 27. thou shalt, &c.—the answer Christ Himself gave to another lawyer. See on Mark 12. 29-33. 28. he aaid, &c.—'Right; this do, and life is thine'—laying such emphasis on "this" as to indicate, without expressing It, where the real dijffleuUy to a tinner lay, bluCl thus nonplussing the questioner himself. 20. willing— 'wishing,' to get himself out of the difliculty, by throwing on Jesus the definition of 'neighbour,' which the Jews interpreted very narrowly and technically, as excluding Samaritans and Gentiles. [AiiFORD.] 30. a certain man—a Jew. trom Jerusalem to Jericho —a distance of nineteen miles nortli-east, a deep and very fertile hollow—
' but He fed thousands ; He was weary, but He is the Rest of the weary; He is saluted "Samaritan" and "Demoniac,'" but He saves him that went down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves,' &c.
38-12. Martha and Mary. 38. certain village—Bethany (John 11. 1), which Luke so speaks of, having no farther occasion to notice it. received him . . . her house —the house belonged to her, and she appears throughout to be the elder sister. 39. wliichaiso—' who for her part,' iu contrast with Martha, sat—'seated herself.' From the custom of sitting 6enea</i -an Instructor, the phrase 'sitting at one's feet' came to mean being a disciple of any one (Acts 22.3). heard—rather, 'kept listening' to His word. 40. cambered—'distracted.' cametol»im—'presented herself before Him,' as from another apartment, in which her sister had "left her to serve (or make preparation) atone." carest thou not . . . my sister, &c.—'Lord, here am I with everything to do, and this sister of mine win not lay a hand to anything; thus I miss something from Tliy lips, and Thou from our hands.' bid lier, AcShe presumes not to stop Christ's teaching by calling her sister away, and thus leaving Him without His one auditor, nor did she hope perhaps to succeed If she hud tried. Martha, Martha—Emphatically redoubling upon the name, careful and cumliered—the one word expressing the Inward worrying anxiety that her prepara-
' the Tempc of Judea.' [Trench.] thieves —" robbers." The roiul, being rocky and desolate, was a notorious haunt of robbers, then and for ages after, and even to this day. 31, 32. came down a priest . . . and a Ijevite—Jericho, the second city of Judea, was a city of the priests and Levites, and thousands of them lived there. The two here mentioned are supposed, apparently, to be returning from temple-duties, but they ' had not learnt what that meanelh, " I will have mercy and notsiicriflce."
[Trrnch.] saw him— it was not inadvertently that he acted, came and loolced—a farther aggravation, passed by — although the law expressly required the opposite treatment even of tlie beaxt not only of their brethren, but
The Disciples Taught to Pray. LUKE XI. The Denunciation of the Pharisees, tlons should be worthy of her Lord; the other, the outward bustle of those preparations, many tilings—" much service" (v. 40); too elaborate preparation, which so engrossed her attention that she missed her Lord's teaching, 4:3. one thing, &c.—The idea of 'Short work and tie and varied methods by which he wields his dark power over men. Ueepeth—'guardeth.' his palace—man whether viewed more largely or In Individual souls—how significant of what men are to Satan! in peace—undis tnrhed, secure in his possession, a stronger than he— Christ: Glorious title, in relation to Satan! come upon him and overcome him—sublimely expressing the Redeemer's approach, as the Seed of the woman, to bruise the Serpent's head, talceth from him all his armour— 'his panoply,' ' his complete armour.' Vain would be the victory, were not the means of regaining his lost power wrested from him. It is this that completes the triumph and ensures the final overthrow of his kingdom. The parable that immediately follows—p. 24-26—is just the reverse of this. See on Matthew 12. 43-35. In the one case, Satan is dislodged by Christ, and so finds, In all future assaults, the house preoccupied; In the other, he merely goes out and comes in again, finding the house "EImpty" (Matthew 12. 44) of any rival, and all ready to welcome him back. This explains the Important saying that comes in between the two parables, v. 23. Neutrality in religion there is none. The absence of positive attachment to Christ involves hostility to Him. gathereth . . . scattereth—Referring probably to gleaners. The meaning seems to be. Whatever in religloil Is disconnected from Christ comes to nothing. 27, 88. as he spake these things, a -woman of the company—'of the multitude, the crowd. A charming little Incident and profoundly instructive. With true womanly feeling, she envies the mother of such a wonderful Teacher. Well, and higher and better than she had said as much before her, ch. 1. 28. 42: and our Lord is far from condemning it. He only holds up—as "blessed rather"—the hearers and keepers of God's word ; in other words, the humblest real saint of Ood, See on Matthew 12.49, 50. How utterly alien is this sentiment from the teaching of the Church of Rome, which would excommunicate any one of i ts members who dared to talk in the spirit of this glorious saying! 39-33. See on Matthew 12. 39-42. 33-36. See on Matthew 5. 14 16; 6.
little of it suffices for Me' is not so much the lower sense of these weighty words, as supposed in them, as the basis of something far loftier than any precept on economy. Underneath that idea is couched another, as to the littleness both of elaborate preparation for the present lifeand of that life itself, compared with another, chosen the good part—not in the general sense of Moses' choice (Hebrews 11. 25), and Joshua's (Joshua 24. 15), and David's (Psalm 119.30); i. e., of good In opposition to bad ; but, of two good ways of serving and pleasing the Lord, choosing the better. Wherein, then, was Mary's better than Martha's? Hear what follows, not be taken away—Martha's choice would be taken from her, for her services would die ivith her; Mary's never, being spiritual and eternal. Both were true-hearted disciples, but the one was absorbed ih the higher, the other in the lower of two ways of honouring their common Lord. Yet neither despised, or would willingly neglect, the other's occupation. The one represents the contemplative, the other the active style of the
Christian character. A Church full of Maries would pernaps be as great an evil as a Church full of Marthas. Both are needed, each to be the complement of the other.
CHAPTEE XI.
Ver. 1-18. The Disciples Taught to Pray. 1. one, Ac—struck with either the matter or the manner of our Lord's prayers, as John, &c.—From this reference to John, it is possible that disciple had not heard the Sermon on the Mount. Nothing of John's inner teaching (to his own disciples) has been preserved to us, but we may be sure he never taught his disciples to say, "Our Father." a-4. See on Matthew 6. 9-13. day by day, &q. —an extension of the petition in Matthew for " this day's" supply, to every successive day's necessities. The closing doxology, wanting here, is wanting also in all the best and most ancient copies of Matthew's gospel. Perhaps our Lord purposely left that part open : and as the grand Jewish doxologies were ever resounding, and passed immediately and naturally, in all their hallowed familiarity into the Christian Church, probably this prayer was never used in the Christian assemblies but in its present form, as we find it in Matthew, while in Ijuke it has been allowed to stand as originally uttered. 5-8. at midnight
2;i. But V. 36 here is peculiarly vivid, expressing what pure, beautiful, broad perceptions the clarity of the inward eye Imparts.
37-54. Denttnciation of the Pharisees. 38. mar. veiled, Ac—See on Mark 7. 2-4. 39-41. cup and platterremarkable example of our Lord's way of drawing the most striking illustrcitions of great truths from the most familiar objects and incidents of life, ravening—rapacity, that which is without, Ac. q. d., 'He to whom belongs the outer life, and right to demand its subjection to Himself—is the Inner man less His? give alms . . . and all clean—a principle of immense value. As the greed of these hypocrites was one of the most prominent features of their character (ch. 16. 14 ; Matthew 23. 14), our Lord bids them exemplify the oppaslte character, and then tlieir outside, ruled by this, would be beautiful in the eye of God, and their meals would be eaten with clean hands, though never so fouled with the business of this worky world. (See Eccleslastes 9. 7.) 43. mint, rue, Ac. -founding on Leviticus 27. 30, which they interpreted rigidly. Our Lord purposely names the most trifling products of the earth, as examples of what they punctiliously exacted the tenth of. Judgment, mercy, and the love of God—in Matthew 23. 2.5, "Judgment, mercy, and. , .for a friend is come—the heat in warm countries makes evening preferable for travelling to day ; but " midnight" is everywhere a most unseasonable hour of call, and for that very reason it is here selected, trouble me not—the troible making him insensible both to the urgency of the case and the claims of friendship. I cannot—without exertion which he would not make, importunity—the word Is a strong one—'shamelessness;' persisting in the face of all that seemed reasonable, and refusing to take a denial, as many, Ac.—his reluctance once overcome, all the claims of friendship and necessity are felt to the full. Tlie sense is obvious : If the churlish and self-indulgent deaf both to friendship and necessity—can after a positive refusal, be won over, by sheer persistency, to do all that is needed, how much more may the same determined perseverance in prayer be expected to prevail with Him whose very nature is "ric/i unto all that call upon Him" (Romans 10. 12). 9-13. See on Matthew 7. 7-11. the Holy Spirit—In Matthew (7. 11), "good gifts;" the former, the Gift of gifts descending on the Church through Christ, and comprehending the latter.
faith." The reference is to Mlcah 6. 6-8, whose third element of all acceptable religion, "walking humbly with God," comprehends both "love" and "faith." See on Mark 12. 29, 32, 33. The same tendency to merge greater duties in less besets us still, but it is the characteristic of hypocrites, these onglit ye, Ac—There Is no need for one set of duties to jostle out another; but of the greater, our Lord says, "Ye ought to have done" them; of the lesser, only " ye ought not to leave them undone." 43. uppermost seata—See on ch. 14. 7-11. greetings—See on Matthew 23.
11-36. Blind and Dumb Demoniac Healed—Charoe OF BEING IN League with Hell, and Reply—Demand of a Sign, and Reply. See on Matthew 12. 22-1,5. i*. dumb—blind also, Matthew 12. 22. ao. the linger of God —"the Spirit of God," Matthew 12.28; the former figuratively denoting the power of God, the latter the living Personal A-gent in every exercise of it. ai, strong maaa—meaning Satan, armed—pointing to all the sub110
7-10. 44. appear not, Ac.—As one might unconsciously walk over a grave concealed from view, and thus contract ceremonial defilement, so the plausible exterior of the Pharisees kept people fi'om perceiving the pollution they contracted from coming in contact with such corrupt
Christ's Echorlatum against Hypocrisy, LUKE XII. against Covetousness, and to Watdifvluest, characters. See Psalm 5.9; Romans 3.13. (A diflerent
(4.) As Clirist's "meekness and gentleness" were not compromised by such harsh notes as these, so those servants of Christ want their Master's spirit who soften down all such language to please ears ' polite.' See on Mark 9. 43-48, 6, 7. Ave for two farthings—in Matthew 10. 29 it is "two for one farthing;" so if one took two farthings' worth, he got one ' in addition'—of such small value were they, than many sparrows—not ' than millions of sparrows ;' the charm and power of our Lord's teaching (is') very much in this simplicity. 8, 9. confess . . . deny, &c.—The point lies In doing it " before men," because cue has to do it "despising the shame." But when done, the Lord holds Himself bound to repay It in kind by confessing such " before the angels of God." For the rest, see on ch. 9. 26. 10. Son of man . . . Holy Ghost—See on Matthew 12. 31, 32.
Illustration from Matthew 23. 27.) 46. burdens grievous, &c.—Referring not so much to the irksomeness of the legal rites (though they were irksome. Acts 15. 10), as to the heartless rigour with which they were enforced, and by men of shameless Inconsistency. 47, 48. ye build, Ac.—Out of pretended respect and honour, they repaired and beautified the sepulchres of the prophets, and with whining hypocrisy .said, " If we had been in the days of oui fathers, we should not have been partakers with them
In ll.e blood of the prophets," while all the time they " were witnesses to themselves that tliey were tlie children of them that killed the prophets," Matthew 23. 29, 30 ; convicting themselves daily of as exact a resemblance in spirit and character to the very classes over whose deeds they pi-etended to mourn, as child to parent. 49-51. said the Wisdom, <tc.—a remarkable variation of the words
13-53. Covetousness — Watchfulness—Superiority TO Earthly Ties. 13. Master, &c.—q. d., ' Great Preacher of righteousness, help; there is need of Thee in this rapacious world; here am I the victim of injustice, and that from my own brother, who withholds from me my rightful share of the inheritance that has fallen to us.' In this most Inopportune intrusion upon the solemnities of our Lord's teaching, there is a mixture of the absurd and the irreverent, the one, however, occasioning
In Matthew 23. 34, "Behold I send." As there seems plainly an all usion to anclen t warni ngs of what God would do with so incorrigible a people, so here Christ, stepping majestically Into the place of God, so to speak, says, ' Now
I am going to carry all that out.' Could this be other than the Lord God of Israel in the Jlesh f all required of this generation—As it was only in the last generation of them that "the iniquity of the Amorites was full" (Genesis 15.
thf other. The man had not the least idea that his case was not of as urgent a nature, and as worthy the attention of our Lord, as any thing else He could deal with. 14. Man, &c. Contrast this style of address with "my friends;"
16), and then the abominations of ages were at once completely and awfully avenged, so the iniquity of Israel was allowed to accumulate from age to age till in that generation it came to the full, and tlie whole collected vengeance of Heaven broke at once over its devoted head. In the
V. 4. Wlio, &c.—a question literally repudiating the office which Sloses assumed. (Exodus 2. 14.) T?ie influence of religious teachers in the external relations of life has ever been immense, when only the indirect effect of their teadting ; bat whenever they intermeddle directly with secular and political matters, tlie spell of that influence is broken. 15. uikto them—The multitude around Him, v. 1. of covetousness—The best copies have "all," i.e., "every kind i f covetousness ;" because as this was one of the more plausible forms of It, so He would strike at once at the root of the evil, a man's life, &o.—a singularly weighty maxim, and not less so because its meaning and its truth are equally evident. 16-19. a certain man, &c.—Why Is this man called a "fool?" (1.) Because he deemed a life of secure and abundant earthly enjoyment the summit of human felicity. (2.) Because, possessing the means of this, through prosperity in his calling, he flattered himfirst French Revolution the same awful principle was exemplified, and Christendom has not done with it yet. prophets—in the New Testament sense (Matthew 23. 34); see 1 Corinthians 12. 28. blood of Zacliarlas—Probably the allusion is not to any recent murder, but to 2 Chronicles U. 20-22, as the Uisl recorded and most suitable case for
Illustration. And as Zacharias' last words were, "The
IiOrd require it," so they are warned that " of that generation it should be required." 53. fcey of knowledge—not the key to open knowledge, but knowledge, the only key to open heaven. In Matthew 23. 13, they are accused of thu Uing heaven; here of taking away the key, which was worse. A right knowledge of God's word is eternal life (John 17. 3); but this they took away from the people, substituting for it their wretched traditions. 53, 54. Exceedingly vivid and affecting. They were stung to the quick—and can we wonder?—yet had not materiais for the charge they were preparing against him. provoke him, &c.— self that he had a long lease of such enjoyment, and nothing to do but give himself up to it. Nothing else is laid to his charge. 20, 21. this night, &c.—This sudden cutting short of his career is designed to express not only the folly of building securely upon the future, but of throwing one's whole soul Into what maj'' at any moment be gone. " His soul being required of him " is put in opposition to his own treatment of it, "I will say to my soul. Soul," &c. whose shall those things be, &c.—cf. Psalm
' to harass him with questions.'
CHAPTER XII.
Ver. 1-12. Warnino AGAINST Hypocrisy. 1-3. meantime—in close connection, probably, with the foregoing Bcene. Our Lord had been speaking out more plainly than ever before, as matters were coming to a head between
39. 6, " He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them." so Is he, <fec.—Such Is a picture of his folly here, and of its awful issue. Is not rich, &c.—Lives to amass and enjoy riches which terminate on self, but as to the riches of God's favour, which is life (Psalm 30. 5), of "precious" faith (2 Peter 1.1; James 2. 5), of good works
Him and His enemies, and this seems to have suggested to His own mind the warning here. He had just Himself illustriously exemplified His own precepts, his disciples first of all—afterwards to "the multitudes," t'. 54. covered—from the view, hid—from knowledge. ' 'Tis no use concealing anything, for all will one day come out. Give free and fearless utterance then to all tlie truth.'
(1 Timothy 6. 18), of wisdom which is better than rubies (Proverbs 8. 11)—lives and dies a beggar! 54;J-31.—See on ?iattliew 6. 25-33. 35, 36. which of you, &c. -' Corroding solicitude will not bring you the least of the things ye fret about, though it may double the evil of wanting them. .\nd if not tlie least, why vex yourselves about things of more consequence?' of doubtful, &c.—
(Cf. 1 Corinthians 4. 3, 5.) 4, 5. I say, &c.— ' You will say. That may cost us our life.' ' Be it so;' ' but, " my friends," there their power ends.' He calls them " friends" here, not In any loose sense, but, as we think, from the feeling he tlien had that in this "killing of the body" Jle and they were going to be affectlngly one with each other. P'enr Him . . . fear Him—how striking the repetition here ! Only the one fear would effecluaUy expel the other, after he hath killed,
' unsettled ' mind, put off your balance. 33. little flock, &c.—How sublime and touching a contrast between this tender and pitying appellation, "Little flock" (In the original a double diminutive, which In German can be expressed, but not In English)—ad the "good pleasure" of the Father to give them the Kingdom; the one recalling the tnsignlflcunce and helplessness of that then lit«ral handful of disciples iic.—Learn here—(1.) To play false witli one's convictions to save one's life, may fail of its end after all, for God can
Inflict a violent death in some other and equally formidable way. (2.) There is a it seems, for the body as wel 1 as the soul; consequently, sufferings adapted to tl)e one as well as the other. (3.) ^ear of hell is a divinely nu Miorlzed and needed luo'.ive of action even to Ciirist's " friends."
tlie other holding up to their view the eternal love tlial encircled them, the everlasting arms that were underneath them, and the high Inheritance awaiting theral—