■^'-%J' 
 
 
 
SEP 27 1937 
 
 
W\)t Camijritifle MUt (or ^cljools 
 antr Colleges, 
 
 General Editor:— J. J. S. PEROWNE, D.D,', 
 Dean of Peterborough. 
 
 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 
 
 TO 
 
 ST LUKE, 
 
 IV/TH MAPS, NOTES AND INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY , X 
 
 THE VEN. R W. FARRAR, D.D. 
 
 ARCHDEACON OF WE.STMINSTER. 
 
 EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
 Ronton; C. J. CLAY and SONS, 
 
 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 
 
 AVE MARIA LANE. 
 
 \_All Rights reserved. "[ 
 
Camfaritirjc 
 
 PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY M.A. AND SONS 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
PREFACE 
 BY THE GENERAL EDITOR. 
 
 The General Editor of TJie Cambridge Bible for 
 Schools thinks it right to say that he does not hold 
 himself responsible either for the interpretation of 
 particular passages which the Editors of the several 
 Books have adopted, or for any opinion on points of 
 doctrine that they may have expressed. In the New 
 Testament more especially questions arise of the 
 deepest theological import, on which the ablest and 
 most conscientious interpreters have differed and 
 always will differ. His aim has been in all such 
 cases to leave each Contributor to the unfettered 
 exercise of his own judgment, only taking care that 
 mere controversy should as far as possible be avoided. 
 He has contented himself chiefly with a careful 
 revision of the notes, with pointing out omissions, with 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 suggesting occasionally a reconsideration of some 
 question, or a fuller treatment of difficult passages, 
 and the like. 
 
 Beyond this he has not attempted to interfere, 
 feeling it better that each Commentary should have 
 its own individual character, and being convinced 
 that freshness and variety of treatment are more 
 than a compensation for any lack of uniformity in 
 the Series. 
 
 Deanery, Peterborough, 
 i4t/i Feb. i8So. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGES 
 
 I. Introduction. 
 
 Chapter I. The Gospels 7 — 17 
 
 Chapter II. Life of St Luke r8— 22 
 
 Chapter III. Authenticity of the Gospel 11 — 23 
 
 Chapter IV. Characteristics of the Gospel 23 — 30 
 
 Chapter V. Analysis of the Gospel 30 — 36 
 
 Chief Uncial MSS. of the Gospels 37—38 
 
 The Herods 39 
 
 IL Text and Notes 41—357 
 
 IIL Excursus I— VII 368—385 
 
 IV. Index 386 
 
 Map I. Environs of Jerusalem Frontispiece 
 
 ,, II. Palestine tofacep. 65 
 
 ,, III. Galilee ,, loi 
 
 ,, IV. Sea of Galilee „ 112 
 
 * The Text adopted in this Edition is that of Dr Scrivener's 
 Cambridge Paragj-aph Bible. A few variations from the ordi- 
 nary Text, chiefly in the spelling of certain words, and in the 
 use of italics, will be noticed. For the principles adopted by 
 Dr Scrivener as regards the printing of the Text see his Intro- 
 duction to the Paragraph Bible^ published by thfe Cambridge 
 University Press. 
 
"Luke the beloved, the sick soul's guide." 
 
 Keble. 
 
 Almighty God who calledst Luke the Physician, whose praise is 
 in the Gospel, to be an Evangelist and Physician of the soul: May 
 it please Thee that by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered 
 by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed; through the merits 
 of Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Collect for St Luke's Day. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GOSPELS. 
 
 The word Gospel ^ is the Saxon translation of the Greek 
 Euangelio7i. In early Greek (e.g. in Homer) this word meant 
 the rewnrd given to one who brought good tidings. In Attic 
 Greek it also meant a sacrifice for good tidings but was always 
 used in the plural etiangelia. In later Greek, as in Plutarch and 
 Lucian, euangelion meant the good news actually delivered. 
 Among all Greek-speaking Christians the word was naturally 
 adopted to describe the best and gladdest tidings ever delivered 
 to the human race, the good news of the Kingdom of God. ' In 
 the address of the Angel to the shepherds we find the words "/ 
 bring you good tidings of great joy," where the verb used is 
 euangelizomai. From this Greek word are derived the French 
 Evangile, the Italian Evangelio^ the Portuguese Evangelho, &c. 
 Naturally the word which signified "good news" soon came to 
 be used as the title of the books which contained the history of 
 that good news. 
 
 The existence of four separate, and mainly if not absolutely, 
 independent Gospels, is a great blessing to the Church of Christ. 
 It furnishes us with such a weight of contemporaneous testimony 
 as is wanting to the vast majority of events in Ancient History. 
 A fourfold cord is not easily broken. 
 
 ^ By euphony for godspel, as gossip for godsib, and gossamer for god- 
 summer. The word seems to have acquired its currency from Wyclif's 
 translation. On the title "New Testament"' see note on xxii. 20. 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Of these four Gospels the first three are often called the 
 Synoptic Gospels. The Greek word Synopsis has the same 
 meaning as the Latin Conspectus^ and the first three Evangelists 
 are called "Synoptists" because their Gospels can be arranged 
 and harmonised, section by section, in a tabular form, since 
 they are mainly based on a common outline. The term appears 
 to be quite modern, but has been rapidly brought into general 
 use, probably by Griesbach. It is intended to indicate the dif- 
 ference of plan which marks these Gospels as compared with 
 that of St John \ 
 
 In the Synoptic Gospels we find much that is common to 
 all, and something which is pecuhar to each. It has been ascer- 
 tained by Stroud that "if the total contents of the several 
 Gospels be represented by loo, the following table is obtained^: 
 
 St Mark has 7 peculiarities, and 93 coincidences. 
 
 St Matthew ,, 42 ,, ,, 58 ,, 
 
 St Luke „ 59 ,, ,, 41 >i 
 
 St John „ 92 „ „ 8 „ " 
 
 Reuss has further calculated that the total number of verses 
 common to all the Synoptists is about 350; that St Matthew 
 has 350 verses peculiar to himself, St Mark 68, and St Luke 
 541. The coincidences are usually in the record of sayings: the 
 peculiarities in the narrative portion. In St Matthew, the nar- 
 rative occupies about one fourth ; in St Mark one half; and in 
 St Luke one third. 
 
 Another important fact is that when St Matthew and St 
 Luke verbally agree, St Mark always agrees with them ; that 
 the resemblances between St Luke and St Mark are much closer 
 than those between St Luke and St Matthew 3; that where St 
 Mark has additional touches St Luke usually has them also, 
 
 ^ See Holtzmann in Schenkel, Bibel- Lexicon, s. v. Evangelien ; and 
 Ebrard in Herzog, s. v. Harmonic. I am not aware of any earlier use 
 of the word " Synopsis," as applied to a tabular view of the first three 
 Gospels, than Georgii Sigelii Synopsis historiae Jes. Christi quemad- 
 modum Matthaeus, Marcus, Lucas descripserc in forma tabulae proposita. 
 Noribergae. 1585. Folio. 
 
 !» Westcott, Introd. to the Study of the Gospels, p. 179. 
 
 * Bp. Marsh, On Michaelis, v. 317. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 but not when these additions are found only in St Matthew ; and 
 that where St Mark is silent, St Luke often differs from St 
 Matthew 1. 
 
 The dates at which the four Gospels were published cannot 
 be ascertained with certainty ; but there are some reasons to 
 believe that St Matthew's was written first, possibly in Aramaic, 
 and about A.D. 64; that St Mark's and St Luke's were published 
 within a few years of this date 2, and certainly before the de- 
 struction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70; and that St John's was 
 written in old age at Ephesus before the year a.d. 85. It is 
 probable that most, if not all, of St Paul's Epistles had been 
 written before the earliest Gospel was published in its present 
 form. To what extent the Synoptists were influenced by written 
 records of previous oral teaching is a difficult and complicated 
 question about which there have been multitudes of theories, as 
 also respecting the question whether any of the three used the 
 Gospel of either of the others. That previous attempts to nar- 
 rate the Life of Christ were in existence when St Luke wrote 
 we know from his own testimony ; but it may be regarded as 
 certain that among these "attempts" he did not class the Gos- 
 pels of St Matthew and St Mark. The inference that he 
 was either unaware of the existence of those Gospels, or made 
 no direct use of them, suggests itself with the utmost force when 
 we place side by side any of the events which they narrate in 
 common, and mark the minute and inexplicable differences 
 which incessantly occur even amid general similarity. 
 
 The language employed by the Evangelists is that dialect 
 
 1 Reuss. To give the passages and details would occupy too 
 much space. They are adduced in several critical editions, and 
 are sometimes noticed m the notes. St Luke and St Matthew both 
 give but few passages omitted by St Mark (e.g. the Lost Sheep, 
 Matt, xviii. 12 — 14; Lk. xv. 4 — 7, and compare Matt. viii. 5 sq., xxii. 
 I sq. with Lk. vii. i sq., xiv. 15 sq.). 
 
 2 Some writers think that the Gospel of St Luke was written as 
 early as A.D. 60, during St Paul's imprisonment at Caesarea. The 
 subject is not one on which positive certainty can be attained; but the 
 absence of any direct reference to this Gospel in the Epistles of the 
 Captivity and the Pastoral Epistles, and the comparatively late date at 
 which it is authoritatively recognised by name as canonical, make it more 
 probable that it was not published till after the death of St Paul. 
 
 I - 
 
lo INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of Greek which was in their day generally current — the Mace- 
 donian or Hellenistic Greek. It was a stage of the Greek 
 language less perfect than that of the classical period, but ad- 
 mirably plastic and forcible. 
 
 St Matthew and St John were Apostles and eyewitnesses 
 of the ministry of our Lord from the baptism of John until the 
 Ascension. The other two Evangelists were as St Jerome says 
 not Apostles but " Apostolic men." St Mark may have been a 
 partial eyewitness of some of the later scenes of the life of Christ, 
 and it is the unanimous tradition of the Early Church that his 
 Gospel reflects for us the direct testimony of St Peter. St 
 Luke expressly implies that he was not an eyewitness, but he 
 made diligent use of all the records which he found in existence, 
 and he derived his testimony from the most authentic sources. 
 It may be regarded as certain that he sets before us that con- 
 ception of the Life and Work of Christ which was the basis of 
 the teaching of St PauU. Thus we have the Gospel "according 
 to" the view and teaching of four great Apostles, St Matthew, St 
 Peter, St Paul, and St John. 
 
 The differences between the Synoptists and St John have 
 been noticed from the earhest ages of the Church. They are 
 mainly these. The Synoptists dwell almost exclusively on 
 Christ's Ministry in Galilee; St John on His Ministry in Judaea. 
 The Synoptists dwell chiefly on the Miracles, Parables, and 
 
 1 Irenaeus, adv. Haer. iii. i and ill. 14. Tertullian, adv. Marc. iv. 
 2, 5. Origen apud Euseb. H. E. vi. -25, and id. ill. 4. Jerome, De 
 Virr. Illustr. 7. A long list of words and phrases are common to 
 St Luke and St Paul, which may be seen in Davidson's Introd. to the 
 
 Test. n. 12— ig. The student 
 
 may 
 
 compare the following: 
 
 St Luke, iv. 22. 
 
 
 St Paul, 
 
 Col. iv. 6. 
 
 iv. 32. 
 
 
 
 
 I Cor. ii. 4. 
 
 vi. 36. 
 
 
 
 
 2 Cor. i. 3. 
 
 vi. 39. 
 
 
 
 
 Rom. ii. 19. 
 
 ix. 56. 
 
 
 
 
 2 Cor. X. 8. 
 
 X. 8. 
 
 
 
 
 I Cor. X. 27. 
 
 xi. 41. 
 
 
 
 
 Tit. i. 15. 
 
 xviii. I. 
 
 
 
 
 2 Thess. i. ir. 
 
 xxi. 36. 
 
 
 
 
 Eph. vi. 18. 
 
 xxii. 19, 
 
 20. 
 
 
 
 I Cor. xi. 23 — 29. 
 
 xxiv. 46. 
 
 
 
 
 Acts xvii. 3. 
 
 xxiv. 34. 
 
 
 
 
 I Cor. XV. 5. 
 
INTRODUCTION. ii 
 
 external incidents of His work ; in St John the prominent feature 
 is the high discourse and inmost spiritual meaning of His life. 
 The Synoptists portrayed Him to the world; St John more 
 specially for the Church. To use a common term they present 
 a more objective, and St John a more subjective view of the 
 Work of Christ. The complete portraiture of the Saviour "com- 
 prised the fulness of an outward presence, as well as the depth 
 of a secret life. In this respect the records correspond to the 
 subjects. The first record [that of the Synoptists] is manifold; 
 the second is one: the first is based on the experience of a 
 society, the second on the intuition of a loved disciple." "The 
 Synoptic Gospels contain the Gospel of the infant Church; that 
 of St John the Gospel of its maturity. The first combine to give 
 the wide experience of the many, the last embraces the deep 
 mysteries treasured up by the one." "The threefold portrait of 
 Charles I. which Vandyke prepared for the sculptor is an 
 emblem of the work of the first three Evangelists : the complete 
 outward shape is fashioned, and then at last another kindles the 
 figure with a spiritual life^" But the object of each and all of 
 the Gospels is that expressed by St John "that ye might believe 
 that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing ye 
 might have life through His name-." 
 
 Elaborate and repeated attempts have been made to settle 
 the interrelation of the Synoptists with each other. All such 
 attempts have hitherto failed. Each Gospel in turn has been 
 assumed to be the earliest of the three; and the supposition 
 that the other two worked on the existing narrative of a third 
 has required for its support as many subordinate hypotheses 
 of fresh recension, translation, &c., as the Ptolemaic system of 
 Astronomy required epicycles to account for its theory of the 
 motions of the heavenly bodies. The general conclusion to 
 which all these enquiries seem to point is (i) That there existed 
 in the Early Church a cycle of authoritative oral teaching, 
 which being committed to memory^ tended to assume a fixed 
 
 * Westcott, Introd. pp. 197, 234, 231. ^ John xx. 31. 
 
 ^ The Mishna was similarly transmitted by memory for at least two 
 centmies, and the Jewish scribes of this age were on that account 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 peculiarity of diction ; (2) That this authoritative tradition would 
 gradually be committed to writing by some of the disciples; 
 (3) That these written memorials would naturally be utilized 
 by those who " attempted" to set forth a continuous sketch of the 
 ministry of Christ ; and (4) that the most authentic and valuable 
 of them would be to a considerable extent incorporated into the 
 narratives of the Evangelists themselves. If some such theory 
 as this be not adequate to account (a) for resemblances which 
 extend even to the use of peculiar verbal forms (a^ewi/rat, 
 Lk. V. 20), diminutives {coriov, Matt. xxvi. 51), and the use of a 
 double augment (Matt. xii. 13); — and 0) for differences which 
 extend to the transposition of whole sections, and the omission 
 of entire discourses, — at least no more reasonable theory has 
 yet been proposed ^ 
 
 Early Christian writers compared the four Gospels to that 
 river, which, flowing out of Eden to water the garden of God, 
 was parted into four heads compassing lands like that of 
 Havilah of which ''the gold is good" and where is "bdellium 
 and the onyx stone." 
 
 "Paradisi hie fluenta 
 
 Nova fluunt sacramenta 
 Quae descendunt coelitus : 
 
 His quadrigis deportatur 
 
 Mundo Deus, sublimatur 
 Istis area veetibus." 
 
 Adam de S. Victore. 
 
 A still more common symbol of the four Evangelists was 
 derived from "the Chariot" as the chapter was called which 
 describes the vision of Ezekiel by the river Chebar^. Each one of 
 
 called Tanaim or "repeaters" (from tanah the Chaldee form of the 
 Hebrew shanah). They were succeeded about a.d. 220, by the Amo- 
 raim, or Recorders. 
 
 1 The force of these particular resemblances (which are noted by 
 Archbishop Thomson in the Speaker's Commentary, i. p. ix), is a little 
 weakened by the fact that in Mk. ii. 9; Matt. ix. 2, K, B, &c., read 
 d<pL€VTai. It may be doubted whether the other forms were not those 
 generally current in the Hellenistic Greek of Palestine. 
 
 2 Ezek. i. 5 — -26. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 the living creatures combined in "the fourfold-visaged four" was 
 taken as the emblem of one of the Evangelists. The applica- 
 tions differed, but the one which has been almost universally 
 adopted, and of which there are traces in Christian Art as far 
 back as the fifth century, assigns the Man or Angel to St 
 Matthew, the Lion to St Mark, the Ox to St Luke, and the 
 Eagle to St John^. The reasons offered for the adoption of these 
 emblems also differed ; but it was usually said that the Man is 
 assigned to St Matthew because he brings out Christ's human 
 and Messianic character ; the Lion to St Mark because he sets 
 forth the awfulness (x. 24, 32), energy, power and royal dignity 
 (i. 22, 27, ii. 10, V. 30, vi. 2, 5, &c.) of Christ ; the Ox, the sacri- 
 ficial victim, to St Luke, because he illustrates the Priestly office 
 of Christ; and the Eagle to St John, because, as St Augustine 
 says, "he soars to heaven as an eagle above the clouds of 
 human infirmity, and reveals to us the mysteries of Christ's 
 Godhead, and of the Trinity in Unity, and the felicities of Life 
 Eternal ; and gazes on the light of Immutable Truth with a 
 keen and steady ken 2." Thus, to quote the eloquent language 
 of Bishop Wordsworth, "The Christian Church, looking at the 
 origin of the Four Gospels, and the attributes which God has 
 in rich measure been pleased to bestow upon them by His 
 Holy Spirit, found a Prophetic picture of them in the Four 
 living Cherubim, named from heavenly knowledge, seen by the 
 Prophet Ezekiel at the river of Chebar. Like them the Gospels 
 are Four in number ; like them they are the Chariot of God 
 Who sitteth between the Cherubim ; like them, they bear Him 
 on a winged throne into all lands ; like them they move wher- 
 ever the Spirit guides them : like them they are marvellously 
 joined together, intertwined with coincidences and differences ; 
 wing interwoven with wing, and wheel interwoven with wheel : 
 like them they are full of eyes, and sparkle with heavenly light : 
 like them they sweep from heaven to earth, and from earth to 
 heaven, and fly with lightning speed and with the noise of 
 
 ^ See Mrs Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art, i. 132 — 172. 
 * Aug. De Consens. Evang. i. 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 many waters. Their xound is gone out into all lands ^ and their ' 
 woi'ds to the end of the world^.'^ 
 
 But whatever may be the archaeological and artistic interest 
 of these universal symbols, it must be admitted that they are 
 fanciful and arbitrary ; and this is rendered more obvious 
 from the varying manner in which they used to be employed 
 and justified. It is much more important to get some clear and 
 unimaginative conception of the distinctive peculiarities of each 
 Evangelist. And at this it is not difficult to- arrive. 
 
 Combining the data furnished by early and unanimous tra- 
 dition with the data furnished by the Gospels themselves we 
 see generally that, 
 
 i. St Matthew wrote in Judaea, and wrote for Jews, possi- 
 bly even in Aramaic, as was the general belief of the early 
 Church. If so, however, the Aramaic original is hopelessly lost, 
 and there is at least a possibility that there may have been a 
 confusion between a supposed Hebrew Gospel of St Matthew 
 and the " Gospel of the Hebrews," which may have been chiefly 
 based on it and which was in use among the Nazarenes 
 and Ebionites. However that may be, the object which St 
 Matthew had in view goes far to illustrate the specialities 
 of his Gospel. It is the Gospel of the Hebrew nation ; the 
 Gospel of the Past, the Gospel of Jesus as the Messiah \ Thus 
 it opens with the words "The book of the generation of Jesus 
 Christ the son of David^ the son of Abraham ;" — the son of 
 David and therefore the heir of the Jewish kingdom : the son of 
 Abraham and therefore the heir of the Jewish promise. That it 
 is the Gospel which connects Christianity with Judaism and with 
 
 * Greek Test., The Four Gospels, p. xli. 
 
 ' It should be carefully borne in mind that these characteristics are 
 merely general and relative. It is not meant that the Evangelists 
 represent our Blessed Lord exclusively, but only predominantly, under 
 the aspects here mentioned. It must not be supposed that any one of 
 the Evangelists wrote with a dehberate subjective bias. They dealt 
 with facts not theories, and in no way modified those facts in the 
 interests of any special view. It is only from the grouping of those 
 facts, and from the prominence given to particular incidents or ex- 
 pressions throughout the several Gospels, that we deduce the predomi- 
 nant conceptions of the inspired writers. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 the Past appears in the constantly recurrent formula ^'tJiat it 
 might be fidjilled.'" So completely is the work of Christ re- 
 garded as the accomplishment of Prophecy that in no less than 
 five incidents narrated in the first two chapters, the Evangelist 
 points to the verification of ancient predictions. Another marked 
 peculiarity of the Gospel is its didactic character. It re- 
 cords with fulness five great discourses — The sermon on the 
 Mount^; the address to the Apostles^; the parables on the 
 Kingdom of Heaven^ ; the discourse on Offences and on For- 
 giveness*; and the discourses and parables of Judgment ^ 
 These discourses, — which all bear on the triple offices of our 
 Lord as Lawgiver, King, and Judge of the New Kingdom, — 
 make the Gospel of St Matthew "as it were the ultimatum 
 of Jehovah to His ancient people; — Recognise Jesus as your 
 Messiah, or accept Him as your Judged" 
 
 ii. St Mark wrote in Rome for the Roman world, during 
 the imprisonment and before the death of his teacher and 
 spiritual father, St Peter (i Pet. v. 13). His Gospel is emphati- 
 cally the Gospel of the Present; the Gospel of Jesus apart from 
 retrospect or prophecy ; of Jesus as the Lord of the World. 
 The speech of St Peter to Cornelius has been called "the 
 Gospel of St Mark in brief." St Mark's Gospel consists of 
 " Apostolic Memoirs " marked by the graphic vividness which 
 is due to the reminiscences of an eyewitness ; it is the Gospel 
 of which it was the one aim to describe our Lord as He lived 
 and moved among men. The notion that St Mark was a mere 
 compiler of St Matthew {tamquam pedissequus et b?'eviator ejus, 
 Aug.) has long been exploded. He abounds in independent 
 notices which have led many Germans to regard his Gospel, or 
 
 ^ xxiii. xxiv. xxv. This predominance of discourses has however no 
 bearing on the term logia ('oracles') applied by Papias to the Gospel 
 of St Matthew. 
 
 ^ Godet, Bibl. Studies, E. Tr. p. 23. But it must be remembered 
 that St Matthew's point of view is so little exclusive that he can admit 
 passages which point to the evanescence of the Law (Matt. ix. 16, xii. 7, 8, 
 &c.) and the spread of the Gospel (xiii. 31 sq., xxvii. 19); and he alone 
 narrates the recognition of Christ by the heathen Magi (ii. i sq.). 
 
i6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 
 some form of it, as the original Gospel {JProto-Marcus, Ui 
 Marcus)', but this theory is now more or less abandoned. 
 
 iii. St Luke wrote in Greece for the Hellenic worlds In 
 style this Gospel is the purest ; in order the most artistic and 
 historical. It forms the first half of a great narrative which 
 traced the advance of Christianity from Jerusalem to Antioch, 
 to Macedonia, to Achaia, to Ephesus, to Rome. Hence it 
 neither leans to the yearnings of the past^, nor is absorbed in 
 the glories of the present, but is written with special reference 
 to the aspirations of the future. It sets forth Jesus to us neither 
 as the Messiah of the Jews only, nor as the Universal Ruler, 
 but as the Saviour of sinners. It is a Gospel not national, but 
 cosmopolitan ; not regal, but human. It is the Gospel for the 
 world ; it connects Christianity with man. Hence the genealogy 
 of Jesus is traced not only to David and to Abraham, but to 
 Adam and to God^. 
 
 iv. One more great sphere of existence remained — Eternity. 
 Beyond these records of dawning and expanding Christianity, 
 there was needed some record of Christianity in its inmost life ; 
 something which should meet the wants of the spirit and of the 
 reason : and St John dropped the great keystone into the soar- 
 ing arch of Christian revelation, when, inspired by the Holy 
 Ghost, he drew the picture of Christ, neither as Messiah only 
 nor as King only, nor even only as the Saviour of mankind, but 
 as the hicarnate Word; — not only as the Son of Man who 
 ascended into heaven, but as the Son of God who came down 
 
 ^ Hence he omits particulars (e. g. in the Sermon on the Mount) 
 which would have been less intelligible to Greek readers, and substitutes 
 Epistates or Didaskalos ('Master' or 'Teacher') for Rabbi; 'lawyer' 
 for 'scribe;' 'yea' or 'verily' for Amen; the Greek phoros for the Latin 
 census; the Lake for the Sea of Galilee, &c. 
 
 2 Thus St Luke has only 24 Old Test, quotations as against 65 of 
 St Matthew, and (except iv. 18, 19) none which are peculiar to himself, 
 except in the first two (i. 17 — 25, ii. 23, 24) and the 22nd and 23rd 
 chapters (xxii. 37, xxiii. 31, 46). 
 
 3 Yet St Luke never excludes passages which speak of the spiritual 
 perpetuity of the Law (xvi. 17) and obedience to it (ii. 22 sq., v. 14, &c.). 
 See too i. 32, ii. 49, xix. 46, xxii. 30. This is of course due to the fact 
 that the Evangelists were primarily faithful recorders, and were in no 
 way actuated by party bias. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 from heaven; not only as the Divine Man but as the Incarnate 
 God. The circle of Gospel revelation was, as it were, finally 
 rounded into a perfect symbol of eternity when St John was 
 inspired to write that "In the beginning was the Word, and 
 the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the 
 Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His 
 glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full 
 of grace and truth." 
 
 To sum up these large generalizations in a form which has 
 been recognised by all thoughtful students as giving us a true 
 though not an exclusive or exhaustive aspect of the differences of 
 the Four Gospels, we may say that 
 
 St Matthew's is the Gospel for the Jews ; the Gospel of the 
 Past ; the Gospel which sees in Christianity a fulfilment of 
 Judaism; the Gospel of Discourses; the Didactic Gospel; the 
 Gospel which represents Christ as the Messiah of the Jew. 
 
 St Mark's is the Gospel for the Romans ; the Gospel of the 
 Present ; the Gospel of incident ; the anecdotical Gospel ; the 
 Gospel which represents Christ as the Son of God and Lord of 
 the world. 
 
 St Luke's is the Gospel for the Greeks ; the Gospel of the 
 Future ; the Gospel of Progressive Christianity, of the Univer- 
 sality and Gratuitousness of the Gospel; the Historic Gospel; 
 the Gospel of Jesus as the Good Physician and the Saviour of 
 Mankind. 
 
 St John's is pre-eminently the Gospel for the Church ; the 
 Gospel of Eternity ; the Spiritual Gospel ; the Gospel of Christ 
 as the Eternal Son, and the Incarnate Word. 
 
 If we were to choose special mottoes as expressive of main 
 characteristics of the Gospels, they might be as follows : — 
 
 St Matthew: " I aj?i not co7ne to destroy but to fulfil^'' v. 17. 
 
 St Mark : " Jesus came .... preaching the Gospel of the 
 Kingdom of God^'* i. 14. 
 
 St Luke : ^^Who went about doing good^ and healing all that 
 were oppressed of the devil ^^ Acts x. 38 (comp. Lk. iv. 18). 
 
 St John : " The Word was tnade fiesh^' i. 14. 
 
 ST LUKE 2 
 
i8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LIFE OF ST LUKE. 
 
 ** U tills ille labor, per quern vixere tot aegri; J 
 
 Utilior, per quem tot didicere mori." ^ 
 
 ** He was a physician : and so too all his words are medicines of the 
 drooping soul." S. Jer. Ep. ad Paulin. 
 
 If we sift what we know about St Luke from mere guesses 
 and tradition, we shall find that our information respecting him 
 is exceedingly scanty. 
 
 He does not once mention himself by name in the Gospel or 
 in the Acts of the Apostles, though the absolutely unanimous 
 voice of ancient tradition, coinciding as it does with many con- 
 spiring probabilities derived from other sources, can leave 
 no shadow of doubt that he was the author of those books. 
 
 There are but three places in Scripture, in which his name is 
 mentioned. These are Col. iv. 14, "Luke, the beloved physician, 
 and Demas, greet you;" 2 Tim. iv. 11, "Only Luke is with me;" 
 and Philem. 24, where he is mentioned as one of Paul's "fellow- 
 labourers." From these we see that St Luke was the faithful 
 companion of St Paul, both in his first Roman imprisonment, 
 when he still had friends about him, and in his second Roman 
 imprisonment, when friend after friend deserted him, and was 
 'ashamed of his chain.' From the context of the first allusion 
 we also learn that he was not "of the circumcision," and indeed 
 tradition has always declared that he was a Gentile, and a 
 * proselyte of the gate ^' 
 
 The attempt to identify him with "Lucius of Cyrene" in Acts 
 xiii. I is a mere error, since his name Lucas is an abbreviation 
 not of Lucius but of Lucanus, as Annas for Ananus, Zenas for 
 Zenodorus, Apollos for Apollonius, &c. The guess that he was 
 one of the Seventy disciples is refuted by his own words, nor is 
 
 1 This also appears from Acts i. 19. (See my Life of St Paul^ i. 480.) 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 there any probability that he was one of the Greeks who desired 
 to see Jesus (John xii. 20) or one of the two disciples at 
 Emmaus (Luke xxiv. 13). Eusebius and Jerome say that he was a 
 Syrian of Antioch, and this agrees with the intimate knowledge 
 which he shews about the condition and the teachers of that 
 Church. If in Acts xi. 28 we could accept the isolated reading 
 of the Codex Bezae (a reading known also to St Augustine), 
 which there adds o-weo-TpafjLfxevcov 8e Ty/ioji/, * but while we were 
 assembled together,' it would prove that St Luke had been ac- 
 quainted with the Apostle shortly after his arrival from Tarsus 
 to assist the work of Barnabas. In that case he may well have 
 been one of the earliest Gentile converts whom St Paul admitted 
 into the full rights of Christian brotherhood, and with whom 
 St Peter was afterwards, for one weak moment, ashamed to eat. 
 We cannot however trace his connexion with St Paul with any 
 certainty till the sudden appearance of the first personal pronoun 
 in the plural in Acts xvi. 10, from which we infer that he joined 
 the Apostle at Troas, and accompanied him to Macedonia, 
 becoming thereby one of the earliest Evangelists in Europe. It 
 is no unreasonable conjecture that his companionship was the 
 more necessary because St Paul had been recently suffering 
 from an acute visitation of the malady which he calls "the 
 stake, or cross, in the flesh." Since the "w^" is replaced by 
 " ^key" after the departure of Paul and Silas from Philippi 
 (Acts xvii. i), we infer that St Luke was left at that town in 
 charge of the infant Macedonian Church. A physician could 
 find means of livelihood anywhere, and he seems to have stayed 
 at Philippi for some seven years, for we find him in that Roman 
 colony when the Apostle spent an Easter there on his last 
 visit to Jerusalem (Acts xx. 5). There is however every reason 
 to believe that during this period he was not idle, for if he were 
 "the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel" (i.e. in preaching the 
 good tidings) '* throughout all the churches" (2 Cor. viii. 18), we 
 find him acting with Titus as one of the delegates for the collec- 
 tion and custody of the contributions for the poor saints at 
 Jerusalem. The identification of St Luke with this brother no 
 doubt originated in a mistaken notion that "the Gospel" here 
 
 2 — 2 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 means the written Gospel^ ; but it is probable on other grounds, 
 and is supported by the tradition embodied in the superscrip- 
 tion, which tells us that the Second Epistle to the Corinthians 
 was conveyed from Philippi by Titus and Luke. 
 
 From Philippi St Luke accompanied his friend and teacher to 
 Jerusalem (Acts xxi. i8), and there we again lose all record of 
 his movements. Since, however, he was with St Paul at 
 Caesarea when he was sent as a prisoner to Rome, it is proba- 
 ble that he was the constant companion of his imprisonment in 
 that town. If the great design of writing the Gospel was already 
 in his mind, the long and otherwise unoccupied stay of two years 
 in Caesarea would not only give him ample leisure, but would 
 also furnish him with easy access to those sources of information 
 which he tells us he so diligently used. It would also enable him 
 to glean some particulars of the ministry of Jesus from survivors 
 amid the actual scenes where He had lived. From Caesarea he 
 accompanied St Paul in the disastrous voyage which ended in 
 shipwreck at Malta, and proceeding with him to Rome he re- 
 mained by his side until his hberation, and probably never left 
 him until the great Apostle received his martyr's crown. To 
 him — to his allegiance, his ability, and his accurate preservation 
 of facts — we are alone indebted for the greater part of what we 
 know of the Apostle of the Gentiles. 
 
 We finally lose sight of St Luke at the abrupt close of the Acts 
 of the Apostles. Although we know from the Pastoral Epistles ^ 
 that he must have lived with St Paul for some two years beyond 
 the point which his narrative has there reached, he may not 
 have arranged his book until after Paul was dead, and the course 
 of the narrative may have been suddenly cut short either by 
 accident or even by his own death. Irenaeus {adv. Haer. iii. i) 
 expressly tells us that even his Gospel was written after the 
 death of Peter and Paul. The most trustworthy tradition says 
 that he died in Greece ; and it was believed that Constantine 
 transferred his remains to the Church of the Apostles in Con- 
 stantinople from Patrae in Achaia. Gregory of Nazianzus tells 
 us in a vague way that he was martyred, but it is idle to repeat 
 
 ' Jer. De Virr. III. 7. 2 2 Tim. iv. 11. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 such worthless legends as that he was crucified on an olive-tree 
 at Elaea in the Peloponnesus, &c., which rest on the sole authority 
 of Nicephorus, a writer who died after the middle of the 15th 
 century. The fancy that he was a painter, often as it has been 
 embodied in art, owes its origin to the same source, and seems 
 only to have arisen from the discovery of a rude painting of the 
 Virgin in the Catacombs with an inscription stating that it 
 was "one of seven painted by Luca." It is not impossible that 
 there may have been a confusion between the name of the 
 Evangelist and that of a Greek painter in one of the monasteries 
 of Mount Athos. 
 
 But leaving *the shifting quagmire of baseless traditions' we 
 see from St Luke's own writings, and from authentic notices of 
 him, that he was master of a good Greek style; — an accom- 
 plished writer, a close observer, an unassuming historian, a 
 well-instructed physician, and a most faithful friend^. If the 
 Theophilus to whom he dedicates both his works was the 
 Theophilus mentioned in the Clementines as a wealthy Antio- 
 chene, who gave up his house to the preaching of St Peter, then 
 St Luke may have been his freedman. Physicians frequently 
 held no higher rank than that of slaves, and Lobeck, one of the 
 most erudite of modern Greek scholars, has noticed that con- 
 tractions in as like Lucas from Lucanus, were peculiarly com- 
 mon in the names of slaves. One more conjecture may be men- 
 tioned. St Luke's allusions to nautical matters, especially in 
 Acts xxvii., are at once remarkably accurate and yet unprofes- 
 siottalm tone. Now the ships of the ancients were huge con- 
 structions, holding sometimes upwards of 300 people, and in the 
 uncertain length of the voyages of those days, we may assume 
 that the presence of a physician amid such multitudes was a 
 matter of necessity. Mr Smith of Jordanhill, in his admirable 
 monograph on the voyage of St Paul, has hence been led to 
 the inference that St Luke must have sometimes exercised his 
 
 ^ Dr Plumptre, in the Expositor (No. xx. 1876), has collected many 
 traces of St Luke's medical knowledge (cf. Acts iii. 7, ix. 18, x. 9, 10, 
 xii. 23, XX. 31, xxvi. 7, xxviii. 8; Lk. iv. 23, xxii. 44, &c.), and even 
 of its possible influence on the language of St Paul. 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 art in the crowded merchantmen which were incessantly coast- 
 ing from point to point of the Mediterranean. However this 
 may be, the naval experience of St Luke as well as his medical 
 knowledge would have rendered him a most valuable com- 
 panion to the suffering Apostle in his constant voyages. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Supposed allusions to St Luke's Gospel may be adduced 
 from Polycarp (f A.D. 167), Papias, and Clement of Rome (A.D 
 95) ; but passing over these as not absolutely decisive, it is 
 certain that the Gospel was known to Justin Martyr (f A.D. 168), 
 who, though he does not name the authors of the Gospels, 
 makes distinct reference to them, and has frequent allusions to, 
 and citations from, the Gospel of St Luke. Thus he refers to 
 the Annunciation and the Enrolment in the days of Quirinius ; 
 the sending of Jesus bound to Herod, the last words on the 
 cross, &c. ; and uses in various instances language only found 
 in this Gospel. 
 
 Hegesippus has at least two passages which appear to be 
 verbal quotations from Luke xx. 21, xxiii. 24. 
 
 The Gospel is mentioned as the work of St Luke in the 
 Muratorian Fragment on the Canon, of which the date is not 
 later than A.D. 170. 
 
 Among heretics it was known to, and used by, the Ophites : 
 by the Gnostics, Basilides and Valentinus ; by Heracleon (about 
 A.D. 180), who wrote a comment on it; by the author of the 
 Pistis Sophia J and by Marcion (about A.D. 140), who not only 
 knew the Gospel, but adopted it as the basis of his own Gospel 
 with such mutilations as suited his peculiar heresies. This fact 
 is not only asserted by Irenaeus, Tertullian, Epiphanius, &c., but 
 may now be regarded as conclusively proved by Volkmar, and 
 accepted by modern criticism. Marcion omitted chapters i. ii. 
 and joined iii. i with iv. 31. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 It is alluded to in the Clementine Homilies (about a.d, 175) 
 and Recognitions ; and in the Epistle of the Churches of Vienna 
 and Lyons, A.D. 177. 
 
 Celsus refers to the genealogy of Christ as traced upwards 
 to Adam. 
 
 Theophilus of Antioch (a.d. 170) makes direct allusions to it. 
 
 Irenaeus (about A.D. 180) expressly attributes it to St Luke; 
 Tertullian (f A.D. 220) and Clemens of Alexandria (f about A.D. 
 216) also quoted it as St Luke's. Origen (f a.d. 254) speaks of 
 the 'Four Gospels admitted by all the Churches under heaven ;' 
 and Eusebius ranks it among the ho^nologotimena, i.e. those works 
 . ^ whose genuineness and authenticity there was no doubt in 
 the Church. 
 
 It is found in the Peshito Syriac (3rd or 4th century), and 
 the Vetus Itala. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 " God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh." 
 
 Rom. viii. 3. 
 " The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
 
 Luke xix. 10. 
 
 "Whose joy is, to the wandering sheep 
 
 To tell of the great shepherd's love; 
 
 To learn of mourners while they weep 
 
 The music that makes mirth above; 
 
 "Who makes the Gospel all his theme, 
 
 The Gospel all his pride and praise." 
 
 Keble, St Luke's Day. 
 
 This rich and precious Gospel is marked, as are the others, 
 by special characteristics. 
 
 Thus: 
 
 (i) St Luke must be ranked as the first Christian hym- 
 nologist. It is to his inspired care that we owe the preservation 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of three sacred hymns, besides the Ave Maria (i. 28 — 33) 
 and the Gloria in Excelsis (ii. 14), which have been used 
 for ages in the worship of the Church :— the Benedictus, or 
 Song of Zacharias (i. 68 — 79), used in our Morning Service ; 
 the Magnificat, or Song of the Blessed Virgin (i. 46-^55) ; 
 and the Nunc Dimittis, or Song of Symeon (ii. 29—32), 
 used in our Evening Serviced In these Canticles the New 
 Aeon is represented not merely as the fulfilment of the Old, 
 but also as a kingdom of the Spirit ; as a spring of life and 
 joy opened to the world ; as a mystery, prophesied of indeed 
 because it is eternal, but now in the appointed time revealed 
 to men 2. / 
 
 (ii) In this Qos^^ thanksgiving '\% also prominent. "The 
 Gospel of the Saviour begins with hymns, and ends with 
 praises ; and as the thanksgivings of the meek are recorded in 
 the first chapter, so in the last we listen to the gratitude of 
 the faithful^." Mention is made no less than seven times of 
 'glorifying God' by the utterance of gratitude and praise (ii. 20, 
 V. 25, vii. 16, xiii. 13, xvii. 15, xviii. 43, xxiii.^ 47). .. 
 
 (iii) It also gives special prominence XoiPrayer^ \\. not only 
 records (as Matt, vi.) the Lord's Prayer, but alone preserves to 
 us the fact that our Lord prayed on six distinct and memorable 
 occasions, (i) At His baptism. (2) After cleansing the leper. 
 (3) Before calling the Twelve Apostles. (4) At His Trans- 
 figuration. (5) On the Cross for His murderers, and (6) with 
 His last breath ^ St Luke too, like St Paul, insists on the duty 
 of unceasing Prayer as taught by Christ (xviii. i, xi. 8, xxi. 36, 
 Rom. xii. 12, &c.) ; and emphasizes this instruction by alone 
 recording the two Parables which encourage us to a per- 
 sistent energy, a holy importunity, a storming of the kingdom of 
 Heaven by violence in our prayers — the parables of the Friend 
 at Midnight (xi. 5 — 13) and of the Unjust Judge (xviii. i — 8). 
 
 * **Thou hast an ear for angel songs, 
 
 A breath the Gospel trump to fill, 
 And taught by thee the Church prolongs 
 
 Her hymns of high tlianksgiving still." — Keble. 
 2 See Maurice, Unity of the New Testament, p. 236. 
 ' Westcott, Introd. to Gospels, p. 354. * See p. 92. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 (iv) But the Gospel is marked mainly by its presentation of 
 the Good Tidings in their universality and gratuitousness. It is 
 pre-eminently the Gospel of pardon and of pity. " By grace ye 
 are saved through faith V and "the second man is the Lord 
 from heaven" (i Cor. xv. 47)2, might stand as the motto of 
 St Luke as of St Paul. Thus the word ^ grace' {charis, eight 
 times), 'saviour' and 'salvation' (only once each in St John), 
 and 'tell glad tidings of (ten times), occur in it far more fre- 
 quently than in the other Gospels ; and these are applied neither 
 to Jews mainly, nor to Gentiles mainly, but universally^. It 
 is the Gospel of "a Saviour" and of "good will towards 
 menj'^ the Gospel of Jesus, not only as the heir of David's 
 throne, and of Abraham's promise, but as the Federal Head 
 and Representative of Humanity — " the son of Adam, which was 
 the Son of God." And what a picture does this great ideal 
 painter set forth to us of Christ ! He comes with angel carols ; 
 He departs with priestly benediction. We catch our first 
 glimpse of Him in the manger-cradle at Bethlehem, our last 
 as from the slopes of Olivet He vanishes "into the cloud" 
 with pierced hands upraised to bless ! The Jewish religion of 
 that day had degenerated into a religion of hatreds. The then 
 'religious world,' clothing its own egotism under the guise of 
 zeal for God, had for the most part lost itself in a frenzy of de- 
 testations. The typical Pharisee hated the Gentiles ; hated the 
 Samaritans ; hated the tax-gatherers. He despised poverty and 
 despised womanhood. In St Luke, towards every age, towards 
 either sex, towards all nations, towards all professions, towards 
 men of every opinion and every shade of character, our Blessed 
 Lord appears as Christus Consolator ; the good Physician 
 of bodies and of souls ; the Gospeller of the poor ; the Brother 
 
 1 XV. II, xvii. 10, xviii. 11, &c. 
 
 2 Ki^ptos, ' Lord,' as a substitute for 'Jesus,' occurs 14 times in St Luke, 
 and elsewhere only in Mk. xvi. 19, 20 of the Synoptists. The combina- 
 tion "the Lord Jesus" (if genuine) occurs only in Lk. xxiv. 3, though 
 common in the Epistles. See note on that verse. 
 
 ^ Sections of St Luke which are in peculiar accordance with those 
 views which marked the Gospel of St Paul (Rom. ii. 16) are iv. 16 — 30, 
 vii. 36 — 50, xviii. 14, xix. i — 10, xxiii. 39 — 43. See Van Gosterzeein 
 Lange's Commentary, Introd. p. 3, and above, p. lo. 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 who loves all His brethren in the great family of man ; the 
 unwearied healer and ennobler of sick and suffering humanity; 
 the Desire of all nations ; the Saviour of the world, who " went 
 about doing good" (Acts x. 38). In accordance with this con- 
 ception, 
 
 (v) St Luke reveals especially the sacredness of infancy. 
 He alone tells us of the birth and infancy of the Baptist ; the 
 Annunciation; the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth; the songs 
 of the herald Angels ; the Circumcision ; the Presentation in 
 the Temple ; the growth in universal favour and sweet sub- 
 mission. And he alone preserves the one anecdote of the Con- 
 firmation of Jesus at twelve years old which is the solitary 
 flower gathered from the silence of thirty years. Hence this 
 Gospel is preeminently anti-docetic'^. St Luke alludes to the 
 human existence of our Lord before birth (i. 42) ; as a babe 
 (ii. 16) ; as a little child (ii. 27) ; as a boy (ii. 40) ; and as a 
 man (iii. 22). 
 
 (vi) He dwells especially on Christ's ministry to the world; 
 that He was to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as 
 the glory of His people Israel. He alone adds to the quotation 
 from Isaiah respecting the mission of the Baptist the words 
 "And ALL FLESH shall see the salvation of God." He alone 
 introduces the parallels of Elijah sent to the heathen Sarepta, 
 and Elisha healing the heathen Naaman ; as well as full 
 details of that mission of the Seventy who by their number 
 typified a mission to the supposed number of the nations of 
 the world. St Luke's Gospel might stand as a comment on the 
 words of St Paul at Athens, that God " hath made of one 
 blood all nations of men... that they should seek the Lord, if 
 haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be 
 not far from every one of us " (Acts xvii. 27). 
 
 (vii) St Luke's is specially the Gospel of Womanhood^ and he 
 prominently records the graciousness and tenderness of Christ 
 towards many women. He tells us how Jesus raised the dead 
 boy at Nain, being touched with compassion because "he was 
 
 ^ See Van Oosterzee, Introd. p. 4. The Docetae were an ancient 
 heretical sect who denied the true humanity of Christ. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 the only son of his mother, and she was a widow." He alone 
 tells us the remarkable fact that Jesus in his earlier mission 
 journeys was accompanied not by warriors like David, not by 
 elders like Moses, not by nobles and kings like the Herods, but 
 by a most humble band of ministering women (viii. i — 3). His 
 narrative in the first two chapters must have been derived from 
 the Virgin Mary, and has been thought to shew in every line 
 the pure and tender colouring of a woman's thoughts. He alone 
 mentions the widow Anna (ii. 36), and tells us about eager 
 Martha cumbered with serving, and Maiy choosing the better 
 part (x. 38 — 42) ; he alone how our Lord once addressed to a 
 poor, crushed, trembling, humiliated woman the tender name of 
 " daughter" (viii. 48), and how He spoke of another as a daughter 
 of Abraham (xiii. 16); he alone how He at once consoled and 
 warned the " daughters of Jerusalem " who followed Him weep- 
 ing to Calvary (xxiii. 28). The Scribes and Pharisees gathered 
 up their robes in the streets and synagogues lest they should 
 touch a woman, and held it a crime to look on an unveiled 
 woman in public ; our Lord suffered a woman to minister to 
 Him out of whom He had cast seven devils 
 
 (viii) He seems to delight in all the records which told of the 
 mercy of the Saviour towards the poor, the humble, the de- 
 spised {^xi.i^^vx. 20—25,30, viii. 2, 3, xii. 16—21, 33, xvi. 13, 19—25, 
 xiv. 12 — 15, &c.). Hence his Gospel has even been called (though 
 very erroneously) the Gospel of the Ebionites. He narrates the 
 Angel Visit to the humble maiden of Nazareth ; the Angel 
 Vision to the humble shepherds ; the recognition of Jesus in the 
 Temple by the unknown worshipper, and the aged widow. He 
 records the beatitudes to the poor and the hungry, the parables 
 of Dives and Lazarus and of the Rich Fool; the invitation of 
 "the poor, the maimed, the halt, the blind" to the Great Supper; 
 the exaltation of the humble who choose the lowest seats-; the 
 counsel to the disciples to "sell what they have," arid to the 
 Pharisees to " give alms." He does not denounce riches, but 
 only the wealth that is not "rich towards God;" nor does he 
 pronounce a beatitude upon poverty in the abstract, but only on 
 the poverty which is patient and submissive. He had learnt from 
 
28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 his Lord to 'measure wisdom by simplicity, strength by suffer- 
 ing, dignity by lowliness.' 
 
 (ix) Further, it is specially the Gospel of the outcast^ — of the 
 Samaritan (ix. 52 — 56, xvii. 11 — 19), the Publican, the harlot, 
 and the Prodigal. Jesus came to seek and to save that which 
 was lost (xix. 10). See instances in Zacchseus (xix. i — 10) ; the 
 Prodigal Son ; Mary of Magdala (vii. 36 — 50) ; the woman with 
 the issue of blood (viii. 43 — 48) ; the dying robber (xxiii. 39 — 43). 
 This peculiarity is doubtless due to that intense spirit of sym- 
 pathy which led St Luke alone of the Evangelists to record that 
 the boy of Nain was the only son of his mother (vii. 12); and 
 the 'little maid' of Jairus his only daughter (viii. 42); and the 
 lunatic boy his father's only son (ix. 38). 
 
 (x) Lastly, it is the Gospel of tolerance. There was a deadly 
 blood-feud between the Jews and the Samaritans, and St Luke 
 is careful to record how Jesus praised the one grateful Samari- 
 tan leper, and chose the good Samaritan rather than the indif- 
 ferent Priest and icy-hearted Levite as the type of love to our 
 neighbour. He also records two special and pointed rebukes of 
 the Saviour against the spirit of intolerance : — one when the 
 Sons of Thunder wanted to call down fire from heaven on the 
 churlish Samaritan village — Ye know not what mamter of 
 spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is Jiot come to destroy me?i^s 
 lives, but to save them: the other when he rebuked the narrow- 
 ness which said " We forbad him, because he followeth not us," 
 with the words Forbid him not; for he that is ?iot against us is 
 for us ^. 
 
 We may notice lastly that St Luke's Gospel is characterised by 
 
 (xi) Its careful chronological order (i. 3) ; 
 
 (xii) Its very important preface ; and 
 
 (xiii) Its command of the Greek language^. 
 
 ^ Lk. ix. 49 — 56. 
 
 " " Lucam tradunt veteres...magis Graecas literas scisse quam He- 
 braeas. Unde et sermo ejus... comptior est, et saeculareni redolet elo- 
 quentiam." Jer. ad Damas. Ep. 20. Where the style is less pure, and 
 abounds in Hebraisms, we find internal evidence that St Luke is 
 closely following some Aramaic document in which the oral tradition 
 had been reduced to writing. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 Although there is an Hebraic tinge in the hymns and speeches 
 which St Luke merely records, his own style abounds in isolated 
 phrases and words chiefly classical, and his style is more flowing 
 than that of St Matthew and St Mark. His pecuHar skill as a 
 writer lies rather in 'psychologic comments ^,' and the reproduc- 
 tion of conversations with their incidents, than in such graphic 
 and vivid touches as those of St Mark. He is also a great master 
 of light and shade, i.e. he shews remarkable skill in the presen- 
 tation of profoundly instructive contrasts — e. g. Zacharias and 
 Mary; Simon and the Sinful Woman; Martha and Mary; the 
 Pharisee and the Pubhcan; the Good Samaritan, Priest, and 
 Levite; Dives and Lazarus; beatitudes and woes; tears and 
 Hosannas ; and the penitent and impenitent robber. 
 
 It is the presence of these characteristics that has earned for 
 this Gospel the praise of being " the most beautiful book that 
 has ever been written \" 
 
 The Miracles peculiar to St Luke are 
 
 1. The miraculous draught of fishes, v. 4 — 11. 
 
 2. The raising of the widow's son at Nain. vii. 11 — 18. 
 
 3. The woman with the spirit of infirmity, xiii. 11 — 17. 
 
 4. The man with the dropsy, xiv. i — 6. 
 
 5. The ten lepers, xvii. 11 — 19. 
 
 6. The healing of Malchus. xxii. 50, 51. 
 
 The Parables peculiar to St Luke are 
 
 1. The two debtors, vii. 41 — 43. 
 
 2. The good Samaritan, x. 25 — 37. 
 
 3. The importunate friend, xi. 5 — 8. 
 
 4. The rich fool. xii. 16 — 21. 
 
 5. The barren fig-tree. xiii. 6 — 9. 
 
 ^ iii. 15, vi. II, vii. 29, 30, 39, xvi. 14, &c. Bp Ellicott, HisL Led. 
 p. 28. 
 
 2 This praise is tlie more striking because of the source from which 
 it comes. The writer adds that it shews "un admirable sentinient 
 populaire, una fine et touchante poesie, le son clair et pur d'une ame 
 tout argentine." ''C'est surtout dans les recits de I'Enfance et de la 
 
 Passion que Ton trouve un art divin Le parti qu'il a tire de Marthe 
 
 et de Marie sa soeur est chose merveilleuse ; aucune pkime n'a laisse tom- 
 ber dix lignes plus charmantes. L'episode des disciples d'Emmaus est un 
 des recits les plus fins, les plus nuances qu'il y ait dans aucune langue." 
 
30 • INTRODUCTION. 
 
 6. The lost piece of silver, xv. 8 — lo. 
 
 7. The prodigal son. xv. 11 — 32. .*■ 
 
 8. The unjust steward, xvi. i — 13. 
 
 9. Dives and Lazarus, xvi. 19 — 31. 
 
 10. The unjust judge, xviii. i — 8. 
 
 11. The Pharisee and the publican, xviii. 10 — 14. 
 
 The two first chapters and the great section, ix. 51 — xviii. 14, 
 are mainly peculiar to St Luke. 
 
 And in addition to those already noted above, other remark- 
 able incidents or utterances peculiar to him are John the Bap- 
 tist's answers to the people (iii. 10 — 14) ; the weeping over 
 Jerusalem (xix. 41 — 44); the conversation with Moses and 
 Elias (ix. 28 — 36) ; the bloody sweat (xxii. 44) ; the sending of 
 Jesus to Herod (xxiii. 7 — 12); the address to the Daughters of 
 Jerusalem (27 — 31); the prayer, "Father, forgive them" (xxiii. 34) ; 
 the penitent robber (40 — 43) ; the disciples at Emmaus (xxiv. 13 — 
 31); particulars of the Ascension (xxiv. 50 — 53). Additional 
 touches which are sometimes of great importance may be found 
 in iii. 22 ("in a bodily shape"), iv. 13 ("for a season"), iv. i — 6, 
 V. 17, 29, 39, vi. II, vii. 21, &c. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Many writers have endeavoured to arrange the contents of 
 this and the other Gospels in schemes illustrative of the dog- 
 matic connexions in accordance with which the various sections 
 are supposed to be woven together and subordinated to each 
 other. Without here giving any opinion about the other Gospels, 
 I must state my conviction that, as far as St Luke is concerned, 
 such hypothetic arrangements have not been successful. No 
 two writers have agreed in their special schemes, and the fact 
 that each writer who has attempted such an analysis has seized 
 on very different points of connexion, shews that all such at- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 tempts have been more or less arbitrary, however ingenious. 
 It seems to me that if the Gospels had been arranged on these 
 purely subjective methods the clue to such arrangement would 
 have been more obvious, and also that we should, in that case, lose 
 something of that transparent and childlike simplicity of motive 
 which adds such immense weight to the testimony of the Evan- 
 gehsts as the narrators of simple facts. Nor is it probable that 
 the existence of this subjective symmetry of composition would 
 have escaped the notice of so many centuries of Christian stu- 
 dents and Fathers. When St Luke tells Theophilus that he 
 had decided to set forth in order the accepted facts of the 
 Christian faith, I believe that the order he had in view was 
 viaiiily chronological, and that the actual sequence of events, 
 so far as it was recoverable from the narratives (Str/yj^'o-fts') or 
 the oral sources which he consulted, was his chief guide in 
 the^ arrangement of his Gospel ^ Various lessons may be 
 observed or imagined in the order in which one event is 
 placed after another, but these lessons lie deep in the chronolo- 
 gical facts themselves, not in the method of the writer. The 
 sort of analysis attempted by modern writers has hitherto only 
 furnished each subsequent analyst with an opportunity for com- 
 menting on the supposed failures of his predecessors. For those 
 however who disagree with these views, able and thoughtful 
 endeavours to set forth the narrative in accordance with such a 
 predetermined plan may be found in Van Oosterzee's Introduc- 
 tion, § 5, in Westcott's Introduction to the Gospels, pp. 364 — 366, 
 and M^^Clellan's New Testament, 427—438. 
 
 The Gospel falls quite simply and naturally into the following 
 sections : — 
 
 I. Introduction, i. i — 4. 
 
 II. The Preparation for the Nativity, i. 5—80. 
 i. Announcement of the Forerunner, i. 5 — 25. 
 ii. Announcement of the Saviour. 26 — 38. 
 iii. Hymns of thanksgiving of Mary and Elizabeth. 39 — 56. 
 
 ^ The subordinate notes of time in the great section, ix. 51— xviii. 14, 
 are vague. 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1 
 
 iv. Birth and Circumcision of the Forerunner. 57 — 66. 
 
 The Benedictus. 67 — 79. 
 V. Growth of the Forerunner. 80. 
 
 III. Nativity of the Saviour, ii. i — 20. 
 
 I. The Birth in the Manger, ii. i — 7. 
 
 Songs and thanksgivings of the Angels and the Shep- 
 herds. 8—20. 
 
 IV. The Infancy of the Saviour, ii. 21 — 38. 
 
 i. The Circumcision, ii. 21. 
 ii. The Presentation in the Temple. 22 — 24. 
 
 Songs and thanksgivings of Simeon and Anna. 25 — 38. 
 
 V. The Boyhood of the Saviour, ii. 39—52. 
 i. His growth. 39, 40. 
 ii. His first visit to Jerusalem. 41 — 48. 
 iii. His first recorded words. 49, 50. 
 iv. His development from boyhood to manhood. 51, 52. 
 
 VI. The Manifestation of the Saviour (iii. i — iv. 13), by 
 
 i The preaching of John the Baptist, iii. i — 14, and 
 His prophecy of the coming Messiah. 16 — 18. 
 (Parenthetic anticipation of John's imprisonment. 19, 20.) 
 
 ii. By the descent of the Spirit and the Voice at the Baptism. 
 21, 22. 
 The Son of Adam and the Son of God. 23 — 38. 
 
 iii. By victory over the Tempter, iv. i — 13. 
 
 VII. Life and Early Ministry of the Saviour, iv. 14 — vii. 50. 
 
 i. His teaching in Galilee, iv. 14, 15. 
 ii. His first recorded Sermon, and rejection by the Nazarenes. 
 
 16—30. 
 iii. His Work in Capernaum and the Plain of Gennesareth. 
 
 iv. 31— vii. 50. 
 iv. A great Sabbath at Capernaum, iv. 31 — 44. 
 a. Healing of a Demoniac. 33 — 37. 
 /S. Healing of Peter's wife's mother. 38, 39. • 
 7. Healing of a multitude of the sick. 40—44. 
 V. The miraculous draught of fishes, v. i — n. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 vi. Work amid the sick, suffering, and sinful, v. 12 — 32. 
 
 a. Healing of a leper and other works of mercy. 
 
 12 — 17. 
 /S. Healing the paralytic. 18 — 26. 
 7. The Call and feast of Matthew. 27 — 32. 
 
 vii. The Saviour teaching and doing good. v. 33 — vii. 50. 
 a. The new and the old. v. 33 — 39. 
 /3. The Sabbath, vi. i — 12. 
 7. Choosing of the Apostles. 13 — 16. 
 
 d. The Sermon on the Mount. 17 — 49. 
 
 e. The centurion's servant, vii. i — ro. 
 
 f. The widow's son raised from the dead. 11 — 17. 
 7). His witness to John the Baptist. 18 — 30. 
 
 6. His complaint against that generation. 31 — 35. 
 t. The woman that was a sinner. 36 — 50. 
 
 VIII. Lati.r Ministry in Galilee and its neighbourhood, viii. 
 
 i. The first Christian sisterhood, viii. i — 3. 
 ii. Incidents of two great days. 4 — 56. 
 
 a. The first Parable. 4 — 15. 
 
 /3. The similitude of the lamp. 16 — 18. 
 
 7. Who are His mother and His brethren. 19 — 21. 
 
 5. Stilling the storm. 22 — 25. 
 
 6. The Gadarene demoniac. 26 — 40. 
 
 f. The daughter of Jairus and the woman with the 
 issue of blood. 41 — 56. 
 
 IX. Latest Phases of the Galilean Ministry, and journey 
 
 Northwards, ix. i — 50. 
 L Mission of the Twelve, ix. i — 6. 
 ii. Alarm of Herod. 7 — 9. 
 
 iii. Feeding the five thousand at Bethsaida Julias. 10 — 17. 
 iv. Culmination of the training of the Apostles. 18 — 50. 
 a. The Confession of St Peter. 18 — 22. 
 /3. Warning of the coming end. 23 — 27. 
 
 7. The Transfiguration on Mount Hermon. 28 — 36. 
 5. The Lunatic Boy. 37 — 42. 
 
 e. Nearer warnings of the coming end. 43 — ^45. 
 
 f . Lesson of Humility. 46 — 48. 
 17. Lesson of Tolerance. 49, 50. 
 
 ST LUKE 3 
 
^ INTRODUCTION. 
 
 X. Incidents of the great final phase of the Saviour's 
 
 Ministry after leaving Galilee, ix. 51 — xix. 27 ^ 
 
 L Tolerance to the Samaritans. The spirit of Elijah and 
 
 the spirit of the Saviour. 51 — 56. 
 ii. The sacrifices of true discipleship. 57 — 62. 
 iii. The Mission of the Seventy, x. i — 20. 
 iv. The Saviour's joy at its success and blessedness. 21 — 24. 
 V. Love to our neighbour. The Good Samaritan. 25 — 37. 
 vi. The one thing needful. Martha and Mary. 38 — 42. 
 vii. Lessons of Prayer, xi. i — 13. 
 
 viii. Open rupture with the Pharisees, and connected incidents 
 and warnings, xi. 14— xii. 59. 
 ix. Teachings, Warnings, Parables, and Miracles, of the 
 Journey in preparation for the coming end. xiii. i — 
 xviii. 30. 
 
 a. Parables : 
 
 The Great Supper, xiv. 15 — 24. 
 
 Shorter similitudes: 
 
 The Unfinished Tower. 25 — ^o. 
 The Prudent King. 31—33. 
 Savourless Salt. 34, 35. 
 
 The Lost Sheep, xv. i — 7. 
 
 The Lost piece of Silver. 8 — 10. 
 
 The Prodigal Son. 11 — -32. 
 
 The Unjust Steward, xvi. i — 12. 
 
 Warnings against avarice; Rich Man and Laza- 
 rus. 13—31- 
 |3. Shorter sayings : 
 
 Offences, xvii. i, 2. Forgiveness, 3, 4. Faith, 
 5, 6. Service, 7 — 10. Gratitude (the Ten 
 Lepers), 11— 19. Coming of the kingdom 
 of God, 20 — 37. Prayer (the Importunate 
 Widow), xviii. i — 8. The Pharisee and the 
 Publican, 9—14. Children, 15 — 17. Sacrifice 
 for Christ's sake. The Great Refusal, iS— 30. 
 
 ' The whole section is sometimes, but inadequately, called the G/iO- 
 ntohgy, or "collection of moral teaching." 
 
INTRODUCTION. 35 
 
 XL Last stage of the Journey from Jericho to Jeru- 
 salem, xviii. 31 — xix. 46. 
 i. Prediction of the approaching end. xviii. 31 — 34. 
 ii. The healing of Blind Bartimaeus. xviii. 35 — 43. 
 iii. The Repentant Publican, Zacchaeus. xix, i — 10. 
 iv. The Parable of the Pounds, ro — 27. 
 V. The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. 28 — 40. 
 vi. The Saviour weeping over Jerusalem. 41 — 44. 
 vii. The Cleansing of the Temple. 45, 46. 
 XII. The Last Days of the Saviour's Life. xix. 47 — xxi. 38. 
 L The day of Questions, xx. 
 
 a. Question of the Priests and Elders, i — 8. 
 
 Parable of the Vineyard. 9 — 18. 
 p. Question about the tribute-money. 19 — 26. 
 7. Question of the Sadducees. 27 — 39. 
 5. Question of Christ. 39 — 44. 
 
 Last denunciation of the Scribes. 45 — 47. 
 ii. Farewell to the Temple, and last warnings, xxi. 
 a. The widow's mite, i — 4. 
 /3. Prophecy against the Temple. 5, 6. 
 7. Signs and warnings of the last times. 7 — 38. 
 XIIL Last Hours of the Saviour on Earth, xxii. i — xxiii. 49. 
 i. The plots of enemies, xxii. i — 6. 
 ii. The Last Supper. Warnings and farewells. 7 — 38. 
 iii. The Agony in the Garden. 39 — 46. 
 iv. The Betrayal. 47 — 49. 
 v. The Arrest. 50 — 53. 
 vi. Trial before the Priests, and Peter's denials. 54 — 62. 
 
 First derision. 63 — 65. 
 vii. Trial before the Sanhedrim. 66 — 71. 
 viii. Trial before Pilate, and first acquittal, xxiii. i — 4. 
 ix. Trial before Herod. Second derision, and acquittal. 
 
 5—12. 
 X. Pilate's endeavours to release Him. The Jews choose 
 
 Barabbas. Condemnation to Death. 13 — 26. 
 xi. The Daughters of Jerusalem. 27 — 31. 
 xii. The Crucifixion. 32 — 38. 
 xiii. The Penitent Robber. 39 — 45. 
 xiv. The Saviour's Death. 46 — 49. 
 
 3—2 
 
36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XIV. The Burial, Resurrection, and Ascension, xxiii. 50— 
 xxiv. 53. 
 i. The Entombment, xxiii. 50 — 56. 
 ii. The Resurrection, xxiv. i — 12. 
 iii. The Disciples at Emmaus. 13 — 32. 
 iv. Appearance to the Twelve, and last teachings of the Risen 
 Saviour. 33—49- 
 
 XV. The Ascension. 50 — 53. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 37 
 
 CHIEF UNCIAL MANUSCRIPTS OF THE GOSPELS. 
 
 Sign. 
 
 Name. Codex 
 
 Date. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 X 
 
 Sinaiticus. 
 
 4th century. 
 
 Found by Tischendorf at 
 the monastery of St 
 Catharine, 1859. Now 
 at St Petersburg. 
 
 A 
 
 Alexandrinus. 
 
 5th century. 
 
 Now in British Museum. 
 Presented to Charles I. 
 by Cyril Lucar, Patri- 
 arch of Constantinople 
 in 162S. 
 
 B 
 
 Vaticanus. 
 
 4th century. 
 
 Now in the Vatican Library 
 at Rome. 
 
 C 
 
 Ephraemi. 
 
 5th century. 
 
 Now in Paris. A palim- 
 psest traceable under 
 copy of the works of 
 Ephraem the Syrian. 
 
 D 
 
 Bezae. 
 
 6th century. 
 
 Greek and Latin. Contains 
 remarkable interpola- 
 tions. Given by Beza to 
 the University Library 
 at Cambridge in 1581. 
 
 E 
 
 Basiliensis. 
 
 8th century. 
 
 An Evangel istarium or Ser- 
 vice book. Now at 
 Basle. 
 
 F 
 
 Boreeli. 
 
 9th century. 1 Now at Utrecht. 
 
 G 
 
 Wolfii A. 
 
 loth century. 
 
 At British Museum, and 
 fragment at Trinity Coll., 
 Cambridge. 
 
 L 
 
 Regius. 
 
 8th or 9th. 
 
 Now at Tours. 
 
 M 
 
 Campianus. 
 
 9th century. 
 
 At Paris. 
 
38 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The most important Ancient Versions are — 
 The Peshito Syriac (made in the 3rd century). 
 The Curetonian Syriac, possibly representing an older form of the 
 
 Peshito (2nd century). A 5th century MS. of this version was 
 
 found by Canon Cureton in the British Museum. 
 The Philoxenian Syriac (made in the 6th centur}'). 
 The Jerusalem Syriac (5th or 6th century). 
 The Vetus Itala is the oldest existing form of a Latin Version made 
 
 in the 2nd century. 
 The Vulgate is mainly St Jerome's revision of the Vetus Itala, 
 
 A.D. 383—5. 
 
 The Sahidic or Thebaic and the Memphitic (2nd or 3rd century). 
 The Gothic Version of Bp Ulfilas (4th century). 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 30 
 
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 CO 
 
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 O 
 
 W 
 
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 W 
 
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 O 
 
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 II -2 
 
 C/2 
 
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 '"'ft ^ 
 
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 E § 
 
 C/J 
 
 
 
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THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 
 
 ST LUKE. 
 
 Ch I. I — 4. Introduction. 
 
 FORASMUCH as many have taken in hand to set forth 1 
 in order a declaration of those things which are most 
 
 P Ch. I. 1 — 4. Introduction. 
 
 Forasmuch as\ This brief preface is in several respects most inter- 
 esting and important. 
 
 i. It is the only personal introduction to any historic book in the 
 Bible except the Acts. It is specially valuable here as authenticating the 
 first two chapters and shewing that Marcion's excision of them was only 
 due to his desire to suppress the true humanity of Christ, as his other 
 mutilations of the Gospel — (which made it *' like a garment eaten by 
 moths," Epiphan.) — were due to hostility to the Old Testament. See 
 Mill's Mythical Interpretation, p. 103. 
 
 ii. The style in which it is written is purer and more polished than 
 that of the rest of the Gospel, though it is "the most literary of the 
 Gospels." It was the custom of antiquity to give special elaboration 
 to the opening clauses of a great work, as we see in the Histories of 
 Thucydides, Livy, &c. In the rest of the Gospel the style of the 
 Evangelist is often largely modified by the documents of which he 
 made such diligent use. 
 
 iii. It shews us in the simplest and most striking manner that the 
 Divine Inspiration was in no way intended to supersede the exercise of 
 human diligence and judgment. 
 
 iv. It proves how ^^ many^^ early attempts to narrate the Life of 
 Christ have perished. We may well suppose that they have only 
 perished because the Four Evangelists were guided by **a grace of 
 superintendency" to select and to record all that was most needfiil for 
 us to know, and to preserve everything which was accurate and essen- 
 tial in the narratives {^Lriyr)<THs) which had previously been published. 
 
 V. It furnishes us on the very threshold with a key to the aims of 
 the Evangelist in the more systematic and comprehensive history which 
 he is now led to write. With a modesty, which is also evinced by his 
 self suppression in the Acts of the Apostles, he here lays claim to nothing 
 beyond methodical order and diligent research. 
 
42 ST LUKE, I. [v. 2. i 
 
 2 surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto 
 us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and minis- 
 
 -^^ vi. We see at once from this preface the association of thought and 
 
 expression between St Luke and his great Teacher. Several of the 
 
 I most marked words, 'attempted,' 'most surely believed,' 'orally in- 
 
 I structed,' 'certainty,' are only found elsewhere in the letters and 
 
 Vspeeches of St Paul. 
 
 1. many\ Whether the Gospels of St Matthew and St Mark had 
 been written when St Luke's appeared is a question which cannot be 
 answered with certainty ; but it is certain that he does not here allude 
 to those Gospels, and that he did not make any use of them (see Inlrod. 
 p. 9). 
 
 These many attempts to narrate the earthly life of the Saviour were 
 probably those collections of traditional memorials, j)aral:)les and 
 miracles {logia, diegeseis), of which all that was most valuable was in- 
 corporated in our four Gospels. Setting aside the Apocryphal Gospels, 
 which are for the most part worthless and even pernicious forgeries, 
 Christian tradition has not preserved for us one trustworthy event of 
 the Life of Christ, and barely a dozen sayings [agrapha dogmata like 
 that preserved by St Paul in Acts xx. 35) which are not found in the 
 Gospels. 
 
 have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration"] Literally, 
 attempted to draw up a narrative. A remarkable parallel to this 
 passage is found in Josephus {Contra Ap. i. 10) ; but no censure is here 
 expressed. The word 'attempted' shews indeed that these endeavours 
 were not wholly successful, and the use of the aorist implies that they 
 had already failed. (Acts xix. 13.) " Conati sunt qui implere nequi- 
 verunt," Aug. The works to which St Luke alludes were fragmentary and 
 ill-arranged but not necessarily misleading. Origen [Horn, in Luc.) is 
 hardly justified in supposing that the authors are rebuked for temerity, 
 and Dr M'^Clellan goes much too far in calling them "false Evan- 
 gelists." 
 
 of those things which are most surely believed among wj] Others ren- 
 der it ^ which have been fulfilled^ ' have found their accomplishment;^ 
 but the analogous uses of the same Greek verb in Rom. iv. 21, xiv. 5, 
 and 2 Tim. iv. 17, and especially of the substantive //^r£'/A(7rza in r Thess. 
 i. 5, Heb. vi. 11, support the English version. The expression is most im- 
 portant as shewing that whatever might be the defects of the narratives 
 there was no hesitation about the /a^/j. (Bp Marsh, p. 364.) "The 
 work of these unknown first Evangelists was new only in form and not 
 in substance." Westcott, Introd. p. 174. 
 
 2. even as they delivered them unto us, which"] The English version 
 is here ambiguous ; and the way in which it is often read shews how 
 completely it is misunderstood. It does not mean ' that the writers of 
 these narratives delivered them to St Luke and others who were eye- 
 witnesses, &c.,' but that 'since many undertook to rearrange the facts 
 which have been delivered (i Cor. xi. 23, xv. 3; 2 Thess. ii. 15) as a 
 sacred treasure or tradition (i Tim. vi. 20; 2 Tim. i. 14) to us Christians 
 
w. 3,4.J ST LUKE, I. 43 
 
 ters of the word; it seemed good to me also, having had 3 
 perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to 
 write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that 4 
 thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein 
 thou hast been instructed. 
 
 by those who became eyewitnesses' (which St Luke does not claim to be) 
 'and ministers of the word, I too determined, &c.' The words imply 
 that the narratives to which St Luke alludes were secondhand — that 
 they were rearrangements of an oral tradition received from apostles 
 and original disciples. Clearly therefore there can be no allusion to the 
 Gospel of St Matthew, who wrote his own narrative and would have 
 had no need to use one which had been 'delivered' and 'handed 
 down' to him. 
 
 eyewitnesses, and ministers'] Those who delivered to the Church the 
 facts of the Saviour's life had 'personal knowledge and practical experi- 
 ence,' which these narrators had not. (See Acts i. i\, 22.) 
 
 3. having had perfect understanding] Rather, having accurately 
 traced out or followed up. See the same word in i Tim. iv. 6; 2 Tim. 
 iii. 10. St Luke modestly puts himself exactly on the same footing as 
 these narrators in not having the primary apostolic qualification, but 
 claims continuous and complete knowledge and careful research. 
 
 ^from the very first] St Luke's Gospel differed from these narrative^ 
 in beginning from the birth of John the Baptist, and the Annunciation, I 
 whereas they began at the manhood and Public Ministry of Christ, as ' - 
 do St Mark and St John. See Acts i. -22; Lk. xvi. 16, "the Law ! 
 ' and the Prophets v<^x& until John: since that time the Kingdom of God J 
 k^ preached." J. 
 
 in order] A favourite word of St Luke only, viii. i ; Acts xi. 4, iii. \ 
 24, xviii. 23. St Luke's order is mainly objective, i.e. chronological;/ ' 
 St Matthew's, on the other hand, is much guided by subjective consi-j 
 derations, i.e. by moral sequence and unity of topics. 
 
 most excellent] This is the title of official personages of high position, 
 e.g. Felix, Acts xxiii. 26, and Festus, xxvi. 25. Whether it is here used 
 in this technical, or in a more general sense, like the Latin 'optime,' 
 it is impossible to say. 
 
 Theophilus] A very common name. It means 'Dear to God,' but 
 it is unlikely that it is here an ideal name. Absolutely nothing is 
 known of him. Some from the title "most excellent" have conjectured 
 that Sergius Paulus (Acts xiii. 7 — 12) is meant, to whom they think 
 that the Acts might have naturally been dedicated. But the najne 
 seems to shew that a Greek is intended, and St Luke is writing mainly 
 for Greeks (see Introduction, p. 16). A Theophilus, who held some 
 high distinction at Antioch, is mentioned in the Clementine Recognitions; 
 and as St Luke was, not improbably, a proselyte of Antioch, this may 
 be the person for whom he wrote. Others make him a Bishop of Cae- 
 sarea Philippi. 
 
 4. mightest /.-now] Rather, mayest fully know. 
 
44 ST LUKE, I. [v. 5. 
 
 5 — 25. The Announcement of the Birth of the Forerunner. 
 
 5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a 
 certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia : and 
 
 of those things^ wherein thou hast been instructed] Rather, of those 
 accounts in whicli thou wast orally instructed. Gal. vi. 6. From 
 the word KaTrjx^'i^f *to teach orally' comes our '•catechise,^ &c. Oral 
 instruction {katechesis) flourished especially at Alexandria, which was 
 famous for its catechetical school. This may possibly have favoured 
 the notion that Theophilus was an Alexandrian. 
 
 6 — 25. The Announcement of the Birth of the Fore- 
 runner. 
 
 6. There was in the days] The elaborate style of the Preface 
 is at once replaced by one of extreme directness and simplicity, full 
 of Hebraic expressions ; shewing that here St Luke begins to use, 
 and probably to translate, some Aramaic document which had come 
 into his hands. The remainder of this chapter is known as the /'ro- 
 tevangelium — the Gospel History before the Birth of Christ. The 
 sweetness and delicate reserve of the narrative, together with the inci- 
 dents on which it dwells, have led to the not unreasonable conjecture 
 that the Virgin Mary had written down some of those things which she 
 long * kept in her heart.' 
 
 ojf Herod, the king\ Towards the close of the reign of Herod the 
 Great. The true sceptre had departed from Judah. Herod was a mere 
 Idumaean usurper imposed on the nation by the Romans. " Regnum 
 ab Antonio Herodi datum, victor Augustus auxit." Tac. Hist. v. 9. 
 
 of yuded\ Besides Judaea, Samaria, and Galilee, his kingdom in- 
 cluded the most important regions of Peraea (Jos. Antt. XV. 5, § 6, 7 ; 
 B. y. I. 20, § 3, 4). 
 
 Zacharias] The common Jewish name Zachariah (2 Kings xiv. 29; 
 Ezra viii. 3, 11; Zech. i. i ; i Mace. v. 18, &c.) means 'remembered by 
 Jehovah.* The Jews highly valued the distinction of priestly birth 
 (Jos. Vit. i). The notion that Zacharias was a High Priest and that 
 his vision occurred on the great Day of Atonement is refuted by the 
 single word fKaxe "his tot was," vs. 9. 
 
 of the course] The word ephetneria means first * a daily ministry' (Heb. 
 Mishniereth) and then a class of the priesthood which exercised its func- 
 tions for a week. Aaron had four sons, but the two elder Nadab and 
 Abihu were struck dead for using strange fire in the sanctuary (Lev. x.). 
 From the two remaining sons Eleazar and Ithamar had sprung in 
 the days of David twenty-four families, sixteen from the descendants of 
 Eleazar, and eight from those of Ithamar. To these David distributes 
 by lot the order of their service from week to week, each for eight days 
 inclusively from sabbath to sabbath (i Chr. xxiv. i — 19 ; 2 Chr. xxxi. 2). 
 After the Babylonish exile only four of the twenty-four courses returned 
 — a striking indication of the truth of the Jewish saying that those who 
 returned from the exile were but like the chaff in comparison of the 
 
f 
 
 w. 6, 7.] ST LUKE, I. 45 
 
 his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was 
 Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walk- 6 
 ing in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord 
 blameless. And they had no child, because that EHsabeth 7 
 
 wheat. The four families of which the representatives returned were 
 those of Jedaiah, Immer, Pashur, and Harim (Ezra ii. 36 — 39). But 
 the Jews concealed the heavy loss by subdividing these four families 
 into twenty-four courses to which they gave the original names, and 
 this is alluded to in Nehem. xiii. 30 ("I... appointed \\v& wards of the 
 priests and the Levites, every one in his business"). This arrangement 
 continued till the fall of Jerusalem a.d. 70 at which time, on the ninth 
 of the month Ab (Aug. 5), we are told that the course in waiting was 
 that of Jehoiarib (Jos. Bell. Jud. vi. 5), Taanith, iv. 6 : Derenbourg, 
 Palest, p. 291. Reckoning back from this we find that the course of 
 Abijah went out of office on Oct. 9, B.C. 6, a.u.c. 748 (but see Lewin, 
 Fasti Sacrit p. 191). The reader should bear in mind that our received 
 era for the Birth of Christ (A.U.C. 753) was only fixed by the Abbot 
 Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, and is probably four years wrong. 
 
 of Abial I Chr. xxiv, 10, "the eighth [lot came forth] to Abijah." 
 This was not one of the four families which had returned, but the name 
 was soon revived (Neh. xii. 4), Josephus tells us that he enjoyed the 
 high distinction of belonging by birth to the first of the twenty-four 
 courses {Vit. i). 
 
 ElisabetJi\ The same name as Elisheba ('one whose oath is by God,' 
 comp. Jehoshebah, 2 Kings xi. 2), the wife of Aaron, Ex. vi. 23; men- 
 tioned by name according to Ibn Ezra as 'the mother of the priesthood.' 
 
 6. right eotis'\ One of the oldest terms of high praise among the 
 Jews (Gen. vi. 9, vii. i, xviii. 23 — 28. See Ps. xxxvii. 37; Ezek. xviii. 
 5 — 19, &c.). It is used also of Joseph, Matt. i. 19; and is defined in 
 the following words in the almost technical sense of strict legal obser- 
 vance which it had acquired since the days of the Maccabees. The true 
 Jashar (upright man) was the ideal Jew. Thus Rashi calls the Book of 
 Genesis 'the book of the upright , Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' 
 
 in all the commandments and ordinances'] The two words occur in 
 the LXX. version of Gen. xxvi. 5 (of Abraham) and 2 Chron. xvii. 4 
 (of Jehoshaphat). ' Commandments^ means the moral precepts of natural 
 and revealed religion (Rom. vii. 8 — 13). ^Ordinances' had come to be 
 technically used of the ceremonial 'LdiVf {'iieh. \x. i). The distinctions 
 were not accurately kept, but the two words together would, to a pious 
 Jew of that day, have included all the positive and negative precepts 
 which later Rabbis said were 613 in number, namely 248 positive, and 
 365 negative. 
 
 7. And they had no child] This was regarded as a heavy mis- 
 fortune because it cut off all hope of the birth of the Messiah in that 
 family. It was also regarded as often involving a moral reproach, and 
 as being a punishment for sin. See Gen. xi. 30, xviii. 11, xxx. i — 23; 
 Ex. xxiii. 26; Deut. vii. 14; Judg. xiii. 2, 3; i Sam. i. 6, 27; Is. 
 xlvii. q. 
 
46 ST LUKE, I. [w. 8— ii. 
 
 was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. 
 
 8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's ' 
 
 9 office before God in the order of his course, according to 
 the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense 
 
 lo when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole 
 
 multitude of the people were praying without at the time of 
 
 XI incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the 
 
 well stricken in years] A priest apparently might minister unt.i any 
 age, but Levites were partially superannuated at 50 (Num. iii. i — 39 
 iv., viii. 25). I 
 
 8. executed the priesfs qfficel The priest who had the highest func- I 
 tions allotted to him was called ' the chief of the course. ' There are 
 said to have been some 20,000 priests in the days of Christ, and it 
 could therefore never fall to the lot of the same priest tivice to offer 
 incense. Hence this would have been, apart from the vision, the most 
 memorable day in the life of Zacharias. 
 
 9. his lot was to burn incense] Rather, lie Obtained by lot the duty 
 of entering and burning incense. This was the loftiest and mos. 
 coveted of priestly functions, Ex. xxx. i — 10; Num. xvi. i — 40. Ki'" 
 Uzziah was smitten with leprosy for trying to usurp it (2 Chr. xx 
 18). Incense was a symbol of prayer (Ps. cxli. 2; Heb. ix. 4; Rev. viii 
 3, 4), and Philo tells us that it was offered twice a day, — before th^" 
 morning and after the evening sacrifice of a lamb. 
 
 i7ito the temple] Rather, shrine or Holy Place. The golden altar ot | 
 incense stood before the veil which separated the Holy Place from the 
 Holy of Holies (Ex. xxx. 6). The priest entered in white robes and ] 
 with unsandalled feet with two attendants who retired when they had 1 
 made everything ready. The people waited outride in the Court of Israel 
 praying in deep silence till the priest who was sacrificing the evening" 
 lamb at the great altar of Burnt Offering in the Court gave a signal to 
 his colleagiie in the shrine, perhaps by the tinkling of a bell (Ex. xxx. 
 t — 10; Ps. cxli. 2; Mai. i. 11). He then threw the incense on the 
 fire of the golden altar, and its fragrant smoke rose with the prayers of 
 the people. It was while performing this solemn function that John 
 Hyrcanus also had received a divine intimation (Jos. Antt. xiii. 103) 
 
 10. the whole multitude] This seems to shew that the vision too;, 
 place either on a sabbath, or some great feast-day. 
 
 praying] The Temple was mainly used for sacrifice. Prayer in t1 ■ 
 Tabernacle is only once mentioned in the Pentateuch (Deut. xxvi. 
 12 — 15). But the Temple had naturally become a 'House of Pray 
 (Is. Ivi. 7 ; Neh. xi. 17; Matt. xxi. 13). One of the Rabbis went so . 
 as to argue that prayer was a Rabbinic not a Mosaic institution ! Se 
 Cohen, "Jud. Gotiesdienst, p. 186. 
 
 11. an angel] St Luke dwells more than any of the Evangelists on 
 the ministry of angels, i. 26, ii. 9, 13, 21, xii. 8, xv. 10, xvi. 22, xxii. 
 43, xxiv. 4, 23, and frequently in the Acts. Compare the births of 
 Isaac, Samson, and Samuel. 
 
vv. 12—15.] ST LUKE, L 47 
 
 Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And " 
 when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon 
 him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: 13 
 for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear 
 thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou 14 
 shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his 
 birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and 15 
 sh-^U drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall 
 
 the right side] i.e. the South. It was the propitious side so to speak, 
 Mk, xvi. 5; Matt. xxv. 33; and ib. Schottgen, I/or. Hebr. 
 
 the altar of incense] A small movable table of acacia wood overlaid 
 with gold. See Ex. xxx. i — 38, xxxvii. 25; i Kings vii. 48. In Heb. 
 ix. 4 the word may possibly mean 'censer.' 
 
 12. he was troubled] Such is the effect always recorded of these 
 supernatural appearances. See Judg. xiii. 22; Dan. x. 7 — 9; Ezek. i. 
 28 ; Mark xvi. 8; Rev. i. 17. 
 
 13. Fear not] The first utterance of the Dawn of the Gospel. St 
 ^Luke begins with this angelic encouragement, and ends with the Apo- 
 '"»les 'blessing and praising God;' see the beautiful remarks of Bengel 
 
 :/i loc. 
 
 '■ thy prayer is heard] Rather, thy supplication was heard. Airfais 
 "mplies a special prayer, and with the aorist verb shews that Zacharias 
 had been just praying either to have a son, or at least that the days 
 of the Messiah might come. 
 
 yohn] Jehochanan, 'the favour of Jehovah' (comp. Gen. xvii. 19). 
 It is interchanged with Jona in Matt. xvi. 17 (comp. John i. 42), and in 
 various forms was not uncommon, i Chron. iii. 24, xxviii. 12, &c. 
 
 14. gladness] Rather, exultation, vs. 44; Acts ii. 46; Heb. i. 9. 
 many] The Pharisees and leading Jews did not accept John's 
 
 baptism (vii. 30; Matt. xxi. 27), and his influence, except among a 
 few, seems to have been shortlived. 
 
 ** There burst he forth : ' All ye whose hopes rely 
 On God, with me amid these deserts mourn, 
 Repent, repent, and from old errors turn!' 
 Who listened to his voice, obeyed his cry? — 
 Only the echoes which he made relent 
 Rang from their flinty caves Repent ! repent !" 
 
 Drummond. 
 ' sl5. great in the sight of the Lord] See vii. 24 — 30 ; Matt. xi. 11. 
 ,.] shall drink neither wine nor strong drink] He shall be a Nazarite 
 3(v"- 33; Num. vi. I — 4); like Samson (Judg. xiii. 2 — 7); and the 
 Rechabites (Jer. xxx v. 6). 'Strong drink ' (6'zi^r« from Heb. Shakar 
 * he is intoxicated ') was also forbidden to ministering priests, Lev. x. 8. 
 The term seems to have been specially applied to palm wine (Plin. 
 Hist. Nat. XIV. 19), and all intoxicants (e.g. beer, &c.) which are 
 £iot made of the juice of the grape. ' Ne Syder^ Wyclif. 
 
48 ST LUKE, I. [w. 16—19. 
 
 be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 
 
 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the 
 
 17 Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit 
 and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to 
 the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the 
 
 18 just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And 
 Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this ? 
 for I am an old man, and. my wife well stricken in years. 
 
 19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that 
 
 shall be filled with the Holy Ghost'] The contrast between the 
 false and hateful excitement of drunkenness and the divine exaltation 
 of spiritual fervour is also found in Eph. v. 18, "Be not drunk with 
 wine... but be filled w^ith the Spirit." Comp. Acts ii. 13. 
 
 even from his mother's womb] Compare i Sam. i. 11 ; Jer. i. 5. 
 
 16. many... shall he turn] Ezek. iii. 19; Is. xl. 3; Matt. iii. 3 — 6. 
 The word for * turn'' is sometimes rendered ^convert'' as in xxii. 32, 
 'when thou art converted.' These words resume the thread of pro- 
 phecy which had been broken for three centuries (Mai. iv. 6). 
 
 17. And he shall go before him] Shall go before the Messiah. The 
 English version should have added, "in His (God's) presence" [kvihrriov ' 
 ajJrou). 
 
 in the spirit and power of Elias"] From the last words of 
 Malachi (iv. 4 — 6, iii. r), the Jews universally believed (as they do to 
 this day) that Elijah would visibly return to earth as a herald of the 
 Messiah. It required the explanation of our Lord to open the eyes 
 of the Apostles on this subject. " This is Elias which was for to 
 come," Matt. xi. 14. "Elias truly shall first come and restore all 
 things... Then the disciples understood that He spake unto them of 
 John the Baptist," Matt. xvii. 10 — 14. The resemblance was partly 
 in external aspect (2 Kings i. 8 ; Matt. iii. 4) ; and partly in his mission 
 of stern rebuke and invitation to repentance (i Kings xviii. 21, xxi. 20). 
 
 to turn the heai-ts of the fathers to the children] Rather, of fathers 
 to cliildren ; i.e. as in the original meaning of Malachi, to remedy 
 disunion and restore family life. 
 
 to the wisdom] Rather, In or by the wisdom. 
 
 18. for I am an old man] So "Abraham fell upon his face, and , 
 laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that \ 
 is a hundred years old?" Gen. xvii. 17. But he had believed the 
 original promise (Gen. xv. 6) though he asked for a confirmation of 
 it (vs. 8). "He believed... God who quickeneth the dead," Rom. 
 iv. 17. 
 
 19. Gabriel] The name means ' Hero of God.' He is also men- 
 tioned in vs. 26, and in Dan. viii. 16, ix. 21 — 23 (' idem Angelus, idem 
 negotium,' Bengel). The only other Angel or Archangel (r Thess. 
 iv. 16; Jude 9) named in Scripture is Michael ('Who is like God?' . 
 Dan. X. 21). In the Book of Enoch we read of 'the four great \ 
 
w. 20—22.] ST LUKE, I. 49 
 
 stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto 
 thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And behold, 20 
 thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day 
 that these things shall be performed, because thou believest 
 not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And 21 
 the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he 
 tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he 22 
 
 Archangels Michael, Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel,' and so too in Pirkt 
 Rabbi Eliezer, iv. In Tobit xii. 15, "I am Raphael (Healer of 
 God), one of the seven holy Angels which present the prayers of the 
 saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One." 
 Since Michael was despatched on messages of wrath and Gabriel on 
 messages of mercy, the Jews had the beautiful saying that "Gabriel 
 flew with two wings, but Michael with only one. " 
 
 that stand in the presence of God ; and am sent to speak unto thee\ 
 He was thus one of the * ' Angels of the Presence " (Is. Ixiii. 9 j of. 
 Matt, xviii. 10), 
 
 "One of the Seven 
 
 Who in God's presence, nearest to His throne, 
 
 Stand ready at command, and are His eyes 
 
 That run through all the heavens, and down to the earth 
 
 Bear His swift errands over moist and dry. 
 
 O'er sea and land." 
 
 Milton, Paradise Lost, iii. 650. 
 See Rev. viii. 2; Dan. vii. 10; i Kings xxii. 19. The supposed re- 
 semblance to the Amshaspands in the Zendavesta is shewn by Dr Mill 
 to be purely superficial. Mythical Interpretation, p. 127. 
 
 to shew thee these glad tidings'] The word euangelisasthai *to preach 
 the Gospel' is common in St Luke and St Paul, but elsewhere is 
 only found in i Pet. i. 12 ; Matt. xi. 5. It comes from the LXX. 
 (Is. xl. 9, Ixi. i). 
 
 20. thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak] He receives the 
 sign for which he had unfaithfully asked (Matt. xii. 38), but it comes 
 in the form of a punishment. This positive and negative way of 
 expressing the same thing is common, especially in Hebrew literature, 
 a Sam. xiv. 5; Exod. xxi. nj Is. xxxviii. i; Lam. iii. 2, &c. 
 
 in their season] "I will certainly return unto thee according to 
 the time of life," Gen. xviii. 10, i. e. after the usual nine months. 
 
 21. he tarried so long] Priests never tarried in the awful precincts 
 of the shrine longer than was absolutely necessary for the fulfilment 
 of their duties, from feelings of holy fear, Lev. xvi. 13, "that he die 
 not." (T. B. Yoma f. 52. 2.) See Excursus VII. 
 
 22. And when he came out] The moment of the priest's re- 
 appearance from before the ever-burning golden candlestick, and the 
 veil which hid the Holiest Place, was one which powerfully affected 
 the Jewish imagination, Ecclus. 1. 5 — 21. 
 
 ST LUKE 4 
 
50 ST LUKE, I. [w. 23—26. 
 
 could not speak unto them : and they perceived that he had 
 seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, 
 
 23 and remained speechless. And it came to pass that, as soon 
 as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he de- 
 
 24 parted to his own house. And after those days his wife 
 Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, 
 
 25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he 
 looked on me^ to take away my reproach among men. 
 
 26 — 38. The Annunciation. 
 
 26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from 
 
 he could not speak unto them\ They were waiting in the Court 
 to be dismissed with the usual blessing, which is said to have been 
 usually pronounced by the other priest. Numb. vi. •23 — 26. "Then 
 he" (the High Priest Simon) "went down and lifted up his hands 
 over the whole congregation of the children of Israel, to give the 
 blessing of the Lord with his lips, and to rejoice in His name. And 
 they bowed themselves down to worship the second time, that they 
 might receive a blessing from the Most High." Ecclus. 1. 20. 
 
 a vision] Optasian. Used especially of the most vivid and 'ob- 
 jective ' appearances, xxiv. 23 ; Acts xxvi. 19 ; 2 Cor. xii. i ; Dan. 
 ix. 23. 
 
 he beckoned unto them\ Rather, he was himself making signs 
 to them. 
 
 remained speechless] ** Credat Judaeus ut loqui possit" (let the 
 Jew believe that he may be able to speak) says St Augustine. Origen, 
 Ambrose, and Isidore, see in the speechless priest vainly endeavouring 
 to bless the people, a fine image of the Law reduced to silence before 
 the first announcement of the Gospel. The scene might stand for an 
 allegorical representation of the thesis so powerfully worked out in 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews (see Heb. viii. 13). Zacharias became 
 dumb, and Saul of Tarsus blind, for a time. *' Praeludium legis 
 ceremonialis finiendae Christo veniente." Bengel. 
 
 23. the days of his ministration] They lasted from the evening 
 of one Sabbath to the morning of the next. 2 Kings xi. 5, 
 
 24. hid herself] We can only conjecture her motive. It may 
 have been devotional ; or precautionary ; or she may merely have 
 wished out of deep modesty to avoid as long as possible the idle com- 
 ments and surmises of her neighbours. 
 
 25. to take away my reproach] So Rachel, when she bare a son, 
 said, "God hath taken away my reproach," Gen. xxx. 23. See Is. 
 iv. I ; Hos. ix. II ; i Sam. i. 6 — 10. Yet the days were coming when 
 to be childless would be regarded by Jewish mothers as a blessing. 
 See xxiii. 29. 
 
 26 — 38. The Annunciation. 
 
 26. in the sixth month] i. e. after the vision of Zachariah. This is 
 
vv. 27—29.] ST LUKE, I. 51 
 
 God unto a city of Galilee, aimed Nazareth, to a virgin 27 
 espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house 
 of David j and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel 2,^ 
 came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art liighly favour- 
 ed, the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women. 
 And when she saw him^ she was troubled at his saying, and 29 
 cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 
 
 the only passage which indicates the age of John the Baptist, as half 
 a year older than our Lord. 
 
 Galilee] Thus began to be fulfilled the prophecy of Is. ix. i, i. 
 Galilee of the Gentiles [Gelil haggoyini), one of the four great Roman 
 divisions of Palestine, was north of Judaea and Samaria, west of 
 Peraea, and comprised the territories of Zebulun, Naphthali, Issachar 
 and Asher (Matt. iv. 13). Josephus describes it as rich in trees and 
 pastures, strong, populous, containing -204 towns, of which the least 
 had 15000 inhabitants, and occupied by a hardy and warlike race. 
 Bell. yud. III. 3; Vit. 45, 52. See Map, and note on iii. 2. 
 
 named Nazareth] The expression shews that St Luke is writing 
 for those who were unfamiliar with Palestine. See on ii. 51. 
 
 a virgin] Is. vii. 14 ; Jer. xxxi. 22. The many miraculous and 
 glorifying legends which soon began to gather round her name in the 
 Apocryphal Gospels are utterly unknown to Scripture. 
 
 27. espoused] Rather, toetrotlied. The betrothal, which is in the 
 East a ceremony of the deepest importance, usually took place a year 
 before the marriage. 
 
 Joseph, of the house of David] We are nowhere told that Mary 
 was of the house of David, for both the genealogies of the Gospels 
 are genealogies of Joseph. See Excursus II. The fact that it seems 
 always to be assumed that Mary also was of the lineage of David 
 (vs. 32), makes it probable that the genealogy of Mary is involved 
 in that of Joseph, and that they were first cousins. 
 
 Mary] The same name as Miriam and Marah, Exod. xv. 20 ; Ruth 
 i. 20. Her early residence at Nazareth, before the birth of Christ 
 at Bethlehem, is narrated by St Luke alone. It does not however 
 follow that St Matthew was unaware of it (Matt. xiii. 55, 56). After 
 the narrative of the Nativity she is very rarely mentioned. The Ave 
 Maria of the Roman Catholics did not assume its present form till the 
 16th century. 
 
 28. highly favoured] marg. "graciously accepted" or "much 
 graced." Literally, having been graced (by God). Eph. i. 6, 
 " accepted." Not as in the Vulgate " Gratia plena'' but "gratia cumti- 
 lata." " Not a mother of grace, but a daughter." Bengel. 
 
 blessed art thou among women] These words are of dubious authen- 
 ticity, being omitted by B and various versions. They may have been 
 added from vs. 42. With this address comp. Judg. vi. 12. 
 
 29. And when she saw hijn, she was troubled] Rather, But sli§ 
 was grreatly troubled 
 
 4— « :■ I. 
 
is ST LUKE, I. [vv. 30-35. 
 
 JO And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast 
 
 31 found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive 
 in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name 
 
 32 JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of 
 the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the 
 
 33 throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the 
 house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be 
 
 34 no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this 
 
 35 be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and 
 said unto her. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and 
 the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore 
 also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be 
 
 31. Jesus], The Greek form of the Hebrew name Jehoshua (Num. 
 xiii. 8), Joshua, Jeshua (Zech. iii. i), which means 'The salvation of 
 Jehovah' (Philo, i. 597). It was one of the commonest Jewish names. 
 Jesus is used for Joshua (to the great confusion of English readers) in 
 Acts vii. 45; Heb. iv. 8. St Matthew (i. 21) explains the reason of the 
 name — "for He Himself shall save His people from their sins^ On 
 Joshua as a type of Christ see Pearson On the Creed, Art. ii. 
 
 He shall save His people from their sins, " Summa Evangelii." Bengel. 
 
 32. shall be called^ i. e. shall be. The best comment on this verse 
 is furnished by the passages of Scripture in which we find the same 
 prophecy (Mic. v. 4; 2 Sam. vii. 12; Is. ix. 6, 7, xi. i, 10, xvi. 5; Jer. 
 xxiii. 5, XXX. 9; Ezek. xxxiv. 24; Hos. iii. 5; Ps. cxxxii. 11) and its ful- 
 filment (Phil. ii. 9 — 11; Rev. xxii. 16). 
 
 the throne of his father David'\ according to Ps. cxxxii. 11. 
 
 33. reign .. .for ever'\ Dan. ii. 44, "a kingdom which shall never be 
 destroyed... it shall stand for ever." (Comp. Dan. vii. 13, 14, 27; Mic. 
 iv. 7.) **Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever" (Ps. xlv. 6; Heb. 
 i. 8). "He shall reign for ever and ever," Rev. xi. 15. In i Cor. xv. 
 24 — 28 the allusion is only to Christ's mediatorial kingdom, — His 
 earthly kingdom till the end of conflict. 
 
 34. How shall this be .?] Mary does not doubt the fact as Zacharias 
 had done ; she only enquires as to the mode of accomplishment. The 
 village maiden amid her humble daily duties shews a more ready faith 
 in a far more startling message than the aged priest in the Holy Place 
 amid the Incense. 
 
 35. shall overshadow thee} as with the Shechinah and Cloud of Glory 
 (see on ii. 9, ix. 34). See the treatise on the Shechinah in Meuschen, 
 pp. 701 — 739. On the high theological mystery see Pearson On the 
 Creed, Art. iii. See on ii. 9. 
 
 that holy thing] "Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," 
 Heb. vii. 26. "Who did no sin," i Pet. ii. 22. 
 
 which shall be born of thee] Rather, which Is in thy womb. Gal. iv. 
 4, "born of a woman." 
 
w. 36-39] ST LUKE, I. 53 
 
 called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, 36 
 she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is 
 the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with 37 
 God nothing shall be unpossible. And Mary said, Behold 38 
 the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy 
 word. And the angel departed from her. 
 
 39 — 45. The Visit of Mary to Elizabeth. 
 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill 39 
 
 the Son of God'\ This title is given to our Lord by almost every one 
 of the sacred writers in the N.T. and in a multitude of passages. 
 
 36. thy cousin] Rather, *' thy kinswoman. " What the actual rela- 
 tionship was we do not know. It is a mistake to infer from this, as 
 Ewald does, that Mary too was of the tribe of Levi, for except in the 
 case of heiresses there was free intermarriage between the tribes (Ex. 
 vi. 23; Judg. xvii. 7; Philo De Monach. II. 11; Jos. Vit. i). 
 
 37. nothing] Rather, no "word. For the thought see Gen. xviii. 14 ; 
 Matth. xix. 26. "There is nothing too hard for thee," Jer. xxxii. 17. 
 
 38. be it unto me according to thy word] The thoughts of the Virgin 
 Mary seem to have found their most natural utterance in the phrases of 
 Scripture. 1 Sam. iii. 18, " If it be the Lord let Him do what seemeth 
 Him good." For Mary too was aware that her high destiny must be 
 mingled with anguish. 
 
 And the angel departed from her] We can best appreciate the noble 
 simplicity of truthfulness by comparing this narrative of the Annuncia- 
 tion with the diffuse inflation of the Apocryphal Gospels. Take for 
 instance such passages as these from one of the least extravagant of 
 them, *The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary.' "The Angel Gabriel 
 was sent to her... to explain to her the method or order of the Con- 
 ception. At length having entered unto her, he filled the chamber 
 where she abode with an immense light, and saluting her most cour- 
 teously said, ' Hail Mary! most acceptable Virgin of the Lord! Virgin 
 full of grace... blessed art thou before all women ; blessed art thou 
 before all men hitherto born.' But the Virgin who already knew the 
 countenance of angels, and was not unused to heavenly light, was 
 neither terrified by the angelic vision nor stupefied by the greatness 
 of the light, but was troubled at his word alone ; and began to think 
 what that salutation so unwonted could be, or what it portended, or 
 what end it could have. But the Angel, divinely inspired and counter- 
 acting this thought, said. Fear not, Mary, as though I meant something 
 contrary to thy chastity by this salutation; for &c., &c." The reader 
 will observe at once the artificiality, the tasteless amplifications, the 
 want of reticence; — all the marks which separate truthful narrative from 
 elaborate fiction. (See B. H. Cowper, The Apocryphal Gospels, p. 93.) 
 
 39 — 45. The Visit of Mary to Elizabeth. 
 
 39. in those days] Rather, these. Probably within a month of the 
 Annunciation. 
 
54 ST LUKE, I. [w. 40—42. 
 
 40 country with haste, into a city of Juda; and entered into 
 
 41 the house of Zacharias, and saluted EUsabeth. And it came 
 to pass that^ when EUsabeth heard the salutation of Mary, 
 the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with 
 
 42 the Holy Ghost : and she spake out with a loud voice, and 
 
 went into the hill country] Palestine west of the Jordan lies in four 
 parallel lines of very different formation, i. The coast. -2. The She- 
 phelah, or maritime plain, broken only by the spur of Carmel. 3. The 
 Har or Hill country, — the mass of low rounded hills which formed the 
 main part of the Roman provinces of Judaea and Samaria south of the 
 intervening plain of Esdraelon, and of Galilee north of it ; and 4. The 
 Ghor or deep dint of the Jordan Valley. See Deut. i. 7, " in the plain 
 {Arabah), in the hills {Har), in the vale {Shephelah), and in the south 
 {Negeb), and by the sea side {Chooph hayydm)." (Josh. ix. i; Judg. 
 V. 17.) The specific meaning of 'hill country' is the elevated district 
 of Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim. (Gen. xiv. 10; Num. xiii. 29; 
 Josh. ix. I, X. 40, xi. 16.) 
 
 with haste] The same notion of haste is involved in the aorist par- 
 ticiple ^anastasa^ rising up. As a betrothed virgin she would live 
 without seeing her future husband. When however a few weeks 
 sufficed to shew her condition, the female friends about her would be 
 sure to make it known to Joseph. Then would occur the enquiries and 
 suspicions, so agonising to a pure maiden, which are alluded to by St 
 Matthew (i. 18 — 25). After the dream which vindicated her innocence 
 we can understand the "haste" with which she would fly to the sym- 
 pathy of her holy and aged kinswoman and seek for peace in the 
 seclusion of the priestly home. Nothing but the peculiarity of her con- 
 dition could have permitted the violation of Jewish custom involved in 
 the journey of a betrothed virgin. But for the incidents recorded by St 
 Matthew we should be wholly unable to account for this expression. 
 Its naturalness under the circumstances is an undesigned coincidence. ' 
 
 into a city of fudd] Similarly, Nazareth is described as " a city of 
 Galilee." The name of the city is not given. Had the home of 
 Zacharias been at Hebron it would probably have been mentioned. 
 Reland {Palest, p. 870) ingeniously conjectures that we should read 
 Jutta, which was in the hill country (Josh. xv. 55) and was one of the 
 cities of Judah which were assigned to the priests (ib. xxi. 9, r6). 
 We can hardly venture to alter the reading, but as Juttah was only a 
 large village (Euseb. Onomast. s. v.) and is not mentioned in i Chr. vi. 
 57 — 59 it may have been the home of Zacharias, and the actual name 
 may easily have been omitted as obscure. Tradition names Ain Karim. 
 'Judah' is here used for Judaea (Matt. ii. 6). 
 
 41. leaped] The same word is applied to unborn babes in Gen. xxv. 
 22, LXX. 
 
 42. with a loud voice] For ^phone^ voice, B has the stronger word 
 ^krauge,^ cry. 
 
w. 43-46.] ST LUKE, I. 55 
 
 said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the 
 fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the 43 
 mother of my Lord should come to me ? For lo, as soon as a\ 
 the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe 
 leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that be- 4S 
 lieved: for there shall be a performance of those things 
 which were told her from the Lord. 
 
 46 — 56. The Magnificat. 
 
 And Mary said, 46 
 
 My soul doth magnify the Lord, 
 
 Blessed art thoii among women'] i.e. preeminently blessed, as "fairest 
 among women," Cant. i. 8. Similar expressions are used of Ruth (Ruth 
 iii. 10), and, on a far lower level of meaning, of Jael (Judg. v. 24), and 
 of Judith. "All the women of Israel blessed her," Jud. xv. 12. In the 
 latter instances the blessing \% pronoiuiced by women, but here the word 
 means 'blessed by God.' 
 
 43. the mother of my Lord] The words shew a remarkable degree 
 of divine illumination in the mind of Elizabeth. See John xx. 28, 
 xiii. 13. Yet she does not address Mary as Dojnina, but as 'mater 
 Domini' (Bengel); and such expressions as Theotokos and 'Mother of 
 God ' are unknown to Scripture. 
 
 44. for joy] Rather, in exultation. 
 
 45. blessed is she that believed] Perhaps Elizabeth had in mind the 
 affliction which had followed her husband's doubt. Comp. John xx. 
 29. 
 
 for there shall be a perforfnance] The words may also mean 'she 
 that believed that there shall be, ' &c. 
 
 46—56. The Magnificat. 
 
 46. And Mary said] This chapter is remarkable for preserving a 
 record of two inspired hymns — the Magnificat and the Bettedictus — 
 which have been used for more than a thousand years in the public 
 services of Christendom. The Magnificat first appears in the office of 
 Lauds in the rule of St Caesarius of Aries, a.d. 507. {BXxxnt, Annotated 
 P7'ayer Book, p. 33.) It is so full of Hebraisms as almost to form a 
 mosaic of quotations from the Old Testament, and it is closely analogous 
 to the Song of Hannah (i Sam. ii. i — 10). It may also be compared 
 with the Hymn of Judith (Jud. xvi. i — 17). But it is animated by a 
 new and more exalted spirit, and is specially precious as forming a link 
 of continuity between the eucharistic poetry of the Old and New Dis- 
 pensation. (See Bp Wordsworth, ad loc.) 
 
 My soul doth magnify the Lord] i Sam. ii. i ; Ps. xxxiv. 2, 3. The 
 soul {^vxv) is the natural life with all its affections and emotions; the 
 spirit (TrveC/xa) is the diviner and loftier region of our being, i Thess. v. 
 23; I Cor. ii. 10. 
 
56 ST LUKE, I. [vv. 47— 52. 
 
 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 
 
 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden : 
 For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me 
 
 blessed. 
 4g For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; 
 
 And holy is his name. 
 50 And his mercy is on them that fear him 
 
 From generation to generation. 
 5, He hath shewed strength with his arm ; 
 
 He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their 
 hearts. 
 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, 
 
 And exalted them of low degree. 
 
 47. hath rejoiced\ Rather, exults. In the original it is the general, 
 or gnomic aorist. 
 
 in God my Saviour^ Is. xlv. ^i, **a just God and a Saviour." Comp. 
 Is. xii. 2, XXV. 9, The expression is also found in the later Epistles of 
 St Paul, "God our Saviour," i Tim. i. i ; Tit. iii. 4. 
 
 48. he hath regarded'\ Rather, He looked upon. 
 
 the low estate"] So Hagar (Gen. xvi. 11) and Hannah (i Sam. i. 11; 
 cf. Ps. cxxxviii. 6, cii. 17). The M^ord may be rendered humiliation, 
 Acts viii. 33; Is. i. 9, 10. The reader will notice in this hymn more 
 than one anticipation of the Beatitudes. 
 
 all generations shall call me blessed] "Blessed is the w^omb that bare 
 Thee," Lk. xi. 27. "Leah said, The daughters will call me blessed," 
 Gen. XXX. 13; Ps. Ixxii. 17. We cannot but wonder at the vast faith of 
 the despised and persecuted Virgin of Nazareth, whose inspired antici- 
 pations have been so amply fulfilled. 
 
 49. he that is mighty] El Shaddai, Job viii. 3 ; also Gibbor, Ps. 
 'xxiv. 8. See Pearson On the Creed, Art. i. 
 
 great things] GedolSth, Ps. Ixxi. 21, cxxvi. 3. 
 
 holy is his na/ne] Ps. cxi. 9; "Thou only art holy," Rev. xv. 4. 
 Shem, 'name,' is often a reverent periphrasis in Hebrew for God 
 Himself. Ps. xci. 14; 2 Chr. vi. 20, &c. 
 
 50. his mercy] Ps. Ixxxix. 2, 3 and passim. 
 
 From generation to generation] Rather, Unto generations and gene- 
 rations; ledor vaddr, Gen. xvii. 9, &c. See Deut. vii. 9. 
 
 61. with his arm] "Thou hast a mighty arm," Ps. Ixxxix. 13. The 
 nearest parallel to the remainder of the verse is Job v. 12. 
 
 52. Ide hath pj^t doiun the mighty from their seats] Rather, He puts 
 down potentates from thrones. The aorists throughout are gnomic, 
 i.e. they do not express single but normal acts. The thought is common 
 throughout the Bil)le, e.g. Lk. xviii. 14; Dan. iv. 30; i Sam. ii. 6 — 10; 
 Ps. cxiii. 6 — 8 ; i Cor. i. 26 — 29. The ancients noticed the fact (/cukXos 
 
w. 53—59] ST LUKE, I. 57 
 
 He hath filled the hungry with good things; S3 
 
 And the rich he hath sent empty away. 
 
 He hath holpen his servant Israel, S4 
 
 In remembrance of his mercy, 
 
 (As he spake to our fathers), 55 
 
 To Abraham, and to his seed for ever. 
 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned 56 
 to her own house. 
 
 57—80. The Birth of John the Baptist. 
 
 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be de- 57 
 livered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbours 58 
 and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy 
 upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, 59 
 that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; 
 
 TWf dv9po}Tr]to}v iarl trprjyiJua.Twv, Hdt. I. 207; **Inis et est subito qui 
 modo Croesus erat," Ov. Trist. iii. vii. 41) but did not draw the tme 
 lessons from it. 
 
 53. filled the httngry with good thiftgs] " My servants shall eat but 
 ye shall be hungry, &c.," Is. Ixv. 13, xxv. 6; Ps. xxxiv. 10, and the 
 Beatitude Matt. v. 6. (See Lk. xviii. 14, the Publican and the Pharisee.) 
 
 54. hath holpen\ Literally, "took by the hand." Is. xli. 8, 9, 
 LXX. The proper punctuation of the following words is to remember 
 His mercy— (even as He spake to (Trpos) our fathers) — to (rep) Abra- 
 ham and his seed for ever. Mic. vii. 20, "Thou wilt perform. ..the 
 mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the 
 days of old." Gal. iii. 16, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the 
 promises made." 
 
 56. about three months] As this would complete the nine months of 
 Elizabeth's * full time, ' it might seem probable that the Virgin Mary at 
 least remained until the birth of the Baptist. 
 
 returned'] The word used — htcpestrepen—\s a favourite word of St 
 Luke, and almost (Gal. i. 17 ; Heb. vii. i) peculiar to him. It occurs 
 twenty-one times in this Gospel. 
 
 57_80. The Birth of John the Baptist. 
 
 58. her cousins] Rather, her kinsfolk, which was the original 
 meaning of the word cousins {con-sobrini) . See vs. 36. 
 
 59. on the eighth day] According to the ordinance of Gen. xvii. 
 12 ; Lev. xii. 3 j — Phil. iii. 5. The name was then given, because at the 
 
58 ST LUKE, I. [w. 60— 67. 
 
 and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 
 
 60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be 
 
 61 called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy 
 
 62 kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs 
 
 63 to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked 
 for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. 
 
 64 And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened im- 
 mediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised 
 
 65 God. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them : 
 and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the 
 
 66 hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them laid 
 them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall 
 
 67 this be ! And the hand of the Lord was with him. And his 
 
 institution of circumcision the names of Abram and Sarai had been 
 changed, Gen. xvii. 15. The rite was invested with extreme solem- 
 nity, and in later times a chair was always put for the prophet Elijah. 
 
 they called^ Rather, they wislied to call. Literally, 'they were 
 calling,' but the imperfect by an idiomatic use often expresses an un- 
 fulfilled attempt. So in Matt. iii. 14, 'he tried to prevent Him' 
 {diekohun). 
 
 61. none of thy kindred^ We find a John among hierarchs in 
 Acts iv. 6, V. 17. Those priests however who passed the High 
 Priesthood from one to another — a clique of Herodian Sadducees — the 
 Boethusim, Kamhiths, Beni Hanan, &c. — were partly of Babylonian 
 and Egyptian origin, and had been introduced by Herod to support his 
 purposes. They would not be of the kin of Zacharias. 
 
 62. made signs\ The discussion whether Zacharias was deaf as 
 well as mute is a very unimportant one, but the narrative certainly 
 seems to imply that he was. 
 
 63. table\ Rather, tablet. A small wooden tablet [abacus) either 
 smeared with wax, or with sand sprinkled over it, on which words 
 were written with an iron stylus. Thus ' John, ' ' the grace of Jehovah,' 
 is the first word written under the Gospel ; the aeon of the written Law 
 had ended with Cherem, 'curse,' in Mai. iii. 24 (Bengel). 
 
 64. he spake'] Rather, lie began to speak (imperfect), the previous 
 verb ' was opened * being an aorist. 
 
 65. fear] The minds of men at this period were full of dread and 
 agitated expectancy, which had spread even to the heathen. Virg. Ed, 
 IV.; Orac. Sibyl. III.; Suet. Vesp. 4; Tac. Hist. v. 13; Jos. Bell. Jud. 
 
 VI. 5, § 4- 
 
 66. What manner of child] Rather, What then will this child be? 
 And] Rather, For indeed, with bJ, B, C, D, L, which read koX ydp. 
 the hand of the Lord was with him] The turn of expression is 
 
 Hebraistic, as throughout the chapter. Comp. xiii. 11; Acts xi. 21. 
 "Let Uiy hand be upon the man of thy right hand," Ps. Ixxx. 17. 
 
vv. 68— 71.] ST LUKE, I. 59 
 
 father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and pro- 
 phesied, saying, 
 
 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; 68 
 
 For he hath visited and redeemed his people, 
 
 And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us 69 
 
 In the house of his servant David; 
 
 (As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, 70 
 
 Which have been since the world began :) 
 
 That we should be saved from our enemies, 71 
 
 68. Blessed] This hymn of praise is hence called the Benedictus. 
 It has been in use in Christian worship perhaps as far back as the days of 
 St Benedict in the sixth century, and it was early recognised that it is 
 the last Prophecy of the Old Dispensation, and the first of the New, 
 and furnishes a kind of key to the evangelical interpretation of all 
 prophecies. It is also a continual acknowledgment of the Communion 
 of Saints under the two dispensations ; for it praises God for the salva- 
 tion which has been raised up for all ages out of the house of His ser- 
 vant David, and according to the ancient covenant which He made 
 with Abraham (see Rom. iv. 11; Gal. iii. 29). Blunt, Amtotated 
 Prayer Book, p. 16. 
 
 the Lord God] Rather, the Lord, the God. 
 
 redeemed] Literally, *'■ made a ransom for. ^^ Tit. ii. 14. 
 
 69. a horn of salvation] A natural and frequent metaphor. Ezek. 
 xxix. 21, "In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to 
 bud forth." Lam. ii. 3, "He hath cut off.. .all the horn of Israel." 
 Ps. cxxxii. 17; I Sam. ii. 10, ** He shall exalt the horn of His anointed." 
 A Rabbinic writer says that there are ten horns — those of Abraham, 
 Isaac, Joseph, Moses, the horn of the Law, of the Priesthood, of the 
 Temple, and of Israel ; and some add of the Messiah. They were all 
 placed on the heads of the Israelites till they sinned, and then they 
 were cut off and given to the Gentiles. Schottgen, Hor. Hebr. ad loc. 
 We find the same metaphor in classic writers. "Tunc pauper cormia 
 sumit," Ov. Art. Am. i. 239; "addis cornua pauperi," Hor. Od. ill. 
 xxi. 18. 
 
 his servant] The word does not here mean * son ' in the original, 
 being the rendering of the Hebrew ebed, Ps. cxxxii. 10. 
 
 70. by the mouth of his holy prophets] namely "in the Law of 
 Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms," see on xxiv. 44. 
 
 since the world began] Rather, of old (oTr' aldvot). "At sundry times 
 and in divers manners" (Heb. i. i) but even "in old time" (2 Pet. 
 i. 21) and dating back even to the promises to Eve and to Abraham 
 (Gen. iii. 15, xxii. 18, xlix. 10) and the sceptre and the star of Balaam 
 (Numb. xxiv. 17). 
 
 71. That we should be saved] Rather, Salvation — referring back to 
 "a horn of salvation," to which it is in apposition. The previous verse 
 is a parenthesis. 
 
6o ST LUKE, I. [vv. 72—77- 
 
 And from the hand of all that hate us; 
 
 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, 
 And to remember his holy covenant; 
 
 73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 
 
 74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out 
 
 of the hand of our enemies 
 Might serve him without fear, 
 
 75 In holiness and righteousness before him. 
 All the days of our life. 
 
 76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: 
 For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord 
 
 To prepare his ways; 
 
 77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people 
 By the remission of their sins, 
 
 from our enemies^ No doubt in the first instance the "enemies" 
 from which the prophets had promised deliverance were literal enemies 
 (Deut. xxxiii. 29; Is. xiv. 2, li. 22, 23, &c.), but every pious Jew would 
 understand these words as applying also to spiritual enemies. 
 
 72, 73. mercy... remember... oat h^ These three words have been 
 thought by some to be an allusion to the three names John ( * Jehovah's 
 mercy'); Zacharias {^remembered by Jehovah'), and Elizabeth (see p. 
 45). Such paronomasiae, or plays on words, are exceedingly common 
 in the Bible. For similar possible instances of latent paronomasiae 
 see the author's Life of Christ, i. 65 ; ii. 200, 240. 
 
 72. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers'] It is simply to 
 do mercy towards our fathers. The " promised " is a needless addition 
 oftheE.V. 
 
 73. The oath which he sware] Gen. xii. 3, xvii. 4, xxii. 16, 17; 
 comp. Heb. vii. 13, 14, 17. 
 
 75. In holiness] towards God, 
 
 and righteousness] towards men. We have the same words con- 
 trasted in I Thess. ii. 10, "how holily and righteously;" Eph, iv. 24, 
 "in righteousness and holiness of the truth." "0<rtoj, 'holy,' is the 
 Hebrew Chdstd, whence the ' Chasidim ' (Pharisees) ; and Skatos the 
 Hebrew Tsaddik, whence * Sadducees. ' 
 
 76. child] Rather, little child {paidion) — "quantillus nunc es," 
 Bengel. 
 
 To prepare his ways] An allusion to the prophecies of the Fore- \ 
 runner in Is. xl. 3; Mai. iii. i. ] 
 
 77. knowledge of salvation] A clear proof that these prophecies j 
 had not the local and limited sense of national prosperity which some \ 
 have supposed. i 
 
 By the remission] Rather, In remission. Comp. Acts v. 31, " to be 
 a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgive- 
 ness of sins." 
 
W.78— 8o.] ST LUKE, I. 6i 
 
 Through the tender mercy of our God; 78 
 
 Whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 
 
 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the 79 
 
 shadow of death. 
 To guide our feet into the way of peace. 
 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in 80 
 the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. 
 
 78. Through the tender mercy of our God] Literally, ** Because 0/ 
 the heart of mercy. ^^ liirXdyxva (literally ' bowels ') is a favourite word 
 with St Paul to express emotion (2 Cor. vii. 15; Phil. i. 8, ii. i; 
 Philem. 7, 12, 20, &c.). The expression is common to Jewish (Prov. 
 xii. 10, &c.) and classical writers. 
 
 the dayspring\ The word Anatole is used by the LXX. to translate 
 hoth Motsah 'the Dawn' (Jer. xxxi. 40) and Tsemach 'branch' (Zech. 
 iii. 8, vi. 12. See on Matt. ii. 23). Here the context shews that the 
 Dawn is intended. Mai. iv. 2, "Unto you that fear my name shall the 
 Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings." See Is. ix. 2 ; 
 Matt. iv. 16; John i. 4, 5. 
 
 hath visited] or shall visit, in some MSS. 
 
 79. in the shad oiu of death] The Hebrew Tsalmaveth. Job x. 21. 
 xxxviii. 17; Ps. xxiii. 4, cvii. 10; Is. ix. 2; Matt. iv. 16, &c. 
 
 80. the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit] The description 
 resembles that of the childhood of Samuel (i Sam. ii. 26) and of our 
 Lord (Lk. ii. 40 — 52). Nothing however is said of * favour with men.' 
 In the case of the Baptist, as of others, 'the boy was father to the 
 man,' and he probably shewed from the first that rugged sternness 
 which is wholly unlike the winning grace of the child Christ. "The 
 Baptist was no Lamb of God. He was a wrestler with life, one to 
 whom peace does not come easily, but only after a long stniggle. His 
 restlessness had driven him into the desert, where he had contended for 
 years with thoughts he could not master, and from whence he uttered 
 his startling alarms to the nation. He was among the dogs rather than 
 among the lambs of the Shepherd." {Ecce Homo.) 
 
 was in the deserts] Not in sandy deserts like those of Arabia, but in 
 the wild waste region south of Jericho and the fords of Jordan to the 
 shores of the Dead Sea. This was known as Araboth or ha-Arabah, 
 2 Kings xxv. 4, 5 (Heb.); Jer. xxxix. 5, Iii. 8. See on vs. 39. This 
 region, especially where it approached the Ghor and the Dead Sea, was 
 lonely and forbidding in its physical features, and would suit the stern 
 spirit on which it also reacted. In i Sam. xxiii. 19 it is called Jeshi- 
 mon or 'the Horror.' John was by no means the only hermit. The 
 political unsettlement, the shamelessness of crime, the sense of secular 
 exhaustion, the wide-spread Messianic expectation, marked 'the fulness 
 of time.' Banus the Pharisee also lived a life of ascetic hardness in 
 the Arabah, and Josephus tells us that he lived with him for three 
 years in his mountain-cave on fruits and water. (Jos. Vit. 2.) But 
 there is not in the Gospels the faintest trace of any intercourse be- 
 
62 ST LUKE, II. [v. I. 
 
 Ch. XL 1—7. The Birth of Jesus Christ. 
 
 2 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a 
 decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be 
 
 tween John, or our Lord and His disciples, with the Essenes. The 
 great Italian painters follow a right conception when they paint even 
 the boy John as emaciated with early asceticism. In 2 Esdras ix. 24 
 the seer is directed to go into a field where no house is and to "taste 
 no flesh, drink no wine, and eat only the flowers of the field," as a pre- 
 paration for 'talking with the Most High.' It is doubtful whether 
 Christian Art is historically correct in representing the infant Jesus and 
 John as constant friends and playmates. Zacharias and Elizabeth, being 
 aged, must have early left John an orphan, and his desert life began 
 with his boyish years. Further, the habits of Orientals are exceedingly 
 stationary, and when once settled it is only on the rarest occasions that 
 they leave their homes. The training of the priestly boy and the 'Son 
 of the Carpenter' (Matt. xiii. 55) of Nazareth had been widely different, 
 nor is it certain that they had ever met each other until the Baptism of 
 Jesus (John i. 31). 
 
 Ais shewing\ his public ministry, literally, "appointment" or mani- 
 festation. The verb {anedeixen) occurs in x. i ; Acts i. 24. Thus St 
 John's life, like that of our Lord, was spent first in hallowed seclusion, 
 then in public ministry. 
 
 At this point ends the first very interesting document of which St 
 Luke made use. The second chapter, though in some respects analo- 
 gous to it, is less imbued with the Hebraic spirit and phraseology. 
 
 Ch. II. 1 — 7. The Birth of Jesus Christ. 
 
 1. there went out a decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world 
 should be taxed] Rather, that there should be an enrolment of the 
 habitable world. The verb apographesthai is here probably passive, 
 though we have the aorist middle apograpsasthai ' to enroll himself in 
 vs. 5. The registration [apographe) did not necessarily involve a taxing 
 {apotimesis), though it was frequently the first step in that direction. 
 Two objections have been made to the historic credibility of the decree, 
 and both have been fully met. 
 
 I. It is said 'that there is no trace of such a decree in secular his- 
 tory.* The answer is that (a) the argumentum e silentio is here spe- 
 cially invalid because there happens to be a singular deficiency of mi- 
 nute records respecting this epoch in the 'profane' historians. The 
 history of Nicolaus of Damascus, the flatterer of Herod, is not extant. 
 Tacitus barely touches on this period {Ann. I. i, '''■ pauca de Augusto"). 
 There is a hiatus in Dion Cassius from a.u.C. 748 — 752. Josephus 
 does not enter upon the history of these years. (^) There are distinct 
 traces that such a census took place. Augustus with his own hand drew 
 up a Rationnrittm of the Empire (a sort of Roman Doomsday Book, 
 afterwards epitomised into a Breviarium), which included the allied 
 
V. 2.] ST LUKE, II. 63 
 
 taxed. {And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was a 
 
 kingdoms (Tac. Ann. i. 1 1 ; Suet. Aug. 1%), and appointed twenty 
 Commissioners to draw up the necessary lists (Suidas s.v. diroypacpi^). 
 
 2. It is said 'that in any case Herod, being a rex sociiis (for Judaea 
 was not annexed to the Province of Syria till the death of Archelaus, 
 A.D. 6), would have been exempt from such a registration.' The answer 
 is that (a) the Clitae were obliged to furnish such a census though they 
 were under an independent prince, Archelaus (Tac. Ann. vi. 41 ; cf. 
 I. II, regno). (j8) That Herod, a mere creature of the Emperor, would 
 have been the last person to resist his v^dshes (Jos. A7tit. xiv. 14. 4; 
 XV. 6. 7; XVI. 9. 3). (7) That this Census, enforced by Herod, was 
 so distasteful to the Jews that it probably caused the unexplained 
 tumults which occurred at this very period (Jos. AntL xvii. 2. 4; B. J. 
 I. 33^ § 2). This is rendered more probable by the Targum of Jona- 
 than on Hab. iii. 17, which has, "the Romans shall be rooted out; 
 they shall collect no more tribute (ICesooJ>ia = ctnsns) from Jerusalem" 
 (Gfrorer, Jahrh. d. Heils, I. 42). That the Emperor could issue such a 
 decree for Palestine shews that the fulfilment of the old Messianic pro- 
 mises was near at hand. The sceptre had departed from Judah ; the 
 Lawgiver from between his feet. 
 
 As regards both objections, we may say (i) that St Luke, a writer of 
 proved carefulness and accuracy, writing for Gentiles who could at once 
 have detected and exposed an error of this kind, is very unlikely (taking 
 the lowest grounds) to have been guilty of such carelessness, (ii) That 
 Justin Martyr, a native of Palestine, writing in the middle of the second 
 century, three times appeals to the census-lists (diroypacpal) made by 
 Quirinus when he was first Procurator, bidding the Romans search 
 their own archives as to the fact {A/>oL I. 34. 46; £>ml. c. Tryph. 78), 
 as also does Tertullian [Adv. Marc. iv. 7. 19). (iii) If St Luke had 
 made a mistake it would certainly have been challenged by such able 
 critics as Celsus and Porphyry; — but they never impugn his statement. 
 On every ground therefore we have reason to trust the statement of 
 St Luke, and in this as in many other instances (see my Life of St Paul, 
 I. 113) what have been treated as his 'manifest errors' have turned 
 out to be interesting historic facts which he alone preserves for us. 
 
 all the world} Rather, the habitable world, i.e. the Roman Em- 
 pire, the orbis ierrarum (Acts xi. 28, &c.; Polyb. VI. 50). 
 
 2. this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of 
 Syria'] Rather, this first enrolment took place (literally 'took 
 place as the first ') when Quirinus was governor of Syria. We are 
 here met by an apparent error on which whole volumes have been 
 written. Quirinus (or Quirinius, for the form of his name is not 
 absolutely certain) was governor (Praeses, Legatus) of Syria in A.D. 
 6, tett years after this time, and he then carried out a census which 
 led to the revolt of Judas of Galilee, as St Luke himself was aware 
 (Acts V. 37). Hence it is asserted that St Luke made an error of ten 
 years in the governorship of Quirinus, and the date of the census, 
 which vitiates his historic authority. Two ways of obviating this 
 difficulty may finally be rejected. 
 
64 ST LUKE, II. [vv. 3, 4. 
 
 3 governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one 
 
 4 into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, 
 
 (a) One is to render the words 'took place before {prote) Quirinus 
 was governor.' The translation is entirely untenable, and is not 
 supported by protos mou ' before me ' in John i. 30. And if this 
 were the meaning the remark would be most unnecessary. 
 
 (/S) Others would render the verb egeneto by * took effect : ' — this 
 enrolment was begun at this period (B.C. 4 of our vulgar era) by P. 
 Sentius Saturninus, but not completed till the Procuratorship of 
 Quirinus A. D. 6. But this is to give a strained meaning to the verb, 
 as well as to take the ordinal {prote) as though it were an adverb 
 {proton). 
 
 (7) A third, and more tenable, view is to extend the meaning 
 of hegemonetiontos ' was governor ' to imply that Quirinus, though not 
 actually Governor of Syria, yet might be called hegemon, either (i) 
 as one of the twenty taxers or commissioners of Augustus, or (ii) 
 as holding some procuratorial office (as Epitropos ox joint Epitropos 
 with Herod; comp. Jos. Antt. xv. 10. 3; B. J. i. 20. 4). It is, 
 however, a strong objection to solution (i) that the commissioners 
 were apioroi, optiinates or nobles, whereas Quirinus was a novtis homo: 
 and to (ii) that St Luke is remarkably accurate in his use of titles. 
 
 (5) A fourth view, and one which I still hold to be the right 
 solution, is that first developed by A. W. Zumpt {Das Gebtirtsjahr 
 Christi, 1870), and never seriously refuted though often sneered at. 
 It is that Quirinus was twice Governor of Syria, once in b. c. 4 when 
 he began the census (which may have been ordered, as TertuUian says, 
 by Varus, or by P. Sentius Saturninus); and once in A.d. 6 when he 
 carried it to completion. It is certain that in a.U.C. 753 Quirinus con- 
 quered the Homonadenses in Cilicia, and was rector to Gaius Caesar. 
 Now it is highly probable that these Homonadenses were at that time 
 under the jurisdiction of the propraetor of the Imperial Province of 
 Syria, an office which must in that case have been held by Quirinus 
 between B.C. 4 — B.C. i. The indolence of Varus and his friendship 
 with Archelaus may have furnished strong reasons for superseding 
 him, and putting the diligent and trustworthy Quirinus in his place. 
 Whichever of these latter views be accepted, one thing is certain, 
 that no error is detjiofistrable, and that on independent historical 
 grounds, as well as by his own proved accuracy in other instances, 
 we have the strongest reason to admit the probability of St Luke's 
 reference. 
 
 Cyrenius\ This is the Greek form of the name Quirinus, Orelli 
 ad Tac. A^ui. 11. 30. All that we know of him is that he was of 
 obscure and provincial origin, and rose to the consulship by activity 
 and military skill, afterwards earning a triumph for his successes in 
 Cilicia. He was harsh, and avaricious, but a loyal soldier; and he 
 was honoured with a public funeral in A.D, i\ (Tac. Ann. II. 30, III. 
 22, 48; Suet. Tib. 49, &c.). 
 
 3. every one into his own city] This method of enrolment was a 
 
vv. 5, 6.] ST LUKE, II. 65 
 
 out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of 
 David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the 
 house and lineage of David :) to be taxed with Mary his s 
 espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that^ 6 
 while they were there, the days were accomplished that she 
 
 concession to Jewish prejudices. The Roman method was to enrol 
 each person at his own place of residence. Incidentally this unexplained 
 notice proves that St Luke is dealing with an historical enrolment. 
 
 4. the city of David] i Sam. xvii. 12, "David was the son of 
 that Ephrathite of Bethlehem- Judah whose name was Jesse." 
 
 Bcthleheni\ Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Mic. v. 2, "Thou, 
 Bethlehem-Ephratah...out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is 
 to be ruler in Israel." Cf. iv. 8, "And thou, O tower of the flock" 
 {Migdol Eder, Gen. xxxv. 21), "unto thee shall it come, even the 
 first dominion." 
 
 Bethlehem ('House of Bread,' to which the mystical method of 
 Scriptural interpretation refers such passages as Is. xxxiii. 16, LXX.; 
 John vi. 51, 58) is the very ancient Ephrath ('fruitful') of Gen. xxxv. 
 16, xlviii. 7; Ps. cxxxii. 6. It is a small town six miles from Jerusalem. 
 It was the scene of the death of Rachel (Gen. xxxv. 19); of the story 
 of Ruth, and of the early years of the life of David (i Sam. xvi. i ; 
 2 Sam. xxiii. 15). The name is now corrupted into ^^V/^/^z/z, 'house 
 of flesh.' 
 
 of the house and lineage (rather, family) of David] The humble 
 condition of Joseph as a provincial carpenter in no way militates 
 against this. Hillel, the great contemporary Rabbi, who also claimed 
 to be a descendant of David, began life as a half-starved porter; and 
 numbers of beggars in the East wear the green turban which shews 
 them to be undisputed descendants of Mohammed. 
 
 5. to be taxed] Rather, to enrol himself. 
 
 with Mary] It is uncertain whether her presence was obligatory 
 (Dion. Hal. iv. 5; Lact. De Mort. Persec. 23) or voluntary; but it 
 is obvious that at so tr)dng a time, and after what she had suffered 
 (Matt. i. 19), she would cling to the presence and protection of her 
 husband. Nor is it wholly impossible that she saw in the providential 
 circumstances a fulfilment of prophecy. 
 
 his espoused wife] Or, who was betrothed to him ; ' wife ' is omitted in 
 B, D, L. 
 
 6. the days were accomplished] There is a reasonable certainty 
 that our Lord was born B.C. 4 of our era, and it improbable that He was 
 bom (according to the unanimous tradition of the Christian Church) 
 in winter. There is nothing to guide us as to the actual day of His 
 birth. It was unknown to the ancient Christians (Clem. Alex. Strom. 
 1.21). Some thought that it took place on May 20 or April 20. There 
 is no trace of the date Dec. 25 earlier than the fourth century, but it 
 is accepted by Athanasius, Jerome, Ambrose, &c. 
 
66 ST LUKE, II. [v. 7. 
 
 7 should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn 
 son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in 
 a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 
 
 7. firstborn\ The word has no bearing on the controversy r 
 to the * brethren of Jesus, ' as it does not necessarily imply that th«. 
 Virgin had other children. See Heb. i. 6, where first-born = only- 
 begotten. 
 
 wrapped him in swaddling clothes] Ezek. xvi. 4. In her poverty she 
 had none to help her, but (in the common fashion of the East) wound 
 the babe round and round with swathes with her own hands. 
 
 in a manger] If the Received Text were correct it would be *in ike 
 manger,' but the article is omitted by A, B, D, L. Phatne is some- 
 times rendered 'stall' (as in Luke xiii, 15; 2 Chron. xxxii. 28, LXX.); 
 but 'manger' is probably right here. It is derived ixom pateomai, * I eat ' 
 (Curtius, Griech. Et. II. 84), and is used by the LXX. for the Hebrew- 
 D-"I3N, 'crib,' in Prov. xiv. 4. Mangers are very ancient, and are 
 to this day sometimes used as cradles in the East (Thomson, Land and 
 Book, II. 533). The ox and the ass which are traditionally represented in 
 pictures are only mentioned in the apocryphal Gospel of Matthew, xiv., 
 and were suggested by Is. i. 3, and Hab. iii. 2, which in the LXX. 
 and the ancient Latin Version (Vetus Itala) was mistranslated "Be- 
 tween two animals thou shalt be made known." 
 
 there was no room for them in the inn] Kataluma may also mean 
 guest-chamber as in xxii. 11, but inn seems to be here the right render- 
 ing.^ There is another word for inn, pandocheion (x. 34), which implies 
 an inn with a host. Bethlehem was a poor place, and its inn was 
 probably a mere khan or caravanserai, which is an enclosed space sur- 
 rounded by open recesses of which the paved floor {leewan) is raised a 
 little above the ground. There is often no host, and the use of any 
 vacant leewan is free, but the traveller pays a trifle for food, water, &c. 
 If the khan be crowded the traveller must be content with a comer of 
 the courtyard or enclosed place among the cattle, or else in the stable. 
 The stable is often a limestone cave or grotto, and there is a ver 
 ancient tradition that this was the case in the khan of Bethlehem. 
 (Just. Martyr, Dial. c. Tryph. c. 78, and the Apocryphal Gospels, 
 Protev. xix., Evang. Infant, iii. &c.) If, as is most probable, the 
 traditional site of the Nativity is the real one, it took place in one of 
 the caves where St Jerome spent so many years (Ep. 24, ad Marcell.) 
 as a hermit, and translated the Bible int* Latin (the Vulgate). The 
 khan perhaps dated back as far as the days of David under the 
 name of the House or Hotel {Gerooth) of Chimham (2 Sam. xix. 37, 
 38; Jer. xli 17). 
 
 The tender grace and perfect simplicity of the narrative is one of the 
 marks of its truthfulness, and is again in striking contrast with the end- 
 lessly multiplied miracles of the Apocryphal Gospels. "The unfathom- 
 able depths of the divine counsels were moved ; the fountains of the great 
 deep were broken up ; the healing of the nations was issuing forth ; but 
 
vv. 8— II.] ST LUKE, 11. 67 
 
 8 — 20. The Angels to the Shepherds. 
 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in 8 
 the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, 9 
 the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the 
 ,Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 
 .>And the angel said unto them. Fear not : for behold, I bring 10 
 you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 
 For unto you is bom this day in the city of David a Saviour, n 
 
 nothing was seen on the surface of human society but this slight rippling 
 of the water." Isaac Williams, The N'aiivity. 
 
 8—20. The Angels to the Shepherds. 
 
 8. in the same country\ Tradition says that they were natives of 
 the little village Beth-zur (Josh. xv. 58; Neh. iii. 16). They were 
 feeding their flocks in the same fields from which David had been 
 summoned to feed Jacob, God's people, and Israel His inheritance. 
 
 shepherds^ Why these were the first to whom was revealed the birth 
 of Him who was called the Lamb of God, we are not told. The sheep 
 used for the daily sacrifice were pastured in the fields of Bethlehem. 
 
 abiding in thefield^ This does not prove, as some have supposed, that 
 the Nativity took place in spring, for in some pastures of Palestine the 
 shepherds to this day bivouac with their flocks in winter. 
 
 9. And ld\ The phrase often introduces some strange or memorable 
 event. 
 
 the angel'\ Rather, an AngeL 
 
 came upon the??i\ Epesti — a common word in St Luke, who uses it 
 eighteen times, xxiv. 4; Acts xii. 7, &c. It may mean stood by them. 
 
 the glory of the Lord^ The Shechinah, or cloud of brightness which 
 ^symbolised the Divine Presence, as in Ex. xxiv. 16; i Kings viii. 10; 
 Is. vi. I — 3; Acts vii. 55. See on i. 35. The presence of the She- 
 chinah was reckoned as one of the most precious blessings of Israel, 
 Rom. ix. 4. 
 
 ^- 10. good tidings'] the rendering of the verb euangelizomai (see on 
 i. 19). 
 
 of great Joy] . See Is. Hi. 7, Lxi. i; Rom. v. 11; i Pet. i. 8. The 
 contrast of the condition of despair and sorrow into which the heathen 
 world had sunk and the joy of Christians even in the deepest adversity 
 — as when we find ''joy" to be the key-note of the letter written to 
 Philippi by the suffering prisoner St Paul — is a striking comment on 
 this promise. Even the pictures and epitaphs of the gloomy catacombs 
 are full of joy and brightness. 
 
 to all peoplel^ Rather, to all the people, i.e. of Israel. 
 
 11. a Saviour] It is a curious fact that 'Saviour' and 'Salvation,' 
 so common in St Luke and St Paul (in whose writings they occur forty- 
 four times), are comparatively rare in the rest of the New Testament. 
 * Saviour' only occurs in Jolm iv. 42; i John iv. 14; and six times in 
 
 5~« 
 
6Z ST LUKE, 11. [w. 12—14. 
 
 .2 which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto 
 you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, 
 
 13 lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel 
 a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 
 
 14 Glory to God in the highest, 
 And on earth peace, 
 
 2 Pet. and Jude; 'salvation' only in John iv. 22, and thirteen times in 
 the rest of the N. T. 
 
 Christ the Lord'\ "God hath made that same Jesus whom ye cruci- 
 fied both Lord and Christ," Acts ii. 36; Phil. ii. 11. 'Christ' or 
 'Anointed' is the Greek equivalent of Messiah. In the Gospels it is 
 almost invariably an appellative, 'the Christ.' But as time advanced it 
 was more and more used without the article as a proper name. Our 
 Lord was 'anointed' with the Holy Spirit as Prophet, Priest and 
 King. 
 
 the Lord'X In the lower sense the word is used as a mere title of 
 distinction; in the higher sense it is (as in the LXX.) the equivalent of 
 the Hebrew 'Jehovah' — the ineffable name. "We preach Christ Jesus 
 the Lord," 2 Cor. iv. 5 (see Phil. ii. 11; Rom. xiv. 9; i Cor. viii. 6; 
 "No one can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost," i Cor. 
 xii. 3). 
 
 12. a sign\ Rather, the sign. 
 the babe] Rather, a babe. 
 
 13. a multitude of the heavenly host"] The Sabaoth ; Rom. ix. 29 ; 
 Jas. V. 4. "Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him," Dan. 
 vii. 10; Rev. v. 11, 12. The word is also used of the stars as objects 
 of heathen worship. Acts vii. 42. 
 
 14. in the highest] i.e., in highest heaven, Job xvi. 19; Ps. cxlviii. i ; 
 comp. "the heavenlies" in Eph. i. 3, «&:c. ; Ecclus. xliii. 9. 
 
 on earth peace] 
 
 "No war or battle's sound 
 Was heard the world around; 
 
 The idle spear and shield were high uphung: 
 The hooked chariot stood 
 Unstained with hostile blood. 
 
 The trumpet spake not to the armed throng; 
 And kings sat still with awful eye 
 As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by." 
 Milton, Ode on the Nativity. 
 
 This however is only an ideal aspect of affairs, and the closing at this 
 time of the Temple of Janus had little or no meaning. It was not in 
 this sense that the birth of Christ brought Peace. If we understood 
 the expression thus we might well say with Coleridge : 
 
 "Strange Prophecy! if all the screams 
 Of all the men that since have died 
 
w. 15—18.] ST LUKE, II. 69 
 
 Good will towards men. 
 
 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from ts 
 them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let 
 us now go eve7i unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which 
 is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 
 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, 16 
 and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen 17 
 //, they made known abroad the saying which was told them 
 concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered is 
 at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 
 
 To realize war's kingly dreams 
 
 Had risen at once in one vast tide, 
 The choral song of that vast multitude 
 Had been o'erpowered and lost amid the uproar rude." 
 The Angels sang indeed of such an ultimate Peace; but also of "the 
 peace which passeth understanding;" of that peace whereof Christ said, 
 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world 
 giveth give I unto you." See Prov. iii. 17, on which the Book of 
 Zohar remarks that it means peace in heaven and on earth, and in this 
 world and the next. As regards earthly peace He himself said, "Think 
 not that I am come to send peace on earth : I came not to send peace, 
 but a sword," Matt. x. 34; Lk. xii. 51. See this contrast magnificently 
 shadowed forth in Is. ix, 5, 6. 
 
 Good will towards men\ The reading eudokia, 'goodwill,' is found 
 in B, but &5, A, D read eudokias, and if this be the right reading the 
 meaning is "on earth peace among men of good will" [hominibusbonae 
 voluntatis, Vulg. ), i.e. those with v/hom God is well pleased. "The 
 Lord takelh pleasure in them that hope in His mercy, " Ps. cxlvii. 1 1 ; 
 comp. xii. 32, "it is your Y^ithex^s good pleasure to give you the king- 
 dom." The construction "men of good will" would be rare in this 
 sense, but the triple parallelism of the verse, 
 
 Glory to God in the highest 
 
 Peace to men whom God loves on earth 
 
 seems to favour it. In either case the verse implies that "being justified 
 by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," Rom. 
 v. I. In any case the ^' towards'^ is wrong, and must be altered into 
 " among" {iv). 
 
 "Glory to God on high, on earth be peace, 
 And love towards men of love — salvation and release." — Keble. 
 
 15. Let us nozu go'] Rather, Come now ! let us go. 
 
 16. found] The word is not merely (.vpov but dueupou, discovered 
 after search. The lamp hung from the centre of a rope would guide 
 them to the khan, but among a crowd it would not be easy to find the 
 new-born babe of the humble travellers. 
 
 17. made known abroad] Thus they were the first Christian preachers. 
 
JO ST LUKE, II. [vv. 19—22. 
 
 19 But Mary kept all these t?hings, and pondered them in her 
 
 20 heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising 
 God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it 
 was told unto them. 
 
 21. The Circumcision. 
 
 ^i And when eight days were accomplished for the circum- 
 cising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was 
 so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. 
 
 22 — 24. The Presentation in the Temple. 
 22 And when the days of her purification according to the 
 
 19. all these things] or ' words.' 
 
 pomhred] Literally, ** casting together,^'' i.e. comparing and consider- 
 ing ; like our 'casting in mind.' Comp. Gen. xxxvii. 11, "his father 
 observed the saying." She did not at once understand the full significance 
 of all these events. 
 
 21. The Circumcision. 
 
 21. for the circumcising of the child] Gen. xvii. 12. Doubtless the 
 rite was performed by Joseph. "Jesus Christ was a minister of the cir- 
 cumcision " (i.e. went to the Jew first) " for the truth of God to confirm 
 the promises made unto the fathers," Rom. xv. 8. Thus it became 
 him *to be made like unto His brethren, and to fulfil all righteousness,' 
 Matt. iii. 15. Christ suffered pain thus early for our sake to teach 
 us that, though He ordained for us the painless rite of baptism, we 
 must practise the spiritual circumcision — the circumcision of the heart. 
 He came "not to destroy the Law but X.o fulfil,'" Matt. v. 17 — 
 •* He, who with all heaven's heraldry whilere 
 Entered the world, now bleeds to give us ease. 
 Alas, how soon our sin 
 Sore doth begin 
 
 His infancy to seize ! " 
 
 Milton, The Circjimcision. 
 his name was called JESUS] See on i. 31. The name of the child 
 was bestowed at circumcision, as with us at baptism. Among Greeks 
 and Romans also the genethlia and nominalia were on the eighth or 
 ninth day. Observe the brief notice of Christ's circumcision compared 
 with the fuller and more elaborate account of John's. " In the person 
 of John the rite of circumcision solemnised its last glories." 
 
 22—24. The Presentation in the Temple. 
 
 22. her purification] Rather, their purification. The reading 
 a^T^s, 'her,' of the Received Text is almost unsupported. All the Uncials 
 read airwv, 'their,' except D, which probably by an oversight reads avroOf 
 
w. 23— 25.] ST LUKE, II. 71 
 
 law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to 
 Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord ; (as it is written in 23 
 the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb 
 shall be called holy to the Lord;) and to offer a sacrifice 24 
 according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A 
 pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. 
 
 25 — 35- Simeon and the Nunc Dimittis. 
 And behold, there "was a man in Jerusalem, whose name 25 
 was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, 
 waiting for the consolation of Israel : and the Holy Ghost 
 
 'His.' Strictly speaking, the child was never purified, but only the 
 mother. The purification took place on the fortieth day after the 
 Nativity, and till then a mother was not permitted to leave her house. 
 The feast of the Presentation was known in the Eastern Church as the 
 Hypapanti. 
 
 according to the law of Moses] See this Law in Lev. xii. 2 — 4. 
 Jesus was ' ' made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem those 
 that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons," 
 Gal. iv. 4, 5. 
 
 23. as it is written in the law of the Lord] The tribe of Levi were 
 sanctified to the Lord in lieu of the firstborn, and originally all the 
 firstborn in excess of the number of the Levites had to be redeemed 
 with five shekels of the sanctuary (about 1 5 shillings), a rule afterwards 
 extended to all the firstborn. Ex. xiii. 2, xxii. 29, xxxiv. 19; Num. 
 iii. 13, xviii. 15, 16. 
 
 24. A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons] The offering ap- 
 pointed was a yearling lamb for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon 
 or turtledove for a sin-offering, which were to be brought to the door of 
 the tabernacle and with which "the priest made an atonement for her 
 and she shall be clean." But the Law of Moses, with that thoughtful 
 tenderness which characterises many of its provisions, allowed a poor 
 mother to bring two turtledoves instead ; and since turtledoves (being 
 migratory) are not always procurable, and old pigeons are not easily 
 caught, offered the alternative of *'two young pigeons." Lev. xii. 
 6—8. (Tristram.) 
 
 25 — 35. Simeon and the Nunc Dimittis. 
 
 25. a man... whose name was Sitneon] This cannot be Rabban 
 Shimeon the son of Hillel (whom the Talmud is on this account sup- 
 posed to pass over almost unnoticed), because he would hardly have 
 been spoken of so slightly as '■^ anthropos,^^ * a person.' The Apocryphal 
 Gospels call him " the great teacher *' (James xxvi., Nicod. xvi.). 
 
 waiting for the consolation of Israel] See Gen. xlix. 18. "They 
 shall not be ashamed that wait for me," Is. xlix. 23. "Comfort ye, 
 comfort ye my people, saith your God," Is. xl. i. Joseph of Arima- 
 
72 ST LUKE, II. [w. 26— 32. 
 
 26 was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy 
 Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the 
 
 27 Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple : 
 and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for 
 
 28 him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his 
 arms, and blessed God, and said, 
 
 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart o^IuXa^ 
 In peace, according to thy word : 
 
 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 
 
 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people ; 
 
 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people 
 
 Israel. 
 
 thea is also described as one who *^ waited for the Kingdom of God," 
 Mk. XV. 43. "May I see the consolation of Israel !" was a common 
 Jewish formula, and a prayer for the Advent of the Messiah was daily 
 used. 
 
 26. it was revealed unto hini\ Christian legend says that he had 
 stumbled at Is. vii. 14, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive," and had 
 received a divine intimation that he should not die till he had seen it 
 fulfilled (Nicephorus, a.d. 1450). The notion of his extreme age is 
 not derived from Scripture but from the ' Gospel of the Nativity of 
 Mary,' which says that he was 113. 
 
 the Lord''s Christ'\ The Anointed of Jehovah. 
 
 27. by the Spirif] Rather, in the Spirit. 
 
 brought in the child\ The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy (vi.) says 
 that he saw Him shining like a pillar of light in His mother's arms, 
 which is probably derived from vs. 32. 
 
 28. in his arms] Hence he is sometimes called Theodokos, * the 
 receiver of God,' as Ignatius is sometimes called Thcophoros, * borne of 
 God,' from the fancy that he was one of the children whom Christ took 
 in His arms (see on ix. 47). 
 
 29. Lord, noiu lettest thoji thy servant depart in peace"] Rather, 
 Now art Thou setting free Thy slave, Master, according to Thy 
 word. In peace. This rapturous Psalm — the Nunc Dimittis — has 
 formed a part of Christian evening worship certainly since the fifth 
 century. Despotes is not often used of God (Acts iv. 24 ; Rev. vi. 10). 
 
 In peace] On leaving a dying person the Jews said, 'Go in peace"* 
 (j^^shalom), Gen. xv. 15. Otlierwise they said, 'Go to peace ^ (Le 
 shalom) as Jethro did to Moses. See on vii. 50. 
 
 30. thy salvation] Not t^v <T<t)Tr}plav but rb auT-Zipiov which seems 
 to have a wider meaning. 
 
 82. to lighten the Gentiles] Rather, for revelation to. A memorable 
 prophecy, considering that even the Apostles found it hard to grasp the 
 full admission of the Gentiles, clearly as it had been indicated in older 
 prophecy, as in Ps. xcviii. 2, 3. " All the ends pf the earth have seen 
 
w. 33-35.] ST LUKE, IL 73 
 
 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those thiiigs 33 
 which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, 34 
 and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for 
 the fall and rising again of many in Israel ; and for a sign 
 which shall be spoken against ; (yea, a sword shall pierce 3=; 
 through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts 
 may be revealed. 
 
 the salvation of our God," Is. Hi. ro. " I will give thee for a covenant 
 of the people, for a light of the Gentiles," Is. xlii. 6, xlix. 6. 
 
 33. Joseph^ The undoubted reading is '' His father'' «, B, D, L, 
 &c. 
 
 ofhifn] Rather, about Him. 
 
 34. is set] Literally, '^ liesJ" The metaphor is taken from a stone 
 which may either become 'a stone of stumbling' and *a rock of offence' 
 (Is. viii. 14; Rom. ix. 32, 33; i Cor. i. ■23), or 'a precious corner- 
 stone' (i Pet. ii. 7, 8; Acts iv. 11; i Cor. iii. ir). 
 
 for the fall and rising again of 7?iatiy in Israel] Rather, for the 
 falling and rising. For the fall of many Pharisees, Herodians, Sad- 
 ducees, Nazarenes, Gadarenes ; and for the rising — a savour of life unto 
 life — of all that believed on Him. In some cases — as that of Peter and 
 the dying robber — they who fell afterwards rose. 
 
 which shall be spoken against] Rather, which is spoken against. 
 "As concerning this sect we know that everywhere \t is spoken against," 
 Acts xxviii. 22. Jesus was called "this deceiver," "a Samaritan," 
 "a demoniac," and in the Talmud he is only alluded to as * So and So' 
 (Peloni), Uhat man' {Otho haish), 'Absalom,' 'the hung' [Thalooi), 'the 
 son of Pandera,' &c. To this day Nuzrdni, 'Christian,' is — after 
 ' Jew ' — the most stinging term of reproach throughout Palestine. 
 Among Pagans the Christians were charged with cannibalism, incest, 
 and every conceivable atrocity, and Suetonius, Pliny, Tacitus have no 
 gentler words for Christianity than 'an execrable, extravagant, or malefic 
 superstition.' To holy men like Zacharias and Simeon God had revealed 
 that the Glory of the Messiah was to be perfected by suffering (Heb. 
 ii. 10). They, at least, did not expect an earthly conqueror — 
 ** Armed in flame, all glorious from afar. 
 
 Of hosts the captain, and the Lord of War." 
 
 36. a sword] The word rhomphaia, probably a broad Thracian 
 sword, only occurs elsewhere in the New Testament in Rev., i. 16, «&c., 
 but it is used in the LXX., as in Zech. xiii. 7, " Awake, O sword, 
 against my shepherd." Almost from the very birth of Christ the sword 
 began to pierce the soul of the 'Mater Dolorosa;' and what tongue 
 can describe the weight of mysterious anguish which she felt as she 
 watched the hatred and persecution which followed Jesus and saw Him 
 die in anguish on the cross amid the execrations of all classes of those 
 whom He came to save ! 
 
 that the thottghts of many hearts may he revealed] Rather, that the 
 reasonings out of many hearts may be revealed. The word dialo- 
 
74 ST LUKE, II. [vv. 36—38. 
 
 36 — 40. Anna the Prophetess. The Return to Nazareth, 
 
 36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of 
 Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser : she was of a great age, and 
 
 37 had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity ; and 
 she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which 
 departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings 
 
 38 and prayers night and day. And she coming in that 
 instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of 
 
 gismoi generally has a bad sense as in v. 22 ; Matt. xv. 19; Rom. i. 21. 
 By way of comment see the reasonings of the Jews in John ix. i6: 
 I Cor. xi. 19; I John ii. 19. 
 
 36 — 40. Anna the Prophetess. The Return to Nazareth. 
 
 36. Anna] The same name as Hannah (i Sam. i. 20), from the 
 root CMnan, *he was gracious.' 
 
 a prophetess] like Miriam, Deborah, Huldah (2 Chron. xxxiv. 22). 
 
 Phanuel] 'The Face of God;' the same word as Peniel, Gen. 
 xxxii. 30. 
 
 Aser] Though the Ten Tribes were lost, individual Jews who be- 
 longed to them had preserved their genealogies. Thus Tobit was of the 
 tribe of NaphthaU (Tob. i. i). Comp. **our twelve tribes," Acts 
 xxvi. 7; James i. i. 
 
 from her virginity] I, e. she had been married only seven years, and 
 was now 84 years old. fc<, A, B, L read tm (for ws) which is best taken 
 with "of great age," the intervening words being parenthetic, a widow 
 even unto fourscore years. 
 
 37. departed not] She was present (that is) at all the stated hours 
 of prayer; unless we suppose that her position as a Prophetess had 
 secured her the right of living in one of the Temple chambers, and 
 perhaps of doing some work for it like trimming the lamps (as is the 
 Rabbinic notion about Deborah, derived from the word Lapidoth 
 'splendours'). 
 
 fastings] The Law of Moses had only appointed one yearly fast, on 
 the Great Day of Atonement. But the Pharisees had adopted the prac- 
 tice of 'fasting twice in the week,' viz. on Monday and Thursday, when 
 Moses is supposed to have ascended, and descended from, Sinai (see on 
 xviii. 12), and had otherwise multiplied and extended the simple origi- 
 nal injunction (v. 33). 
 
 prayers] Rather, supplications (a more special word). 
 
 night and day] 'Night' is put first by the ordinary Hebrew idiom 
 (as in the Greek word vvx^vt^^pov) which arose from their notion that 
 'God made the world in six days and seven nights.' Comp. Acts 
 xxvi. 7, "unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God 
 night and day (Greek), hope to come." i Tim. v. 5, "she that is a 
 widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in sup- 
 plications and prayers night and day." 
 
VV.39— 4I-] ST LUKE, II. 75 
 
 him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. 
 And when they had performed all things according to the 39 
 law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city 
 Nazareth. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, 4° 
 filled with wisdom : and the grace of God was upon him. 
 41 — 52. The Passover Visit to the Temple. 
 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast 41 
 
 38. that looked for redemption] See xxiv. 21; Mk. xv. 43; i Cor. 
 i. 7; Tit. ii. 13; Heb. ix. ^S. See Excursus VII. 
 
 in yerusaletfi] The readings vary. Perhaps it should be for the 
 redemption of Jerusalem. 
 
 39. Between this verse and the last come the events narrated by 
 St Matthew only — namely the Visit of the Magi ; the Flight into Egypt; 
 and the massacre of the Innocents. It is difficult to believe that either 
 of the Evangelists had seen the narrative of the other, because the 
 prima facie inference from either singly would be imperfectly correct. 
 They supplement each other, because they each narrate the truth, though 
 probably neither of them was aware of all that has been delivered to us. 
 
 40. filled] Rather, being filled. The growth of our Lord is here 
 described as a natural human growth. The nature of the ' Hypostatic 
 Union' of His Divine and Human nature — what is called the 
 Perichoresis or Comftiutiicatio idiofuatum — is one of the subtlest and 
 least practical of mysteries. The attempt to define and enter into 
 it was only forced upon the Church by the speculations of Oriental 
 heretics who vainly tried "to soar into the secrets of the Deity on the 
 waxen wings of the senses." This verse (and still more vs. 52) is a 
 stronghold against the Apollinarian heresy which held that in Jesus the 
 Divine Logos took the place of the human soul. Against the four con- 
 flicting heresies of Arius, Apollinarius, Nestorius and Eutyches, which 
 respectively denied the true Godhead, the perfect manhood, the indi- 
 visible union, and the entire distinctness of the Godhead and manhood 
 in Christ, the Church, in the four great Councils of Nice (a.d. 325), 
 Constantinople (a.d. 381), Ephesus (a.d. 431), and Chalcedon (a.d. 
 451), established the four words which declare her view of the nature of 
 Christ — alethds, teleos, adiairetds, asunchutds — 'truly' God; 'perfectly' 
 Man; 'indivisibly' God- Man, 'distinctly' God and Man. See Hooker, 
 Eccl. Pol. V. Iv. 10. 
 
 the grace of God was upon him] Is. xi. 2, 3. "Full of grace and 
 truth," John i. 14. "Take notice here that His doing nothing won- 
 derful was itself a kind of wonder... As there was power in His actions, 
 so is there power in His silence, in His inactivity, in His retirement." 
 Bonaventura. The worthless legends and inventions of many of the Apo- 
 cryphal Gospels deal almost exclusively with the details of the Virginity 
 of Mary, and the Infancy of Christ, which are passed over in the 
 Gospels in these few words. 
 
 41 — 52. The Passover Visit to the Temple. 
 
 41. his parents] The great Rabbi Hillel had recommended •vfovatn to 
 
76 ST LUKE, II. [w. 42, 43- 
 
 42 of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they 
 
 43 went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And 
 when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child 
 
 attend the Passover. It was not enjoined by the Law, but the Jews 
 admired it as a pious practice. {Meckilta, f. 17. 2 in Schottgen.) 
 
 at the feast of the passover] Ex. xxiii. 15 — 17; Deut. xvi. i — 16. 
 The custom of going up three times a year seems long to have fallen 
 into abeyance with most Jews, i Sam. \. 21, "the yearly sacrifice." 
 
 42. when he was twelve years old] No single w^ord breaks the 
 silence of the Gospels respecting the childhood of Jesus from the return 
 to Nazareth till this time. We infer indeed from scattered hints in 
 Scripture that He ''began to do" His work before He ''began to teach^ 
 and being "tempted in all points like as we are" won the victory from 
 His earliest years, alike over positive and negative temptations. (Heb. 
 V. 8. See Ullmann, Sinlessness of Jesus, E. Tr. p. 140.) Up to this 
 time He had grown as other children grow, only in a childhood of 
 stainless and sinless beauty — "as the flower of roses in the spring of the 
 year, and as lilies by the waters," Ecclus. xxxix. 13, 14. This inci- 
 dent of His 'confirmation,' as in modern language we might call it, 
 is " the solitary flowret out of the wonderful enclosed garden of the 
 thirty years, plucked precisely there where the swollen bud at a dis- 
 tinctive crisis bursts into flower." Stier, Words of Jesus, I. 18. 
 
 This silence of the Evangelists is a proof of their simple faithfulness, 
 and is in striking contrast with the blaze of foolish and dishonouring 
 miracles with which the Apocryphal Gospels degrade the Divine Boy- 
 hood. See my Life of Christ, i. 58 — d^. Meanwhile we are permitted 
 to see (i) That our Lord never attended the schools of the Rabbis 
 (Mk. vi. 2; John vi. 42, vii. 15), and therefore that His teaching was 
 absolutely original, and that He would therefore be regarded by the 
 Rabbis as a 'man of the people,' or 'unlearned person.' (See Acts 
 iv. 13; T. B. Berachoth, f. 47. 2; Ecclus. xxxviii. 24 fg.) (ii) That 
 He had learnt to write (John viii. 6). (iii) That He was acquainted 
 not only with Aramaic, but with Hebrew, Greek, and perhaps Latin 
 {Life of Christy I. 91); and (iv) That he had been deeply impressed 
 iDy the lessons of nature (id. I. 93). 
 
 twelve years old] Up to this age a Jevdsh boy was called 'little,' 
 afterwards he was called 'grown up,' and became a 'Son of the Law,' 
 or 'Son of the Precepts.' At this age he was presented on the Sabbath 
 called the * Sabbath of Phylacteries ' in the Synagogue, and began to 
 wear theA phylacteries with which his father presented him. Ac- 
 cording to the Jews twelve was the age at which Moses left the 
 house of Pharaoh's daughter, and Samuel was called, and Solomon 
 gave his judgment, and Josiah carried out his reform. (Jos. Antt. 
 II. 9. 6, V. 10. 4.) 
 
 43. fulfilled the days] Ex. xii. 15. 
 
 the child Jesus] Rather, "the boy Jesus" (o Trats). St Luke seems 
 purposely to have narrated something about the Saviour at every stage 
 
 ^ 6Ar £u»n^ oW -frx/tAJl 1 -fA^Cto-a tfkoM^ ^ 
 
vv. 44-47-] ST LUKE, II. 11 
 
 Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his 
 mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have 44 
 been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought 
 him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they 45 
 found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking 
 him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found 46 
 him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both 
 hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard 47 
 
 of His earthly existence as babe (ii. 16), little child (ii. 40), boy, and 
 man. 
 
 tarried behind^ Among the countless throngs of Jews who flocked 
 to the Passover — nearly three millions according to Josephus {Antt. VI. 
 9. 3) — nothing would be easier than to lose sight of one young boy in 
 the thronged streets, or among the thousands of booths outside the 
 city walls. Indeed it is an incident which to this day often occurs 
 at Jerusalem in similar cases. It should be also remembered that at 
 the age of 12 an Eastern boy is far more mature than is the case 
 with Northern nations, and that at that age a far wider liberty was 
 allowed him. 
 
 Joseph and his mother] The true reading is probably His parents, 
 K, B, D, L. 
 
 knew not of it] The fact is very interesting as shewing the natural- 
 ness and unconstraint in which our Lord was trained. 
 
 44. went a day^ s journey] Probably to Beeroth, six miles north of 
 Jerusalem. In the numerous and rejoicing caravans of kinsmen and 
 fellow-countrymen relations are often separated without feeling any 
 anxiety. 
 
 sought hit}i] The word implies anxious and careful search. 
 
 46. after three days] This, in the Jewish idiom, probably means 
 *on the third day.' One day was occupied by the journey to Beeroth; 
 on the second, they sought him in the caravans and at Jerusalem ; the 
 next day they found him in the Temple. The unsettled state of the 
 country would add to their alarm. 
 
 in the temple] Probably in one of the numerous chambers which 
 ran round the Court, and abutted on the actual building. 
 
 sitting] Doubtless at the feet of the Rabbis, as was the custom of 
 Jewish boys when sitting began to be permitted. 
 
 in the midst of the doctors] Rather, teachers. The most eminent 
 Rabbis of this period — some of whom may have been present — were 
 Hillel, his rival Shammai, and his son Rabban Shimeon, Babha ben 
 Butah, Nicodemus, Jochanan ben Zakkai, &c. 
 
 hearing thetfi, and asking the?n questions] Obviously with all modest 
 humility. The Apocryphal Gospels characteristically degrade this scene, 
 and represent the boy Christ as behaving with a forwardness which most 
 flagrantly contradicts the whole tenor of the narrative, and would have 
 been specially displeasing to Jewish elders {Pirke Abhdth, V. 12. 15). 
 
78 ST LUKE, II. [v v. 48— 51. 
 
 48 him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And 
 when they saw him, they were amazed : and his mother said 
 unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, 
 
 49 thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said 
 unto them, How is it that ye sought me ? wist ye not that I 
 
 50 must be about my Father's business ? And they understood 
 
 51 not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went 
 down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject 
 
 47. were astonished'\ Similar incidents are narrated of Rabbi Eliezer 
 Ben Azariah ; of Rabbi Ashi, the compiler of the Babylonian Talmud ; 
 and (by himself) of Josephus [Vit. 1). See Excursus VII. 
 
 48. they were aniazed'\ The '■^people of the land,^^ such as were the 
 simple peasants of Galilee, held their great teachers in the deepest awe, 
 and hitherto the silent, sweet, obedient childhood of Jesus had not pre- 
 pared them for such a scene. 
 
 Son, why hast thou thus dealt with usF] Rather, My child, why didst 
 thou treat us thus ? 
 
 haz>e soicght thee sorrowing\ Rather, were searching for thee with 
 aching hearts. 
 
 49. about my Father's business\ Rather, in my Father's house. 
 See Excursus I. These words are very memorable as being the first 
 recorded words of Jesus. They bear with them the stamp of authenticity 
 in their half-vexed astonishment, and perfect mixture of dignity and 
 humility. It is remarkable too, that He does not accept the phrase "Thy 
 father" which Mary had employed. "Did ye not know?" recalls their 
 fading memory of Who He was; and the "I must" lays down the law 
 of devotion to His Father by which He was to walk even to the Cross. 
 Ps. xl. 7 — 9. " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me and to 
 finish His work," John iv. 34. For His /aj/ recorded words, see Acts 
 i. 7, 8. 
 
 my Father's'] It is remarkable that Christ always says iraTrjp fxov 
 (with the article) but teaches us to say irarrfp rnxdv (without the article) : 
 e.g. in John xx. 17 it is, "I ascend unto the Father of me and Father 
 of you." God is His Father in a different way from that in which He 
 is ours. He is our Father only because He is His Father. See Pearson 
 On the Creed, Art. i. 
 
 50. they understood not] Words which might stand as the epitome 
 of much of His ministry, ix. 45, xviii. 34; Mk. ix. 32; John x. 6, i. 10, 
 1 1 . The meaning however is not that they had any doubt as to what 
 the grammatical construction of His words implied ; but only as to their 
 bearing and appropriateness to the circumstances of so young a child. 
 
 51. with them] We may infer from the subsequent omission of 
 Joseph's name, and from the traditional belief of his age, that he died 
 shortly after this event, as the Apocryphal Gospels assert. 
 
 to Nazareth] In many respects there was a divine fitness in this spot 
 for the human growth of Jesus — "as a tender plant and a root out of the 
 dry ground." Apart from the obscurity and evil fame of Nazareth 
 
sr. 52; I.] ST LUKE, II. III. 79 
 
 unto them : but his mother kept all these sayings in her 
 heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in sa 
 favour with God and man. 
 
 Ch. III. I — 9. Baptism and Preaching of John the Baptist. 
 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cesar, 3 
 
 which were meant to teach lessons similar to those of which we have 
 just spoken, we may notice (i) its seclusion. It lies in a narrow cleft in 
 the limestone hills which form the boundary of Zabulon entirely out of 
 the ordinary roads of commerce, so that none could say that our Lord 
 had learnt either from Gentiles or from Rabbis, (ii) Its beauty and 
 peacefulness. The flowers of Nazareth are famous, and the appearance 
 of its inhabitants shews its healthiness. If was a home of humble peace 
 and plenty. The fields of its green valley are fruitful, and the view 
 from the hill which overshadows it is one of the loveliest and most 
 historically striking in all Palestine. 
 
 was sitbject unto theni\ "He made Himself of no reputation, and 
 took upon Him the form of a servant," Phil. ii. 7; Is. liii. 1. With 
 the exception of these two verses, the Gospels preserve but one single 
 word to throw light on the Life of our Lord, between His infancy and 
 His baptism. That word is '■^ the carpenter''' in Mk. vi. 3, altered in 
 some MSS. out of irreverent and mistaken reverence into **^the son oj 
 the carpenter." They shew that (i) our Lord's life was spent \n poverty 
 but not in pauperism ; (ii) that He sanctified labour as a pure and 
 noble thing; (iii) that God looks on the heart, and that the dignity 
 or humility, the fame or obscurity, of the outer lot is of no moment 
 in His eyes. Rom. xiv. 17, 18. 
 
 52. increasecf] Rather, advanced. The word is derived from 
 pioneers cutting down trees in the path of an advancing army. Comp. 
 I Sam. ii. 26, and the description of an ideal youth in Prov. iii. 3, 4. 
 
 stature'] Rather, age (as in xii. 25), though the word sometimes means 
 stature (xix. 3). 
 
 favour with God and man\ Rather, men. Prov. iii. 4, "So shalt 
 thou find favour and good success {marg.) in the sight of God and man." 
 Pirke AdhSth, III. 10, "In whomsoever the mind of men delights, in 
 him also the Spirit of God delights." 
 
 Ch. III. 1—9. Baptism and Preaching of John the 
 Baptist. 
 
 1. in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cesar"] If the acces- 
 sion of Tiberius be dated from the death of Augustus, Aug. 19, a.u.c. 
 767, this would make our Lord thirty-two at His baptism. St Luke, 
 however, follows a common practice in dating the reign of Tiberius 
 from the period of his association with Augustus as joint Emperor 
 A.U.C. 765. (Tac. Ann. i. 3; Suet. Aug. 97; Veil. Paterc. 103.) 
 Our Lord's baptism thus took place in A.u.c. 780. 
 
8o ST LUKE, III. [v. i. 
 
 Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being 
 tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea 
 
 Tiberius Cesar] The stepson and successor of Augustus. At this 
 period of his reign he retired to the island of Capreae (Tac. Ann. iv. 
 74), where he plunged into horrible private excesses, while his public 
 administration was most oppressive and sanguinary. The recent at- 
 tempts to defend his character break down under the accumulated and 
 unanimous weight of ancient testimony. 
 
 Pontius Pilate] He was Procurator for ten years, A.D. 25 — 36. His 
 predecessors had been Coponius (a.d. 6 — 10), M. Ambivius, Annius 
 Rufus, and Valerius Gratus (a.d. 14—25). He was succeeded by 
 Marcellus, Fadus, Tiberius Alexander, Cumanus, Felix, Festus, Albi- 
 nus and Florus. For an account of him see on xxiii. i. 
 
 govei-nor] His strict title was epitropos or Procurator (Jos. Antt. xx. 
 6, § 2), which does not however occur in the N.T. except in the sense 
 of 'steward' (Lk. viii. 3). Hegemon was a more general term. (Matt. 
 X. 18 ; I Pet. ii. 14.) His relation to the Herods was much the same 
 as that of the Viceroy of India to the subject Maharajahs. 
 
 Hei'od] Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great and the Sama- 
 ritan lady Malthace. He retained his kingdom for more than 40 years, 
 at the end of which he was banished (a.d. 39) to Lugdunum (probably 
 St Bertrand de Comminges), chiefly through the machinations of his 
 nephew Herod Agrippa I. (the Herod of Acts xii. i). See the Stemvia 
 Herodum on p. 39, and for further particulars of his character see on 
 xiii. 32. 
 
 teti-arch] The word properly means a ruler of a fourth part of a 
 country, but afterwards was used for any tributary prince or ethnarch. 
 At this time Judaea, Samaria and Galilee were the provinces of Judaea. 
 Antipas, Philip and Lysanias are the only three to whom the term 
 •tetrarch' is applied in the N.T. Antipas also had the courtesy-title 
 of 'king' (Mk. vi. 14, &c.), and it was in the attempt to get this title 
 officially confirmed to him that he paid the visit to Rome which ended 
 in his banishment. He was tetrarch for more than 40 years, from 
 B.C. 4 to A.D. 39. 
 
 of Galilee] This province is about 25 miles from North to South, 
 and 27 from East to West, — about the size of Bedfordshire. Lower 
 Galilee included the district from the plain of Akka to the shores 
 of the Sea of Galilee, and was mainly composed of the rich plain of 
 Esdraelon (or Jezreel). Upper Galilee included the mountain range 
 between the Upper Jordan and Phoenicia. Galilee was thus the main 
 scene of our Lord's ministry. It was surpassingly rich and fertile (Jos. 
 B. J. I. 15. 5, HI. ro, §§ 7, 8). See on i. 26. Herod's dominions 
 included the larger though less populous district of Peraea; but the 
 flourishing towns of Decapolis (Gerasa, Gadara, Damascus, Hippos, 
 Pella, &c.) were independent. 
 
 his brother Philip] Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great and Cleo- 
 patra, who afterwards married his niece Salome, daughter of the other 
 Herod Philip (who lived in a private capacity at Rome) and of his half- 
 
V. 2.] ST LUKE, III. 8i 
 
 and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch 
 of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the 2 
 
 sister and sister-in-law Herodias. This tetrarch seems to have been the 
 best of the Herods (Jos. Antt. xvii. 2. § 4), and the town of Caesar ea 
 Philippi which he beautified was named from him. 
 
 of Ituraea and of the region of Trachoniiis] His tetrarchate also in- 
 cluded Batanaea (Bashan), Auranitis (the Hauran), Gaulanitis (Golan), 
 and some parts about Jamnia (Jos. B. J. ii. 6, § 3). Ituraea (now Jedur) 
 was at the foot of Mount Hermon, and was named from Jetur, son of 
 Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 15, 16). The Ituraeans were marauders, famous for 
 the use of the bow, and protected by their mountain fastnesses. (Strabo, 
 XVI. 2 ; Lucan, Phars. vii. 230.) Trachonitis, also a country of robbers 
 (Jos. Antt. XVI. 9 §§ I, 2), is the Greek rendering of the Aramaic Argob 
 (a region about 22 miles from N. to S. by 14 from W. to E.), and means 
 ' a rough or stony tract.' It is the modem province of el-Lejah, and 
 the ancient kingdom of Og — " an ocean of basaltic rocks and boulders, 
 tossed about in the wildest confusion, and intermingled with fissures 
 and crevices in every direction." Herod Philip received this tetrarchate 
 by bequest from his father (Jos. -5. y. ii. 6, § 3). 
 
 Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene\ The mention of this minute parti- 
 cular is somewhat singular, but shews St Luke's desire for at least one 
 rigid chronological dattim. It used to be asserted that St Luke had 
 here fallen into another chronological error, but his probable accuracy 
 has, in this point also, been completely vindicated. There was a Lysa- 
 nias king of Chalcis under Mount Lebanon, and therefore in all proba- 
 bility tetrarch of Abilene, in the days of Antony and Cleopatra, 60 
 years before this period (Jos. B. J. i. 13, § i); and there was another 
 Lysanias, probably a grandson of the former, in the reigns of Caligula 
 and Claudius, 20 years after this period (Jos. Antt. xv. 4, § i). No 
 intermediate Lysanias is recorded in history, but there is not a shadow of 
 proof that the Lysanias here mentioned may not be the second of these 
 two, or more probably some Lysanias who came between them, perhaps 
 the son of the first and the father of the second. Even M. Renan 
 admits that after reading at Baalbek the inscription of Zenodorus 
 (Boeckh, Corp. Inscr. Graec. no. 4521) he infers the correctness of the 
 Evangelist ( Vie de Jesus^ p. xiii. ; Les £vangiles, p. 263). It is indeed, 
 on the lowest grounds, inconceivable that so careful a writer as St Luke 
 should have deliberately gone out of his way to introduce so apparently 
 superfluous an allusion at the risk of falling into a needless error. Ly- 
 sanias is perhaps mentioned because he had Jewish connexions (Jos. 
 Antt. XIV. 7, § 4). 
 
 of Abilene'] Abila was a town 18 miles from Damascus and 38 from 
 Baalbek. The district of which it was the capital is probably here 
 mentioned because it subsequently formed part of the Jewish territory, 
 having been assigned by Caligula to his favourite Herod Agrippa I. in 
 A.D.36. The name is derived from Abel 'a meadow.' 
 
 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests'] Rather, in the high- 
 priesthood of Annas and of Caiaphas, for the true reading is undoubt- 
 
 ST LUKE 6 
 
82 ST LUKE. III. [v. 2. 
 
 word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the 
 
 edly apx'^/'^'^s {i^, A, B, C, D, E, &c.), and a similar expressrlon occurs 
 in Acts iv. 6. But here St Luke is charged (on grounds as untenable 
 as in the former instances) with yet another mistake. Annas or Hanan 
 the son of Seth had been High Priest from a.d. 7 — 14, and had there- 
 fore, by this time, been deposed for at least 15 years; and his son-in-law 
 Joseph Caiaphas, the four^A High Priest since his deposition, had been 
 appointed in a.d. 24. The order had been as follows: — 
 
 Annas or Ananus (Hanan), A.D. 7. 
 
 Ishmael Ben Phabi, a.d. 15. 
 
 Eleazar son of Annas, a.d. 15. 
 
 Simon son of Kamhith, a.d. 16. 
 
 Joseph Caiaphas, A.D. 17. 
 How then can Annas be called High Priest in a.d. 27? The answer is 
 (i.) that by the Mosaic Law the High priesthood was held for life 
 (Numb. XXXV. 25), and since Annas had only been deposed by the 
 arbitrary caprice of the Roman Procurator Valerius Gratus he would 
 still be legally and religiously regarded as High Priest by the Jews 
 (Numb. XXXV. 25); (ii.) that he held in all probability the high office of 
 Sagan haccohanim 'deputy' or 'chief of the Priests (2 K. xxv. 18), 
 or of Nasi 'President of the Sanhedrin,' and at least of the Ab Beth 
 Din, who was second in the Sanhedrin; (iii.) that the nominal, official. 
 High Priests of this time were mere puppets of the civil power, which 
 appointed and deposed them at will in rapid succession, so that the 
 title was used in a looser sense than in earlier days. The High Priest- 
 hood was in fact at this time in the hands of a cHque of some half- 
 dozen Herodian, Sadducaean and alien families, whose ambition it was 
 to bear the title for a time without facing the burden of the necessary 
 duties. Hence any one who was unusually prominent among them would 
 naturally bear the title of 'High Priest' in a popular way, especially in 
 such a case as that of Hanan, who, besides having been High Priest, was 
 a man of vast wealth and influence, so that five also of his sons, as well 
 as his son-in-law, became High Priests after him. The language of St 
 Luke and the Evangelists (Joh. xi. 49) is therefore in strict accordance 
 with the facts of the case in attributing the High Priesthood at this 
 epoch rather to a caste than to a person. Josephus {B. J. 11. 20, § 4) 
 who talks of ^^ one of \he High Priests" and the Talmud which speaks 
 of "the sons of the High Priests" use the same sort of language. 
 There had been no less than 28 of these phantom High Priests in 107 
 years (Jos. Antt. XX. 10, § i), and there must have been at least five 
 living High Priests and ex-High Priests at the Council that condemned 
 our Lord. The Jews, even in the days of David, had been familiar 
 with the sort of co-ordinate High Priesthood of Zadok and Abiathar. 
 For the greed, rapacity and luxury of this degenerate hierarchy, see 
 my Life of Christ, ii. 329, 330, 342. 
 
 in the wilderness'] Mainly, as appears from the next verse, the Ara- 
 bah, the sunken valley north of the Dead Sea — el Ghor — " the deepest 
 and hottest chasm in the world" (Humboldt, Cosmos, i. 150), where the 
 
w. 3, 4.] ST LUKE, III. 83 
 
 wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, 3 
 preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of 
 sins ; as it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the 4 
 prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilder- 
 ness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths 
 
 sirocco blows almost without intermission. " A more frightful desert it 
 had hardly been our lot to behold" (Robinson, Researches, II. 121). See 
 it described by Mr Grove in Smith's Bibl. Diet. s.v. Arabah. The 
 stern aspect and terrible associations of the spot had doubtless exercised 
 their influence on the mind of John. See on ii. 80. 
 
 3. he came'] St Luke alone mentions the mission journeys of 
 John the Baptist; the other EvangeUsts, whose narratives (Matt. iii. 
 I — 12; Mark i. i — 8; John i. 15, 28) should be carefully compared 
 with that of St Luke, describe how the multitudes "came streaming 
 forth " to him. 
 
 all the country about Jordaii] The Arabah is some 150 miles in 
 extent ; the actual river- valley, specified in the O. T. by the curious 
 words Kikkar and Geliloth (see Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. 284), is not so 
 extensive. 
 
 the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins'] Comp. Acts ii. 38, 
 iii. 15, v. 31, xxii. 16', where the two expressions are also united. 
 The baptism of John was **a baptism of repentance," not yet "a 
 laver of regeneration " (Tit. iii. 5). It was intended first as a symbol 
 of purification — "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and 
 ye shall be clean," Ezek. xxxvi. 25; (comp. Is. i. 16; Zech. xiii. i); 
 and then as an initiation into the kingdom which was at hand. The 
 Jews had been familiar with the symbolism of baptism from the 
 earliest days, as a consecration (Exod. xxix. 4), and a purification 
 (Lev..,xiv. 8). It was one of the forms by which proselytes were 
 admitted into Judaism. John's adoption of this rite proved (i) his 
 authority (John i. 25); and (ii) his opinion that even Jews needed to 
 be thus washed from sins. 
 
 4. Esaias the prophet] Is. xl. 3. 
 
 saying] This word should be omitted with X, B, D, L, &c. 
 
 The voice] Rather, A voice. The Hebrew original may be ren- 
 dered "Hark one crieth." 
 
 of one crying in the wilderness] Hence comes the common ex- 
 pression for hopeless warnings, vox clajtiantis in deserto. Probably, 
 however, the ' ' in the wilderness " should be attached to the words 
 uttered by the voice^ as is required by the parallelism of Hebrew poetry: 
 "Prepare ye in the wilderness a way for Jehovah, 
 Lay even in the desert a highway for our God." 
 
 The wilderness is metaphorically the barren waste of the Jewish 
 life in that day (Is. xxxv. i). 
 
 the way of the Lord] Comp. Is. xxxv. 8 — 10, "And a highway 
 shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness : 
 
 6—2 
 
84 ST LUKE, III. [w. 5— 7. 
 
 5 straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every 
 mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the 
 crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways 
 
 6 shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the sal- 
 7vation ofGod. Then said he to the multitude that came 
 
 forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath 
 
 the unclean shall not pass over it... And the ransomed of the Lord 
 shall return, and come to Zion." 
 
 5. Every valley, &c.] The metaphor is derived from pioneers who 
 go before the march of a king. There is a remarkable parallel in 
 Josephus {B. y. III. 6, § 2), where he is describing the march of 
 Vespasian, and says that among his vanguard were "such as were 
 to make the road even and straight, and if it were anywhere rough 
 and hard to be passed over, to plane it, and to cut down the woods that 
 hindered their march {covcc\^.prokoptein—^\.o advance' in ii. 52), that 
 the army might not be tired." The Jews fabled that the Pillar of 
 Cloud and Fire in the desert smoothed the mountains and filled the 
 valleys before them. Tanchuma, f. 70, 3 on Numb. xx. 22. ^ 
 
 Every valley shall be filled, &c.] i.e. the humble and raeek shall 
 be exalted, and the mighty put down. Compare Is. ii. 12 — 15, "The 
 day of the Lord of hosts shall be tipon every one that is proud and 
 lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought 
 low. ...And upon all the high mountains, &c." Zech. iv. 7, "Who 
 art thou, O great mountain ? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a 
 plaint 
 
 the crooked shall be made straight'\ The words in the original recall 
 the names Jcuob and Jeshurun; as though it were "then the Supplanter 
 shall be turned into Prince with God" or "the beloved" (Is. xliv. 2, 
 xi. 4). The general meaning of the prophecy is that no obstacles, whether 
 they arose from depression, or power, or pride, or cunning perversity, 
 or menacing difficulties, should be able to resist the labours of the Pioneers 
 and Heralds of the Kingdom of God. The feeble instrumentality of 
 Galilaeans should be strengthened; the power of the Romans and 
 Herods should be shattered ; the duplicity and plots of Pharisees and 
 worldlings should be defeated ; the apparently insuperable opposition of 
 Judaism and Heathenism be swept away. 
 j 6. all flesh shall see the salvation of God] St Luke alone adds 
 these words to the quotation, and his doing so is characteristic of 
 his object, which was to bring out the blessedness and universality of 
 the Gospel. See ii. 10, xxiv. 47, and Introd. p. 25. " The sal- 
 vation " is rb (TioTTjpiov, as in ii. 30, When the mountains of earthly 
 tyranny and spiritual pride are levelled, the view of God's saving 
 power becomes clear to all flesh. 
 
 7. to the multitude] Rather, multitudes. Different crowds came 
 from different directions. Matt. iii. 5; Mark i. 5. 
 
 generation of vipers] Rather, broods of vipers. They were like 
 "serpents bom of serpents." The comparison was familiar to Hebrew 
 
V. 8.] ST LUKE, III. Ss 
 
 warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? Bring forth 8 
 therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say 
 within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father : for I 
 say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up 
 
 poetry (Ps. Ixviii. 4 ; Is. xiv. 9), and we learn from Matt. iii. 7 that 
 it was specially pointed at the Pharisees and Sadducees, to whom 
 it was addressed no less sternly by our Lord (Matt, xxiii. 33). It 
 described the venomous hypocrisy which turned religion itself into a 
 vice, and hid a deadly malice under the glittering semblance of a zeal 
 for orthodoxy. But let it be borne in mind that only teachers of 
 transcendent holiness, and immediately inspired by God with fervency 
 and insight, may dare to use such language. The metaphor was one 
 of those desert symbols which would be suggested to St John both 
 by the scene of his preaching and by the language of Isaiah with which 
 he shews special familiarity. 
 
 frojn the wrath to cojne'\ The Jews had been taught by Prophecy 
 that the Advent of their Deliverer should be preceded by a time of 
 anguish which they called "the Woes of the Messiah;" comp. Mai. 
 iii. 2, " Who may abide the day of His commg? and who shall stand 
 when He appeareth ? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's 
 soap." Id. iv. I " Behold I send you Elijah the Prophet before the 
 coming of the gi'eat and dreadful day of the Lord.'''' Such prophecies 
 received their primary fulfilment at the Destruction of Jerusalem 
 (see Matt. xxiv. 28; Mark xiii. 19, 20); and await their final fulfil- 
 ment hereafter. Rev. vi. 16, 
 
 8. ^rzVz^T^rM] The verb implies instant effort. " Produce «^c«f^." 
 
 begin not to say] He cuts off even all attempt at self-excuse. 
 
 We have Abraham to our father] Rather, as our father. The 
 Jews had so exalted a conception of this privilege (John viii. 39) 
 that they could scarcely believe it possible that any son of Abraham 
 should ever be lost. This is seen in many passages of the Talmud, 
 which maintain that a '* single Israelite is of more worth in God's sight 
 than all the nations of the world." *' Thou madest the world for our 
 sakes. As for the other people... Thou hast said... that they are nothing 
 but be like unto spittle, and hast likened the abundance of them unto 
 a drop that falleth from a vessel.... But we Thy people (whom Thou 
 hast called Thy firstborn. Thy only begotten, and Thy fervent lovei"), 
 &c." 2 Esdr. vi. 56 — 58. The Prophets had long ago warned them 
 that privileges without duties were no protection (Jer. vii. 3, 4; Mic. 
 iii. 11; Is. xlviii. 2, &c.). Christ taught them that Abraham's seed 
 had no exclusive offer of salvation (Matt. viii. 11, 12), and it was a 
 special part of the mission of St Paul to bring home to them that "they 
 are not all Israel which are of Israel" Rom. ix. 6, 7 ; Gal. iii. 29, vi. 15. 
 
 of these stones] He pointed to the rocky boulders, or the flints 
 on the strand of Jordan, around him. He who had made Adam from 
 the clay could make sons of Abraham from those stones (Bengel). 
 St John's imagery is that of the wilderness, — the rock, the serpent, 
 the barren tree. 
 
86 ST LUKE, III. [vv. 9— ii. 
 
 9 children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto 
 the root of the trees : every tree therefore which bringeth 
 not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 
 
 10 — 14. Answer of the Baptist to the Multitude. 
 
 10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? 
 
 11 He answereth and saith unto them. He that hath two coats, 
 let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath 
 
 9. is laid'\ Literally, *^lies.'^ The notion is that of a woodman 
 touching a tree with the edge of his axe to measure his blow before he 
 lifts his arm for the sweep which fells it. 
 
 is hewn down and cast into the fi7'e'\ Literally, " is being hewn down, 
 and being cast. " It is almost impossible to reproduce in English the 
 force of this use of the present. It is called the ^ praesens futurascens,* 
 and is used in cases when the doom has been long uttered, and is, by 
 the evolution of the natural laws of God's dealings, in course of 
 inevitable accomplishment. But we see from prophetic imagery that 
 even when the tree has been felled and burned "the watchers and holy 
 ones " may still have charge to leave the stump of it in the tender grass 
 of the field that it may grow again, Dan. iv. 25 : and we see from the 
 express language of St Paul that the olive tree of Jewish life was not to 
 be cut down and burned for ever (Rom. ix. x.). A barren fig tree was 
 also our Lord's symbol of the Jewish nation. Lk. xiii. 6. 
 
 10 — 14. Answer of the Baptist to the Multitude. 
 
 10. What shall we do then ?] Rather, What then are we to do 7 
 Compare the question of the multitude to Peter on the day of Pentecost 
 (Acts ii. 37) and that of the Philippian jailor (xvi. 30). 
 
 11. He that hath two coats'] St Luke alone preserves for us the 
 details in this interesting section. Beyond the single upper garment 
 {chiton, cetoneth), and garment [hi?nation) and girdle, no other article of 
 dress was necessary. A second ' tunic ' or cetoneth was a mere luxury, 
 so long as thousands were too poor to own even one. 
 
 let him impart to him that hath none\ St Paul gave similar advice 
 {1 Cor. viii. 13 — 15), and St James (ii. 15 — 17), and St John (r John 
 iii. 17), because they had learnt this spirit from Christ. A literal fulfil- 
 ment of it has often been represented by Christian Art in the "Charity 
 of St Martin." 
 
 yneat] Rather, food. The word has now acquired the specific 
 sense of ' flesh,' which it never has in our E. V. For instance the 
 ** meat-offering" was generally an offering of flour and oil. 
 
 We may notice the following particulars respecting the preaching of 
 the Baptist : 
 
 (i) It was stei'n, as was natural to an ascetic whose very aspect and 
 mission were modelled on the example of Elijah. The particulars of 
 his life, and dress, and food — the leathern girdle, the mantle of camel's 
 
V. 12.] ST LUKE, III. 87 
 
 meat, let him do likewise. Then came also publicans to 12 
 
 hair, the living on locusts and wild honey — are preserved for us by the 
 other Evangelists, and they gave him that power of mastery over others 
 which always springs from perfect self-control, and absolute self-abne- 
 gation. Hence "in his manifestation and agency he was like a burning 
 torch ; his whole life was a very earthquake ; the whole man was a 
 sermon." 
 
 {2) It was absolutely dauntless. The unlettered Prophet of the 
 Desert has not a particle of respect for the powerful Sadducees and 
 long-robed luxurious Rabbis, and disdains to be flattered by their 
 coming to listen to his teaching. Having nothing to hope from man's 
 favour, he has nothing to fear from man's dislike. 
 
 (3) It shews remarkable insight into human nature, and into the 
 needs and temptations of every class which came to him, — shewing that 
 his ascetic seclusion did not arise from any contempt of, or aversion to, 
 his fellowmen. 
 
 (4) It was intensely practical. Not only does it exclude all abstract 
 and theological terms such as 'justification,' &c., but it says nothing di- 
 rectly of even faith, or love. In this respect it recalls the Old Testament, 
 and might be summed up in the words of Balaam preserved in the 
 prophet Micah, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good ; and what 
 doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and 
 to walk humbly with thy God ?" Mic. vi. 8. 
 
 (5) Yet though it still belongs to the dispensation of the shadow it 
 prophesies of the dawn. His first message was "Repent;" his second 
 was "The kingdom of heaven is at hand :" and this message culminated 
 in the words " Behold the Lamb of God," which shewed that the Olam 
 habba or 'future age' had already begun. These two great utterances 
 " contain the two capital revelations to which all the preparation of the 
 Gospel has been tending." " Law and Prophecy; denunciation of sin 
 and promise of pardon ; the flame which consumes and the light which 
 consoles — is not this the whole of the covenant?" Lange. 
 
 (6) It does not clai??i the credentials of a siftgle miracle. The glory 
 and greatness of John the Baptist, combined with the fact that not a 
 single wonder is attributed to him, is the strongest argument for the 
 truth of the Gospels against the 'mythical theory' of Strauss, who 
 reduces the Gospel miracles to a circle of imaginative legends devised 
 to glorify the Founder of Christianity. At the same time this acknow- 
 ledged absence of miraculous powers enhances our conception of the 
 enormous moral force which sufficed, without a sign, to stir to its very 
 depths the heart of a sign-demanding age. 
 
 (7) // had only a partial and te}?iporary popularity. Rejected by 
 the Pharisees who said that "he had a devil," the Baptist failed to 
 produce a permanent influence on more than a chosen few (John v. 35 ; 
 Lk. vii. 30; Matt. xi. 18, xxi. 23 — 27; Acts xviii. 25, xix. 3, 4). 
 After his imprisonment he seems to have fallen into neglect, and he 
 himself felt from the first that his main mission was to prepare the way 
 for another, and to decrease before him. He was "the lamp kindled 
 
88 ST LUKE, III. [vv. 13, 14. 
 
 be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do ? 
 
 13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is 
 
 14 appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, 
 saying. And what shall we do? And he said unto them, 
 
 and shining" (John v. 35) which becomes needless and ceases to be 
 noticed when the sun has dawned. 
 
 12. the publicans] Rather, tax-gatherers (without the article). The 
 word is a corruption of the 'LoXm publicani ' farmers of the taxes.' The 
 Roman government did not collect its own taxes, but leased them out 
 to speculators of the equestrian order, who were called publicani, and 
 who made their own profit out of the transaction. These knights 
 appointed subordinates, who from the unpleasant character of the task 
 could only be secured from the lowest of the people. These officials 
 were not only detested as the agents of an odious system, but also for 
 their notorious malpractices. A strict Jew could hardly force himself 
 even to /ay taxes, and therefore naturally looked with scorn and hatred 
 on any Jew who could sink so low as to collect them. Hence in our 
 Lord's time the word "publican" had become proverbial, as expres- 
 sive of the worst opprobrium (Matt, xviii. 17). The Jews were not 
 however peculiar in their dislike of publicans. The Greeks too regarded 
 the word as a synonym of 'plunderer,' and an 'innocent publican' 
 was regarded as a marvellous phenomenon (Suet. Vesp. l). Suidas 
 defines the life of a publican as "unrestrained plunder, unblushing 
 greed, unreasonable pettifogging, shameless business." The relation of 
 the publicans to John is referred to in Matt. xxi. 32. 
 
 Maste)'] Rather, Teaclier. The word is not Epistata (as in viii. 24) 
 but Didaskale. See vii. 29. 
 
 what shall we do ,?] We have the same question, but with the answer 
 which was only possible after the Resurrection, in Acts ii, 37 ; xvi. 30; 
 xxii. 10. 
 
 13. Exact no more] This was their habitual sin, and later historians 
 often allude to the immodestia (i.e. the extravagant greed) of the 
 publicans and their cruel exactions (Caes. Bell. Civ. ill. 32). The 
 cheating and meddling for which Zacchaeus promised fourfold restora- 
 tion (xix. 8) were universal among them. 
 
 14. the soldiers] Rather, soldiers on the inarch. On what expe- 
 dition these soldiers were engaged it is impossible to say. They cannot 
 have been Roman soldiers, and were certainly not any detachment of 
 the army of Antipas marching against his injured father-in-law Hareth 
 (Aretas), ethnarch of Arabia, for their quarrel was long subsequent to 
 this. 
 
 demanded of him] Rather, asked him. The imperfect tense however 
 (as before in vs. 10) implies that such questions were put to him by 
 bodies of soldiers in succession. 
 
 Do violence to no man] Rather, Extort money by threats from no 
 one. Diaseio, like the Latin concutio, is a technical word. It implies 
 robbery and violence. 
 
vv. 15, 16.] ST LUKE, III. 89 
 
 Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely ; and be 
 content with your wages. 
 
 15 — 20. The Messianic Announcement. Imprisonment of 
 
 John. 
 
 And as the people were in expectation, and all meJi mused 15 
 in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not ; 
 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you 16 
 with water ; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of 
 
 accuse any falsely^ Rather, cheat by false accusation. The Greek 
 implies pettifogging charges on trivial grounds, and is the word from 
 which sycophant is derived. The temptation of soldiers, strong in 
 their solidarity, was to terrify the poor by violence, and undermine the 
 rich by acting as informers. The best comment on the Baptist's advice 
 to them is the XVi'^ Satire of Juvenal, which is aimed at their brutality 
 and threats. 
 
 be content with your wages'] Rather, pay. This is a late mean- 
 ing of the word opsonia (Rom. vi. 23), which means in the first instance 
 'boiled fish eaten as a relish with meat.' It is remarkable that the 
 Baptist does not bid even soldiers to abandon their profession, but to 
 serve God in it. This is important as shewing that he did not hold up 
 the life of the hermit or the ascetic as a model or ideal for all. He 
 evidently held, like the good St Hugo of Avalon, that "God -meant us 
 to be good men, not monks and hermits." Josephus, when {Antt. 
 XVIII. V. 2) he sums up the teaching of the Baptist by saying that "he 
 commanded the Jews to practise virtue both in righteousness to one 
 another and piety to God," rightly estimates the practical^ but omits the 
 prophetic side of his teaching. 
 
 15—20. The Messianic Announcement. Imprisonment of 
 John. 
 
 15. were in expectation] The Messianic expectations of the day had 
 even reached the Gentiles, many of whom even at Rome and in high 
 society were proselytes, or half proselytes, to Judaism. 
 
 mused] Rather, reasoned. 
 
 whether he were the Christ] Rather, -wlietlier haply lie "were himself 
 the Christ. 
 
 16. John answered] The answer, as we find from John i. 19 — 28, 
 was given in its most definite form to a Pharisaic deputation of Priests 
 and Levites, who were despatched by the Sanhedrin expressly to ask 
 him to define his claims. 
 
 one mightier] Rather, the stronger than I. 
 
 the latchet] i.e. the thong. The word, now obsolete in this sense, is 
 from the same root perhaps as the Latin laqueus (Ital. laccioy Portug. 
 lazzo, old French lacs, Fr. lacet^ Engl. lace). 
 
 shoes] Rather, sandals. 
 
90 ST LUKE, III. [vv. 17—19. 
 
 whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose : he shall baptize 
 
 17 you with the Holy Ghost and with fire : whose fan is in his 
 hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather 
 the wheat into his garner ; but the chaff he will burn with 
 
 18 fire unquenchable. And many other things in his exhortation 
 
 19 preached he unto the people. But Herod the tetrarch, being 
 
 to unloose] In Matt. iii. 11 it is *to carry his sandals;' i.e. I am 
 not adeqviate to be his humblest slave. 
 
 baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire\ Rather, in the Holy 
 Ghost and fire. The preposition en distingiiishes between the mere 
 instrtanentality of the water, and the spiritual element whereby and 
 wherein the child of the kingdom is baptized. This baptism by the 
 Spirit had been foretold in Is. xliv. 3; Joel ii. 28. Its first obvious 
 fulfilment was at Pentecost (Acts i. 5, ii. 3) and subsequent outpourings 
 after baptism (Acts xi. 15, 16). But it is fulfilled withput visible super- 
 natural signs to all Christians (i Cor. vi. 11 ; "by one Spirit are we all 
 baptized into one body," i Cor. xii. 13). 
 
 and with fire] In its first and most literal sense the allusion is to 
 the fiery tongues of Pentecost (Acts ii. 3) ; but the secondary and me- 
 taphoric allusion is to the burning zeal and illuminating light of the 
 Spirit. St Jerome sees a further allusion to fiery trials (xii. 49 ; Mark ix. 
 49; I Pet. iv. 12) and to the fire of judgment (i Cor. iii. 13); but thes,e 
 allusions cannot be regarded as certain. 
 
 17. fan] Rather, winnowing-fan. The Latin vannus, a great 
 shovel with which corn was throvm up against the wind to separate it 
 from the chaff. 
 
 his floor] Rather, threshing-floor. The word is the same as that 
 from which our halo is derived, since the threshing-floors of the ancients 
 were circular. 
 
 the chaff] The word includes straw and stubble. We find similar 
 metaphors in Ps. i. 4, "the ungodly. ..are like the chaff;" Mai. iv. i, 
 "all that do wickedly shall be stubble;" Jer. xv. 7, "I will fan thepi 
 with a fan in the gates of the land." So far as the allusion is to the 
 separation of good from evil elements in the Church we find similar 
 passages in Matt. xiii. 30; i Joh. ii. 19, &c. But it may refer also to 
 the destruction of the evil clevienis in a mixed character, as in xxii. 31, 
 "Simon... Satan hath desired to have you,^ that he may sift you as 
 wheat'' 
 
 into his garner] Comp. Matt. xiii. 30, "gather the wheat into my 
 barn." 
 
 burn] Rather, hurn up. 
 
 18. many other things] Of which some are recorded by St John 
 alone (i. 29, 34, iii. 27—36). 
 
 preached he] evrfyyeXL^eTo, literally, *' he was preaching the Good 
 Tidings:' 
 
 19. But Herod the tetrarch] The incident which follows is here 
 introduced by anticipation, that the subsequent narrative may not be 
 
w. 20, 21.] ST LUKE, III. 91 
 
 reproved by him for Herodias his brother Phih'p's wife, and 
 for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above 2c 
 all, that he shut up John in prison. 
 
 21 — 38. The Baptism of Jesus. The Genealogy, 
 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, 21 
 
 disturbed. It should be compared with the fuller notice in Mark vi. 
 17 — 20; Matt. xiv. 3 — 5. From these passages we learn that John 
 had reproved Antipas for many crimes, and that Antipas was so con- 
 vinced of his holiness and justice as habitually to listen to him with 
 pleasure (r/S^ws avrov -fJKOvev), and after paying earnest heed to him was 
 greatly at a loss about him. We learn further that he resisted the con- 
 stant urgency of Herodias to put him to death. 
 
 deing reproved] The reproof was of course based on Lev. xviii. 16, 
 XX. 21, and was perfectly uncompromising (Matt. xiv. 4). In this 
 respect the dauntless courage of John, under circumstances of far 
 greater peril, contrasts most favourably with the timid and disgraceful 
 concessions of the Reformers in the matter of the marriage of Philip 
 of Hesse. 
 
 Ais brother Philip's] The two first words are omitted by some of the 
 best uncials, and " Philip's" by nearly all of them. On this Herod 
 Philip — who was not the tetrarch of that name — see on iii. i. 
 
 20. added yet this above all] The Jews as well as St Luke regarded 
 the treatment of the Baptist by Antipas as the worst of his crimes, and 
 the cause of his subsequent defeat and disgiace (Jos. Antt. xvill. 5. 
 
 1-4). 
 
 in prison] This prison, as we learn from Josephus {Antt. xvill. 5, 
 § 2), was the stern and gloomy fortress of Makor or Machaerus, on the 
 borders of Arabia to the north of the Dead Sea. It is situated among 
 black basaltic rocks and was believed to be haunted by evil demons, 
 its ruins have been visited in recent years by Canon Tristram [Latid of 
 Moab, p. 259) and other travellers, and dungeons are still visible of 
 which one may have witnessed the great Prophet's tragic end. 
 
 21 — 38. The Baptism of Jesus. The Genealogy. 
 
 21. Now when all the people were baptized] The expression (which 
 is peculiar to St Luke) seems to imply that on this day Jesus was 
 baptized last; and from the absence of any allusion to the multitude in 
 this and the other narratives we are almost forced to conjecture that His 
 baptism was in a measure private. St Luke's narrative must be supple- 
 mented by particulars derived from St Matthew^ (iii. 13 — 17), who alone 
 narrates the unwillingness of the Baptist, and the memorable conversa- 
 tion between him and Jesus; and St Mark (i. 9 — 11) mentions that 
 Jesus went into the river, and that it was He who first saw the cleaving 
 heavens, and the Spirit descending. 
 
92 ST LUKE, III. [v. 22. 
 
 that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven 
 
 22 was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily 
 
 shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, 
 
 Jesus also being baptized\ Our Lord Himself, in reply to the objec- 
 tion of the Baptist, stated it as a reason for His Baptism that "(thus it 
 becometh us to fulfil all righteousness;" i.e. that it was His will to 
 observe all the requirements of the Mosaic law, which He came "not 
 to destroy but to fulfil." Other reasons have also been suggested, as (i) 
 that He baptized (as it were) the water — "to sanctify water to the 
 mystical washing away of sin" (Ignat. ad Eph. i8; Maxim. Serm. 7, 
 de Epiphan.; Ps.-Aug. Serrn. 135. 4); or (ii) that He was baptized as 
 it were vicariously ^ as Head of His body, the Church (Just. Mart. 
 c. Tryph. 88) ; or (iii) as a consecration of Himself to His work, fol- 
 lowed by the special consecration from the Father; or (iv) as a great 
 act of humility (St Bernard, Serm. 47, in Cant.). See my Life of 
 Christy I. 1 1 7 n. 
 I and praying\ This deeply interesting touch is peculiar to St Luke, 
 who similarly on eight other occasions calls attention to the Prayers of 
 Jesus— after severe labours (v. 16) ; before the choosing of the Apostles 
 (vi. 12); before Peter's great Confession (ix. 18); at His transfiguration 
 (ix. 28, 29); for Peter (xxii. 32); in Gethsemane (xxii. 41); for His 
 murderers (xxiii. 34) ; and at the moment of death (xxiii. 46). He also 
 represents the duty and blessing of urgent prayer in two peculiar para- 
 bles — the Importunate Friend (xi. 5 — 13) and the Unjust Judge (xviii. 
 2). See Introd. p. 24. 
 
 22. in a bodily shape'] This addition is peculiar to St Luke, and is 
 probably added to shew the distinctness and reality of what Theodoret 
 calls the 'spiritual vision' [Trvev/xaTLKT] deiopLa). 
 
 like a dove] The expression cbs or waei used by each of the Evangelists, 
 and St John's "and it abode upon Him" (John i. 32), sufficiently prove 
 that no actual dove is intended. The Holy Spirit is symbolised by a 
 dove from early times. The Talmudic comment on Gen. i. 2 is that 
 * ' the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters like a dove^* — 
 "And with mighty wings outspread 
 Dovelike sat'st brooding on the vast abyss." 
 
 Milton [Par. Lost, i. 20). 
 Comp. 2 Esdr. v. 26, "of all the fowls that are created thou hast named 
 thee one dove." Matt. x. 16. A mystical reason was assigned for 
 this in some fathers, because the numerical value of the letters of the 
 Greek woxd peristera, *a dove,' amounts to 801, which is also the value of 
 Alpha Omega. We are probably intended to understand a dovelike, 
 hovering, lambent flame descending on the head of Jesus; and this may 
 account for the unanimous early legend that a fire or light was kindled 
 in Jordan (Just. Mart. c. Ttyph. 88, and the Apocryphal Gospels). 
 
 a voice camefrcm heaven, which said] Rather, out of hea-ven. The 
 last words should be omitted with the best MSS. This Bath K61 or 
 Voice from heaven also occurred at the Transfiguration (Matt xvii. 5) 
 
w. 23—30.] ST LUKE, III. 93 
 
 which said, Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well 
 pleased. 
 
 And Jesus himself began to he about thirty years of age, 23 
 being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the 
 son of Heli, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son 24 
 of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of 
 Janna, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of 25 
 Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of 
 Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge, 
 which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, 26 
 which was the son of Semei, which was the so?i of Joseph, 
 which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joanna, 27 
 which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, 
 which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri, 
 which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, 28 
 which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, 
 which was the son of Er, which was the son of Jose, which 29 
 was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which 
 was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was 30 
 the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the 
 
 and in the closing week of Christ's life (John xii. 28 — 30). This is 
 one of the passages which so distinctly imply the doctrine of the Blessed 
 Trinity. 
 
 / a7n well pleased'\ Rather, I was well pleased. 
 
 23. began to be about thirty years of age'\ Rather, was about thirty 
 years of age on beginning (His work). So it was understood by 
 Tyndale, but the E. V. followed Cranmer, and the Geneva. The 
 translation of our E. V. is, however, ungrammatical, and a strange 
 expression to which no parallel can be adduced. The word arckomeiios, 
 standing absolutely for 'when he began his ministry,' is explained by 
 the extreme prominency of this beginning in the thought of St Luke 
 (see Acts i. i, 22), and his desire to fix it with accuracy. The age of 
 30 was that at which a Levite might enter on his full services (Numb. 
 iv. 3, 47), and the age at which Joseph had stood before Pharaoh 
 (Gen. xH. 46), and at which David had begun to reign (2 Sam. v. 4), 
 and at which scribes were allowed to teach. 
 
 as was supposed^ ** Is not this the carpenter's son?" Matt. xiii. 55 ; 
 John vi. 42. 
 
 On the genealogy which follows, and its relations to that in the 
 Gospel of St Matthew, many volumes have been written, but in the 
 Excursus I have endeavoured to condense all that is most important on 
 the subject, and to give those conclusions which are now being accepted 
 by the most careful scholars. See Excursus II., The genealogies of 
 Jesus in St Matthew and St Luke. 
 
94 ST LUKE, III. IV. [vv. 31— 38; 1,2. 
 
 son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the 
 
 31 son of EHakim, which was the son of Melea, which was the^ 
 son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the 
 
 32 son of Nathan, which was the son of David, which was the 
 son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son 
 of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of 
 
 33 Naasson, which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son 
 of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of 
 
 34 Phares, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of 
 Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of 
 Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the SQn of 
 
 35 Nachor, which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of 
 Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of 
 
 36 Heber, which was the son of Sala, which was the son of 
 Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of 
 Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, 
 
 37 which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, 
 which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, 
 
 38 which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Enos, 
 which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which 
 was the son of God. 
 
 Ch. IV. I— 13. The Temptation. 
 
 4 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from 
 2 Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 
 
 Ch. IV. 1—13. The Temptation. 
 
 1. being full of the Holy Ghost] Omit 'being.' St Luke often calls 
 special attention to the work of the Spirit, iii. 22, iv. 14; Acts vi. 3, 
 vii. 55, xi. 24. The expression alludes to the outpouring of the Spirit 
 upon Jesus at His baptism, John iii. 34. The narrative should be 
 compared with Matt. iv. i — 11 ; Mk. i. 12, 13. St John, who narrates 
 mainly what he had himself seen, omits the temptation. 
 
 returned] Rather, went away. 
 
 was led] A divine impulse led him to face the hour of peril alone. 
 St Mark uses the more intense expression, "immediately the Spirit 
 driveth Him forth.'''' He only devotes two verses (Mk. i. 12, 13) to the 
 Temptation, but adds the graphic touch that "He was vnth the wild 
 beasts" (comp. Ps. xci. 13), and implies the continuous ministration of 
 angels (diekonoun) to Him. 
 
 by the Spirit] Rather, In the Spirit, comp. ii. 27. The phrase 
 
V. 2.] ST LUKE, TV. 95 
 
 forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did 
 
 emphasizes the "full of the Holy Ghost," and has the same meaning as 
 "in the power of the Spirit," vs. 14, 
 
 "Thou Spirit, who ledd'st this glorious eremite 
 
 Into the desert, his victorious field 
 
 Against the spiritual foe, and brought'st Him 'thence 
 
 By proof the undoubted Son of God." 
 
 Milton, Par. Reg. i. 
 into the wilderness] Rather, in. He was * in the Spirit ' during the 
 whole period. The scene of the temptation is supposed to be the 
 mountain near Jericho, thence called Quarantania. The tradition is 
 not ancient, but the site is very probable, being rocky, bleak, and 
 repellent — 
 
 **A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades." 
 
 Milton. 
 Scripture everywhere recognises the need of solitude and meditation on 
 the eve of great work for God (Ex. xxiv. 2 ; r K. xix. 4; Gal. i. 17), 
 and this would be necessary to the human nature of our Lord also. 
 
 2. forty days] The number was connected in the Jewish mind with 
 notions of seclusion, and revelation, and peril ; — Moses on Sinai, Ex. 
 xxxiv. 18; Elijah, i K. xix. 8; the wanderings of the Israelites, 
 Num. xiv. 34; Judg. xiii. i. 
 
 tempted] The present participle implies that the temptation was 
 continuous throughout the forty days, though it reached its most awful 
 climax at their close. 
 
 of the devil] The Jews placed in the wilderness one of the mouths 
 of Gehenna, and there evil spirits were supposed to have most power 
 (Num. xvi. 33; Matt. xii. 43). St Mark uses the Hebrew form of 
 the word — 'Satan.' Both words mean 'the Accuser,' but the Greek 
 Diabolos is far more definite than the Hebrew Satan, which is loosely 
 applied to any opponent, or opposition, or evil influence in which 
 the evil spirit may be supposed to work ( i Chr. xxi. i ; 2 Cor. xii. 7 ; 
 I Thess. ii. 18). This usage is far more apparent in the original, where 
 the word rendered 'adversary' is often Satan, Num. xxii. 22; i Sam. 
 xxix. 4; I Kings xi. 14, &c. On the other hand, the Greek word Diabolos 
 is comparatively rare in the N.T. (The word rendered 'devils ' for the 
 * evil spirits' of demoniac possession is daimonia.) St Matthew also 
 calls Satan " the tempter. " Few suppose that the Devil came incarnate 
 in any visible hideous guise. The narrative of the Temptation could 
 only have been communicated to the Apostles by our Lord Himself. 
 Of its intense and absolute reality we cannot doubt; nor yet that it 
 was so narrated as to bring home to us the clearest possible conception 
 of its significance. The best and wisest commentators in all ages have 
 accepted it as the symbolic description of a mysterious inward struggle. 
 Further speculation into the special modes in which the temptations 
 were effected is idle, and we have no data for it. Of this only can we 
 be sure, that our Lord's temptations were in every respect akin to ours 
 
96 ST LUKE, IV. [vv. 3, 4. 
 
 eat nothing : and when they were ended, he afterward hun- 
 
 3 gered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of 
 
 4 God, command this stone that it be made bread. And 
 
 (Heb. iv. 15, ii. 10, 18); that there was "a direct operation of the 
 evil spirit upon His mind and sensibility;" that, as St Augustine 
 says, "Christ 'conquered the tempter, that the Christian may not be 
 conquered by the tempter. " All enquiries as to whether Christ's sin- 
 lessness arose from a ^possibility of not sinning' {posse non peccare) 
 or an 'impossibility of sinning' {non posse peccare), are rash intrusions 
 into the unrevealed. The Christian is content with the certainty that 
 He "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (see 
 Heb. V. 8). 
 
 he did eat fiothing\ St Matthew says more generally that ' He fasted,' 
 and St Luke's phrase probably implies no more than this (see Matt. 
 xi. 1 8). The Arabah at any rate supplied enough for the bare main- 
 tenance of life (Jos. Vit. 2), and at times of intense spiritual exaltation 
 the ordinary needs of the body are almost suspended. But this can 
 only be for a time, and when the reaction has begun hunger asserts its 
 claims with a force so terrible that (as has been shewn again and again 
 in human experience) such moments are fraught with the extremest 
 peril to the soul. This was the moment which the Tempter chose. 
 We rob the narrative of the Temptation of all its spiritual meaning 
 unless in reading it we are on our guard against the Apollinarian heresy 
 which denied the perfect Humanity of Christ. The Christian must 
 keep in view two thoughts : i . Intensely real temptation. 2. Absolute 
 sinlessness. It is man's trial *to feel temptation' {sentire tentationem)', 
 Christ has put it into our power to resist it {no7t consentire tentationi). 
 Temptation only merges into sin when man consents to it 
 *"Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, 
 Another thing to fall." — Shakespeare. 
 The temptation must be felt or it is no temptation ; but we do not sin 
 until temptation really sways the bias of the heart, and until delight 
 and consent follow suggestion. The student will find the best examina- 
 tion of this subject in UUmann's treatise On the Sinlessness of yesus 
 (Engl. Transl). 
 
 3. If thou be the Son of God] Doubtless an allusion to the divine 
 Voice at His baptism (iii. 22). The same words were tauntingly ad- 
 dressed to our Lord on the Cross (Matt, xxvii, 40). The Greek strictly 
 means ''^ Assuming that Thou art,'''' but in Hellenistic Greek words and 
 phrases are npt always used with their earlier delicate accuracy. 
 
 command this stone] The Greek implies that the suggestion called 
 direct attention to a particular stone. In this desert there are loaf- 
 shaped fossils known to early travellers as lapides Judaici, and to geo- 
 logists as septaHa. Some of these siliceous accretions assume the shape 
 of fruit, and are known as 'Elijah's melons' (Stanley, Sin. and Pal. 154). 
 They were popularly regarded as petrified fruits of the Cities of the 
 Plain. Such deceptive semblances would intensify the pangs of hunger, 
 
V. 5.] ST LUKE, IV. 97 
 
 Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall 
 not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 
 And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, shewed 5 
 
 and add to the temptation the additional torture of an excited imagina- 
 tion. (See a sketch of such a septarium in the Illustrated Edition of my 
 Life of Christ, p. 99.) 
 
 that it be made bread} Rather, that it may become a loaf. The 
 subtle malignity of the temptation is indescribable. It was a tempta- 
 tion to "the lust" (i.e. the desire) "of the flesh;" a temptation to gratify 
 a natural and blameless appetite; an appeal to free-will and self-will, 
 closely analogous to the devil's first temptation of the race. 'You may; 
 you can; it will be pleasant: why not?' (Gen. iii. i — 15). But it did 
 not come in an undisguisedly sensuous form, but with the suggestive 
 semblance of Scriptural sanctions (i Kings xix. 8; Deut. viii. 16; Ps. 
 Ixxviii. 19). 
 
 4. It is written] The perfect gegraptai means 'it has been written,' 
 it standeth written as an eternal lesson. Jesus foils the tempter as man 
 for man. He will not say ' I am the Son of God,' and 'does not con- 
 sider equality with God a prize at which to grasp ' (Phil. ii. 6), but 
 seizes " the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (Eph. vi. 17). 
 
 man shall not live by bread alone] The quotation is from Deut. viii. 
 3, where Moses tells the people that God has suffered them to hunger, 
 and fed them with manna, to shew them the dependence of man on 
 God, and the fact that life is something more than the mere living, 
 and can only be sustained by diviner gifts than those which are sufficient 
 for man's lower nature. Bread sustains the body; but, that we may 
 live, the soul also, and the spirit must be kept alive. Exod. xvi. 4, 15. 
 "They did all eat the same spiritual meat." i Cor. x. 3. 
 
 but by every word of God] These words, though implied, are pro- 
 bably added in this place from Matt. iv. 4, since they are omitted by 
 K, B, D, L, and various versions. " Word''^ is not in the original 
 Hebrew. The verse conveys a most deep truth, and by referring to it 
 our Lord meant to say * God will support my needs in His own way, 
 and the lower life is as nothing in comparison with the higher.' There 
 are many most valuable and instructive parallels ; see John iv. 32 — 34, 
 " I have meat to eat that ye know not of... My meat is to do the will of 
 Him that sent me, and to finish His work." Job xxiii. 12, "I have 
 esteemed the words of His mouth 77iore than my necessary food. " Jer. 
 XV. 16, " Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was 
 unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." Wisd. xvi. 6, "God's word 
 iiourisheth man." The Jewish Rabbis had the remarkable expression, 
 "The just eat of the glory of the Shechinah. " Comp. John vi. 27 — 63. 
 
 5. And the devil, taking him up into a high mountaijt] Probably 
 "the devil" and "into a high mountain" are added from St Matthew. 
 How the devil took Him up we are not told. Scripture, to turn away 
 our thoughts from the secondary to the essential, knows nothing of 
 those journeys through the air which we find in Apocrypha and in the 
 ' Gospel of the Hebrews. ' 
 
 ST LUKE 7 
 
98 ST LUKE, IV. [vv. 6—8. 
 
 unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of 
 
 6 time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I 
 give thee, and the glory of them : for that is delivered unto 
 
 7 me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore 
 
 8 wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered 
 
 It is remarkable that St Luke (whom Milton follows in the Par. 
 Regained) here adopts a different order of the temptations from St 
 Matthew, perhaps because he thought that the temptation to spiritual 
 pride (which he places third) was keener and subtler than that to tem- 
 poral ambition ; perhaps, too, because he believed that the ministering 
 angels only appeared to save Christ from the pinnacle of the Temple. 
 That the actual order is that of St Matthew is probable, because (i) he 
 alone uses notes of sequence, ''■then,''' '■^ again i'' (2) Christ closes the 
 temptation by " Get thee behind me, Satan" (see on vs. 8); (3) as an 
 actual Apostle he is more likely to have heard the narrative from the 
 lips of Christ Himself. But in the chronology of spiritual crises there 
 is little room for the accurate sequence of ' before ' and ' after.' They 
 crowd eternity into an hour, and stretch an hour into eternity. 
 
 of the worldl See above on ii. i. 
 
 in a moment^ Rather, in a second ; comp. i Cor. xv. 52, "in the 
 twinkling of an eye" — in the sudden flash of an instantaneous vision. 
 The splendour of the temptation, and the fact that it appealed to 
 " the spur which the clear spirit doth raise, 
 The last infirmity of noble minds," 
 might seem to Satan to make up for its impudent, undisguised charac- 
 ter. He was offering to One who had lived as the Village Carpenter the 
 throne of the world. 
 
 6. All this power will I give thee'] Rather, in the emphatic order of 
 the original, To Thee will I give this power, all of it, and the glory 
 of them. 
 
 for that is delivered unto me] The original is even stronger, has been 
 entrusted to me. Hence the expressions, "the prince of this world," 
 John xii, 31, xiv. 30; "the prince of the power of the air," Eph. ii. 2. 
 Satan is in one sense "a world-ruler {kosviokratdr) of this darkness" 
 (Eph. vi. 12). The Rabbis went even further, and called him 'Lord 
 of this age' {sar hdoldm), and even "another God" {el acher), which is 
 Manicheeism ; whereas in this verse, by the very admission of Satan, 
 all Manicheeism is excluded. 
 
 to whomsoever I will I give it] Comp. Rev. xiii. 2, "the dragon 
 gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." Here how- 
 ever we note the exaggeration of the father of lies. How different 
 was the language of our Lord to His ambitious disciples (Matt. xx. 
 
 23). 
 
 7. wilt worship me\ Rather, wilt do homage before me. Comp. 
 Ps* xxii '2^» 
 
 all shall be thine] Rather, It (the habitable world) shaU all be 
 thine, for the true reading is pdsa (all the uncials) not panta. There 
 
w. 9, lo.] ST LUKE, IV. 99 
 
 and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan : for it is 
 written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and 
 him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to 9 
 Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and 
 said unto him. If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down 
 from hence: for it is written. He shall give his angels 10 
 
 was then living, one to whom in as high an ambitious sense as has 
 ever been realised, it did all belong — the Emperor Tiberius. Rut so 
 far from enjoying it he was at this very time the most miserable and 
 most degi-aded of men (Tac. Ann. vi. 6, iv. 6r, 62, 67 ; Plin. H, N, 
 XXVIII. 5). 
 
 8. Get thee behind me, Satan\ These words should here be omitted 
 with S, B, D, L, &c., as having been added from Matt. iv. 10. Similar 
 words were used to Peter (Matt. xvi. 23). 
 
 Thou shalt worship .. .and him only] The quotation is slightly 
 altered from Deut. vi. 13, "Thou shalt y^ar the Lord thy God, and 
 serve Him." St Matthew has the same variation, this being one 
 of his cyclic quotations (i. e. those common to him with other Evan- 
 gelists). Since Satan had now revealed himself in his true character, 
 there was no need for Jesus to tell him of another and a divine King- 
 dom over which he had no power. It was sufficient to reprove his 
 impious blasphemy. 
 
 9. a pinnacle] Rather, the pinnacle, or feattlement. Some well- 
 known pinnacle of the Temple, either that of the Royal Portico, which 
 looked down from a dizzy height into the Valley of the Kidron (Jos. 
 Antt. XV. II § 5) ; or the Eastern Portico, from which tradition says 
 that St James was afterwards hurled (Euseb. H. E. II. 23). 'Battle- 
 ment ' is used for the corresponding Hebrew word Canaph (lit. 'wing') 
 in Dan. ix. 27. 
 
 cast thyself down from hence] The first temptation had been to 
 natural appetite and impulse : the second was to unhallowed ambition ; 
 the third is to rash confidence and spiritual pride. It was based, with 
 profound ingenuity, on the expression of absolute trust with which the 
 first temptation had been rejected. It asked as it were for a splendid 
 proof of that trust, and appealed to perverted spiritual instincts. It 
 had none of the vulgar and sensuous elements of the other temptations. 
 It was at the same time a confession of impotence. "Cast thyself 
 down." The devil may place the soul in peril and temptation, but 
 can never make it sin. "It is," as St Augustine says, "the devil's part 
 to suggest, it is ours not to consent. " 
 
 10. For it is written] 
 
 "The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. 
 An evil soul producing holy witness 
 Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, 
 A deadly apple rotten at the heart." 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
ST LUKE, IV. [vv. II— 13. 
 
 11 charge over thee, to keep thee: and in their hands 
 they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash 
 
 12 thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said 
 unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord 
 
 13 thy God. And when the devil had ended all the tempta- 
 tion, he departed from him for a season. 
 
 •• In religion 
 What damned error but some sober brow 
 Will bless it and approve it with a text, 
 Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?" 
 
 Id. 
 to keep thee'l The quotation is from Ps. xci. 11, but the tempter 
 omits *'/« all thy ways," which would have defeated his object, since 
 the "ways" referred to are only the ways of him "who dwelleth under 
 the defence of the Most High." But, as the next verse prophesies, 
 Christ * trod upon the lion and adder ' of Satanic temptation. 
 
 12. Thotc shalt not tempt'] Rather, Thou shalt not utterly tempt, 
 or tempt to the extreme. It is impious folly to put God to the test 
 by thrusting ourselves into uncalled-for danger. The angels will only 
 guard our perilous footsteps when we are walking in the path of duty. 
 We cannot claim miracles when we court temptations. The quotation 
 is from Deut. vl. 16, and it is remarkable that the three quotations 
 with which our Lord met the tempter are all taken from the 6th and 
 8th chapters of this book. 
 
 13. had ended all the temptation'] Rather, every temptation. "He 
 had," as Bengel says, "shot his last dart." The temptations had been 
 addressed (i) to the desire of the flesh — trying to make the test of Sonship 
 to God consist not in obedience but in the absence of pain; (2) to the 
 pride of life — as though earthly greatness were a sign of God's approval, 
 and as though greatness consisted in power and success; (3) to spiritual 
 pride — as though the elect of God might do as they will, and be secure 
 against consequences. 
 
 he departed] * * Resist the devil, and he will flee from you, " James iv. 7. 
 for a season] Rather, until an opportunity, though the meaning 
 comes to be the same (Acts xiii. 11). St Matthew adds "And lo ! 
 angels came and began to minister unto Him." We do not again 
 meet wdth angels in a visible form till the Agony in Gethsemane. It 
 must not be imagined that our Lord was only tempted at this crisis. 
 He shared temptation with us, as the common lot of our humanity. 
 "Many other were the occasions on which he endured temptation," 
 Bonaventura, Vit. Christi. See xxii. 28; Heb. iv. 15. We may 
 however infer from the Gospels that henceforth His temptations were 
 rather the negative ones caused by suffering, than the positive ones 
 caused by allurement. Ullmann, p. 30. See Matt, xxvii. 40 (like 
 the first temptation) ; John vii. 3, 4 (analogous to the second in St 
 Matthew's order) ; John vii. 15 (like the third) ; Van Oosterzee. See 
 too xxii. 3, «,^; Matt. xvi. 22; John xiv. 30, viii. 44. 
 
vv. 14—16.] ST LUKE, IV. 101 
 
 14 — 23. Jesus returns to Nazareth and preaches there. 
 
 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Gali- 14 
 lee: and there went out a fame of him through all the 
 region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, 15 
 being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he 16 
 had been brought up : and, as his custom was, he went into 
 the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 
 
 14 — 23. Jesus returns to Nazareth and preaches there. 
 
 14. And Jesus returned^ St Luke here omits that series of oc- 
 currences which is mainly preserved for us by the Apostle who recorded 
 the Judaean ministry — St John; namely the deputation of the Sanhedrin 
 to the Baptist (i. 19 — 28), and his testimony about the baptism of Jesus 
 (29 — 34) ; the call of Andrew and Simon (35 — 43) ; of Philip and 
 Nathanael (44 — 51); the First Miracle, at Cana, and visit to Capernaum 
 (ii. I — 12); the Passover at Jerusalem and first cleansing of the Temple 
 (ii. 13 — 25) ; the secret visit of Nicodemus (iii. 1 — 21); the baptism of 
 the disciples of Jesus, and the Baptist's remarks to his disciples (iii. 
 22 — 36). St Luke has already mentioned by anticipation the imprison- 
 ment of John the Baptist (iii. 19, 20), which probably hastened the 
 return of Jesus to Galilee; but St John alone preserves the deeply 
 interesting revelation to the Woman of Samaria, and the preaching 
 among the Samaritans (John iv. 4 — 42). This must have occurred 
 during the journey from Judaea to Galilee mentioned in this verse. 
 
 into Galilee] This district was the starting-point and main centre of 
 our Lord's ministry. Acts x. 37, "which was published throughout all 
 Judaea, and began from Galilee." Lk. xxiii. 5, " He stirreth up the 
 people, begin?iing from Galilee.^'' 
 
 15. he taicght in their synagogues, being glorified of air\ The word 
 'He' is emphatic. 'He Himself,' in contrast with the rumour about 
 Him. The word autos in this Gospel comes to mean "the Master," as 
 a sort of title of honour, as in the "-Autos epha" — "the Master said it" 
 of the Pythagoreans. The verse shews that the journey from Sychar to 
 Nazareth was not direct but leisurely; and it is remarkably confirmed 
 by John iv. 45, who accounts for the favourable reception of Jesus by 
 saying that they had seen "all the things that He did at Jerusalem at 
 the feast." 
 
 16. And he came to Nazareth] This is probably the visit related in 
 unchronological order in Matt. xiii. 53 — 58; Mk. vi. 1—6, since after 
 so violent and decisive a rejection as St Luke narrates, it is unlikely 
 that He should have preached at Nazareth again. If so, we learn from 
 these (i) that His disciples were with Him; (2) that He healed a few of 
 the sick, being prevented from further activity by their unbelief. 
 
 as his custom was] This seems to refer to what had been the habit 
 of the life of Jesus while he had lived at Nazareth. Hitherto however 
 He had been, in all probability, a silent worshipper. 
 
 into the synagogue] The article shews that the little village only 
 
ST LUKE, IV. [vv. 17, i8. 
 
 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet 
 Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the 
 
 18 place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is 
 
 possessed a single synagogue. Synagogues had sprung up throughout 
 Judaea since the return from the exile. They were rooms of which the 
 end pointed towards Jerusalem (the Kiblek, or consecrated direction, of 
 Jewish worship (Dan. vi. 10), as Mecca is of Mohammedan). The men 
 sat on one side; the veiled women behind a lattice on the other. 
 The chief furniture was the Ark [tebhah) of painted wood, generally 
 shrouded by a curtain, and containing the Thorah (Pentateuch), and 
 rolls {megilloth) of the Prophets. On one side was a bema for the 
 reader and preacher, and there were "chief seats" (Mk. xii. 39) for the 
 Ruler of the Synagogue, and the elders {zekanim). The servants of the 
 synagogue were the clerk {chazzan), verger [sheliach) and deacons 
 (parnasim, * shepherds ') . 
 
 on the sabbath day] Observe the divine sanction thus given to the 
 ordinance of weekly public worship. 
 
 stood up for to read'\ The custom was to read the Scripture standing. 
 There was no recognised or ordained ministry for the synagogues. 
 The functions of Priest and Levites were confined to the Temple, and 
 the various officers of the synagogue were more like our churchwardens. 
 Hence it was the custom of the Ruler or Elders to invite any one to 
 read or preach who was known to them as a distinguished or com- 
 petent person (Acts xiii. 15). 
 
 17. there was delivered unto hini] Literally, "there -wslS further 
 handed to Him." The expression means that after He, or another, 
 had read the Parashah, or First Lesson, which was always from the 
 Pentateuch, the clerk handed to him the Roll of Isaiah, which con- 
 tained the Haphtarah, or Second Lesson. 
 
 when he had opened the book] If anaptuxas is the true reading, it 
 means 'unrolling.' The Thorah, or Law, was written on a parchment 
 between two rollers, and was always left unrolled at the column for the 
 day's lesson; but the Megilloth of the Prophets, &c., were on single 
 rollers, and the right place had to be found by the reader [Maphtir). 
 
 he found] The word heure leaves it uncertain whether the 'finding' 
 was what man calls 'accidental,' or whether it was the regular hapJi- 
 tarah of the day. It is now the Second Lesson for the great day of 
 Atonement; but according to Zunz (the highest Jewish authority on the 
 subject) the present order of the Lessons in the Synagogue worship 
 belongs to a later period than this. 
 
 the place where it was writteii] Is. Ixi. 1, 1. Our Lord, according to 
 the custom of the Synagogue, must have read the passage in Hebrew, 
 and then — either by Himself, or by an interpreter {ATcthurf^eman) — it 
 must have been translated to the congregation in Aramaic or Greek, 
 since Hebrew was at this time a dead and learned language. The 
 quotation is here freely taken by the Evangelist from the LXX., 
 possibly from memory, and with reminiscences, intentional or otlier- 
 wise, of other pasr.ages. 
 
vv. 19, 20.] ST LUKE, IV. 103 
 
 upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach 
 the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal 
 the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the 
 captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at 
 liberty them that are bruised, to preach the accept- 19 
 able year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and 20 
 he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the 
 eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on 
 
 18. he hath anointed me] Rather, He anointed (aorist) ; the following 
 verb is in the perfect. The word Mashach in the Hebrew would recall 
 to the hearers the notion of the Messiah — *'il m'a messianise" (Sal- 
 vador). "God a7iointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and 
 with power," Acts x. 38. In illustration of the verse generally, as 
 indicating the work primarily of Isaiah, but in its fullest sense, of Christ, 
 see Matt. xi. 5, v. 3, &c. 
 
 the poor] i.e. the poor in spirit (Matt. xi. 28, v. 3), as the Hebrew 
 implies. 
 
 to heal the broken-hearted] Omitted in ^?, B, D, L. 
 
 recovering of sight to the blind] Here the LXX, differs from the 
 Hebrew, which has ''^opening of prison to the bound.''^ Perhaps this is a 
 reminiscence of Is. xlii. 7. 
 
 to set at liberty them that are bruised] This also is not in Is. Ixi. i, 
 but is a free reminiscence of the LXX. in Iviii. 6. Either the text of 
 the Hebrew was then slightly variant, or the record introduces into the 
 text a reminiscence of the discourse. 
 
 19. the acceptable year] The primary allusion is to the year of 
 Jubilee, Lev. xxv. 8 — 10; but this was only a type of the true Jubilee 
 of Christ's kingdom. Many of the Fathers, with most mistaken literal- 
 ness, inferred from this verse that our Lord's ministry only lasted a 
 year, and the notion acquired more credence from the extraordinary 
 brightness of His first, or Galilaean, year of ministry. This view has 
 been powerfully supported by Mr Browne in his Ordo Saeclorum, but is 
 quite untenable (John ii. 13, vi. 4, xi. 55). 
 
 20. he closed the book] Rather, rolling- up. Generally the Haphtarah 
 consists of twenty-one verses, and is never less than three ; but our 
 Lord stopped short in the second verse, because this furnished sufficient 
 text for His discourse, and because He wished these gracious words to 
 rest last on their ears, rather than the following words, ''the day of 
 ve7igeance of our God. " 
 
 the minister] The Chazzan. 
 
 sat down] The ordinary Jewish attitude for the sermon (Matt, xxiii. 2). 
 
 fastened on him] A favourite word of St Luke, who uses it eleven 
 times; elsewhere it is only found in 2 Cor. iii. 7, 13. The attitude of 
 Jesus shewed that now for the first time He intended not only to read 
 but to preach. 
 
I04 ST LUKE, IV. [w. 21—23. 
 
 21 him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scrip- 
 
 22 ture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and 
 wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his 
 
 23 mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son ? And he 
 said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, 
 Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in 
 Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 
 
 21. he began to say unto them\ i. e. these were the first words of the 
 discourse. It began with the announcement that He was the Messiah 
 in whom the words of the prophet found their fulfilment. 
 
 22. gracious words] Rather, worda of grace. The word grace 
 does not here mean mercy or favour [Gnade), but beauty and attrac- 
 tiveness {Anmuth). This verse and John vii. 46 are the chief proofs 
 that there was in our Lord's utterance an irresistible majesty and 
 sweetness. Comp. Ps. xlv. i ; John i. 14. 
 
 And they said, Is not this Joseph's son .?] This points to a gradual 
 change in the feeling of the listening Nazarenes. The Jews in their 
 synagogues did not sit in silence, but were accustomed to give full 
 expression to their feelings, and to discuss and make remarks aloud. 
 Jealousy began to work among them, Matt. xiii. 54 ; John vi. 42. 
 ** The village beggarly pride of the Nazarenes cannot at all comprehend 
 the humility of the Great One." Stier. 
 
 23. this pi'overUX The Greek word is ^ parabole,'' which is here used 
 for the Hebrew jnaskal, and had a wider meaning than its English 
 equivalent. Thus it is also used for 3. proverb {Beispiel), i Sam. x. 12, 
 xxiv. 13 ; Ezek. xii. 22 ; or a type, Heb. ix. 9, xi. 19. See on 
 viii. 5. 
 
 Physician, heal thyself] The same taunt was addressed to our Lord 
 on the Cross. Here it seems to have more than one application, — 
 meaning, ' If you are the Messiah why are you so poor and humble ?' 
 or, 'Why do you not do something for us, here in your own home?' 
 (So Theophylact, Euthymius, &c. ) It implies radical distrust, like Hie 
 Rhodos, hie salta. There seems to be no exact Hebrew equivalent of 
 the proverb, but something like it (a physician who needs healing) is 
 found in Plut. De Discern. Adul. ^2. 
 
 whatsoever we have heard done in Capernatirri] St Luke has not 
 before mentioned Capernaum, and this is one of the many indications 
 found in his writings that silence respecting any event is no /r^^that 
 he was unaware of it. Nor has any other Evangelist mentioned any 
 previous miracle at Capernaum, unless we suppose that the healing of 
 the courtier's son Qohn iv. 46 — 54) had preceded this visit to Nazareth. 
 Jesus had, however, performed the first miracle at Cana, and may well 
 have wrought others during the stay of "not many days " mentioned in 
 John ii. 12. Capernaum was so completely the head-quarters of His 
 ministry as to be known as "His own city." (Matt. iv. 12 — 16, 
 xi. 23.) 
 
vv. 24— 29.J ST LUKE, IV. 105 
 
 24 — 30. Rejection by tJu Nazarenes. 
 
 And he said, Verily I say unto you. No prophet is accepted 24 
 in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows 25 
 were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was 
 shut up three years and six months, when great famine was 
 throughout all the land ; but unto none of them was Elias 26 
 sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that 
 was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of 27 
 Eliseus the prophet ; and none of them was cleansed, saving 
 Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when 28 
 they heard these things^ were filled with wrath, and rose up, 29 
 and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow 
 of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast 
 
 24—30. Rejection by the Nazarenes. 
 
 24. is accepted hi his own coiintry] St Matthew adds (xiii. 57) "and 
 in his own house," implying that " neither did His brethren believe on 
 Him." This curious psychological fact, which has its analogy in the 
 worldly proverb that ' No man is a hero to his valet,' or, * Familiarity 
 breeds contempt,' was more than once referred to by our Lord ; John 
 iv. 44. (" Vile habetur quod domi est." Sen. De Bene/, ill. 2.) 
 
 25. many widows were in Israel\ So far from trying to flatter 
 them, He tells them that His work is not to be for their special benefit 
 or glorification, but that He had now passed far beyond the limitations 
 of earthly relationships. 
 
 three years and six monihs'\ Such was the Jewish tradition, as we 
 see also in James v. 17 (comp. Dan. xii. 7; Rev. xi. 2, 3, xiii. 5). 
 The book of Kings only mentions three years (i K. xvii. i, 8, 9, xviii. 
 r, 2), but in the "many days " it seems to imply more. 
 
 26. save unto Sareptd\ i.e. " but he tvas sent to Sarepta." Zarephath 
 (i K. xvii. 9) was a Phoenician town near the coast between Tyre 
 and Sidon, now called Sta-afend. 
 
 27. saving Naaman the Syrian] 2 K. v. i — 14. Thus both Elijah 
 and Elisha had carried God's mercies to Gentiles. 
 
 28. were filled with zvrath'] The aorist irriplies a sudden outburst. 
 Perhaps they were already offended by knowing that Jesus had spent 
 two days at Sychar among the hated Samaritans ; and now He whom 
 they wished to treat as " the carpenter" and their equal, was as it were 
 asserting the superior claims of Gentiles and lepers. " Truth embitters 
 those whom it does not enlighten." "The word of God," said Luther, 
 "Is a sword, is a war, is a poison, is a scandal, is a stumbling-block, is 
 a ruin" — viz. to those who resist it (Matt. x. 34 ; i Pet. ii. 8). 
 
 29. the broxv of the hill whereon their city was built] The ^whereon ' 
 refers to the hill not to the brow. Nazareth nestles under the southern 
 slopes of the hill. The cliff down which they wished to hurl Him 
 (because this was regarded as a form of ' stoning, ' the legal punishment 
 
io6 ST LUKE, IV. [w. 30, 31. 
 
 30 him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of 
 them went his way^ 
 
 3 1 — 3 7 . The Healing of a Demoniac. 
 
 31 and came down to Capernaum, a city of Gahlee, and taught 
 
 for blasphemy) was certainly not the so-called * Mount of Precipitation ' 
 which is two miles distant, and therefore more than a sabbath day's 
 journey, but one of the rocky escarpments of the hill, and possibly 
 that above the Maronite Church, which is about 40 feet high. This 
 form of punishment is only mentioned in 2 Chr. xxv. 12 j but in Phocis 
 it was the punishment for sacrilege. (Philo.) 
 
 30. passing thi'ough the midst of ikeni] This is rather a mirabile 
 than a miraculum, since no miracle is asserted or necessarily implied. 
 The inherent majesty and dignity of our Lord's calm ascendency, seem 
 to have been sufficient on several occasions to overawe and cow His 
 enemies ; John vii. 30, 46, viii. 59, x. 39, 40, xviii. 6 (see Ps. xviii. 29, 
 xxxvii. 33). 
 
 went his tuay] Probably never to return again. Nazareth lies in a 
 secluded valley out of the ordinary route between Gennesareth and 
 Jerusalem. If after thirty sinless years among them they could reject 
 Him, clearly they had not known the day of their visitation. It is the 
 most striking illustration of St John's sad comment, " He came unto 
 His own possessions (ra I'Sta) and His own people {ol thoi) received 
 Him not" (John i. u). 
 
 31 — 37. The Healing of a Demoniac. 
 
 31. came down to Capernaum'\ St Matthew (iv. 13 — 16) sees in 
 this the fulfilment of Is. ix. i, 2, omitting the first part which should 
 be rendered "At the former time he brought contempt on the Land of 
 Zebulun and on the Land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he brought 
 honour.'''' It was perhaps on His way to Capernaum that our Lord 
 healed the courtier's son (John iv. 47 — 54). Capernaum is in all 
 probability Tell Hum. The name means village (now Kefr) of Nahum, 
 and Tell H{lm is 'the ruined mound' or 'heap' of (Na)hum. f It is 
 now a heap of desolation with little to mark it except the ruins of one 
 white marble synagogue — possibly the very one built by the friendly 
 centurion (vii. 5) — and the widely-scattered debris of what perhaps was 
 another. But in our Lord's time it was a bright and populous little 
 town, at the very centre of what has been called " the manufacturing 
 district of Palestine." It lay at the nucleus of roads to Tyre and Sidon, 
 to Damascus, to Sepphoris (the capital of Galilee), and to Jerusalem, 
 and was within easy reach of Peraea and Ituraea. It was in fact on the 
 ^^ way of the sea" (Is. ix. i) — the great caravan road which led to the 
 Mediterranean. It was hence peculiarly fitted to be the centre of a 
 far-reaching ministry of which even Gentiles would hear. These 
 things, as St Paul graphically says, were " not done in a corner," Acts 
 
w. 32— 34.J ST LUKE, IV. 107 
 
 them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at 32 
 his doctrine : for his word was with power. 
 
 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit 33 
 of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, 34 
 
 xxvi. 26. Besides the memorable events of the day here recorded, it 
 was here that Christ healed the paralytic (v. 18) and the centurion's 
 servant (vii. 2), and called Levi (Matt. ix. 9), rebuked the disciples for 
 their ambition (Mk. ix. 35}7^nd delivered tKe memorable discourse 
 about the bread of life (John vi.). 
 
 ^ a city of Galilee'] These little descriptions and explanations shew 
 that St Luke is_ writing for Gentiles who did not know Palestine. 
 Comp. i. 26, xxi. 37, xxii. i. 
 
 32. they were astonished] The word expresses more sudden and 
 vehement astonishment than the more deeply seated 'amaze' of vs. 36. 
 
 at^his doctrine^ Rather, at His teachin g, referring here to the 
 manner He adopted. '" 
 
 ^is word was with power] St Matthew gives one main secret of 
 their astonishment when he says that "He taught them as one having 
 authority, and not as the scrihes,^^ vii. 29. The religious teaching of the 
 Scribes in our Lord's day had already begim to be the second-hand 
 repetition of minute precedents supported by endless authorities. (" Rabbi 
 Zeira says on the authority of Rabbi Jose bar Rabbi Chanina, and Rabbi 
 Ba or Rabbi Chija on the authority of Rabbi Jochanan, &c., &c.'* 
 Schwab, Jer. Berachdth, p. 159.) We see the final outcome of this 
 servile secondhandness in the dreary minutiae of the Talmud. But Christ 
 referred to no precedents ; quoted no 'authorities ;' dealt witF fresher 
 ami "nobler topics than fantastic hagadoth ('legends') and weary tra- 
 ditional halachdth ('rules'). He spoke straight from the heart to the 
 heart, appealing for confirmation solely to truth and conscience, — the 
 inner witness of the Spirit. 
 
 3'3'. a spirit of an unclean devil] The word 'unclean' is peculiar to 
 St Luke, who writes for Gentiles. The word fof^devil is not diabolos, 
 which is confined to Satan, or human beings like him (John vi. 70) ; 
 but daimonion, which in Greek was also capable of a good sense. The 
 Jews believed daimonia to be the spirits of the wicked (Jos. B. J. vii. 
 6, § 3). I^ere begins that description of one complete Sabbath-day in 
 the life of Jesus, from morning till night, which is also preserved for us 
 in Matt. viii. 14 — 17; Mark i. 11 — 31. It is the best illustration 
 of the life of 'the Good Physician' of whfch the rarest originality 
 was that **He went about doing good" (Acts x. 38). Into the ques- 
 tion of the reality or unreality of 'demoniac possession,' about which 
 theologians have held different opinions, we cannot enter. On the one 
 hand, it is argued that the Jews attributed nearly all diseases, and espe- 
 cially all mental and cerebral diseases, to the immediate action of evil 
 spiiits, and that these 'possessions' are ranged with cases of ordinary 
 madness, and that the common belief would lead those thus afflicted to 
 speak as if possessed; on the other hand, the literal interpretation of the 
 
io8 ST LUKE, IV. [w. 35—37. 
 
 Let us alone ; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus^jpf 
 Nazareth ? art thou come to destroy us ? I know thee who 
 
 35 thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, 
 saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when 
 the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, 
 
 36 and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake 
 among themselves, saying, What a word is this ! for with 
 authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and 
 
 37 they come out. And the fame of him went out into every 
 place of the country round about. 
 
 Gospels points the other way, and in unenlightened ages, as still in dark 
 and heathen countries, the powers of evil seem to have an exceptional 
 range of influence over the mind of man. The student will see the 
 whole question fully and reverently discussed in Jahn, Archaeologia 
 Biblica, E. T. pp. 200 — •216. 
 
 34. Saying, Let us alone] Omit saying, with ^5, B, L. The word 
 Ea! may be not the imperative oiead ('desist !') but a vnld cry of horror 
 'Ha!' 
 
 what have we to do with thee] The demon speaks in the plural, 
 merging his individuality in that of all evil powers. (Matt. viii. 29; 
 Mark v. 9.) For the phrase see viii. 28; 2 Sam. xvi. 10, xix. 22; i K. 
 xvii. 18; John ii. 4. 
 
 to destroy us] " The devils also believe and tremble," James ii. 19. 
 
 the Holy One] i. 35; Ps. xvi. 10, "thine Holy One." Dan. ix. 24. 
 
 35. Hold thy peace] Literally, '■^ Be muzzled,''^ as in i Cor. ix. 9. 
 See Matt. xxii. 34; Mark i. 25, &c. 
 
 had thrown hitn] St Mark uses the stronger word "Rearing. Ma*. " 
 It was the convulsion which became a spasm of visible deliverance. 
 It is most instructive to contrast the simple sobriety of the narratives of 
 the Evangelists with the credulous absurdities of even so able, polished 
 and cosmopolitan a historian as Josephus, who describes an exorcism 
 wrought in the presence of Vespasian by a certain Eleazar. It was 
 achieved by means of a ring and the 'root of Solomon,' and the demon 
 in proof of his exit was ordered to upset a bason of water ! (Jos. B. J. 
 VII. 6, § 3; Antt. VIII. 2, § 5.) As this is the earliest of our Lord's 
 miracles recorded by St Luke, we may notice that the terms used for 
 miracles in the Gospels zx^teras * prodigy,* a.nd thaumasion 'wonderful' 
 (Matt. xxi. 15 only), from the effect on men's minds; paradoxon (v. 26 
 only), from their strangeness; semeia 'signs,' and dunatneis 'powers,' 
 from their being indications of God's power; endoxa 'glorious deeds' 
 (xiii. 17 only), as shewing His glory; and in St John et-ga 'works,' as 
 the natural actions of One who was divine. See Trench, On Miracles, 
 I. 9. "Miracles, it should be observed, are not contrary to nature, but 
 beyond and above it." Mozley. 
 
 37. the fame of him went out] Rather, a rumour about Him began 
 to spread. 
 
vv. 38— 40.] ST LUKE, IV. 109 
 
 38,39. The Healing of Simon^ s Wife's Mother. 
 
 And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into 38 
 Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a 
 great fever ; and they besought him for her. And he stood 39 
 over her, and rebuked the fever ; and it left her : and im- 
 meHiately she arose and ministered "iinto them. 
 
 40 — 44. Healing the Sick at Evening. 
 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick 40 
 
 38, 39. The Healing of Simon's Wife's Mother. 
 
 38. into Simon'' s house\ St Mark, nearly connected with St Peter, 
 says more accurately "the house of Simon and Andrew" (i. 29). This 
 is the first mention of Peter in St Luke, but the name was too well 
 known in the Christian Church to need further explanation. Pgter and 
 Andrew were of Bethsaida (House of Fish), (John i. 44, xii. aij, a little 
 fishing village, as its name imports, now Ain et Tabijah or 'the Spring 
 of the Figtree, ' where, alone on the Sea of Galilee, there is a little strip 
 of bright hard sand. St Luke does not mention this Bethsaida, though 
 he mentions another at the northern end of the Lake (ix. 10). It was 
 so near Capernaum that our Lord may have walked thither, or possibly 
 Simon's mother-in-law may have had a house at Capernaum. It is 
 a remarkable indication of the little cloud of misunderstanding that 
 seems to have risen between Jesus and those of His own house (Matt, 
 xiii' 57 ; John iv. 44), that though they were then living at Capernaum 
 (Matt. ix. I, xvii. 24) — having perhaps been driven there by the hostil- 
 ity of the Nazarenes — their home was not His home. 
 
 Simon's wife's mother^ "St Peter, the Apostle of Christ, who was 
 himself a married man." Marriage Service. She seems afterwards to 
 have travelled with him (i Cor. ix. 5). Her (most improbable) traditional 
 name was Concordia or Perpetua (Grabe, Spicil. Patr. i. 330). 
 
 with a great fever'X Sj; Luke, being a physician, uses the technical 
 medical distinction of the ancients, which divided fevers into 'great' 
 and 'little' (Galen). For other medical and psychological touches see 
 V. 12, yi. 6, xxii. 50, 51; Acts iii. 6 — 8, iv. 22, ix. 33, &c. 
 ^""Ith^ besought hivi\ not, as elsewhere, the imperfect (John iv. 47), but 
 the aorist, implying that they only had to ask Him once. St Mark 
 confirms this when he says (i. 30), ^'■immediately they speak to Him 
 about her." 
 
 39. h£.MoojioverJier\ A graphic touch, found here only. The 
 other Evangelists say tfiat He took her by the hand. 
 
 she arose and ministered unto them'] Literally, arising at once she 
 began to wait on them. 
 
 40—44. Healing the Sick at Evening. 
 
 40. when the sun was setting] Sunset ended the Sabbath, and thus 
 enabled Jews, without infringing on the many minute ^abhoth^ and 
 
no ST LUKE, IV. [vv. 41— 43. 
 
 with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid 
 
 41 his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And 
 devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou 
 art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered 
 them not to speak : for they knew that he was Christ. 
 
 42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert 
 place ; and the people sought him, and came unto him, an'" 
 
 43 stayed him, that he should not depart from them- And he 
 said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other 
 
 ^ toldotk* — i.e. primary and subordinate rules of sabbatic strictness — to 
 carry their sick on beds and pallets. (John v. 11, 12 ; %&& Life of Christ, 
 I. 433-) This twilight scene of Jesus moving about with word and touch 
 of healing among the sick and suffering, the raving and tortured crow' 
 (Matt. iv. -24), is one of the most striking in the Gospels, and St Mat ^j 
 thew quotes it as a fulfilment of Is. liii. 4. ' ' 
 
 41. crying out] The word implies the harsh screams of the demo- j 
 niacs. I 
 
 T/iou art Christ the Son of God] The words "Thou art Chris 
 should be omitted with t^, B, C, D, F, L, &c. 
 
 suffered them not to speak] " His hour was not yet come" (John vi..^ 
 30), nor in any case would He accept such testimony : so St Paul witJ ^ 
 the Pythoness at Philippi (Acts xvi. 18). ' 
 
 to speak: for they knezv that he was Christ] Rather, to say that they " 
 knew that He was the Christ, i.e. the Messiah. It^ was not till after 
 the. Crucifixion that 'Christ' became a proper name, and not a title. 
 
 42. when it was day] St Mark (i. 35) uses the expression " rising u p 
 exceedingly early in the morning, while it was yet dark." It was liif 
 object to escape into silence, and solitude, and prayer, without being 
 observed by the multitudes. 
 
 into a desert place] Densely as the district was populated, such a 
 place might be found in such hill ravines as the Vale of Doves at no 
 great distance. 
 
 the people sought him] Rather, were earnestly seeking for Him. It 
 is characteristic of the eager impetuosity of St Peter, that (as St Mark 
 tells us, i. 36) he, with his friends, on this occasion (literally) "hunted 
 Him down" {katedioxan). 
 
 stayed hi?n] Rather, tried or wished to detain Him. It is the tenta- 
 tive imperfect. 
 
 43. I must] " It behoves me" — the ' must' of moral obligation. 
 preach] Rather, teU the glad tidings of. The word is "evan- 
 gelize," not kerussd the word of the next verse. 
 
 the kingdom of God] The acceptance of the Faith of Christ, whether 
 tn the heart or in the world, was illustrated by Christ in its small 
 beginnings, — the mustard seed (xiii. 19) ;' in its hidden working (xiii. 21); 
 and in its final triumph. 
 
 to other cities] Rather, to the rest of the cities. In St Mark He 
 says, Let us go elsewhere to the adjoining country villages. 
 
vv. 44; I.] ST LUKE, IV. V. in 
 
 cities also : fgr. therefore am I sent. And he preached in the 44 
 synagogues of Gahlee. ^, 
 
 .Ch. Y. Jt^i I. The Draught of Fishes. The Calling of 
 
 \^ U J^^^"""'''^ /^2^r Disciples. 
 
 y^ And it came to pass that, as the people pressed upon him 5 
 • to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesa- 
 
 44. hepreached\ Rather, He was preaching, implying a continued 
 ministry. 
 
 of Galilee] Here fc<, B, C, L and other uncials have the important 
 various reading *'ofJudaea." If this reading be correct, it is another of 
 the many indications tliat the Synoptists assume and imply that Judaean 
 , ministry which St John alone narrates. 
 
 Ch. V. 1—11. The Draught of Fishes. The Calling of four 
 Disciples. 
 
 1. pressed upon him'] St Mark (as is his wont) uses a stronger word 
 ■ io express the physical inconvenience, and adds that sometimes at any 
 rate, it was witlTaTview to touch Him and be healed (iii. 9, 10). 
 
 to hear] The more probable reading is not tou but kai^ *and listened 
 Ito.' 
 
 the-lake of Gennesaret] "The most sacred sheet of water which this 
 earth contains." Stanley. St Luke alone, writing for the Greeks, accu- 
 rately calls it a lake. The Galilaean and Jewish Evangelists uncon- 
 sciously follow the Hebrew idiom which applies the nzxaQyam 'sea,' to 
 ( every piece of water. Gennesareth is probably a corruption of the old 
 i: Hebrew name Kinnereth, but the Rabbis derive it from ganne sarim 
 '■gardens of princes.' This same inland lake is generally called 'the Sea 
 cJOalilee' (Matt. xv. 29, &c.). In the Old Testament it is called " the Sea 
 ,of Chinneroth " (Josh. xii. 3) from its harplike shape. St John calls it " the 
 Sea of Tiberias ; " because by the time he wrote Tiberias, which in our 
 Cord's time had only just been founded by Herod Antipas, had grown 
 into a flourishing town. ITrennesareth is a clear sweet lake about five 
 . miles long and twelve broad, with the Jordan flowing through it. Its fish 
 produced a valuable revenue to those who lived on its shores. The plain 
 of Gennesareth, which lies 500 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, 
 is now known as El Ghtiweir, 'the little hollow.' It is so completely a 
 desolation, that the only inhabited places on the western shore of the 
 Lake are the crumbling, dirty earthquake-shaken town of Tiberias and 
 the mud village of El Mejdel the ancient Magdala. The burning and 
 enervating heat is no longer tempered by cultivation and by trees. It is 
 still however beautiful in spring, with flowering oleanders, and the soil 
 is fruitful where it is not encumbered with ruins as at Khan Minyeh (Tari- 
 chaea) and Tell HUm (Capernaum). In our Lord's time it was, as 
 Josephus calls it, "the best part of Galilee" {B. J. ill. 10, § 7) containing 
 many villages, of which the least had 15000 inhabitants. Josephus be- 
 comes quite eloquent over the descriptions of its rich fruits nearly all 
 
ST LUKE, V. [vv. 2—5. 
 
 2 ret, and saw two ships standing by the lake : but the fisher- 
 men were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 
 
 3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, 
 and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. 
 And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 
 
 4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, 
 Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a 
 
 5 draught. And Simon answering said unto him. Master, we 
 
 the year, its grateful temperature, and its fertilising stream (Jos. B. y. 
 III. 10, §§ 7, 8), so that, he says, one might call it 'the ambition of 
 nature.' It belonged to the tribe of Naphtali (Deut. xxxiii. 33) and 
 the Rabbis said that of the "seven seas" of Canaan, it was the only one 
 which God had reserved for Himself. In our Lord's time it was covered 
 with a gay and numerous fleet of 4000 vessels, from ships of war down 
 to fishing boats ; now it is often difficult to find a single crazy boat even 
 at Tiberias, and the Arabs fish mainly by throwing poisoned bread- 
 crumbs into the water near the shore. As four great roads communi- 
 cated with the Lake it became a meeting-place for men of many nations 
 — ^Jews, Galilaeans, Syrians, Phoenicians, Arabs, Greeks and Romans. 
 
 2. ships\ Rather, boats [jtloiaria). 
 standing] i.e. lying at anchor. 
 
 were washing their nets] If we combine these notices with those in 
 Mark i. 16 — 20; Matt. iv. 18 — 22, we must suppose that during a dis- 
 course of Jesus the four disciples were fishing with a drawnet {amphi- 
 blestron) not far from the shore, and within hearing of His voice ; and 
 that the rest of the incident (here narrated) took place on the morning 
 after. The disciples had spent the night in fruitless labour, and now 
 Peter and Andrew were washing, and James and John mending, their 
 castingnets [diktua), because they felt that it was useless to go on, since 
 night is the best time for fishing. 
 
 nets'] Here diktua or castingnets (from dikd I \hxo-w, funda, Jaculutn) 
 as in Matt. iv. 20 ; John xxi. 6. In Matt. iv. 18 we have the amphiblestron 
 or dravmet (from amphi and ballo, I throw around) ; and in Matt. xiii. 
 47> sageni, seine or haulingnet (from sattd *I load '). 
 
 3. he sat down] The ordinary attitude (as we have seen, iv. 20) for 
 a sermon. 
 
 4. when he had left speaking] The aorist implies that no sooner 
 was His sermon ended than He at once thought, not of His own fatigue, 
 but of His poor disappointed followers. 
 
 5. let down] Rather, let ye down. The first command is in the 
 singular, and is addressed to Peter only as '*i\ie pilot of the Galilaean 
 Lake." 
 
 Master] The word is not Rabbi as in the other Evangelists, — ^a word 
 which Gentiles would not have understood but Epistata (in its occa- 
 sional classic sense of 'teacher') which is peculiar to St Luke v. 5, viii. 
 74, 45, ix. 33, 49, xvii. 13. These are the only places where it occurs. 
 
W.6—S.] ST LUKE, V. I13 
 
 ha,ve toiled all the night, and have taken nothing : neverthe- 
 less at thy word I will let down the net. And when they 6 
 ha3~this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and 
 their net brake. And they beckoned unto t/ieir partners, 7 
 which were in the other ship, that t/iey should come and 
 help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so 
 that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw //, he fell 8 
 down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me ; for I am a 
 
 6. a great multitude of fishes] Of this— as of all miracles — we may 
 say with St Gregory Diim facit miraaihun prodit mysteritcm — in other 
 words the miracle was an acted parable, of which the significance is 
 explained in Matt. xiii. 47. 
 
 brake] Rather, were beginning to break {dierregnutd). Contrast 
 this with John xxi. 11, ovk kcjx^oQ-r]. This breaking net is explained 
 by St Augustine as the symbol of the Church which now is: he 
 compares the unretit net to the Church of the future which shall know 
 no schisms. 
 
 7. they beckoned] It is one of the inimitable touches of truthfulness 
 in the narrative that the instinct of work prevails at first over the sense 
 that a miraculous power has been exerted. 
 
 unto their partners] The word used is metochois, meaning fellow- 
 workers. 
 
 in the other ship] St Luke uses the Greek word heteros for 'another 
 of two,' much more frequently and with stricter accuracy than the 
 other Evangelists. 
 
 8. When S i??io7i Peter saw it] Apparently it was only when he saw 
 the boats sThkiiig to the gunwale with their load of fish that the tender- 
 ness and majesty of the miracle flashed upon his mind. 
 
 Depart from me] The words imply leave my boat [exelthe) and go from 
 me. Here again is the stamp of truthfulness. Any one inventing the 
 scene would have made Peter kneel in thankfulness or adoration, but 
 would have missed the strange psychological truthfulness of the sense of 
 sin painfully educed by the revealed presence of divine holiness. We 
 find the expression of analogous feelings in the case of Manoah (Judg. 
 xiii. 22); the Israelites at Sinai (Ex. xx. 19); the men of Beth-shemesh 
 (i Sam. vi. 20); David after the death of Uzzah (2 Sam. vi. 9); the 
 lady of Zarephath (i Kings xvii. 18); Job (Job xiii. 5, 6); and Isaiah 
 (Is. vi. 5). The exclamation of St Peter was wrung from a heart touched 
 with a sense of humility, and his words did not express his thoughts. 
 They were the cry of agonised humility, and only emphasized his own 
 utter unworthiness. They were in reality the reverse of the deliberate 
 and calculated request of the swine-feeding Gadarenes. The dead 
 and profane soul dislikes and tries to get rid of the presence of the 
 Divine. The soul awakened only to conviction of sin is terrified. The 
 soul that has found God is conscious of utter unworthiness, but fear is 
 lost in love (i John iv. 18). 
 
 ST LUKE 8 
 
114 ST LUKE, V. [vv. 9-II. 
 
 9 sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that 
 were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had 
 
 lo taken : and so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebe- 
 dee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto 
 STmon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 
 
 IX And when they had brought their ships to land, they, for- 
 sook all, and followed him. 
 
 a sinful mait] The Greek has two words for man — anthropos^ a 
 general term for 'human being' {/lomo); and after for 'a man' (wV). 
 The use of the laUer here shews that Peter's confession is individual, 
 not general. 
 
 O Lof'd] It must be remembered that this was the second call of 
 Peter and the three Apostles, — the call to Apostleship; they had 
 already received a call io faith. Th'ey had received \h&\rjirst call on the 
 banks of Jordan, and had heard the witness of John, and had witnessed 
 the miracle of Cana. They had only returned to their ordinary avoca- 
 tions until the time came for Christ's full and active ministry. 
 
 9. he was astonished^ Rather, astonishment seized him. 
 
 10. partners'\ Here koinonoi, ' associates ' in profits, &c. 
 
 Fear not] Accordingly, on another occasion, when Peter sees Jesus 
 walking on the sea, so far from crying Depart from me, he cries "Lord, 
 if it be Thou, bid me come to Thee on the water" (Matt. xiv. 28); and 
 when he saw the Risen Lord standing in the misty morning on the 
 shore of the Lake *'he cast himself into the sea" to come to Him (John 
 xxi. 7). 
 
 10. thou shalt catch"] Literally, *thou shalt be catchiftg alive.^ In 
 Jer. xvi. 16 the fishers draw out men to death, and in Amos iv. 2, 
 Hab. i. 14, men are "made as the fishes of the sea" by way of punishment. 
 Here the word seems to imply the contrast between the fish that lay 
 glittering there in dead heaps, and men who should be captured not for 
 death (J as. i. 14), but for life. But Satan too captures men alive (2 Tim. 
 ii. 26, the only other passage where the verb occurs). From this and 
 the parable of the seine or haulingnet (Matt, xiii, 47) came the favorite 
 early Christian symbol of the 'Fish.' "We little fislies," says Tertullian, 
 " after our Fish (IX0TS, i. e. 'It/ctous Xptarbs Qeov Tibs Zuttjp) are bom in 
 the water (of baptism)." The prophecy was first fulfilled to Peter, when 
 3000 were converted by his words at the first Pentecost. In a hymn of 
 St Clement of Alexandria we find "O fisher of mortals who are being 
 saved. Enticing pure fish for sweet life from the hostile wave." Thus, 
 He who *' spread the fisher's net over the palaces of Tyre and Sidon, 
 gave into the fisher's hand the keys of the kingdom of heaven." "He 
 caught orators by fishermen, and made out of fishermen his orators." 
 We find a similar metaphor used by Socrates, Xen. A/em. il. 6, "Try 
 to be good and to catch the good. I will help you, for I know the art 
 of catching men." 
 
 11, they forsook all] The sacrifice was a willing one, but they were 
 not unconscious of its magnitude ; and it was the allusion to it by Peter 
 
vv. 12, 13.] ST LUKE, V. 115 
 
 1 2 — 1 6. The Healing of a Leper. 
 
 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, 12 
 behold a man full of leprosy : who seeing Jesus fell on his 
 face, and besought him, saying, LorduLthaij5dlt,jhou canst 
 r ^ake me cle an. And he putiQttlL.i^ii_hand, and touched 13 
 
 which called forth the memorable promise of the hundredfold (xviii. 
 28—30; Mk. X. 29, 30). We gather from St Mark that Zebedee 
 (Zabdia) and his two sons had hired servants (i. 20), and therefore they 
 were probably richer than Simon and Andrew, sons of Jona. 
 
 12 — 16, The Healing of a Leper. 
 
 12. a certain city\ Probably the village of Hattin, for we learn from 
 St Matthew's definite notice that this incident took place on descending 
 from the Mount of Beatitudes {Kurn Hattin), see Matt. viii. i — 4; 
 Mk. i. 40 — 45. Hence chronologically the call of Matthew, the choosing 
 of the Twelve, and the Sermon on the Mount probably intervene be- 
 tween this incident and the last. 
 
 a matt fiill of leprosy'\ The hideous and hopeless nature of this 
 disease — which is nothing short of a foul decay, arising from the 
 total corruption of the blood — has been too often described to need 
 further notice. See Lev. xiii., xiv. It was a living death, as indicated 
 by bare head, rent clothes, and covered lip. In the middle ages, a 
 man seized with leprosy was "clothed in a shroud, and the masses of 
 the dead sung over him. " In its horrible repulsiveness itis>lhsJ!iospel 
 type of Sin . The expression "full of" implies the rapid development 
 and horror of the disease ; when the man's whole body was covered with 
 the whiteness, he was allowed to mingle with others as clean (Lev. 
 xiii. 13). 
 
 fell on his face"] We get the full picture by combining the three 
 Evangelists. We then see that he came with passionate entreaties, 
 flinging himself on his knees, and worshipping, and finally in his 
 agony prostrating himself on his face. 
 
 tj wu cans t_jn ake m £-^^letin'\ The faith of this poor leper must have 
 been _,inte.nse, for hitherto, there had been but one instance of a leper 
 cleansed by. miracle (iv. 27; 2 K. v.). 
 
 13. and touched him'\ This was a distinct vi olation o f the letter^ but 
 not of cnnrsp nf the spiijt of the Mosaic law (Lev. xiii. 467T^mb. v. 2). 
 In order to prevent tne accidental violation of this law, lepers, until the 
 final stage of the disease, were then as now secluded from all living 
 contact with others, "differing in nothing from a dead man" (Jos. Ant. 
 III. II § 3), and only appeared in public with the cry Tame, Tami — 
 'Unclean! Unclean!' But Jesus, "because He is the Lord of the Law, 
 does not obey the Law, but makes the Law" (St Ambrose); or rather, 
 he obeys that divine eternal Law of Compassion, in its sudden impulse 
 (0-77X07x1' tc^et J, Mk. i. 40), which is older and grander than the written 
 Law. (So Elijah and Elisha had not scrupled to touch the dead, 
 I K. xvii. 21; 2 K. iv. 34.) His touching the leper, yet remaining 
 
 8—2 
 
ii6 ST LUKE, V. [v. 14. 
 
 him, saying, I will: be thou ckan. And immediately the 
 
 14 leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no 
 
 77ian : but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for 
 
 thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for_aJesti- 
 
 clean, is a type of His taking our humanity upon Him, remaining un- 
 defiled. 
 
 I will: be thou clean] Two words in the original — **a prompt echo 
 to the ripe faith of the leper"— which are accurately preserved by all 
 three Evangelists. Our Lord's first miracles were done with a glad 
 spontaneity in answer to faith. But when men had ceased to believe 
 in Him, then lack of faith rendered His later miracles more sad and 
 more delayed (Mk. vi. 5; Matt. xiii. 58). We never however hear of 
 a moment's delay in attending to the cry of a leper. When the sinner 
 cries from his heart, "I have sinned against the Lord," the answer 
 comes instantly, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin" (2 Sam. 
 xii. 13). 
 
 the leprosy departed'] Jesus was not polluted by the touch, but the 
 leper was cleansed. Even so he touched our sinful nature, yet without 
 sin (H. de St Victore). 
 
 14. he charged him to tell no man] These injunctions to reti c epce, 
 marked especially the early part of the rainistr-y» See iv. 35, v. 14, 
 viiT. 55. The reasons were probably (i) personal to the healed sufferer, 
 lest his inward thankfulness should be dissipated by the idle and boastful 
 gossip of curiosity (St Chrys.), but far more (ii) because, as St Matthew 
 expressly tells us, He did not wish His ministry to be accompanied by 
 excitement and tumult, in accordance with the prophecy of Is. xlii. 2 
 (Matt. xii. 15 — 50, comp. Phil. ii. 6, 7; Heb. v. 5; John xviii. 36); 
 and (iii) because He came, not merely and not mainly, to be a great 
 Physician and Wonder-worker, but to save men's souls by His Revela- 
 tion, His Example, and His Death. 
 
 It is evident however that there was something very speci al in this 
 case, for St Mark^says (i. 43), "violently enjoining liim, immediately_jie 
 thrust him forth, and said to him, See that you say no more to any one" 
 (according to the right reading and translation). Clearly, although the 
 multitudes were following Christ (Matt. viii. i), He was walking before 
 them, and the miracle had been so sudden and instantaneous {Ihoii... 
 evd^ws) that they had not observed what had taken place. Probably our 
 Lord desired to avoid the Levitical rites for uncleanness which the 
 unspiritual ceremonialism of the Pharisees might have tried to force upon 
 Him. 
 
 On other occasions, when these reasons did not exist, He even en- 
 joined the publication of an act of mercy, viii. 39. "" ' 
 
 ^ut go, and shew thyself to the priest] We find similar instances of 
 transition from indirect to direct narration, in Acts xxiii. 22; Ps. Ixxiv. 
 16. ^QQmy Brief Greek Syntax, Tp. ig6. Tht priest alone could legally 
 pronounce him clean. 
 
 offer for thy cleansing] The student should read for himself the 
 intensely interesting and symbolic rites commanded by Moses for the 
 
w. 15—17.] ST LUKE, V. 117 
 
 mony unto th em. But so muc/i the more went there a fame 's 
 abroad of him : and great multitudes came together to hear, 
 ancTto be healed by him of their infirmities. And he with- ^6 
 drew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. 
 
 17 — 26. T/ie Healing of the Paralytic. 
 
 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, 17 
 that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by^ .* 
 which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, 
 and Jerusalem : and the power of the Lord was presefit to 
 
 legal pronunciation of a leper clean in Lev. xiv. They occupy fourteen 
 chapters of Negaim^ one of the treatises of the Mishnah. 
 
 according as Moses commanded'\ A reference to Lev. xiv. 4 — 10 will 
 shew how heavy an expense the offering entailed. 
 
 for a testiynony unto theiri\ i.e. that the priests may assure themselves 
 that IITe miracle is real. In ix. Sj'Mlc. vi. 11 the words mean 'for a 
 witness against them.' 
 
 15. so much the more went there a fame abroad] It is clear therefore 
 that the leper disobeyed his strict injunction. Such disobedience was 
 natural, and perhaps venial ; but certainly not commendable. 
 
 great multitudes came together... to be healed] Thus in part defeating 
 our Lord's purpose. 
 
 16. he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed] Rather, 
 But He Himself was retiring in the -wilderness and praying. St 
 Mark (i. 45) gives us the clearest view of the fact by telling us that the 
 Ifiper blazoned abroad his cure in every direction, "■ so that Hej wgs-Mo 
 longer able to enter openly into a city^ but was^wilhoni, in desert spots i 
 andjhey began to come to Him frofu all directions.'" We here see that 
 this retirement was a sort of "Levitical quarantine," which however the 
 multitudes disregarded as soon as they discovered where He was. 
 
 and prayed] St Luke's is eminently the Gospel of Prayer and 
 TjLanksgiving. See on iii. 21. 
 
 17—26. The Healing of the Paralytic. 
 
 17. on a certain day ] The. vagueness of the phrase shews that no 
 stress isl iere laid ^oiTchronological order. In Matt. ix. 2 — 8 ; Mk. ii. 
 2 — 12 the scene i s in a house in Capernaum, and the time (apparently) 
 after, the healing of the Gadarene demoniac on the Eastern side of the 
 Lake, and on the day of Matthew's feast. 
 
 as he was teaching] not in a synagogue, but probably in Peter's house. 
 Notice the "Hg" which is so frequent in St Luke _^_and marks the later 
 epoch when the title "t he Chris t" had passeTmto a name, and when 
 "He" co uld have bu t one meanmg. See on iv. 15. 
 
 ^TlkariseeTanZdoc't'ors of the law] See Excursus on the Jewish Sects. 
 
 and Judea and Jerusalem] These had probably come out of simple 
 curiosity to hear and see the great Prophet of Nazareth. They were 
 
ii8 ST LUKE, V. [w. 18—21. 
 
 18 heal them. And behold, men brought in a bed a man \yhich 
 was taken with a palsy : and they sought iiieans to bring 
 
 19 him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could 
 not find by what way they might bringTiim in because .of 
 the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him 
 down through the tiling with his couch into the midst b'efore' 
 
 20 Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him,^ivian, 
 
 21 thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the Phari- 
 
 not the spies malignantly sent at the later and sadder epoch of His 
 ministry (Matt. xv. i; Mk. iii. 2, vii. i) to dog his footsteps, and 
 lie in wait to catch any word on which they could build an accusation. 
 
 to heal theni] Some MSS. (N, B, L,) read ^^ hi?n.''^ If the reading 
 be correct the verse means "the Power of the Lord (i.e. of the 
 Almighty Jehovah) was with Him to heal." 
 
 18. meti] four bearers, Mk. ii. 3. 
 
 taken with a palsy'] The word used by Matthew (ix. i — 8) and 
 Mark (ii. i — 12) is "paralytic," but as that is not a classic word, 
 St Luke uses "having been paralysed" {paralelumenos). 
 
 they sought means to bring him in] St Mark explains that the 
 crowd was so great that they could not even get to the door. 
 
 19. tjieywent upon the housetop] A very easy thing to do because 
 there was in most houses an outside staircase to the roof. Matt. xxiv. 
 17. Eastern houses are often only one storey high, and when they 
 are built on rising ground, the roof is often nearly on a level with the ' 
 street above. Our Lord may have been teaching in the " upper room " 
 of the house, which was usually the largest and quietest. 2 Kings iv. 
 10; Acts i. 13, ix. 37. 
 
 let him down through the tiling] St Mark says they uncovered 
 the roof where he was, and digging it up, let down 'the pallet.' 
 Clearly then two operations seem to have been necessary: (i) to 
 remove the tiles, and (ii) to dig through some mud partition. But 
 the description is too vague to enable us to understand the details. 
 Sceptical writers have raised difficulties about it in order to discredit 
 the whole narrative (comp. Cic. Phil. ii. 18, " per tegulas demitterere "), 
 but the making of an aperture in the roof is an everyday matter in 
 the East (Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 358), and is here 
 alluded to, not because it was strange, but to illustrate the active, 
 and as it were nobly impatient, faith of the man and the bearers. 
 
 with his couch] klinidion, 'little bed,' probably a mere mat or 
 mattress. It means the same as St Mark's krabbaton, but that being 
 a semi- Latin word {grabalufu) w_ald be more comprehensible to the 
 Roman readers of St Mark than to the Greek readers of St Luke. 
 
 20. Man] St Mark has " Son," and St Matthew "Cheer up, son," 
 which were probably the exact words used by Christ. 
 
 are forgiven thee] Rather, have been forgiven thee, i. e. now and 
 henceforth. In this instance our Lord's power of reading the heart 
 
w. 22—24.] ST LUKE, V. 119 
 
 sees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh 
 blasph emies ? Who can forgive sins, but God alone ? But 22 
 when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto 
 them, What reason ye in your hearts ? Whether is easier, to 23 
 say. Thy sms l^e forgiven thee ; or to say, Rise up and walk? 
 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon 24 
 
 must have shewn Him that there was a connexion between past sin 
 and present affliction. The Jews held it as an universal rule that 
 suffering was always the immediate consequence of sin. The Book 
 of Job had been directed against that hard, crude, Pharisaic gene- 
 ralisation. Since that time it had been modified by the view that 
 a man might suffer, not for his own sins, but for those of his parents 
 (John ix. 3). These views were all the more dangerous because they 
 were the distortion of half truths. Our Lord, while he always left 
 the individual conscience to read the connexion between its own sins 
 and its sorrows (John v. 14), distinctly repudiated the universal in- 
 ference (Luke xiii. 5 ; John ix. 3). 
 
 21. Who is this] The word used for 'this person' is contemptuous. 
 St Matthew puts it still more barely, * This fellow blasphemes,' and 
 to indulge such thoughts and feelings was distinctly " to think evil 
 thoughts." 
 
 blasphemies'] In classical Greek the word means abuse and in- 
 jurious talk, but the Jews used it specially of curses against God, or 
 claiming His attributes (Matt. xxvi. 6-^ ; John x. 36). 
 
 Who can foi\^ve sins, but God alone] The remark in itself was 
 not unnatural, Ps. xxxii. 5; Is. xliii. 25; but they captiously overlooked 
 the possibility of a delegated authority, and the ordinary declaratory 
 idioms of language, which might have shewn them that blasphemy 
 was a thing impossible to Christ, even if they were not yet prepared 
 to admit the Divine Power which He had already exhibited. 
 
 22. wheft J estis perceived] Rather, Jesus, recognising. 
 their thoughts] Rather, their reasonings. 
 
 23. Whether is easier^ to say] An impostor might say 'thy sins have 
 been forgiven ' without any visible sign whether his words had any 
 power or not ; no one could by a word make a man ' rise and walk ' 
 who had not received power from God. But our Lord had purposely 
 used words which while they brought the earthly miracle into less 
 prominence, went to the very root of the evil, and implied a yet loftier 
 prerogative. 
 
 24. the Son of man] Ben- Adam has a general sense of any human 
 being (Job xxv. 6, &c.) ; in a special sense in the O. T. it is nearly 90 times 
 applied to Ezekiel, though never used by himself of himself. In the 
 N. T. it is 80 times used by Christ, but always by Himself, except 
 in passages which imply His exaltation (Acts vii. 56; Eev. i. 13 — 20). 
 The Title, as distinctively Messianic, is derived from Dan. vii. 13, and 
 is there Bar-Endsh, a word descriptive of man in his humiliation. 
 The inference seems to be that Christ used it to indicate the truth 
 
I20 ST LUKE, V. [vv. 25—28. 
 
 earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) JL 
 sayjinto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and ^o_jnto 
 
 25 thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and 
 took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, 
 
 26 glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glori- 
 fied God, and were filled with fear, saying, We_have seen 
 strange things to day. " 
 
 27 — 39. The Call and Feast of Levi. On Fasting. The 
 New and the Old. 
 
 27 And after these thifigs he went forth, and saw a publican, 
 named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said 
 
 28 unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed 
 
 that ** God highly exalted Him" because of his self humiliation 
 in taking our flesh (Phil. ii. 5 — 11). 
 
 hath power upon earth to forgive sins\ and therefore of course, a 
 fortiori, hath power in heaven. 
 
 / say unto thee'] Rather, to keep the emphatic order, To thee I say. 
 
 25. took up that whereon he lay\ This circumstance is em- 
 phasized in all three narratives to contrast his previous helplessness, 
 "borne of four," with his present activity. He now carried the bed 
 which had carried him, and "the proof of his sickness became the 
 proof of his cure." The labour would have been no more than that 
 of carrying a rug or a cloak, yet it was this which excited the fury of 
 the Pharisees in Jerusalem (John v. 9). It was not specially attacked 
 by the simpler and less Pharisaic Pharisees of Galilee. 
 
 26. were filled with fear] See on vs. 8. 
 
 27 — S9. The Call and Feast of Levl On Fasting. The 
 New and the Old. 
 
 27. and saw] Rather, He observed. 
 
 named Levi] It may be regarded as certain that Levi is the same 
 person as the Evangelist St Matthew. The name Matthew (probably 
 a corruption of Mattihijah) means, like Nathanael, Theodore, Doritheus, 
 Adeodatus, &c., *the gift of God,' and it seems to have been the name 
 which he himself adopted after his call (see Matt. ix. 9, x. 3; Mk. 
 ii. 14). 
 
 at the receipt of custom] Matthew may have been a tax-gatherer for 
 Herod Antipas — who seems to have been allowed to manage his own 
 taxes — and not for the Romans ; but even in that case he would share 
 almost equally with a man like Zacchaeus the odium with which his class 
 was regarded. For the Herods were mere creatures of the Caesars (Jos. 
 A7itt. XVII. II § 6). Probably the 'custom' was connected with the 
 traffic of the Lake, and in the Hebrew Gospel of St Matthew * publican ' 
 is rendered * Baal abarah ' * lord of the passage. ' 
 
 28. he left all] It is most probable that St Matthew, like the sons 
 
w. 29—31.] ST LUKE, y. 121 
 
 l;^m. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house : 29 
 and there was a great company of publicans and of others 
 that sat down with them. But their scribes and Pharisees 30 
 murmured against his disciples, saying, Why,do ye eat and 
 drinkjaith-UUblicans and sinners? And Jesus answering 31 
 said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; 
 
 of Jona and of Zebedee, had known something of our Lord before this 
 call. If Alphaeus (Matt. x. 3 ; Mk. ii. 14) be the same as the father of 
 James the Less, and the same as Clopas (John xix. 25) the husband of 
 Mary, and if this Mary was the sister of the Virgin, then James and 
 Matthew were cousins of Jesus. The inferences are uncertain, but 
 early Christian tradition points in this direction. It was a rare but 
 not unknown custom to call two sisters by the same names. 
 
 29. made him a great /east] This shews that Matthew had some- 
 thing to sacrifice when he "left all." The word rendered 'feast' 
 literally means ' reception.' 
 
 a great company of publicans] Comp. xv. i. The tax-gatherers in 
 their deep, and not wholly undeserved unpopularity, would be naturally 
 touched by the countenance and kindness of the Sinless One. 
 
 sat down] Rather, were reclining (at table). 
 
 30. their scribes and Pharisees] Some MSS. read * the Pharisees and 
 their scribes,^ i. e. those who were the authorised teachers of the company 
 present. The scribes [Sophertm from Sepher * a book ') were a body 
 which had sprung up after the exile, whose function it was to copy and 
 explain the Law, The ' words of the scribes ' were the nucleus of the 
 body of tradition known as 'the oral law.' The word was a general 
 term, for technically the Sophertm were succeeded by the Tanaim or 
 'repeaters' from B.C. 300 to A. D. 220, who drew up the HalcLchdth or 
 'precedents;' and they by the Amoraim. The tyranny of pseudo- 
 orthodoxy which they had established, and the insolent terrorism with 
 which it was enforced, were denounced by our Lord (xi. 37 — 54) in 
 terms of which the burning force can best be understood by seeing from 
 the Talmud how crushing were the ' secular chains ' in which they had 
 striven to bind the free conscience of the people — chains which it 
 became His compassion to burst (see Gfrorer, Jahrh. d. Heils, i. 140). 
 
 mtirmured against his disciples] They had not yet learnt to break 
 the spell of awe which surrounded the Master, and so they attacked 
 the 'unlearned and ignorant' Apostles. The murmurs must have reached 
 the ears of Jesus after the feast, unless we imagine that some of these 
 dignified teachers, who of course could not sit down at the meal, came 
 and looked on out of curiosity. The house of an Oriental is perfectly 
 open, and any one who likes may enter it. 
 
 with publicans and shiners] Rather, "with the pubhcans and 
 sinners." The article is found in nearly all the uncials. 
 
 31' The^_that_are whole] Our Lord's words had both an obvious 
 and a deeper meaning. As regards the ordinary duties and respec- 
 tability of life these provincial scribes and Pharisees were really "whole" 
 
122 ■ ST LUKE, V. [w. 32—34. 
 
 32 butJkey^tbat^are sick. I j:ame no t to_call the righteo us, bu t 
 sinners to repentance. 
 
 33 And they said unto him, Why do the discipjes of John 
 fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciplei^ 
 
 34 the Pharisees; bat thine eat and drink? And he said unto 
 
 as compared with the flagrant "sinfulness" of the tax-gatherers and 
 " sinners." In another and even a more dangerous sense they were 
 themselves "sinners" vA\o fancied ox^y that they had no need of Jesus 
 (Rev. iii. 17, 18). They did not yet feel their own sickness, and 
 the day had not yet come when they were to be told of it both in 
 parables (xviii. 11 — 13) and in terms of terrible plainness (Matt, xxiii.), 
 "Difiiculter ad sanitatem pervenimus, quia nos aegrotare nescimus." 
 Sen. Ep. 50. 4. ,/ ■,,*'■; . I . ^ r ' • -' 
 
 32. / came not to callY Rather, I have not come. 
 
 the righteous'] This also was true in two senses. Our Lord came to 
 seek and save the lost. He came not to the elder son but to the 
 prodigal ; not to the folded flock but to the straying sheep. In a lower 
 and external sense these Pharisees were really, as they called them- 
 selves, *the righteous' [chasidim). In another sense they were only 
 self-righteous and self-deceived (xviii. 9). St Matthew tells us that He 
 further rebuked their haughty and pitiless exclusiveness by borrowing 
 one of their own formulae, and bidding them *^go and learn" the 
 meaning of Hos. vi. 6, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice," i.e. love 
 is better than legal scrupulosity ; Matt. ix. 13, xii. 7. The invariable 
 tendency of an easy and pride-stimulating externalism when it is made 
 a substitute for heart-religion is the most callous hypocrisy. The 
 Pharisees were condemned not by Christ only but by their own Phari- 
 saic Talmud, and after b. c. 70 the very name fell into such discredit 
 among the Jews them.selves as a synonym for greed and hypocrisy that 
 it became a reproach and was dropped as a title (Jost, Gesch. d. 
 Juden. IV. 76 ; Gfrorer, Jahrh. d. Heils, 1. 140 ; Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. 
 on Matt. iii. 7). 
 
 33. And they said\ St Luke here omits the remarkable fact that 
 the disciples of John, who still formed a distinct body, joined the 
 Pharisees in asking this question. It is clear that they were sometimes 
 actuated by a not unnatural human jealousy, from which their great 
 teacher was wholly free (John iii. 26), but which Jesus always treated 
 with the utmost tenderness (vii. 24 — 28). 
 
 the disciples of John fast often\ They would naturally adopt the 
 ascetic habits of the Baptist. 
 
 and make prayers] Rather, supplications. Of course the disciples 
 prayed, but perhaps they did not use so 'much speaking' and connect 
 their prayers with fastings. The preservation of these words by St 
 Luke alone, in spite of the emphasis which he lays on prayer, shews 
 his perfect fidelity. 
 
 the disciples of the Pharisees] Those who in Jewish writings are so 
 often spoken of as the 'pupils of the wise.' See on xviii. 12, **I 
 
w. 35, 36.] ST LUKE, V. 123 
 
 them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, 
 while the brideg room is with them? But the days will come, ss 
 wjien the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and 
 then 'shall they fast in those days. And he spake also a 36 
 
 fast twice in the week." Our Lord points out how much self-seeking 
 and hypocrisy were mingled with their fasting, Matt. vi. 16, and the 
 prophets had forcibly taught the utter uselessness of an abstinence dis- 
 sociated from goodness and charity (Is. Iviii. 3 — 6 ; Mic. vi. 6 — 8 ; 
 Amos V. 21 — 24). 
 
 34. the children of the bridechamber] The friends of the bride- 
 groom — the paranymphs — who accompanied him to meet the bride and 
 her maidens ; Judg. xiv. 1 1. The question would be specially forcible 
 to John's disciples who had heard him speak of "the joy of the friend 
 of the bridegroom" (John iii. 29). 
 
 fasti St Matthew (ix. 1 5) uses the word * mourn ' which makes the 
 antithesis more striking (John xvi. 20). 
 
 35. the days will come] Rather, but there will come days. 
 
 when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them] Rather, and 
 when. {koX A, B, D). Comp. John xvi. 16, " A little while and ye 
 shall not see me." The verb used — aparthe — occurs nowhere else in 
 the N.T., and clearly hints at a violent end. /'This is memorable as 
 being the earliest recorded public intimation of His crucifixion^of which 
 a dim hint ("even so shaH the Son of man be lifted up") nad been 
 given privately to Nicodemus (John iii. 14). 
 
 then shall they fast"] As we are told that they did, Acts xiii. 2, 3. 
 Observe that is not said, ' then shall ye be able to insist on their fasting.' 
 The Christian fasts would be voluntary, not compulsory ; the result of 
 a felt need, not the observance of a rigid command. Our Lord never 
 entered fully into the subject of fasting, and it is clear that throughout 
 the Bible it is never enjoined as a frequent duty, though it is sanctioned 
 and encouraged as an occasional means of grace. In the Law only one 
 day in the year — the Kippur, or Day of Atonement — was appointed as 
 a fast (Lev. xvi. 29 ; Numb. xxix. 7). After the exile four annual fasts 
 hadarisen,but the prophets do not enjoin them (Zech. vii. i — 12, viii. 19), 
 nor did our Lord in any way approve (or apparently practise) the two 
 weekly fasts of the Pharisees ^xviii. 12). Probably the reason why 
 fasting has never been commanded as a universal and constant duty is 
 that it acts very differently on different temperaments, and according to 
 the testimony of some who have tried it most seriously, acts in some 
 cases as a powerful stimulus to temptation. It is remarkable that the 
 words ^^ and fasting^'' are probably the interpolations of an ascetic bias 
 in Matt. xvii. 21; Mk. ix. 29; Acts x. 30; i Cor. vii. 5, though 
 fasting is implied in Matt. vi. 16. Fasting is not commanded and is 
 not forbidden. The Christian is free (Rom. xiv. 5), but must, while 
 temperate in all things, do exactly that which he finds most conducive 
 to his spiritual and moral welfare. For noT.v the bridegroom is not 
 taken from us but is with us (Matt, xxviii. 20 ; Heb. xiii. 5,6; John 
 xiv. 16, xvi. 7). 
 
124 ST LUKE, V. [vv. 37—39. 
 
 parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new gar- 
 ment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh 
 a, rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth 
 
 37 not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old 
 bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be 
 
 38 spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be 
 39j)ut>into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also 
 
 36. apiece of a new garment upon an old'\ Rather, no one rending 
 a patch from a new garment putteth it upon an old garment. The 
 word (TxtVas ' rending ' though omitted in our version is found in 
 t^, A, B, D, L. Our Lord delighted in using these homely metaphors 
 which brought the truth within the comprehension of his humblest 
 hearers. St Matthew (ix. 16) has *a patch of unteazled cloth.' 
 
 bolh the new maketh a rent] Rather, with the best uncials, he will 
 both rend the new. The inferior readings adopted by the E. V. make 
 us lose sight of the fact that there is a tred/e mischief implied, namely, 
 (i) the rending of the new to patch the old; (2) the incongruity of the 
 mixture ; (3) the increase of the rent of the old. The latter is men- 
 tioned only by St Matthew, but is implied by the bursten skins of the 
 next similitude. Our Lord is referring to the proposal to enforce the 
 ascetic leanings of the forerunner, and the Pharisaic regulations which 
 had become a parasitic growth on the old dispensation, upon the glad 
 simplicity of the new dispensation. To act thus, was much the same 
 thing as using the Gospel by way of a mere adjunct to — a mere purple 
 patch upon — the old garment of the Law. The teaching of Christ was 
 a new and seamless robe which would only be spoilt by being rent. It 
 was impossible to tear a few doctrines and precepts from Christianity, 
 and use them as ornaments and improvements of Mosaism. If this were 
 attempted (i) the Gospel would be maimed by the rending from its 
 entirety ; (2) the contrast between the new and the old system would 
 be made more glaring; (3) the decay of the evanescent institutions 
 would only be violently accelerated. Notice how distinctly these com- 
 parisons imply the ultimate abrogation of the Law. 
 
 agreeth not] Rather, will not agree {sumphonesei). 
 
 37. 7^e^v wine into old bottles] Rather, wine-skins. The skins used 
 for holding wine were apt to get seamed and cracked, and old wine- 
 skins would tend to set up the process of fermentation. They could 
 contain the motionless, not expand with the fermenting. To explain 
 this passage, see Excursus III. 
 
 38. new wine... into new bottles] Rather, new {vio$) wine into fresh 
 {Kaivoits) wine-skins. The new spirit requires fresh forms for its ex- 
 pression and preservation ; the vigour of youth cannot be bound in the 
 swaddling-bands of infancy. It is impossible to be both 'under the 
 Law' and 'under grace.' The Hebraising Christians against whom St 
 Paul had to wage his lifelong battle — those Judaisers who tried to ruin 
 his work in Galatia, Corinth, and Rome — had precisely failed to grasp 
 the meaning of these trutlis. 
 
V. I.] ST LUKE, VI. 125 
 
 having drunk old wine straig htway desireth new: for he 
 saith, The old is better^ 
 
 X5h. VI, I — 5. The Disciples pluck the ears of corn on the 
 Sabbath. (Matt. xii. 1—8; Mk. ii. 23 — 28.) 
 
 And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, 6 
 
 39. having drunk old'\ This verse is peculiar to St Luke, and is 
 a characteristic of his fondness for all that is most tender and gracious. 
 It is an expression of considerateness towards the inveterate prejudices 
 engendered by custom and system : a kind allowance for the reluctance 
 of the Pharisees and the disciples of John to abandon the old systems to 
 which they had been accustomed. The spirit for which our Lord here 
 (as it were) offers an apology is the deep-rooted human tendency to prefer 
 old habits to new lights, and stereotyped formulae to fresh truths. It is 
 the unprogressive spirit which relies simply on authority, precedent, 
 and tradition, and says, ' It was good enough for my father, it is good 
 enough for me;' 'It will last my time,' &c. The expression itself 
 seems to have been a Jewish proverb {Neda7'im, f. 66. i). 
 
 The old is better'\ Rather, The old is excellent [chrestos ^, B, L, &c.). 
 The reading of the E. V., chrestoteros, is inferior, since the man, having 
 declined to taste the new, can institute no comparison between it and 
 the old. The wine which at the beginning has been set forth to him is 
 good (John ii. 10), and he assumes that only 'that which is worse' can 
 follow. 
 
 Ch. VI. 1 — 5. The Disciples pluck the ears of corn on the 
 Sabbath. (Matt. xii. i — 8; Mk. ii. 23 — 28.) 
 
 1. on the second sabbath after the first'] Better, on the second-first 
 sabbath. St Luke gives this unique note of time without a word to 
 explain it, and scholars have not — and probably never will — come to an 
 agreement as to its exact meaning. The only analogy to the word is 
 the deuterodekate or second tenth in Jerome on Ezekiel xlv. Of the 
 ten or more suggested explanations, omitting those which are wholly 
 arbitrary and impossible, we may mention the following. 
 
 a. The first Sabba th of the second nionth (Wetstein). 
 
 /3. Thfi_£rst_Sabbathjrrter the second day of the Passover (Scaliger, 
 Ewald, De Wette, Neander, Keim, &c.). 
 
 7. The fi ret Sabbath of the second year in the Sabbatic cycle of 
 seven years(Wies'eler). '"'"'- — 
 
 5. The first Sabbath of the Ecclesiastical year. The Jewish year had 
 two beginnings, the civil year began in Tisri (mid-September) ; the eccle- 
 siastical year in Nisan (mid-March). 
 
 The first-first Sabbath may therefore have been a name given to the 
 first Sabbath of the civil year in autumn; and second-first to the first 
 Sabbath of the ecclesiastical year in spring (Cappell, Godet). 
 
 f. The Pentecostal Sabbath — the Paschal Sabbath being regarded 
 as the protoproton ox first-first (Corn. ^ Lapide). 
 
126 ST LUKE, VI. [v. 2. 
 
 that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples 
 
 plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their 
 
 2 hands. And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why 
 
 These and similar explanations must be left as unsupported conjec- 
 tures in the absence of any decisive trace of such Sabbatical nomea- 
 clature among the Jews. But we may remark that 
 
 (i) The reading itself cannot be regarded as absolutely certain, since 
 it is omitted in fc5, B, L, and in several important versions, including the 
 Syriac and Coptic. Hence of modern editors Tregelles and Meyer 
 omit it ; Lachmann and Alford put it in brackets. [Its insertion may 
 then be conceivably accounted for by marginal annotations. Thus if a 
 coppst put 'first' in the margin with the reference to the ^^otker^' 
 Sabbath of v. 6 it would have been corrected by some succeeding copyist 
 into 'second' with reference to iv. 31; and the two may have been 
 combined in hopeless perplexity. If it he said that this is unlikely, it 
 seems at least equally unlikely that it should either wilfully or acciden- 
 tally have been omitted if it formed part of the original text. And why 
 should St Luke writing for Gentiles use without explanation a word to 
 them perfectly meaningless and so highly technical that in all the folio 
 volumes of Jewish literature there is not a single trace of it?] 
 
 (2) The exact discovery of what the word means is only important 
 as a matter of archaeology. Happily there can be no question as to the 
 time of year at which the incident took place. The narrative seems to 
 imply that the ears which the disciples plucked and rubbed were ears of 
 wheat not of barley. Now the first ripe sheaf of barley was offered at 
 the Passover (in spring) and the first ripe wheat sheaf at Pentecost 
 (fifty days later). Wheat would ripen earlier in the rich deep hollow of 
 Gennesareth. In any case therefore the time of year was spring or early 
 summer, and the Sabbath (whether the reading be correct or not) was 
 probably some Sabbath in the month Nisan. 
 
 ^ewent through the cornfields'] Comp. Matt. xii. i — 8; Mk. ii. 23 — 28. 
 St Mark uses the curious expression that *• He went along through the 
 corn fields^ apparently in a path between two fields — '■'■and HU disciples 
 began to ?nake a way by plucking the corjt ears." All that we can infer 
 from this is that Jesus was walking apart from His Apostles, and that 
 He did not Himself pluck the corn. 
 
 plucked the ears ofco7-n'\ This shews their hunger and poverty, espe- 
 cially if the corn was barley. They were permitted by the Law to do 
 this — "When thou comest into the standing-corn of thy neighbour, then 
 thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand," Deut. xxiii. 25. St 
 Matthew in his ''began to pluck" shews how eagerly and instantly the 
 Pharisees clutched at the chance of finding fault. 
 
 2. certain of the Pharisees] On the Jewish sects see Excursus VI. As 
 the chronological sequence of the incident is uncertain, these may be 
 some of the spy-Pharisees who as His ministry advanced dogged His 
 steps (Matt. xv. i ; Mk. iii. 22, vii. i), in the base and demoralising 
 desire to convict Him of heresy or violation of the Law. Perhaps they 
 wished to see whether he would exceed the regulated Sabbath day's 
 
w. 3, 4.] ST LUKE, VI. 127 
 
 Ho ye that which is not la wful to_do on the sabbath days? 
 And Jesus answering them said, PiiiYfi.ye not read so much 3 
 as. this j wha t. David did, when himself was a hungred, and 
 they whiclL ^ereL-with him; how he went into the house of 4 
 God, and_did Jake and eat the shewbread, and gave also to 
 
 journey of 2000 cubits (Ex. xvi. 29). We have already met with some 
 of the carping criticisms dictated by their secret hate, v. 14, 21, 30. 
 
 Why do ye\ In St Mark the question is scornfully addressed to 
 Jesus, "See why do they ^o on the sabbath day that which is not 
 lawful?" 
 
 that which is not lawful to do} The point was this. Since the Law 
 had said that the Jews were "to do no manner of work" on the Sabbath, 
 the Oral Law had laid down thirty-nine principal prohibitions which were 
 assigned to the authority of the Great Synagogue and which were called 
 abhoth 'fathers' or chief rules. From these were deduced a vast 
 multitude of toldoth 'descendants' or derivative rules. Now 'reaping' 
 and 'threshing' on the sabbath day were forbidden by the abhdth ; and 
 by the toldoth it was asserted that plucking corn- ears was a kind of 
 reaping, and mbbing them a kind of threshing. But while they paid 
 servile attention to these trivialities the Pharisees "omitted the weightier 
 matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith," Matt. xxii. 23). The 
 vitality of these artificial notions among the Jews is extraordinary. 
 Abarbanel relates that when in 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain, 
 and were forbidden to enter the city of Fez lest they should cause a 
 famine, they lived on grass ; yet even in this state ' religiously avoided 
 the violation of their sabbath by phuking the grass with their hands.' To 
 avoid this they took the much more laborious method of grovelling on 
 their knees, and cropping it with their teeth ! 
 
 3. Have ye not read so much as this] Rather, Did ye not even read 
 this? He answers them in one of their own formulae, but with a touch 
 of irony at their ignorance, which we trace also in the "Did ye never 
 read?" of St Mark; — never though ye are Scribes and devote all 
 your time to the Scriptures? Perhaps the reproving question may have 
 derived an additional sting from the fact that the very passage which 
 our Lord quoted (i Sam. xxi. i — 6) had been read on that Sabbath as 
 the Haphtarah of the day. The service for the day must have been over, 
 because no meal was eaten till then. This fact does not however help 
 us to determine which was the second-first Sabbath, because the present 
 Jewish lectionary is of later date. 
 
 and they which were with hiin\ That the day on which this occurred 
 was a Sabbath results from the fact that it was only on the Sabbath that 
 the new shewbread was placed on the table, Lev. xxiv. 8, 9. 
 
 4. did take and eat] St Mark says that this was "in the days of 
 Abiathar the high priest." The priest who actually gave the bread to 
 David was Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar. 
 
 the shewbread] Literally, 'loaves of setting forth;' "continual 
 bread," Numb. iv. 7. "Bread of the Face," i.e. set before the Presence 
 
128 ST LUKE, VI. [v. 5. 
 
 them thaLwere .with him; which it is not lawful to eat but 
 sfOLthe priests alone? And lie said unto them, That th e 
 Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. 
 
 of God, Lev. xxiv. 6, 7. Comp. ** Angel of the Face" Lev. xxiv. 6 — 8; 
 Ex. XXV. 30, xxix. 33. They were tvi^elve unleavened loaves sprinkled 
 with frankincense set on a little golden table. 
 
 which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone\ "It shall be 
 Aaron's and his sons: and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is 
 most holy unto him," Lev. xxiv. 9. Thus David, their favourite saint 
 and hero, had openly and fearlessly violated the letter of the Law with 
 the full sanction of the High Priest, on the plea of necessity, — in other 
 words because mercy is better than sacrifice; and because the higher 
 law of moral obligation must always supersede the lower law of ceremo- 
 nial. This was a proof by way of fact from the Kethubhn or sacred 
 books {Hagiographa) ; in St Matthew our Lord adds a still more striking 
 argument by way of principle from the Law itself. By its own provi- 
 sions the Priests in the laborious work of offering sacrifices violated 
 the Sabbath and yet were blameless. Hence the later Jews deduced 
 the remarkable rule that "there is no sabbatism in the Temple," 
 (Numb, xxviii. 9). And Jesus added "But I say to you there is some- 
 thing greater {ix€.\;ov) than the Temple here." The appeal to their own 
 practice is given in xiv. 5. 
 
 5. The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbathi Rather, 'Lord 
 even of the Sabbath,' though you regard the Sabbath as the most im- 
 portant command of the whole Law. In St Mark we have further, " the 
 Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." 
 
 This was one of no less than six great occasions on which the fury 
 of the Pharisees had been excited by the open manner in which our 
 Lord set aside as frivolous and unauthoritative the burdens which the 
 Oral Law had attached to the Sabbath. The other instances are the 
 h^aling.of the cripple at Bethesda (John v. i — 16); the healmg_of the 
 withered hand (Lk. vi. i — 11); of the blind man at Siloam (John ix. 
 I — 41); of the paralytic woman^^LE xiii. 14 — 17); and of the man 
 with the dropsy tLk. xiv. 1—6). In laying His axe at the root of a 
 proud and ignorant Sabbatarianism, He was laying His axe at the 
 root of all that "miserable micrology" which they had been ac- 
 customed to take for religious life. They had turned the Sabbath 
 from a holy delight into a revolting bondage. The Apocryphal Gospels 
 are following a true tradition in the prominence which they give to 
 Sabbath healing, as a charge against Him on His trial before the 
 Sanhedrin. 
 
 In the famous Cambridge Manuscript (D), the Codex Bezae, there 
 is here added the following passage : " (9« the same day, seeing 
 one working on the Sabbath, He said to him, O man, if indeed thou 
 knowest what thou doest, thou art blessed: but if thou knowest not, thou 
 art cucursed, and a transgressor of the Law." This very remarkable 
 addition cannot be accepted as genuine on the authority of a single MS., 
 and can only be regarded as one oi \h.Q. agrapha dogmata, or 'unrecorded 
 
w. 6—9.] ST LUKE, VI. 129 
 
 6 — II. The Healing of the Man with the Withered Hand. 
 
 And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he en- 6 
 tered into the synagogue and taught : ^d there was a man 
 \^;jioS£ right hand- was withered. And the scribes and Pha- 7 
 risees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath 
 day; thaMhey might find an accusation against him. But 8 
 he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the 
 withered hand, Rise up, and stand j^;-//^ in the midst. And 
 he arose and stood jorthT Then said Jesus unto them,X9 
 will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to 
 
 traditional sayings' of our Lord. The meaning of the story is that *if 
 thy work is of faith, — if thou art thoroughly persuaded in thy own 
 mind — thou art acting with true insight ; but if thy work is not of faith, 
 it is sin.' See Rom. xiv. 22, 23; i Cor. viii. i. What renders the 
 incident improbable is that no Jew would dare openly to violate the 
 Law by workhig on the Sabbath, an act Avhich rendered him legally 
 liable to be stoned. The anecdote, as Grotius thought, may have been 
 written in the margin by some follower of Marcion, who rejected the 
 inspiration of the Old Testament. 
 
 6—11. The Healing of the Man with the Withered Hand. 
 
 6. ifito the synagogue] Matt. xii. 9 — 14; Mk. iii, i — 6. None of 
 the Evangelists enable us to decide on the time or place when the 
 healing occurred. 
 
 there was a man whose right hand was withered] Obviously he had 
 come in the hope of being healed ; and even this the Pharisees regarded 
 as reprehensible, xiii. 14. The Gospel of the Ebionites adds that he 
 was a stonemason, maimed by an accident, and that he implored Jesus 
 to heal him, that he might not have to beg his bread (Jerome on Matt, 
 xii. 10). 
 
 7. the scribes and Pharisees watched him] xx. 20. The followers 
 of Shammai, at that epoch the most powerful of the Pharisaic Schools, 
 were so strict about the Sabbath, that they held it a violation of the 
 Law to tend the sick, or even to console them on that day. Hence 
 what the Pharisees were waiting to see was whether He was going to 
 side with them in their Sabbatic views, or with the more lax Sadducees, 
 whom the people detested. If he did the latter, they thought that they 
 could ruin the popularity of the Great Prophet. But in this, as in every 
 other instance, (i) our Lord absolutely refuses to be guided by the 
 popular orthodoxy of the hour, however tyrannous and ostensibly de- 
 duced from Scripture; and (2) ignores every consideration of party in 
 order to appeal to principles. 
 
 8. their thoughts] Rather, their reasonings. 
 
 9. I will ask you one thing] Rather, I further ask you. Implying 
 that He had already addressed some questions to their consciences on 
 this subject, or perhaps because they had asked Him, 'Is it lawful to 
 heal on the Sabbath?' Matt. xii. 10. 
 
 ST LUKE O 
 
I30 ST LUKE, VI. [vv. 10—12. 
 
 10 do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy il? And 
 looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, 
 Strfiich. forth thy hand. And he did so: ^d his hand was 
 
 11 restored whole as the other. And they were filled with 
 madness; and communed one with another what they might 
 do to Jesus. 
 
 12 — 19. The Selection of the Twelve Apostles. 
 
 12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into 
 a mountain to pray, and continued all night in praye r to 
 
 to do good, or to do evil'\ He was intending to work a miracle for 
 good; they were secretly plotting to do harm, — their object being, if 
 possible, to put Him to death. They received this question in stolid 
 silence. Mk. iii. 4. 
 
 to save life] Rather, a life. 
 
 10. looking round about upon them air\ St Mark adds * with anger, 
 "being grieved a.t the callousness {pdrdsin, Rom. xi. 25) of their hearts.' 
 
 Stretch forth thy hand'\ Compare i K. xiii. 4. 
 
 11. they were filled with madness] Rather, unreasonableness. The 
 word implies senselessness^ the frenzy of obstinate prejudice. It ad- 
 mirably characterises the state of ignorant hatred which is disturbed in 
 the fixed conviction of its own infallibility. (2 Tim. iii. 9.) The two 
 first Sabbath miracles (iv. 35, 39) had excited no opposition, because 
 none of these religious spies and heresy-hunters fxx. 20) were present. 
 
 communed] Rather, began to commune. This public miracle and 
 public refutation clinched their hatred against Him (Matt. xii. 14. 
 Comp. John xi. 53). 
 
 one with another] And, St Mark adds, \vith the Herodians. This 
 shews the extremity of their hate, for hitherto the Pharisees had re- 
 garded the Herodians as a half-apostate political party, more nearly 
 allied to the Sadducees, and ready with them to sacrifice the true 
 interests of their country and faith. St Matthew (xii. 14) says that they 
 actually "held a council against Him." 
 
 what they might do] The form used — what is called the Aeolic 
 aorist — implies extreme perplexity. 
 
 12—19. The Selection of the Twelve Apostles. 
 
 12. in those days] wearied with their incessant espionage and opposi- 
 tion. Probably these two last incidents belong to a later period in the 
 ministry, following the Sermon on the Mount (as in St Matthew) and 
 the bright acceptable Galilaean year of our Lord's work. In any case 
 we have here, from vi. 12 — viii. 56, a splendid cycle of Messianic 
 work in Galilee in the gladdest epoch of Christ's ministry. 
 
 into a mountain] Rather, "into the mountain," with special refer- 
 ence to the Kurn Hattin, or Horns of Hattin, the traditional and 
 almost certainly the actual scene of the Sermon on the Mount. 
 
w. 13, 14.] 
 
 ST LUKE, VI. 
 
 131 
 
 God . And when it was day, he called unto him his disci- 
 ples : and of them he chose twelve^ whom also he named 
 apostles; Simon^ (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew 
 
 in prayer to God'\ The expression used is peculiar. It is literally 
 "in the prayer of God." Hence some have supposed that it should be 
 rendered "in the Prayer-House of God." The word /wj-^wr/?,? meant in 
 Greek not only 'prayer,' but also ^ prayer-house^'' as in the question to 
 a poor person in Juvenal, "In what proseucha am I to look for you?" 
 The proseuchae were merely walled spaces without roof, set apart for 
 purposes of worship where there was no synagogue, as at Philippi (Acts 
 xvi. 13). There is however here an insuperable difficulty in thus 
 understanding the words ; for proseuchae were generally, if not in- 
 variably, in close vicinity to running water (Jos. Antt. xiv. 10, § 23), 
 for purposes of ritual ablution, nor do we ever hear of their being built 
 on hills. On the other hand, if rh 6pos mean only ' the mountainous 
 district,' this objection is not fatal. For another instance of a night 
 spent on a mountain in prayer, see Matt. xiv. 23. 
 
 13. he chose twelvel doubtless with a reference to the twelve tribes 
 of Israel. 
 
 whom also he named apostles'] The word means primarily 'mes- 
 sengers,' as in Phil. ii. 25. It is a translation of the Hebrew Sheloochim, 
 who often acted as emissaries of the Synagogue (comp. Mk. iii, 14, tva 
 dTToa-T^Wrj avrovs). In the other Gospels it only occurs in this sense in 
 Mk. vi. 30; Matt. x. 2; and only once in the LXX., i K. xiv. 6. It 
 has two usages in the N. T., one general (John xiii. 16; Rom. xvi. 7; 
 Heb. iii. i), and one special (i Cor. ix. i and passim). The call of the 
 Apostles was now necessitated both by the widespread fame of our 
 Lord, and the deadly animosity already kindled against Him. Their 
 training soon became the most important part of His work on earth. 
 
 14. Simon] Lists of the twelve Apostles are given in four passages 
 of Scripture in the following order : 
 
 Matt. X. 2—4. Mk. iii 16 — 19. Lk. vi. 14 — 16. Acts i. 13. 
 
 Simon Simon Simon Peter 
 
 Andrew James Andrew James 
 
 James John James John 
 
 John Andrew John Andrew 
 
 Philip 
 
 Bartholomew 
 Thomas 
 Matthew 
 
 Philip 
 
 Bartholomew 
 Matthew 
 Thomas 
 
 Philip 
 
 Bartholomew 
 Matthew 
 Thomas 
 
 James of Al- 
 
 phaeus 
 Lebbaeus 
 Simon the Ka- 
 
 nanite 
 Judas Iscariot 
 
 James of Al- 
 
 phaeus 
 Thaddaeus 
 Simon the Ka- 
 
 nanite 
 Judas Iscariot 
 
 James of Al- 
 
 phaeus 
 Simon Zelotes 
 Jude of James 
 
 Judas Iscariot 
 
 Philip 
 Thomas 
 Bartholomew 
 Matthew 
 
 James of Al- 
 
 phaeus 
 Simon Zelotes 
 Jude of James 
 
 Judas Iscariot 
 
 9—2 
 
132 ST LUKE, VI. [v. 15. 
 
 15 his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartho lomew, Mat- 
 In reading these four independent lists several facts are remark- 
 able. 
 
 i. Each list falls into three tetrads, and the last two tetrads 
 are arranged in slightly varying pairs. "The Apostolic College was 
 formed of three concentric circles — each less closely intimate with Jesus 
 than the last." Godet. 
 
 ii. In each tetrad the names refer to the same persons though the 
 order is different. 
 
 iii. In each list the first of each tetrad is the same — viz. Simon, 
 Philip, and James son of Alphaeus; not as 'supreme among inferior, but 
 as first among equals.' 
 
 iv. In each list Simon stands first ; and Judas Iscariot last, as the 
 *son of perdition.' 
 
 V. Not only do the Apostles seem to be named in the order of their 
 eminence and nearness to Christ, but the first four seem to stand alone 
 (in the Acts the first four are separated by "and;" the rest are ranged in 
 pairs). The first four were the eklekton eklektoteroi — the chosen of the 
 chosen; the ecclesiola in ecclesia. Andrew, who is named last in St Mark 
 and the Acts, though belonging to the inmost band of Apostles (Mk. 
 xiii. 3) and though the earliest of them all (John i. 40), was yet less highly 
 honoured than the other three (who are the deoXoyiKcoTaroi at the healing 
 of Jairus's daughter, Mk. v. 37 ; at the Transfiguration, Matt. xvii. i ; and 
 in Gethsemane, Matt. xxvi. 37). He seems to have been a link of com- 
 munication between the first and second tetrads (John xii. 22, vi. 8). 
 
 vi. The first five Apostles were of Bethsaida; and all the others 
 seem to have been Galilaeans with the single exception of Judas Iscariot, 
 who belonged to a Jewish town (see vs. 16). The only Greek names 
 are those of Philip and Andrew (see John xii. 21, 22). At this time 
 however many Jews bore Greek names. 
 
 vii. In the second tetrad it may be regarded as certain that Bartho- 
 lomew (the son of Tolmai) is the disciple whom St John calls Natha- 
 nael. He may possibly have been Philip's brother. St Matthew puts 
 his own name last, and adds the title of reproach the tax-gatherer. In 
 the two other Evangelists he precedes St Thomas. The name Thomas 
 merely means 'a twin' (Didymus), and one tradition says that he was 
 a twin-brother of Matthew, and that his name too was Jude (Euseb. H. 
 E. I. 13). 
 
 viii. In the third tetrad we find one Apostle with three names. His 
 real name was Jude, but as there was already one Jude among the Apo- 
 stles, and as it was the commonest of Jewish names, and as there was also 
 a Jude who was one of the ' brethren of the Lord,' he seems to have two 
 surnames — Lebbaeus, ixom. lebh, 'heart, 'and Thaddaeus (another form of 
 Theudas, Acts v. 36), from Thad^ 'bosom' — possibly, as some have con- 
 jectured, from the warmth and tenderness of his disposition. (Very few 
 follow Clemens of Alexandria and Ewald in trying to identify Lebbaeus 
 and Levi.) This disciple is called by St Luke (viz. here and in Acts 
 i. 13) "Jude of James," or "James's Jude," and the English Version 
 
V. 15.] ST LUKE, VI. 133 
 
 thew and Thomas, James the son of Alpjieus, and. Simon 
 
 supplies the word "brother," There is however no more decisive reason 
 to supply "brother" (which is at any rate a very unusual ellipse) than in 
 the former verse, where James is called "James of Alphaeus" {Chalpai^ 
 Klopa, John xix. 25, perhaps also Kleopas (xxiv. 18), since Jews often 
 Graecised the form of their names). This three-named disciple was pro- 
 bably a son of James, and therefore a grandson of Alphaeus, and a 
 nephew of Matthew and Thomas. James the son of Alphaeus is some- 
 times called '■'■the Less;''' but this seems to be a mistaken rendering of 
 6 fiiKpbs (Mk. XV. 40), which means ' the short of stature.' The other 
 James is never called 'the Great.' 
 
 ix. Simon Zelotes is called by St Matthew 'the Kananite' (6 Kava- 
 vIttjs) , or according to the better readings ' the Kananaean. ' The word 
 does not mean "Canaanite," as our Version incorrectly gives it, nor yet 
 'inhabitant of Kana in Galilee,' but means the same thing as 'the 
 Zealot,* from J^inedh, 'zeal.' He had therefore once belonged to the 
 sect of terrible fanatics who thought any deed of violence justifiable for 
 the recovery of national freedom, and had been one of the wild followers 
 of Judas the Gaulonite. (Jos. B. y. iv. 3, § 9, and passim.) Their 
 name was derived from i Mace. ii. 50, where the dying Mattathias, father 
 of Judas Maccabaeus, says to the Assidaeans [Chasidim, i.e. 'all such as 
 were voluntarily devoted to the law') "Be ye zealous for the Law, and 
 g^ve your lives for the covenant of your fathers" (comp. 2 Mace. iv. 
 2). It shews our Lord's divine wisdom and fearless universality of love 
 that he should choose for Apostles two persons who had once been at 
 such deadly opposition as a tax-gatherer and a zealot. 
 
 X. For "Judas Iscariot who also betrayed him" St Luke uses the 
 milder description, '■'"which also was the traitor," or rather who also 
 became a traitor. Iscariot has nothing to do with askara, 'strangula- 
 tion,' or sheker, 'lie,' but is in all probability ^^jA Kei'ioth, 'man of 
 Kerioth,' just as Istoljos stands in Josephus {Antt. vii. 6, § r) for ' man 
 of Tob.' Kerioth (Josh. xv. 25) is perhaps Kuryetein, ten miles from 
 Hebron, in the southern border of Judah. If the reading "Iscariot" is 
 right in John vi. 71, xiii. 26 (t^, B, C, G, L), as applied also to Simon 
 Zelotes, then, since Judas is called "son of Simon" (John vi. 71), the 
 last pair of Apostles were father and son. If Judas Iscariot had ever 
 shared the wild Messianic patriotism of his father it would partly 
 account for the recoil of disgust and disappointment which helped to 
 ruin his earthly mind when he saw that he had staked all in the cause 
 of one who was rejected and despised. 
 
 xi. It is a deeply interesting fact, if it be a fact (and although it 
 cannot be made out with certainty because it depends on data which are 
 conjectural, and on tradition which is liable to error — it is still far from 
 improbable) that so many of the Apostles were related to each other. 
 Simon and Andrew were brothers ; James and John were brothers, and, 
 if Salome was a sister of the Virgin (comp. Mk. xv. 40, John xix. 25), 
 they were first cousins of our Lord; Philip and Bartholomew may have 
 been brothers j Thomas, Matthew, and James were brothers and first 
 
134 ' ST LUKE, VI. [w. i6, 17. 
 
 16 called Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas 
 Iscariot, which also was the traitor. 
 
 17 And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, 
 
 cousins of our Lord; Lebbaeus, or *Jude of James,' was His second 
 cousin; Simon Zelotes and Judas Iscariot were father and son. Thus 
 no less than half of the Apostles would have been actually related to 
 our Lord, although His brethren did not believe on Him (John vii. 5). 
 The difficulty however of being sure of these combinations rises in part 
 from the paucity of Jewish names, and therefore the extreme common- 
 ness of Simon, Jude, James, &c. 
 
 xii. The separate incidents in which individual Apostles are men- 
 tioned are as follows : 
 
 Peter: Prominent throughout ; xii. 41, xxii. 31; Matt. xvi. 16, xvii.'24, 
 xix. 27, &c. 
 
 James, | Both prominent throughout. Boanerges ; calling down fire ; 
 
 John : \ petition for precedence, &c. 
 
 James was the first Apostolic martyr; John the last survivor (Acts xii. 
 1\ John xxi. 11). 
 
 Andrew : the first disciple, John i. 40 ; with Jesus on Olivet, Mk. 
 xiii. 3. 
 
 Philip: "Follow me," John i. 43; his frankness, John vi. 7; the 
 Greeks, id. xii. 22 ; "shew us the Father," id. xiv. 8. 
 
 Bartholomew: "an Israelite indeed," John i. 47; of Cana, John xxi. 2. 
 
 Matthew: his call, v. 27, 28. 
 
 Thomas: despondent yet faithful, John xi. 16, xiv. 5, xx. 25, xxu 2. 
 
 James son of Alphaeus : no incident. 
 
 Jude son of James : his perplexed question, John xiv. 22. 
 
 Simon Zelotes: no incident. 
 
 Judas Iscariot : the betrayal and ultimate suicide. 
 
 15. called Zelotes] Rather, who was called the Zealot. 
 
 16. which also was the traitor'] Rather, who also became a traitor. 
 **Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" John vi. 70; 
 I John ii. 17 ; typified by Ahithophel, Ps. xii. 9. If it be asked why 
 our Lord chose him, the answer is nowhere given to us, but we may 
 reverently conjecture that Judas Iscariot, like all human beings, had in 
 him germs of good which might have ripened into holiness, if he had 
 resisted his besetting sin, and not flung away the battle of his life. It is 
 clear that John (at least) among the Apostles had early found him out 
 Qohn xii. 6), and that he had received from our Lord more than one 
 solemn warning (xii. 15, xviii. 25, &c.). 
 
 17. And he came down with them, and stood in the plain] Rather, 
 And descending with them, He stopped on a level place. Topos 
 pedinos also occurs in Is. xiii. 2, LXX. If it be thus rendered there is 
 no discrepancy between St Matthew, who says that " He went up into 
 the mountain, and when He sat down His disciples approached Him " 
 (Matt. V. i). I believe that St Luke here meant to give such portions 
 of the Sermon on the Mount as suited his design. Combining the two 
 narratives with what we know of the scene we see that what occurred 
 
w. 18—20.] ST LUKE, VI. 135 
 
 and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of 
 people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea 
 coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be 
 healed of their diseases; and they that were vexed with un- 18 
 clean spirits : and they were healed. And the whole multi- 19 
 tude sought to touch him : for there went virtue out of him, 
 and healed them all. 
 
 20 — 26. Beatitudes and Woes. 
 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, 20 
 
 Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. 
 
 was as follows. The previous evening Jesus went to one of the peaks 
 of Kurn Hattin (withdrawing Himself from His disciples, who doubtless 
 bivouacked at no great distance), and spent the night in prayer. In 
 the morning He called His disciples and chose Twelve Apostles. Then 
 going with them to some level spot, either the flat space (called in 
 Greek plax) between the two peaks of the hill, or some other spot 
 near at hand, He preached His sermon primarily to His disciples who 
 sat immediately around Him, but also to the multitudes. There is no 
 need to assume two discourses — one esoteric and one exoteric, &c. At 
 the same time there is of course no difficulty in supposing that our 
 Lord may have uttered the same discourse, or parts of the same dis- 
 course, more than once, varying it as occasion required. 
 
 out of all Judea\ St Matthew adds Galilee (which was to a great 
 extent Greek), Decapolis, and Peraea; St Mark also mentions Idumaea. 
 Thus there were Jews, Greeks, Phoenicians, and Arabs among our 
 Lord's hearers. 
 
 19. to touch hini\ Compare viii. 44 ; Matt. xiv. 36 j Mk. v. 30. 
 
 20 — 26. Beatitudes and Woes. 
 
 This section of St Luke, from vi. 20 to ix. 6, resembles in style the 
 great Journey Section, ix. 51 — xviii. 34. 
 
 20. Blessed be ye poor] Rather, Blessed are the poor. The 
 makarioi is a Hebrew expression (ashri), Ps. i. i. St Matthew adds 
 "in spirit" (comp. Is. Ixvi. 2, "To this man will I look, even to him 
 that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word"). But 
 
 ( 1 ) St Luke gives the address of Christ to the poor whose very presence 
 shewed that they were His poor and had come to seek Him ; and 
 
 (2) the Evangelist seems to have been impressed with the blessings of 
 a faithful and humble poverty in itself (comp. Jas. ii. 5 ; i Cor, i. 
 26 — 29), and loves to record those parts of our Lord's teaching which 
 were especially 'the Gospel to the poor' (see i. 53, ii. 7, vi. 20, xii, 
 15 — 34, xvi. 9 — 25). See Introd. p. 27. 
 
 •' Come ye who find contentment's very core 
 In the light store 
 
136 ST LUKE, VI. [v. 21. 
 
 21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. 
 
 And daisied path 
 
 Of poverty, 
 
 And know how more 
 
 A small thing that the righteous hath 
 
 Availeth, than the ungodly's riches great." 
 
 Gov. Patmore. 
 "This is indeed an admirably sweet friendly beginning... for He does not 
 begin like Moses... with command and threatening, but in the friendliest 
 possible way with free, enticing, alluring and amiable promises." 
 Luther. 
 
 for yours is the kingdom of God'\ St Matthew uses the expression " the 
 kingdom of the heavens." The main differences between St Matthew's 
 and St Luke's record of the Sermon on the Mount are explained by the 
 different objects and readers of these Gospels; but in both it is the 
 Inaugural Discourse of the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 (i) St Matthew writes for the Jews, and much that he records has 
 special bearing on the Levitic Law (v. 17 — 38), which St Luke naturally 
 omits as less intelligible to Gentiles. Other parts here omitted are re- 
 corded by St Luke later on (xi. 9 — 13 ; Matt. vii. 7 — 11). 
 
 (ii) St Matthew, presenting Christ as Lawgiver and King, gives the 
 Sermon more in the form of a Code. Kurn Hattin is for him the new 
 and more blessed Sinai ; St Luke gives it more in the form of a direct 
 homily ('yours,' &c., not 'theirs,' vi. 20; Matt. v. 3; and compare 
 vi. 46, 47 with Matt. vii. 21, 24). 
 
 (iii) Much of the Sermon in St Matthew is occupied with the 
 contrast between the false righteousness — the pretentious orthodoxy and 
 self-satisfied ceremonialism — of the Pharisees, and the true righteousness 
 of the Kingdom which is mercy and love. Hence much of his report is 
 occupied with Spirituality as the stamp of true religion, in opposition 
 to formalism, while St Luke deals with Love in the abstract. 
 
 (iv) Thus in St Matthew we see mainly the Law of Love as the 
 contrast between the new and the old ; in St Luke the Law of Love as 
 the central and fundamental idea of the new. 
 
 For a sketch of the Sermon on the Mount, mainly in St Matthew, I 
 may refer to my Life of Christy I. 259 — 264. The arrangement of the 
 section in St Luke is not obvious. Some see in it the doctrine of 
 happiness ; the doctrine of justice ; the doctrine of wisdom ; or (i) the 
 salutation of love (vi. 20 — 26) ; the precepts of love (27 — 38) ; the 
 impulsion of love (39 — 49). These divisions are arbitrary. Godet 
 more successfully arranges it thus : (r) The members of the new society 
 (20 — 26; Matt. V. I — 12); (2) The fundamental principle of the new 
 society (27 — 45; Matt. v. 13 — vii. 12) ; (3) The judgment of God on 
 which it rests (46 — 49; Matt. vii. 13 — 27): — in other words (i) the 
 appeal ; (2) the principles ; (3) the sanction. 
 
 21. Blessed are ye that hunger now] Comp. i. 53; Ps. cvii. 9, St 
 Matthew here also brings out more clearly that it is the beatitude of 
 spiritual hunger " after righteousness." 
 
V. 22.] ST LUKE, VI. T37 
 
 Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 
 
 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they ca 
 shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach 
 you^ and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's 
 
 ye shall laugK\ See 2 Cor. vi. 10 ; Rev. xxi. 4. 
 
 22. hate you... separate yoii... reproach... cast out your name as evil] 
 We have here four steps of persecution increasing in virulence : 
 (i) General hatred, (■2) Exclusion from the synagogue, a lesser ex- 
 communication, viz. the Neztphah or exclusion for 30 days, or Niddoui 
 for 90 days (Gfrorer, Jahrh. d. Heils, I. 183 ; John ix. 34. Hence 
 aphorismos means ^excommunication^), (3) Violent slander, (4) The 
 Cherem, Shammata, or greater excommunication, — permanent expulsion 
 from the Synagogue and Temple (John xvi. 2). The Jews pretended 
 that our Lord was thus excommunicated to the blast of 400 ram's horns 
 by Joshua Ben Perachiah (Wagenseil, Sota, p, 1057), ^^^^ was only 
 crucified forty days after because no witness came forward in His 
 favour. 
 
 as evil] 'Malefic' or 'execrable superstition' was the favourite 
 description of Christianity among Pagans (Tac. Ajin. XV. 44 ; Suet. 
 AWo, 16), and Christians were charged with incendiarism, cannibalism, 
 and every infamy. (The student will find such heathen views of 
 Christianity collected in my Life of St Paul, Exc. XV. Vol. i.) 
 
 for the Son of man's sake] The hatred of men is not in itself a 
 beatitude, because there is a general conscience which condemns certain 
 forms of wickedness, and a man may justly incur universal execration. 
 But the world also hates those who run counter to its pleasures and 
 prejudices, and in that case hatred may be the tribute which vice pays to 
 holiness; i Pet. ii. 19, iii. 14. "The world hath hated them, because 
 they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world ;" John xvii. 14. 
 Still a man may well tremble when he is enjoying throughout life a 
 beatitude of benediction. And 'the world ' by no means excludes the 
 so-called 'religious world,' which has hated with a still fiercer hatred, 
 and exposed to a yet deadlier martyrdom, some of its greatest prophets 
 and teachers. Not a few of the great and holy men enumerated in the 
 next note fell a victim to the fury of priests. Our Lord was handed 
 over to crucifixion by the unanimous hatred of the highest religious 
 authorities of His day. 
 
 On the title Son of Man, which occurs in all the four Gospels, 
 see p. 119. In using it Christ "chooses for Himself that title which 
 definitely presents His work in relation to humanity in itself, and 
 not primarily in relation to God or to the chosen people, or even 
 to humanity as fallen." Canon Westcott (on John i. 51) considers 
 that it was not distinctively a Messianic title, and doubts its having 
 been derived from Dan. vii. 13. "The Son of God was made a 
 Son of Man that you who were sons of men might be made sons 
 of God." Aug. Serm. 121. As the " Second Adam" Christ is 
 the representative of the race (i Cor. xv. 45) in its highest ideal ; 
 
138 ST LUKE, VI. [vv. 23—26. 
 
 93 sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and \Q.2i-^ for joy : for behold, 
 your reward is great in heaven : for in the Hke manner did 
 their fathers unto the prophets. 
 
 24 But woe unto you that are rich: for ye have received 
 your consolation. 
 
 25 Woe unto you that are full : for ye shall hunger. 
 
 Woe unto you that laugh now : for ye shall mourn and 
 weep. 
 
 26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you : for 
 so did their fathers to the false prophets. 
 
 as "the Lord from Heaven" He is the Promise of its future exalt- 
 ation. 
 
 23. Rejoice ye in that day] See Acts v. 41. ** We glory in tribu- 
 lation ;" Rom. V. 3 ; Jas. i. 2, 3 ; Col. i. 24 ; Heb. xi. 26. They 
 accepted with joy that ' ignominy of Christ' which made the very name 
 of ' Christian ' a term of execration ; i Pet. iv. 14, 16. 
 
 in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets] Elijah and his 
 contemporaries, i K. xix. 10. Hanani imprisoned by Asa, 2 Chron. 
 xvi. 10. Micaiah imprisoned, i K. xxii. 27. Zechariah stoned by 
 Joash, 2 Chr. xxiv. 20, 21. Urijah slain by Jehoiakim, Jer. xxvi. 23. 
 Jeremiah imprisoned, smitten and put in the stocks, Jer. xxxii., xxxviii. 
 Amos slandered, expelled, and perhaps beaten to death (Am. vii.). Isaiah 
 (according to tradition) sawn asunder, Heb. xi. 37, &c. See the same 
 reproach against the Jews in Heb. xi. 36 — 38 ; Acts vii. 52 ; i Thess. 
 ii. 14, 15. 
 
 24. But woe] While sin lasts, there must still be woes over against 
 Beatitudes, as Ebal stands for ever opposite to Gerizim. In St Matthew 
 also we find (Matt, xxiii.) eight woes as well as eight Beatitudes. See 
 too Jer. xvii. 5 — 8, but there the "cursed" precedes the "blessed." 
 
 woe unto you that are rich] The ' woe !' is not necessarily or wholly 
 denunciatory ; it is also the cry of compassion, and of course it only 
 applies — not toaChuzas or a Nicodemus or a Joseph of Arimathaea, — but 
 to those rich who are not poor in spirit, but trust in riches (Mk. x. 24), 
 or are not rich towards God (xii. 21) and have not got the true riches 
 (xvi. II ; Amos vi. i ; Jas. v. i). Observe the many parallels between 
 the Epistle of St James and the Sermon on the Mount, Jas. i. 2, 4, 5, 9, 
 20, ii. 13, 14, 17. 18, iv. 4, 10, II, V. 2, 10, 12. 
 
 ye have received your consolation] Rather, ye have to the full, Phil, 
 iv. 18; comp. xvi. 25, "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime re- 
 ceivedst good things." 
 
 25. you that are fulf] ** Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister 
 Sodom, Y>^\(}i&, fulness 0/ bread " Ezek. xvi. 49. 
 
 Woe unto you that laugh now] Compare Eccles. ii. 2, vii. 6 ; Prov. 
 xiv. 13. . 
 
 26. Woe unto you] Omit unto you with K, A, B, E, &c. 
 
 when all mm shall speak well of you] "Know ye not that the 
 
w. 27—29.] ST LUKE, VI. 139 
 
 ,01' 27 — 38. The Laws of Love and Mercy. 
 
 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do 27 
 good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, 28 
 and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto 29 
 him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; 
 
 friendship of the world is enmity with God?" Jas. iv. 4. "If ye were 
 of the world, the world would love his own," John xv. 19. 
 
 for so did their fathers to the false prophets'\ "The prophets prophesy 
 falsely. ..and my people love to have it so," Jer. v. 31. The prophets 
 of Baal and of Asherah, honoured by Jezebel, i K. xviii. 19, 22. 
 Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, supported by Ahab, i K. xxii. 11. ** Speak 
 unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits," Is. xxx. lo. 
 
 27 — 38. The Laws of Love and Mercy. 
 
 [27 — 30. T\iQ. manifestations oi l.o\e. 31. Its formula. 32 — 35. Its 
 distinctiveness. 35—36. Its model. 37 — 45. Love as the principle 
 of all judgment. Godet.] 
 
 27. Love your enemies'] This had been distinctly the spirit of the 
 highest part of the Law and the Old Testament. Ex. xxiii. 4, "If 
 thou meet thine enemy's ox or ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring 
 it back to him again." Prov. xxv. 21, "If thine enemy be hungry, 
 give him bread to eat." Yet in many passages it had practically been 
 said "to men of old time," at any rate in some cases, "thou shalt hate 
 thine enemy," Deut. vii. 2, xxiii. 6; i Chr. xx. 3; 2 Sam. xii. 31; Ps. 
 cxxxvii. 8, 9, &c. On these passages the fierce fanaticism of the 
 Pharisaic Jews, after the Exile, had so exclusively fed, that we find the 
 Talmud ringing with precepts of hatred the most bitter against all 
 Gentiles, and the ancients had, not unnatui-ally, been led to the con- 
 clusion that detestation of all but Jews was a part of the Jewish 
 religion ("adversus omnes alios hostile odium," Tac. Hist. v. 5; Juv. 
 Sat. XIV. 103). 
 
 do good to them which hate you] See the precept beautifully enforced 
 in Rom. xii. 17, 19 — 21. 
 
 28. pray for them which despitefully use you] The Greek word 
 implies the coarsest insults, and is found in i Pet. iii. 16. St Luke 
 alone records our Lord's prayer for His murderers, xxiii. 34, from 
 which St Stephen learnt his, Acts vii. 60. 
 
 29. ojh- also the other] The general principle "resist not evil" 
 (Matt. V. 39; I Cor. vi. 7; i Pet. ii. 19 — 23) impressed for ever on the 
 memory and conscience of mankind by a striking paradox. That it is 
 only meant as a paradox in its literal sense is shewn by the fact that 
 our Lord Himself, while most divinely true to its spirit, did not act on 
 the letter of it (John xviii. 22, 23). The remark of a good man on 
 reading the Sermon on the Mount, "either this is not true, or we are no 
 Christians," need not be correct of any of us. The precepts are meant, 
 St Augustine said, more " ad praeparationem cordis quae intus esV than 
 
I40 ST LUKE, VI. [w. 30—35. • 
 
 and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy 
 
 30 coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of 
 
 31 him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as 
 ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them 
 
 32 likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank 
 
 33 have ye ? for sinners also love those that love them. And 
 if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank 
 
 34 have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend 
 to the7n of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? 
 for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 
 
 35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping 
 for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye 
 
 '■' ad opus quod in aperto Jit;'' but still, the fewer exceptions we make 
 the better, and the more absolutely we apply the spirit of the rules, the 
 fewer difficulties shall we find about the letter. 
 
 thy cloke... thy coat] The himation was the upper garment, the 
 shawl-like abba; the chitdn was the tunic. See on iii. 1 1. 
 
 30. Give to every man that asketh of thee] Literally, ^^ be giving,'' 
 implying a habit, not an instant act. Here again we have a broad, 
 general principle of unselfishness and liberality safely left to the common 
 sense of mankind, Deut. xv. 7, 8, 9. The spirit of our Lord's precept 
 is now best fulfilled by not giving to every man that asks, because in 
 the altered circumstances of the age such indiscriminate almsgiving 
 would only be a check to industry, and a premium on imposture, 
 degradation, and vice. By 'giving,' our Lord meant 'conferring a 
 boon ;' but mere careless giving now, so far from conferring a boon, 
 perpetuates a curse and inflicts an injury. The spirit of the precept is 
 large-handed but thoughtful charity. Love must sometimes violate the 
 letter as the only possible way of observing the spirit (Matt. xv. 26, 
 XX. 23). 
 
 31. as ye would that men should do to you] The golden rule of 
 Christianity of which our Lord said that it was "the Law and the 
 Prophets," Matt. vii. 12. The modern 'Altruism' and ^vivre pour 
 autrui,^ though pompously enunciated as the bases of a new religion, 
 are but a mutilated reproduction of this. 
 
 '32. for sinners also love those that love them] Where St Matthew 
 (v. 46, 47), writing for Jews, uses the term " tax-gatherers " or ' Gentile 
 persons' {ethnikoi), St Luke naturally substitutes the nearest equivalents 
 of those words in this connexion, because he is writing for Gentiles. Our 
 Lord meant that our standard must rise above the ordinary dead level 
 of law, habit, custom, which prevail in the world. 
 
 34, to receive as much again] From this we see that 'interest' and 
 * usury ' are not here contemplated at all. 
 
 36. hoping for nothing again] See Ps. xv. 5, with the Rabbinic 
 comment that God counts it as universal obedience if any one lends 
 
vv. 36—38.] ST LUKE, VI. 141 
 
 shall be the children of the Highest : for he is kind unto the 
 unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as 36 
 your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not 37 
 be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: 
 forgive, and ye shall be forgiven : give, and it shall be given 38 
 unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken toge- 
 ther^ and running over, shall men give into your bosom. 
 For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be 
 measured to you again. 
 
 without interest. The words may also mean despairing in nothing', 
 or (if iiriUv be read) driving no one to despair. 
 
 he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil\ See the exquisite 
 addition in Matt. v. 45. 
 
 36. Be ye therefore mercifuT\ Rather, Become, or Prove yourselves 
 merciful (omit ovv, t5, B, D, L). 
 
 merciful\ St Matthew has ^^ perfect^'' v. 48; but that there is no 
 essential difference between the two Evangelists we may see in such 
 expressions as "the Father of Mercies,'''' 1 Cor. i. 3; "The Lord is 
 very pitiful and of tender mercy," James v. 11 ; " Put on therefore as 
 the elect of God. ..bowels of mercies, kindness," Col. iii. 12; Is. xxx. 
 18. " God can only be our ideal in His moral attributes, of which Love 
 is the centre." Van Oosterzee. 
 
 ** It is an attribute to God Himself, 
 And earthly power doth then shew likest God's 
 "When mercy seasons justice." 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 37. jfudge not] For comment read Rom. ii. i — 3, xiv. 10, "Why 
 dost thou judge thy brother ?... for we shall all stand before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ ;" i Cor. iv. 3 — 5, xiii., and the Lord's 
 prayer; James ii. 13, "he shall have judgment without mercy that 
 hath shewed no mercy." Hence a " righteous jndgment" of others 
 is not forbidden, so long as it be made in a forbearing and tender spirit, 
 John vii. 24. 
 
 forgive, and ye shall be forgiven] For comment see the Parable of 
 the Debtors, Matt, xviii. 23 — 35. 
 
 38. into your boso??i\ Pockets were unknown to the ancients. All 
 that was necessary was carried in the fold of the robe (Heb. Cheyk, 
 Ps. xxxv. 13, &c. ; Lat. sinus) or in the girdle. 
 
 with the same measure that ye mete] A proverb almost verbally 
 identical with this is found in the Talmud (Duke's Rabbin. Blumenlese, 
 p, 162), but it must be remembered that the earliest parts of the 
 Talmud were not committed to writing till more than two centuries 
 after Christ, and long before that time His sayings may have been 
 *in the air,' i. e. they may have passed unconsciously into the store 
 of the national wisdom even among His enemies. 
 
142 ST LUKE, VI. [vv. 39—44. 
 
 39 — 45. Sincerity. Four Comparisons. 
 
 39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead 
 
 40 the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? The dis- 
 ciple is not above his master : but every one that is perfect 
 
 41 shall be as his master. And why beholdest thou the mote 
 that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that 
 
 42 is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy bro- 
 ther, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, 
 when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine 
 own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of 
 thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out 
 
 43 the mote that is in thy brother's eye. For a good tree 
 bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree 
 
 44 bring forth good fiuit. For every tree is known by his own 
 fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bram- 
 
 39 — 45. Sincerity. Four Comparisons. 
 
 39. Can the blind lead the blind 11 Matt. xv. 14. Prov. xix. 27, 
 ** Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err." St Paul 
 taunts the Jew with professing to be "a guide of the bUnd," Rom. 
 ii. 19. St Luke calls this "a parable" in the broader sense (see on 
 iv. 23); and in this Gospel the Sermon thus ends with four vivid 
 * parables ' or similes taken from the sights of daily life — blind leaders 
 of blind; the mote and the beam; good and bad fruit; the two houses. 
 
 40. every one that is perfect shall be as his master] Rather, who 
 has been perfected, 2 Tim. iii. 17. A favourite quotation of St 
 John's, xiii. 16, xv. 20. See Matt. x. 25. 
 
 41. beholdest thou the mote] The hypocrite sees {blepei) at the 
 slightest glance the mote in his brother's eye ; but not the most careful 
 inspection enables him to observe {katanoein) the very obvious beam 
 in his own eye. The word mote is in the original karphos, a stalk or 
 chip, and this is also the idea of mote. Thus in Dutch mot is dust of 
 wood; in Spanish mota is a flue on cloth. 
 
 the beam] The entire illustration is Jewish, and was used to express 
 impatience pf just reproof {Babha Bathra, f. 15. 2) so that 'mote' 
 and 'beam' became proverbial for little and great faults. The proverb 
 also implies, 'How can you see others' faults properly with a beam in the 
 depth of your eye (^K^a\€...iK, Matt. vii. 5)? how dare you condemn 
 when you are so much worse?' Comp. Chaucer {Reeve^s Prologue)^ 
 " He can wel in myn eye see a stalke 
 But in his owne he can nought seen a balke." 
 
 42. Thou hypocrite] Rom. ii. i, " Wherein thou judgest another, 
 thou condemnest thyself." "If we condemn others when we are worse 
 than they, we are like bad trees pretending to bear good fruit." Bengel. 
 
w. 45—49.] ST LUKE, VI. 143 
 
 ble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good 45 
 treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and 
 an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth 
 forth that which is evil : for of the abundance of the heart 
 his mouth speaketh. 
 
 46 — 49. False and true Foundations, 
 
 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the thmgs 46 
 which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my 47 
 sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is 
 like : he is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, 48 
 and laid the foundation on a rock : and when the flood 
 arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and 
 could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But 49 
 he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a 
 foundation built a house upon the earth; against which the 
 
 44. do not gather Jigs] The simile might have been illustrated by 
 pointing to one of the common Eastern gardens or orchards with its 
 festooning vines and fig-trees just beyond the rough hedges of prickly 
 pear. 
 
 45. of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketK\ " O gene- 
 ration of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?" Matt, 
 xii. 34; "the vile person will speak villany, Is. xxxii. 6. 
 
 46—49. False and true Foundations. 
 
 46. why call ye me. Lord, Lord] ** If I be a master, where is my 
 fear, saith the Lord of hosts?" Mai. i. 6. Painful comments are sup- 
 plied by the language of two parables, Matt. xxv. 11, 12 ; Luke xiii. 
 25. 
 
 47. and doeth them] John xiii. 17. ** Be ye doers of the word, and 
 not hearers only," James i. 22. 
 
 48. he is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and 
 laid the foundation on a rock] The E.V. here loses all the picturesque 
 force of the original. Rather, he is like a man building- a house, 
 who dug-, and kept deepening, and laid a foundation on the rock. 
 The rock is Christ and the teaching of Christ (i Cor. x. 4). Whether 
 tested by flood, or by fire (i Cor. iii. 11 — 15), only the genuine building 
 stands. In another sense, too, "the wicked are ovei'thrown, and 
 are not : but the house of the righteous shall stand, " Prov. xii. 7. 
 
 the flood] Rather, an inundation ; the sudden rush of a spait. 
 
 for it was founded upon a rock] Rather, for it had been founded 
 upon the rock. In some MSS. (fc5, L) we find, instead of this clause, 
 ** because it was well built. ^^ 
 
 49. upon the earth] In St Matthew, more graphically, ^^ upon the 
 sand f^ e.g. the sand of superficial intellectual acceptance. 
 
144 ST LUKE, VII. [w. i— 5. 
 
 stieam did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and 
 the ruin of that house was great. 
 
 Ch. VII. I — 10. Healing of the Cmtur ion's Servant. 
 
 7 Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience 
 
 2 of the people, he entered into Capernaum. And a certain 
 centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and 
 
 3 ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto 
 him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would 
 
 4 come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, 
 they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for 
 
 s whom he should do this : for he loveth our nation, and he 
 
 itfeir\ Rather, it fell in a heap, reading sunepesen. 
 the ruin\ Literally, *' the breach.''^ 
 
 Ch. VII. 1 — 10. Healing of the Centurion's Servant. 
 
 1. in the audience'] i. e. in the hearing. 
 
 he entered into Capernauni] See Matt. viii. 5 — 13. This was now 
 His temporary home. The incident occurred as He was entering the 
 toAvn. 
 
 2. a certain centurion^ s servant] Literally, "j/aiz/^." The word used 
 by St Matthew {pais) might mean son, but is clearly also used for ser- 
 vant (like the l^zXin puer). A centurion is a captain; under him is a 
 sergeant {dekadarch), and above him a colonel {chiliarch), and general 
 {hegefnon). Jos. B. J. v. 12, § 2. All the centurions in the N.T. are 
 favourably mentioned (xxiii. 47 ; Acts xxvii. 43). 
 
 dear] Rather, precious. The love of the captain for his servant 
 was a good example for the Jews themselves, who in the Talmud for- 
 bade mourning for slaves. 
 
 sick] St Matthew says, "stricken with paralysis, and in terrible 
 pain" (viii. 6). St Luke, as a physician, may have omitted this 
 specification because the description applies rather to tetanus than to 
 the strict use of ^^ pa7'alysis.^* 
 
 ready to die] Rather, was on the point of death. 
 
 3. when he heard of J esus] Rather, having heard about Jesus. 
 
 he sent unto him the elders] Rather, elders {Zekdnim), with no 
 article. These 'elders' were doubtless some of the ten functionaries, 
 whom the Jews also called Parnasim, 'shepherds.' Their functions 
 were not in any respect sacerdotal. 
 
 4. instantly] i.e. urgently, as in the phrase "continuing instant 
 in prayer," 
 
 5. he loveth our nation] This shews that the centurion was a 
 Gentile, — probably a proselyte of the gate (though the term was in- 
 vented later), i.e. one of those who embraced Judaism on the whole, 
 but without becoming a 'proselyte of righteousness' by accepting 
 
w. 6, 7.] ST LUKE, VII. 145 
 
 hath built us a synagogue. Then Jesus went with them. 6 
 And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion 
 sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not 
 thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter 
 under my roof : wherefore neither thought I myself worthy 7 
 
 circumcision. It is not impossible that he may have been a Roman, 
 though there is no direct proof that Romans ever held such offices under 
 Herod Antipas. More probably he was some Greek or Syrian, holding 
 a commission under the tetrarch. 
 
 he hath built us a synagogtie] Rather, our Synagogue lie himself 
 built for us. The expression, "the synagogue," does not necessarily 
 imply that there was only one synagogue in Capernaum, but only that 
 he had built the one from which this deputation came, which was 
 probably the chief synagogue of Capernaum. If Capernaum be Tel 
 Hum (as I became convinced on the spot itself), then the ruins of it 
 shew that it probably possessed two synagogues ; and this we should 
 have conjectured beforehand, seeing that Jerusalem is said to have had 
 400. The walls of one of these, built of white marble, are of the age of the 
 Herods, and stand just above the lake. It may be the very building 
 here referred to. This liberality on the part of the Gentiles was by no 
 means unfrequent. Wealthy Gentile proselytes not seldom sent splendid 
 gifts to the Temple itself. The Ptolemies, Jos. Antt. xii. 2, § 5 ; Sosius, 
 id. XIV. 16, § 4; Fulvia, id. xviii. 3, § 5, &c. See on xxi. 5. 
 
 6. when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent 
 friends to hi?n'] Here the narrative of St Luke is much more detailed, 
 and therefore probably more exact, than that of St Matthew, who 
 represents the conversation as taking place between our Lord and the 
 centurion himself. We see from St Luke that he had been prevented 
 from coming in person by deep humility, and the belief that the elders 
 would be more likely to win the boon for him. Meanwhile, he pro- 
 bably stayed by the bedside of his dying slave. St Matthew's narrative 
 is framed on the simple and common principle, qtii facit per aliiim 
 facit per se. 
 
 Lord'\ The word in itself may mean no more than "Sir," as in 
 John iv. 19, xii. i\; Acts xvi. 30, &c. It was, in fact, like the Latin 
 dominus, an ordinary mode of address to persons whose names were 
 unknown (Sen., Ep. 3); but the centurion's entire conduct shews that 
 on his lips the word would have a more exalted significance. In a 
 special sense Kuptos is a name for God {Adonai) and Jehovah (i Thess. 
 V. 2, &c.). 
 
 trouble not thyself] The word skullo (Matt. ix. 30) would in classical 
 Greek be a slang word. 'Bother not,' or 'worry not thyself.' But in 
 Hellenistic Greek, both slang words {hupopiazo, xviii. 5; katanarkao, 
 2 Cor. xii. 13) and purely poetic words (see ii. 35) had become current 
 in ordinary senses. 
 
 under my roof] The emphasis is on the my, as is shewn by its 
 position in the Greek. **I am not worthy" — Dicendo se indignum 
 
146 ST LUKE, VII. [vv. 8— lo. 
 
 to come unto thee : but say in a word, and my servant shall 
 
 8 be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, 
 having under me soldiers, and I say unto one. Go, and he 
 goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my 
 
 9 servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard these 
 things^ he marvelled at him, and turned him about^ and said 
 unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not 
 
 10 found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And they that were 
 sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that 
 had been sick. 
 
 praestitit dignum non in cujus parietes sed in cujus cor Christus in- 
 traret. Aug. 
 
 7. say in a word] The centurion had clearly heard how Jesus, by 
 His mere y?a/, had healed the son of the 'courtier' at Capernaum (John 
 iv. 46 — 54). The attempt to make these two miracles identical is to 
 the last degree arbitrary and untenable. 
 
 my servant] The centurion here uses the more tender word, pais^ 
 'son.' 
 
 shall be healed"] Perhaps the better reading is let him be healed. The 
 faith of the centurion was "an invisible highway for the saving eagles of 
 the great Imperator." Lange. 
 
 8. For I also] This assigns the reason why he made the request. 
 He was but a subordinate himself, "under authority" of his chiliarch 
 and other officers, and yet he had soldiers under him as well as a 
 servant, who at a word executed his orders. He inferred that Jesus, 
 who had the power of healing at a distance, had at His command 
 thousands of the "Heavenly Army" (ii. 13; Matt. xxvi. 53) who would 
 
 "at His bidding speed, 
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest." 
 
 9. he marvelled at him] The only other place where the astonish- 
 ment of Jesus is recorded is astonishment at unbelief. Mk. vi. 6. 
 
 I have not found so great faiths no, not in Israel] Rather, Not even 
 in Israel found I so great faith. These words are preserved with 
 similar exactness in St Matthew. "He had found," says St Augustine, 
 "in the oleaster what He had not found in the olive." Nothing can be 
 more clear than that neither Evangelist had seen the narrative of the 
 other, and, since St Matthew is the less exact, we infer that both Evan- 
 gelists in this instance drew from some cycle of oral or written apo- 
 stolic teaching. The words added by St Matthew (viii. 11, 12) are given 
 by St Luke in another connexion (xiii. 28 sq.). 
 
 10. found the servant whole] Rather, convalescent, a medical word 
 which is found also in xv. 27 (and in a metaphorical sense in Tit. i. 13; 
 I Tim. i. 10, vi. 3; 2 Tim. i. 13, iv. 3). 
 
 that had been sick] These words should probably be omitted. 
 
v: 
 
 yv. II— 14.] ST LUKE, VII. 147 
 
 II — 17. T/ie raising of the Son of the Widow of Nain. 
 
 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a n 
 city called Nain ; and many of his disciples went with him, 
 and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of 12 
 the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only 
 son of his mother, and she was a widow : and much people 
 of the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he 13 
 had compassion on her, and said unto her. Weep not. And 14 
 
 11 — 17. The raising of the Son of the Widow of Nain. 
 
 11. the day after] If the reading r^ be right we must understand 
 Tjfxipq,, 'day.' Some MSS. (A, B, L, &c.) read t^, which would give a 
 wider limit of time. St Luke alone, with his characteristic tenderness, 
 preserves for us this narrative. 
 
 into a city called Nain] In the tribe of Issachar. The name means 
 'lovely,' and it deserves the name from its site on the north-west slope of 
 Jebel el Duhy, or Little Hermon, not far from Endor, and full in view 
 of Tabor and the hills of Zebulon. It is twenty-five miles from Caper- 
 naum, and our Lord, starting in the cool of the very early morning, as 
 Orientals always do, would reach it before noon. It is now a squalid 
 and wretched village still bearing the name of Nein. 
 
 many of his disciples went with him, and much people] More literally, 
 'there were accompanying Him His disciples, in considerable numbers, 
 and a large multitude.' In this first year of His ministry, before the 
 deadly opposition to Him had gathered head, while as yet the Pharisees 
 and leaders had not come to an open rupture with Him, and He had not 
 sifted His followers by 'hard sayings,' our Lord was usually accompanied 
 by adoring crowds. 
 
 12. came nigh to the gate] All ordinary Jewish funerals are extra- 
 miiral. Nain is approached by a narrow rocky path, and it must have 
 been at this spot that the two processions met. They were perhaps 
 going to bury the dead youth in one of the rock-hewn sepulchres which 
 are still visible on the hill side. 
 
 the only son of his mother] See on viii. 42, ix. 38. 
 
 much people of the city] Compare the public sympathy for the family 
 of Bethany (John xi. 19); and on the bitterness of mourning for an 
 only child, see Jer. vi. 16; Zech. xii. 10; Amos viii. 10. 
 
 13. when the Lord saw her] "The Lord" is far more frequent as a 
 title of Jesus in St Luke (vii. 31, x. i, xi. i, xii. 42, xvii. 5, 6, xix. 8, 
 xxii. 61) than in the other Evangelists except St John. The fact is a 
 sign of the spread of Christian faith. Even though St Luke's Gospel 
 may not have been published more than a year or two after St Mat- 
 thew's, yet St Luke belongs so to speak to a later generation of 
 disciples. 
 
 he had compassion on her] Jesus, who was always touched by the 
 sight of human agony (Mk. vii. 34, viii. 12), seems to have felt a pecu- 
 liar compassion for the anguish of t>ereavement (John xi. 33 — 37). The 
 
148 ST LUKE, VII. [w. 15—20. 
 
 he came and touched the bier : and they that bare him stood 
 still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee. Arise. 
 
 15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he 
 
 16 delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on all : 
 and they glorified God, saying. That a great prophet is risen 
 
 17 up among us ; and. That God hath visited his people. And 
 this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judea, and 
 throughout all the region round about. 
 
 18 — 35. The Message from the Baptist 
 
 18 And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things. 
 
 19 And John calling unto hi^n two of his disciples sent them to 
 Jesus, saying. Art thou he that should come? or look we 
 
 20 for another ? When the men were come unto him, they 
 
 fact that this youth was "the only son of his mother and she a widow" 
 would convey to Jewish notions a deeper sorrow than it even does to 
 ours, for they regarded childlessness as a special calamity, and the loss 
 of offspring as a direct punishment for sin (Jer. vi. 26; Zech. xii. 10; 
 Amos viii. 10). 
 •weep not] Rather, Be not weeping, i.e. 'dry thy tears.' 
 14, touched the bier] Rather, 'the coffin.' Here again, as in the 
 case of the leper (v. 12), our Lord sacrificed the mere Levitical cere- 
 monialism, with its rules about uncleanness, to a higher law. Jewish 
 coffins were open, so that the form of the dead was visible. 
 
 Arise\ Probably the single monosyllable A'zi;// / Compare viii. 54; 
 John xi. 43 ; Acts ix. 40. How unlike the passionate tentative struggles 
 of Elijah (i Kings xvii. 21) and Elisha (2 Kings iv. 35) ! 
 
 16. a great prophet] The expectation of the return of Elijah, Jere- 
 miah, or "one of the Prophets" was at that time widely spread. See on 
 ix. 8, 19. 
 
 God hath visited his people] Compare i. 68 ; John iii. 2. 
 
 17. throughout all Judcea] The notion that St Luke therefore sup- 
 posed Nain to be in Judaea is quite groundless. He means that the 
 story of the incident at Nain spread even into Judaea. 
 
 18 — 35. The Message from the Baptist. 
 
 19. John calling unto him two of his disciples] The Baptist was 
 now in prison (Matt. xi. 2 — 6), but was not precluded from intercourse 
 with his friends. 
 
 to Jesus] The reading of B and some other Uncials is "to the Lord." 
 Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?] Rather, Art 
 thou the coming [Messiah], or are we to expect another? "The Coming 
 (One)" is a technical Hebrew term for the Messiah {Habbd). This brief 
 remarkable message is identical with that in St Matthew, except that 
 St Luke uses allon ('another') and St Matthew heteron ('a second,' or 
 
V. 21.] ST LUKE, VII. 149 
 
 said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying. Art thou 
 he that should come ? or look we for another ? And in 
 that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, 
 and of evil spirits ; and unto many that were blind he gave 
 
 'different one'). Probably however there is no significance in this 
 variation, since the accurate classical meaning of heteros was partly obli- 
 terated. Probably too the messengers spoke in Aramaic. " The corning^'' 
 is clearer in St Matthew, because he has just told us that John heard in 
 prison the works of "M<? Christ,''' i.e. of the Messiah. Those who are 
 shocked with the notion that the faith of the Baptist should even for a 
 moment have wavered, suppose that ( i ) St John merely meant to sug- 
 gest that surely the time had now come for the Messiah to reveal himself 
 as the Messiah, and that his question was one rather of 'increasing 
 impatience' than of 'secret unbelief;' or (2) that the message was sent 
 solely to reassure John's own disciples ; or (3) that, as St Matthew here 
 uses the phrase "the works of the Messiah'" and not "of Jesus," the 
 Baptist only meant to ask ' Art thou the same person as the Jesus to 
 whom I bore testimony?' These suppositions are excluded, not only by 
 the tenor of the narrative but directly by vs. 23; (Matt. xi. 6). Scrip- 
 ture never presents the saints as ideally faultless, and therefore vdth 
 holy truthfulness never conceals any sign of their imperfection or weak- 
 ness. Nothing is more natural than that the Great Baptist — to whom 
 had been granted but a partial revelation — should have felt deep anguish 
 at the calm and noiseless advance of a Kingdom for which, in his 
 theocratic and Messianic hopes, he had imagined a very different pro- 
 clamation. Doubtless too his faith like that of Elijah (i K. xix. 4), of Job 
 in his trials (Job iii. i), and of Jeremiah in prison (Jer. xx. 7), might be for 
 a moment drowned by the tragic briefness, and disastrous eclipse of his 
 own career ; and he might hope to alleviate by this message the anguish 
 which he felt when he contrasted the joyous brightness of our Lord's 
 Galilean ministry with the unalleviated gloom of his own fortress-prison 
 among the black rocks at Makor. 'If Jesus be indeed the promised 
 Messiah,' he may have thought, 'why am I, His Forerunner, suffered to 
 languish undelivered, — the victim of a wicked tyrant?' The Baptist 
 was but one of those many glorious saints whose careers God, in His 
 mysterious Providence, has suffered to end in disaster and eclipse that 
 He may shew us how small is the importance which we must attach 
 to the judgment of men, or the rewards of earth. "We fools accounted 
 his life madness, and his end to be without honour : how is he num- 
 bered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints ! " 
 Wisd. v. 20. We may be quite sure that "in the fiery furnace God 
 walked with His servant so that his spirit was not harmed, and having 
 thus annealed his nature to the utmost that this earth can do, He took 
 him hastily away and placed him among the glorified in Heaven." Irving. 
 
 20. John Baptisf] Rather, The Baptist. 
 
 21. in that same hour] Omit 'same, 'which has no equivalent in 
 the Greek. 
 
 plagues'] Literally, ^^ scourges.''^ 
 
I50 ST LUKE, VII. [vv. 22— 26. 
 
 22 sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, 
 and tell John what things ye have seen and heard ; how that 
 the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the 
 deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is 
 
 23 preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended 
 
 24 in me. And when *he messengers of John were departed, 
 he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What 
 went ye out into the wilderness for to see ? A reed shaken 
 
 25 with the wind ? But what went ye out for to see ? A man 
 clothed in soft raiment ? Behold, they which are gorgeously 
 
 26 apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. But 
 
 22. what things ye have seen] Our Lord wished His answer to be 
 the announcement of facts not the explanation of difficulties. His 
 enumeration of the miracles involves an obvious reference to Is. xxix. 
 18, XXXV. 4 — 6, Ix. I — 3 (see iv. 17 — 19), which would be instantly 
 caught by one so familiar with the language of "the EvangeUcal Pro- 
 phet " as the Baptist had shewn himself to be. 
 
 to the poor the Gospelis preached] Thus the spiritual miracle is placed 
 as the most convincing climax. The arrogant ignorance and hard 
 theolog}' of the Rabbis treated all the poor as mere peasants and no- 
 bodies. The Talmud is full of the two contemptuous names applied 
 to them — 'people of the earth' and 'laics;' and one of the charges 
 brought against the Pharisees by our Lord was their attempt to secure 
 the monopoly of knowledge, xi. 52. 
 
 23. shall not be offended] i.e. caused to stumble. For instances of 
 the stumbling-block which some made for themselves of incidents in our 
 Lord's career, see Matt. xiii. 55 — 57, xxii. 42; John vi. 60, ()6', and 
 compare Is. viii. 14, 15; i Cor. i. 23, ii. 14; i Pet. ii. 7, 8. The word 
 skandalon (Latin offendicuhim, Hebr. mokesh 'snare,' and mikshol 
 •stumbling-block') means anything over which a person falls (e.g. a 
 stone in the road) or on which he treads and is thrown. 
 
 24. when the messengers of John were departed] We notice here 
 the exquisite tenderness of our Lord. He woiild not suffer the multi- 
 tudes who had heard the question of John to cherish one depreciatory 
 thought of the Baptist ; and yet he suffers the messengers to depart, 
 lest, while hearing the grand eulogy of their Master, they should be 
 pained by its concluding words. It is natural to suppose that the two 
 disciples carried back to John some private message of peace and 
 consolation. 
 
 A reed] John was not like the reeds which they had seen waving in 
 the wind on the banks of Jordan, but rather, as Lange says, ' a cedar 
 half uprooted by the storm. 
 
 26. A man clothed i7i soft raiment?] A contrast to the camel's hair 
 mantle and leathern girdle of the Baptist; Matt. iii. 4. 
 
 they which are gorgeously apparelled and live delicately] Rather, 
 they who axe in glorious apparel and luxury. The Herods were 
 
w. 27—29] ST LUKE, VII. 151 
 
 what went ye out for to see ? A prophet ? Yea, I say unto 
 you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom 27 
 it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before thy 
 face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For 28 
 I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there 
 is not a greater prophet than John ihe Baptist : but he that 
 is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And all 29 
 
 specially given both to ostentation in dress (Acts xiii. 21) and to luxury, 
 Mk. vi. 21 ; Jos. B. J. i. 20, § 2; Ajitt. xix. 8, § 2; 18, § 7. 
 
 in king's courts'] Rather, in palaces. Such as the palaces of the 
 Herods which they had seen at Tiberias, Caesarea Philippi, and 
 Jerusalem. We might almost fancy an allusion to Manaen the Essene, 
 who is said in the Talmud to have openly adopted gorgeous robes to 
 shew his allegiance to Herod. To the Herodians generally, and to all 
 whose Judaism was a mere matter of gain and court favour, might have 
 been applied the sneering nickname of the Talmud ' Proselytes of the 
 royal table' {Gere Slmlchan Melachim. Kiddushin, f. 65. 2; Gratz, 
 III. 308). John had been in palaces, but only to counsel and reprove. 
 Our Lord on the only two occasions on which He entered palaces — on 
 the last day of His life — was mocked by '■'■bright apparei" (xxiii. 11), 
 and a purple or scarlet robe (Matt, xxvii. 28). 
 
 26. A prophet?] "All accounted John as a prophet," xxi. 26. 
 
 more than a prophet] Namely, an actual personal herald and fore- 
 runner; the Angel or Messenger of Malachi, iii. i, and so the only 
 Prophet who had himself been announced by Prophecy. 
 
 27. Behold, I send my messenger] Compare i. 76 ; Mk, i. 2. In 
 the parallel passage of St Matthew our Lord adds that the Baptist is 
 the promised Elias, Matt. xi. 11, 14, xvii. 10 — 13; Lk. i. 17 (Mai. 
 iv. 5). The quotation is from Mai. iii. i, " Behold, I will send My 
 messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me.'''' The words are 
 varied because, in the original, God is speaking in His own person, and 
 here the words are applied to Christ. 
 
 28. there is not a greater than yohn the Baptist] " He was the 
 lamp, kindled and burning," John v. 35. 'Major Propheta quia finis 
 Prophetarum,' S. Ambr. He closed the former Aeon and announced 
 the new, Matt. xi. ii, 12. 
 
 he that is least hi the kingdom of God is greater than he] See by way 
 of comment Matt. xiii. 16, 17; Col. 1. 25 — 27, and compare Heb. 
 xi. 13. The simple meaning of these words seems to be that in bless- 
 ings and privileges, in knowledge, in revealed hope, in conscious 
 admission into fellowship with God, the humblest child of the new 
 kingdom is superior to the greatest prophet of the old ; seeing that, as 
 the old legal maxim says, "the least of the greatest is greater than the 
 greatest of the least." The smallest diamond is made of more precious 
 substance than the largest flint. In the old dispensation "the Holy 
 Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified," 
 John vii. 39. Of those ' born of women ' there was no greater prophet 
 
152 ST LUKE, VII. [w. 30—32. 
 
 the people that heard him^ and the publicans, justified God, 
 
 30 being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees 
 and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, 
 being not baptized of him. 
 
 31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men 
 
 32 of this generation ? and to what are they like ? They are 
 like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one 
 to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye 
 
 than John the Baptist, but the members of Christ's Church are " bom 
 of water and of the Spirit." This saying of our Lord respecting 
 the privileges of the humblest children of His kingdom has seemed 
 so strange that attempts have been made to give another tone to the 
 meaning by interpreting ^^he that is leasf to mean "the younger," 
 and explain it to mean our Lord Himself as "coming after" the 
 Baptist. 
 
 29. justified God'\ i.e. they bore witness that God was just; see 
 ver. 35, comp. Ps. li. 4, "that Thou mightest be justified when Thou 
 speaicest, and be clear when Thou art judged," and Rom. iii. 26. St 
 Luke has already made prominent mention of the publicans at the 
 baptism of John, iii. 12. 
 
 30. rejected the counsel of God against themselves"] i. e. nullified (Gal. 
 ii. 21; Prov. i. 24) the purpose of God, to their own ruin, or better, 
 'with reference to themselves.' The "purpose of God" (Acts xx. 27) 
 had been their salvation (i Tim. ii. 4). 
 
 being not baptized of him] They seem to have gone to the ministry 
 of John partly out of curiosity, partly as spies (Matt. iii. 7); and they 
 consistently refused to recognize him as a Prophet, although they were 
 prevented from shewing open hostility by fear of the people (Mk. 
 xi. 32). 
 
 31. And the Lord said"] These words are almost certainly spurious, 
 being omitted by all the best uncials. 
 
 Whereunto then shall I liken\ Our Lord seems more than once to 
 have used this formula to arrest attention for His parables. Mk. iv. 30. 
 
 32. They are like unto children sittitig in the marketplace'] Our 
 Lord constantly drew His deepest instruction from the commonest 
 phenomena of nature, and the everyday incidents of life. Such a 
 method gave far greater force to the delivery of His Gospel **to the 
 poor^''^ and it was wholly unlike the arid, scholastic, technical, and 
 second-hand methods of the Rabbis. 
 
 calling one to another^ and saying] This interesting comparison was 
 doubtless drawn from the games which Jesus had witnessed, and in 
 which perhaps He as a child had taken part, in Nazareth. Eastern 
 children are fond of playing in groups at games of a very simple kind 
 in the open air. Some have supposed that the game here alluded to 
 was a sort of guessing game like that sometimes played by English 
 children, and called • Dumb Show.' This is not very probable. The 
 
w- 33-35-] ST LUKE, VII. 153 
 
 have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have 
 not wept. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread 33 
 nor drinking wine ; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son 34 
 of man is come eating and drinking ; and ye say. Behold a 
 gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and 
 sinners. But wisdom is justified of all her children. 35 
 
 point of the comparison is the peevish sullenness of the group of 
 children who refuse to take part in, or approve of, any game played by 
 their fellows, whether it be the merry acting of a marriage, or the 
 imitated sadness of a funeral. So the men of that generation con- 
 demned the Baptist for his asceticism which they attributed to de- 
 moniacal possession ; and condemned Christ for His genial tenderness 
 by calling Him a man fond of good living. The difficulties and differ- 
 ences of explanation found in this simple parable are only due to a 
 needless literalness. If indeed we take the language quite literally, 
 Uhis generation'' is compared with the dancing and mourning children 
 '<uho complain of the sullenness of their fellows ; and if this be insisted 
 on, the meaning must be that the Jews complained of John for holding 
 aloof from their mirth, and of Jesus for discountenancing their austeri- 
 ties. But it is the children who are looking on who are blamed, not 
 the playing children, as is clearly shewn by the '■^ and ye say" of vss. 
 33, 34. In the explanation here preferred our Lord and the Baptist 
 are included in this generation, and the comparison (just as in the 
 Homeric similes) is taken as a whole to illustrate the mutual relations 
 between them and their contemporaries. So in Matt. xiii. 24, "The 
 kingdom of heaven is like unto a sower, &c.," where the comparison 
 is more to the reception of the seed. 
 
 33. neither eating bread nor dt'inking wine] "His meat was locusts 
 and wild honey," Matt. iii. 4. Being a Nazarite he drank no wine, 
 i. 15 ; see 2 Esdr. ix. 24. 
 
 He hath a devit\ They sneered at him for a moody or melancholy 
 temperament which they attributed to an evil spirit. This in fact was 
 thel.: coarse way of describing any peculiarity or exaltation which 
 struck tliem as strange. At a later period they said the same of Christ, 
 John vii. 20, x. 20. 
 
 34. The Son of man is come eating and drinking] The title explains 
 the reason of our Lord's practice. He came as the Son of man, and 
 therefore He came to shew that the common life of all men could be 
 lived with perfect holiness, and that seclusion and asceticism were not 
 necessary as universal conditions. 
 
 Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber] These words are too 
 strong. Rather, an eater, and a drinker of wine. Phagos does not 
 occur in the LXX. or N. T. ; oinopotes only in Prov. xxiii. 20. 
 
 a friend of publicans and sinners] Thus His divinest mercy was 
 turned into His worst reproach. 
 
 35. Btit] Literally, '* Afid" but the Greek kai often has the force 
 of 'and )'et.' 
 
154 ST LUKE, VII. [v. 36. 
 
 36 — 39. Jesus in the House of Simon. 
 36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat 
 with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat 
 
 wisdom^ The personification of God's wisdom was common in the 
 later Jewish literature, as in the Book of "Wisdom. It is also found 
 in the Old Testament (Prov. i. 20, ix., &c.). 
 
 is justified of all her children'] Rather, was Justified by, i. e. has 
 from the first been acquitted of all wrong and error, receives the 
 witness of being just, at the hands of all her children. The "children 
 of wisdom " generally (Prov. ii. i, iii. i, &c.) are those who obey 
 God, and here are those of that generation who accepted the baptism 
 of John and the ministry of Jesus, without making a stumbling-block 
 of their different methods. The Jews, like the petulant children, 
 refused to sympathise either with John or Jesus — the one they con- 
 demned for exaggerated strictness, the other for dangerous laxity : yet 
 the Wise, — Wisdom's true children — once for all declare that she is 
 righteous, and free from blame : for they know that wisdom is polu- 
 poikilos, 'richly-variegated,' 'of many colours,' Eph. iii. 10. The 
 world's wisdom was foolishness ; those whom the world called fools 
 were divinely wise, John iii. 33. Wisdom is thus justified by her 
 children both actively and passively ; they declare her to be just and 
 holy, and the wcr/^^ ultimately sees that her guidance as exemplified by 
 their lives is the best guidance (Wisd. v. 5, 4 ; Ps. li. 4; Rom. iii. 4). 
 The reading ip'nav 'works' for riKvuv 'children' in N may be derived 
 from the variant reading in Matt. xi. 19. 
 
 36 — 39. Jesus in the House of Simon. 
 
 36. one of the Pharisees'] This exquisite narrative is peculiar to St 
 Luke, and well illustrates that conception of the universality and free 
 gift of grace which predominates in his Gospel as in St Paul. To 
 identify this Simon with Simon the Leper in Mk. xiv. 3 is quite 
 arbitrary. It was one of the commonest Jewish names. There were 
 two Simons among the Twelve, and there are nine Simons mentioned 
 in the New Testament alone, and twenty in Josephus. There must 
 therefore have been thousands of Simons in Palestine, where names 
 were few. The incident itself was one which might have happened 
 frequently, being in close accordance with the customs of the time and 
 country. And with the uncritical attempt to identify Simon the Pharisee 
 with Simon the Leper, there also falls to the ground the utterly im- 
 probable identification of the woman who was a sinner with Mary of 
 Bethany. The time, the place, the circumstances, the character, the 
 words uttered, and the results of the incident recorded in Matt. xxvi. 7 ; 
 Mk. xiv, 3 ; John xii. 3 are all entirely different. 
 
 that he wotdd eat with him] The invitation was clearly due to a 
 patronising curiosity, if not to a worse and hostile motive. The whole 
 manner of the Pharisee to Jesus was like his invitation, ungracious. 
 But it was part of our Lord's mission freely to accept the profiered 
 hospitality of all, that He might reach every class. 
 
w. 37, 38.] ST LUKE, VII. 155 
 
 down to meat. And behold, a woman in the city, which 37 
 was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the 
 Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and 38 
 stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash 
 
 sat down to meat'] Rather, reclined at table. The old method of 
 the Jews had been that of the East in general, to sit at table {anapiptein, 
 xi, 37; anakeisthai, vii. 37; anaklinesthai, xii. 37) generally cross-legged 
 on the floor, or on divans (Gen. xxvii. 19; i Sam. xx. 5, 18; Ps. 
 cxxviii. 3 ; Cant. i. 12, &c.). They had borrowed the custom of 
 reclining on couches {triclinia, comp. apxcrplKKiPos, John ii. 8) from 
 the Persians (Esth. i. 6, vii. 8), the Greeks and Romans, after the Exile 
 (Tobit ii. I ; I Esdr. iv. 10; Judith xii. 15). The influence of the 
 Greeks had been felt in the nation for three hundred years, and that of 
 the Romans for nearly a hundred years, since the conquest of Jerusalem 
 by Pompey, B. c. 63. 
 
 37. a woman in the city] The harsher reading of A, B, L, is 
 *'who was a sinner in the city." No city is named, but if the Christian 
 church is right in identifying this woman with Mary Magdalene, we 
 may assume that the city implied is Magdala, which appears at that 
 time to have been a flourishing place, though now it is only a mud 
 village — El Mejdel. It cannot of course be regarded as indisputable 
 that this woman was the Magdalene, but it is, to say the least, possible ; 
 and there is no sufficient reason to disturb the current Christian belief 
 which has been consecrated in so many glorious works of art. See 
 flirther on viii. 2. 
 
 which ivas a sinner] It was the Jewish term for a harlot, and such 
 had come even to John's baptism. Matt. xxi. 32. 
 
 when she knew that Jesus sat at meat] Literally, getting to know. 
 She had not of course received permission to enter, but the prominence 
 of hospitality as the chief of Eastern virtues led to all houses being left 
 open, so that during a meal any one who wished could enter and look 
 on. "To sit down to eat with common people" was one of the six 
 things which no Rabbi or Pupil of the Wise might do; another was "to 
 speak with a woman." Our Lord freely did both. 
 
 an alabaster box] The word alabastron meant originally a vase or 
 phial of alabaster, such as were used for perfumes and unguents [ttn- 
 guenta optime servantur in alabastris, Plin. xiii. 3), but afterwards 
 came to mean any phial used for a similar purpose (just as our box 
 originally meant a receptacle made of box-wood). 
 
 of ointment] This was doubtless one of the implements of her guilty 
 condition (Prov. vii. 17, Is. iii. 24), and her willingness to sacrifice it 
 was a sign of her sincere repentance (comp. Cant. iv. 10). 
 
 38. stood at his feet behind him] This is explained by the arrange- 
 ment of the triclinia, by which the guest reposed on his elbow at the 
 table, vnth his unsandalled feet outstretched on the couch. Each guest 
 left his sandals beside the door on entering. Literally the verse is, "And 
 standing behind beside His feet weeping, with her tears she began to 
 bedew His feet, and with the hairs of her head she wiped them off, and 
 
156 ST LUKE, VII. [w. 39, 40. 
 
 his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her 
 head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the 
 
 39 ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him 
 saw 2/, he spake within himself, saying, This man^ if he were 
 a prophet, would have known who and what manner of 
 
 40 woman this is that toucheth him : for she is a sinner. And 
 
 was eagerly kissing His feet, and anointing them with the perfume." 
 As she bent over His feet her tears began to fall on them, perhaps 
 accidentally at first, and she wiped them off with the long dishevelled 
 hair ( I Cor, xi. 15) which shewed her shame and anguish, and then in her 
 joy and gratitude at finding herself unrepulsed, she poured the unguent 
 over them. The scene and its moral are beautifully expressed in the 
 sonnet of Hartley Coleridge. 
 
 *' She sat and wept beside His feet. The weight 
 Of sin oppressed her heart; for all the blame 
 And the poor malice, of the worldly shame 
 To her were past, extinct, and out of date : 
 Only the sin remained — the leprous state. 
 She would be melted by the heat of love, 
 By fires far fiercer than are blown to prove 
 And purge the silver ore adulterate. 
 She sat and wept, and with her untressed hair 
 Still wiped the feet she was so blest to touch; 
 And He wiped off the soiling of despair 
 From her sweet soul, because she loved so much." 
 No one but a woman in the very depths of anguish would have 
 violated all custom by appearing in public with uncovered head (i Cor. 
 xi. 10). 
 
 •weeping\ Doubtless at the contrast of His sinlessness and her own 
 stained life. She could not have done thus to the Pharisee, who would 
 have repelled her with execration as bringing pollution by her touch. 
 The deepest sympathy is caused by the most perfect sinlessness. It is 
 not impossible that on that very day she may have heard the "Come 
 unto me" of Matt. xi. 28. 
 
 kissed'\ The word means 'was earnestly' or 'tenderly kissing,' as in 
 Acts XX. 37. 
 
 39. This man] The word in the original expresses the supercilious 
 scorn which is discernible throughout in the bearing of the speaker. 
 
 wAo and what manner of woman} ' Who, ' because the particular 
 offender was notorious for her beauty and her shame. This rather 
 strengthens the inference that the woman was Mary of Magdala, for 
 the legends of the Jewish Talmud respecting her shew that she was 
 well known. 
 
 thai toucheth him\ Rather, "who is clinging to him." Simon makes 
 a double assumption — first that a prophet would have known the cha- 
 racter of the woman, and next that he would certainly have repelled 
 her. The bearing and tone of the Rabbis towards women closely 
 
w. 41— 44.] ST LUKE, VII. 157 
 
 Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to 
 say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a 41 
 certain creditor which had two debtors : the one ought five 
 hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had 42 
 nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me there- 
 fore, which of them will love him most ? Simon answered 43 
 and said, I suppose that he^ to whom he forgave most. And 
 he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned 44 
 to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman ? 
 
 resembled that of some mediaeval monks. They said that no one should 
 stand nearer them than four cubits. But Jesus knew more of the woman 
 than Simon did, and was glad that she should shed on His feet the tears 
 of penitence. A great prophet had declared long before that those 
 which say, " Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier 
 than thou," were "a smoke in my nose." Is. Ixv. 5. 
 
 40. answering] "He heard the Pharisee thinking." S. Aug. 
 unto thee] The emphasis is on these words, You have been thinking 
 
 evil of me: I have something to say to thee. 
 Master] Rather, Teacher, or Rabbi. 
 
 41. a certain creditor] Rather, money-lender. 
 
 Jive hundred petice] A denarius was the day's wages of a labourer 
 and is usually reckoned at ^\d., but really represents much more. 
 Hence 500 denarii would certainly represent as much as ^50 in these 
 days. The frequency of our Lord's illustrations from debtors and credi- 
 ' tors shews the disturbed and unprosperous condition of the country 
 under Roman and Herodian oppression. 
 
 42. he frankly forgave thetn] In the original, the one word e'xa- 
 piaaro, 'he remitted,' involving the idea of that free grace and favour 
 {charzs) on which St Luke, like St Paul, is always glad to dwell. See 
 Rom. iii. 24 ; Eph. ii. 8, 9, iv. 32. 
 
 43. I suppose] *I imagine;' 'I presume.' The original word has 
 a shade of supercilious irony (comp. Acts ii. 15), as though Simon 
 thought the question very trivial, and never dreamt that it could have 
 any bearing on himself. 
 
 rightly] There is a touch of gentle sarcasm in the use of this word, 
 which involves Simon's self-condemnation. It is the word so often 
 adopted by Socrates as one of his implements of dialectic irony. 
 
 44. Seest thou this woma/t] Rather, Dost thou mark? Hitherto 
 the Pharisee, in accordance with his customs and traditions, had 
 hardly deigned to throw upon her one disdainful glance. Now Jesus 
 bids him look full upon her to shew him that she ^ had really done the 
 honours of his house. Her love had more than atoned for his coldness. 
 
 We notice in the language here that rhythmic paralleHsm, which is 
 often traceable in the words of our Lord, at periods of special emotion. 
 Into thine house I entered : 
 Water upon my feet thou gavest not, 
 
158 ST LUKE, VII. [w. 45—47- 
 
 I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my 
 feet : but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped 
 
 45 them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss : 
 but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to 
 
 46 kiss my feet. Mine head with oil thou didst not anoint : 
 
 47 but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Where- 
 fore I say unto thee. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; 
 
 But she with her tears bedewed my feet, 
 
 And with her tresses wiped them. 
 
 A kiss thou gavedst me not : 
 
 But she, since I entered, ceased not earnestly kissing my feet. 
 
 My head with oil thou anointedst not, 
 
 But she anointed my feet with perfume. 
 
 Wherefore I say to thee, Her sins, her many sins, have been for- 
 given, because she loved much. 
 
 But he to whom little is being forgiven loveth little. 
 
 **As oft as I think over this event," says Gregory the Great, "I am 
 more disposed to weep over it than to preach upon it." 
 
 thou gavest me no water for my feet'] Thus Simon had treated his 
 guest with such careless indifference as to have neglected the commonest 
 courtesies and comforts. To sandalled travellers on those burning, 
 rocky, dusty paths, water for the feet was a necessity ; John xiii. 4, 5. 
 ^^ Wash your feefy and rest yourselves under the tree," Gen. xviii. 4. 
 "Tarry all night, and wash your feet" Gen. xix. 2. **He brought 
 them into his house, and they washed their feet," Judg. xix. 21. **If 
 she have washed the saints' feet," i Tim. v. 10. 
 
 hath washed] Rather, bedewed or wetted. 
 
 with tears] "The most priceless of waters." Bengel. "She poured 
 forth tears, the blood of the heart." S. Aug. 
 
 45. no kiss] The ordinary salutation of respect in the East, where 
 the first thing when two friends meet and wish to do each other honour 
 is to try to kiss each other's hands. The kiss on the cheek is between 
 equals and also to superiors. Absalom, to gain favour, kissed every' 
 man who came near him to do him obeisance; 1 Sam. xv. 5. "The 
 king kissed Barzillai," id. xix. 39. Hence this was a natural signal of 
 recognition for the traitor to give ; Matt. xxvi. 49. See Acts xx. 37. 
 Hence the osculum pads, Rom. xvi. 16, &c. 
 
 / came in] There is another reading, elarikdev, *she came in' (L and 
 some versions), which is probable, for the woman only ascertained that 
 Jesus was at the house after He had entered it. 
 
 46. My head with oil thou didst not anoint] This would have been , 
 an exceptional mark of honour, though not uncommon. "Let thy 
 head lack no ointment," Eccles. ix. 8; Amos vi. 6; Ps. xxiii. 5. Here 
 it is only mentioned to contrast it with the still higher honour of which 
 the sinful woman had thought Him worthy. To anoint the feet was 
 regarded as an extreme luxury (Pliny, H. N. xiii. 4), but the love of the 
 sinner thought no honour too great for her Saviour. 
 
w. 48— so.] ST LUKE, VTT. 159 
 
 for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same 
 loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 48 
 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within 49 
 themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also ? And he 50 
 said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace. 
 
 47. for she loved much'] Rather, because. No doubt, theologically, 
 f aithj not love, is the means of pardon (vs. 50); hence, some interpret 
 the ^because* a posteriori, and make it mean 'she is forgiven,' as you 
 may conclude from the fact that she loved much. It is more than 
 doubtful whether this was intended. Her love and her forgiveness 
 were mingled with each other in mutual interchange. She loved be- 
 cause she was forgiven; she was forgiven because she loved. Her 
 faith and her love were one; it was "faith working by love" (Gal. v. 6), 
 and the love proved the faith. Spiritual things do not admit of the 
 clear sequences of earthly things. There is with God no before or 
 after, but only an eternal now. 
 
 to whom little is forgiven] The life of conventional respectability 
 excludes flagrant and open transgressions; cold selfishness does not 
 take itself to be sinful. Simon imagined that he had little to be 
 forgiven, and therefore loved little. Had he been a true saint he 
 would have recognised his debt. The confessions of the holiest are 
 also the most heartrending, because they most fully recognise the 
 true nature of sin. What is wanted to awaken 'much love' is not 
 'much sin' — for we all have that qualification — but deep sense of sin. 
 "Ce qui manque au meilleur pour aimer beaucoup, ce n'est pas le 
 peche ; c'est la connaissance du peche^ Godet. 
 
 48. are forgiven] Rather, have been forgiven. The is forgiven of 
 the previous verse is in the present, " is being forgiven. ^^ Both in the 
 Old and New Testaments the readiness of God to forgive the deepest 
 and most numerous sins is dwelt upon (Is. i. 18, Iv. 7), and also the 
 absoluteness of the forgiveness (Rom. v, 20; i John iv. 10, 19). There 
 is an obvious analogy between the little parable of the debtors and that 
 of the uncompassionate servant (Matt, xviii. 23 — 27). 
 
 49. began to say within the??iselves] His words caused a shock of 
 surprised silence which did not as yet dare to vent itself in open 
 murmurs. 
 
 60. he said to the woman] Our Lord would not on this, as on the 
 previous occasion, rebuke them for their thoughts, because the miracle 
 which He had worked was the purely spiritual one of winning back a 
 guilty soul, — a miracle which they could not comprehend. Further, 
 He compassionately desired to set the woman free from a notice which 
 must now have become deeply painful to her shrinking penitence. 
 
 Thy faith hath saved thee] The faith of the recipient was the 
 necessary condition of a miracle, whether physical or spiritual, Mk. v. 
 34, ix. 23; Matt. ix. 2, xiii. 58, xv. 28; John iv. 50; Acts iii. 16, 
 xiv. 8. 
 
 go in peace] Rather, to or into peace — a translation of the Hebrew 
 
i6o ST LUKE, VIII. [vv. i, 2. 
 
 Ch. VIII. I — 3. The Ministering Wo7nen. 
 
 8 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout 
 every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings 
 
 2 of the kingdom of God : and the twelve were with him, and 
 certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and 
 infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven 
 
 leshaldm, "for peace," i Sam. i. 17. "Peace" {shalom) was the 
 Hebrew, as ^ grace' {xaipeiv) was the Hellenic salutation. See on 
 ii. 29, and Excursus VII. 
 
 Notice that St Luke omits the anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany 
 from a deliberate "economy of method," which leads him to exclude 
 all second or similar incidents to those which he has already related. 
 Thus he omits a second feeding of the multitude, and healings of blind, 
 dumb, and demoniac, of which he severally gives a single specimen. 
 The events of Mk. vii. 24 — viii. 26 and ix. 12 — 14 are probably ex- 
 cluded by St Luke on this principle— to avoid repetition. It is a sign 
 of what German writers call his Sparsamkeit. Nor must we forget 
 that the records of all the manifold activity which at times left the 
 Lord no leisure even to eat, are confined to a few incidents, and only 
 dwell on the details of a few special days. 
 
 Ch. viii. 1 — 3. The Ministering Women. 
 
 1, And it came to pass aftei-ward] The expression marks a new 
 phase, a new departure, in Christ's mode of action. Hitherto He had 
 made Capernaum His head-quarters; regarded it as "His own city," 
 and not gone to any great distance from it. At this period — the exact 
 beginning of which is only vaguely marked — He began a wider range 
 of missions. 
 
 shewing the glad tidings] The Baptist had preached 'repentance' 
 as the preparation for the Kingdom : our Lord preached of the Kingdom 
 itself, and this was 'glad tidings,' because the Kingdom of God is 
 "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." Rom. xiv. 17. 
 
 2. certain women] This most remarkable circumstance is pro- 
 minently mentioned by St Luke alone, though alluded to in Matt, 
 xxvii. 55, 56 ; Mark xv. 41. It accords alike with the probability 
 that some of his peculiar sources of information had been derived 
 from women; and with the certainty that he is fond of dwelling on 
 the graciousness and tenderness of Jesus even to a class so much 
 despised and neglected as Eastern women. See Introd. p. 26. At 
 an earlier period (John iv. 27) the disciples had been amazed to see 
 Jesus even talking with a woman. 
 
 Mary called Magdalene] i. e. Mary, who to distinguish her from 
 numerous others who bore that very common name (Miriam), was 
 known from her native place as Mary of Magdala. We have already 
 seen that, as far as tradition is concerned, we cannot be certain that 
 the Christian world is right in generally identifying her with 'the 
 
V. 3.] ST LUKE, VIII. i6i 
 
 devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and 3 
 Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of 
 their substance. 
 
 sinner' of the last chapter. Origen rejects the identification; St 
 Ambrose, St Augustine, and St Jerome are doubtful. The iden- 
 tification is first confidently accepted by Gregor)' the Great (died 
 A. D. 604). There is nothing however to disprove the fact. In the 
 earher scene her name might well have been suppressed from the 
 spirit of loving and delicate reticence. The locality of the scene, 
 and the stage of the ministry at which she is introduced, agree vnth 
 the supposition, as well as the intense absorbing affection of one who 
 "loved much." 
 
 out of -whom went seven devils'] St Mark (xvi. 9) uses a similar 
 expression. Some have thought that this excludes the possibility of 
 the life indicated by the words "a sinner in the city." On the 
 contrary it agrees well with it. Early Christian writers see in the 
 "many sins" (vii. 47) a reference which accords with, if it be not 
 the same as, "seven devils," and that this may be the meaning is 
 quite certain from xi. 26. Apart from the general question as to 
 demoniac possession in particular cases, it is quite certain that Jewish 
 colloquial usage adopted the expression to describe many forms of 
 disease (as for instance hydrophobia, epilepsy, &c.), and many forms 
 of sin (as drunkenness, &c.). The Talmudists (as we have seen) 
 have many wild stories to tell of Mary of Magdala, but they agree in 
 describipg her as a flagrant sinner rather than as a demoniac. 
 
 3. Joannd] She is mentioned only in xxiv. 10, but had apparently 
 been healed of some infirmity. 
 
 the wife of Chtiza Herod's steward] The court of Antipas was well 
 aware of the ministry and claims of Jesus. Not only had John the 
 Baptist been a familiar figure there, but Manaen, Herod's foster- 
 brother, early became a Christian (Acts xiii. i), and whether Chuzas 
 be the courtier {basilikos, E. V. 'nobleman') of John iv. 46 or not, 
 that courtier could only have been in the retinue of Antipas, and 
 must have made known the healing of his son by Jesus. The word 
 epitropos, 'administrator,' conveys the impression of a higher rank than 
 steward {oikonomos). The Rabbis adopted the word in Hebrew letters, 
 and said that Obadiah was Ahab's epitropos. Manaen at Antioch 
 was perhaps the source of St Luke's special knowledge about the 
 Herodian family. 
 
 Susanna] The name means ' Lily.' 
 
 many others] See Matt, xxvii. 55. 
 
 which ministered unto him of their substance] or ' to ihem,^ B, D, 
 F, G, H, &c. This notice is deeply interesting as throwing light 
 on the otherwise unsolved problem of the means of livelihood possessed 
 by Jesus and His Apostles. They had a common purse which sufficed 
 not only for their ovra needs but for those of the poor (John xiii. 29). The 
 Apostles had absolutely forsaken their daily callings, but we may 
 suppose that some of them (like Matthew and the sons of the wealthier 
 
 ST LUKE 1 1 
 
i62 ST LUKE, VIII. [w. 4, 5. 
 
 4 — 1 5 . The Parable of the Sower. 
 
 4 And when much people were gathered together, and were 
 
 5 come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable : A 
 
 fisherman Zebedee) had some small resources of their own, and here 
 we see that these women, some of whom (as tradition says of Mary 
 of Magdala) were rich, helped to maintain them. It must also be 
 borne in mind (i) that the needs of an Oriental are very small. A few 
 dates, a little parched corn, a draught of water, a few figs or grapes 
 plucked from the roadside trees, suffice him ; and in that climate he can 
 sleep during most of the year in the open air wrapped up in the same 
 outer garment which serves him for the day. Hence the maintenance of 
 a poor man in Palestine is wholly different from the standard of main- 
 tenance required in such countries as ours with their many artificial needs. 
 And yet (2) in spite of this our Lord was so poor as to be homeless 
 (ix. 58) and without the means of even pajdng the small Temple-tribute 
 of a didrachm (about \s. 6d.), which was demanded from every adult 
 Jew. Matt. xvii. 24; 2 Cor. viii. 9. 
 
 4 — 16. The Parable of the Sower. 
 
 4. when much people were gathered together^ Rather, "were coming 
 together. Our Lord, though ready at all times to utter the most 
 priceless truths even to one lonely and despised listener, yet wisely 
 apportioned ends to means, and chose the assembling of a large mul- 
 titude for the occasion of a new departure in His style of teaching. 
 
 and were co?ne to him out of every city\ Rather, and (a multitude) 
 of those throughout every city resorting to Him. A comparison of 
 this Parable and the details respecting its delivery, as preserved in 
 each of the Synoptists (Matt. xiii. 2 — 13; Mark iv. i — 20), ought 
 alone to be decisive as to the fact that the three Evangelists did not 
 use each othei^s narratives, and did not draw from the same written 
 source such as the supposed Pro to- Marcus of German theorists. The 
 oral or written sources which they consulted seem to have been most 
 closely faithful in all essentials, but they differed in minute details and 
 expressions as all narratives do. From St Matthew (xiii. i) we learn 
 that Jesus had just left "the house," perhaps that of Peter at Caper- 
 naum ; and therefore the place which He chose for H is first Parable 
 was probably the strip of bright hard sand on the shore of the Lake 
 at Bethsaida. Both St Matthew and St Mark tell us that (doubtless, 
 as on other occasions, to avoid the pressure of the crowd) He got on 
 one of the boats by the lake-side and preached from thence. 
 
 by a parable'] St Luke here only reports the Parable of the Sower 
 and its interpretation. St Mark adds that of the seed growing secretly 
 (Mark iv. 26 — 29), and that of the grain of mustard seed (30 — 32 ; 
 Luke xiii. 18 — 21). St Matthew (xiii. 24 — 53) gives his memorable 
 group of seven Parables : the Sower, the Tares, the Mustard Seed, 
 the Leaven, the Hid Treasure, the Pearl, the Drag-net. This is no 
 doubt due to subjective grouping. Our Lord would not bewilder and 
 
V. 6.] ST LUKE, VIII. 163 
 
 sower went out to sow his seed : and as he sowed, some fell 
 by the way side ; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of 
 the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock j and as 6 
 
 distract by mere multiplicity of teachings, but taught "as they were 
 able to hear it" (Mark iv. 33). 'Parable' is derived from paraballo 
 *I place beside' in order to compare. 
 
 A Parable is a pictorial or narrative exhibition of some spiritual or 
 moral truth, by means of actual and not fanciful elements of comparison. 
 It differs from z. fable by moving solely within the bounds of the possi- 
 ble and by aiming at the illustration of deeper truths; from a simile 
 in its completer and often dramatic development, as also in its object j 
 from an allegory in not being identical with the truth illustrated. 
 The moral objects which our Lord had in view are explained below 
 (vs. 10), but we may notice here the unapproachable superiority of our 
 Lord's Parables to those of all other teachers. Parables are found 
 scattered throughout the literature of the world. They abound in the 
 poems and sacred books of later religions (Ecclus. i. 25, "Parables of 
 knowledge are in the treasures of wisdom,") and they have been fre- 
 quently adopted in later days. But "never man spake like this Man," 
 and no Par9,bles have ever touched the heart and conscience of mankind 
 in all ages and countries like those of Christ. "He taught them by 
 Parables under which were hid mysterious senses, which shined through 
 their veil, like a bright sun through an eye closed with a thin eyelid." 
 Jer. Taylor. For Old Testament parables see 2 Sam. xii. i — 7 ; Eccl. 
 ix. 14 — 16; Is. xXviii. 23 — 29. St Luke is especially rich in Parables. 
 The word ' parable ' sometimes stands for the Hebrew mashal ' a 
 proverb' (iv. 23; i Sam. x. 12, xxiv. 13); sometimes for a rhythmic 
 prophecy (Num. xxiii. 7) or dark saying (Ps. Ixxviii. 2 ; Pr. i. 6) ; and 
 sometimes for a comparison (Mk. xiii. 28). 
 
 5. A sower went out'\ Rather, The sower ; as also the rock, the 
 thorns. St Mark (iv. 3) preserves for us the graphic detail that Jesus 
 prefaced this new method of teaching by the one emphatic word 
 '■^ Hearken P^ as though to prepare them for something unusual and 
 memorable. 
 
 some fell by the way side'] The nature of the land in the plain of 
 Gennesareth would, as Dean Stanley noticed [Sin. and Palest, p. 496), 
 and as many have subsequently remarked, furnish an immediate illus- 
 tration of the words. In the fields close to the shore may be seen the 
 hard beaten paths into which no seed can penetrate ; the flights of innu- 
 merable birds ready to peck it up ; the rocks thinly covered with soil, 
 and the stony ground; the dense tangled growth of weeds and thistles 
 in neglected comers; and the rich deep loam on which the harvests 
 grew with unwonted luxuriance. 
 
 it was trodden down] This touch is found in St Luke only. 
 
 6. upon a rock] St Matthew and St Mark say "upon stony places," 
 and add its speedy growth, and its withering after sunrise from want of 
 root ; St Luke dwells rather on the lack of moisture than on the lack of 
 soil. 
 
i64 ST LUKE, VIII. [w. 7— lo. 
 
 soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked 
 
 7 moisture. And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns 
 
 8 sprang up with //, and choked it. And other fell on good 
 ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And 
 when he said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to 
 hear, let him hear. 
 
 9 And his disciples asked him, saying. What might this 
 
 10 parable be ? And he said. Unto you it is given to know the 
 mysteries of the kingdom of God : but to others in parables ; 
 
 7. thorJts] In rich soils and hot valleys like Gennesareth the 
 growth of weeds and thorns is as rapid and luxuriant as that of good 
 seed. In summer and autumn there are parts of the plain which are 
 quite impervious from the forest of gigantic thistles which covers 
 them — "so tall and so dense that no horse can break through" (Porter, 
 Palestine, II. 403). It was natural that this circumstance should suggest 
 several of Christ's illustrations. 
 
 8. barefrnit anhundredfold'\ St Luke passes over the 'growing and 
 increasing' of the fruit (Mk. iv. 8) and its various degrees of productive- 
 ness — thirty and sixty as well as an hundredfold. 
 
 he cried\ This word — spake with a loud voice — shews, like the 
 ^^ Hearken r^ in St Mark, the special attention which our Lord called to 
 His new method. 
 
 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear"] In other words, 'this teaching 
 is worthy the deepest attention of those who have the moral and 
 spiritual capacity to understand it.' 
 
 9. his disciples asked hint] St Mark says "those about Him, with 
 the Twelve ; " and that they came to Him afterwards when they 
 found Him alone. 
 
 10. And he said'\ This verse is rather an answer to the other ques- 
 tion, recorded in St Matthew, ^^why dost thou speak to them in 
 parables?" 
 
 it is given'] Rather, it has been given. 
 
 to know the mysteries'] i.e. to grasp the revealed secrets, the 'apples 
 of gold' hid in these 'networks of silver.' The proper use of the word 
 'mystery' is the opposite of its current use. It is now generally used to 
 imply something which we cannot understand ; in the New Testament 
 it always means something once hidden now revealed, Col. i. 26 ; 
 I Tim. iii. 16; Matt. xi. 25, 26; Rev. xvii. 5, &c. It is derived from 
 M«^w, 'I initiate.' "God is a revealer of secrets," Dan. ii. 47. 
 "What if earth 
 Be but the shadow of heaven, and things therein 
 Each to the other like, more than on earth is thought?" 
 
 Milton. 
 to others'] Rather, to the rest; "to them that are without," Mk. iv. 
 II. It has been granted j^z^ to grasp these mysteries unveiled; to the 
 rest it has been only given to grasp them under the veil of parables. 
 
w. II, 12.] ST LUKE, VIII. ' 165 
 
 that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not 
 understand. Now the parable is this : The seed is the n 
 word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear ; ;» 
 
 that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand'\ 
 These words are difficult, and (without dwelling on the fact that the 
 particle Iva loses in later Greek some of its final force) must not be 
 pressed with unreasonable and extravagant literalism to mean that the 
 express object of teaching by parables was to conceal the message of the 
 kingdom from all but the disciples. This would have been to put the 
 kindled lamp under a couch or a bushel. On the contrary they were 
 addressed to the multitudes, and deeply impressed them, as they have 
 impressed the world in all ages, and have had the effect, not of darken- 
 ing truth but of bringing it into brighter light. The varying phrase of 
 St Matthew, '"'■because seeing they see not, &c.," will help us to under- 
 stand it. Our Lord wished and fneant the multitudes to hearken and 
 understand, and this method awoke their interest and deepened their 
 attention; but the resultant profit depended solely on the dtgree of their 
 faithfulness. The Parables resembled the Pillar of Fire, which was to 
 others a Pillar of Cloud. If they listened with mere intellectual curiosity 
 or hardened prejudice they would only carry away the parable itself, or 
 some complete misapplication of its least essential details ; to get at its 
 real meaning required self-examination and earnest thought. Hence 
 parables had a blinding and hardening effect on the false and the 
 proud and the wilful, just as prophecy had in old days (Is. vi. 9, 10, 
 quoted in this connexion in Matthew xiii. 14, comp. Acts xxviii. 26, 
 27 ; Rom. xi. 8). But the Prophecy and the Parable did not create the 
 hardness or stolidity, but only educed it when it existed — as all misused 
 blessings and privileges do. It was only unwillingiiess to see which was 
 punished by incapacity of seeing. The natural punishment of spiritual 
 perversity is spiritual blindness. 
 
 Nothing can be better than the profound remark of Lord Bacon, that 
 "a Parable has a double use; it tends to vail, and it tends to illustrate 
 a truth ; in the latter case it seems designed to teach, in the former to 
 conceal." 
 
 •'Though truths in manhood darkly join, 
 
 Deep seated in our mystic frame. 
 
 We yield all blessing to the name 
 Of Him who made them current coin. 
 For Wisdom dealt with mortal powers, 
 
 Where truth in closest words shall fail, 
 
 When truth embodied in a tale 
 Shall enter in at lowly doors." 
 11. The seed is the word of God'\ We have the same metaphor in 
 Col. i. 5, 6; I Cor. iii. 6; and a similar one in J as. i. 21, "the engrafted 
 word;" 2 Esdr. ix. 31, 33, "Behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall 
 bring fruit in you... yet they that received it perished, because they kept 
 not the thing that was sown in them." 
 
i66 ST LUKE, VIII. [w. 13, 14. 
 
 then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of 
 
 13 their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They 
 on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the 
 word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while 
 
 14 believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that 
 which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have 
 heard, go forth^ and are choked with cares and riches and 
 
 12. Those by the way side\ These are hearers who are hardened — 
 either beaten (i) flat by lifeless familiarity — heartless formalists, Phari- 
 saic theologians, and insincere professors; or (ii) by perversity and 
 indifference, the habit and custom of a worldly and dissolute life. 
 Notice the intensity of thought which identifies the scattered seeds 
 with those in whose hearts they are sown. "The way is the heart 
 beaten and dried by the passage of evil thoughts." H. de S. Victore. 
 
 the devil] The Accuser or Slanderer. St Mark has "the wicked 
 one," St Matthew "Satan." 
 
 taketh away] "Snatches," Matt. xiii. 19. — It is done in a moment; 
 by a smile at the end of the sermon ; by a silly criticism at the Church 
 door; by foolish gossip on the way home. These are "the fowls of 
 the air" whom the Evil One uses in this task. 
 
 lest they should believe] Rather, that they may not believe. "There- 
 fore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we 
 have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip," or rather '•'■drift 
 away from them," Heb. ii. i. 
 
 13. They on the rock] Shallow, impulsive listeners, whose enthu- 
 siasm is hot and transient as a blaze in the straw. 
 
 with joy] "Yet they seek me daily, and <3^^/z^>^/ to know my ways, " Is. 
 Iviii. 2. "Thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a 
 pleasant voice... for they hear thy words, but they do them not," Ezek. 
 xxxiii. 32. Herod "heard John ^/<z<^/j/, " Mk. vi. 20. 
 
 in time of temptation] Temptation in any form of "affliction or per- 
 secution" (Matt., Mk.) which tests the moral nature. 
 
 fall away] Literally ^^ stand aloof" ^^ apostatise ;" "immediately they 
 are offended," Matt., Mk. See a very striking instance of this in John 
 vi. 66. 
 
 14. that which fell among thorns are they] Here the grand para- 
 dox which identifies the seed with its recipient is very marked. See 
 especially Matt, xiii., where "^^ that received the seed by the way side, 
 &c." should be " he that was sown by the way side, &c." The class here 
 described are worldly, ambitious, preoccupied, luxurious listeners who 
 feel the "expulsive power" of earthly careers and pleasures crowding 
 out the growth of the good seed. The former class was more superfi- 
 cially touched; this class have not "broken up their fallow ground," 
 and therefore "sow among thorns." 
 
 cares] Catullus talks of 'sowing thorny cares in the heart.' 
 niches] "the deceit fulness of riches" (Matt., Mk.). 
 
w. 15—17.] ST LUKE, VIII. 167 
 
 pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But 15 
 that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and 
 good heart, having heard the word, keep //, and bring forth 
 fruit with patience. 
 
 16 — 18. How to use the Light. 
 
 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with 16 
 a vessel, or putteth // under a bed; but setteth it on a 
 candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For 17 
 nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest ; neither 
 any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. 
 
 bring no fruit to perfection] Literally, *^ do not perfect^^ {zxiyihSng). 
 
 15. keep it] Comp. xi. 28; John xiv. 21. "Thy word have I hid in 
 my heart, that I might not sin against Thee," Ps. cxix. 11. The oppo- 
 site of the "forgetful hearers," Jas. i. 25. For them the seed does not 
 fall *on the way.' 
 
 bring forth fruit with patience] not as in thorns, not as on the rocky 
 ground. The hundredfold harvest does not come at once, but "first the 
 blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." These words are 
 added by St Luke alone. Patience or persevering consistency is a 
 favourite word with St Paul. It is " strength of mind sustained by 
 good hope... The sum of Christianity." Bengel. 
 
 16 — 18. How TO USE THE LiGHT. 
 
 16. a candle] Rather, a lamp. 
 
 7vith a vessel] St Luke uses this word as more intelligible to his Gen- 
 tile readers than "bushel." 
 
 under a bed] Rather, under a couch. The ancient Jews had nothing 
 resembling our bed. They slept on divans, or on mats laid upon the 
 floor, as is still the case in the East. The best comment on this verse 
 is Matt. V. 14, 16, "Ye are the light of the world.... Let your light so 
 shine before men, &c." John the Baptist is compared to *a lamp kindled 
 and shining,' and here the disciples are compared to it. Christ lighted 
 the flame in their souls to be a beacon to all the world. 
 
 setteth it on a candlestick] Rather, places it on a lamp-stand. 
 
 17. For fiotkiftg is secret] This verse, like the parallel (which occurs 
 in a different connexion in Matt. x. 26), is usually quoted of the dis- 
 covery of secret crimes. The truth which would in that case be illus- 
 trated is often mentioned elsrwhere in Scripture (i Cor. iv. 5), but 
 here in both instances the context shews that the first meaning of Christ 
 was entirely different from this. He is not thinking of the discovery 
 of crimes, but of the right use and further dissemination of divine light. 
 The truths now revealed privately to them, and only dimly shadowed 
 forth to others, should soon be flashed over all the world. Parables 
 first yielded their full significance to the disciples, but found "a spring- 
 ing and germinant fulfilment in every age." 
 
i68 ST LUKE, VIII. [w. 18—21. 
 
 18 Take heed therefore how ye hear : for whosoever hath, to 
 him shall be given ; and whosoever hath not, from him shall 
 be taken even that which he seemeth to have. 
 
 19 — 2 1. Chrisfs Mother and His Brethren, 
 
 19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and 
 
 20 could not come at him for the press. And it was told him 
 by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand 
 
 21 without, desiring to see thee. And he answered and said 
 unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which 
 hear the word of God, and do it. 
 
 18. Take heed therefore how ye hearl and also '■'■what ye hear," Mk. 
 iv. 24. 
 
 to him shall be given] Comp. xix. 26. It was evidently a thought to 
 which our Lord recurred, John xv. 2. 
 
 that which he seemeth to have'] Rather, tliat ■whicli lie tMnketh lie 
 hath. This fancied possession is mere self-deception. 
 
 19—21. Christ's Mother and His Brethren. 
 
 19. Then came to him his m,other and his brethren] Our text has the 
 plural; the reading paregeneto {sing.) would imply that the Virgin took 
 a specially prominent part in the incident. Joseph is never mentioned 
 after the scene in the Temple. This incident can hardly be the same 
 as those in Mk. iii. 31 — 35; Matt. xii. 46 — 50, because in both of those 
 cases the context is wholly different. St Luke may however have mis- 
 placed this incident, since here, as in the other Evangelists, relatives of 
 Jesus are represented as standing outside a house of which the doors were 
 densely thronged; whereas the explanation of the Parable had been 
 given in private. It is here merely said that they wished to see Him ; 
 but the fact that they came in a body seems to shew that they 
 desired in some way to direct or control His actions. The fullest 
 account of their motives is found in Mk. iii 21, where we are told that 
 they wished "to seize Him" or "get possession of His person," because 
 they said "He is beside Himself," — perhaps echoing the feelings which 
 had been encouraged by the Pharisees. We must remember that His 
 brethren "did not believe in Him" (John vii. 5), i.e. their belief in Him 
 was only the belief that he was a Prophet who did not realize their 
 Messianic ideal. It needed the Resurrection to convert them. 
 
 his brethren] James, Joses, Simon, Judas. Possibly (Matt. xii. 50; 
 Mk. iii. 35) His sisters also came. 
 
 21. are these] The word implies the "looking round at those sitting 
 in a circle about Him" of Mk. iii. 34, and the "stretching forth His 
 hand towards His disciples" of Matt. xii. 49. "Ye are my friends, if ye 
 do whatsoever I command you," John xv. 14 (comp. ii. 49; John ii. 4, 
 xiv, 21 ; Heb. ii. 11). His earthly relatives needed the lesson that they 
 must recognise in Him a Being who stood far above all relationships 
 
vv. 22—24.] ST LUKE, VIII. 169 
 
 22 — 25. Christ stilling the Storm. 
 
 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into 22 
 a ship with his disciples : and he said unto them, Let us go 
 over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched 
 forth. But as they sailed he fell asleep : and there came 23 
 down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled 
 with water ^ and were in jeopardy. And they came to him^ 24 
 
 "after the flesh" (2 Cor. v. 16). Even disciples must ''hate" father 
 and mother in comparison with Christ (comp. Deut. xxxiii. 9). 
 
 22 — 25. Christ stilling the Storm. 
 
 22. Now it came to pass on a certain day] Rather, on one Of the 
 days. From Mk. iv. 35 ; Matt. viii. 18, we should infer that this event took 
 place in the evening on which He began to teach the crowd in parables, 
 and that — attracted by the beauty and novelty of His teaching they 
 lingered round Him till, in utter weariness, He longed to escape to the 
 secluded loneliness of the Eastern shore of the lake. Possibly the 
 interference of His kinsmen may have added the last touch to the fatigue 
 and emotion which imperatively demanded retirement and rest. 
 
 into a ship'] St Matthew says ' the ho^t,' which usually waited on 
 His movements ; very probably the one which had belonged to Peter. 
 Before the boat pushed off, we learn that three aspirants for discipleship 
 came to Him, Matt. viii. 19 — 22 (Lk. ix. 57 — 62). 
 
 unto the other side] The Peraean side of the Lake of Galilee 
 has always been comparatively uninhabited, mainly because the 
 escarpment of barren hills approaches within a quarter of a mile of the 
 shore. Its solitude contrasted all the more with the hum of crowded 
 and busy life on the plain of Gennesareth. 
 
 of the lake] See on v. i. 
 
 they launched forth] Such was His weariness and eagerness to get 
 away that they took Him '■'■as He was'''' — vdthout even pausing for any 
 food or refreshment — into the boat, Mk. iv. 36. 
 
 23. he fell asleep] Rather, He fell into deep sleep. The day had 
 been one of incessant toil; and He was resting (as St Mark tells us, 
 reflecting the vivid reminiscence of St Peter) 'in the stern on the steers- 
 man's leather cushion,' Mk. iv. 38 : contrast with this Jonah i. 5. 
 
 there came down a stori7i ofzvind] The suddenness and violence of this 
 'hurricane' is in exact accordance with what we know of the Lake. The 
 winds from the snowy peaks of Hermon rush down the Peraean wadies 
 into the burning tropical air of the lake-basin with extraordinary sud- 
 denness and impetuosity (Thomson, Land and Book^ II. 25). The lake 
 may look like a sheet of silver, when in one moment there will be a 
 darkening ripple, and in the next it will be lashed into storm and foam. 
 The outburst of this storm perhaps frightened back the boats which 
 started with Him, Mk. iv. 36. 
 
 were filled with water] Rather, were being filled. ' The waves were 
 
lyo ST LUKE, VIII. [v v. 25, 26. 
 
 and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then 
 he rose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: 
 
 25 and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto 
 them. Where is your faith? And they being afraid won- 
 dered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this? 
 for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they 
 obey him. 
 
 26 — 39. TAe Gergesene Demoniac, 
 
 26 And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which 
 
 dashing into the boat, so that it was getting full,' Mk. iv. 37; 'the 
 boat was being hidden under the waves,' Matt. viii. 24. The tossing 
 ship {Navicella) has been accepted in all ages as the type of the Church 
 in seasons of peril. 
 
 24. we perishl Rather, we are perishing! "Lord! save! we are 
 perishing,' Matt. viii. 25. "Rabbi, carest thou not that we are perish- 
 ing?" Mk. iv. 38. The peril was evidently most imminent. 
 
 Then he rose] Rather, But He, being roused from sleep. 
 
 rebuked the wind] speaking to the wind and the billows of the water 
 as though they were living powers (Ps. cvi. 9, "He rebzckedihe Red Sea 
 also "), or to the evil powers which may be conceived to wield them to 
 the danger of mankind. St Mark alone preserves the two words uttered 
 " Hush ! be stilled I " the first to silence the roar, the second the tumult. 
 St Matthew tells us that He quietly uttered * Why are ye cowards, ye 
 of little faith?' and then, having stilled the tumult of their minds, rose 
 and stilled the tempest. 
 
 Where is your faith?] "They had some faith, but it was not ready at 
 hand." Bengel. 
 
 25. What ?nanner of man] Rather, Wlio, then. The ar^ expresses 
 the same surprise and emotion conveyed by the jbotapos, 'what kind of 
 Being,' of St Matthew. Ps. cvii. 23—30. 
 
 26 — 39. The Gergesene Demoniac. 
 
 26. at the country of the Gadarenes] In all three narratives, here, 
 Matt. viii. 28 — 34; Mark v. i — 19, the MSS. vary between Gergesenes, 
 Gadarenes, and Gerasenes, and Tischendorf follows N in reading Gada- 
 renes (by a clerical error Gazarenes) in St Matthew, Gerasenes in St 
 Mark, and Gergesenes here. 
 
 i. Gadara, of which the large ruins are now seen at Um Keis, is 
 three hours' distance from the extreme south end of the Lake, and is sepa- 
 rated from the scene of the miracle by the deep precipitous ravine of the 
 Hieromax (Jarmuk). Gadarenes may be the right reading in St Matthew 
 (K, B, C, M, A and MSS. mentioned by Origen) but, if so, it only gives 
 the name of the entire district. Gadara was essentially a Greek city, 
 and had two amphitheatres, and a literary Greek society, and the worst 
 features of Hellenic life. 
 
vv. 27, 28.] ST LUKE, VIII. lyi 
 
 is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, 27 
 there met him out of the city a certain man, which had 
 devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any 
 house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, 28 
 
 ii. Gerasenes may be the right reading in St Mark (X, B, D, &c.). 
 Gerasa, now Djerash, is fifty miles from the Lake, and almost in 
 Arabia, but it was an important town (Jos. B. J. ill. 3), and like 
 Gadara may have been used as the name of the entire district. 
 
 iii. Gergesenes is almost certainly the right reading here (X, L, X). 
 It was the reading which, because of the distance of Gerasa and 
 Gadara, Origen wished .to introduce into Matt. viii. 28, being aware 
 that there was a small town called Gergesa in the Wady Semakh 
 which was known also to Eusebius and Jerome, and was pointed out 
 as the scene of the miracle. Yet the reading, "Gergesenes" of i^, in 
 St Luke, could hardly have been due to the mere conjecture of Origen 
 in the parallel passage of St Matthew, for it is found in other uncials, 
 in most cursives, and in the Coptic, Ethiopic and other versions. 
 Gergesa has however nothing to do with the ancient Girgashites (Deut. 
 vii. i; Josh. xxiv. 11), who were probably at the West of the Jordan. 
 The question as to the place intended as the scene of the miracle (whatever 
 reading be adopted) may be considered as having been settled by 
 Dr Thomson's discovery of ruins named Kerzha (the natural corruption 
 of Gergesa) nearly opposite Capernaum. The name of this little 
 obscure place may well have been given by St Matthew, who knew the 
 locality, and by so accurate an enquirer as St Luke. The reading may 
 have been altered by later copyists who knew the far more celebrated 
 Gadara and Gerasa. 
 
 27. there met him out of the city a certain man] This rendering 
 contradicts what follows. Rather, there met him a man of the city. 
 He had been a native of Gergesa till his madness began. St Matthew 
 (as in the case of Bartimaeus) mentions two demoniacs, but the nar- 
 rative is only concerned with one. There may of course have been 
 another hovering in the neighbourhood. The variation in St Matthew 
 is at least a valuable proof of the independence of the Evangelists. 
 
 which had devils] Rather, having demons. The daimonia were 
 supposed by the Jews to be not devils (i. e. fallen angels), but the 
 spirits of wicked men who were dead (Jos. B. J. Vll. 6, § 3). See on 
 iv. 33; viii. 1. 
 
 long time, and ware no clothes] Rather (with N, B), and for a long 
 time wore no cloke. He may have been naked, since the tendency to 
 strip the person of all clothes is common among madmen ; here how- 
 ever it only says that he wore no himation. He may have had on the 
 chiton, or under-garment. Naked, homicidal maniacs who live in 
 caves and tombs are still to be seen in Palestine. Warburton saw one 
 in a cemetery fighting, amid fierce yells and bowlings, with wild dogs 
 for a bone. Crescent and Cross, ir. 352. 
 
 but in the tombs] This was partly a necessity, for in ancient times 
 there were no such things as penitentiaries or asylums, and an uncon- 
 
172 ST LUKE, VTTT. [vv. 29—31. ; 
 
 and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What ^ 
 have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high?- • 
 
 29 I beseech thee, torment me not. (For he had commanded'^ 
 the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes ^ 
 it had caught him : and he was kept bound with chains and 
 in fetters ; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the'^ 
 
 JO devil into the wilderness.) And Jesus asked him, saying. 
 What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many 
 
 31 devils were entered into him. And they besought him that 
 
 I 
 
 trollable maniac, driven from the abodes of men, could find no other 
 shelter. This would aggravate his frenzy, for the loneliness and horror 
 of these dark rocky tombs (traces of which are still to be seen near the 
 ruins of Kherza or the sides of the Wady Semakh) were intensified by the 
 prevalent belief that they were haunted by shedi/n, or 'evil spirits,' — 
 the ghosts of the wicked dead {Nidda, f. \1 a, &c.). St Mark gives 
 (v. 4) a still more graphic picture of the superhuman strength and 
 violence of this homicidal and ghastly sufferer. 
 
 28. What have I to do with thee\ i.e. Why should'st thou interfere 
 with me? 1 Sam. xvi. ro; xix. 11. See iv. 24. Baur refers to obvious 
 imitations of this narrative in the story of the Lamia expelled by Apol- 
 lonius of Tyana (Philostr. IV. 25). 
 
 Son of God most high'\ Probably the epithet was customary in exorcisms 
 or attempted exorcisms, and hence we find it used by another de- 
 moniac (Acts xvi. 17). Jesus is not so called elsewhere, except in i. 32. 
 
 torment me not] "The demons... believe and tremble," Jas. ii. 19. 
 On this conception of torment see Mk. i, 24; Matt, xviii. 34. 
 
 29. he had commanded] Rather, He commanded. 
 oftentimes] Pollois chronois usually means * ^for a long time. " 
 
 he was kept hound with chains and in fetters] This rendering misses a 
 curious point in the narrative, preserved by St Luke only, — namely, 
 that " he was bound in chains and fetters, being under guard." 
 
 into the wilderness] Rather, into the deserts, — regarded as a pe--fJ 
 culiar haunt of Azazel and other demons. Matt. xii. 43 ; Tobit viii. 3;' 
 see on iv. i. (There are obvious allusions to the Gospel narrative of 
 this demoniac and the demoniac boy in Lucian, Philopseudes, 16.) 
 
 30. What is thy name?] The question was no doubt asked in 
 mercy. Gently to ask a person's name is often an effectual way to 
 calm the agitations and fix the wavering thoughts of these sufferers. 
 
 And he said, Legion] A legion consisted of 6000 soldiers, and this 
 man (who was probably a Jew) would have become familiar with the 
 name since the Roman conquest of Palestine. The ancient Megiddo 
 was now called Legio, still Ledjtln. The answer shewed how wildly 
 perturbed was the man's spirit, and how complete was the duality of his 
 consciousness. He could not distinguish between himself and the 
 multitudes of demons by whom he believed himself to be possessed. His 
 individuality was lost in demoniac hallucinations. 
 
w. 32, 33.] ST LUKE, VIII. 173 
 
 he would not command them to go out into the deep. And 32 
 there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the moun 
 tain : and they besought him that he would suffer them to 
 enter into them. And he suffered them. Then went the 33 
 devils out of the man, and entered into the swine : and the 
 herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and 
 
 81. they besought] If parekalei be the right reading, it should be 
 rendered '■^he besought Him," for the plural is used in the next verse. 
 
 to go out into the deep] The 'abyss' (Hebrew tehdm) intended is 
 perhaps the prison of wicked spirits (Rom. x. 7; Jude 6; Rev. xx. 3). 
 St Mark says "that He would not send them out of the country." 
 
 32. a he7-d of niany swine] St Mark says "about 2000." Of coarse, 
 if the owners of these swine were Jews, they were living in flagrant 
 violation of the law ; but the population of Peraea was largely Greek 
 and Syrian. 
 
 that he would suffer them to enter into them] The Jews, as we have 
 already seen, believed that physical and mental evil was wrought by the 
 direct agency of demons, and attributed to demons not only the cases 
 of "possession," but many other classes of illness (melancholia, brain- 
 disease, heart-disease, &c.) which we do not usually regard in this 
 light. They also believed that demons could take possession even of 
 animals, and they attributed to demons the hydrophobia of dogs and 
 the rage of bulls. ** Perhaps," says Archbishop Trench {On the 
 Miracles, p. 185), "we make to ourselves a difficulty here, too easily 
 assuming that the whole animal world is wholly shut up in itself, and 
 incapable of receiving impressions from that which is above it. The 
 assumption is one unwarranted by deeper investigations, which lead 
 rather to an opposite conclusion — not to the breaking down of the 
 boundaries between the two worlds, but to the shewing in what won- 
 derful ways the lower is receptive of impression from the higher, both 
 for good and for evih" Further than this the incident leads into regions 
 of uncertain speculation, into which it is impossible to enter, and in which 
 none will dogmatize but those who are least wise. Milton seems to 
 find no difficulty in the conception that evil spirits could 'incarnate 
 and imbrute ' their essence into a beast : in at the serpent's mouth 
 "The devil entered; and his brutal sense 
 
 The heart or head possessing, soon inspired 
 
 With act intelligential." Par. Lost. 
 
 Comp. Dante, /*;/. xxv. 136, 
 
 "L'anima, ch' era fiera divenuta 
 Si fugge," &c. 
 
 33. down a steep place] Rather, down the precipice. Near Kherza 
 is the only spot ofi the entire lake where a steep slope sweeps down to 
 within a few yards of the sea, into which the herd would certainly have 
 plunged if hurried by any violent impulse down the hill. If it be asked 
 whether this was not a destruction of property, the answer is that the 
 antedating of the death of a herd of unclean animals was nothing 
 
174 ST LUKE, VIII. [w. 34—37- 
 
 34 were choked. When they that fed ihe?n saw what was done, 
 they fled, and went and told // in the city and in the coun- 
 
 35 try. Then they went out to see what was done; and came 
 to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were 
 departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his 
 
 36 right mind: and they were afraid. They also which saw it 
 told them by what means he that was possessed of the 
 
 37 devils was healed. Then the whole riiultitude of the coun- 
 try of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart 
 
 compared with the deliverance of a human soul. Our Lord would 
 therefore have had a moral right to act thus even if he had been 
 a mere human Prophet. Besides, to put it on the lowest ground, 
 the freeing of the neighbourhood from the peril and terror of this 
 wild maniac was a greater benefit to the whole city than the loss 
 of this herd. Jesus did not command the spirits to go into the 
 swine ; if He permitted any thing which resulted in their destruction it 
 was to serve higher and more precious ends. "God the Word," says 
 Lord Bacon, "wished to do nothing which breathed not of grace and 
 beneficence ; " and after mentioning the stern miracles of Moses, Elijah, 
 Elisha, St Peter and St Paul, he adds, "but Jesus did nothing of this 
 kind... the spirit of Jesus is the spirit of the Dove. He wrought no 
 miracle of judgment, all of beneficence." Meditt. Sacr. on Mk. xii. 37. 
 The miracles of Christ were all redemptive acts and spiritual lessons. 
 34. what was done'] Rather, wliat had happened. 
 
 36. clothed] Perhaps one of the disciples had thrown a cloke 
 [hijnation) over his nakedness or his rags. 
 
 37. besought him to depart] The opposite to the request of the 
 Samaritans (John iv. 40). Unlike Peter, they meant what they said. 
 Preferring their swine to Christ, they felt that His presence was 
 dangerous to their greed. And our Lord acted on the principle of 
 not casting that which was holy to dogs, nor pearls before men 
 whose moral character tended to become like that of their own swdne. 
 At Gadara the worst iniquities were prevalent. It may be that if they 
 had not deliberately begged Christ to leave them they might have 
 been spared the fearful massacre and ruin — fire, and sword, and 
 slavery — which befel them at the hands of the Romans in less than 
 40 years after this time (Jos. B. J. in. 7, § i, iv. 7, § 4). But 
 
 "We, ignorant of ourselves, 
 Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers 
 Deny us for our good." 
 
 For other instances of prayers fatally granted see Ex. x. 28, 29; 
 Numb. xxii. 20; Ps. Ixxviii. ^29 — 31; on the other hand, a refused 
 boon is sometimes a blessing. 1 Cor. xii. 8, 9. The result of their 
 wilful sensuality was that the time never came when 
 
vv. 38—41.] ST LUKE, VIII. 175 
 
 from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he 
 went up into the ship, and returned back again. Now the 38 
 man out of whom the devils were departed besought him 
 that he might be with him : but Jesus sent him away, saying, 
 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God 39 
 hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and pubHshed 
 throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done 
 unto him. 
 
 40. The waiting Multitude. 
 
 And it came to pass that, when Jesus was returned, the 40 
 people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for 
 him. 
 
 41 — 56. The Daughter ofjairus and the Woman with the 
 issue oj Blood. 
 
 And behold, there came a man named Jainis, and he 41 
 
 "E'en the witless Gadarene, 
 Preferring Christ to swine, shall learn 
 That life is sweetest, when 'tis clean." 
 they were taken] Rather, they were oppressed. 
 
 39. shew how great things God hath done tmto thee\ This command 
 valuably illustrates one of the reasons why our Lord commanded 
 reticence in other instances. To the region of Gadara He did not 
 intend to return, and therefore the proclamation of a miracle would 
 not cause Him to be surrounded by curious crowds. 
 
 40. The waiting Multitude. 
 
 40. the people gladly received him] They would see the sail of His 
 boat as it started back from Geigesa, and the storm had probably 
 driven back the other boats. He would naturally sail to Bethsaida or 
 Capernaum. It is impossible here to enter into the uncertain question 
 as to the exact order of events. For all details on that subject I must 
 refer to my Life of Christ. 
 
 41 — 66. The Daughter of Jairus and the Woman with the 
 ISSUE OF Blood. 
 
 41. behold] St Matthew places this message of Jairus after the 
 farewell feast which he gave to his friends before abandoning for ever 
 his office of tax-gatherer. At that feast arose the question about fasting, 
 and St Matthew (ix. 18) says that Jairus came "while Jesus was yet 
 speaking these things," and in so definite a note of time, on a day to him 
 so memorable, he could hardly be inexact. On the other hand, St Mark 
 
^ 176 ST LUKE, VIII. [vv. 42— 44. 
 
 was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' 
 feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: 
 
 42 for he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, 
 and she lay a dying. (But as he went the people thronged 
 
 43 him. And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, 
 which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither 
 
 44 could be healed of any, came behind hvn, and touched the 
 border of his garment : and immediately her issue of blood 
 
 says, and St Luke implies, that the message reached Jesus as He dis- 
 embarked on the sea-shore. Hence it has been supposed that Jesus 
 heard the first entreaty from Jairus on the shore when his daughter was 
 dying (vs. 42; Mark v. 23), but instead of going straight to the house 
 of Jairus went first to Matthew's feast; and that Jairus then came to 
 the feast in agony to say that she was just dead (Matt. ix. 18). The 
 very small discrepancies are however quite easily explicable without 
 this conjecture, and it was wholly unlike the method of Jesus to inter- 
 pose a feast between the request of an agonised father and His act of 
 mercy. 
 
 yairus\ Jair, Judg. x. 3. 
 
 a ruler of the synagogue'] The synagogues had no clergy, but were 
 managed by laymen, at the head of whom was the " ruler," whose 
 title of Rosh hakkeneseth was as familiar to the Jews as that of Rabbi. 
 His functions resembled those of a leading elder. The appeal of such 
 a functionary shews the estimation in which our Lord was still held 
 among the Galileans. 
 
 that he tvould come into his house'] Jair had not the faith of the 
 heathen centurion. 
 
 42. one only daughter] St Luke, whose keen sympathies are every- 
 where observable in his Gospel, mentions the same touching fact in 
 the case of the son of the widow of Nain (vii. 12), and the lunatic boy 
 (ix. 38). 
 
 she lay a dying] St Matthew says *'zj even nozu dead.^^ Perhaps 
 we catch in these variations an echo of the father's despairing un- 
 certainty. 
 
 43. which had spent all her living] Literally, * having in addition 
 spent ' her whole means of livelihood. 
 
 neither could be healed of any] St Luke, perhaps with a fellow- 
 feeling for physicians, does not add the severer comment of St Mark, 
 that the physicians had only made her worse (v. 26). The Talmudic 
 receipts for the cure of this disease were specially futile, such as to set the 
 sufferer in a place where two ways meet, with a cup of wine in her hand, 
 and let some one come behind and frighten her, and say. Arise from 
 thy flux; or "dig seven ditches, burn in them some cuttings of vines 
 not four years old, and let her sit in them in succession, with a cup 
 of wine in her hand, while at each remove some one says to her, 
 Arise from thy finx." (T,i^'litfoot, Hor. /Mr. ad loc.) 
 
 44. came behind him, and touched the border of his garment] Rather, 
 
VV.45— 47-] ST LUKE, VIII. 177 
 
 stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all 45 
 denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the 
 multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who 
 touched me? And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: +6 
 for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. And when the 47 
 woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and 
 falling down before him, she declared unto him before all 
 the people for what cause she had touched him, and how 
 
 approaching from behind touched the tassel of His outer robe. 
 
 This is a miracle *by the way' {obiter), but, as Fuller says, "His 
 obiter is more to the purpose than our iter." She sought to steal (as 
 it were) a miracle of grace, and fancied that Christ's miracles were 
 a matter of nature, not of will and purpose. Probably the intense 
 depression produced by her disease, aggravated by the manner in 
 which for twelve years every one had kept aloof from her and striven 
 not to touch her, had quite crushed her spirits. By the Levitic law 
 she had to be "put apart, and whosoever toucheth her shall be 
 unclean" (Lev. xv. 19, 25). The word translated " border" {kraspedon, 
 Heb. tsitsith) is a tassel at each "wing" or corner of the tallith 
 or mantle (Matt. xiv. 36). The Law (Num. xv. 38 — 40) required 
 that it should be bound with a thread (not as in E. V. ribba7id) of blue, 
 the colour of heaven, and so the type of revelation. The strict Jews 
 to this day wear these tassels, though they are usually concealed. The 
 Pharisees, to proclaim their orthodoxy, made them conspicuously large, 
 Matt, xxiii. 5. One of the four tassels hung over the shoulder at the 
 back, and this was the one which the woman touched. (For full 
 particulars of the Rabbinic rules about these tassels see an article by the 
 present writer, in the Expositor, v. 219.) The quasi-sacredness of the 
 tassels may have fostered her impulse to touch the one that hung in 
 view. 
 
 45. Peter and they that were with him\ St Mark merely says His 
 disciples, but the question is in exact accordance with that pre- 
 sumptuous impetuosity which marked the as yet imperfect stage of 
 Peter's character. 
 
 46. Somebody hath touched me] Rather, Some one touched me. 
 *' They press ; she touches." Aug. "Flesh presses; faith touches." 
 Id. Our Lord's question was meant to reach the woman's heart, comp. 
 Gen. iii. 9, iv. 9; 2 Kings v. 25. 
 
 I perceive that virtue is gone out of me\ Literally, '^^ I recognised power 
 goijig forth from me;" or perceived that power had gone forth from 
 me, if we read exeleluthuian. Comp. vi. 19. 
 
 47. she came tremblingi Because by her touch she had communi- 
 cated to Him Levitical uncleanness ; and this by one of the Rabbis 
 or Pharisees would have been regarded as an intolerable presumption 
 and wrong. To this day the Jewish Rabbis (or Chakams) in the East 
 are careful not even to be touched by a woman's dress (Frankl., yews 
 in the East, ii. 81). 
 
 ST LUKE 1 2 
 
178 ST LUKE, VIII. [vv. 48— 53. 
 
 48 she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daugh- 
 ter, be of good comfort : thy faith hath made thee whole ; 
 
 49 go in peace.) While he yet spake, there cometh one from 
 the ruler of the synagogue's hoiise^ saying to him. Thy daugh- 
 
 50 ter is dead ; trouble not the Master. But when Jesus heard 
 2/, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she 
 
 51 shall be made whole. And when he came into the house, 
 he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and 
 
 52 John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. And 
 all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is 
 
 53 not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn, 
 
 48. Daughfer\ The only recorded occasion on which our I-,ord used 
 that tender word to a woman. 
 
 thy faith hath made thee •whole\ Literally, " hath saved thee." Thy faith 
 — not the superstitious and surreptitious touch of my tallith's fringe. 
 Jesus thus compelled her to come forth from her timid enjoyment of 
 a stolen blessing that He might confer on her a deeper and fuller 
 blessing. 
 
 go in peacel Literally, to, or for peace. Tradition says that the 
 name of this woman was Veronica {Evaiig. Nicodem. v. 6), and that 
 it was she who gave to our Lord the famous legendary handkerchief 
 to wipe His face on the way to Calvary. At Paneas (Caesarea 
 Philippi) there was a bronze statue which was supposed to be her 
 votive offering, and to represent this scene (Euseb. H. E. vii. 18; 
 Sozomen, H.E. v. 21); and on this account Julian the Apostate or 
 Maxim.in is said to have destroyed it. All this is very improbable. 
 Early Christian writers were too credulous about these statues. Justin 
 Martyr took a statue of the Sabine god Semo Sancus for one of Simon 
 Magus. 
 
 49. trouble not the Master^ Literally, '■'■ worry not the Rabbi." 
 For the colloquial verb jDreserved also in St Mark see vii. 6. 
 
 50. when Jesus heard ii\ The remark was addressed to Jairus, 
 and St Mark says that Jesus " overheard it." 
 
 51. save Peter, and James, and John'\ as at the Transfiguration 
 and at Gethsemane, Mark ix. 1, xiv. 33. 
 
 52. bewailed her'\ The word means that they were beating their 
 breasts for her (Nahum ii. 7). St Mark gives a graphic picture of 
 the tumult, and loud cries, and wailings [alalai, the Egyptian wilweleh). 
 Even the poorest were obliged to provide for a funeral two flute- 
 players and one wailing woman. See Eccles. xii. 5 ; Jer. ix. 17; 
 Amos v. 16; 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. These public mourners were called 
 sappedans. 
 
 52. she^ is not dead, but sleepeth^ To take this literally is to contra- 
 dict the letter and spirit of the whole narrative. It is true that in 
 "our friend Lazarus sleepeth" the verb used is not katheudein but 
 koimasthai ; but that is in a different writer (John xi. 11), and the 
 
I w. 54—56; I.] ST LUKE, VIII. IX. 179 
 
 knowing that she was dead. And he put the7n all out, and 54 
 took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. And 55 
 her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he 
 commanded to give her meat. And her parents were asto- 56 
 nished : but he charged them that they should tell no man 
 what was done. 1 
 
 ( -V^ Ch. IX. I — 6. The Mission of the Twelve. 
 
 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave 9 
 them power and authority over all devils, and to cure dis- 
 
 word better suits one who had been four days dead. Our Lord's 
 object was to silence this idle uproar. 
 
 53. laughed him to scorn} Literally, ^^ivere utterly deriding HimJ'^ 
 * To laugh to scorn ' is used by Shakespeare, e. g. 
 
 "Our castle's strength 
 Will laugh a siege to scorn." 
 
 Macbeth, V. 5. 
 
 54. he ptit them all out} These words being omitted by ^, B, D, 
 L, X, are probably interpolated here, from the other Synoptists. Our 
 Lord could not feel the smallest sympathy for these simulated agonies 
 of people, who (to this day) "weep, howl, beat their breasts, and tear 
 their hair according to contract" (Thomson, Land and Book, I. viii.). 
 And further these solemn deeds required calm and faith, Acts ix. 40 ; 
 2 Kings iv. 33. 
 
 took her by the hand] St Luke preserves this gentle detail, as well 
 as the kind order to give her food. St Mark gives the two Aramaic 
 words which our Lord used, Talitha cumil On these occasions He 
 always used the fewest possible words (vii. 14; John xi. 43). 
 
 56. that they should tell no man} See on v. 14. And as usual the 
 injunction was probably unheeded. Matt. ix. 26. 
 
 Ch. IX. 1 — 6. The Mission of the Twelve. 
 
 1. Then he called his twelve disciples together} This was at the close 
 of the missionary journeys alluded to in Matt. ix. 35 ; Mk. vi. 6. St 
 Matthew gives a touching reason for the mission of the Twelve. It 
 was because He pitied the multitude, who were like harassed and 
 panting sheep without a shepherd, and like a harvest left unreaped 
 for want of labourers (Matt. ix. 36—38). The Apostles thus became, 
 as their name implied, emissaries [sheloochtm), and this was an important 
 step in their training. 
 
 and gave them power and authority} Power {dtcnamis) is the capacity^ 
 and authority {exotisia), the right to act. See x. 19 ; Rev. xiii. 7. 
 
 over all devils} Rather, over all the demons. 
 
 to cure diseases} The word is not iasthai, as in vs. 2, but therapejcun, 
 *to tend;' but there seems to be no essential difference intended, unless 
 
 12 — 2 
 
i8o ST LUKE, IX. [vv. 2—5. 
 
 2 eases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, 
 
 3 and to heal the sick. And he said unto them, Take nothing 
 for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, 
 
 4 neither money ; neither have two coats apiece. And what- 
 soever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. 
 
 5 And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that 
 city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony 
 
 it points to the curious fact mentioned by St Mark that they anointed 
 the sick with oil (vi. 13 ; comp. James v. 14). 
 
 2. And he sent theni\ Two and two for their mutual comfort. Mk. 
 vi. 7. 
 
 3. And he said unto them"] For a much fuller account of the 
 instructions given to the Twelve see Matt. x. 5 — 15. Some of these 
 are recorded by St Luke as given also to the Seventy, x. i — 16. 
 
 neither staves'] Or a staj^ (as N, A, B, and many uncials). The 
 plural may have been frivolously introduced by some copyist who 
 wished to avoid an apparent discrepancy with Mk. vi. 8, "save a staff 
 only." St Matthew also says, "not even a staff." Minute and wholly 
 unimportant as the variation would have been, it may turn on the fact 
 that our Lord told them not specially to procure {/m^ KTrjcrrjcrde, Matt.) 
 these things for the journey; or on the fact that speaking in Aramaic 
 He used the phrase DN '•D {kee im), which might be explained *^even if 
 you have a staff \\. is unnecessary." 
 
 nor scrip] i. e. wallet, a bag carried over the shoulder to contain a 
 few dates or other common necessaries, i Sam. xvii. 40. 
 
 neither bread] which they usually took with them, vs. 13 ; Matt. 
 xvi. 7. 
 
 neither money] Literally, ^^silver^ St Luke uses the word because it 
 was the common metal for coinage among the Greeks. St Mark uses 
 "copper," the common Roman coinage. 
 
 neither have two coats apiece] i.e. do not carry with you a second 
 tunic [ketoneth) — which indeed is a rare luxury among poor Orientals. 
 (See on iii. i r.) If they carried a second tunic at all they could only do 
 so conveniently by putting it on (Mk. vi. 9). St Mark adds that they 
 were to wear sandals, and St Matthew that they were not to have 
 travelling shoes {hupodhnaia). The general spirit of the instructions 
 merely is, Go forth in the simplest, humblest manner, with no hind- 
 rances to your movements and in perfect faith ; and this, as history 
 shews, has always been the method of the most successful missions. At 
 the same time we must remember that the wants of the Twelve were 
 very small (see on viii. 3) and were secured by the open hospitality of 
 the East (Thomson, Land and Book, p. 346). 
 
 4. whatsoever house ye enter] After enquiring who were the worthiest 
 people to receive them, Matt. x. i r, com]), infra x. 5—8. This injunc- 
 tion was meant to exclude fastidious and restless changes. 
 
 6. s/take off the very dust from your feet] See Acts xiii. 51, xviii. 6. 
 
w. 6—9.] ST LUKE, IX. 181 
 
 against them. And they departed, 'and went through the 6 
 towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where. 
 
 7 — 9. Herod* s Alarm, 
 
 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by 7 
 him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of 
 some, that John was risen from the dead; and of some, that s 
 Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old pro- 
 phets was risen again. And Herod said, John have I be- 9 
 headed: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And 
 he desired to see him. 
 
 6. preaching the gospel] The word here used is "evangelizing," in 
 vs. 2 it is ** to herald." 
 
 healing] In the other Evangelists exorcisms are prominent. Mk. 
 vi. 13. The special object of the mission of the Twelve is plain from 
 St Matthew. Our Lord had now been preaching for nearly a year in 
 Galilee, and multitudes still thronged to Him. He knew that He 
 would soon be compelled to retire, and He sent the Twelve to give 
 one last opportunity to those who had heard Him. 
 
 7 — 9. Herod's Alarm. 
 
 7. Herod the tetrarch] Antipas. See iii. i. 
 
 by him] These words are omitted by X, B, C, D, L. The '*^// the 
 things that had occurred^^ seems to be a special reference to the work 
 of the Twelve which made our Lord's name more widely known. 
 
 it was said of some] i. e. by some. To this opinion Herod's guilty 
 conscience made him sometimes incline, Mk. vi. 16. His alarm may 
 have been intensified by the strong condemnation of his subjects, who, 
 long afterwards, looked on his defeat by his injured father-in-law 
 Aretas (Hareth) as a punishment for this crime (Jos. Antt. xviii. 5, 
 §§ I, CJ). 
 
 8. that Ehas had appeared] In accordance with the prophecy of Mai. 
 iv. 5. The verb "appeared" is used instead of 'risen again,' because 
 of Elijah's translation to heaven. The Talmud is full of the expected 
 appearance of Elijah, and of instances in which he shewed himself to 
 eminent Rabbis. 
 
 one of the old prophets] Comp. vii. 16; Deut. xviii. 15; Num. 
 xxiv. 17. The Jews thought that Jeremiah or one of the other great 
 prophets (see vs. 19) might rise to herald the Messiah, John i. 21. See 
 1 Esdras ii. 10, 18, "Tell my people. ..For thy help will I send my 
 servants Isaiah and Jeremiah;" i Mace. xiv. 41, " .Sewcw should be high 
 priest... M«/z7 there arose a faithful prophet.'''' In 2 Mace. ii. 4 — 8, xv. 
 13 — 16, Jeremiah appears in a vision. It was believed that he would 
 reveal the hiding-place of the Ark, Urim, and Sacred Fire. 
 
 9. he desired] Literally, "rvas seeking;" this agrees with xxiii. 8, 
 "he was desirous to see him of a long season." St Luke may have 
 
i82 ST LUKE, IX. [v. lo. 
 
 I o — 1 7 . The Feeding of the Five Thousand. 
 
 lo And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all 
 that they had done. And he took them, and went aside 
 privately into a desert place belonging to the city called 
 
 heard particulars about Herod from Chuzas (viii. 3) when he was with 
 St Paul at Caesarea Stratonis, or from Manaen at Antioch (Acts xiii. i). 
 The curiosity of Herod about Jesus does not seem to have been aroused 
 before this period. A half-alien tyrant such as he was, belonging to a 
 detested house, is often little aware of what is going on among the 
 people ; but the mission of the Twelve in all directions, and therefore 
 possibly to Tiberias, produced effects which reached his ears. His 
 wish to see Jesus was not gratified till the day of the crucifixion; — partly 
 because our Lord purposely kept out of his reach, feeling for him a 
 pure contempt ("this fox," xiii. 32), and for this among other reasons 
 never so much as entered the polluted and half- heathen streets of 
 Herod's new town of Tiberias (which partly covered the site of an old 
 cemetery) ; and partly because, after the news of John's murder, He 
 seems at once to have withdrawn from all permanent work in Gen- 
 nesareth. During the mission of the Twelve we infer that He made a 
 journey alone to Jerusalem to the unnamed feast of John v. i, probably 
 the Feast of Purim. During this visit occurred the healing of the 
 cripple at Bethesda. 
 
 10 — 17. The Feeding of the Five Thousand. 
 
 10. told him all that they had done] This brief and meagre record, 
 to which nothing is added by the other Evangelists, contrasts so strongly 
 with the joyous exultation of the Seventy over their success, that we 
 are led to infer that the training of the Twelve was as yet imperfect, 
 and their mission less successful than the subsequent one. 
 
 went aside privately] The reasons — beside the natural need of the 
 Twelve and of our Lord for rest — were (i) the incessant interruptions 
 from the multitude, which left them no leisure even to eat (Mk. vi. 31), 
 and (2) (as we see from the context) the news of the murder of John 
 the Baptist and Herod's enquiries about Jesus. Perhaps we may add 
 (3) the desire to keep in retirement the Paschal Feast which He could 
 not now keep at Jerusalem. This event constitutes another new depar- 
 ture in the ministry of Christ. 
 
 into a desert place helongiiig to the city called Bethsaidd] There are 
 here great variations in the MSS. and the best reading is to a city called 
 Bethsaida. The omission may be due to the fact that there was 
 nothing approaching to "a desert place" corresponding to this descrip- 
 tion near the only Bethsaida wliich was well known to the copyists, 
 viz. the little fishing suburb of Capernaum on the west of the lake 
 (fiethsaida of Galilee, John xii. 21), Mk. vi. 45. This may also explain 
 the variation of 'village' for 'city.' It is only in recent times that we 
 have been made familiar with the existence of the other Bethsaida— 
 Bethsaida Julias (Mk. viii. -22), at the north of the lake, another 
 
w. II— 13.] ST LUKE, IX. 183 
 
 Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew //, followed n 
 him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the 
 kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. 
 And when the day began to wear away, then came the 12 
 twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that 
 they may go into the towns and country round about, and 
 lodge, and get victuals : for we are here in a desert place. 
 But he said unto them. Give ye them to eat. And they said, 13 
 We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we 
 
 'House of Fish* which had been recently beautified by Herod Philip 
 (iii. i) and named by him after the beautiful but profligate daughter of 
 Augustus, Jos. Antt. xviii. 2, § i; ^. y. 11. § i. The ruins of this 
 town still exist at Telui (a corruption of Tel Julias)^ and close by it is 
 the green, narrow, secluded plain of El Batihah, which exactly meets 
 the description of the Evangelists. This important discoveiy, which 
 explains several serious difficulties of this Gospel, is due to Reland 
 {Palaest. p. 504), and shews us how easily difficulties would be removed 
 if we knew all the facts. 
 
 11. the people, when they knew it, followed hi?n] The ensuing 
 miracle is one of the few narrated by all four Evangelists, Matt. xiv. 
 13 — 33; Mk. vi. 30 — 52; John vi. i — 21, and is most important from 
 the power displayed, the doctrines symbolized (Christ the bread of life), 
 and the results to which it led (John vi.). Combining the narratives, 
 we see that the embarkation of Jesus to sail from Capernaum to the 
 northern Bethsaida had been noticed by the people, and as it is only a 
 sail of six miles they went on foot round the head of the lake to find 
 Him. He had barely time to retire with His disciples to one of 
 the hills when a crowd assembled on the little plain which was 
 momentarily swelled by the throngs of pilgrims who paused to see the 
 Great Prophet on their way to the approaching Passover at Jerusalem 
 (John vi. 5), which Jesus Himself could not attend without danger, 
 OAving to the outburst caused by the Sabbath healing of the cripple 
 (John V. I — 16). Towards afternoon He came down the hill to the 
 multitude to teach them and heal their sick. 
 
 12. to wear atvay] Rather, to decline. 
 
 then cajne the twelve"] They were afraid that when once the brief 
 twilight was over, the famished multitude might lose their way or come 
 to harm, and some calamity happen which would give a fresh handle 
 against Jesus. John alone tells us that He had compassionately sug- 
 gested the difficulty to Philip, watching with gentle irony the trial of 
 his faith; and that Philip despairingly said that it would cost more than 
 200 denarii (as we might say ;^io) to procure them even a minimum of 
 food. Philip was "of Bethsaida," but this had nothing to do with 
 our Lord's speaking to him, for he belonged to the western Bethsaida. 
 
 13. We have no more but five loaves and two fishes] Compare Num. 
 xi. 22. It was Andrew who first mentioned this fact in a tentative sort 
 
i84 ST LUKE, IX. [w. 14—17. 
 
 [4 should go and buy meat for all this people. For they were 
 
 about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, 
 
 ,5 Make them sit down by fifties in a company. And they did 
 
 16 so, and made them all sit down. Then he took the five 
 loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he 
 blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set 
 
 17 before the multitude. And they did eat, and were all filled : 
 
 and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them 
 
 twelve baskets. 
 
 / 
 
 of way. The little boy [paidariori) who carried them seems to have 
 been in attendance on the Apostles ; evidently this was the food which 
 they had brought for their own supply, and it proves their simplicity of 
 life, for barley loaves (John vi. 9) are the food of the poor (2 K. iv. 42 ; 
 Judg. vii. 13; Ezek. xiii. 19, iv. 9). 
 
 14. Jive thousand men'] "Besides women and children," Matt. 
 xiv. 21. These would probably not be numerous, and would not (in 
 accordance with Eastern usage) sit down with the men, but would stand 
 apart. 
 
 by fifties in a company] The vivid details of Mark shew the eye- 
 witness of St Peter. He compares them to parterres of flowers {prasiai 
 prasiai, *by garden beds') as they sat on the green grass in their bright 
 Oriental robes of red and blue and yellow. St Luke's word, klisiai, 
 means literally z« dining-parties, from klisia, 'a couch.' This systematic 
 arrangement made it easy to tell the number of the multitude. 
 
 16. brake, and gave] The 'brake' is in the aorist, and the 'gave' 
 in the imperfect, and although it is a useless presumption to enquire 
 into the mode of this most remarkable miracle, these two words give us 
 this detail only,— that it took place between the act of breaking and the 
 continuous distribution. But "Falleret momento visum,,.Est quod non 
 erat ; videtur quod non intelligitur " (Hilary). The marvel lay in the 
 Doer, not in the deed. Aug. 
 
 17. of fragments] Compare 2 K. iv. 43, 44. These were collected 
 by the order of Jesus, who thus strikingly taught that wastefulness even 
 of miraculous plenty is entirely alien to the divine administration. 
 
 _ twelve baskets] Cophini, probably wicker-baskets [salsilloth, Jer. 
 vi. 9). Every Jew carried such a basket about with him to avoid the 
 chance of his food contracting any Levitical pollution in heathen places 
 (Juv. Sat. III. 14, VI. 542). The baskets used at the miracle of the 
 four thousand were large rope-baskets, 'frails' {spurides). The accuracy 
 with which each word is reserved by all the narrators for each miracle is 
 remarkable. 
 
 At this point there is a considerable gap in the continuity of St 
 Luke's narrative. He omits the amazement of the multitude which 
 made it likely that they would seize Jesus to make Him king ; His 
 compelling His reluctant disciples to sail back towards the other — the 
 
19.] ST LUKE, IX. T85 
 
 18 — 22. St Peter's Confession. Christ prophesies His Death 
 and Resurrection. 
 
 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disci- 18 
 pies were with him : and he asked them, saying, Whom say 
 the people that I am? They answering said, John the 19 
 Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of 
 
 western — Bethsaida ; the gradual dismissal of the multitude ; His flight, 
 0ei>yet, John vi. 15, N) to the hill top to escape those who still lingered, 
 and to pray alone ; the gathering of the storm ; the walking on the sea; 
 the failure of Peter's faith ; the very memorable discourse at Capernaum, 
 intended to teach what was the true bread from heaven, and to dissipate 
 the material expectations of the popular Messianism ; the crisis of 
 offence caused by these hard sayings ; the dispute with the Pharisees on 
 the question of the Oral Law or Tradition of the Elders ; the deepening 
 opposition and the one great day of conflict and rupture with the 
 Pharisees (which St Luke appears to relate out of chronological order 
 in xi.); the flight among the heathen as far as Tyre and Sidon; the 
 incident of the Syrophoenician woman ; the feeding of the four thousand ; 
 the return to Galilee and demand for a sign ; the sailing away, and the 
 warning against the leaven of the Pharisees ; and the healing of a blind 
 man at Bethsaida Julias during His second journey northwards. These 
 must be sought for in Matt, xiv. — xvi. 12 ; Mk. vi. 45 — viii. 30; John vi. 
 For my view of them, and their sequence, I may perhaps be allowed to 
 refer the reader to my Life of Christ, i. 403 — ii. 9. 
 
 18 — 22. St Peter's Confession. Christ prophesies His 
 Death and Resurrection. 
 
 18. alone\ Rather, in private, as the context shews. 
 
 the people\ Rather, the multitudes ; those whom Jesus had taught 
 and healed and fed, or those who seem to have been always at no great 
 distance. The two other Evangelists place this memorable scene in 
 the neighbourhood of Caesarea Philippi. His life at this epoch had 
 come to resemble a continuous flight. He did not enter Caesarea 
 Philippi. He always avoided towns (with the single exception of 
 Jerusalem), probably from His love for the sights and sounds of nature, 
 and His dislike for the crowded squalor and worldly absorption of 
 town-communities ; and He specially avoided these Hellenic and hybrid 
 cities, with their idolatrous ornaments and corrupted population. This 
 event may well be regarded as the culminating point in His ministry. 
 He had now won the deliberate faith and conviction of those who had 
 lived in close intercourse with Him, and who, in continuation of His 
 ministry, were to evangelize the world. See Matt. xvi. 13 — 21 ; Mk. 
 viii. 27 — 31. 
 
 that I aTn\ "That I, the Son of man, am?" Matt. xvi. 13. 
 
 19. John the Baptisf] See on vss. 7 — 9. The answer of the Apostle 
 shewed the sad truth that Jesus had come to His own possessions and 
 
1 86 ST LUKE, IX. [vv. 20—22. 
 
 90 the old prophets is risen again. He said unto them, But 
 whom say ye that I am ? Peter answering said, The Christ 
 
 21 of God. And he straitly charged them, and commanded 
 
 22 them to tell no 7nan that thi7tg ; saying, The Son of man 
 must suffer many things^ and be rejected of the elders and 
 chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the 
 third day. 
 
 His own people received Him not ; that the Light had shined in the 
 darkness, and the darkfiess had not comprehended it. He had not 
 come to force belief, but to win conviction. He had never even openly 
 ^ proclaimed His Messiahship, but left His works to speak for Him. 
 God's method is not to ensure faith by violence; as the Fathers say 
 "Force is alien to God " (fila ix^pbv Qecp). 
 
 20. T/ie Christ of God] "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
 Living God," Matt. xvi. 16. "The Lord's Christ," ii. 26. After the 
 estranging speech at Capernaum our Lord had asked, "Will ye also go 
 away?" and then St Peter's answer had been "we have believed and 
 recognised that thou art t/ie Holy One ^t/'C^?^," Johnvi. 69 (i^, B, C, D, 
 L, &c.). Nathanaelhad recognised Him as "the Son of God" and "the 
 King of Israel." Later, Martha confessed Him as "the Christ, the Son 
 of God," John xi. 2 7. But now for the first time the revealed mystery was 
 openly recognised and confessed. St Luke omits the blessing of St Peter, 
 which whatever may be its exact meaning at any rate can have conferred 
 on him no sort of primacy or superior authority among the Apostles. 
 See xxii. 24 — 26; Matt, xviii. i; John xxi. 19 — 23; Gal. ii. 9, 11, &c. 
 
 21. commanded them to tell no man] For these perhaps among 
 other reasons : — i. Because His work was not yet finished. 2. Because 
 as yet their faith was very weak and their knowledge very partial. 
 3. Because they had not yet received the Holy Spirit to give power to 
 their testimony. 4, Because the public proclamation of the truth would 
 have precipitated the workings of God's foreordained plan {prothesis, 
 Eph. i. 9, iii. 11). 
 
 22. The Son of man must suffer many things] It was necessary at 
 once to dissipate the crude Messianic conceptions of earthly splendour 
 and victory in which they had been brought up, and to substitute the 
 truth of a suffering for that of a triumphant Messiah. 
 
 be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes] i.e. by each 
 of the three great sections which formed the Jewish Sanhedrin; by all 
 who up to that time had been looked upon as religious authorities in 
 the nation. 
 
 and be slain] The mode of death, and the deliveiy to the Gentiles, 
 were culminating horrors which He mercifully kept back till the last 
 journey to Jerusalem, Matt. xx. 19. Hitherto He had only spoken of 
 His death in dim and distant intimations, John ii. 19, iii. 14, vi. 51. His 
 revelation of it was progressive, as they were able to bear it. Matt. ix. 
 '5» X. 38; Jolin iii. 14; Matt. xvi. 4, 21 ; xvii. 22, xx. 18, xxvi. 2. 
 
 be raised the third day] In vs. 45 St Luke shews us (as events proved) 
 
w. 23—27.] ST LUKE, IX. 187 
 
 23 — 27. The Cross and the Kingdom, 
 
 And he said to them all, If any man will come after 23 
 me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, 
 and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose 24 
 it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same 
 shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the 25 
 whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For who- 26 
 soever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him 
 shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in '^ 
 his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. 
 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, 27 
 which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 how entirely they failed to attach any distinct meaning to these words, 
 Mark ix. 10. 
 
 23 — 27. The Cross and the Kingdom. 
 
 23. And he said to them all'\ The word "all" implies the fact men- 
 tioned by St Mark (viii. 34), that before continuing His discourse He 
 called up to Him the multitudes who were at a little distance. St Luke 
 here omits the presumption and rebuke of St Peter, which is alone 
 sufficient to dispose of the unworthy theory of some German theolo- 
 gians that he writes with an animus against St Peter, or with some 
 desire to disparage his position. 
 
 take up his cross] A dim intimation of the still unrevealed imminence 
 of His crucifixion, and a continuance of the lesson that to follow Christ 
 meant not earthly gain but entire self-sacrifice, xiv. 26, 27; Acts xiv. 22. 
 
 dai/y] ' ' For thy sake we are killed all the day long, " Rom. viii. 36. 
 "I die daily," i Cor. xv. 31. 
 
 24. whosoever will save his life shall lose it] The words imply whoso- 
 ever shall make it his main will to save his life. See by way of com- 
 ment the fine fragment (probably) of a very early Christian hymn in 2 
 Tim. ii. 11, 12, and observe that ■^'^xh means the natural, animal life of 
 which the main interests are in the earth. 
 
 25. if he gaifi the whole world\ It was by the constant repetition of 
 this verse that Ignatius Loyola won the life-long devotion of St Francis 
 Xavier. 
 
 lose himself or be cast aiuay\ Rather, destroy Mmself, and suffer loss. 
 
 26. whosoever shall be ashamed of me\ Compare xii. 9; 2 Tim. i. 8, 
 12, ii. 12. 
 
 27. which shall not taste of death"] In the Arabian poem, An tar, 
 Death is represented as slaying men by handing them a cup of poison. 
 This was a common Eastern metaphor. 
 
 till they see the kingdom of God] St Mark (ix. r) adds ** coming in 
 power." St Matthew (xvi. 28) says "till they see the Son of man coming 
 
ST LUKE, IX. [vv. 28, 29. 
 
 28 — ;^6. The Transfiguration. 
 
 28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these say- 
 ings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into 
 
 29 a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his 
 
 in His Kingdom." It is clear that i\ve primary reference of these words 
 was to the three Apostles who, within a week of that time, were to 
 witness the Transfiguration. So it seems to be understood in 2 Pet. L 
 16, and by our Translators, who separate this verse to preface the nar- 
 rative of the Transfiguration in Mark ix. i. The significance of the 
 "kingdom" was therefore mainly spiritual, and the verse has an important 
 bearing on the prophecies of the Second Advent (see Matt. xxiv. 14, 15, 
 30). It was again fulfilled at the Resurrection and Ascension ; and in 
 the person of one disciple — St John — it was fulfilled when he lived to 
 witness the close of the Old Dispensation in the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 28—36. The Transfiguration. 
 
 28. about an eight days after'] See Matt. xvii. i — 13; Mark ix. 1 — 
 13. This is merely the inclusive reckoning which St Luke saw in his 
 written sources, and means exactly the same thing as "after six days" 
 in Mark ix. 2. (This explains Matt, xxvii. 63.) 
 
 he took] The solemnity of this special choice is marked in the other 
 Gospels by the additional word anapherei, "He leads them up" (of. 
 xxiv. 51). Matt. xxvi. 37. 
 
 Peter and John and James] See vi. 14, viii. 51. The object of this 
 occasion was to fill their souls with a vision which should support their 
 faith amid the horrors which they afterwards witnessed. 
 
 into a j?iotmtaitt] Rather, into the mountain. The others say "into 
 a lofty mountain." There can be little doubt that Mount Hermon 
 {yebelcsh Sheikh) is intended, in spite of the persistent, but perfectly base- 
 less tradition which points to Tabor. For (i) Mount Hermon is easily 
 within six days' reach of Caesarea Philippi, and (ii) could alone be called 
 a "lofty mountain" (being 10,000 feet high) or "the mountain," when 
 the last scene had been at Caesarea. Further, (iii) Tabor at that time in 
 all probability was (Jos. B. J. i. 8, § 7, Vit. 37), as from time immemorial 
 it had been (Josh. xix. 12), an inhabited and fortified place, wholly un- 
 suited for a scene so solemn ; and (iv) was moreover in Galilee, which is 
 excluded by Mark ix. 30. "The mountain" is indeed the meaning of 
 the name " Hermon," which being already consecrated by Hebrew 
 poetry (Ps. cxxxiii. 3, and under its old names of Sion and Sirion, or 
 * breast-plate' Deut. iv. 48, iii. 9 ; Cant. iv. 8), was well suited for the 
 Transfiguration by its height, seclusion, and snowy splendour. 
 
 to pray] The characteristic addition of St Luke. That this awful 
 scene took place at nighty and therefore that He ascended the mountain 
 in the evening, is clear from vss. 32, 33 : comp, vi. 12. It is also implied 
 by the allusions to the scene in 2 Pet. i. 18, 19. 
 
 29. as he prayed] The enquiry whether this heavenly brightness 
 
vv. 30— 33] ST LUKE, IX. 189 
 
 countenance was altered, and his raiment was white a7id 
 gUstering. And behold, there talked with him two men, 30 
 which were Moses and Elias : who appeared in glory, and 31 
 spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jeru- 
 salem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy 32 
 with sleep : and when they were awake, they saw his glory, 
 and the two men that stood with him. And it came to 33 
 pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, 
 Master, it is good for us to be here : and let us make three 
 
 came from within, or — as when the face of Moses shone — by reflection 
 from communion with God, seems irreverent and idle; but we may say 
 that the two things are practically one. 
 
 the fashion of his cotmtenance was altered^ "His face did shine as 
 the sun," Matt. xvii. i. It is interesting to see how St Luke avoids the 
 word "He was metamorphosed'''' which is used by the other Synoptists. 
 He was writing for Greeks, in whose mythology that verb was vulgarised 
 by foolish associations. 
 
 white and glister ing\ Literally, *^ lightning forth,^'' z.'s, though from 
 some inward radiance. St Matthew compares the whiteness of His robes 
 to the light (xvii. 2), St Mark to the snow (ix. 3), and St Luke in this 
 word to the lightning. See John i. 14; Ps. civ. 2 ; Hab. iii. 4. 
 
 30. two men, which were Moses and Elias"] The great Lawgiver and 
 the great Prophet, of whom we are told that God buried the one (Deut 
 xxxiv. 6) and the other had passed to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 
 ii. I, u). The two were the chief representatives of the Old Dispensa- 
 tion. The former, had prophesied of Christ (Acts iii. 22; Deut. xviii. 
 18); of the latter it had been prophesied that he should be His fore- 
 runner. "The end of the Law is Christ; Law and Prophecy are from 
 the Word; and things which began from the Word, cease in the Word." 
 St Ambrose. 
 
 31. spake of his decease] The word used is exodos, 'departure' — a 
 very unusual word for death, which also occurs in this connexion in 
 2 Pet. i. 15. The reading doxan, 'glory,' though knovra to St Chry- 
 sostom, is only supported by a few cursives. Exodos is, as Bengel says, 
 a very weighty word, involving His passion, cross, death, resurrection, 
 and ascension. 
 
 32. were heavy with sleep: and when they were azvahe] Rather, had 
 been heavy with sleep ; hut on fully awaking. The word diagregore- 
 santes does not here mean 'having kept awake,' but (to give the full 
 force of the compound and aorist) suddenly starting into full wakeful- 
 ness. They started up, wide awake after heavy sleep, in the middle of 
 the vision. 
 
 33. as they departed'] Rather, were parting. 
 
 it is good for us to be here] The word is not agathon, but kalon; 
 it is an excellent thing, or 'it is best^ (cf. Matt. xvii. 4, xxvi. 24). 
 
 tabernacles] like the little wattled booths (succoth), which the Israelites 
 
I90 ST LUKE, IX. [vv. 34— 38> 
 
 tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for 
 
 34Elias: not knowing what he said. While he thus spake, 
 
 there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they 
 
 35 feared as they entered into the cloud. And there came a 
 voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: 
 
 36 hear him. And when the voice was past, Jesus was found 
 alone. And they kept // close, and told no man in those 
 days any of those things which they had seen. 
 
 37 — 48. The De?nomac Boy. The Lesson of Meekness. 
 
 37 And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they 
 3S were come down from the hill, much people met him. And 
 
 made for themselves at the Feast of Tabernacles. The use of skenoma 
 in 2 Pet. i. 13 (Matt. xvii. 4) is another sign that the mind of the writer 
 was full of this scene. 
 
 not knowing what he said'] Not knowing that the spectacle on 
 Calvary was to be more transcendent and divine than that of Hermon, 
 not knowing that the old was passing away and all things becoming 
 new; not knowing that Jesus was not to die with Moses and Elijah on 
 either side, but between two thieves. 
 
 34. there came a doted, and overshadowed them] "A bright cloud," 
 Matt. xvii. 5. Possibly the Sheckinah, or cloud of glory (see on i. 35), 
 which was the symbol of the Divine Presence (Ex. xxxiii. 9 ; i Kings 
 viii. 10). If a mere mountain cloud had been intended, there would 
 have been no reason for their fear. 
 
 35. a voice out of the cloud] 1 Pet. i. 17, 18. As in two other 
 instances in our Lord's ministry, iii. 22; John xii. 28. The other 
 Synoptists add that at this Voice they fell prostrate, and, on Jesus 
 touching them, suddenly raised their eyes and looked all around them, 
 to find no one there but Jesus. 
 
 my beloved Son] Rather, my chosen Son {eklelegmenos, ^?, B, L). 
 Cf. Is. xlii. I. 
 
 36. And they kept it close] until after the resurrection, in accordance 
 with the express command of Jesus given them as they were descend- 
 ing the hill. Matt. xvii. 9. During the descent there also occurred the 
 conversation about Elijah and John the Baptist. (Matt. xvii. 9 — 13; 
 Mk. ix. 9 — 13.) 
 
 37—48. The Demoniac Boy. The Lesson of Meekness. 
 
 37. on the next day] Proving that the Transfiguration took place 
 at night : see on vs. 28. 
 
 much people viet him] St Mark records their "amazement" at seeing 
 Him — perhaps due to some lingering radiance and majesty which clung 
 to Him after the Transfiguration. (Comp. Ex. xxxiv. 30.) They had 
 been surrounding a group of the scribes, who were taunting the disciples 
 with their failure to cure the lunatic boy. 
 
w. 39— 43.] ST LUKE, IX. 191 
 
 behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, 1 
 beseech thee, look upon my son : for he is mine only child. 
 And lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out ; 39 
 and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him 
 hardly departeth from him. And I besought thy disciples 40 
 to cast him out ; and they could not. And Jesus answering 41 
 said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I 
 be with you, and suffer you ? Bring thy son hither. And 4? 
 as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare 
 hi7n. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the 
 child, and delivered him again to his father. 
 
 And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. 43 
 But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus 
 
 38. of the company\ Rather, from tlie crowd. 
 Master] Rather, Teacher or Rabbi. 
 
 Ae is mine only child] See on viii. 42. 
 
 39. a spirit taketh him] This was the supernatural aspect of his 
 deafness, epilepsy, and madness. St Matthew gives the natural aspect 
 when he says, "he is a lunatic, and sore vexed, &c.," xvii. 15. 
 
 40. and they could not] Jesus afterwards, at their request, told 
 them the reason of this, which was their deficient faith. Matt. xvii. 
 19 — 21. 
 
 41. faithless and perverse generation] Doubtless the Spirit of 
 Jesus was wrung by the contrast — so immortally portrayed in the great 
 picture of Raphael — between the peace and glory which He had left on 
 the mountain, and this scene of weak faith, abject misery, and bitter 
 opposition — faltermg disciples, degraded sufterers, and wrangling scribes. 
 
 how long shall I be with you?] *'He was hastening to His Father, 
 yet could not go till He had led His disciples to faith. Their slowness 
 troubled Him." Bengel. 
 
 42. rebuked the unclean spirit] See the fuller details and the me- 
 morable cry of the poor father in Mk. ix. 21 — 24. The child had been 
 rendered deaf and dumb by his possession; in the last paroxysm he 
 wallowed on the ground foaming, and then lay as dead till Jesus raised 
 him by the hand. Interesting parallels to tliese strange and horrible 
 paroxysms in a condition which may well be ascribed to demoniac 
 possession may be found in a paper on Demoniacs by Mr Caldwell, 
 Contemp. Rev., Feb., 1876. The boy's 'possession' seems on its natural 
 side to have been the deadliest and intensest form of epileptic lunacy 
 which our Lord had ever healed, and one far beyond the power of the 
 real or pretended Jewish exorcisms. Hence the words of Jesus were 
 peculiarly emphatic, Mk. ix. 25. 
 
 43. mighty power] Rather, majesty. 2 Pet. i, 16. 
 
 while they wondered] The power of the last miracle had rekindled 
 some of their Messianic enthusiasm. Jesus had now reached the 
 
192 ST LUKE, IX. [w. 44— 48. 
 
 44 did, he said unto his disciples, Let these sayings sink down 
 into your ears : for the Son of man shall be delivered into 
 
 45 the hands of men. But they understood not this saying, and 
 it was hid from them, that they perceived it not : and they 
 feared to ask him of that saying. 
 
 46 Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them 
 
 47 should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of 
 
 48 their heart, took a child, and set him by him, and said unto 
 them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name re- 
 ceiveth me : and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him 
 that sent me : for he that is least among you all, the same 
 shall be great. 
 
 northern limits of Palestine, and — apparently through bypaths, and 
 with the utmost secresy— was retracing His steps, perhaps along the 
 western bank of the Jordan, to Gahlee, Matt. xvii. 22; Mk. ix. 30. 
 
 Ae said unto his disciples^ The imperfects in Mk. ix. 31 shew that 
 these warnings of His approaching betrayal, death, and resurrection 
 now formed a constant topic of His teaching. 
 
 44. shall be delivered'] Rather, is about to be delivered (i.e. very 
 soon). 
 
 45. they understood not] This ignorance and incapacity, so humbly 
 avowed, should be contrasted with the boldness and fulness of their 
 subsequent knowledge as one of the strongest proofs of the change 
 wrought in them by the Resurrection and the Descent of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 46. a reasoning] Rather, a dispute. 
 
 which of them should be greatest] Their jealous ambition had been 
 kindled partly by false Messianic hopes, partly perhaps by the recent 
 distinction bestowed on Peter, James, and John. Observe how little 
 Christ's words to Peter had been understood to confer on him any 
 special preeminence! This unseemly dispute was again stirred up at 
 the Last Supper, xxii. 24 — 26. 
 
 47. perceiving the thought of their heart] He asked the subject of 
 their dispute, and when shame kept them silent. He sat down, and 
 calling a little child, made the Twelve stand around while He taught 
 this solemn lesson. 
 
 took a child] This could not have been the future martyr St Ignatius, 
 as legend says (Niceph. ii. 3), probably by an erroneous inference from 
 his name of Christophoros or Theophoros, which was derived from his 
 telling Trajan that he carried God in his heart (see Ep. ad Smyrn. III. 
 which is of very doubtful genuineness, or Eus. H. E. iii. 38). 
 
 48. he that is least among you] Comp. Matt, xxiii. 11, 12. He 
 perhaps added the memorable words about offending His little ones. 
 Matt, xviii. 6 — 10; Lk. xvii. 2. 
 
 shall be great] Rather, is great (S, B, C, L, X). 
 
vv. 49, 50.] ST LUKE, IX. 193 
 
 49, 50. The Tolerance ofj^esus. 
 
 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting 49 
 out devils in thy name ; and we forbad him, because he fol- 
 loweth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him so 
 not : for he that is not against us is for us. 
 
 49, 50. The Tolerance of Jesus. 
 
 49. And John ans^vered and sazd] Mk. ix. 38 — 41. This sudden 
 question seems to have been suggested by the words ''in my name,^^ 
 which Jesus had just used. 
 
 casting out devils in thy name] It was common among the Jews to 
 attempt exorcism by many different methods; see on iv. 35, 41; 
 viii. 32. This unknown person — like the sons of Sceva in Acts xix. 
 13, 14, but evidently in a more faithful spirit — had found that the 
 name of Jesus was more powerful. Specimens of Jewish exorcisms are 
 given in the Jewish Book of Jubilees, and in Shabbath, 67 ; Pesachim, 
 f. 112 a, b; see too Tobit vi. 16, 17; Jos. B. J. vii. 6, § 3. 
 
 we forbad hi?n] Compare the jealous zeal of Joshua against Eldad 
 and Medad, and the truly noble answer of Moses, Numb. xi. 27 — 29. 
 
 because he followeth not with us] This touch of intolerant zeal is quite 
 in accordance with the natural disposition which shews itself in the 
 incident of vs. 54, and with the story that St John rushed out of a bath 
 in which he saw the heretic Cerinthus. It was this burning tempera- 
 ment that made him a "Son of Thunder." 
 
 60. he that is not against us is for us] Cf. Phil. i. 18. The com- 
 plementary but not contradictory truth to this, is "He who is not with 
 me is against me," Matt. xii. 30. Both are true in different circum- 
 stances. Neutrality is sometimes as deadly as opposition (Judg. v. 23); 
 it is sometimes as effectual as aid (Sueton. , Jul. Caes. 75), See Vinet, 
 La tolerance et V intolerance de TEvangile {Discours, p. 268). Renan 
 calls these "two irreconcilable rules of proselytism, and a contradiction 
 evoked by a passionate struggle. " Guizot expresses his astonishment at 
 so frivolous a criticism, and calls them two contrasted facts which every 
 one must have noticed in the course of an active life. "Lesdeux 
 assertions, loin de se contredire, peuvent etre egalement vraies, et Jesus- 
 Christ en les exprimant a parle en observateur sagace, non en moraliste 
 qui donne les preceptes." Miditations, p. 229. 
 
 It is a great pity that the chapter does not end at this verse ; since it 
 closes another great section in our Lord's ministry — the epoch of op- 
 position and flight. A new phase of the ministry begins at vs. 51. 
 
 Chs. IX. 51— XVIII. 31. 
 
 This section forms a great episode in St Luke, which may be called 
 the departure for the final conflict, and is identical with the journey 
 (probably to the Feast of the Dedication, John x. 22) which is partially 
 
 ST LUKE 13 
 
t^4 ST LUKE, IX. tv. 51. 
 
 Ch. IX. 51 — 56. Rejected by the Samaritans. A lesson of 
 Tolerance. 
 
 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he 
 
 touched upon in Matt, xviii. — xx. 16 and Mk. x. i — 31. It contains 
 many incidents recorded by this Evangelist alone, and though the 
 recorded identifications of time and place are vague, yet they all point 
 (ix. 51, xiii. 22, xvii. 11, x. 38) to a slow, solemn, and public pro- 
 gress from Galilee to Jerusalem, of which the events themselves are 
 often grouped by subjective considerations. So little certain is the 
 order of the separate incidents, that one writer (Rev. W. Stewart) has 
 made an ingenious attempt to shew that it is determined by the alpha- 
 betic arrangement of the leading Greek verbs {ar/a.TTav, x. 25 — 28, 
 29 — 37, 38 — 42; aXreXv, xi. i — 4, 5, 8, 9 — 13, &c.). Canon Westcott 
 arranges the order thus: The Rejection of the Jewsforeshewn; prepara- 
 tion, ix. 43 — xi. 13; Lessons of Warning, xi. 14— xiii. 9; Lessons of Pro- 
 gress, xiii. 10 — xiv. 24; Lessons of Discipleship, xiv. 25 — xvii. 10; the 
 Coming End, xvii. 10 — xviii. 30. 
 
 The order of events after 'the Galilaean spring' of our Lord's 
 ministry on the plain of Gennesareth seems to have been this: After 
 the period of flight among the heathen or in countries which were 
 only semi-Jewish, of which almost the sole recorded incident is the 
 healing of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman (Matt. xv. 21 
 —28). He returned to Peraea and fed the four thousand. He then 
 sailed back to Gennesareth, but left it in deep sorrow on being 
 met by the Pharisees with insolent demands for a sign from heaven. 
 Turning His back once more on Galilee, He again travelled north- 
 wards; healed a blind man at Bethsaida Julias; received St Peter's 
 great confession on the way to Caesarea Philippi; was transfigured; 
 healed the demoniac boy; rebuked the ambition of the disciples 
 by the example of the little child ; returned for a brief rest in Caper- 
 naum, during which occurred the incident of the Temple Tax; then 
 journeyed to the Feast of Tabernacles, during which occurred the inci- 
 dents so fully narrated by St John (John vii. i — x. 21). The events and 
 teachings in this great section of St Luke seem to belong mainly, if not 
 entirely, to the two months between the hasty return of Jesus to Galilee 
 and His arrival in Jerusalem, two months afterwards, at the Feast of 
 Dedication ; — a period respecting which St Luke must have had access 
 to special sources of information. 
 
 For fuller discussion of the question I must refer to my Life of Christ, 
 TI. 89—150. 
 
 Ch. IX. 51 — 56. Rejected by the Samaritans. A lesson of 
 Tolerance. 
 61. when the tim^ was come that he should be received up] Rather, 
 when the days of His Assumption were drawing to a close (literally, 
 were being fulfilled). St Luke thus clearly marks the arrival of a final 
 stage of our Lord's ministry. " His passion, cross, death, and grave were 
 coming on, but through them all Jesus looked to the goal, and the style 
 
w. 52—54.] ST LUKE, TX. 195 
 
 should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to 
 Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face : and they 52 
 went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make 
 ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his 53 
 face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when 54 
 
 of the Evangelist imitates His feelings," Bengel. The word analipsis 
 means the Ascension (in Eccl. Latin Assiimptid). So dveK-qcpdirj of 
 Elijah, 2 K. ii. 11 ; Mk. xvi. 19. 
 
 he\ Rather, He Himself also. 
 
 set his face] Jer. xxi. 10; 2 K. xii. 17 (LXX.), and especially Is. 
 1. 7. 
 
 52. sent messejtgers'] Some think that they were two of the Seventy 
 disciples ; others that they were James and John. 
 
 into a village of the Samaritansl On the way to Judaea from Galilee 
 He would doubtless avoid Nazareth, and therefore His road probably lay 
 over Mount Tabor, past Little Hermon (see vii. 11), past Nain, Endor, 
 and Shunem. The first Samaritan village at which He would arrive 
 would be En Ganniin (Fountain of Gardens), now Jenin (2 K. ix. 27), a 
 pleasant village at the first pass into the Samaritan hills. The inhabi- 
 tants are still described as "fanatical, rude, and rebellious" (Thomson, 
 Land and Book, II. xxx.). The Samaritans are not mentioned in St 
 Mark, and only once in St Matthew (x. 5). 
 
 to make ready for hint] As He was now accompanied not only by 
 the Twelve, but by a numerous multitude of followers, His unannounced 
 arrival would have caused embarrassment. But, further than this, He 
 now openly avowed Himself as the Christ. 
 
 53. they did not receive hint] The aorist implies that they at once 
 rejected Him. The Samaritans had shewn themselves heretofore not 
 ill-disposed (John iv. 39), and St Luke himself delights to record 
 favourable notices of them (x. 33, xvii. 18). But (i) there was always a 
 recrudescence of hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans at the 
 recurrence of the annual feasts, (ii) Their national jealousy would not 
 allow them to receive a Messiah whose goal was not Gerizim, but 
 Jerusalem, (iii) They would not sanction the passage of a multitude of 
 Jews through their territory, since the Jews frequently (though not 
 always, Jos. Antt. XX. 6, § i) chose the other route on the East of the 
 Jordan. 
 
 as though he would go to yerusalem\ This national hatred between 
 Jews and Samaritans (John iv. 9) still continues, and at the present day 
 it is mainly due to the fanaticism of the Jews. In our Lord's day the 
 Jews called the Samaritans 'Cuthites' (2 K. xvii. 24), aliens (xvii. 
 18), 'that foolish people that dwell in Sichem' (Ecclus. 1. 25, 26), and 
 other opprobrious names. They accused them oicontimwus idolatry (2 K. 
 xvii.), and charged them with false fire-signals, and with having polluted 
 the Temple by scattering it with dead men's bones (Jos. Antt. xx. 6, § i, 
 XVIII. 2, § 2; B.J. II. 12, § 3). No doubt originally their Monotheism 
 was very hybrid, being mixed up with five heathen religions (2 K. xvii. 33, 
 
 13—2 
 
196 ST LUKE, TX. [v. 55. 
 
 his disciples James and John saw this^ they said, Lord, wilt 
 
 thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and 
 
 55 consume them, even as Elias did ? But he turned, and 
 
 rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit 
 
 xix. 37) ; but they had gradually laid aside idolatry, and it was as much 
 a calumny of the ancient Jews to charge them with the worship of 
 Rachel's amulets (Gen. xxxv. 4) as for modern Jews to call them 
 ^ worshippers of the pigeott' (Frankl. Jews in the East, ii. 334). But the 
 deadly exacerbation between the two nations, which began after the Exile 
 (Ezr. iv. I — 10; Nehem. iv. i — 16, vi.), had gone on increasing by 
 perpetual collision since the building of the Temple on Gerizim by the 
 renegade priest Manasseh and Sanballat (Neh. xiii. 28; Jos. Antt. XI. 
 7, XII. 5, § 5), which was destroyed by John Hyrcanus B.C. 129. 
 
 64. James and yohn\ "What wonder that the Sons of Thunder 
 wished to flash lightning?" St Ambrose. But one of these very disciples 
 afterwards went to Samaria on a message of love (Acts viii. 14 — 25). 
 
 fire to come down from heaven^ To avenge their helplessness under 
 this gross and open insult of the Messiah. "Christ wrought miracles 
 in every element except fire. Fire is reserved for the consummation of 
 the age." Bengel. 
 
 even as Elias did'\ These words are omitted by ^?, B, L. But (i) 
 they are singularly appropriate, since the incident referred to also 
 occurred in Samaria (2 K. i. 5 — 14); and (ii) while it would be difficult 
 to account for their insertion, it is quite easy to account for their omission 
 either by an accidental error of the copyists, or on dogmatic grounds, 
 especially from the use made of this passage by the heretic Marcion 
 (Tert. adv. Marc. iv. 23) to disparage the Old Testament, (iii) They 
 are found in very ancient MSS., versions, and Fathers, (iv) The words 
 seem to be absolutely required to defend the crude spirit of vengeance, 
 and might have seemed all the more natural to the still half-trained 
 Apostles because they had so recently seen Moses and Elias speaking 
 with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. They needed, as it were, 
 a Scriptural precedent, to conceal from themselves the personal impulse 
 which really actuated them. 
 
 65. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of] The whole of this 
 passage down to "save them" is omitted in K, A, B, C, and other 
 manuscripts; but it is impossible to doubt its genuineness, because 
 it breathes a spirit far purer, loftier, and rarer than is ever discernible in 
 ecclesiastical interpolations. It was omitted on the same grounds as the 
 words in the last verse, because it was regarded as 'dangerous* to the 
 authority of the O.T. It is quite impossible to believe that the narrative 
 abruptly ended with the unexplained "He rebuked them." Ecclesias- 
 tical censurers have failed to see that "religionis non est religionem 
 cogere" (Tert. ad Scap. 2), and that, as Bp Andrewes says, "The times 
 require sometimes one spirit, sometimes another, Elias' time Elias' 
 spirit." The Apostles learnt these truths better when they had received 
 the Holy Ghost (Rom. xii. 19; Jas. i. 19, 20, iii. 16, 17; John iii. 17, 
 
w. 56—59.] ST LUKE, IX. 197 
 
 ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's 56 
 lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. 
 
 57 — 62. The Three Aspirants, 
 
 And it came to pass that^ as they went in the way, a cer- 57 
 tain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whitherso- 
 ever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him. Foxes have 58 
 holes, and birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of man 
 hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, 59 
 
 xii. 47). They learnt that the spirit of Jesus was the spirit of the dove; 
 and that there is a difference between Carmel and Hermon, between 
 Sinai and Kurn Hattin. It is possible that the words may be a question 
 — Know ye not that yours (emphatically placed last) is the spirit of 
 Elijah, not of Christl Our Lord quoted Psalms xxii. and xxxi. on the 
 Cross, and yet prayed for His enemies. Bengel. 
 
 56. For the Son of man is not come, &c. This clause is omitted by 
 the majority of uncials, and some editors therefore regard it as a 
 repetition of xix. 10 or Matt, xviii. 11. However that may be, we have 
 the same sentiment in John iii. 17, xii. 47; i Tim. i. 15. The Sons of 
 Thunder were shewing the spirit of the Talmud (which says, "Let not 
 the Samaritans have part in the Resurrection") rather than that of the 
 Gospel (x. 33, xvii. 18; Acts i. 8). 
 
 t/iey went to another village'] The word heteran (not allin) perhaps 
 implies that it was a Jewish^ not a Samaritan village. Numb. xx. 21 ; 
 Matt. ii. 12. 
 
 67—62. The Three Aspirants. 
 
 67. as they went in the way] St Matthew (viii. 19 — ■22) places these 
 incidents before the embarkation for Gergesa. Lange's conjecture that 
 the three aspirants were Judas Iscariot, Thomas, and Matthew is 
 singvilarly baseless. 
 
 a certain man] a Scribe (Matt. viii. 19). The dignity of his rank was 
 nothing to Him who had chosen among His Twelve a zealot and a 
 publican. 
 
 whithersoever thou goest] There was too little of 'the modesty of 
 fearful duty' in the Scribe's professions. 
 
 58. Jesus said unto him] "In the man's flaring enthusiasm He 
 saw the smoke of egotistical self-deceit" (Lange), and therefore He 
 coldly checked a proffered devotion which would not have stood the 
 test. 
 
 nests] Rather, habitations, shelters. Birds do not live in nests. In 
 this verse more than in any other we see the poverty and homelessness 
 of the latter part of the Lord's ministry (2 Cor. viii. 9). Perhaps St 
 Luke placed the incident here as appropriate to the rejection of our 
 Lord's wish to rest for the night at En Gannim. Was this Scribe pre- 
 pared to follow Jesus for His own sake alone? 
 
198 ST LUKE, IX. X. [w. 60— 62 ; i. 
 
 Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and 
 
 60 bury my father. Jesus said unto him. Let the dead bury 
 their dead : but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 
 
 61 And another also said. Lord, I will follow thee ; but let me 
 first go bid them farewell, which are at home in my house. 
 
 62 And Jesus said unto him. No mail having put his hand to the 
 plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. 
 
 Ch. X. I — 24. The Mission of the Seventy. 
 10 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, 
 
 69. Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my fiithe?-] An ancient, but 
 groundless tradition (Clem. Alex. Strom, ill. 4, § 25), says that this was 
 PhiHp. This man was already a disciple (Matt. viii. ^i). The request 
 could hardly mean ' let me live at home till my father's death, ' which 
 would be too indefinite an offer ; nor can it well mean that his father was 
 lying unburied, for in that case the disciple would hardly have been 
 among the crowd. Perhaps it meant ' let nie go and give a farewell funeral 
 feast, and put everything in order.' The man was bidden to be Christ's 
 Nazarite (Num. vi. 6, 7). 
 
 60. Let the dead bury their dead] i.e. let the spiHtually dead (Eph. 
 ii. i; John v. 24, 25) bury their physically dead. *'Amandus est 
 generator, sed praeponendus est Creator," Aug. The general lesson is 
 that of xiv. 26. 
 
 61. let vie first go bid them farewell] The incident and the allu- 
 sion closely resemble the call of Elisha (i K. xix. 20). But the call 
 of Jesus is more pressing and momentous than that of Elijah. *'The 
 East is calling thee, thou art looking to the West," Aug. Neither Elijah 
 nor Elisha is an adequate example for the duties of the Kingdom of 
 Heaven, of which the least partaker is, in knowledge and in privileges, 
 greater than they. 
 
 62. Mo man having put his hand to the plough] He who would make 
 straight furrows must not look about him (Hesiod, Works and Days, 1 1. 
 60). The light ploughs of the East, easily overturned, require constant 
 attention. 
 
 fit] Rather, well-adapted. By way of comment see xvii. 32 j 
 Ps. Ixxviii. Q ; Heb. x. 38, 39. The general lesson of the section is, 
 Give yourself wholly to your duty, and count the cost, xiv. 25 — 33. Christ 
 cannot accept 'a conditional service.' Neither hardship, nor bereave- 
 ment, nor home ties must delay us from following Him. Is it more than 
 a curious accident that the last four incidents illustrate the peculiarities 
 of the four marked human temperaments — the Choleric (51 — 56); 
 the Sanguine (57, 58); the Melancholic (59, 60); the Phlegmatic 
 61,62)? 
 
 Ch. X. 1 — 24. The Mission of the Seventy. 
 1. After these things] i. e. after finally leaving Galilee, and starting on 
 His great Peraean progress. 
 
w. 2— 6.] ST LUKE, X. 199 
 
 and sent them two and two before his face into every city 
 and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said 2 
 he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers 
 are few : pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he 
 would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways : 3 
 behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry 4 
 neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes : and salute no man by 
 the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, 5 
 Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be 6 
 there, your peace shall rest upon it : if not, it shall turn 
 
 other seventy also] Rather, also others (besides the Twelve) seventy 
 in nmnber. Some MSS. read seventy-two (B, D, M, &c.). The num- 
 ber had evident reference to the Elders of Moses (Num. xi. 16), where 
 there is the same variation; the Sanhedrin; and the Jewish belief 
 (derived from Gen. x.) as to the number of the nations of the world. 
 The references to Elim with its 12 wells and 70 palm-trees are mere 
 plays of allegoric fancy. 
 
 two and twol The same merciful provision that we see in the brother- 
 pairs of the Twelve. 
 
 into every city, &c.] Clearly with the same object as in ix. 52. It 
 may have been all the more necessary because hitherto He had worked 
 less in the Transjordanic regions. 
 
 2. The harvest truly is great] Compare Matt. ix. 37 ; John iv. 35. 
 send forth] The word literally means 'drive forth,' and though it has 
 
 lost its full force implies urgency and haste. See similar uses of the 
 word in John x. 4, Matt. ix. 38, Mk. i. 12. 
 
 3. as lajnbs] *as sheep,' Matt. x. 16 (of the Twelve). The slight 
 variation must not be pressed. The impression meant to be conveyed 
 is merely that of simplicity and defencelessness. A tradition, as old as 
 Clemens Romanus, tells us that St Peter had asked (on the previous 
 occasion), ' But how then if the wolves should tear the lambs?' and that 
 Jesus replied, 'Let not the lambs fear the wolves when the lambs are 
 once dead,' and added the words in Matt. x. 28. There is no reason to 
 doubt this interesting tradition, which may rank as one of the most 
 certain of the 'unwritten sayings ' {agrapha dogmata) of our Lord. 
 
 4. neither purse] Compare ix. i — 6, and notes; Matt. x. i — 42. St 
 Luke uses the Greek balantion ; St Mark the Oriental zonen 'girdle.' 
 
 salute no man by the way] A common direction in cases of urgency 
 (2 K. iv. 29), and partly explicable by the length and loitering 
 elaborateness of Eastern greetings (Thomson, Land and Book, 11. xxiv.). 
 
 5. Peace be to this house] Adopted in our service for the Visitation of 
 the Sick. God's messengers should begin first with prayers for peace, 
 not with objurgations. Bengel. 
 
 6. the son of peace] Rather, a son of peace, i.e. a man of peaceful 
 heart. Comp. for the phrase xvi. 8, xx. 36; John xvii. 12; Eph. 
 v. 6, 8. 
 
200 
 
 ST LUKE, X. [vv. 7—14. 
 
 7 to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and 
 drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is 
 
 8 worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And 
 into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such 
 
 9 things as are set before you : and heal the sick that are 
 therein, and say unto them, The ^inp^rfom of Qnd is come 
 
 10 nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they 
 receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the 
 
 11 same, and say. Even the very dust of your city, which 
 cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you : notwithstanding 
 be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh 
 
 12 unto you. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolera- 
 ble in that day for Sodom, than for that city. 
 
 13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin, woe unto thee, Bethsaida : for 
 if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which 
 have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, 
 
 14 sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolera- 
 
 it shall turn to you again] Matt. x. 13. **My prayer returned into 
 mine own bosom," Ps. xxxv. 13. 
 
 7. eating and drinking such things as they give] As a plain right. 
 I Cor. ix. 4, 7 — ii« 
 
 the labourer is worthy of his hire] Referred to by St Paul, i Tim. 
 V. 18. Doubtless he may have been aware that our Lord had used it, 
 but the saying was probably proverbial, 
 
 9. The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you] So thft oiir Lord's 
 last messages resembled His first preaching, Matt. iv. 17. -i MM] /J r^, 
 
 11. Even the very dust] Acts xiii. 49 — 51, xviii. 5 — 7. 
 
 12. more tolerable in that day for Sodom] The great principle which 
 explains these words may be found in xii. 47, 48 (compare Heb. ii. 2, 3, 
 X. 28, 29). 
 
 13. IVoe unto thee, Chorazin] The mention of this town is very 
 interesting because this is the only occasion (Matt. xi. 21) on which the 
 name occurs, and we are thus furnished with a very striking proof of 
 the fragmentariness of the Gospels. The very site of Chorazin was 
 long unknown. It has now been discovered at Keraseh^ the ruins 
 of an old town on a wady, two miles inland from Tel Hum (Caper- 
 naum), At a little distance these ruins look like mere rude heaps of 
 basaltic stones. 
 
 Bethsaida] See on ix. 10. 
 
 mighty works] Literally, ^^ powers.'''* 
 
 they had a great while ago repented] like Nineveh (Jon. iii. 5 — 10), 
 " Surely had I sent thee unto tliem they would have hearkened unto 
 thee," Ezek. iii. 6 ; comp. James iv. 17. 
 
vv. IS— 19.] ST LUKE, X. 201 
 
 ble for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. And is 
 thou, Capernaum , which art exalted to heaven, shalt be 
 thrust down to hell. He that hearetlTyou heareth me; and 16 
 he that despiseth you despiseth me ; and he that despiseth 
 me despiseth him that sent me. 
 
 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying. Lord, 17 
 even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And 18 
 he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from 
 heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on ser- 19 
 pents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy : 
 
 14. more tolerable... at the Judgment'] A very important verse as 
 proving the 'intermediate state' (Hades) of human souls. The guilty 
 inhabitants of these cities had received their temporal punishment 
 (Gen. xix. 24, 25); but the final judgment was yet to come. 
 
 15. Ajid thou, Capernaum'] Christ's "own city." 
 
 exalted to heaven] by inestimable spiritual privileges. "Admitted 
 into a holier sanctuary, they were guilty of a deeper sacrilege." A better 
 reading is (for 7]...v-<^i>)d€Tcra) ^it] . . .vyj/wdriari ; "Shalt thou be exalted 
 to heaven? Thou shalt be thrust down...!" 
 
 shalt be thrust down to hell] Rather, as far as Hades. When our 
 Lord uttered this woe these cities on the shores of Gennesareth were 
 bright and populous and prospering; now they are desolate heaps of 
 ruins in a miserable land. The inhabitants who lived thirty years 
 longer may have recalled these woes in the unspeakable horrors of 
 slaughter and conflagration which the Romans then inflicted on them. 
 It is immediately after the celebrated description of the loveliness of the 
 Plain of Gennesareth that Josephus goes on to tell of the shore strewn 
 with wrecks and putrescent bodies, "insomuch that the misery was not 
 only an object of commiseration to the "Jews, but even to those that hated 
 them and had been the authors of that misery,^'' Jos. B. J. ill. 10, § 8. 
 For fuller details see my Life of Christ, ii. loi sq. 
 
 16. despiseth] lAiexdlly, ** setting at notight.'" For comment on the 
 verse see i Thess. iv. 8; Matt, xviii. 5; John xii. 44. 
 
 17. returned again with Joy] The success of their mission is more 
 fully recorded than that of the Twelve. 
 
 the devils] Rather, the demons. They had been bidden (vs. 9) to 
 "heal the sick;" but these are the only healings that they mention. 
 are subject] Rather, are being subjected. 
 
 18. / beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven] Rather, I was 
 Observing Satan as ligbtning fallen from heaven, Is. xiv. 9 — 15. We 
 find similar thoughts in John xvi. 11, xii. 31, " now shall the prince of 
 this world be cast out;" i John iii. 8 ; Heb. ii. 14. 
 
 19. I give] Read, I have given, with N, B, C, L, &c. 
 power] Rather, the authority. 
 
 to tread on serpents and scorpions] Compare Mk. xvi, 17, 18. So far 
 as the promise was literal^ the only fact of the kind referred to in the 
 
202 ST LUKE, X. [vv. 20—22. 
 
 20 and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding 
 in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but 
 rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. 
 
 21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank 
 thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast 
 hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast re- 
 vealed them unto babes : even so, Father ; for so it seemed 
 
 22 good in thy sight. All things are deHvered to me of my 
 Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the 
 
 N. T. is Acts xxviii. 3 — 5. In legend we have the story of St John 
 saved from poison, which is represented in Christian art as a viper escaping 
 from the cup (Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, I. 159). But it may 
 be doubted whether the meaning was not predominantly spiritual as in 
 Gen. iii. 15; Rom. xvi. 20; Ps. xci. 13; Is. xi. 8. 
 
 nothing shall by any means hurt you^ Rom. viii. 28, 39. 
 
 20. are written in heavejt] Rather, have been recorded In the 
 heavens (reading iyyiypaTTTai). On this 'Book of God,' or 'Book of 
 Life,' see Ex. xxxii. 32; Ps. Ixix. 28; Dan. xii. i ; Phil. iv. 3; Heb. 
 xii. 23; Rev. xiii. 8, xx. 12, xxi. 27. It is the opposite to being 
 "written in the earth," Jer. xvii. 13. 
 
 21. rejoiced] Rather, exulted, a much stronger word, and most 
 valuable as recording one element — the element of exultant joy — in 
 the life of our Lord, on which the Evangelists so rarely touch as to 
 have originated the legend, preserved in the spurious letter of P. 
 Lentulus to the Senate, that He wept often, but that no one had ever 
 seen Him smile. 
 
 / thank thee, Father] Literally, "7 make gratefid acknowledgment 
 to Thee:' 
 
 from the wise and prudent... unto babes] Here we have the contrast 
 between the ' wisdom of the world,' which is ' foolishness with God,' and 
 the ' foolishness of the world, 'which is 'wisdom with God,' on which St 
 Paul also was fond of dwelling, i Cor.i. 21, 26; 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4 ; Rom.i. 
 22. For similar passages in the Gospels see Matt. xvi. 17, xviii. 
 
 3> 4- 
 
 unto babes'] i. e. to all who have "the young lamb's heart amid the full- 
 grown flticks" — to all innocent childlike souls, such as are often those 
 of the truly wise. Genius itself has been defined as " the heart of child- 
 hood taken up and matured into the power of manhood." 
 
 22. All things are delivered to me 0/ my Father] Rather, were 
 delivered to me by, cf. xx. 14. This entire verse is one of those in 
 which the teaching of the Synoptists (Matt, xxviii. i8) comes into nearest 
 resemblance to that of St John, which abounds in such passages (John 
 i. 18, iii. 35, v. 26, 27, vi. 44, 46, xiv. 6 — 9, xvii. i, 2 ; i John v. 20). 
 In the same way we find this view assumed in St Paul's earlier Epistles 
 (e.g. I Cor. XV. 24, 27), and magnificently developed in the Epistles of 
 the Captivity (Phil. ii. 9; Eph. i. 21, 22). 
 
w. 23—27.] ST LUKE, X. 203 
 
 Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to 
 whom the Son will reveal him. And he turned him unto 23 
 his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which 
 see the things that ye see : for I tell you, that many prophets 24 
 and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and 
 have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, 
 and have not heard them. 
 
 25 — 37. The Parable of the Good Samaritan. 
 
 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted 25 
 him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal 
 life ? He said unto him. What is written in the law ? 26 
 how readest thou? And he answering said. Thou 27 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
 and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, 
 and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 
 
 23. Blessed are the eyes] Comp. Matt. xiii. 16. 
 
 24. prophets and kings'] e.g. Abraham, Gen. xx. 7, xxiii. 6; Jacob, 
 Gen. xlix. 18; Balaam, Num. xxiv. 17; David, 2 Sam. xxiii, i — 5. 
 
 and have not seen them] John viii. 56; Eph. iii. 5, 6; Heb. xi. 13. 
 "Save that each little voice in turn 
 
 Some glorious truth proclaims; 
 What sages would have died to learn^ 
 Now taught by cottage dames." 
 
 Keble. 
 
 25 — 37. The Parable of the Good Samaritan. 
 
 25. a certain lawyer] A teacher of the Mosaic Law — differing little 
 from a scribe, as the man is called in Mk. xii. 28. The same person 
 may have had both functions — that of preserving and that of expound- 
 ing the Law. 
 
 tempted him] Literally, "putting Jlim fully to the test" (iv. 12); but 
 the purpose does not seem to have been so deliberately hostile as in 
 xi. 54. 
 
 what shall /do to inherit eternal life?] See xviii. 18, and the answer 
 there also given. It is interesting to compare it with the answer given 
 by St Paul after the Ascension, Acts xvi. 30, 31. 
 
 26. how readest thou ?] The phrase resembled one in constant use 
 among the Rabbis, and the lawyer deserved to get no other answer 
 because his question was not sincere. The very meaning and mission 
 of his life was to teach this answer. 
 
 27. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God] This was the summary of 
 the Law in Deut. vi. 5, x. 12 ; Lev. xix. 18. 
 
 and thy neighbour as thyself] Hillel had given this part of the 
 
204 ST LUKE, X. [vv. 28-31. 
 
 a8 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right : this 
 
 29 do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify him- 
 
 30 self, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour ? And 
 Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jeru- 
 salem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped 
 him of his raiment, and wounded him^ and departed, leaving 
 
 31 hi7n half dead. And by chance there came down a certain 
 
 answer to an enquirer who similarly came to put him to the test, and 
 as far as it went, it was a right answer (Rom. xiii. 9; Gal. v. 13, 14; 
 Jas, ii. 8) ; but it became futile if left to stand alone, without the first 
 Commandment. 
 
 28. Thou hast answered right'\ •' If thou doest well, shalt thou not 
 be accepted?" Gen. iv. 7; "which if a man do, he shall live in them," 
 Lev. xviii. 5; Rom. x. 5; but see Gal. iii. 21, 22. 
 
 this do] As the passage from Deuteronomy was one of those inscribed 
 in the phylacteries (little leather boxes containing four texts in their 
 compartments) , which the scribe wore on his forehead and wrist, it is an 
 ingenious conjecture that our Lord, as He spoke, pointed to one of these. 
 
 29. willing to justify himself] "before men" — a thing which the 
 Pharisees were ever prone to do, xvi. 15. 
 
 who is my neighbour?] He wants his moral duties to be labelled 
 and defined with the Talmudic precision to which ceremonial duties 
 had been reduced. 
 
 30. A cei'tain man] Clearly, as the tenor of the Parable implies, 
 a Jew. 
 
 went down from Jerttsalem to Jericho] A rocky, dangerous gorge 
 (Jos. B. J. IV. 8, § 3), haunted by marauding Bedawin, and known 
 as ' the bloody way ' {Adommim, Jerome, De loc. Hebr. and on Jer. 
 iii. 2). The "went down" is strictly accurate, for the road descends 
 very rapidly from Jerusalem to the Jordan valley. The distance is 
 about 21 miles. For Jericho, see xix. i, 
 
 thieves] Rather, *'r<73(5<?rj," *^ brigands. ^^ Palestine was notorious for 
 these plundering Arabs. Herod the Great had rendered real service to 
 the country in extirpating them from their haunts, but they constantly 
 sprung up again, and even the Romans could not effectually put them 
 down (Jos. Antt. XX. 6,%\',B.y. xi. 12, § 5). On this very road an 
 English baronet — Sir Frederic Henniker — was stripped and murdered by 
 Arab robbers in 1820. "He was probably thinking of the Parable of 
 the Samaritan when the assassin's stroke laid him low," Porter's Pales- 
 tine, I. 151. 
 
 wounded him] Rather, laying blows on him. 
 
 half dead] Some MSS. omit the rvyxo-vovra, 'chancing to be still 
 alive.' So far as the robbers were concerned, it was a mere accident 
 that any life was left in him. 
 
 31. by chance] Rather, by coincidence, i. e. at the same time. The 
 word 'chance' {Tvxn) does not occur in Scripture. The nearest ap- 
 proach to it is the participle Tvx^iv in i Cor. xv. 37 (if TvyxdvovTo. be 
 
vv. 32, 33.] ST LUKE, X. 205 
 
 priest that way : and when he saw him, he passed by on the 
 other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the 32 
 place, came and looked on him^ and passed by on the other 
 side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where 33 
 he was : and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 
 
 omitted in vs. 30). Chance, to the sacred writers, as to the most 
 thoughtful of the Greeks, is 'the daughter of Forethought :' it is "God's 
 unseen Providence, by men nicknamed Chance" (Fuller). *'Many 
 good opportunities work under things which seem fortuitous." Bengel. 
 
 a certain priest\ His official duties at Jerusalem were over, and he 
 was on his way back to his home in the priestly city of Jericho. Per- 
 haps the uselessness of his external service is implied. In superstitious 
 attention to the letter, he was wholly blind to the spirit, Deut. xxii. 
 I — 4. See I John iii. 17. He was selfishly afraid of risk, trouble, 
 and ceremonial defilement, and, since no one was there to know of his 
 conduct, he was thus led to neglect the traditional kindness of Jews 
 towards their own countrymen (Tac. Hist. V. 5, Juv. XIV. 103, 104), as 
 well as the positive rules of the Law (Deut. xxii. 4) and the Prophets 
 (Is. Iviii. 7). 
 
 that way] Rather, on that road. It is emphatically mentioned, 
 because/there was another road to Jericho which was safe^and there- 
 fore more frequently used. 
 
 32. came and looked on him] This vivid touch shews us the cold 
 curiosity of the Levite, which was even baser than the dainty neglect of 
 the Priest. Perhaps the Priest had been aware that a Levite was 
 behind him, and left the trouble to him : and perhaps the Levite said to 
 himself that he need not do what the priest had not thought fit to do. 
 By choosing Gal. iii. 16 — 23 as the Epistle to be read with this Gospel 
 (13th Sunday after Trinity) the Church indicates her view that this 
 Parable implies the failure of the Jewish Priesthood and Law to pity or 
 remove the misery and sin of man. 
 
 33. a certain Sa?naritan\ A Samaritan is thus selected for high 
 eulogy — though the Samaritans had so ignominiously rejected Jesus 
 (ix. 53)- 
 
 as he journeyed] He was not 'coming down' as the Priest and 
 Levite were from the Holy City and the Temple, but from the 
 unauthorised worship of alien Gerizim. 
 
 had compassion on him] Thereby shewing himself, in spite of his 
 heresy and ignorance, a better man than the orthodox Priest and 
 Levite; and all the more so because he was an 'alien' (see on xvii. 18), 
 and "the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" (John iv. 9), and 
 this very wounded man would, under other circumstances, have shrunk 
 from the touch of the Samaritan as from pollution. Yet this ' Cuthaean' 
 — this 'worshipper of the pigeon' — this man of a race which was ac- 
 cused of misleading the Jews by false fire-signals, and of defiling the 
 Temple with human bones — whose testimony would not have been 
 admitted in a Jewish court of law — with whom no Jew would so much 
 
2o6 ST LUKE, X. [w. 34—37. 
 
 34 and went to him^ and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil 
 and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to 
 
 35 an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he 
 departed, he took out two pence, and gave ihem to the host, 
 and said unto him. Take care of him ; and whatsoever thou 
 
 36 spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which 
 now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him 
 
 37 that fell among the thieves ? And he said, He that shewed 
 mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou 
 likewise. 
 
 as eat (Jos. Antt. XX. 6, § i, xviii. -2, § 2 ; ^. y. ii. 12, § 3)— shews a 
 spontaneous and perfect pity of which neither Priest nor Levite had 
 been remotely capable. The fact that the Jews had applied to our Lord 
 Himself the opprobrious name of "Samaritan" (John viii. 48) is one of 
 the indications that a deeper meaning lies under the beautiful obvious 
 significance of the Parable. 
 
 34. pouring in oil and wine] The ordinary remedies of the day. 
 Is. i. 6; Mk. vi. 13; Jas, v. 14. See Excursus VII. 
 
 set him on his ozvn beast] The word implies the labour of 'lifting 
 him up,' and then the good Samaritan walked hy his side. 
 
 brought him to an inn] Pandocheion. See on ii. 7. There the word 
 is kataluma, a mere khan or caravanserai. Perhaps this inn was at 
 Bahurim. In this and the next verse a word or two suffices to shew 
 the Samaritan's sympathy, helpfulness, self-denial, generosity, and per- 
 severance in kindliness. 
 
 35. took out] Literally, ^^ throwing out^^ of his girdle. 
 
 tivo pence] i. e. two denarii; enough to pay for the man for some 
 days. The Parable lends itself to the broader meaning which sees the 
 state of mankind wounded by evil passions and spiritual enemies ; left 
 unhelped by systems of sacrifice and ceremonial (Gal. iii. 21); pitied 
 and redeemed by Christ (Is. Ixi. i), and left to be provided for until 
 His return by spiritual ministrations in the Church. But to see in the 
 "two pence" any specific allusion to the Old and New Testaments, or 
 to *the two sacraments,' is to push to extravagance the elaboration of 
 details. 
 
 to the host] The word occurs here only in the N. T., and the 
 fact that in the Talmud the Greek word for * an inn with a host ' is 
 adopted, seems to shew that the institution had come in with Greek 
 customs. In earlier and simpler days the open hospitality of the East 
 excluded the necessity for anything but ordinary khans. 
 
 37. He that shewed mercy on him] Rather, the pity. By this poor 
 periphrasis the lawyer avoids the shock to his own prejudices, which 
 would have been involved in the hated word, 'the Samaritan.' "He 
 will not name the Samaritan by name, the haughty hypocrite." Luther. 
 
 Go, and do thou likewise] The general lesson is that of the Sermon 
 on the Mount, Matt. v. 44. 
 
w. 3^—40.] ST LUKE, X. 207 
 
 ^S — 42. T/ie Sisters of Bethany. 
 
 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into 3S 
 a certain village : and a certain woman named Martha re- 
 ceived him into her house. And she had a sister called 39 
 Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But 40 
 Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to 
 him^ and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath 
 left me to serve alone ? bid her therefore that she help me. 
 
 38 — 42. The Sisters of Bethany. 
 
 38. • into a certain village] Undoubtedly Bethany, John xi. i. Both 
 this and the expression **« certain womait" are obvious traces of a 
 tendency to reticence about the family of Bethany which we find in 
 the Synoptists (Matt. xxvi. 6; Mk. xiv. 3). It was doubtless due to 
 the danger which the family incurred from their residing in the close 
 vicinity of Jerusalem, and therefore of "the Jews," as St John always 
 calls the Pharisees, Priests, and ruling classes who opposed our Lord. 
 By the time that St John wrote, after the destruction of Jerusalem, all 
 need for such reticence was over. It is mere matter of conjecture 
 whether 'Simon the leper' was the father of the family, or whether 
 Martha was his widow ; nor can Lazarus be identified with the gentle 
 and holy Rabbi Eliezer of the Talmud. This narrative clearly belongs 
 to a period just before the winter Feast of Dedication, because Bethany 
 is close to Jerusalem. Its introduction at this point by St Luke (who 
 alone preserves it, see Introd. p. ^y) is due to subjective grouping, and 
 probably to the question "what shall I do?" vs. 25. 
 
 39. which also sat at Jesus'' feet'] The "also" shews that Mary too, 
 in her way, was no less anxious to give Jesus a fitting reception. Here, 
 in one or two lines, we have a most clear sketch of the contrasted 
 character of the two sisters, far too subtly and indirectly accordant with 
 what we learn of them in St John to be due to anything but the har- 
 mony of truth. This is one of the incidents in which the Evangelist 
 shews such consummate psychologic skill and insight that he is enabled 
 by a few touches to set before us the most distinct types of character. 
 
 and heard his word] Rather, was listening to His discourse. 
 
 40. cumbered aboict ?mich serving] The word for "cumbered" lite- 
 rally means 'was being dragged in different directions,' i.e. was dis- 
 tracted (i Cor. vii. 35). She was anxious to give her Lord a most 
 hospitable reception, and was vexed at the contemplative humility 
 which she regarded as slothfulness. 
 
 came to him] Rather, but suddenly coming up (xx. i ; Actsxxiii. 27). 
 We see in this inimitable touch the little petulant outburst of jealousy 
 in the loving, busy matron, as she hurried in with the words, "Why is 
 Mary sitting there doing not hi Jtg?'^ 
 
 left me] The Greek word means * left me alone in the middle of my 
 work ' to come and listen to you. 
 
 bid her therefore that she help me] We almost seem to hear the 
 
2o8 ST LUKE, X. XI. [vv. 41, 42; i. 
 
 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, 
 
 42 thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one 
 thing is needful : and Mary hath chosen that good part, 
 which shall not be taken away from her. 
 
 Ch. XI. I — 13. The Lord's Prayer. Persistence in 
 Prayer. 
 
 11 And it came to pass ihat^ as he was praying in a certain 
 
 undertone of * It is no use for me to tell her. ' Doubtless, had she been 
 less 'fretted' {TvpjSa^ri), she would have felt that to leave her alone 
 and withdravi^ into the background while this eager hospitality was 
 going on was the kindest and most unselfish thing which Mary could 
 do. 
 
 41. Martha, Martha\ The repeated name adds additional tender- 
 ness to the rebuke, as in xxii. 31 ; Acts ix. 4. 
 
 thou art careful and troubled about many things] *' I would have 
 you without carefulness," i Cor. vii. 32 ; Matt. vi. 25. The words 
 literally mean, 'Thou art anjrious and bustling.' Her inward solicitude 
 was shewing itself in outward hastiness. 
 
 but one thing is needful] The context should sufficiently have ex- 
 cluded the very bald, commonplace, and unspiritual meaning which has 
 been attached to this verse, — that only one dish was requisite. Clearly 
 the lesson conveyed is the same as in Matt. vi. 33, xvi. 26, even if our 
 Lord's first reference was the lower one. The various readings 'but 
 there is need of few things,' or 'of few things or of one' (i<, B, various 
 versions, &c.) seem to have risen from the notion that even for the 
 simplest meal more than one dish would be required. This, however, 
 is not the case in the simple meals of the East. 
 
 that good part] Rather, portion (as of a banquet. Gen. xliii. 34, LXX.; 
 John vi. 27) or inheritance, Ps. Ixxiii. 26. rp-i% = quippe quae. The 
 nature of the portion is such that, &c. 
 
 which shall not be taken away from her] To speak of such theologi- 
 cal questions as 'indefectible grace' here, is to use the narrative 
 otherwise than was intended. The general meaning is that of Phil. i. 6 ; 
 I Pet. i. 5. It has been usual with Roman Catholic and other writers 
 to see in Martha the type of the active, and in Mary of the contemplative 
 disposition, and to exalt one above the other. This is not the point of 
 the narrative, for both may and ought to be combined as in St Paul and 
 in St John. The gentle reproof to Martha is aimed not at her hospitable 
 activity, but at the 'fret and fuss,' the absence of repose and calm, by 
 which it was accompanied ; and above all, at the tendency to reprobate 
 and interfere with excellence of a different kind. 
 
 Ch. XI. 1—13. The Lord's Prayer. Persistence in Prayer. 
 
 1. And it came to pass that, as he was praying in a certain place] The 
 
 better order is 'as he was in a certain place, praying.' The extreme 
 
V. 2.] ST LUKE, XI. 209 
 
 place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, 
 Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 
 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say. 
 
 Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. 
 
 vagueness of these expressions shews that St Luke did not possess a 
 more definite note of place or of time; but if we carefully compare 
 the parallel passages of Matt. xii. 22 — 50, xv. i — 20; Mk. iii. 22 — 35, 
 it becomes probable that this and the next chapter are entirely oc- 
 cupied with the incidents and teachings of one great day of open and 
 decisive rupture with the Pharisees shortly before our Lord ceased to 
 work in Galilee, and that they do not belong to the period of the 
 journey through Peraea. This great day of conflict was marked (1) by 
 the prayer of Jesus and His teaching the disciples what and how to 
 pray; (2) by the healing of the dumb demoniac; (3) by the invitation to 
 the Pharisee's house, the deadly dispute which the Pharisees there 
 originated, and the terrible denunciation consequently evoked; (4) by 
 the sudden gathering of a multitude, and the discourses and incidents 
 of chapter xii. For further details and elucidations I must refer to 
 the Life of Christ. 
 
 praying\ Probably at early dawn, and in the standing attitude 
 adopted by Orientals. 
 
 as John also taught his disciples'] The form of prayer taught by St 
 John has perished. Terrena caelestibus cedtmt, Tert. ; John iii. 30. It 
 was common for Jewish Rabbis to deliver such forms to their disciples, 
 and a comparison of them (e.g. of "the 18 Benedictions") with the 
 Lord's Prayer is deeply instructive. 
 
 2. When ye pray, say. Our Father] 'The Lord's Prayer' had 
 already been enshrined in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. vi. 9 — 13), 
 but it was now more formally delivered as a model. Various parallels for 
 the different petitions of the Lord's Prayer have been adduced from the 
 Talmud, nor would there be anything strange in our Lord thus stamping 
 with His sanction whatever was holiest in the petitions which His 
 countrymen had learnt from the Spirit of God. But note that (i) the 
 parallels are only to some of the clauses (e.g. not to the fourth and 
 fifth); (2) they are mostly distant and imperfect; (3) there can be no 
 certainty as to their priority, since even the earliest portion of the Talmud 
 (the Mishna) was not committed to writing till the second century after 
 Christ; (4) they are nowhere blended into one incomparable petition. 
 The transcendent beauty and value of the lessons in the Lord's Prayer 
 arise from (i) the tone of holy confidence: — it teaches us to approach 
 God as our Father (Rom. viii. 15), in love as well as holy fear; (ii) its 
 absolute unselfishness : — it is offered in the plural, not for ourselves only, 
 but for all the brotherhood of man; (iii) its entire spirituality: — of its 
 seven petitions, one only is for any earthly boon, and that only for the 
 simplest; (iv) its brevity and absence of all vain repetitions (Eccl. v. 2); 
 (v) its simplicity, which requires not learning, but only holiness and 
 sincerity for its universal comprehension. For these reasons the Fathers 
 called it 'the Epitome of the Gospel' and 'the pearl of prayers.' 
 
 ST LUKE 14 
 
2IO ST LUKE, XI. [w. 3, 4, 
 
 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in 
 3 earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive 
 ^ us our sins ; for we also forgive every one f/iaf is indebted 
 
 to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us 
 
 from evil. 
 
 wAkk art in heaven] Ps. xi. 4. This clause, as well as "Thy will be 
 done, as in heaven, so also upon the earth," and "but deliver us from the 
 evil," are wanting in some MSS., and may be additions from the text of 
 St Matthew. If so, the prayer would stand thus : O Father 1 Hallowed 
 be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread. 
 And forgive us our sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to 
 us. Aftd lead us not into temptation. 
 
 Hallowed be thy name] i.e. sanctified, treated as holy. '■'Holy, Holy, 
 Holy''"' is the worship of the Seraphim (Is. vi. 3). The 'name'' of God is 
 used for all the attributes of His Being. 
 
 Thy kingdom come\ There seems to have been an early gloss, or 
 reading, "Thy Holy Spirit come upon us, and purify us" (mentioned by 
 St Gregory of Nazianzus). 
 
 Thy will be done'\ This was the one rule of the life of Christ, John 
 V. 30, vi. 38. 
 
 as in heaven\ "Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, 
 that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word, " Ps. 
 ciii. 20. 
 
 3. Give us day by day our daily bread] The prayer (i) acknowledges 
 that we are indebted to God for our simplest hoon?,', (ii) asks them for 
 all; (iii) asks them only day by day ; and (iv) asks for no more, Prov. 
 XXX. 8; John vi. 27. St Luke's version brings out the continuity of the 
 gift (Be giving day by day); St Matthew's its immediate need (Give 
 to-day). The word rendered ' daily ' is epiousion, of which the meaning 
 is much disputed. For a brief discussion of its meaning, see Excursus 
 IV. ; but that this prayer is primarily a prayer for needful earthly sus- 
 tenance has been rightly understood by the heart of mankind. 
 
 our sins'] 'Trespasses' is not in our Bible, but comes, as Dr 
 Plumptre notices, from Tyndale's version. St Matthew uses the word 
 'debts,' which is implied in the following words of St Luke: "For in- 
 deed we ourselves remit to every one who oweth to us." Unforgiving, 
 unforgiven, Matt, xviii. 34, 35; Eph. iv. 32; Col. iii. 13. The absence 
 of any mention here of the Atonement or of Justification is, as Godet 
 observes, a striking proof of the authenticity of the prayer. The variations 
 are, further, a striking proof that the Gospels are entirely independent 
 of each other. 
 
 lead us not into temptation] God permits us to be tempted (John xvii. 
 15; Rev. iii. 10), but we only yield to our temptations when we are 
 "drawn away of our own lust and enticed" (James i. 14). But the temp- 
 tations which God permits us are only human (dpdpujTrivos), not abnormal 
 or irresistible temptations, and with each temptation He makes also the 
 way to escape (/cai ttjv ^K^aaif, 1 Cor. x. 13). We pray, therefore, that 
 
w. 5-8.] ST LUKE, XI. 211 
 
 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, s 
 and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, 
 Friend, lend me three loaves ; for a friend of mine in his 6 
 journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before 
 him : and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me 7 
 not : the door is now shut, and my children are with me in 
 bed; I cannot rise and give thee? I say unto you. Though 8 
 he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet 
 because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many 
 
 we may not be tried above what we are able, and this is defined by the 
 following words: Our prayer is, Let not the tempting opportunity 
 meet the too susceptible disposition. If the temptation comes, quench 
 the desire ; if the desire, spare us the temptation. See on iv. 2. 
 
 but deliver us from evW] Rather, from the Evil One. The article, 
 it is true, would not necessitate this translation, but it seems to be 
 rendered probable by the analogy of similar prayers among the Jews. 
 The last three clauses for daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance, cover 
 the past, present, and future. " All the tones of the human breast which 
 go from earth to heaven, sound here in their key-notes" (Stier). There 
 is no doxology added. Even in St Matthew it is (almost certainly) a 
 liturgical addition, and no real part of the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 5. shall go unto him at midnight'\ Orientals often travel at night to 
 avoid the heat. Although idle repetitions in prayer are forbidden, 
 persistency and importunity in prayer — wrestling with God, and not 
 letting Him go until He has blessed us — are here distinctly taught (see 
 xviii. 1—8), as they also were in the acted parable of our Lord's apparent 
 repulse of the Syro-Phoenician woman, Matt. xv. 27, 28. 
 
 6. / have nothing to set before himl Even the deepest poverty was 
 not held to excuse any lack of the primary Eastern virtue of hospitality. 
 Allegorically we may see here the unsatisfied hunger of the soul, which 
 wakens in the midnight of a sinful life. 
 
 7. Trouble me not] The answer is rough and discouraging. He 
 does not say 'friend.' His phrase implies irritation. The details are of 
 course not to be pressed. The parable is merely an illustration a 
 
 fortiori. 
 
 is now shut] Literally, '■^has been ah-eady shuf^ with the implication 
 •shut for the night, and I do not mean to open it.' 
 
 I cannot] Only a modified form for ' I will not.' 
 
 8. yet because of his importunity] Literally, '■'■ shamelessness'''' {^yAg. 
 improbitas), 'impudence,' i.e. unblushing persistence, which is not how- 
 ever selfishy but that he may do his duty towards another. Is. Ixii. 6, 
 "Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no 
 rest, till he establish, &c." Abraham furnishes a grand example of this 
 fearless persistence (Gen. xviii. 23 — 33). Archbishop Trench quotes the 
 beautiful passage in Dante's Paradiso: 
 
 "Regnum caelorum violen2da pate 
 Da caldo amore e da viva speranza, &c." 
 
 14 2 
 
212 ST LUKE, XI. [vv. 9— 15. 
 
 9 as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be 
 given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be 
 
 10 opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth ; and 
 he that seeketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall 
 
 11 be opened. 1/2. son shall ask bread of any of you that is a 
 father, will he give him a stone ? or if he ask a fish, will he 
 
 12 for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will 
 
 13 he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how 
 to give good gifts unto your children : how much more shall 
 your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask 
 him? 
 
 14 — 26 The dumb Devil. Blasphemy of the Pharisees, 
 
 14 And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And 
 it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb 
 
 15 spake ; and the people wondered. But some of them said. 
 
 he will rise] not merely half raise himself, or get out of bed, as in 
 vs. 7 [anastas), but thoroughly aroused Sind getting up' {egertheis), 
 
 as many as he needeth] More than the three which he" had asked for 
 the bare supply of his wants. 
 
 9. Ask, and it shall be given you] Matt. vii. 7 — 11, xxi. 22; Mk. 
 xi. 24; John xvi. 23. Doubtless these teachings were repeated more 
 than once to different listeners. God's unwillingness to grant is never 
 more than in semblance, and for our good (Matt. xv. 28 ; Gen. xxxii. 
 28). 
 
 13. give the Holy Spirit] St Matthew has the much more general 
 expression "good things" (vii. 11). The Good Father will give to His 
 children neither what is deadly, nor what is unfit for food. 
 
 14—26. The dumb Devil. Blasphemy of the Pharisees. 
 
 14. it was dumb] i. e., of course, the possession by the spirit caused 
 dumbness in the man. If this incident be the same as in Matt. xii. 22, 
 the wretched sufferer seems to have been both dumb, and blind, and 
 mad. 
 
 the people wondered] Exorcisms, and attempted exorcisms (Acts xix. 
 14), were indeed common among the Jews (see on ix. 49. Gfrorer, 
 yahrh. d. Heils, I. 413), but apparently only in the simplest cases, and 
 never when the possession was complicated with blindness and dumbness. 
 
 15. some of them said] We learn from St Matthew (xii. 24) that 
 this notable suggestion emanated from "the Pharisees" and, as St Mark 
 (iii. 20) adds, from "the scribes which came from Jerusalem," i.e. the 
 spies who had been expressly sent down by the ruling hierarchs to dog 
 the footsteps of Jesus, and counteract His influence. The explanation 
 
vv. 16—19.] . ST LUKE, XI. 213 
 
 He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the 
 devils. And other, tempting him^ sought of him a sign from 16 
 heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, 17 
 Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desola- 
 tion j and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan 18 
 also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom 
 stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beel- 
 zebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do 19 
 your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 
 
 was too ingeniously wicked and cleverly plausible to come from the more 
 unsophisticated Pharisees of Galilee. 
 
 Beelzebnb'\ The name and reading are involved in obscurity. In 
 1 Kings i. 3 we are told that Beelzebub was god of Ekron ; and 
 the LXX. and Josephus {Antt. ix. 2, § i) understood the name to mean 
 'lord of flies. ^ He may have been a god worshipped to avert the 
 plagues of flies on the low sea-coast like Zeus Apofnuios ( Avert er of flies) 
 and Apollo Iptiktonos (Slayer of vermin). But others interpret the 
 name to mean ' lord of dung,' and regard it as one of the insulting nick- 
 names which the Jews from a literal rendering of Ex. xxiii. 13 felt 
 bound to apply to heathen deities. In this place perhaps Beelzebub is 
 the true reading, and that means 'lord of the (celestial) habitation,' i.e. 
 prince of the air, Eph. ii. 3. Possibly the olKodeairdTrjs of Matt. x. 25 
 is an allusion to this meaning. In any case the charge was the same 
 as that in the Talmud that Jesus wrought His miracles (which the Jews 
 did not pretend to deny) by magic. 
 
 16. tempti7ig hint] i.e. wanting to try Him, to put Him to the test. 
 The temptation was precisely analogous to that in the wilderness — a 
 temptation to put forth a self-willed or arbitrary exertion of power for 
 personal ends, see iv. 3, 12. 
 
 a sign, from heaven] They persuaded the people that His miracles 
 were wrought by unhallowed arts, and that such arts would be impossible 
 in a sign from heaven like the Pillar of Cloud, the Fire of Elijah, &c. 
 But our Lord refused their demand. Miracles were not to be granted 
 to insolent unbelief; nor were they of the nature of mere prodigies. 
 Besides it was His will to win conviction, not to enforce acceptance. 
 This seems therefore to have been the one weapon of attack which the 
 Pharisees found most effective against Him, — the one which most deeply 
 wounded His spirit and finally drove Him away from the plain of Gen- 
 nesareth (Mk. viii. 11, 12). 
 
 17. tJieir thoughts'] Rather, their macliinations. 
 
 Every kingdom divided against itself &c.] More briefly and graphic- 
 ally in St Mark "How can Satan cast out Satan?" 
 
 and a house divided against a house falleth] The words may also be 
 rendered 'and (in that case) house falleth against house.' 
 
 19. by whom do your sons cast them out?] The "pupils of the wise" 
 might be called the 'sons of the Pharisees' just as the youths in the 
 
214 ST LUKE, XI. [w. 20—26. 
 
 20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the 
 2. kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man 
 
 22 armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when 
 a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, 
 he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and 
 
 23 divideth his spoils. He that is not with me is against me : 
 
 24 and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. When the 
 unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry- 
 places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will 
 
 25 return unto my house whence I came out. And when he 
 
 26 Cometh, he findeth // swept and garnished. Then goeth he, 
 and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than him- 
 self; and they enter in, and dwell there : and the last state 
 of that man is worse than the first. 
 
 Prophetic schools were called * sons of the Prophets.' The reality of the 
 Jewish exorcisms is not here necessarily admitted (Acts xix. 13). It was 
 enough that the admitted pretensions to such powers among the Pharisees 
 justified this incontrovertible arguuietttum ad hotninem. 
 
 20. with the finger of God] '*Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, 
 This is the finger of God,'''' Ex. viii. 19. 
 
 is cotne upon you] The word and tense imply suddenness and surprise. 
 
 21. IVhen a strong man armed keepeth his palace] The same meta- 
 phor is used of the Christian opposing Satan, as here of Satan opposing 
 Christ, Eph. vi. 13. The world is here Satan's palace (John xii. 31, 
 xvi. 11) and men his possessions (2 Tim. ii. 26). 
 
 22. a stronger than he] Christ, "having spoiled principalities and 
 powers, made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in His 
 Cross," Col. ii. 15. 
 
 his spoils] The spoils which Satan had won from the race of man. — 
 Bengel. 
 
 23. He that is not with me is against me] Neutrality is sometimes 
 opposition, see on ix. 51 (where we have the complementary truth). 
 
 24. he walketh through dry places] The unclean spirits were thought 
 to frequent ruins {Berachdth, f. 3a) and the waterless desert, Tobit viii. 3 ; 
 see on iv. i. 
 
 seeking rest] Not to be in possession of some human soul, is (for 
 them) to be in torment. 
 
 25. swept and garnished] The mischief and danger of the emanci- 
 pated soul is that it is not occupied by a New Indweller. It has not 
 tested the expulsive power of holy affections. It is 'lying idle' (crxoXd- 
 ^ovTa, Matt. xii. 44), i.e. 'to let.' 
 
 26. seven other spirits] Compare viii. 2, 30. The number is figura- 
 tive of complete wickedness and (in this case) final possession. 
 
 the last state of that man is worse than the first] The most striking 
 comment on the verse is furnished by lleb. vi. 4 — 6, x. 26 — 29, 
 
 ! 
 
w, 27—31.] ST LUKE, XI. 215 
 
 27 — 32. The Womanly Exclamation. The Peril of Privileges 
 abused. 
 
 And it came to pass, as he spake these things^ a certain 27 
 woman of the company lift up her voice, and said unto him, 
 Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which 
 thou hast sucked. But he said. Yea rather, blessed are they 28 
 that hear the word of God, and keep it. 
 
 And when the people were gathered thick together, he 29 
 began to say. This is an evil generation : they seek a sign ; 
 and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the 
 prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so 30 
 shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen 31 
 of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of 
 
 and especially 1 Pet. ii. 20, 21. **Sin no more," said our Lord to the 
 Impotent Man, '■^lest a worse thing come unto thee," John v. 14. The 
 Parable was an allegory, not only of the awful peril of relapse after 
 partial conversion, but also of the History of the Jews. The demon of 
 idolatry had been expelled by the Exile; 'but had returned in the 
 sevenfold virulence of letter- worship, formalism, exclusiveness, ambition, 
 greed, hypocrisy and hate ; ' and on the testimony of Josephus himself 
 the Jews of that age were so bad that their destruction seemed an inevi- 
 table retribution. 
 
 27—32. The Womanly Exclamation. The Peril of Privileges 
 
 ABUSED. 
 
 27. Blessed is the womb that bare thee"] See i. 28, 48. "How many 
 women have blessed the Holy Virgin, and desired to be such a mother 
 as she was! What hinders them? Christ has made for us a wide way 
 to this happiness, and not only women, but men may tread it — the way 
 of obedience ; this it is which makes such a mother, and not the throes 
 of parturition." St Chrysostom. It is a curious undesigned coincidence 
 that (as we see from Matt. xii. 46) the Virgin had just arrived upon the 
 scene. 
 
 28. Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep 
 it] See viii. 21. Our Lord invariably and systematically discouraged 
 all attempt to exalt the merely human relationship or intercourse with 
 Him, and taught that the Presence of His Spirit was to be a nearer 
 and more blessed thing than knowledge of Him "after the flesh" (John 
 xiv. 16; 2 Cor. v. 16). 
 
 and keep it] Hearing without obedience was more than valueless, 
 Matt. vii. 21, xii. 50; Rom. ii. 13. 
 
 29. were gathered] Rather, were densely gathering. 
 
 30. a sign unto the Ninevites] Jonah i. 17. 
 
 31. The queen of the south] The queen of Sheba (i K. x. i — 13; 
 1 Chron. ix. i — 12). The visit of this queen of Yemen made a deep 
 
2i6 ST LUKE, XI. [vv. 32—36. 
 
 this generation, and condemn them : for she came from the 
 utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; 
 
 32 and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of 
 Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, 
 and shall condemn it : for they repented at the preaching of 
 Jonas j and behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 
 
 33 — 36. The Inward Light. 
 
 33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in 
 a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, 
 
 34 that they which come in may see the light. The light of the 
 body is the eye : therefore when thine eye is single, thy 
 whole body also is full of light ; but when thine eye is evil, 
 
 35 thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that 
 
 36 the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole 
 
 impression on Oriental imagination, and is found in the Koran (xxvii., 
 &c.) "dilated with nonsense and encumbered with fables." 
 
 to hear the zoisdom of Soloj}ion'\ and also " to prove him with hard 
 questions," i Kings x. i. 
 
 a greater\ Rather, sometMng- more. 
 
 32. they repented at the preaching ofJonas\ " The people of Nineveh 
 believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the 
 greatest of them even to the least of them," Jonah iii. 5. 
 
 33 — 36. The Inward Light. 
 
 33. in a secret place'] Rather, in a crypt or cellar. 
 
 under a bushel] Rather, 'under the bushel'; i.e. the one in use in the 
 house; and similarly ' the candlestick,' or rather, 'lamp-stand.' 
 
 that they which coffie in may see the light] The comparison is the same 
 as in Matt. v. 14, Mk. iv. 21 ; but the application in the next verse is 
 different. The light is here used for inward enlightenment, not to be seen 
 afar. 
 
 34. The light of the body is the eye] Rather, The eye is the candle of 
 the body, since the word is the same as in the last verse. 
 
 therefore when thine eye is single] The eye in this clause is the 'inward 
 eye' of conscience; the 'illuminated eye of the heart,' Eph. i. 17, 18. 
 'Single,' i.e. unsophisticated; in its normal condition. 
 
 when thitie eye is evil] The 'evil eye' is especially one of hate, Rom. 
 xii. 8; Ecclus. xiv. 8 — 10. The inward eye should he spiritital ; when 
 it becomes carnal the man can no longer see that which is only spiritually 
 discerned, and he takes God's wisdom for foolishness, i Cor. ii. 14, iii. 
 18—20. 
 
 35. that the light which is in thee be not darkness] It becomes so 
 when we are ' wise in our own conceit' (Prov. xvi. 12) which makes us 
 
w. 37—39-] ST LUKE, XI. 217 
 
 body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the 
 whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a 
 candle doth give thee light. 
 
 37 — 54. The Invitation of the Pharisee and the open 
 Rupture. 
 
 And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine 37 
 with him : and he went in, and sat down to meat. And 38 
 when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first 
 washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now 39 
 
 think a way right when it is the way of death (Prov. xvi. 25), and makes 
 us call evil good, and good evil, put darkness for light, and light for 
 darkness, Is. v. 20, 21. 
 
 36. doth give thee light'\ The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. 
 *' God will light my candle," Ps. xviii. 28. "Thy word is a lantern 
 unto my feet." In these words we catch an echo of those thoughts 
 on the diffusiveness and divineness of light which are so fully developed 
 in St John's Gospel (viii. 12). 
 
 **War nicht das Auge sonnenhaft, 
 Wie konnten wir das Licht erblicken?" 
 
 Goethe. 
 
 37 — 54. The Invitation of the Pharisee and the 
 OPEN Rupture. 
 
 37. besought"] Rather, asked. 
 
 to dine with him] The meal was not dinner {deiJ>non), but an earlier, 
 lighter, and more informal meal [arisfon). 
 
 }ie went in, and sat down to meat] The words imply that immediately 
 He entered He sat down to table. The meal was merely some slight 
 refreshment in the middle of the day, and probably our Lord was both 
 suffering from hunger after His long hours of teaching, and was also 
 anxious to save time. 
 
 38. he marvelled that he had not first washed] Literally, ^^ bathed.^'' No 
 washing was necessary to eat a few dates or figs. At the chief meal of 
 the day, where all dipped their hands into a common dish, it was a 
 matter of cleanliness. But the duty of cleanliness had been turned by 
 the Oral Law into a rigorous set of cumbersome and needless ablutions, 
 each performed with certain elaborate methods and gesticulations (Mk. 
 vii. 2, 3) which had nothing to do with religion or even with the 
 Levitical Law, but only with Pharisaic tradition and the Oral Law. In 
 the Shulchan Aruk, a book of Jewish Ritual, no less than twenty-six 
 prayers are given with which their washings are accompanied. But all 
 this was not only devoid of divine sanction, but had become supersti- 
 tious, tyrannous, and futile. The Pharisee ' marvelled ' because he and 
 his party tried to enforce the Oral Law on the people as even more 
 sacred than the Written Law. The subject of ablutions was one which 
 
2i8 ST LUKE, XI. [w. 40— 42. 
 
 do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the 
 platter ; but your inward part is full of ravening and wicked- 
 
 40 ness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without 
 
 41 make that which is within also ? But rather give alms of 
 such things as you have ; and behold, all things are clean 
 
 42 unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye tithe mint 
 
 caused several of these disputes with Christ, Matt. xv. 19, 20. The 
 Rabbi Akhibha would have preferred to die of thirst rather than neglect 
 his ablutions, and the Talmud thought that a demon — called Schibta — 
 sat on unwashen hands. Our Lord astonished the conventionalism of 
 these religious teachers and their followers by shewing that what truly 
 defiles a man is that which corciQih. from within — from the heart. 
 
 39. Now do ye Pharisees\ Doubtless other circumstances besides 
 the mere supercilious astonishment of the Pharisee led to the vehement 
 rebuke. The eightfold woe in Matt, xxiii. is fuller than here. Jesus 
 denounces their frivolous scrupulosity (39), combined with gross in- 
 sincerity (42), their pride (43), and their corruption (44). 
 
 make clean the outside of the cup and the plattei-\ Mk. vii. 4, "washing 
 of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables." On one occasion the 
 Sadducees seeing them busied in washing the great Golden Candelabrum 
 sneeringly observed that they would wash the Sun itself if they could 
 get the opportunity. 
 
 your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness^ i. e. of greed, 
 and of the depravity which causes it. A slightly different turn of ex- 
 pression is given in Matt, xxiii, 25, 26. See Excursus VL on Sects of 
 the Jews ; and compare these denunciations with those delivered in the 
 Temple on the last day (Tuesday in Passion Week) of the Lord's public 
 ministry. Matt, xxiii. 25 — 28. The early Christian heretics reflected 
 the character of these Pharisees in their mixture of elaborate profession 
 with real godlessness, Tit. i. 15, 16. 
 
 40. that which is within also] See Mk. vii. 18, 19, which con- 
 tains our Lord's distinctest utterance in abrogation of the Levitic Law — 
 '* This He said... making all meats clean." 
 
 41. give alms'] See xii. 33, xvi. 14; Matt. vi. 3. Almsgiving is only 
 mentioned as one typical form of Charity, v/hich was in that state of 
 society preeminently necessary. Indeed * alms ' is the same word as 
 eleemosune, which involves the idea of Mercy. The general lesson — 
 that God does Jiot care for ceremonies, in themselves, and only cares for 
 them at all when they are accompanied by sincere goodness — is again 
 and again taught in Scripture, i Sam. xv. 22 ; Is. Iviii. 6 — 8 ; Mic. vi. 
 8; Dan. iv. 27; Jas. iv. 8. 
 
 of such things as you have] Perhaps, " as for that which is within you, 
 give alms.'''' But the entire meaning of the clause is much disputed. 
 Some explain it, Give as alms '■the contents'' of cup and platter, and 
 then they will be all clean without washing. 'It is Love which purifies, 
 not lustrations.' 
 
 42. ye tithe mint and rue] Deut. xiv. 22. In the Talmud there are 
 
vv. 43— 46.] ST LUKE, XI. 219 
 
 and rue and all manner of htxbSj and pass over judgment 
 and the love of God : these ought ye to have done, and not 
 to leave the other undone. 
 
 Woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye love the uppermost 43 
 seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. 
 
 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye 44 
 are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over 
 them are not aware of thejn. 
 
 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, 45 
 Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. And he said, 46 
 
 elaborate discussions whether in tithing the seeds of potherbs one ought 
 also to tithe the stalk, &c. 
 
 pass over Judgment and the love ofGod'\ Because the love of God is best 
 shewn by love to men, and the Pharisees were filled with immoral con- 
 tempt for those whom they regarded as less learned or less attentive to 
 scrupulosities than themselves. The Pharisees still exist as a party 
 among Eastern Jews, and are called Perushhyi. So bad is their character 
 that the bitterest term of reproach in Jerusalem is 'You are a Parish T 
 How little they have changed from their character, as Christ depicted 
 it, may be seen from the testimony of a Jewish writer. *' They proudly 
 
 separate themselves from the rest of their co-religionists Fanatical^ 
 
 bigoted, intolerant, quarrelsome, and in truth irreligious, with them the 
 outward observance of the ceremonial law is everything ; the moral law 
 little binding, morality itself of no importance''^ (See Frank!., Jews in 
 the East, 11. 27). 
 
 43. tippermost seats'] These were places in the synagogue in a con- 
 spicuous semicircle facing the congregation, and round the dema of the 
 reader, xiv. 7 — 1 1 ; Matt, xxiii. 6. 
 
 greetings in the markets] in which they addressed one another by 
 extravagant titles, and required from their followers an exaggerated 
 reverence. 
 
 44. hypocrites] The first meaning of the word is 'actors.' 
 
 as graves which appear not] Any contact with sepulchres involved 
 Levitical uncleanness. Hence graves and tombs were whitewashed that 
 none might touch them unawares. Perhaps our Lord was alluding to 
 Tiberias, which when it was being built was discovered to be partly on 
 the site of an old unsuspected cemetery; so that every true Jew re- 
 garded it as pollution to live there, and Herod could only get it 
 inhabited partly by bribes, partly by threats. In St Matthew — several 
 of whose particulars are differently applied — they are called ^whited 
 sepulchres, fair outside, polluted within. Here they are unsuspected 
 graves. 
 
 45. one of the lawyers] See on vii. 30, x. 25. This Scribe thought 
 that Jesus could not possibly mean to reflect on the honoured class who 
 copied and expounded the Law. 
 
 reproachest] Literally, '' insultest.'^ There was a difference between 
 
220 ST LUKE, XI. [vv.47— 51. 
 
 Woe unto you also, ye lawyers ! for ye lade men with bur- 
 dens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the 
 burdens with one of your fingers. 
 
 47 Woe unto you ! for ye build the sepulchres of the pro- 
 
 48 phets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness 
 that ye allow the deeds of your fathers : for they indeed 
 
 49 killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also 
 said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and 
 apostles, and sojne of them they shall slay and persecute : 
 
 50 that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the 
 foundation of the world, may be required of this generation ; 
 
 51 from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which 
 
 Pharisees and lawyers ; the position of the latter involved more culture 
 and distinction. They were the 'divines,' the 'theologians' of that 
 day. Hence the man's reproach. * Lawyer ' and ' Scribe ' seem to be 
 more or less convertible terms (vs. 52, 53; Matt, xxiii. 13). Jesus here 
 charges them with tyrannical insincerity (46), persecuting rancour 
 (47 — 51), and theological arrogance and exclusiveness (52). 
 
 46. burdens grievous to be borne'\ These burdens of the Oral Law 
 became yearly more and more grievous, till they were enshrined in the 
 boundless pedantry of ceremonialism which fills the Talmud. But even 
 at this period they were an intolerable yoke (Acts xv. 10), and the lawyers 
 had deserved the Woe pronounced by Isaiah on them "that decree un- 
 righteous decrees, and write grievousness which they have prescribed," 
 Is. X. I. "Gradus: digito uno attingere, digitis tangere, digito movere, 
 manu tollere, humero imponere. Hoc cogebant populumj illud ipsi 
 refugiebant. " Bengel. 
 
 47. your fathers killed theni] This is holy sarcasm. They boasted 
 that they would not have done as their fathers had done to the Prophets 
 (Matt, xxiii. 30), yet they rejected John, the greatest of the Prophets, and 
 crucified the Just One, Acts vii. 51, 52. 
 
 48. bear witness... allow\ We find the same two words used of St 
 Paul in Acts vii. 58, viii. i. Allow means 'approve after trial,' and is 
 derived from allaudare. " The Lord alloweth the righteous," Ps. xi. 6 
 (Prayer-Book Version). 
 
 49. the wisdom of God'\ There is an allusion to 2 Chr. xxiv. 20 — 22 
 (comp. xxxvi. 14 — 21), but as the exact passage nowhere occurs in the 
 O. T. some suppose that our Lord quotes (i) from a lost book called 
 'The Wisdom of God' (Ewald, Bleek, &c.) ; or (2) from previous words 
 of His own; or (3) from the Gospel of St Matthew (see Matt, xxiii. 34); 
 or (4) from the Book of Proverbs (i. 20 — 31). It is a general paraphrase 
 of the tenor of several O. T. passages. 
 
 some of them they shall slay and persecute"] See on vi. 23. 
 61. unto the blood of Zacharias"] His murder by Joash is de- 
 scribed in 2 Chr. xxiv. 20, 21, and also filled a large place in Jewish 
 
w. 52—54.] ST LUKE, XI. 221 
 
 perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say 
 unto you, It shall be required of this generation. 
 
 Woe unto you, lawyers ! for ye have taken away the key 52 
 of knowledge : ye entered not in yourselves, and them that 
 were entering in ye hindered. 
 
 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and S3 
 the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke 
 him to speak of many things : laying wait for him, and seek- 54 
 ing to catch something out of his mouth, that they might 
 accuse him. 
 
 legends. The words " the son of Barachiah," in Matt, xxiii. 35, are 
 probably an erroneous gloss which has crept from the margin into 
 the text. The murdered Zacharias was the son of the High Priest 
 Jehoiada; the Prophet Zechariah was a son of Barachiah, but died, so 
 far as we know, a natural death ; and the Zechariah son of Barachiah, 
 who was murdered by the Zealots, did not die till forty years later than 
 this time. The allusions are all the more striking from the direct refer- 
 ences to retribution in these two instances, and from the fact that they 
 are drawn from the first and last historical books of the O. T. (Gen. iv. 
 10 ; 1 Chr. xxiv. 22). 
 
 52. ye have taken away the key of knowledge'] A key was the 
 regular symbol of the function of a scribe (Matt. xiii. 52, xvi. 19), 
 which was to open the meaning of the Holy Books. The crime charged 
 against them here is their selfish exclusiveness. They declared that 
 only rich and well-born people could be scribes ; and while they 
 refused to teach the mass of the people, they at the same time called 
 them * accursed ' for not knowing the law, and spoke about them in 
 terms of the bitterest scorn and detestation. **Ye have caused many to 
 stumble at the law," Mai. ii. 8. 
 
 53. And as he said these things] Rather (with N, B, C, L), when 
 He had gone forth from thence. The Pharisees in their anger fol- 
 lowed Him. 
 
 to urge him vehemently] It is clear from this and the following 
 verse that the Pharisee's feast had been a base plot to entrap Jesus. 
 None of His disciples seem to have been with Him, nor any of the 
 people ; and after these stern rebukes the Pharisees surrounded Him in 
 a most threatening and irritating manner, in "a scene of violence 
 perhaps unique in the Life of Jesus. 
 
 to provoke him to speak of many things] Perhaps " to cross-question 
 Him," or to catch words from His mouth about very many things. 
 The classical sense of the verb apostomatizein is ' to dictate.' 
 
 54. to catch] Literally, *Uo hunt." They were members of a body of 
 a sort of * commission of enquiry ' which had been sent from Jerusalem 
 for this express purpose, Mk. xii. 13. 
 
222 ST LUKE, XIT. [w. 1—4. 
 
 Ch. XII. I — 12. The Duty of hold Sincerity and Trust 
 in God. 
 
 12 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an 
 innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode 
 one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of 
 allj Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is 
 
 2 hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be' 
 
 3 revealed ; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore 
 whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in 
 the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in 
 
 4 closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. And I say 
 
 Ch. XII. 1 — 12. The Duty of bold Sincerity and Trust 
 IN God. 
 
 1. when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of 
 people] Rather, when the m3rriads of the multitude had suddenly 
 assembled. It is evident that the noise of this disgraceful attack 
 on our Lord had been heard. This scene was as it were the watershed 
 of our Lord's ministry in Galilee. At this period He had excited intense 
 opposition among the religious authorities, but was still beloved and 
 revered by the people. They therefore flocked together for His pro- 
 tection, and their arrival hushed the unseemly and hostile vehemence 
 of the Pharisees. 
 
 they trode one upon another] Literally, '^^ trod one another down^^ 
 
 he began to say] The words seem to imply a specially solemn and 
 important discourse. 
 
 unto his disciples first of ally Beware] Rather, to His disciples. Be- 
 ware first of all of, &c. 
 
 the leaven of the Pharisees] See for comment Matt. xvi. 12; Mark 
 viii. 15. 
 
 2. For there is nothing covered^ that shall not be revealed] Rather, 
 But (unless with N we omit the 5e altogether). This whole discourse, 
 in its vividness and compression, and the apparent abruptness of some 
 of its causal connexions, indicates the tumult of emotion through which 
 our Lord had been passing in the last trying scene. The line of thought 
 is — * Hypocrisy aims at concealment ; but, &c.' Hypocrisy is not only 
 sinful but useless. 
 
 covered — revealed] Literally, " veiled over — unveiled?'' You will be 
 made responsible for any part of my teaching which you conceal or keep 
 back. 
 
 3. whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness] The application of the 
 similar language in Matt. x. 26, Mark iv. 22, is different. See 
 viii. 17. 
 
 in closets] Literally, "z« the treasuries or storehouses ^^^ i.e. in closed, 
 secret places. 
 
V. 5-] ST LUKE, XII. 223 
 
 unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the 
 body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I 5 
 will /^r^warn you whom you shall fear : Fear him, which 
 after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell ; yea, I say 
 
 upon the housetops] i.e. in the most public places of resort, so as to 
 be heard in the streets below. 
 
 • 4, my friends'] John xv. 14, 15, "Henceforth I call you not ser- 
 vants but friends.''^ The term comes the more naturally and patheti- 
 cally because Jesus had just been in the thick of enemies. 
 
 Be not afraid of] fii) (po^rjdijre dir6, i.e. afraid of anything which 
 can come from them. This construction is only found in the LXX. and 
 N.T., and is a Hebraism (v. Schleusner s. v.). For similar thoughts 
 see Jer. i. 8; Is. li. 12, 13. 
 
 after that have no more that they can do] The same truth was an 
 encouragement to the partially illuminated fortitude of Stoicism. Hence 
 it constantly occurs in the Manual of Epictetus. 
 
 5. Fear him, which after he hath killed] Many commentators have 
 understood this expression of the Devil, and one of the Fathers goes so 
 far as to say that it is the only passage in the Bible in which we cannot 
 be certain whether God or Satan is intended. There can, however, be 
 no doubt that the reference is to God. If "fear" ever meant *be on 
 your guard against,' the other view might be tenable, but there is no 
 instance of such a meaning, and we are bidden to defy and resist the 
 Devil, but never to fear him j nor are we ever told that he has any 
 power to cast into Gehenna. 
 
 to cast into hell] Rather, Into Gehenna. It is a deep misfortime 
 that our English Version has made no consistent difference of rendering 
 between ' the place of the dead,' * the intermediate state between death 
 and resurrection ' {Hades, Sheol), and Gehenna, which is sometimes 
 metaphorically used (as here) for a place of punishment after death. 
 Gehenna was a purely Hebrew word, and corresponded primarily to 
 purely Hebrew conceptions. Our Lord (if He spoke Greek) did not 
 attempt to represent it by any analogous, but imperfectly equivalent, 
 Greek term like Tartarus (see 2 Pet. ii. 4), and certainly the Apostles 
 and Evangelists did not. They simply transliterated the Hebrew term 
 (DJn ''J, Gt Hinnom, Valley of Hinnom) into Greek letters. It is surely 
 a plain positive duty to follow so clear an example, and not to render 
 Gehenna by English terms which cannot connote exactly the same con- 
 ceptions. The Valley of Hinnom, or of the Sons of Hinnom (Josh. xv. 
 8, xviii. 16; 1 K. xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31), was a pleasant valley outside 
 Jerusalem, which had first been rendered infamous by Moloch worship ; 
 then defiled by Josiah with corpses ; and lastly kept from putrefaction 
 by large fires to consume the corpses and prevent pestilence. Milton 
 describes it with his usual learned accuracy : 
 
 "First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood 
 Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears ; 
 Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud 
 
224 ST LUKE, XII. [w. 6— II. 
 
 6 unto you, Fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two far- 
 
 7 things, and not one of them is forgotten before God ? But 
 even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear 
 not therefore : ye are of more value than many sparrows. 
 
 8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before 
 men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the 
 
 9 angels of God : but he that denieth me before men shall be 
 
 10 denied before the angels of God. And whosoever shall 
 speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven 
 him : but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy 
 
 11 Ghost it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you 
 
 Their children's cries unheard that passed through fire 
 
 To his grim idol 
 
 and made his grove 
 The pleasant Valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence 
 And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell." 
 
 Par. Lost, i. 392. 
 Tophet is derived from the word Toph * a drum ' (compare TiirTW, duby 
 thump, &c.). 
 
 6. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings^ St Matthew says 
 ^two sparrows for one farthing.' The little birds were sold in the markets 
 strung together, or on skewers. The varying expressions of St Matthew 
 and St Luke lead us to the interesting fact that if five were bought one 
 was thrown in, which still more forcibly proves how insignificant was 
 the value of the sparrows j yet even that unvalued odd one was not 
 "forgotten before God." The word for "farthings" is assaria; St 
 Mark uses KodpdvTijs {quadrans), xii. 42. 
 
 7. even the very hairs of your head'\ See xxi. 18; Acts xxvii. 34; 
 and in the O. T. i Sam. xiv. 45; i K. i. 52. 
 
 8. before the angels of God] Compare ix. 26. "Before my Father 
 which is in heaven," Matt. x. 32. 
 
 10. it shall be forgiven him] Thus our Lord prayed even for His 
 murderers This large rich promise is even further amplified in Matt, 
 xii. 31. It is the sign of a dispensation different from that of Moses, 
 Lev. xxiv. 16. 
 
 unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost] The other pas- 
 sages in which mention is made of this awful 'unpardonable sin' and 
 of the "blasphemy against the Holy Ghost" are Matt. xii. 31, 32; 
 Mark iii. 29, 30; I John v. 16. The latter sin is expressly declared to 
 be closely connected with the attributing of Christ's miracles to Beel- 
 zebub On the exact nature of the 'unpardonable sin' theologians have 
 speculated in vain, and all that we can see is that it must be the most 
 flagrant degree of sin against the fullest light and knowledge. 
 
 it shall not be forgiven] St Matthew adds "neither in this age (or 
 'this dispensation'), nor in the age to come (the 'future dispensation,' 
 Lc. the dispensation of the Messianic kingdom)." The two terms 'this 
 
vv. 12—15.] ST LUKE, XII. 225 
 
 unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, 
 take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or 
 what ye shall say : for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in 12 
 the same hour what ye ought to say. 
 
 13 — 21. Egotism rebuked. The Rich Fool. 
 
 And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to 13 
 my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And 14 
 he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider 
 over you ? And he said unto them. Take heed, and beware 15 
 of covetousness : for a man's life consisteth not in the 
 
 aeon ' and * the future aeon ' are of constant occurrence in Rabbinic lite- 
 rature. The passage — if it means more than * in either dispensation ' — 
 proves, as St Augustine says, that some would be forgiven if not in this 
 life yet in the next {De Civ. Dei, xxi. 24). 
 
 11. unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers] The 
 'synagogues' were the small Jewish tribunals of synagogue officials in 
 every town, which had the power of inflicting scourging for minor reli- 
 gious offences. 'Magistrates' and 'powers' would be the superior 
 authorities Jewish or Gentile. 
 
 ta^e ye no thought] Rather, be not anxiously careful. 
 how or what thing] i.e. about either the manner and line, or the 
 phraseology of your defence. 
 
 12. the Holy Ghost shall teach you] A similar promise had been 
 given to Moses, Ex. iv. 12 — 15; see xxi. 15. For fulfilments of the 
 promise, see Acts vi. 8, 10 (St Stephen); 2 Tim. iv. 17 (St Paul), &c. 
 
 13—21. Egotism rebuked. The Rich Fool. 
 
 13. Master, speak to my brother] This was the most foolish and 
 unwarrantable interpellation ever made to our Lord. The few words 
 at once reveal to us an egotist incapable of caring for anything but 
 his own selfishness. 
 
 that he divide the inheritance with me] Deut. xxi. 15 — 17. 
 
 14. Man] The word is sternly repressive. Comp. Rom. ii. I. 
 who made me a Judge] "My kingdom is not of this world," John 
 
 xviii. 36. 
 
 or a divider] i.e. umpire, arbitrator. There is an evident allusion to 
 Ex. ii. 14. 
 
 15. beware of covetousness] The better reading is "of all covetous- 
 ness," i.e. not only beware of avarice, but also of selfish possession. Both 
 the O. and N. T. abound with repetitions of this warning. Balaam, 
 Achan, Gehazi are awful examples of this sin in the O. T.; Judas Isca- 
 riot, the Pharisees and Ananias in the New. See r Tim. vi. 10 — 17. 
 
 a man's life consisteth not] i.e. a man's true life — his zoe: his earthly 
 natural life — his bios, is supported by what he has, but his zoe is what 
 
 ST LUKE I 5 
 
226 ST LUKE, XII. [vv. 16—19. 
 
 16 abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake 
 a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich 
 
 37 man brought forth plentifully : and he thought within him- 
 self, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where 
 
 i3 to bestow my fruits ? And he said, This will I do : I will 
 pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I 
 
 19 bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my 
 soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; 
 
 he is. Such phrases as that a man * is worth' so many thousands a 
 year, revealing the current of worldly thought, shew how much this 
 warning is needed. The order of words in this paragraph is curious. 
 It is literally, '•'•For not in any man^s abundance is his life {dej'ived) 
 from his possessions" or (as De Wette takes it) "is his life a part of\\\% 
 possessions." The English Version well represents the sense. Comp. 
 Sen. ad Helv. ix. 9, " Corporis exigua desideria sunt.,.. Quicquid extra 
 concupiscitur, vitiis non usibus laboratur." 
 
 18. The ground\ Rather, The estate. In this parable (peculiar to 
 St Luke) our Lord evidently referred mentally to the story of Nabal, 
 whose name means 'Fool' or 'Churl' (i Sam. xxv.). Observe that 
 his riches, like those of Nabal, were acquired, not by fraud or oppres- 
 sion, but in the most innocent way. His crime was his greedy and 
 callous selfishness. He cared not for generous use, but for self-admiring 
 acquisition. Being "a fool" his "prosperity destroyed him." Pro v. 
 i. 32. 
 
 17. What shall I do"] "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied 
 with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase," Eccl. v. 10. 
 
 my fruits'] So " w/ barns," "w^ fruits and tny goods," and *^ my 
 soul." This touch is evidently intended and is most vividly natural. 
 So Nabal says, "Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and 7ny 
 flesh that I have killed for my shearers," &c., i Sam. xxv. ii. So 
 "Their child." "0«r child!" "C«r heiress!" " 6>«rj./" for still 
 Like echoes from beyond a hollow, came 
 Her sicklier iteration." Ayhner's Field. 
 
 18. my barns'] Rather, storehouses {apothekas — not only for corn). 
 He never thought of the admonition of the Son of Sirach, "Shut up 
 alms in thy storehouses," Ecclus. xxix. la. 
 
 my fruits] Not the same word as before. Rather, my produce. 
 viy goods] Such 'good things' as he was alone capable of recog- 
 nising, xvi. 25. And "a// my goods,^' with no mention of the poor. 
 
 19. I will say to my soul, Soul] "What folly ! Had thy soul been 
 a sty, what else couldst thou have promised to it? Art thou so bestial, 
 so ignorant of the soul's goods, that thou pledgest it the foods of the 
 flesh ? And dost thou convey to thy soul, the things which the draught 
 receiveth?" St ?>asil. 
 
 for many years] "Boast not thyself of to morrow," Prov. xxvii. i. 
 
w. 20— 22.] ST LUKE, XII. 227 
 
 take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said 20 
 unto him. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of 
 thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast pro- 
 vided ? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is 21 
 ');i9t rich towards God. 
 
 22 — 53. Lessons of Trustfulness (22 — 32), Almsgiving (33, 
 34), and Faithful Watchfulness (35 — 48). The search- 
 ing Effect of Chrisfs Work (49 — 53). 
 
 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, 22 
 Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat ; neither 
 
 take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry] More energetically in the 
 four words of the original, rest, eat, drink, enjoy. His motive is the 
 same as that of the selfish and cynical Epicureans, who say, "Let us 
 eat and drink;" but the reason he assigns is different. They snatch 
 pleasure, "for to morrow we die" (i Cor. xv. 32); he because he hopes 
 to be "happy" for "many years." For similar warnings see Jas. iv. 
 13 — 17, V. I — 3; Eccl. xi. 9. 
 
 20. Thou fool] Literally, ^^ Senseless !" i Cor. xv. 36. 
 this night] Compare the death of Nabal, i Sam. xxv. 36. 
 
 thy soul shall be required of thee] Rather, tliey demand thy soul of 
 thee. Who are 'they'? Some say God (Job xxvii. 8), or His death- 
 angels (Job xxxiii. 22), or robbers whom they suppose to attack the rich 
 man on the night that his wealth has flowed in. There is however no 
 definite pronoun, the phrase is impersonal, as often in Hebrew. 
 
 then whose shall those things be] "He heapeth up riches and knoweth 
 not who shall gather them," Ps, xxxix. 6, xlix. 16, 17; comp. Hi. 7 and 
 James iv. 13 — 15. St James seems to have been deeply impressed with 
 this teaching. 
 
 21. is not rich towards God] Rather, if he is not. We are often taught 
 elsewhere in Scripture in what way we can be rich toward God. Matt. 
 vi. 19 — 21; I Tim. vi. 17 — 19; Jas. ii. 5. There is a close parallel to 
 this passage in Ecclus. xi. 18, 19, "There is that waxeth rich by his 
 wariness and pinching, and this is the portion of his reward. Like- 
 wise he saith, I have found rest, and now will eat continually of my 
 goods, and yet he knoweth not what time shall come upon him, and 
 that he must leave those things to others, and die." This would seem 
 to shew that our Lord was not unfamiliar with some of the Apocryphal 
 writings. 
 
 22 — 53. Lessons of Trustfulness (22 — 32), Almsgiving (33, 34), 
 AND Faithful Watchfulness (35 — 48). The searching 
 Effect of Christ's Work (49 — 53). 
 
 22. Take no thought] This rendering is now unfortunate, since it 
 might be abused to encourage an immoral carelessness (i Tim. v. 8). 
 
 1=^ — 2 
 
228 ST LUKE, XII. [vv. 23-32. 
 
 23 for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than 
 
 24 meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the 
 ravens : for they neither sow nor reap ; which neither have 
 storehouse nor barn ; and God feedeth them : how much 
 
 25 more are ye better than the fowls ? And which of you with 
 
 26 taking thought can add to his stature one cubit ? If ye then 
 be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye 
 
 27 thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: 
 they toil not, they spin not ; and yet I say unto you, that 
 Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 
 
 28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, 
 and to morrow is cast into the oven ; how much more will 
 
 29 he clothe you, O ye of little faith ? And seek not ye what ye 
 shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful 
 
 30 mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek 
 after : and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these 
 
 31 things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God ; and all 
 
 32 these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock ; 
 
 But in the 17th century thought was used for care (i Sam. ix. 5). See 
 The Bible Word-Book, s.v. Rather, Be not anxious about. "Cast 
 thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee," Ps. Iv. 22 ; 
 I Pet. V. 7. 
 
 23. The life is more than meat, &c.] and the spirit is more than 
 either the body, or the natural life. 
 
 24. the ravens] More specific, and therefore more poetic, than "the 
 fowls" in St Matthew. Perhaps there is a reference to Job xxxviii. 41; 
 Ps. cxlv. 15. 
 
 25. to his stature] Some would here render the word TJXiKia, 
 'age' (comp. Ps. xxxix. 5); but 'stature' is probably right. 
 
 27. the lilies] The term is perfectly general. The scarlet ane- 
 mones (anemone coronaria), or the 'Huleh lilies' growing around may 
 have given point to the lesson. (Thomson, Land and Book, p. 256.) 
 
 Solofuon in all his glory] i K. iii. 13, x. 1 — 29, and for a splendid 
 description of his progresses in the royal chariot Cant. iii. 6 — 11. 
 
 28. the grass... in the field] The common Scripture symbol for 
 evanescence, Is. xl. 6; i Pet. i. 24; Ja§. i. 10, 11. 
 
 is cast into the oven] In the absence of wood this is the usual me- 
 thod of heating ovens in the East. 
 
 29. neither be ye of doubtful mind] Literally, **Do not toss about 
 like boats in the offing," — a metaphor for suspense. Cicero says, " So 
 I am in suspense {fxer^wpos) and entangled in great perplexities." Ad 
 Att. XV. 14. 
 
 30. the nations of the world] But you have not the same excuse 
 that the heathen have for over-anxiety about transient needs. 
 
w. 33-38.] ST LUKE, XII. 229 
 
 for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the king- 
 dom. Sell that ye have, and give alms ; provide yourselves 33 
 bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth 
 not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. 
 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 34 
 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning ; 35 
 and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, 36 
 when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh 
 and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed 37 
 are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find 
 watching : verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, 
 and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth 
 and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, 38 
 or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are 
 
 32. little Jlock] The address was primarily to disciples, vs. i. For 
 the metaphor, see Ps. xxiii. i; Is. xl. 11; Matt. xxvi. 31 ; John x. 
 12 — 16. 
 
 the kingdom^ How much more shall He give you bread. 
 
 33. Sell that ye have\ This command was taken very literally by 
 the early Church, Acts ii. 44, 45. Comp. xvi. 9 ; Matt. xix. 21. 
 
 35. Let your loins be girded'\ Without which active service is im- 
 possible in the loose flowing dress of the East (Ex. xii. 11; i K. xviii. 
 46) ; and spiritually, for the Christian amid worldly entanglements, 
 I Pet. i. 13; Eph. vi. 14. 
 
 your lights burning\ The germ of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Matt. 
 
 XXV. I. 
 
 36. when he will return from the wedding\ The word here used 
 {j)ote analusei) is very rare, occurring only in Phil. i. 23 ; 2 Tim. iv. 6. 
 Here there is a variation from the commoner metaphor of going to the 
 wedding feast. 
 
 37. he shall gird himself , and make them to sit down to meat] Doubt- 
 less some of the Apostles must have recalled these words when Jesus 
 washed their feet. To Roman readers the words would recall the 
 customs of their Saturnalia when slaves were waited on by their masters. 
 
 38. come in the second watch, or cof?ie in the third watch] It is not 
 clear, nor very important, whether St Luke here alludes to the three 
 watches of the Jews and Greeks (Lam. ii. 19 ; Judg. vii. 19 ; Ex. xiv. 24) 
 or to the four of the Romans (Jerome, Ep, cxl.). But it is very impor- 
 tant to observe that often as our Lord bade His disciples to be ready 
 for His return. He as often indicates that His return might be long 
 delayed. Matt. xxv. 5 — 19. He always implied that He should come 
 suddenly (xxi. 34 — 36; i Thess. v. 2 — 6; Rev. iii. 3) but not necessarily 
 soon, vs. 46 ; 2 Pet. iii. 8, 9. " The Parousia does not come so quickly 
 as impatience, nor yet so late as carelessness, supposes." Van Oosterzee. 
 
230 ST LUKE, XII. [w. 39—46. 
 
 39 those servants. And this know, that if the goodman of the 
 house had known what hour the thief would come, he would 
 have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken 
 
 40 through. Be ye therefore ready also : for the Son of man 
 Cometh at an hour when ye think not. 
 
 41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this para- 
 
 42 ble unto us, or even to all ? And the Lord said, 
 
 Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord 
 shall make ruler over his household, to give them their por- 
 
 43 tion of meat in due season ? Blessed is that servant, whom 
 
 44 his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth 
 I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he 
 
 45 hath. But and if that servant say in his heart. My lord 
 delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the men- 
 servants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be 
 
 46 drunken ; the lord of that servant will come in a day when 
 he looketh not for him^ and at an hour when he is not ware, 
 and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his por- 
 
 39. this know\ Rather, this ye know. 
 
 the goodman of the hansel An archaic expression for the master of 
 the house, ^h^ paterfamilias . It is said to be a corruption of the Saxon 
 gumman *a man,' good wife being formed from it by false analogy. 
 
 to be broken through^ Literally, "/<? be dug through^''' the houses being 
 often of mud. 
 
 41. Then Peter said unto him\ Peter's intercourse with his Lord 
 seems to have been peculiarly frank and fearless, in accordance with his 
 character. In the immaturity of the disciples we may suppose that the 
 blessing on the faithful servants mainly prompted his question. But if 
 so the lesson of our Lord was by no means lost on him, i Pet. v. 3, 
 and passim. 
 
 42. Who then is that faithful and wise steward] Our Lord, in 
 the deeply instructive method which He often adopted, did not answer 
 the question, but taught the only lesson which was needful for the ques- 
 tioner. St Paul perhaps refers to these words of Christ in i Cor. iv. i, 2. 
 
 their portion of meat in due season] "Take heed therefore unto 
 yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made 
 you overseers, to feed the church of God^'' Acts xx, 28. 
 
 44. ruler over all that he hath] vSee xxii. 29, 30. 
 
 45. say in his heart. My lord delayeth his coining] Eccl. viii. 11. 
 It was not long before the temptation to use this language arose with fatal 
 results, 1 Pet. iii. 8, 9. 
 
 46. will cut him in sunder] This was literally a punishment prevalent 
 among some ancient nations, 2 Sam. xii. 31 ; i Chr. xx. 3; Dan. ii, 5; 
 Herod, vii. 39. Comp. Hebr. xi. 37 (the legendary martyrdom of Isaiah) 
 
w. 47— 50-] ■ ST LUKE, XII. 231 
 
 tion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew 47 
 his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did accord- 
 ing to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he 48 
 that knew not, and did commit thi?igs worthy of stripes, shall 
 be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is 
 given, of him shall be much required : and to whom men 
 have committed much, of him they will ask the more. 
 
 I am come to send fire on the earth ; and what will I, 49 
 if it be already kindled ? But I have a baptism to be bap- so 
 tized with; and how am I straitened till it be accompHshed! 
 
 '■"^ ' -;b\/'t^ r>irV^ ^ -/--/^'^ oV ;..' ■ . a-^ i 
 
 and Susannah 55 — 59. Hence Bengel says "Qui cor divisum h^iheU 
 dividettcr.''^ But because of the following clause, which evidently refers 
 to a living person, it is thought that dichotomesei must here be used in 
 the sense of "shall scourge" (compare the next verse), although there is 
 no other instance of such a sense. 
 
 with the unbelievers\ Rather, with tlie faithless. (See vs. 42, and 
 Matt. xxiv. 51.) 
 
 47. shall be beaten with many stripes'] Exceptional privileges if 
 rejected involve exceptional guilt and punishment, x. 13; Jas. iv. 17; 
 2 Pet. ii. 21. 
 
 48. that knew not] i.e. that knew not fully (Jon. iv. n ; 1 Tim. i. 13), 
 for there is no such thing as absolute moral ignorance (Rom. i. 20, ii. 
 
 14' 15). 
 
 shall be beaten with few stripes'] A most important passage as alone 
 clearly stating that punishment shall be only proportional to sin, and 
 that there shall be a righteous relation between the amount of the two. 
 They who knew not will not of course be punished for any involuntary 
 ignorance, but only for actual misdoing. 
 
 49. I am come to send fire on the earth] St John had preached 
 "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire" and that " He 
 should burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." The metaphor is 
 probably to be taken in all its meanings ; fire as a spiritual baptism ; the 
 refining fire to purge gold from dross, and burn up the chaff of all evil 
 in every imperfect character ; and the fire of retributive justice. There 
 is a remarkable 'unwritten saying' of Christ, ^^He who is near me is 
 near the fire," which is preserved in Ignatius, Origen, and Didymus. 
 
 what will I, if it be already kindled?] Rather, how I would that it 
 had been already kindled ! (as in Ecclus. xxiii. 14). It may also be 
 punctuated 'what will I? O that it were already kindled! ' For the fire 
 is salutary as well as retributive; it warms and purifies as well as con- 
 sumes. 
 
 50. a baptism to be baptized with] Matt. xx. 22. 
 
 how am I straitened] i.e. How heavy is the burden that rests upon 
 me; how vast are the obstacles through which I have to press onwards. 
 It is the same spirit that spoke in "What thou doest, do quickly." The 
 word is found in 2 Cor. v. 14; Phil. i. 23. 
 
232 ST LUKE, XII. [w. 51— 56. 
 
 51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth ? I tell 
 
 52 you, Nay ; but rather division : for from henceforth there 
 shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and 
 
 53 two against three. The father shall be divided against the 
 son, and the son against the father; the mother 
 against the daughter, and the daughter against the 
 mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, 
 and the daughter in law against her mother in 
 law. 
 
 54 — 59. The Signs of the Times, and resultant Duty. 
 
 54 And he said also to the people. When ye see a cloud rise 
 out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; 
 
 55 and so it is. And when jf^ see the 'south wind blow, ye say, 
 
 56 There will be heat ; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, 
 
 till it be accomplished^ John xix. 28, 30. 
 
 51. Suppose ye\ as they were far too much inclined to suppose, xix. t i. 
 
 that I afn come to give peace on eartK\ It is only in His ultimate 
 kingdom that Christ will be fully the Prince of Peace, as was understood 
 even by Simeon, ii. 34, 35 ; see too John ix. 39. 
 
 Nay; but rather division] "I came not to send peace but a sword,'*^ 
 Matt. X. 34. "Near me, near the sword" (unwritten saying of Christ). 
 **There was a division among the people because of him," John vii. 43. 
 
 53. The father shall be divided against the son] The verse seems 
 to be a distinct allusion to Mic. vii. 6. There is in the Greek a delicate 
 change of phrase which can hardly be reproduced in English. It is 
 * {a.ther against son' {i(f> viip), where the preposition takes the dative; but 
 in 'mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law' (eTri Ty\v vv ixcfy-r^v aur^s) 
 the preposition takes the accusative; — perhaps to indicate the difference 
 in the relationships, the one natural, the other legal. 
 
 54 — 59. The Signs of the Times, and resultant Duty. 
 
 54. to the people] Rather, to the multitudes, whom He now ad- 
 dresses, having finished the lessons which were most necessary for His 
 timid and: discouraged disciples. 
 
 a cloud] Rather, the cloud, comp. Matt. xvl. 1, 3. 
 
 rise out of the west] In Hebrew the same word is used for 'west' 
 and 'sea.' A cloud rising from the Mediterranean indicated heavy 
 rain, i K. xviii. 44, 45. 
 
 55. heat] Rather, a Simoom or scorching wind, because 'the 
 South wind ' in Palestine would blow from the desert. 
 
 56. Ye hypocrites] The insincerity consisted in the fact that though 
 the signs of the Kingdom were equally plain they would not see them, 
 and pretended not to see them. The Prophets had long ago pointed 
 
w. 57— 59-] ST LUKE, XII. 233 
 
 ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth ; but 
 how is it that ye do not discern this time ? Yea, and why 57 
 even of yourselves judge ye not what is right ? When thou 58 
 goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in 
 the way, give diHgence that thou mayest be delivered from 
 him ; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver 
 thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. 1 59 
 tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid 
 the very last mite. , 
 
 them out. Among them were, miracles (Is. xxxv. 4 — 6) ; the political 
 condition (Gen. xlix. 10); the preaching of the Baptist (Matt. iii.). 
 discern] Rather, test or prove. 
 
 57. even of yourselves] i.e. without the necessity for ;«>' thus pointing 
 out to you facts which are so plain. 
 
 what is right] what is your duty to do under circumstances so immi- 
 nent. 
 
 58. When thou goest] Rather, For as thou goest. Our translators 
 omitted the **for" probably because they could not see the connexion. 
 It seems however to be this. ' For this is your clear duty, — to reconcile 
 yourselves with God, as you would with one whom you had alienated, 
 before the otherwise inevitable consequences ensue. ' 
 
 with thine adversary] This is a parable. If you had wronged a 
 man it would be obviously wise to avert the consequences of your 
 wrongdoing before it became too late. Even so must you act towards 
 God. To press the details is obviously false theology. "Theologia 
 parabolica non est argumentativa." Here again St Matthew quotes the 
 parable in a slightly different connexion (v. 25, 26) to teach that love 
 and forgiveness to man are an indispensable condition of forgiveness 
 from God. 
 
 give diligence] A curious Latinism, da operant. 
 
 to the officer] i.e. the jailor, literally the exactor {irpaKTopC). "God 
 is here shadowed forth as at once the adversary, the judge, and the 
 officer ; the first by His holiness, the second by His justice, the third 
 by His power." Godet. 
 
 59. till thou hast paid the very last mite] Mite is lepton {minutum), 
 the smallest of all coins, Mk, xii. 42. If it be asked, ' can this ever 
 be paid ?' the answer of course is, as far as the parable is concerned, 
 'it depends entirely on whether the debt be great or small.' As far 
 as the application of the parable is concerned, the answer lies out of 
 the contemplated horizon of the illustration, nor is there any formal 
 answer to it. But if it be asserted that no man's debt to God, which 
 he has incurred by his sins, however ' common to man,' can ever be 
 paid by him, we are at least permitted to find hope in the thought 
 that Christ has paid our debt for us (Matt. xx. 28; i Tim. ii. 6). The 
 general lesson is that of which Scripture is full, "Seek ye the Lord 
 while He may be found," Is. Iv. 6; Ps. xxxii. 6; Heb. iv. 7. 
 
234 ST LUKE, XIII. [w. i, 2. 
 
 Ch. XIII. I — 9. Accidents and yudgments. The Barren 
 Fig- Tree. 
 
 13 There were present at that season some that told him of 
 
 the GaHleans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their 
 
 2 sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose 
 
 ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, 
 
 Ch. XIII. 1 — 9. Accidents and Judgments. The Barren 
 Fig-Tree. 
 
 1. There were present at that season] Rather, There arrived at 
 that very season. The curious phrase seems to imply that they had 
 come on purpose to announce this catastrophe. Hence some have 
 supposed that they wished to kindle in the mind of Jesus as a 
 Galilaean (xxiii. 5) a spirit of Messianic retribution (Jos. Antt. 
 XVII. 9, § 3). But Christ's answer rather proves that they were 
 connecting the sad death of these Galilaeans with their imaginary 
 crimes. They were not calling His attention to them as martyrs, but 
 as supposed victims of divine anger. Their report indicates a sort 
 of pleasure in recounting the misfortunes of others {eTnxo.ipeKa.Kia.). 
 
 of the Galileans] who regularly attended the Jewish feasts at Je- 
 rusalem, John iv. 45. 
 
 ■whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices] Probably at 
 some Passover outbreak, on which the Roman soldiers had hurried 
 down from Fort Antonia. This incident, which was peculiarly horrible 
 to Jewish imaginations, often occurred during the turbulent adminis- 
 tration of Pilate and the Romans ; see on xxiii. i ; Acts xxi. 34. At 
 one Passover, "during the sacrifices," 3000 Jews had been massacred 
 "like victims," and "the Temple courts filled with dead bodies" 
 {Jos. Antt. XVII. 9, § 3) ; and at another Passover, no less than 20000 
 (id. XX. 5, § 3; see also B. J. ii. 5, v. i). Early in his administration 
 Pilate had sent disguised soldiers with daggers among the crowd 
 (id. xviii. 3, § I ; B. y. II. 9, § 4). The special incidents here alluded 
 to were far too common to be specially recorded by Josephus ; but 
 in the fact that the victims in this instance were Galilaeans, we may 
 perhaps see a reason for the "enmity" between Pilate and Herod 
 Antipas (xxiii. 12). 
 
 2. were sinners above all the Galileans] The ' were ' is literally, 
 * became,' i.e. 'stamped themselves as,' 'proved themselves to be.' 
 We trace a similar mistaken ' supposition ' in the question of the 
 disciples about the blind man (John ix. 2). It was indeed deeply 
 engrained in the Jewish mind, although the Book of Job had been 
 expressly levelled at the uncharitable error of assuming that individual 
 misfortune could only be the consequence of individual crime. Such 
 is sometimes the case (Gen. xlii. 21; Judg. i. 7), but although all 
 human sorrow has its ultimate cause in human sin, it is wrong to 
 assume in individual cases the connexion of calamity with crime. 
 
vv. 3—7.] ST LUKE, XIII. 235 
 
 because they suffered such things ? I tell you, Nay : but, 3 
 except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those 4 
 eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew 
 them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that 
 dwelt in Jerusalem ? I tell you, Nay : but except ye repent, s 
 ye shall all likewise perish. He spake also this parable ; e 
 
 A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard ; and 
 he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then 7 
 said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three 
 
 suffered such thmgs'\ Rather, have suffered these things. 
 
 3. except ye repent^ ye shall all likewise perish'] The first meaning 
 of the words was doubtless prophetic. As a matter of historic fact, 
 the Jewish nation did not repent, and myriads of them in the siege 
 of Jerusalem perished by a doom closely analogous to that of these 
 unhappy Galilaeans (see Jos. B. y. v. i, 3, 7, 11, t 2, and especially 
 13 ; VI. passim, vii. 3). And since all life and all history are governed 
 by the same divine laws, the warning is applicable to men and to 
 nations at all periods. 
 
 4. those eighteen, upon whom the torver in Siloam fell] It is an 
 ingenious, but of course uncertain conjecture of Ewald, that the death 
 of these workmen was connected with the notion of retribution be- 
 cause they were engaged in building part of the aqueduct to the Pool of 
 Siloam, for the construction of which Pilate had seized some of the 
 sacred Corban-money (Mk. vii. 11; Jos. B. y. ii. 9, § 4). 
 
 Siloa?n] The pool Qohn ix. 7; Is. viii. 6), near the village of 
 Silwdn, at the entrance of the Tyropoeon valley, which runs into the 
 valley of Jehoshaphat between Sion and Moriah. 
 
 that they were sinners] Rather, that they themselves "were debtors. 
 
 5. ye shall all likewise perish] The readings of the word ' likewise ' 
 vary between '■homoios^ and ^ hosatitos ;' but no distinct difference 
 of meaning between the two words can be established, unless the 
 latter be rather stronger, ' in the very same way. ' Here again the actual 
 incidents of the siege of Jerusalem — the deaths of many under the 
 falling ruins of the city (Jos. B. y. vi. 9, vii. i) — are the directest 
 comment on our Lord's words which yet bear the wider significance 
 of the warning in Rom. ii. i — ii: 
 
 6. a Jig tree planted in his vineyard] The corners of vineyards 
 were often utilised in this way, as they still are (Tristram, Nat. Hist. 
 Bib. p. 352). Here the Jewish nation is compared to the fig-tree 
 (Hos. ix. 10; Jer. xxiv. 3), as in the acted parable of the Barren Fig- 
 tree (Matt. xxi. 19); more often Israel is compared to the Vine or 
 the Vineyard (Ps. Ixxx. 8 — 11 ; Is. v. 1). 
 
 7. unto the dresser of his vineyard] It seems clear that in the 
 truth which the parable shadows forth, Christ corresponds to the 
 vine-dresser, and Jehovah to the owner (Is. v. 7). Some however 
 prefer to see in the vine-dresser the Holy Spirit as Intercessor. 
 
236 ST LUKE, XIII. [w. 8— 13. 
 
 years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none : 
 
 8 cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground ? And he an- 
 swering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till 
 
 9 I shall dig about it, and dung // / and if it bear fruit, well: 
 and if not, the?i after that thou shalt cut it down. 
 
 10 — 17. The Sabbatical Hypocrite and the Suffering Woman. 
 
 10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the 
 
 11 sabbath. And behold, there was a woman which had a spirit 
 of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and 
 
 12 could in no wise hft up herself. And when Jesus saw her, 
 he called her to hiin^ and said unto her, Woman, thou art 
 
 13 loosed from thy infirmity. And he laid his hands on her : 
 
 Behold^ these three years] Many suppose an allusion to the length 
 up to this time of our Lord's ministry. Others explain it of the periods 
 of the Judges, Kings, and High Priests. It is very doubtful how far 
 these lesser details — which are essential to the colouring of the 
 parable — are intended to be pressed. 
 
 cut it down] at once — as the tense implies (Matt. iii. 10; John xv. 2). 
 It was fulfilled in the rejection of Israel (Rom. xi. 22). 
 
 why cumbereth it the gjwind?] Rather, why doth it also sterilise 
 the ground? i.e. it is not only useless, but positively mischievous by 
 preventing other growth. 
 
 8. Lord] Rather, Sir, as far as the parable is concerned. 
 
 this year also] "The Lord. ..is longsufifering to usward, not willing 
 that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance," 2 Pet. 
 iii. 9. In "this year also" it is better to see generally the respite of forty 
 years between the crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem, than 
 merely the yet remaining period of our Lord's ministry. God never 
 strikes without warning, because He desires to save. 
 
 9. if it bear fruit, well] The 'well' is not in the original, the idiom 
 being a common but striking aposiopesis: i.e. the conclusion of the 
 sentence is left to the speaker's imagination. The phrase implies. If, 
 as is at least possible, it bears fruit; but if not, as thou supposest, 
 then, &c. 
 
 10—17. The Sabbatical Hypocrite and the Suffering 
 
 Woman. 
 
 10. in one of the synagogues] The mention of synagogue-teaching 
 becomes much rarer at this later stage of Christ's ministry. It is most 
 probable that from some at least of the synagogues of Galilee he was 
 excluded by the 'lesser excommunication.' See John xvi. 2. 
 
 11. a spirit oj infirmity] Her curvature is thus directly attributed 
 to Satanic agency. Job ii. 6, 7 ; Acts x. 38. 
 
 12. thou art loosed] Here, as elsewhere, the delicacy and force of 
 
w. 14—16.] ST LUKE, XIII. 237 
 
 and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 
 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, 14 
 because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said 
 unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to 
 work : in them therefore come and be healed, and not on 
 the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, 15 
 Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath 
 loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to 
 watering ? And ought not this womafi, being a daughter of 16 
 
 the Greek tense implying the immediateness and the permanence of the 
 cure can only be expressed in English by a periphrasis. 
 
 14. rule?' of the synagogtie'] See viii. 41. 
 
 with indignation'] The same strong word — implying a personal 
 resentment — is used in Matt. xx. 24, xxvi. 8. 
 
 on the sabbath day] See on vi. 2. 
 
 in which men otight to work] Ex. xx. 9. 
 
 in them therefoj-e come and be healed] As though the reception of 
 divine grace were Sabbath-breaking toil ! Few remarks of the op- 
 ponents of our Lord were so transparently illogical and hypocritical as 
 this. It was meanly indirect because it was aimed at Jesus, though the 
 man is too much in awe to address it to Him, and the imphed notion 
 that it was a crime to allow oneself to be healed on the Sabbath day 
 springs from an abyss of Pharisaic falsity which could hardly have been 
 conceived. It was the underhand ignorance and insolence, as well as 
 the gross insincerity of the remark, which called forth a reproof excep- 
 tionally severe. 
 
 15. Thou hypocrite] Rather (with the best uncials), Hjrpocrites ! 
 (X, A, B), classing the man with the whole sect to which he belonged, 
 and whose shibboleths he used. They were hypocrites (i.e. they were 
 acting a part) because they were disguising secret enmity under a 
 pretence of sabbatical zeal. 
 
 on the sabbath loose his ox] Our Lord varied from time to time the 
 arguments with which He abolished the fanatical formalism of the 
 Pharisees respecting the Sabbath. Sometimes He appealed to His own 
 inherent authority (John v. 17 — 47) ; sometimes to Scripture precedents 
 (vi. 3 — 5); or to common sense and eternal principles (vi. 9). Here, as 
 in xiv. 5, He uses an argumentum ad hominem, refuting their traditional 
 rules by the selfish insincerity with which they applied them. They 
 allowed men to unloose and lead to water their cattle on the sabbath, 
 and thus to break their own Sabbatic rules to save themselves the 
 trouble of providing water overnight, or, at the best, to abridge a few 
 hours' thirst ; was then this suffering woman not to be touched, not to 
 be spoken to, to end 18 years of suffering? 
 
 16. ought not] Our Saviour gives him back his own word '■'■ought ;" — 
 but the man's ought had been one of ceremonial obligation, and the 
 ought of Jesus was founded on the divine necessity of love. 
 
238 ST LUKE, Xlll. [vv. 17—21. 
 
 Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo these eighteen years, , 
 17 be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day ? And when^ ^ 
 he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed : 
 and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that 
 were done by him. 
 
 1 8 — 2 1 . The Mustard Seed and the Leaven. 
 
 i3 Then said he, Unto what is the' 'kingdom of God like? 
 
 19 and whereunto shall I resemble it ? It is like a grain of 
 mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden ; 
 and it grew, and waxed a great tree ; and the fowls of the 
 
 20 air lodged in the branches of it. And again he said, Where- 
 
 21 unto shall I liken the kingdom of God ? It is like leaven, 
 which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, 
 till the whole was leavened. 
 
 being a daughter of Abraham\ See xix. 9. 
 whom Satan hath bound^ Compare 2 Cor. xii. 7. 
 
 17. when he had said these things^ Rather, -while He was saying 
 these things. 
 
 were ashamed'\ See Is. xlv. 16 (LXX.). 
 
 18 — 21. The Mustard Seed and the Leaven. 
 
 18. Unto what is the kingdojn of God like?'[ For this solemn intro- 
 duction see Is. xl. 18. 
 
 19. waxed a great tree] Omit great with t<, B, D, L, &c. The points 
 of comparison are the sudden, secret growth, and the immense develop- 
 ment of the kingdom of God. The mustard seed was colloquially 
 spoken of by the Jews as 'the smallest of all seeds,' and it grew 
 into a herbaceous plant, as tall as a horse and his rider (Thomson, Land 
 and BooU). 
 
 the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it] The substantive 
 corresponding to the verb Hodged^ is found in ix. 58 ('nests,' rather 
 shelters). Finches, and other small birds, throng the mustard beds to 
 live on the seed (Tristram, Nat. Hist. Bib. 473). 
 
 21. It is like leaven] Except in this parable, leaven in Scripture 
 (being connected with corruption and fermentation) is used as the type 
 of sin. See xii. i; Ex. xii. i, 15 — 20; i Cor. v. 6 — 8; Gal. v. 9. 
 Here, however, the only point considered is its rapid, and unseen, and 
 effectual working. 
 
 in three measures of meal] The verisimilitude, simplicity, and vivid- 
 ness of the parables arise from the natural and specific details intro- 
 duced into them. To press these into separate lessons only leads to 
 arbitrary exegesis and false theology. Probably the 'three measures' 
 are only mentioned because they are the ordinary amount which a 
 
w. 22—24.] ST LUKE, XIII. 239 
 
 — j,__ 
 
 22 — 30. The Narrow Door. 
 
 And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and 2a 
 journeying towards Jerusalem. Then said one unto him, 23 
 Lord, are there few that be saved ? And he said unto them, 24 
 Strive to enter in at the strait gate : for many, I say unto 
 
 woman would leaven at one time. If any one likes to improve the 
 detail by applying it to (i) body, soul, and spirit (i Thess. v. 23); or 
 (2) to Jews, Samaritans, and Galilaeans; or (3) to the three sons of 
 Noah (!), as representing Semites, Aryans, and Allophylians, — it 
 should be understood that these are pious applications, and interesting 
 plays of fancy, not comments on our Lord's words. 
 
 till the whole was leavened'\ The whole heart of each man (2 Cor. 
 X. 5), and the whole world (xxiv. 47). 
 
 22 — 30. The Narrow Door. 
 
 22. he went through the cities and villages'] Some see in this the 
 starting-point of a separate journey. The expression is too vague on 
 which to build. It may imply a fresh progress after some brief period of 
 rest. 
 
 23. are there fexv that be saved?] The question may naturally have 
 arisen from the last teachings respecting the small beginnings of the 
 Kingdom of God. There is nothing to shew whether it was suggested 
 by speculative curiosity, or by despondent pity. But without directly 
 rebuking such questions, our Lord, as in other instances, strove to place 
 the questioners in a wiser frame of mind (Deut. xxix. 29). The 
 answer is a direct discouragement to all pitiless, and especially to all 
 self-righteous, eschatologies. It is a solemn assertion of the necessity 
 for earnest, personal endeavour. Thus to all idle attempts to define the 
 certainties of the future, our Lord says, Consider the question with 
 reference to yourself^ not with reference to others. Look at it in the 
 spirit of the publican, not in the spirit of the Pharisee. The wisdom and 
 necessity of the answer may be seen from 2 Esdras viii., where the question 
 is discussed, and where it is assu?}ied \h2X few only will be saved, "The 
 most High hath made this world for many, but the world to come for 
 few" (viii. i). "There are many more of them which perish than of 
 them which shall be saved; like as a wave is greater than a drop" 
 (ix. 15, 16). "Let the multitude perish then" (id. 22). Part, at least, 
 of the Book of Esdras is probably post- Christian. 
 
 that be saved] Literally, ''''who are being saved,'''' i. e. who are in the 
 way of salvation. The same word occurs in Acts ii. 47, and is the 
 opposite to apollumenoi, 'those that are perishing,' i Cor. i. 18; 2 Cor. 
 ii. 15. 
 
 24. Strive] The word implies the strong efforts of a contest. 
 I Tim. vi. 12. 
 
 at the strait gate] Rather, through the narrow door; reading 
 thuras (&5, B, D, L) ior pules. Matt. vii. 13. 
 
240 ST LUKE, XIII. [vv. 25—30. 
 
 25 you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When 
 once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to 
 the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the 
 door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us ; and he shall answer 
 
 26 and say unto you, I know you not whence you are: then shall 
 ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, 
 
 27 and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell 
 you, I know you not whence you are ; depart from me, all 
 
 28 ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnash- 
 ing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and 
 Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and 
 
 29 you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, 
 ■dnd from the west, and from the north, and from the south, 
 
 30 and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold, 
 
 will seek to enter in, and shall not be able\ because they only seek, 
 and do not strive ; they wish for heaven, but will not abandon earth. 
 Sometimes also because they seek too late (Prov. i. 28, 29; Is. i. 15; 
 John vii. 34; Heb. xii. 17), but mainly because they seek to enter 
 through other ways by which there is no entrance, since Christ is the 
 only door (John x. 7, xiv. 6). 
 
 25. to stand without, and to knock at the door] Matt. xxv. 10. That 
 the first application of the warning was to Jews who relied on their 
 privileges appears from the fact that the excluded class are not poor 
 sinners, but self-righteous Pharisees who claim entrance as their right. 
 
 Lord, Lord, open unto us] Matt. vii. 22, 23. 
 
 26. then shall ye begin to say] All excuse shall be cut short at 
 once, iii. 8. 
 
 thou hast taught in our streets] Here again (see xiii. 28) we see 
 how our Lord discouraged all notions of any privilege derived from 
 fleshly privileges, or even proximity to Himself. Rom. ii. 17 — 20. 
 
 27. L know you not depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity] 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 19, "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, 
 The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth 
 the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 
 
 28. weeping and gnashing of teeth] The signs respectively of anguish 
 and of rage (Acts vii. 54). 
 
 Abraham, and Lsaac, and Jacob] Marcion, always anxious to disown 
 the Old Testament, altered this into '* all the just." 
 
 29. they shall come from the east, and from the west] There is an 
 obvious reference to Is. xlix, 12, xlv. 6. Nothing more furiously ex- 
 cited the envy of the Jews than the free admission of the Gentiles to 
 those privileges of the Kingdom of Heaven (Eph. iii. 6) which they 
 rejected. Rom. xi. i — 36; Acts xiii. 44 — 52. 
 
 shall sit down] Rather, shall recline at banquet, xi. 37, xiv. 8, 
 &c. ; Mark vi. 39. 
 
vv. 31, 32.] ST LUKE, XIII. 241 
 
 there are last which shall be first, and there are first which 
 shall be last. 
 
 31 — 35. A Message to Herod Antipas. 
 
 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying 31 
 unto him. Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will 
 kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, 32 
 
 30. And behold\ The phrase sometimes implies 'strange as you 
 may think it.' It occurs 23 times in St Matthew, 16 in St Luke ; but 
 not in St Mark. 
 
 there are last which shall be Jirst] Our Lord used this proverbial 
 expression more than once. Matt. xix. 30. It had, besides its uni- 
 versal truthfulness, a special bearing on His own time. " The publicans 
 and the harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you," Matt. xxi. 31. 
 '* The Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to 
 righteousness," Rom. ix. 30. 
 
 ** There above (on earth) 
 How many hold themselves for mighty kings, 
 Who here like swine shall wallow in the mire, 
 Leaving behind them horrible dispraise." 
 
 Dante, Inferno, 
 
 31 — 35. A Message to Herod Antipas. 
 
 31. The same day] Or, /« that very hour (S, A, D, L, &c.). 
 
 Get thee out, and depart hence] These Pharisees were as eager as the 
 Gadarenes to get rid of Jesus ; but whether this was their sole motive 
 or whether they further wished to separate Him from the multitudes 
 who as yet protected His life, and to put Him in the power of the Sad- 
 ducean hierarchy, is not clear. That any solicitude for His safety was 
 purely hypocritical appears in the tone of our Lord's answer, which is 
 yet far more merciful than that in which the prophet Amos had 
 answered a similar message from an analogous quarter. Amos vii. 
 12—17. 
 
 for Herod will kill thee] Rather, wills to kill thee. The assertion 
 was probably quite untrue. Herod had not even washed to kill John, 
 but had done so with g^eat reluctance, and had been deeply troubled in 
 conscience ever since. He did indeed wish to see Christ, but it was 
 with the very different desire of "seeing some miracle done by Him" 
 (xxiii. 8). 
 
 32. that fox] Rather, this she-fox, as though Christ saw him actually 
 present, or identified his fox-like nature with that which the Pharisees 
 were now displaying. The fact that the word is feminine may be only 
 due to its being generic. The fox was among the ancients, as well as 
 among the modems, the type of knavish craftiness and covert attack. 
 This is the only word of unmitigated contempt (as distinguished from 
 rebuke and scorn) recorded among the utterances of Christ, and it was 
 
 ST LUKE 1 5 
 
242 ST LUKE, XIII. [vv. 33, 34. 
 
 Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to 
 
 33 morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Neverthe- 
 less I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day fol- 
 lowing : for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jeru- 
 
 34 salem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, 
 and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would 
 I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather 
 
 more than justified by the mingled tyranny and timidity, insolence and 
 baseness of Herod Antipas — a half- Samaritan, half-Idumaean tetrarch, 
 who, professing Judaism, lived in heathen practices, and governed by 
 the grace of Caesar and the help of alien mercenaries ; who had mur- 
 dered the greatest of the Prophets to gratify a dancing wanton ; and 
 who was living at that moment in an adultery doubly-incestuous with 
 a woman of whom he had treacherously robbed his brother while he 
 was his guest. 
 
 to day and to morrotu] It is probable that these expressions are 
 general (as in Hos. vi. 2). They mean 'I shall stay in Herod's dominions 
 with perfect security for a brief while longer till my work is done.' It 
 must be remembered that Peraea was in the tetrarchate of Herod, so 
 that this incident may have occurred during the slow and solemn pro- 
 gress towards Jerusalem. 
 
 the third day I shall be perfected^ The word teleioumai has been 
 variously rendered and explained. Bleek makes it mean ' I shall end ' 
 (my work in Galilee) ; Godet, ' / am being perfected,^ in the sense of 
 *I shall arrive at the destined end of my work;' Resch, */ complete 
 my work^ by one crowning miracle (John xi. 40 — 44). This solemn 
 meaning best accords with other usages of the word, e.g. in the cry from 
 the Cross tetelestai, 'It is finished' (John xix. 30). See too Heb. v. 
 9, xi. 40. Teleiosis became an ecclesiastical term for 'martyrdom.' 
 
 33. / must walk] Rather, I must journey ; the same word as in 
 vs. 31, "depart." It seems to imply, 'I will not leave Herod's domi- 
 nion, but I shall journey on at my own leisure through them.' 
 
 it cannot be] i.e. there is a moral unfitness in the murder of a Prophet 
 anywhere but in Jerusalem. The words are those of terrible irony ; 
 and yet, even amid the irony, the voice of the Speaker seemed to break 
 with tears as He uttered the tender appeal of the next verse. 
 
 34. Jerusalem^ Jerusaleni] The words were perhaps spoken 
 again in the Great Denunciation of the Tuesday in Passion Week, Matt, 
 xxiii. 37. 
 
 which killest the prophets] '♦ It was full of judgment; righteousness 
 lodged in it; but now murderers''^ (Is. i. 21). See xi, 47, xx. 14; Matt, 
 xxiii, 34 ; i Esdr. i. 32, " I sent unto you my servants the prophets 
 whom ye have taken and slain, and torn their bodies in pieces, whose 
 blood I will require of your hands, saith the Lord." 
 
 how often] This, like other passages in the Synoptists, implies more 
 frequent visits to Jerusalem than they actually record. 
 
 as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings] A metaphor still 
 
w. 35; T-] ST LUKE, Xlll. XIV. 243 
 
 her brood under her wings, and ye would not? Behold, 35 
 your house is left unto you desolate : and verily I say unto 
 you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall 
 say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord. 
 
 Ch. XIV. The various Discourses of yesus at a Banquet. 
 " The Son of Man eating and drinking.''^ 
 
 I — 6. Sabbath healing of a Man with the Dropsy, 
 
 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of 14 
 
 more tender and appealing than that of the eagle which "stirreth up 
 her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh 
 them, beareth them on her wings " of Deut. xxxii. 11, 12. 
 
 ye would noi\ In contrast with the "would I " of vs. 34; it indicates 
 "the sad privilege which man possesses of resisting the most serious 
 influences of grace." 
 
 35, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate^ The authenticity of 
 the word ' desolate ' is very doubtful, as it is omitted in ^<, A, B, K, L, 
 &c. The words therefore mean ' The Shechinah has vanished from you 
 now (Ezek. x. 19, xi. 23). The house is now yours, not God's; and 
 because yours therefore a cave of brigands.' If the word ' desolate ' be 
 genuine, it may allude to Dan. ix. 27 and "the desolating wing of 
 abomination," as well as to other prophecies, Lev. xxvi. 31 ; Mic. iii. 12 ; 
 Is. V. 5, 6. There is a remarkable parallel in 2 Esdras i. 30 — 33, "I 
 gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings : 
 but now, what shall I do unto you ? I will cast you out from my face. 
 ...Thus saith the Almighty Lord, your house is desolate, I will cast you 
 out as the wind doth stubble." 
 
 Ye shall not see me] "Their senses are still blinded. The veil of 
 the Talmud that hangs over their eyes is twice as heavy as the veil of 
 Moses." Van Oosterzee. 
 
 until the time come when ye shall say] It is a most frivolous intei-pre- 
 tation of these words to make them merely refer to the Hosannas of 
 Palm Sunday (xix. 38) as though they meant, ' I shall not visit Jerusa- 
 lem till the day of my humble triumph.' They clearly refer to the 
 future and final penitence of Israel. The 'perfecting' of Jesus would be 
 His death, and then once again He would return as "the Coming One." 
 Hos. iii. 4, 5 ; Ps. cxviii. 26. Here, as in so many other stern pas- 
 sages of Scripture, in the Valley of Achor is opened a door of Hope, 
 for the phrase implies * till the time comes as come it will ' (Zech. xii. ; 
 Rom. xi.). 
 
 Ch. XIV. The various Discourses of Jesus at a Banquet. 
 "The Son of Man eating and drinking." 
 
 1 — 6. Sabbath healing of a Man with the Dropsy. 
 
 1. of one of the chief Pharisees] Rather, of the Rulers of the 
 
 16 — 2 
 
244 ST LUKE, XIV. [w. 2, 3. 
 
 the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that 
 3 they watched him. And behold, there was a certain man 
 3 before him, which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering 
 
 Pharisees. The rendering of our version gives the general sense but 
 is inadmissible. It is perhaps due to the translators being aware that 
 the Pharisees had (strictly speaking) no Rulers. There were no grades 
 of distinction between Pharisees as such. But obviously the expression 
 would be popularly used of a Pharisee who was an eminent Rabbi like 
 Hillel or Shammai, or of one who was also a Sanhedrist. 
 
 to eat bread on the sabbath day] Sabbath entertainments of a 
 luxurious and joyous character were the rule among the Jews, and 
 were even regarded as a religious duty (Nehem. viii. 9 — 12). All 
 the food was however cooked on the previous day (Ex. xvi. 23). 
 That our Lord accepted the invitation, though He was well aware of 
 the implacable hostility of the Pharisaic party towards Him, was due to 
 His gracious spirit of forgiving friendliness ; and to this we owe the 
 beautiful picture of His discourse and bearing throughout the feast 
 which this chapter preserves for us. Every incident and remark of the 
 banquet was turned to good. We have first the scene in the house 
 (r — 6); then the manoeuvres to secure precedence at the meal (7 — 11); 
 then the lesson to the host about the choice of guests (12 — 14); then the 
 Parable of the King's Feast suggested by the vapid exclamation of one 
 of the company (15 — 24). 
 
 that they watched him] More emphatically in the original *and they 
 themselves were carefully watching Him,'' comp. vi. 7. The invitation 
 in fact even more than those in vii. ^(i, xi. 37 was a mere plot ; — part 
 of that elaborate espionage, and malignant heresy-hunting (xi. 53, 54, 
 XX. 20; Mk. xii. 13), which is the mark of a decadent religion, and 
 which the Pharisees performed with exemplary diligence. The Phari- 
 sees regarded it as their great object in life to exalt their sacred books; 
 had they never read so much as this? "the wicked watcheth the 
 righteous and seeketh occasion to slay him," Ps. xxxvii. 32 ; "all that 
 watch for iniquity are cut off, that make a man an offender for a word, 
 and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate ^ Is. xxix. 20, 21. 
 
 2. And behold, there was a certain man before him, which had the 
 dropsy] The verse represents with inimitable vividness the flash of 
 recognition with which the Lord at once grasped the whole meaning 
 of the scene. The dropsical man was not one of the guests ; he stood 
 as though by accident in the promiscuous throng which may always 
 enter an Oriental house during a meal. But his presence was no 
 accident. The dropsy is an unsightly, and was regarded as an incurable, 
 disease. The Pharisaic plot had therefore been concocted with that 
 complex astuteness which marks in other instances (xx. 19 — 38; John 
 viii. 5) also the deadliness of their purpose. They argued (i) that He 
 could not ignore the presence of a man consjiicuously placed in front 
 of Him; (ii) that perhaps He might fail in the cure of a disease excep- 
 tionally inveterate ; (iii) that if He did heal the man on the Sabbath day 
 there would be room for another charge l)efore the synagogue or the 
 
vv. 4, 5.] ST LUKE, XIV. 245 
 
 spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to 
 heal on the sabbath day? And they held their peace. And 4 
 he took him, and healed him, and let him go; and answered 5 
 them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen 
 into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the 
 
 Sanhedrin. One element which kindled our Lord's indignation against 
 the Pharisees for these crafty schemes was the way in which they made 
 a mere tool of human misery and human shame. 
 
 3. answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees'] See on v. 22. 
 He took the initiative, and answered their unspoken thoughts. 
 
 Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?] We have already seen 
 (vi. I — II, xiii. II — 17; comp. John v. 11, ix. 14), that these Sabbath 
 disputes lay at the very centre of the Pharisaic hatred to him, because 
 around the ordinance of the Sabbath they had concentrated the worst 
 puerilities and formalisms of the Oral Law; and because the Sabbath 
 had sunk from a religious ordinance into a national institution, the badge 
 of their exclusiveness and pride. But this perfectly simple and transpa- 
 rent question at once defeated their views. If they said ' It is not 
 lawful ' they exposed themselves before the people to those varied and 
 overwhelming refutations which they had already undergone (see on 
 xiii. 15). If they said ' It is lawful ' then cecidit quaestio, and their plot 
 had come to nothing. 
 
 4. they held their peace] It was the silence of a splenetic pride and 
 obstinacy which while secretly convinced determined to remain un- 
 convinced. But such silence was His complete public justification. 
 If the contemplated miracle was unlawful why did not they — the great 
 religious authorities of Judaism — forbid it ? 
 
 he took him] Rather, taking hold of him, i. e. laying his hand upon 
 him. 
 
 5. an ass or an ox] The unquestionable reading if we are to follow 
 the MSS. is 'a so7t or an ox.' The strangeness of the collocation (which 
 however may be taken to imply 'a son — nay even an ox') has led to 
 the conjectural emendation of hiiios into o'ts 'a sheep ' (whence the reading 
 probaton ' a sheep ' in D) or onos ' an ass ' which was suggested by 
 Deut. xxii. 4. When however it is a question between two readings 
 it is an almost invariable rule that the 7?iore difficult is to be preferred 
 as the more likely to have been tampered with. Further (i) Scripture 
 never has "ass and ox" but always "ox and ass;" and (ii) *'son" is 
 a probable allusion to Ex. xxiii. 12, "thine ox and thine ass and the 
 son of thine handmaid shall rest on the sabbath," and (iii) the collocation 
 ' son and ox ' is actually found in some Rabbinic parallels. If it be 
 said that * a son falling into a well ' is an unusual incident, the answer 
 seems to be that it w«y be an allusion to the man's disease (dropsy = the 
 watery disease) ; also that pits and wells are so common and often so 
 unprotected in Palestine that the incident must have been less rare 
 than it is among us. 
 
 straightway pull him out] although the Sabbath labour thus involved 
 would be considerable. And why would they do this? because they 
 
246 
 
 ST LUKE, XIV. 
 
 [w. 6—8- 
 
 6 sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to 
 these things. 
 
 7 — II. Humility; a Lesson for the Guests. 
 
 7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, 
 when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; say- 
 
 8 ing unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wed- 
 
 had been taught, and in their better mind distinctly felt, that mercy 
 was above the ceremonial law (Deut. xxii. 4). An instance which had 
 happened not viany years before shews how completely they were 
 blinding and stultifying their own better instincts in their Sabbath 
 quibblings against our Lord. When Hillel — then a poor porter — had 
 been found half-frozen under masses of snow in the window of the 
 lecture-room of Shemaiah and Abtalion where he had hidden himself 
 to profit by their wisdom because he had been unable to earn the small 
 fee for entrance, they had rubbed and resuscitated him though it was 
 the Sabbath day, and had said that he was one for whose sake it was 
 well worth while to break the Sabbath. 
 
 6. they could not answer him again to these things'] A fact which 
 never makes any difference to the convictions of ignorant hatred and 
 superstitious narrowness. 
 
 7—11. Humility; a Lesson for the Guests. 
 
 7. he put forth a parable] See on iv. 23. 
 
 to those which were bidden] to the invited guests, as distinguished from 
 the onlookers. 
 
 they chose out] Rather, they were picking out for themselves. The 
 selfish struggle for precedence as they were taking their places — a small 
 ambition so universal that it even affected the Apostles (Mk. ix. 34) — gave 
 Him the opportunity for a lesson of Humility. 
 
 the chief rooms] i.e. the chief places at table. These at each of the 
 various triclinia would be those numbered 2, 5, and 8. The host 
 usually sat at 9. 
 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 
 7 
 
 •snuiuins 
 
 1 
 
 •snuii 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 I 
 
 8. to a zvedding] The term is used generally for any great feast; 
 but perhaps our Lord here adopted it to make His lesson less imme- 
 diately personal. 
 
vv. 9— 12.] ST LUKE, XIV. 247 
 
 ding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honour- 
 able man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade 9 
 thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; 
 and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But 10 
 when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; 
 that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, 
 Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the 
 presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whoso- n 
 ever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth 
 himself shall be exalted. 
 
 12 — 14. Whom to invite; a Lesson to the Host. 
 
 Then said he also to him that bade him. When thou 12 
 makes t a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy 
 
 a more honourable man than thoii\ Phil. ii. 3, "in lowliness of mind 
 let each esteem other better than themselves." 
 
 9. thou begin with shame to take the lowest room] If, by the time 
 that the guests are seated, it be found that some one has thrust himself 
 into too high a position for his rank, when he is removed he will find all 
 the other good places occupied. There is an obvious reference to Prov. 
 XXV. 6, 7. How much the lesson was needed to check the arrogant 
 pretensions of the Jewish theologians, is shewn again and again in the 
 Talmud, where they assert no reward to be too good or too exalted for 
 their merits. Thus at a banquet of King Alexander Jannaeus, the Rabbi 
 Simeon Ben Shetach, in spite of the presence of some great Persian 
 Satraps, had thrust himself at table between the King and Queen, and 
 when rebuked for his intrusion, quoted in his defence Ecclus. xv. 5, 
 "Exalt wisdom, and she... shall make thee sit among princes." 
 
 10. then shalt thou have worship] Rather, glory. It need, however, 
 hardly be said that nothing is farther from our Lord's intentions than to 
 teach mere calculating worldly politeness. From the simple facts of hfe 
 that an intrusive person renders himself liable to just rebuffs, he draws 
 the great spiritual lesson so much needed by the haughty religious pro- 
 fessors by whom He was surrounded, that 
 
 "Humble we must be if to heaven we go; 
 High is the roof there, but the door is low." 
 
 11. whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased] Rather, humbled. 
 See on i. 52, xiii. 30, and Matt, xxiii. 12. A similar lesson is prominent 
 in the Book of Proverbs (xv. 33, xvi. 18, 19, xxix. 23), and is strongly 
 enforced by St Peter (i Pet. v. 5). 
 
 12—14. Whom to invite; a Lesson to the Host. 
 
 12. call not thy friends, nor thy brethren] In this, as many of our 
 Lord's utterances, we must take into account (i) the idioms of Oriental 
 
248 ST LUKE, XIV. [w. 13—16. 
 
 brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest 
 they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. 
 
 13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, 
 
 14 the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they 
 cannot recompense thee : for thou shalt be recompensed at 
 the resurrection of the just. 
 
 15 — 24. The Refused Banquet ; a Lesson to a Guest 
 
 15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard 
 these things^ he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat 
 
 16 bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he unto him, A 
 
 speech; (2) the rules of common sense, which teach us to distinguish 
 between the letter and the spirit. It is obvious that our Lord did not 
 mean to forbid the common hospitalities between kinsmen and equals, 
 but only, as the context shews, ( i ) to discoii rage a mere interested hos- 
 pitality intended to secure a return; and (2) to assert that unselfish gene- 
 rosity is superior to the common civilities of friendliness. The "«fif" 
 therefore means, as often elsewhere in Scripture, "not only, but also,' 
 or "not so much. ..as," as in Prov. viii. 10; John vi. 27; i Cor. i. 17, 
 XV. 10; I Tim. ii. 9, &c. In other words, "not" sometimes denies 
 "not absolutely but conditionally (Gal. v. 21) and comparatively (i Cor. 
 i. 17)." See Matt. ix. 13; Jer. vii. 22; Joel ii. 13; Heb. viii. 11. 
 
 and a recompence be made thee\ In a similar case Martial says, ' * You 
 are asking for gifts, Sextus, not for friends.^^ There is a remarkable 
 parallel in Plato's Fhaedrus. 
 
 13. call the poor'\ Matt. xxv. 35. The duty is recognised in another 
 form by Nehemiah. "Eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send 
 portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared," Nehem. viii. 10. 
 
 14. at the resurrection of the Just^ The same duty is enforced with 
 the same motive by St Paul, r Tim. vi. 17 — 19. By the phrase ''the 
 resurrection of the j2{st" our Lord possibly referred to the twofold 
 resurrection, xx. 35; i Cor. xv. 23; i Thess. iv. 16, &c. But the allu- 
 sion may be more general. Acts xxiv. 15. 
 
 15—24. The Refused Banquet; a Lesson to a Guest. 
 
 15. when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things'] 
 He may have wanted to diminish the force of the rebukes implied in the 
 previous lessons by a vapid general remark. At any rate, he seems to 
 have assumed that he would be one of those who would sit at the 
 heavenly feast which should inaugurate the new aeon, and from which, 
 like all Jews, he held it to be almost inconceivable that any circumcised 
 son of Abraham should be excluded. Hence the warning involved in this 
 parable which was meant to prove how small was the real anxiety to 
 accept the divine invitation. 
 
 shall eat bread in the kingdom of God'\ Almost the same words occur 
 in Rev. xix. 9. The Jews connected the advent of the Messianic 
 
vv. 17—21.] ST LUKE, XIV. 249 
 
 certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent 17 
 his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden. 
 Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one 18 
 consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I 
 have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and 
 see it : I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I 19 
 have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them : I 
 pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have 20 
 married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that ser- 21 
 
 Kingdom with banquets of food more delicious than manna, the flesh of 
 Leviathan, and the bird Bar Juchne. 
 
 16. A certain man made a great supper'] The difference between 
 this parable and that of the King's Supper will be clear to any one who 
 will read it side by side with Matt. xxii. i — 10. He who gives the 
 invitation is God. Ps. xxv. 6. 
 
 and bade many] The breadth and ultimate universality of the Gospel 
 message. But as yet the " many," are the Jews, who (in the first appli- 
 tion) are indicated by those who refuse. 
 
 17. sent his servant at supper time] This is still a custom in the 
 East, Prov. ix. i — 5; Thomson, Land and Book, I. ch. ix. The 
 message of the servant corresponds to the ministry of John the Baptist 
 and of Jesus Himself. 
 
 Come ; for all things are now ready] "Repent ye; for the kingdom 
 of heaven is at hand," x. i, 9; Matt. iii. i, 2. 
 
 18. with one consent] i.e. apo mias gnomes ; or 'with one voice,' 
 if we understand phones. 
 
 to make excuse] The Greek word is the exact equivalent of our Uo 
 beg off.^ The same fact is indicated in John i. 11, v. 40, and in the "ye 
 would not " of xiii, 34 ; and the reason is the antipathy of the natural or 
 carnal man (6 xj/vxi^kos) to God, John xv. 24. 
 
 have me excused] The original is consider me as having been 
 excused. The very form of the expression involves the consciousness that 
 his excuse of necessity {a.v6:yKriv ^xw) was 77ierely an excuse. There is, too, 
 an emphasis on the me — "excusatum me habeas" — it may be the duty 
 of others to go ; / am an exception. 
 
 19. / go to prove thein] The second has not even the decency to 
 plead any necessity. He merely says * I am going to test my oxen,' 
 and implies ' my will is sufficient reason.' 
 
 20. I caitnot come] The 'I cannot,' as in xi. 7, is only an euphemism 
 for * I will not.' He thinks his reason so strong that there can be no 
 question about it. He relies doubtless on the principle of the exemption 
 from war, granted to newly-married bridegrooms in Deut. xxiv. 5. Perhaps 
 St Paul is alluding to this parable in i Cor. vii. 29 — 33, "The time is 
 short : it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they 
 had none;... and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they 
 that use this world, as not using it to the full." Thus the three hindrances 
 
250 ST LUKE, XIV. [vv. 22—24. 
 
 vant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the 
 master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out 
 quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in 
 hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the 
 
 22 blind. And the servant said. Lord, it is done as thou hast 
 
 23 commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said 
 unto the servant, Go out into the htghvfdiys and hedges, and 
 
 24 compel the??i to come in, that my house may be filled. For 
 
 are possessions, wealth, pleasures. But, as Bengel says, neither the field 
 (Matt. xiii. 44), nor the plowing (ix. 62), nor the wedding (2 Cor. xi. 2) need 
 have been any real hindrance. The * sacred hate ' of vs. 26 would have 
 cured all these excuses. 
 
 21. that servant came, and shewed his lord these things'] We have 
 here a shadow of the complaints and lamentations of our Lord over 
 the stiffnecked obstinacy of the Jews in rejecting Him. 
 
 Then the master of the house being angry] 
 
 " God, when He's angry here with any one 
 His wrath is free from perturbation; 
 And when we think His looks are sour and grim 
 The alteration is in us, not Him." 
 
 Herrick. 
 the streets and lanes of the city] This corresponds to the call of the 
 publicans, sinners, and harlots — the lost sheep of the House of Israel, iv. 
 18; Mk. xii. 37; Matt. xxi. 32; James ii. 5. 
 
 22. and yet there is room] * Grace, no less than Nature, abhors a 
 vacuum.' Bengel. 
 
 23. into the highways and hedges] i. e. outside the city ; intimating 
 the ultimate call of the Gentiles. 
 
 compel them to co??ie in] By such moral suasion as that described in 
 2 Tim. iv. 2. The compulsion wanted is that used by Paul the Apostle, 
 not by Saul the Inquisitor. The abuse of the word "Compel" in the 
 cause of intolerance is one of the many instances which prove the dead- 
 liness of that mechanical letter-worship which attributes infallibility not 
 only to Scripture, but even to its own ignorant misinterpretations. The 
 compulsion is merciful, not sanguinary; it is a compulsion to inward 
 acceptance, not to outward conformity ; it is employed to overcome the 
 humble despair of the penitent, not the proud resistance of the heretic. 
 Otherwise it would have been applied, not to the poor suffering out- 
 casts, but to the haughty and privileged persons who had refused the 
 first invitation. Yet even Augustine shews some tendency to this im- 
 moral perversion of the words in his "Foris inveniatur necessilas, 
 nascitur intus voluntas." Others apply it to threats of eternal punish- 
 ment, and a ministry which dwells on lessons of wrath. 
 
 24. For I say unto you] Since the '■you ' is plural this verse is pro- 
 bably the language of our Lord, indirectly assuming that His hearers 
 would see the bearing of this parable. 
 
w. 25, 26.] ST LUKE, XIV. 251 
 
 I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden 
 shall taste of my supper. 
 
 25 — 35. Lessons of Whole-hearfedness, and of Counting the 
 Cost; the Tower-builder; the warring King; the savour- 
 less Salt. 
 
 And there went great multitudes with him : and he turned, 25 
 and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not 26 
 his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and bre- 
 thren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be 
 
 none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper] It must 
 be remembered that Jesus had now been distinctly and deliberately re- 
 jected at Nazareth (iv. 29) and Jerusalem (John viii. 59) ; in Judaea, 
 Samaria (ix. 53), Galilee (x. 13), and Peraea (viii. 37). "Seeing ye put it 
 from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn 
 to the Gentiles," Acts xiii. 46; Heb. xii. 25; Matt. xxi. 43, xxii. 8. 
 
 25—35. Lessons of Whole-heartedness, and of Counting 
 THE Cost; the Tower-builder; the warring King; the 
 savourless Salt. 
 
 25. And there went great multitudes with him] This is evidently 
 a scene of the journey, when multitudes of the Galilaean pilgrims were 
 accompanying Him on their way to one of the great Jewish feasts. The 
 warning might have prevented them from following Him now, and 
 shouting 'Crucify Him' afterwards. 
 
 26. and hate not his father and 77iother'\ It is not so much the true 
 explanation to say that hate here means love less (Gen. xxix. 31), as to 
 say that when our nearest and dearest relationships prove to be positive 
 obstacles in coming to Christ, then all natural affections must be flung 
 aside; comp. Deut. xiii. 6 — 9, xxi. 19 — 21, xxxiii. 8, 9. A reference to 
 Matt. X. 37 will shew that ' hate ' means hate by comparisoit. Our Lord 
 purposely stated great principles in their boldest and even most para- 
 doxical form by which He alone has succeeded in impressing them for 
 ever as principles on the hearts of His disciples. The ' love of love ' 
 involves a necessity for the possible 'hate of hate,' as even worldly 
 poets have understood. 
 
 "Va, je t'aimais trop pour ne pas te hair." 
 "I could not love thee, dear, so much 
 Loved I not honour more.^^ 
 
 Lovelace. 
 yea^ and his own life also] This further explains the meaning of the 
 word 'hate.' The psuche ' ?,ou\^ or 'animal life' is the seat of the 
 passions and temptations which naturally alienate the spirit from Christ. 
 These must be hated, mortified, crucified if they cannot be controlled ; 
 and life itself must be cheerfully sacrificed, Rev. xii. 1 1 ; Acts xx. 24. 
 
252 ST LUKE, XIV. [vv. 27— 32. 
 
 27 my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and 
 23 come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, 
 intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and 
 counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it ? 
 29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not 
 50 able to finish //, all that behold // begin to mock him, saying, 
 
 31 This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or 
 what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth 
 not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten 
 thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty 
 
 32 thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, 
 he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. 
 
 "II faut vivre dans ce monde," says St Francis de Sales, "comme si 
 nous avions I'esprit au ciel, et le corps au tombeau." 
 
 27. doth not bear his cross\ Not only must self be mortified, but 
 even the worst sufferings endured, i Thess. iii. 4, 5. The allusion to the 
 cross must still have been mysterious to the hearers (Matt. x. 38), the 
 more so since they were dreaming of Messianic triumphs and fes- 
 tivities. 
 
 28. intending to build a to7ver\ This and the next similitude are 
 meant, like the previous teachings, to warn the expectant multitudes 
 that to follow Christ in the true sense might be a far more serious 
 matter than they imagined. They are significant lessons on the duty of 
 deliberate choice which will not shrink from the ultimate consequences — 
 the duty of counting the cost (see Matt. xx. ■22). Tlius they involve that 
 lesson of "patient continuance in well-doing," which is so often in- 
 culcated in the New Testament. 
 
 29. all that behold it begin to mock hint] Very possibly this might 
 have actually happened in some well-known instance, since the Herodian 
 family had a passion for great buildings and probably found many 
 imitators. First failure, then shame awaits renegade professions and 
 extinguished enthusiasms. 
 
 31. what king, going to make war against another king] Rather, to 
 meet another king in battle. There may be an historical allusion 
 here to the disturbed relations between Herod Antipas and his injured 
 father-in-law Hareth, king of Arabia, which (after this time) ended in the 
 total defeat of the former (Jos. Antt. XVIII. 5, § 3). 
 
 32. desireth conditions of peace] This is suflficient to overthrow the 
 interpretation which sees Man and Satan in the warring kings. Another 
 view is that it implies the hostility of man to God, and the urgent 
 need of being reconciled to Him (e.g. Bengel says on the word 'king,' 
 "Christiana militia regale quiddam"). That however is never a cal- 
 culated hostility which deliberately sits down and expects to win the 
 victory; otherwise it would be a good inference that "a Christian's 
 weakness is his strength." It is a mistake, and one which often leads to 
 
w. 33— 35; I-] ST LUKE, XIV. XV. 253 
 
 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all 33 
 that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good: but 34 
 if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be sea- 
 soned ? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dung- 35 
 hill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let 
 him hear. 
 
 Ch. XV. Parables for Publicans and Sinners. The Love 
 and free Forgiveness of God, 
 
 I — 10. The Lost Sheep. 
 
 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners 15 
 
 serious errors, to press unduly the details of parables; as when for 
 instance some would see in the io,coo soldiers a reference to the Ten 
 Commandments. The general lesson is — Do not undertake what you 
 have neither the strength nor will to achieve, nor that in which you are 
 not prepared, if need be, to sacrifice life itself. 
 
 33. forsaketh not all that he hath'\ i. e. every affection, gift or posses- 
 sion that interferes with true discipleship. We must be ready ' to count 
 all things but loss for Christ,' Phil. iii. 7, 8. 
 
 34. Salt is good] The true reading is Salt therefore is good, con- 
 necting this verse with what has gone before. This similitude was 
 thrice used by Christ with different applications. "Ye are the salt of 
 the earth," Matt. v. 13. "Have salt in yourselves," Mk. ix. 50. Here 
 the salt is the inward energy of holiness and devotion, and in the fate 
 of salt which has lost its savour we see the peril which ensues from 
 neglect of the previous lessons. 
 
 35. men cast it out] There is nothing stronger than salt which can 
 restore to it its lost pungency. Hence, if it have been spoilt by rain or 
 exposure, it is only fit to be used for paths. The peril of backsliding, 
 the worthlessness of the state produced by apostasy, is represented in 
 St John (xv. 6) by the cutting off and burning of the dead and withered 
 branch. The main lesson of these three similitudes is expressed with 
 its full force in Heb. vi. 4 — 12, x. 26 — 39; and the importance of it is 
 emphasized by the proverbial expression, " He that hath ears to hear," 
 &c. (Matt. xi. 15; Deut. xxix. 4; Is. vi. 9, 10). 
 
 Ch. XV. Parables for Publicans and Sinners. The Love 
 AND free Forgiveness of God. 
 
 1 — 10. The Lost Sheep. 
 
 1. Then drew near unto him] Rather, And there were drawing 
 near to Him all tlie tax-gatherers and the sinners to listen to Him. 
 
 St Chrysostom says that their very life was legalised sin and specious 
 greed. On the publicans, see iii. i-z, v. 27. 'The sinners' mean in 
 general the degraded and outcast classes. See Introd. and Wordsworth, 
 ad loo. 
 
254 ST LUKE, XV. [w. 2—6. 
 
 2 for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, 
 saying, This 7nan receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. 
 
 \ And he spake this parable unto them, saying. What man of 
 you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth 
 not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after 
 
 5 that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath 
 
 6 found //, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when 
 he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neigh- 
 bours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found 
 
 2. the Pharisees aitd scribes'] See Excursus VI. 
 
 murmured] Rather, were loudly nmrmuring (xix. 7; Josh. ix. 18). 
 "With arid heart they blame the very Fount of Mercy," Gregory the 
 Great. ' In all ages it had been their sin that they 'sought not the lost.' 
 Ezek. xxxiv. 4. 
 
 and eateth with them] Even their touch was regarded as unclean by 
 the Pharisees. But our Lord, who read the heart, knew that the 
 religious professors were often the worse sinners before God, and He 
 associated with sinners that He might save them. **Ideo secutus est... 
 usque ad mensam, ubi maxime peccatur." Bengel. It is this yearning 
 of redemptive love which finds its richest illustration in these three 
 parables. They contain the very essence of the Glad Tidings, and two 
 of them are peculiar to St Luke. 
 
 3. he spake this parable] Matt, xviii. 12—14. In these three 
 parables we have pictures of the bewildered sinner (3 — 7) ; the uncon- 
 scious sinner (8 — 10); the voluntary sinner (11 — 32). 
 
 4. an hundred sheep] And yet out of this large flock the good 
 shepherd grieves for one which strays. There is an Arab saying that 
 God has divided pity into a hundred parts, and kept ninety-nine for 
 Himself. 
 
 in the wilderness] i.e. the Midbar, or pastures; see ii. 8. The 
 sheep are left of course under minor shepherds, not uncared for. Some 
 see in the Lost Sheep the whole human race, and in the ninety-nine 
 the Angels : as though mankind were but a hundredth part of God's 
 flock. 
 
 until he find it] Strange that utterances so gracious as this should 
 be utterly passed over, when so many darker details are rigidly pressed ! 
 
 5. he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing] Literally, ^'' his own 
 shoulders'' All anger against the folly of the wanderer is swallowed up 
 in love, and joy at its recovery. "He bare our sins in His own body," 
 I Pet. ii. 24. We have the same metaphor in the Psalm of the shepherd 
 king (Ps. cxix. 176; comp. Is. liii. 6; John x. 11), and in the letter of 
 the Apostle, to whom had been addressed the words, " Feed my sheep," 
 I Pet. ii. 25. This verse supplied a favourite subject for the simple 
 and joyous art of the catacombs. Tert. De Pudic. 7. See Lundy, 
 Mo7iuj?iental Christianity, pp. 150 sqq. 
 
 6. calleth together his friends and neighbours] See on xiv. 12. 
 
vv. 7—9.] ST LUKE, XV. 255 
 
 my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that Hkewise joy 7 
 shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more 
 than over ninety and nine just persons which need no 
 repentance. 
 
 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she 8 
 lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the 
 house, and seek diligently till she find it ? And when she 9 
 hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours 
 together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the 
 
 Rejoice with me] **For the joy set before Him, He endured the 
 cross," Heb. xii. 2; comp. Is. liii. 11. 
 
 7. I say unto you] I — who know (John i. 51). 
 in heaven] See vs. 10; Matt, xviii. 13. 
 
 just persons, which need no repentance] See v. 32. The ' Pharisees 
 and scribes' in an external sense were 'just persons,' for as a class their 
 Hves were regular, though we learn from Josephus and the Talmud that 
 many individuals among them were guilty of flagrant sins. But that 
 our Lord uses the description with a holy irony is clear from the parable 
 of the Pharisee and the publican (see xviii. 9). They trusted in them- 
 selves that they were righteous, and despised others. They did need 
 repentance (carebant), but did not want it (non egebant). It was a fixed 
 notion of the Jews that God had "«<?/ appointed repetitaitce to the just, 
 and to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against 
 thee^^ (Prayer of Manasses). 
 
 8. having ten pieces of silver] Ten drachmas. This parable is 
 peculiar to St Luke. The Greek drachma (about 10^.) corresponds 
 to the Latin denarius. Each represented a day's wages, and may be 
 roughly rendered shilling. Tob. v. 14; Thuc. ill. 17; Tac. Ann. i. 17. 
 These small silver coins were worn by women as a sort of ornamental 
 fringe round the forehead (the semedi). The loss might therefore seem 
 less trying than that of a sheep, but (i) in this case it is a tenth (not a 
 hundredth) part of what the woman possesses; and (2) the coin has on 
 it the image and superscription of a king (Gen. i. 27; Matt. xxii. 20). 
 "We are God's drachma" — "I feel more strongly every day that every- 
 thing is vanity ; I cannot leave my soul in this heap of mud. " Lacordaire 
 (Chocarne, p. 42, E. Tr.). 
 
 light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently] We should 
 notice the thorough and deliberate method of the search. Some see in 
 the woman a picture of the Church, and give a separate meaning to 
 each particular; but "if we should attribute to every single word a deeper 
 significance than appears, we should not seldom incur the danger of 
 bringing much into Scripture which is not at all contained in it." 
 Zimmermann. 
 
 till she jind it] If it be admissible to build theological conclusions 
 on the incidental expressions of parables, there should be, in these 
 words, a deep source of hope. 
 
256 ST LUKE, XV. [w. 10—13. 
 
 10 piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is 
 joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner 
 that repenteth. 
 
 II — 32. The Son lost and found. 
 
 " And he said, A certain man had two sons : and the 
 younger of them said to his father. Father, give me the 
 portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto 
 
 13 them his living. And not many days after the younger son 
 
 9. / have found the piece which I had lost] She does not say *my 
 piece.' If the woman be intended to represent the Church, the loss of 
 the * piece ' entrusted to her may be in part, at least, her own fault. 
 
 10. Joy in the presence of the angels of God] The same as the 'joy in 
 heaven ' of vs. 7 : the Te Deums of heaven over the victories of grace. 
 
 over one sinner that repetiteth] "I have no pleasure in the death- of 
 the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." Ezek. 
 xxxiii. II. 
 
 11—32. The Son lost and found. 
 
 11. had ttvo sons] The primary applications of this divine parable, — 
 which is peculiar to St Luke, and would alone have added inestimable 
 value to his Gospel — are (i) to the Pharisees and the 'sinners' — i.e. to 
 the professedly religious, and the openly irreligious classes ; and (2) to 
 the Jews and Gentiles. This latter application however only lies 
 indirectly in the parable, and it is doubtful whether it would have 
 occurred consciously to those who heard it. This is the Evangelhim 
 in Evangelio. How much it soars above the conceptions of Christians, 
 even after hundreds of years of Christianity, is shewn by the 'elder- 
 brotherly spirit' which has so often been manifested (e.g. by Tertullian 
 and all like him) in narrowing its interpretation. 
 
 12. the portion of goods that falleth to me] This would be one third 
 (Deut. xxi. 17). The granting of this portion corresponds to the natural 
 gifts and blessings which God bestows on all alike, together with the 
 light of conscience, and the rich elements of natural religion. Here 
 we have the history of a sinful soul. Its sin {12, 13) ; its misery 
 (14 — 16); its penitence (17 — 20); its forgiveness (20 — 24). 
 
 he divided unto them his living] See vi. 35. "The Lord is good to 
 all,"" Ps. cxlv. 9. "God is no respecter of persons," Acts x. 34. "Pie 
 maketh His sun to rise on the evil, and on the good, and sendeth 
 rain on the just and on the unjust," Matt. v. 45. 
 
 "God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers; 
 And flings the thing we have asked for in our face, 
 A gauntlet — with a gift in it." 
 
 E. B. Browning. 
 
 13. not many days after] This shadows forth the rapidity {i) of 
 national, and (2) of individual degeneracy. "In some children,' says 
 
w. 14, 15.] ST LUKE, XV. 257 
 
 gathered all together, and took his journey into a far coun- 
 try, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 
 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in 14 
 that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and 15 
 
 Sir Thomas Elyot in The Governour, "nature is more prone to vice 
 than to vertue, and in the tender wittes be sparkes of voluptuositie, 
 whiche norished by any occasion or objecte, encrease oftentymes into 
 so terrible a fire, that therwithall vertue and reason is consumed." The 
 first sign of going wrong is a yearning for spurious liberty. 
 
 took his journey into a far country\ The Gentiles soon became ' afar 
 off' from God (Acts ii. 39; Eph. ii. 17), "ahens from the commonweahh 
 of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, 
 and without God in the world."— So too the individual soul, in its 
 temptations and its guiltiness, ever tries in vain to escape from God (Ps. 
 cxxxix. 7 — 10) into the 'far country' of sin, which vnyolvQsforgetfulness 
 of Him. Jer. Ep. 146. Thus the younger son becomes "Lord of 
 himself, that heritage of woe." 
 
 with riotous living\ Literally, '* living ruinously " — asotos. The 
 adverb occurs here only, and is derived from a 'not,' and (raYw *I save.' 
 The substantive occurs in i Pet. iv. 4; Eph. v. 18. Aristotle defines 
 asotia as a mixture of intemperance and prodigality. For the historical 
 fact indicated, see Rom. i. 19 — 32. The individtcal {a.ct needs, alas! no 
 illustration. One phrase — two words — is enough. Our loving Saviour 
 does not dwell upon, or darken the details, of our sinfulness. 
 14. And when he had spent all] Historically, 
 
 "On that hard Roman world, disgust 
 And secret loathing fell; 
 Deep weariness and sated lust 
 Made human life a hell." 
 
 M. Arnold. 
 Individually, "The limits are narrow within which, by wasting his 
 capital, a man obtains a supply of pocket-money." G. Macdonald. 
 
 there arose a mighty fa??iine in that land] God has given him his 
 heart's desire and sent leanness withal into his bones. The worst famine 
 of all is "not a famine of bread or a thirst of water, but of hearing the - 
 words of the Lord" (Amos viii. 11); and in such a famine even "the 
 fair virgins and young men faint for thirst" (id. vs. 13), "They have 
 forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns; 
 broken cisterns, that can hold no water," Jer. ii. 13. 
 
 he began to be hi want] The whole heathen world at this time was 
 saying, "Who will shew us any good?" Weariness, despair, and sui- 
 cide were universal. Individually this is the retributive anguish of 
 those who have wasted the gifts of life. 
 
 "My days are in the yellow leaf. 
 
 The flowers and fruits of love are gone, 
 The worm, the anguish, and the grief 
 Are mine alone. 
 
 ST LUKE 
 
 17 
 
258 ST LUKE. XV. [w. i6, 17. 
 
 joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him 
 t6 into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled 
 
 his belly with the husks that the swine did eat : and no man 
 17 gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, 
 
 The fire that on my bosom preys 
 
 Is lone as some volcanic isle; 
 No torch is kindled at its blaze — 
 A funeral pile." 
 
 Byron. 
 16. joined hi??iself to a citizen of that country] Rather, one of the 
 Citizens. Even in its worst and most willing exile the soul cannot 
 cease to be by right a citizen of God's kingdom — a fellow-citizen with 
 the saints, Eph. ii. 19. Its true citizenship (TroXiTeuyua) is still in heaven 
 (Phil. iii. 20). By 'the citizen of the far country' is indicated either 
 men hopelessly corrupt and worldly; or perhaps the powers of evil. 
 We observe that in this far-off land, the Prodigal, with all his banquets 
 and his lavishness, has not gained a single friend. Sin never forms a 
 real bond of pity and sympathy. The cry of tempters and accomplices 
 ever is, "What is that to us? see ihoii to ///a/." 
 
 he sent hint] 'Freedom' from righteousness is slavery to sin. 
 to feed S7vine] The intensity of this climax could only be duly felt by 
 Jews, who had such a loathing and abhorrence for swine that they 
 would not even 7tame them, but spoke of a pig as dabhar acheer, 'the 
 other thing.' 
 
 16. he would fain] Literally, ^*he was loJiging.''* 
 
 filled his belly with] The plain expression — purposely adopted to 
 add the last touch to the youth's degradation — gave offence to some 
 copyists, who substituted for it the verb *to be fed.' The reading 
 adopted in our text is, however, certainly the true one, and perhaps 
 implies that from such food nothing could be hoped for but to allay the 
 pangs of famine. He only hopes to 'fill his belly,' not to sate his 
 hunger. Even the world's utmost gorgeousness and most unchecked 
 sensuality could not avail to raise the soul of men or of nations out 
 of utter misery. 
 
 the husks that the swine did eat] Literally, *Uhe carob-pods of which 
 the swine were eating''' The word rendered 'husks' means 'little horns,' 
 i. e. the long, coarse, sweetish, bean-shaped pods of the carob tree 
 {ceratonia siliqua, St John's bread tree), which were only used by the 
 poorest of the population. Some (incorrectly) give the same meaning 
 to the a/c/3i5es (' locusts') which formed the food of St John the Baptist. 
 
 and no man gave unto hitn] No one 'was giving,' or 'chose to give' 
 him either the husks or anything else. Satan has no desire for, and no 
 interest in, even the smallest alleviation of the anguish and degradation 
 of his victims. Even the vile earthly gifts, and base sensual pleasures, 
 are withheld or become impossible. " Who yi^/^Tt/x pleasure, pleasure 
 slays." 
 
 17. And when he came to hijjiself] His previous state was that of 
 
w. 18—21.] ST LUKE, XV. 259 
 
 How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough 
 and to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and 18 
 go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have 
 sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more 19 
 worthy to be called thy son : make me as one of thy hired 
 servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when ?o 
 he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had 
 compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 
 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against 21 
 
 his false self — a brief delusion and madness — 'the old man with his 
 affections and lusts.' Now he was once more beginning to be "in his 
 right mind." "The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness 
 is in their heart while they live," Eccl. ix. 3. 
 
 How inany hired servants of my father'iX The hired servants corre- 
 spond to any beings who stand in a lower or more distant relation to 
 God, yet for whom His love provides. 
 
 18. 1 7vill arise and go to my fathe7-\ The youth in the parable had 
 loved his father, and would not doubt about his father's love ; and in 
 the region which the parable shadows forth, the mercy of God to the 
 returning penitent has always been abundantly promised. Is. Iv. 7 ; Jer. 
 iii. I ■a ; Hos. xiv. r, 2, &c. ; and throughout the whole New Testament. 
 
 Father, I have sinned^ "Repentance is the younger brother of 
 innocence itself." Fuller, Holy War. 
 
 20. And he arose and came to his father'\ A mere flash of remorse 
 is not enough; a journey must be taken: the back must be at once and 
 finally turned on the far land ; and all the shame of abandoned duties 
 and forsaken friends be faced. "The course to the unific rectitude of a 
 manly life " always appears to the sinner to be, and sometimes really 
 is, "in the face of a scorching past and a dark future." 
 
 But when he was yet a great way off\ " Now in Christ Jesus ye who 
 sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Eph. 
 ii. 13. 
 
 had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck] On this full, frank, 
 absolute forgiveness, see Ps. ciii. 8 — 10, 12. On the tender Fatherly 
 love of God see Is. xlix. 15; Matt. vii. 11, &c. 
 
 and kissed him'\ Literally, '■^kissed him warmly or closely,'''' Gen. 
 xxxiii. 4. 
 
 21. And the son said unto him. Father, I have sinned^ Rather, I 
 sinned. Like a true penitent he grieves not for what he has lost, but 
 for what he has done. Here again the language of David furnishes the 
 truest and most touching comment, "I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, 
 and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgres- 
 sions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin," Ps. 
 xxxii. 5. "There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared," 
 Ps. cxxx. 4. The Prodigal's penitence is not mere remorse or sorrow 
 for punishment. 
 
 sinned against heaven^ This includes and surpasses all the other guilt, 
 
 17 — 2 
 
26o ST LUKE, XV. [w. 22—25. 
 
 heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be 
 
 22 called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring 
 forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on 
 
 23 his hand, and shoes on his feet : and bring hither the fatted 
 
 24 calf, and kill /// and let us eat, and be merry: for this my 
 son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. 
 
 25 And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in 
 
 which is the reason why David, though he had sinned so deeply against 
 man, says "against Thee, Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil 
 in Thy sight," Ps. li. 4. 
 
 22. But the father said to his servants^ It is as though he had 
 purposely cut short the humble self-reproaching words of shame which 
 would have entreated him to make his lost son like one of his hired 
 servants. "While they are yet speaking, I will hear," Is. Ixv. 24. 
 
 Bring fort h'\ The true reading is probably 'Bring forth quickly* 
 fc5, B, L, &c. 
 
 the best rode] The talar or stoU poderes^ xx. 46; John xix. 23 ; Is. Ixi. 
 10; Rev. iii. 18. Compare the remarkable scene of taking away the 
 filthy rags from the High Priest Joshua, and clothing him with change 
 of raiment, in Zech. iii. i — 10. It is literally ''Xho. first robe' and some 
 have explained it of the robe he used to wear at home— the former robe. 
 
 shoes on his feet] Another sign that he is to be regarded as a son, 
 and not as a mere sandalled or unsandalled slave (see on x. 4). Some 
 have given special and separate significance to the best robe, as corre- 
 sponding to the 'wedding garment,' the robe of Christ's righteousness 
 (Phil. iii. 9) ; and have identified the seal-ring with Baptism (Eph. 
 i. 13, 14); and the shoes with the preparation of the Gospel of peace 
 (Eph. vi. 15; Zech. x. 12); and in the next verse have seen in the 
 'fatted calf an allusion to the Sacrifice of Christ, or the Eucharist. 
 Such applications are pious and instructive afterthoughts, though the 
 latter is as old as Irenaeus; but it is doubtful whether the elaboration 
 of them does not weaken the impressive grandeur and unity of the 
 parable, as revealing the love of God even to His erring children. We 
 must not confuse Parable with Allegory. The one dominant meaning 
 of the parable is that God loved us even while we were dead in sins, 
 Eph. ii. I, 5. 
 
 kill it] Rather, sacrifice it (comp. Herod, i. 118 where there is a 
 sacrifice and supper for a son's safety). Hence perhaps one reason for 
 assigning to St Luke the Cherubic symbol of the calf (Introd. p. 13). 
 
 24. was dead, and is alive again] The metaphor of 'death' to ex- 
 press the condition of impenitent sin is universal in the Bible. "Thou 
 hast a name that thou livest and art dead," Rev. iii. i. "Awake thou 
 that sleepest, and arise from the dead," Eph. v. 14. "You hath He 
 quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins," Eph. ii. i. "Yield 
 yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead,^^ Rom. vi. 13. 
 was lost] This poor youth had been in the exact Roman sense J>er- 
 ditus — a 'lost,' an 'abandoned' character. 
 
w. 26—29.] ST LUKE, XV. 261 
 
 the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he 
 heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the ser- 26 
 vants, and asked what these things meant. And he said 27 
 unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed 
 the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and 
 sound. And hejaLg^^angry, and woul d not go in : therefore 28 
 came his fatheroutand" intreated hinr: And he answering 29 
 said to his father, Lo^_Jhese many years do I serve thee, 
 neither transgressed laFaity Liine lliy OOinniarrdmetttr'and 
 
 25. Now his elder son was in ihefield^ Many have felt a wish that 
 the parable had ended with the moving and exquisite scene called 
 up by the last words ; or have regarded the remaining verses as 
 practically a separate parable. Such a judgment — not to speak of its 
 presumption — shews a narrow spirit. We must not forget that the Jews, 
 however guilty, were God's children no less than the Gentiles, and 
 Pharisees no less than publicans from the moment that Pharisees had 
 learnt that they too had need of repentance. The elder son is still a son, 
 nor are his faults intrinsically more heinous, — though more perilous 
 because more likely to lead to self-deception — than those of the younger. 
 Self-righteousness is sin as well as unrighteousness, and may be even a 
 worse sin, Matt, xxi, 31, 32 ; but God has provided for both sins a full 
 Sacrifice and a free forgiveness. 
 
 musick and dancing\ Literally, ^' a symphony and chorus." 
 
 28. he was angry] The feelings of the Jews towards the Gentiles 
 (i Thess. ii. 14 — 16) when they were embracing the offers of the Gospel 
 — ("The Jews... were filled with envy and spake against those things 
 which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming," Acts xiii. 
 45) — and the feelings of the Pharisees towards our Lord, when He 
 ate with publicans and sinners, are the earliest historical illustrations 
 of this phase of the parable. It illustrates feelings which refer more 
 directly to such historical phenomena ; the earlier part is of more uni- 
 versal application. Yet envy and lovelessness are too marked charac- 
 teristics of modern religionism to render the warning needless. 
 
 ivoiild not go in] '■'' Foris stat Israel," sed ^^ Foris stat non excluditur." 
 Ambrose. 
 
 therefore came his father out and intreated him] "How often would 
 I have gathered thy children together... but ye would not," xiii. 34; see 
 Acts xvii. 5, 13, xxii. 21, xxviii. 27. The yearning chapters addressed 
 to the obstinacy of Israel by St Paul (Rom. x. xi.) furnish another 
 illustration of this picture. 
 
 29. do I serve thee] Rather, I am thy slave. He does not say * Father : ' 
 and evidently regards the yoke not as perfect freedom but as dis- 
 tasteful bondage. The slave is ever dissatisfied ; and this son worked in 
 the spirit of a 'hired-servant.' 
 
 neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment] This is the very 
 spirit of the Pharisee and the Rabbi, xviii. 11, 12. "All these things 
 
262 ST LUKE, XV. [vv. 30, 31. 
 
 yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry 
 
 30 with my friends : but as soon as this thy son was come, 
 which hath devoured thy Hving" with harlots, thou hast 
 
 31 killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him. Son, 
 
 32 thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was 
 meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy 
 
 have I kept from my youth up." Such self-satisfaction can only spring 
 from an ignorance of the breadth and spirituality of God's command- 
 ments. The respectable Jews, sunk in the complacency of formalism 
 and letter-worshipping orthodoxy, had lost all conception that they 
 were, at the best, but unprofitable servants. Like this elder son they 
 "went about to establish their own righteousness" (Rom. ix. 14); and 
 though they kept many formal commandments they 'transgressed' the 
 love of God (xi. 42). Observe that while the younger son confesses 
 with no excuse, the elder son boasts with no confession. This at 
 once proves his hollowness, for the confessions of the holiest are ever 
 the most bitter. The antitheses in the verse are striking, 'You never 
 gave me a kid, much less sacrificed a fatted calf; — not even for my 
 friends, much less for harlots."* 
 
 thoti never gavest me a kid~\ The reward of a life near his father's 
 presence, and in the safety of the old home, was nothing to him. He 
 is like the rescued Israelites still yearning for the flesh-pots of Egypt. 
 
 30. this thy son... which hath devoured thy living with harlots'] 
 Every syllable breathes rancour. He disowns all brotherhood; and 
 says 'came' not ^returned,' and tries to wake his father's anger by say- 
 ing 'thy living,' and malignantly represents the conduct of his erring 
 brother in the blackest light. 
 
 31. Sotz] Rather, CMld. 
 
 thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine] Literally, 
 '■'all mine are thine'' "Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the 
 adoption, and the glory, and the Shechinah, and the covenants, and the 
 giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises ; whose are 
 the fathers, and of whom after the flesh Christ came who is God over 
 all, blessed for ever," Rom. ix. 4, 5. Religionists of the Elder-brother 
 type cannot realize the truth that they are not impoverished by the 
 extension to others of God's riches (Matt. xx. 14). Let us hope that 
 after this appeal the elder son also went in. 
 
 32. // zvas meet that we should make merry, and be glad] "They 
 glorified God... saying. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted 
 repentance unto life," Acts xi. 18. It would be impossible to mark 
 more emphatically God's displeasure at the narrow, exclusive, denun- 
 ciatory spirit which would claim for ourselves only, or our party, or our 
 Church, a monopoly of heaven. The hard dogmatism and specu- 
 lative theories of a self-asserting Theology "vanish like oppressive 
 nightmares before this single parable in which Jesus reveals the 
 heavenly secrets of human redemption, not according to a mystical 
 or criminal theory of punishment, but anthropologically, psychologi- 
 
vv. 1—4.] ST LUKE, XVI. 263 
 
 brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is 
 found. 
 
 Ch. XVI. I — 13. The Unjust Steward. 
 
 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain 16 
 rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused 
 unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called 2 
 him, and said unto him. How is it that I hear this of thee? 
 give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no 
 longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, 3 
 What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the 
 stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am 4 
 
 cally, and theologically to every pure eye that looks into the perfect law 
 of liberty." Von Ammon, Leb. yesu, ill. 50. 
 
 this thy brother] For he is thy brother, and I thy Father, though 
 thou wouldest refuse this name to him, and didst not address that tide 
 to me. 
 
 Ch. XVI. 1—13. The Unjust Steward. 
 
 1. And he said also unto his disciples] In interpreting the two follow- 
 ing parables it is specially necessary to bear in mind the tertlum compara- 
 tionis, i.e. the one special point which our Lord had in view. To press 
 each detail into a separate dogmatic truth is a course which has led to 
 flagrant errors in theology and even in morals. 
 
 a certain rich man, which had a steward] The rich man and the 
 steward are both men of the world. It is only in one general aspect 
 that they correspond to God and to ourselves as His stewards (Tit. i. 7) 
 who are 'required to be faithful,' i Cor. iv. 1 — 5. No parable has 
 been more diversely and multitudinously explained than this. For 
 instance in the steward some have seen the Pharisees, or the publicans, 
 or Judas Iscariot, or Christ, or Satan, &c. To enter into and refute 
 these explanations would take up much space and would be quite fruit- 
 less. We cannot be wrong if we seize as the main lesson of the parable 
 the one which Christ Himself attached to it (8 — 12), namely, the use of 
 earthly gifts of wealth and opportunity for heavenly and not for earthly 
 aims. 
 
 was accttsed] In Classic Greek the word means 'was slandered.' 
 Here it has the more general sense, but perhaps involves the notion of 
 a secret accusation. 
 
 that he had wasted] i.e., had squandered upon himself. 
 
 2. give an account] Rather, render the account. 
 
 thou mayest be no longer steward] Rather, thou canst not be any 
 longer steward. 
 
 3. / cannot dig] Rather, to dig I am not strong enough. 
 to beg I am ashajned] Ecclus. xl. 28, "better die than beg." 
 
264 ST LUKE, XVI. [w. 5—8. 
 
 resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stew- 
 
 5 ardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he 
 called every one of his lord's debtors unto him^ and said 
 
 6 unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And 
 he said. An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto 
 him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 
 
 7 Then said he to another. And how much owest thou? And 
 he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto 
 
 8 him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord 
 commended the unjust steward, because he had done 
 
 4. / am resolved what to do'\ The original graphically represents 
 the sudden flash of discovery *I have it ! I know now what to do.' 
 
 into their houses] Literally, "into their own houses ^ I will confer on 
 them such a boon that they will not leave me houseless. This eating 
 the bread of dependence, which was all the steward hoped to gain after 
 his life of dishonesty, was after all a miserable prospect, Ecclus. xxix. 
 22 — 28. If different parts of the parable shadow forth different truths, 
 we may notice that the steward has not enriched himself; what he has 
 had he has spent. So at death, when we have to render the account of our 
 stewardship to God, we cannot take with us one grain of earthly riches. 
 
 5. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him] In the East 
 rents are paid in kind, and a responsible steward, if left quite uncontrolled, 
 has the amplest opportunity to defraud his lord, because the produce 
 necessarily varies from year to year. The unjust steward would naturally 
 receive from the tenants much more than he acknowledged in his accounts. 
 
 6. measures] The Hebrew bath and the Greek metretes; rather less 
 than, but roughly corresponding to, the Jirkin = g gallons. This remis- 
 sion would represent a large sum of money. 
 
 Take thy bill] Rather, Receive thy Mil. The steward hands the bill 
 back to the tenant to be altered. 
 
 write fifty] Since Hebrew numerals were letters^ and since Hebrew 
 letters differed very slightly from each other, a very slight forgery would 
 represent a large difference. 
 
 7. measures of wheat] Not the same word as before, but cors. The 
 cor is believed to be about an English 'quarter,' i.e. 8 bushels, but from 
 Jos. Antt. XV. 9, § 92, it seems to have been nearly 12 bushels. The 
 steward knows what he is about, and makes his remissions according to 
 the probabilities of the case and the temperament of the debtor. 
 
 8. the lord co77imcnded the unjust ste^vard, because he had done 
 wisely] The lord is of course only the landlord of the parable. The 
 word phroni7nds does not mean 'wisely' (a word which is u?;ed in a 
 higher sense), but prudently. The tricky cleverness, by which the 
 steward had endeavoured at once to escape detection, and to secure 
 friends who would help him in his need, was exactly what an Oriental 
 landlord would admire as clever, even though he saw through it. And 
 the last act of the steward had been so far honest that for the first time 
 
w. 9, lo.l ST LUKE, XVI. 265 
 
 wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation 
 wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, 9 
 Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteous- 
 ness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into ever- 
 lasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is 10 
 
 he charged to the debtors the correct amount, while he doubtless repre- 
 sented the diminution as due to his kindly influence with his lord. 
 The lesson to us is analogous skill and pnidence, but spiritually em- 
 ployed. This is the sole point which the parable is meant to illustrate. 
 The childish criticism of the Emperor JuHan that it taught cheating (!) 
 is refuted by the intention of parables to teach lessons of heavenly 
 wisdom by even the 'imperfections' of earth. There is then no greater 
 difficulty in the Parable of the Unjust Steward than in that of the 
 Unjust Judge, or the Importunate Friend. The fraud of this "steward 
 of injustice" is neither excused nor palliated; the lesson is drawn from 
 his worldly prudence in supplying himself with friends for the day of 
 need, — which we are to do by wise and holy use of earthly gifts. 
 
 in their generation miser than the children of light'] Rather, the 
 sons of this age are more prudent than the sons of the light to- 
 wards or as regards their own generation; i.e. they make better use 
 of their earthly opportunities for their own lifetime than the sons of the 
 light (John xii. 36; Eph. v. 8; 1 Thess. v. 5) do for their lifetime; or 
 even than the sons of light do of their heavenly opportunities for eter- 
 nity. The zeal and alacrity of the "devil's martyrs" may be imitated 
 even by God's servants. 
 
 9. Alake to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness] 
 The Greek may mean either Make the unrighteous mamfnon your 
 friend ; or make yourselves friends by your use of the unrighteous mam- 
 moft. There is no proof that Mammon is the Hebrew equivalent to 
 Plutus, the Greek god of wealth (Matt. vi. 24). Mammon simply means 
 wealth and is called 'unrighteous' by metonymy (i.e. the ethical cha- 
 racter of the use is represented as cleaving to the thing itself) because 
 the abuse of riches is more common than their right use (r Tim. vi. 10). 
 It is not therefore necessary to give to the word 'unrighteous' the 
 sense of 'false' or 'unreal,' though sometimes in the LXX. it has 
 almost that meaning. We turn mammon into a friend, and make 
 ourselves friends by its means, when we use riches not as our own to 
 squander, but as God's to employ in deeds of usefulness and mercy. 
 
 when ye fail] i.e. when ye die; but some good MSS. read "when it 
 (mammon) fails," which the true riches never do (xii. 33). 
 
 they may receive you] The ''they'' are either the poor who have been 
 made friends by the right use of wealth ; or the word is impersonal, as 
 in xii. ii.^o, xxiii. 31. The latter sense seems to be the best, for it is only 
 by a very secondary and subordinate analogy that those whom we aid 
 by a right use of riches can be said ('by their prayers on earth, or their 
 testimony in heaven') to 'receive' us. 
 
 into everlasting habitations] Rather, into the eternal tents, John 
 
266 ST LUKE, XVI. [w. ii— 15. 
 
 least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the 
 
 11 least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been 
 faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to 
 
 12 your trust the true riches ? And if ye have not been faithful 
 in that which is another man^s, who shall give you that 
 
 13 which is your own? No servant can serve two masters : for 
 either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he 
 will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot 
 serve God and mammon. 
 
 14 — 31. Dives and Lazarus, — a Parable to the Covetous, 
 preceded by Rebukes to the Pharisees. 
 
 14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all 
 
 15 these things: and they derided him. And he said unto 
 
 xiv. 1. "And give these the everlasting tabernacles which I had pre- 
 pared for them," 2 Esdr. ii. 11. (Comp. 1 Cor. v. i; Is. xxxiii. 20, 
 and see p. 384). The general duty inculcated is that of "laying up 
 treasure in heaven" (Matt. vi. 20; comp. 1 Tim. vi. 17 — 19). There 
 is no Ebionite reprobation of riches as riches here; only a warning 
 not to trust in them. (Mk. x. 24.) 
 
 10. faithful in that which is leasf] Comp. xix. 17. The most which we 
 can have in this world is 'least' compared to the smallest gift of heaven. 
 
 11. the true riches'] Literally, '■^ that which is true,^^ i.e. real and 
 not evanescent. Earthly riches are neither true, nor ours. 
 
 12. that which is another viands] The lesson of the verse is that 
 nothing which we possess on earth is our own; it is entrusted to us for 
 temporary use (i Chron. xxix. 14), which shall be rewarded by real and 
 eternal possessions (i Pet. i. 4). '* Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, 
 omnibus «j-«," Lucr. III. 985. 
 
 13. No servant can serve two masters'] God requires a whole heart 
 and an undivided service. " If I yet pleased men, I should not be the 
 servant of Christ," Gal. i. 10. " Whosoever... will be the friend of 
 the world is the enemy of God, " Jas. iv. 4. " Covetousness. . .is idolatry, ^^ 
 Col. iii. 5. 
 
 14—31. Dives and Lazarus,— a Parable to the Covetous, 
 
 PRECEDED BY ReBUKES TO THE PHARISEES. 
 
 14. who were covetous] Rather, lovers of money, 2 Tim. iii. 2. 
 The charge is amply borne out by tlie references in the Talmud to 
 the rapacity shewn by the Rabbis and Priests of the period. See Matt, 
 xxiii. 13. 
 
 they derided him] The word is one expressive of the strongest and 
 most open insolence, xxiii. 35. There is a weaker form of the word in 
 Gal. vi. 7. Here the jeering was doubtless aimed by these haughty 
 and respected plutocrats at the deep poverty of Jesus and His humble 
 followers. It marks however the phase of daring opposition which was 
 
vv. i6— 18.] ST LUKE, XVI. 267 
 
 them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but 
 God knoweth your hearts : for that which is highly esteemed 
 amongst men is abomination in the sight of God. The law 
 and the prophets were until John : since that time the king- 
 dom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. 
 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle 
 of the law to fail. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and 
 
 not kindled till the close of His ministry. They thought it most ridicu- 
 lous to suppose that riches hindered religion — for were not they rich 
 and religious ? 
 
 15. Ye are they which justify yourselves before men] vii. 39, xv. 29; 
 Matt, xxiii, 25, &c. 
 
 God knoweth your hearts'] Hence God is called "a heart-knower " 
 in Acts XV. 8; and "in thy sight shall no man living be justified," 
 Ps. cxliii. 2. There is perhaps a reference to 1 Sam. xvi. 7; i Chron. 
 xxviii. 9. 
 
 highly esteemed] Rather, lofty. 
 
 abomination] Their * derision ' might terribly rebound on themselves. 
 Ps. ii. 4. 
 
 16. 77ie law and the prophets were until yohii] This is one of our 
 Lord's clearest intimations that the aeon of the Law and the Prophets 
 was now merging into a new dispensation, since they were only "a 
 shadow of things to come," Col. ii. 17. 
 
 every man presseth into it] The word implies ' is making forcible 
 entrance into it,' Matt. xi. 12, 13. The allusion is to the eagerness 
 with which the message of the kingdom was accepted by the publicans 
 and the people generally, vii. 20 ; John xii. 19. The other rendering, 
 'every man useth violence against it,' does not agree so well with the 
 parallel passage in St Matthew. 
 
 17. than one tittle of the law] The word for 'tittle' is keraia, the 
 tip or horn of a letter, such as that which distinguishes 3 from D or 
 n from n. Thus the Jews said that the letter Yod prostrated itself 
 before God, because Solomon had taken it from the law (in the word 
 A^ashim) by marrying many wives and God made this same answer to 
 them. Similarly they said that when God took the Yod (the "jot" of 
 Matt. v. 18) from the name Saraz, He divided it between Sara^ and 
 Abra/^am, since Yod= 10, and H = 5. 
 
 to fail] Rather, to faU. See Matt. v. 18. The law did not fall to 
 the ground; its abrogation was only its absolute fulfilment in all its 
 eternal principles. The best comment on the verse is Matt. v. 27 — 48. 
 The bearing of these remarks on the previous ones seems to be that our 
 Lord charges the Pharisees with hypocrisy and men-pleasing, because 
 while they professed the most scrupulous reverence to the Law, they 
 lived in absolute violation of its spirit, which was alone valuable in 
 God's sight. 
 
 18. Whosoever putteth away his wife] At first sight this verse 
 (which also occurs with an important limitation in Matt. v. 32) appears 
 
268 ST LUKE, XVI. [vv. 19, 20. 
 
 marrieth another, committeth adultery : and whosoever mar- 
 rieth her that is put away from her husband committeth 
 adultery. 
 
 19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple 
 
 20 and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day : and there 
 
 so loosely connected with the former as to lead the Dutch theologian 
 Van der Palm to suppose that St Luke was merely utilising a spare 
 fragment on the page by inserting isolated words of Christ. But com- 
 pressed as the discourse is, we see that this verse illustrates, no less 
 than the others, the spirit of the Pharisees. They professed to reve- 
 rence the Law and the Prophets, yet divorce (so alien to the primitive 
 institution of marriage) was so shamefully lax among them that great 
 Rabbis in the Talmud practically abolished all the sacredness of marriage 
 in direct contradiction to Mai. ii. 15, 16. Even Hillel said a man 
 might divorce his wife if she over-salted his soup. They made the 
 whole discussion turn, not on eternal truths, but on a mere narrow 
 verbal disquisition about the meaning of two words ervath dabhar, 
 'some uncleanness' (lit. 'matter of nakedness'), in Deut. xxiv. r, 2. 
 Not only Hillel, but even the son of Sirach (Ecclus. xxv. 26) and Jose- 
 phus {AntL IV. 8, § 23), interpreted this to mean 'for any or every 
 cause.' (Matt. xix. 3 — 12; Mark x. 2 — 12.) Besides this shameful 
 laxity the Pharisees had never had the courage to denounce the adul- 
 terous marriage and disgraceful divorce of which Herod Antipas had 
 been guilty. 
 
 19. There was a certain rich man] He is left nameless, perhaps to 
 imply that his name was not "written in heaven " (x. 20). Legend gives 
 him the name Nitneusis. Dives is simply the Latin for *a rich man.' 
 Our Lord in the parable continues the subject of his discourse against 
 the Pharisees, by shewing that wealth and respectability are very differ- 
 ently estimated on earth and in the world beyond. The parable illus- 
 trates each step of the previous discourse: — Dives regards all he has 
 as his very own; uses it selfishly, which even Moses and the Pro- 
 phets might have taught him not to do ; and however lofty in his own 
 eyes is an abomination before God. 
 ' in purple and fine linen] The two words express extreme luxury. 
 Robes dyed in the blood of the murex purpurarius were very costly and 
 were only worn by the greatest men — 
 
 "Over his lucent arms 
 
 A military vest of purple flowed 
 
 Livelier than Melibaean or the grain 
 
 Of Sarra (Tyre) worn by kings and heroes old 
 
 In time of truce." 
 Byssus is the fine linen of Egypt (Gen. xli. 42; Esth. viii. 15; Prov. 
 xxxi. 22; Ezek. xxvii. 7; Rev. xviii. 12), a robe of which was worth 
 twice its own weight in gold. 
 
 and fared sumptuously every day] I>iterally, ^^ making merry (xii. 19^ 
 every day, splendidly. '' Luther, lehte herrlich und in Freuden. It 
 
vv. 21—23.] ST LUKE, XVI. 269 
 
 was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his 
 gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs 21 
 which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs 
 came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the 22 
 beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's 
 bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell 23 
 
 indicates a life of banquets. The description generally might well 
 apply to Ilerod Antipas, vii. 25; Mark vi. 14, 21. 
 
 20. na?ned Lazarus'] Lazarus is not from lo ezer, 'no help,' i.e. 
 'forsaken,' but from E It ezer, 'helped of God,' Gotthilf. It is con- 
 tracted from the commoner Eleazar. This is the only parable in which 
 a proper name occurs; and the only miracles of which the recipients are 
 named are Mary Magdalene, Jairus, Malchus, and Bartimaeus. Whether 
 in the name there be some allusive contrast to the young and perhaps 
 wealthy Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary, as Prof. Plumptre has 
 conjectured, is uncertain. From this parable come the words — laza- 
 retto, lazzarini, a lazar, &c. 
 
 at his gate] Not a mere puU but ^ pulon — a stately portal. 
 
 21. with the crumbs] The same word as in Matt. xv. 27. It is not 
 said that such fragments were refused him. 
 
 the dogs] The only dogs in the East are the wild and neglected Pariah 
 dogs, which run about masterless and are the common scavengers. 
 
 came and licked his sores] The incident is only added to give in one 
 touch the abjectness of his misery, and therefore to enhance the rich 
 man's neglect. The fault of Dives was callous selfishness. 
 
 22. into Abraham'' s bosovi] Comp. xiii, 28. This expression is used 
 as a picture for the banquet of Paradise (comp. Numb. xi. 12; John i. 
 18, xiii. 23, and Josephus, De Maccab, 13). 
 
 the rich man also died] "They spend their days in wealth, and in 
 a moment go down to the grave," Job xxi. 13. 
 
 and was buried] Nothing is said of the pauper-funeral of Lazarus. 
 In one touch our Lord shews how little splendid obsequies can avail 
 to alter the judgment of heaven. 
 
 "One second, and the angels alter that." 
 
 23. in hell] Rather, in Hades. Hades, which is represented as 
 containing both Paradise and Gehenna, and is merely the Greek equiva- 
 lent of the Hebrew Sheol, 'the grave,' is the intermediate condition of 
 the dead between death and the final judgment. The scene on earth is 
 contrasted with the reversed conditions of the other world. The entire 
 scenery and phraseology are Jewish, and are borrowed from those which 
 were current among the Rabbis of Christ's day. Beyond the awful truth 
 that death brings no necessary forgiveness, and therefore that the retribu- 
 tion must continue beyond the grave, we are not warranted in pressing the 
 details of the imagery which was used as part of the vivid picture. And 
 since the scene is in Hades, we cannot draw from it any safe infeiences 
 as to the final condition of the lost. The state of Dives may be, as 
 
270 ST LUKE, XVI. [w. 24—26. 
 
 he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham 
 
 24 afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, 
 Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that 
 he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my 
 
 25 tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham 
 said. Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy 
 good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : but now he is 
 
 26 comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, 
 between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they 
 
 Tertullian says, ^ praelibatio senienfiae, but it is not as yet the absolute 
 sentence. 
 
 24. / am tormented'] Rather, I am suflfering pain. The verb is 
 not basanizomai but odunomai, as in ii. 48, where it is rendered 'sorrow- 
 ing.' 
 
 in this flame\ Perhaps meant to indicate the agony of remorseful 
 memories. In Hades no 
 
 "Lethe the river of oblivion rolls: 
 Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks 
 Forthwith his former state and being forgets, 
 Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain." 
 
 As for the material flame and the burning tongue, "we may," says 
 Archbishop Trench, "safely say that the form in which the sense of 
 pain, with the desire after alleviation, embodies itself, is figurative." 
 Even the fierce and gloomy Tertullian says that how to understand what 
 is meant by these details "is scarcely perhaps discovered by those who 
 enquire with gentleness, but by contentious controversialists never." 
 
 25. Son] Rather, Child. Even in the punishment of Hades he is 
 addressed by a word of tenderness (xv. 31, xix. 9). 
 
 receivedst] Rather, receivedst to the full. 
 
 thy good things... evil things] The 'good things' of Dives were such 
 as he had accounted to be absolutely his own, and to be really good 
 (Matt. vi. ■2); the 'evil things' of Lazarus were not 'his,' but part of 
 God's merciful discipline to him, Rev. vii. 14. The parable gives no 
 ground for the interpretation that the temporal felicity of Dives was a 
 reward for any good things he had done, or the misery of Lazarus a 
 punishment for his temporal sins. 
 
 but now] Add 'here,' with the best MSS. 
 
 thou art tormented] 'Pained,' as before. The parable is practically 
 an expansion of the beatitudes and woes of vi. 22 — 25. 
 
 26. thei-e is a great gulf fixed] C/^^w^^ (7//^Azr<? is not a possible way 
 of producing change of soul. Dives while he still had the heart of 
 Dives would have been in agony even in Abraham's bosom. But 
 I Pet. iii. 19, 20 throws a gleam of hope athwart this gulf. It may 
 be (for we can pretend to no certainty) no longer impassable, since 
 Christ died and went to preach to spirits in prison. With this "great 
 
w. 27— 3T; I.] ST LUKE, XVI. XVII. 271 
 
 which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can 
 they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he 27 
 said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send 
 him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he 28 
 may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of 
 torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and 29 
 the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, 30 
 father Abraham : but if one went unto them from the dead, 
 they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not 31 
 Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, 
 though one rose from the dead. 
 
 Ch. XVII. I — 4. The Peril of causifig Men to Stumble. 
 
 Then said he unto the disciples. It is impossible but 17 
 that offences will come : but woe u7ito him, through whom 
 
 gulf" compare the interesting passage of Plato on the vain attempts 
 of great criminals to climb out of their prisons. Rep. X. 14. 
 
 27. that thou wouldest send him to my father' s housed It is difficult 
 not to see in this request the dawn of a less selfish spirit in the rich man's 
 heart. 
 
 28. / have five brethren^ If there be any special meaning in this 
 detail, the clue to it is now lost. Some have seen in it a reference to 
 the five sons of the High Priest Annas, all of whom succeeded to the 
 Priesthood, — Eleazar, Jonathan, Theophilus, Matthias, and the younger 
 Annas, besides his son-in-law Caiaphas. But this seems to be very 
 unlikely. An allusion to Antipas and his brethren is less improbable, 
 but our Lord would hardly have admitted into a parable an oblique 
 personal reflexion. 
 
 29. They have Moses and the prophets'] See John i. 45, v. 39, 46. 
 31. neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead] 
 
 •*We are saved by faithful hearing, not by apparitions," Bengel. 
 This was most remarkably exemplified in the results which followed the 
 raising of another Lazarus (John xii. 10) and the resurrection of our 
 Lord Himself (Matt, xxviii. 11 — 13). Observe that the reply of Abra- 
 ham ('be persuaded,' 'arose, 'from among' [e/c not airb] the dead) is 
 much stronger than the words used by Dives. "A far mightier miracle 
 ...would be ineff'ectual for producing a far slighter effect," Trench. 
 
 Ch. XVIL 1—4. The Peril of causing Men to Stumble. 
 
 1. // is impossible] i.e. in the present condition of the world it is 
 morally impossible. 
 
 offences] See on vii. 23. While the world remains what it is, some 
 will always set snares and stumblingblocks in the path of their 
 brethren, and some will always fall over them, and some will make them 
 for themselves (i Cor. xi. 19; i Pet. ii. S). 
 
272 ST LUKE, XVII. [vv. 2—5. 
 
 2 they come. It were better for him that a millstone were 
 hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that 
 
 3 he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to 
 yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; 
 
 4 and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against 
 thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn 
 again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 
 
 5 — 10. The Power of Faith. The Insufficiency of Works. 
 
 5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 
 
 woe unto him, through whom they come\ No moral necessity, no pre- 
 destined certainty, removes the responsibility for individual guilt. 
 
 2. It were better for him, &c.] The literal rendering of the verse is 
 " It is for his advantage if a millstone is hanging round his neck, and he 
 has been flung \xiX.o the sea, rather than that, &c." In other words, the 
 fate of a man who is lying drowned at the bottom of the sea is better 
 than if his continuance in life would have led to causing "one of these 
 little ones" to stumble. The general thought is like that of Queen 
 Blanche, who used to say of her son St Louis when he was a boy, that 
 she would racher see him dead at her feet than know that he had fallen 
 into a deadly sin. 
 
 a millstone\ The true reading here is lithos mulikos, not mulos 
 onikos, a millstone so large as to require an ass to work it. This is 
 introduced from Matt, xviii. 6. 
 
 one of these little ones] St Mark adds "that believe in me" (ix. 42). 
 The reference is not to children, or the young, though of course the 
 warning applies no less to their case; but primarily to publicans and 
 weak believers. Christ calls even the Apostles 'children, John xiii. 33 
 (cf I John ii. 12, 13). 
 
 3. TaJ^e heed to yourselves] The following lesson of forgiveness is 
 added because the hard repellent spirit of aggressive Pharisaism and 
 spiritual pride was of all others the most likely to cause offences. It 
 broke up the bruised reed, and stamped on the smoking flax. 
 
 If thy brother trespass against thee] Rather, If lie sin, omitting 
 '' against thee:' Comp. Matt, xviii. 15— 17» 21, 22. 
 
 rebuke him., forgive him] The former duty had been fully recognised 
 in the old dispensation (Lev. xix. 1 7 ; Prov. xvii. 10) ; the latter far more 
 distinctly and emphatically in the new (Matt, xviii. 15). The former is 
 only intended as a help to the latter, i Thess. v. 14. 
 
 4. seven times in a day] A purely general expression, which as little 
 involves the quantitative limitation of forgiveness upon repentance as the 
 "seventy times seven" of Matt, xviii. 22. Some of the Rabbis had 
 limited the duty of forgiveness to a thrice- repeated offence; but 
 
 "Who with repentance is not satisfied, 
 Is not of heaven or earth." 
 
vv. 6-8.] ST LUKE, XVII. 273 
 
 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard 6 
 seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked 
 up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it 
 should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plow- 7 
 ing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he 
 is come from the field. Go and sit down to meat ? and will 8 
 
 5 — 10. The Power of Faith. The Insufficiency of Works. 
 
 5. the apostles said tinto the Lord'\ The high title given, and the 
 spontaneous united request, shew how deeply they had felt the previous 
 lessons. 
 
 Increase our faith] Literally '^ Add to us faith," without which we 
 can never fulfil these great moral requirements. 
 
 6. as a grain of mustard seed} ** which is the least of all seeds," Matt. 
 xiii. 32. 
 
 unto this sycamine tree] The 'this' is interesting because it shews 
 that our Lord was teaching in the open air, and pointed to the tree as 
 He spoke. The sycamine (Hebr. shikjnah, i Chr. xxvii. 28) seems to be 
 a generic name for various kinds of mulberries (e.g. the Mortis alba and 
 nigra), which were freely cultivated in the East. The black mulberry is 
 still called sycamenea in Greece (see xix. 4). In Matt. xvii. 20 we have 
 a similar passage with the variation of "this mountain," which our Lord 
 doubtless spoke pointing to Mount Hermon. The Jews gave to a 
 great Rabbi the title of 'uprooter of mountains,' in the sense of 
 'remover of difficulties;' and our Lord here most appropriately ex- 
 presses the truth that Faith can remove all difficulties and obstacles, Mk. 
 IX. 23, xi. 23. Perhaps the warning never to be spiritually elated springs 
 from the magnificence of this promise. 
 
 Be thou plucked up by the root] Literally, ^^ Be instantly uprooted ;^^ 
 and yet it is a tree with very deep roots. See p. 384. 
 
 7. having a servant plowing] The Parable of the Ploughing Slave is 
 simply an illustration from daily life. The slave is working in the fields, 
 at ploughing or pasturing, and when he comes back the master orders 
 him to prepare his dinner, nor does he give him any special daily thanks 
 for his ordinary daily duties, even if they be duly performed. So even the 
 best of us do not do more than our commonest and barest duty, even if 
 we attain to that. Perhaps the "which of you,'" as addressed to the 
 poor Apostles, may be surprising ; but the sons of Zebedee at least had 
 once had hired servants, Mk. i. 20. 
 
 feeding cattle] Rather, tending sheep. So that here we have two great 
 branches of pastoral work. 
 
 will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field. Go 
 and sit down to meat] 'By and by' is an old English phrase for 'im- 
 mediately,' and the verse should be punctuated 'will say to him, when 
 he enters from the field. Come forward immediately, and recline at table.' 
 There is none of the harshness which some have imagined. The master 
 merely says, Get me my dinner, and then take your own. 
 
 ST LUKE 18 
 
274 ST LUKE, XVII. [w. 9— ii. 
 
 not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, 
 and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunk- 
 
 9 en; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank 
 that servant because he did the things that were commanded 
 
 10 him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done 
 all those things which are commanded you, say, We are un- 
 profitable servants: we have done that which was our duty 
 to do. 
 
 II — 19. The Cleansed Ten; the Thankless Nine. 
 
 11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he 
 
 9. Doth he thank that servant... T\ i.e. does he feel or express any 
 special gratitude to him (^x^* X'^P"')- As a matter of fact, men are not 
 in the habit of acknowledging the daily services of their dependents. 
 Our Lord draws from this common circumstance of life a rebuke of 
 the spirit which would spin out to eternity a selfish desire for personal 
 rewards (Matt. xix. 27, xx. 21). 
 
 / trow not] The words are probably genuine, though omitted in 
 N, B, L, &c. There is a touch of irony in them, and doubtless they ex- 
 press a passing shade of disapproval at the thanklessness and discourtesy 
 with which dependents are too often treated. The other side of the 
 picture— God's approval of our efforts — is given in xii. 37; Rev. iii. 20. 
 
 10. when ye shall have done all\ and this can never be, Ps. cxliii. 2. 
 Even if it could **non est beneficium sed oficium facere quod debetis," 
 Sen. Controv. 
 
 We are unprofitable servants] The same word for unprofitable occurs 
 in Matt. xxv. 30; Rom. iii. 12. This verse, like many others (Is. Ixiv. 
 6; Rom. iii. 27), cuts at the root of the whole Romish notion as to the 
 possibility of 'works of supererogation,' see Article xiv. **Servi 
 inutiles sunt, insufficientes quia nemo tantum timet, tantum diligit 
 Deum, tantum credit Deo quantum oportuit," Augsb. Conf. " "We sleep 
 half our lives ; we give God a tenth of our time ; and yet we think that 
 with our good works we can merit Heaven. What have I been doing 
 to day? I have talked for two hours. I have Ijeen at meals three 
 hours. I have been idle four hours. Ah ! enter not into judgment 
 with thy servant, O Lord ! " Luther. Yet in a lower sense — though 
 * insufficient,' though 'unmeritorious' — it is possible for us to be 'good 
 and faithful servants,' Matt. xxv. 21, 23. 
 
 11—19. The Cleansed Ten ; the Thankless Nine. 
 
 11. as he went to Jerusalem] Rather, as they were on their way. 
 The most natural place chronologically, for this incident would have 
 been after ix. 56. St Luke places it here to contrast man's thankless- 
 ness to God with the sort of claim to thanks _/y^/« God which is asserted 
 by spiritual pride. 
 
vv. 12-17] ST LUKE, XVII. 275 
 
 passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as 12 
 he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men 
 that were lepers, which stood afar off; and they lifted up 13 
 their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 
 And when he saw thetn^ he said unto them. Go shew your- 14 
 selves unto the priests. And it came to pass that, as they 
 went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw 15 
 that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glo- 
 rified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him 16 
 thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering 17 
 said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 
 
 he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee^ The most 
 natural meaning of these words is that our Lord, when rejected at the 
 frontier village of En Gannim (see on ix. 52, 56), altered His route, and 
 determined to pass towards Jerusalem through Peraea. In order to 
 reach Peraea He would have to pass down the Wady of Bethshean, 
 — which lies between the borders of Galilee and Samaria, — and there to 
 cross the bridge over Jordan. 
 
 12. ten men that were lepers'] So in 1 K. vii. 3 we find four lepers 
 together. The one Samaritan would not have been allowed to asso- 
 ciate with the nine Jews had not leprosy obliterated religious distinc- 
 tions, as it still sadly does in the leper-houses (Biut el Masakin, 
 * Abodes of the Unfortunate ') at Jerusalem, where alone Jews and 
 Mahometans will live together. 
 
 which stood afar off] as the Law required, Lev. xiii. 45, 46. See on 
 v. 12. Usually they stood at the roadside, as they still do, clamorously 
 demanding alms, but they had heard the fame of Jesus, and asked from 
 Him a vaster benefit. 
 
 14. when he saw them] Jesus always listened instantly to the 
 appeal of the leper, whose disease was the type of that worse moral 
 leprosy which He specially came to cleanse. See on v. 13. 
 
 he said] Apparently he called out this answer to them while they 
 were still at the required legal distance of 100 paces. 
 unto the priests] See on v. 14. 
 
 15. one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back] The 
 healing took place when they had shewn, by starting on their way to 
 fulfil the command of Jesus, that they had faith. The Samaritan was 
 on his way to his own priests at Gerizim. 
 
 with a loud voice] Some see in this an implied contrast to the harsh, 
 husky voice of his leprous condition ; but this is unlikely. 
 
 16. he was a Samaritan] See on x. 33. 
 
 17. Were there not ten cleansed ? but where are the nine ?] Literally, 
 *' Were not the ten cleansed? but tfie nine — where ?^' What worse 
 leprosy of superstition, ignorance, eager selfishness, or more glaring 
 ingratitude had kept back the others ? We do not know. 
 
 18—2 
 
276 ST LUKE, XVII. [vv. 18—22. 
 
 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, 
 
 19 save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy 
 way: thy faith hath made thee whole. 
 
 20 — 37. The ' When ?' and ' Where V of the Kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the 
 kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, 
 
 21 The kingdom of God cometh not with observation :jjieither 
 shall they say, Lo here : or, lo there : for behold, the king- 
 
 22 dom of God is within youTJ And he said unto the disciples, 
 
 18. There are not found'\ Ingratitude is one of the most universal 
 and deeply seated of human vices, and our Lord was perfectly familiar 
 with it. But in this instance He was moved by the depth of this 
 thanklessness in so many recipients of so blessed a favour. Hence His 
 sorrowful amazement. He felt as if all His benefits "were falling into 
 a deep silent grave." 
 
 *' Blow, blow, thou winter wind ; 
 Thou art not so unkind 
 As man's ingratitude." 
 save this stranger'\ Rather, alien, 2 K. xvii. ■24. See on x. 33. 
 Josephus says that the Samaritans eagerly called themselves akXoedue?s 
 when they wanted to disclaim a consanguinity which might be perilous 
 {Antt. IX. 14, § 3, XI. 8, § 6): but it is almost impossible to suppose that 
 Samaria was swept clean of ever^ inhabitant, and the ethnographical 
 and other affinities of the Samaritans to the Jews seem to shew some 
 mixture of blood, which they themselves claimed at other times (Jos. 
 AnU. XI. 8, § 6; John iv. 12). 
 
 19. hath made thee whole'\ Rather, hatli saved thee. 
 
 20 — 37. The *When?' and 'Where?' of the Kingdom of 
 
 God. 
 
 20. And when he was dernanded of the Pharisees'] Literally, ** But 
 being further questioned by the Pharisees.''^ 
 
 should come] Literally, **w coming^ They seem to have asked 
 with impatient irony, ' When is all this preparation and preaching to 
 end, and the New Kingdom to begin ? ' 
 
 with observation] i. e. by narrow, curious watching. See xiv. i. He 
 implies that their entire point of view is mistaken ; they were peering 
 about for great External signs, and overlooking the slow and spiritual 
 processes which were at work before their eyes. 
 
 21. for behold, thet^jtgdom of God is within you] intra vos est, Vulg. 
 As far as the Greek is cbncemed, this rendering of ^«^<?j is defensible (comp. 
 Mntt. xxiii. 26), and the spiritual truth expressed by such a rendering — 
 which implies that "the Kingdom of God is... righteousness and peace, 
 
w. 23-28.] ST LUKE, XVII. 277 
 
 The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the 
 days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it And they 23 
 shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after f/iem, 
 nor follow ^/lem. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out 24 
 of the one parf under heaven, shineth unto the other par^ 
 under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. 
 But first must he suffer many t/imgs, and be rejected of this 25 
 generation. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it 26 
 be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they 27 
 drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, 
 until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood 
 came, and destroyed t/ie/n all. Likewise also as it was in 28 
 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost "(Rom. xiv. 17) — is most important. SeeDeut. 
 XXX, 14. So that Meyer is hardly justified in saying that the conception 
 of the Kingdom of God as an ethical condition of the soul is modem 
 not historico-biblical. But entos Aumon may also undoubtedly mean 
 among you (marg.), 'in the midst of your ranks,' as in Xen. Anab. I. 
 lO) § 3> 3,nd this rendering is more in accordance (i) with the context — as 
 to the sudden coming of the Son of Man ; and (ii) with the fact, — for it 
 certainly could not be said that the Kingdom of God was in the hearts 
 of the Pharisees. The meaning then is the same as in John i. 26 ; 
 Matt. xii. 28. But in either case our Lord implied that His Kingdom 
 had already come Avhile they were straining their eyes forward in 
 curious observation, vii. 16, xi. 20. 
 
 22. The days %vill come, when ye shall desire, &c.] Compare Matt, 
 ix. 15, "The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from 
 them, and then shall they fast, in those days." See, too, John xii. 35, 
 xiii. 33, xvii. 12. They were \oc^vi\g foiTvards with no realization of 
 that rich present blessedness for which they would one day yearn. 
 Rev. vi. 10. 
 
 23. See here ; or, see there'\ A vivid description of the perpetual 
 Messianic excitements, which finally ceased in the days of Barcochba 
 and the Rabbi Akibha. We find a similar warning in xxi. 8. See 
 Jos. Antt. XX. 8; B. J. 11. 13, vi. 5; TdiC. Hist. v. 13. With the 
 whole passage compare Matt. xxiv. 23 — 41. 
 
 24. as the lightning, that lighteneth^ bright, swift, sudden, uni- 
 versal, irresistible. 
 
 25. But first must he suffer many things'] It was essential to our 
 Lord's training of the Twelve at this period of His ministry, that He 
 should again and again— as in solemn refrain to all His teaching — warn 
 them of this coming end. See xviii. 31. 
 
 26. as it was in the days of Noe'] as described in Gen. vii. ii — 23. 
 The Second Advent should flame upon a sensual and imexpectant 
 world. 
 
 27. They did eat, they drank] Rather, They were eating, they 
 were drinking — retaining the imperfects of the original. 
 
278 ST LUKE, XVII. [vv. 29—36. 
 
 the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they 
 
 29 sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot 
 went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, 
 
 30 and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day 
 
 31 when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which 
 shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let 
 him not come down to take it away : and he that is in the 
 
 32 field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's 
 
 33 wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; 
 
 34 and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell 
 you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the 
 
 35 one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women 
 shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the 
 
 36 other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be 
 
 28. in the days of Lot] See Gen. xix. 15 — 25; Jude 7; Ezek. xvi. 
 46 — 56; Am. iv. 11; Is. xiii. 19. 
 
 30. Even thus shall it be] St Paul, no less than St Luke, had 
 caught the echo of these solemn warnings. 1 Thess. i. 6 — 10. 
 
 31. upon the housetop] the comn:ion Oriental place for cool and 
 quiet resort. See on xii. 3, v. 19. 
 
 his stuff] i. e. his furniture or goods : 
 
 "Therefore away to get our stuff aboard." 
 
 Shaksp. Com. of Errors. 
 let him not come dozun to take it away] let him escape at once by the 
 outer steps, Matt. xxiv. 16 — 18. It is clear that in these warnings, as 
 in Matt, xxiv,, our Lord has distinctly in view the Destruction of Jeru- 
 salem, and the awful troubles and judgments which it brought, as being 
 the first fulfilment of the Prophecy of His Advent. 
 
 32. Remember Lot's wife] Gen. xix. 26; Wisd. x. 7, "and a stand- 
 ing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving soul." The warning 
 is the same as in ix. 62. Turn no regretful gaze on a guilty and for- 
 saken world. 
 
 33. Whosoever shall seek to save his life] See the same utterance, 
 with slight verbal alterations, in ix. 24; John xii. 25. St Paul's high 
 confidence as to the issue of his own apparently ruined and defeated 
 life, furnishes us with a beautiful comment, 2 Tim. iv. 6 — 8. For ' to 
 save' {sosai) some MSS. read to ' make his own,' * to purchase ' {peri- 
 poiesasthai). 
 
 34. two men in one bed] Not necessarily men ; but human beings, 
 e.g. man and wife. The numerals are of course masculine, because the 
 man might be either the one ' taken ' or the one * left.' 
 
 36. grinding together] as to this day in the use of the common hand- 
 mills of the East. 
 
 36. Two men shall be in the field] This verse is of more than 
 
w. 37; 1,2.] ST LUKE, XVII. XVIII. 279 
 
 taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto 37 
 him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever 
 the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. 
 
 Ch. XVIII. 1—8. The Duty of Urgent Prayer. The 
 
 Unjust yudge. 
 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men 18 
 ought always to pray, and not to faint ; saying, There was in 2 
 
 doubtful authenticity in this place, being omitted by nearly all the im- 
 portant MSS. It is probably interpolated from Matt. xxiv. 40. 
 
 37. Where, Lordfl This question also our Lord declines to an- 
 swer. The Coming of God's Kingdom is not to be limited either by 
 chronological or by geographical conditions. 
 
 Wheresoever the body is\ Rather, the carcass, although here the 
 specific word for carcass {ptonia) is not used as in Matt. xxiv. 28. 
 
 thither will the eagles be gathered together^ Rather, the vultures. 
 The same generic word is indeed used for both genera of birds, but the 
 eagle does not feed on carcasses. Some commentators both ancient 
 and modern have interpreted ' the body ' to mean Christ, and ' the 
 eagles ' His gathering Saints. Scriptural usage seems to make such an 
 interpretation impossible, especially as there is probably a direct allu- 
 sion to Job xxxix. 30, **Her young ones also suck up blood: and 
 where the slain are, there is she^ See too Hab. i. 8; Hos. viii. i ; Rev. 
 xix. 17 — 21. Sometimes a reference is supposed to the eagle-standards 
 of Rome. (Comp. Deut. xxviii. 49 — 52 ; John xi. 48.) This is very possi- 
 ble especially as the Jews were very familiar with the Roman eagle, and 
 so strongly detested it that the mere erection of the symbol in Jeru- 
 salem was sufficient to lash them into insurrection (Jos. Antt. XVII. 6, § 3). 
 But the proverb has a far wider significance, and is illustrated by the 
 rush of avenging forces whenever the life of a nation has fallen into 
 dissolution and decay. See the vision of the eagle in 1 Esdras xi. 45, 
 "And therefore appear no more, O eagle, nor thy horrible wings, nor 
 thy wicked feathers, nor thy malicious heads, nor thy hurtful claws, 
 nor all thy vain body." 
 
 Ch. XVIII. 1 — 8. The Duty of Urgent Prayer. The Unjust 
 Judge. 
 
 1. that men ought always to pray'] Rather, that they ought always 
 to pray, since the true reading adds airovs. It is only here and in 
 vs. 9 that the explanation or pioiut of a parable is given before the 
 parable itself. Both parables are peculiar to St Luke. The duty 
 inculcated is rather urgent prayer (as in xi. 5 — 13) than that spirit of 
 unflagging prayer which is elsewhere enforced, xxi. 36 ; i Thess. v. 17 ; 
 Eph. vi. 18. " Prayer is the sotd^s sincere desire 
 
 Uttered, or unexpressed.'*'' 
 
 and not to faint] The word used is a late word meaning to give in 
 through cowardice, or give up from faint-heartedness. It is a Pauline 
 word, 2 Cor. iv. i, 16 ; Gal. vi. 9. 
 
28o ST LUKE, XVIII. [vv. 3—6. 
 
 a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 
 
 3 and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, 
 
 4 saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not 
 for a while : but afterward he said within himself, Though 
 
 5 I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow 
 troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual 
 
 6 coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the 
 
 2. a judge\ Rather, a certain judge. The little story is not 
 improbably taken from life, and doubtless the inferior judges under 
 such a sovereignty as that of the Herods might afford many instances 
 of carelessness and venality. 
 
 which feared not God, neither regarded man] The description of a 
 character perfectly abandoned. He is living in violation of both of the 
 two great commandments ; in contradiction to the spirit of both Tables 
 of the Decalogue. His conduct is the reverse of the noble advice of 
 Jehoshaphat to his judges, 2 Chr. xix. 6, 7 ; (2 Cor. viii. 21). 
 
 a widow] See Ex. xxii. 22; Deut. x. 18; Is. i. 17, 23; Mai. iii. 5; 
 2 Sam. xiv. 2, 5. The necessity for special justice and kindness to 
 them rose from the fact that in the East they w^ere of all classes the 
 most defenceless and oppressed. Hence the prominent place vv^hich 
 they occupy in the arrangements of the early Church (Acts vi. i, ix. 41; 
 I Tim. V. 3, &c. ). 
 
 3. she came unto him] Rather, she kept coming to him. The 
 widovi^ woman is a representative alike of the Christian Church and of 
 the Christian soul. 
 
 Avenge me of mine adversary] Rather, Do me justice. The word 
 ''avenge'' is a little too strong. The technical term ekdikeson implies 
 'settle my case (so as to free me) from my adversary.' The same word 
 is found in Rom. xii. 19; Rev. vi. 10. There is again a curious parallel 
 in Ecclus. xxxv, 14 — 17, " He will not despise ... the widow when she 
 poureth out her complaint. Do not the tears run down the widow's 
 cheeks? and is not her cry against him that causeth them to fall ?...The 
 prayer of the humble pierceth the clouds, and... he will not depart till 
 the Most High shall behold to judge righteously and execute judgment.^^ 
 
 4. he said within himself] The shamelessness with which he 
 acknowledges his own sin renders it still more aggravated. 
 
 Though I fear not God, nor regard man] 'The creed of a powerful 
 atheist.' Bengel. 
 
 5. troubleth me] Rather, gives me trouhle. 
 
 lest by her cojitimial coming] Literally, " comijtg to the end, " ' * coming 
 for ever'''' — another colloquialism. 
 
 she weary vie] The original has the curious word hjipopiaze; 
 literally, '■'■should blacken me tinder the eyes^ Some have supposed 
 that he is afraid lest the widow should be driven by desperation to 
 make an assault on him {ne sugillet me, Vulg. ; ne obtundat me, Beza); 
 but undoubtedly the word is a colloquialism (Ar. Pax, 519) retained 
 in Hellenistic Greek, and found also in St Paul in i Cor. ix. 27, where 
 
 )^ 
 
w. 7— 9-1 ST LUKE, XVIII. 281 
 
 unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own 7 
 elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear 
 long with them ? I tell you that he will avenge them 8 
 speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall 
 he find faith on the earth ? 
 
 9 — 14. The Duty of Hujnble Prayer. The Pharisee and the 
 Tax-gatherer. 
 
 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in 9 
 
 it is rendered, **I keep tinder my body." It is like the English collo- 
 quialism "to//a^«^ a person." Comp. Matt. xv. 23. 
 
 6. the tmj'ust Judge] lu\iex2\\y,'Uhejudgeofi7tjustice.''^ Cp. xvi. 8. 
 
 7. And shall not God] The argument is simply a fortiori. Even 
 an unjust and abandoned judge grants a just petition at last out of base 
 motives when it is often urged, to a defenceless person for whom he 
 cares nothing; how much more shall a just and merciful God hear the 
 cry and avenge the Cause of those whom He loves ? 
 
 avenge his own elect, zuhich cry day and night unto him] The best 
 comment is furnished by Rev. vi. 9 — 11. But the 'avenging' is rather 
 the 'vindication,' i.e. the deliverance from the oppressor. 
 
 which cry] Literally, shout. It is "strong ciying," comp. Jas. v. 4, 
 'the shouts of the reapers of your fields.' 
 
 though he bear long with them] Literally, '■'■ though being longsuffering 
 in their case.'''' Here the longsuflfering of God is shewn not to His elect 
 (though they too need and receive it, 1 Pet. iii, 9), but to their enemies. 
 See Ecclus. xxxv. 17, 18 — another close parallel, probably an inter- 
 polated plagiarism from this Gospel. The elect are far more eager 
 not only for deliverance, but even for vengeance, than God is. They 
 shew too much of the spirit which God reproves in Jonah. But God 
 knows man's weakness and "therefore is He patient with them and 
 poureth His mercy upon them." Ecclus. xviii. 11. But the best sup- 
 ported reading is Kal fxaKpodvixei ev^ avrovs. This would denote that 
 the longsuffering is shewn toward the elect. He is pitiful to them, in 
 the midst of their impatience. 
 
 8. he will avenge them] Is. Ixiii. 4; Ps. ix. 12, "Wlien He 
 maketh inquisition for blood. He remembereth them. He forge tteth 
 not the cry of the humble." "Yet a little while," Heb. x. 37 ; 2 Pet. 
 iii. 8, 9. The best comment on the Parable and our Lord's explanation 
 of it may be found in His own Discourses, John xiv., xv. 
 
 speedily] in reality (2 Pet. iii. 8) though not in semblance. 
 
 shall he find faith on the earth ?] Rather, shall He find this faith 
 on the earth ? So St Peter tells of scoffers in the last days who shall 
 say "Where is the promise of His coming?" 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4; and before 
 that day "the love of many shall wax cold," Matt. xxiv. 12; 2 Thess. 
 ii. 3. Even the faith of God's elect will in the last days be sorely tried 
 (Matt. xxiv. 22). 
 
282 ST LUKE, XVIII. [vv. lo, ii. 
 
 themselves that they were righteous, and despised other : 
 
 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray ; the one a Pha- 
 
 11 risee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and 
 prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not 
 
 9 — 14. The Duty of Humble Prayer. The Pharisee and the 
 Tax-gatherer. 
 
 9. which trusted in themselves that they were righteous'\ See xvi. 15 ; 
 Phil. iii. 4; 2 Cor. i. 9. The Jewish words '■Jashar,^ 'the upright 
 man,' and ^ Tsaddik,'' 'just,' expressed their highest moral ideal ; but 
 they made their uprightness and justice consist so much in attention to 
 the ceremonial minutiae of the Levitic Law, and rigid externalism 
 so engrossed their thoughts, that they had lost sight of those loftier and 
 truer ideals of charity which the Prophets had continually set before 
 them-. This fetish- worship of the letter, this scrupulosity about trifles, 
 tended only to self-confidence and pride. It had long been denounced 
 in Scripture. "There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, 
 and yet is not washed from their filthiness," Pro v. xxx. 12 ; "which say, 
 Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These 
 are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day," Is. Ixv. 5. 
 This is the sort of ' faith ' which the Son of Man shall find on the earth, 
 — men's faith in themselves ! 
 
 and despised other'] Rather, the rest. The word ' despise ' means 
 'treat as nothing,' 'regard as mere cyphers,' Rom. xiv. 3, 10. The 
 Rabbis invented the most highflown designations for each other, such 
 as ' Light of Israel,' ' Uprooter of Mountains,' ' The Glory of the Law,' 
 'The Holy,' &c. ; but they described the vast mass of their fellow- 
 countrymen as " accursed " for not knowing the law (John vii. 49), 
 and spoke of them as ^ empty cisterns,^ '■people of the earth,'' &c. See 
 on V. 32, vii. 34, &c. This Pharisee regards with perfect self-com- 
 placency the assumed ruin and degradation of all the rest of mankind. 
 In one sense the Parable represents the mutual relations of Jew and 
 Gentile. 
 
 10. went up into the temple] The Temple stood on Mount Moriah, 
 and was always called the ' Hill of the House ' {Har ha-Beit). 
 
 to pray] The Temple had long become naturally, and most fitly, a 
 " House of Prayer " (xix. 46), though this was not its main original 
 function. 
 
 11. stood and prayed thus with hitnself] Standing was the ordinary 
 Jewish attitude of prayer (i K. viii. 22 ; Mk. xi. 25), but the word statheis 
 (which is not used of the Tax-gatherer) seems to imply that he stood by 
 himself to avoid the contaminating contact of the ' people of the earth, ' 
 and posed himself in a conspicuous attitude (Matt. vi. 5), as well as 
 'prayed with himself as the words are perhaps rightly rendered. He 
 was "a sepai'atist in spirit as in name," Trench. (Pharisee from 
 Pharash ' to separate.') 
 
 Gody I thank thee] Rather, God. His prayer is no prayer at 
 all; not even a thanksgiving, only a boast. See the strong denun- 
 ciation of such insolent self-sufficiency in Rev. iii. 17, 18. 
 
V. 12.] ST LUKE, XVIII. 283 
 
 as other men are^ extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as 
 this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all i 
 
 as other men] Rather, as tlie rest of mankind. 
 
 extortioners, unjust, adulterers] Could he, in any real sense, have 
 made out even this claim to be free from glaring crimes ? His class at 
 any rate are charged by Christ with being " full of extortion " (Matt. 
 xxiii. 25); and they were unjust, seeing that they 'omitted judgment' 
 (id. -23). They are not indeed charged by Jesus with adultery either 
 in the metaphorical or literal sense, but they are spoken of as 
 being prominent members of an adulterous generation, and on several 
 occasions our Lord sternly rebuked their shameful laxity in the 
 matter of divorce (Matt. xix. 3 — 9). And not only does Josephus 
 charge them with this crime also, but their Talmud, with perfect 
 self-complacency, shews how the flagrant immorality of even their 
 most eminent Rabbis found a way to shelter itself, with barefaced 
 and cynical casuistry, under legal forms. See John viii. i — 11, and 
 Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad loc. ; Life of Christ, ii. 152. It appears 
 from the tract Sotah in the Mishnah, that the ordeal of the ' water of 
 jealousy' had been abolished by Jochanan Ben Zakkai, the greatest 
 Rabbi of this age, because the crime had grown so common. 
 
 or even as this publicari] He thus makes the Publican a foil to 
 his own virtues. ** This," says St Augustine, "is no longer to exult, 
 but to insult.''^ 
 
 12. I fast twice in the week] This practice had no divine sanction. 
 The Law appointed only a single fast-day in the year, the Day of 
 Atonement (Lev. xvi. 29). By the time of Zechariah there seem 
 to have been four yearly fasts (Zech. viii. 19). The bi-weekly fast 
 of the Pharisees was a mere burden imposed by the oral Law. The 
 days chosen were Thursday and Monday, because on those days 
 Moses was believed to have ascended and descended from Sinai, 
 Babha Kama, f. 82, i. The man boasts of his empty ceremonialism. 
 
 / give tithes of all that I possess] Rather, of all that I acquire. 
 As though he were another Jacob ! (Gen. xxviii, 22; comp. Tob. i. 7, 8). 
 Here too he exceeds the Written Law, which only commanded tithes 
 of corn, wine, oil, and cattle (Deut, xiv. 22, 23), and not of mint, 
 anise, and cummin (Matt, xxiii. 23). The fact that he does not say 
 a word about his sins shews how low was his standard. " He that 
 covereth his sins shall not prosper," Prov. xxviii. 13. He was 
 clothed with phylacteries and fringes, not with humility, i Pet. v. 5. 
 A Talmudic treatise, the Berachoth (Schwab, p. 336), furnishes us 
 with a close analogy to the prayer of the Pharisee in that of Rabbi 
 Nechounia Ben Hakana, who on leaving his school used to say, 
 ' I thank thee, O Eternal, my God, for having given me part with 
 those who attend this school instead of running through the shops. 
 I rise early like them, but it is to study the Law, not for futile ends. 
 I take trouble as they do, but I shall be rewarded, and they will not ; 
 we run alike, but I for the future life, while they will only arrive at 
 the pit of destruction.' 
 
I 
 
 284 ST LUKE, XVIIl. [vv. 13, 14. 
 
 13 that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would 
 not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon 
 
 14 his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell 
 you, this man went down to his house justified rather tlian 
 the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be 
 abased ; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 
 
 13. standing afar off\ The word for standing is not statheis 
 as in the case of the Pharisee, but merely hestos. It is not certain 
 whether the "afar off" means 'afar off from the Pharisee,' or (as is 
 more probable) afar off from the Holy Place to which the Pharisee 
 would thrust himself, as of right, into closest proximity. 
 
 would not lift up so much as his eyes] The Jew usually stood with 
 arms outspread, the palms turned upwards, as though to receive the 
 gifts of heaven, and the eyes raised. * ' Unto Thee lift I up mine 
 eyes," Ps. cxxiii. i, 2; but on the other hand, "Mine iniquities have 
 taken such hold upon me that I am not able to look up," Ps. xl. 12; 
 "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my 
 God : for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass 
 is grown up unto the heavens," Ezra ix. 6. 
 
 smote upon his breast] For this custom of expressing grief, see 
 xxiii. 48; Nahum ii. 7; Jer. xxxi. 19. "Pectus, conscientiae sedem," 
 Bengel. 
 
 God be merciful to me a sinner] Rather, God, be merciful to me 
 the sinner. The word for * be merciful ' means ' be propitiated ' as in 
 Heb. ii. 17. He speaks of himself as the chief of sinners, i Tim. i. 15. 
 
 14. went down to his house justified rather than the other] Of the 
 Pharisee it might be said, " His soul which is lifted up is not upright 
 in him ;" but of the Tax-gatherer, "the just shall live by his faith," 
 Hab. ii. 4. But the day had not yet come in which the words ' be 
 merciful' {hilaskou), and 'justified' {dedikaiomenos), possessed the deep 
 full meaning which they were soon to acquire (Heb. ii. 17; Rom. 
 iii. ■zo). The phrase was not unknown to the Talmud, which says 
 that while the Temple stood, when every Israelite had offered sacrifice, 
 •his sin was pardoned and he departed justified.' The reading of 
 our Greek text 97 e/ceivos is untenable, though it correctly gives the 
 meaning. The best supported reading is y\ 701/3 iKeivos, but it seems 
 to have originated by mistake from irap' iKeivov. Abp Trench quotes 
 Crashaw's striking epigram : 
 
 "Two went to pray: or rather say 
 One went to brag, the other to pray ; 
 One stands up close, and treads on high, 
 Wliere th' other dares not send his eye. 
 One nearer to the altar trod, 
 The other to the altar's God." 
 every one that exalteth himself] See xiv. 11. In this Parable, as in 
 that of the Prodigal son, we have the contrast between unrighteousness 
 and self-righteousness. 
 
w. 15—18.] ST LUKE, XVIII. 285 
 
 15 — 17. Jesus and the Children. A Lesson of Hutnility. 
 
 And they brought unto him also infants, that he would 15 
 touch them : but when his disciples saw //, they rebuked 
 them. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer 16 
 little children to come unto me, and forbid them not : for 
 of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, 17 
 Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little 
 child shall in no wise enter therein. 
 
 18 — 30. The Great Refusal. The Young Ruler who loved 
 Riches more than Christ. 
 
 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what 18 
 
 15 — 17. Jesus and the Children. A Lesson of Humility. 
 
 15. they brought unto him also infants] Rather, their babes. It 
 seems to have been a custom of Jewish mothers to carry their babes 
 to eminent Rabbis for their blessing ; naturally therefore these mothers 
 would bring their children and babes to Jesus. See Matt. xix. 13 — 15 ; 
 Mk. X. 13. 
 
 16. called them] St Mark adds that Jesus was much displeased 
 with the officious interference of the disciples who so little understood 
 His tenderness. 
 
 Suffer little children'] Rather, the Uttle chUdren. 
 
 for of such is the kingdom of God] Because children are meek, 
 humble, trustful, guileless, unsophisticated, pure. It was a lesson 
 which Jesus often taught, Matt. v. 3, xi. 25, xvii. 10, 14 ; i Cor. 
 xiv. 20; I Pet. ii. i, 2. 
 
 receive the kingdom of God as a little child] See Matt. xi. 25. 
 Hence the Psalmist says, "My soul is even as a weaned child," 
 Ps. exxxi. 2. Tradition (erroneously) supposed that St Ignatius was 
 one of these children. 
 
 18—30. The Great Refusal. The Young Ruler who loved 
 Riches more than Christ. 
 
 18. a certain ruler] St Matthew (xix. 20) only calls him "a 
 young man." He was probably the young and wealthy ruler of a 
 synagogue. The touch added by St Mark (x. 17), that he suddenly 
 ran up and fell on his knees before Him, seems to imply that he was 
 eager to catch the opportunity of speaking to Jesus before He started 
 on a journey, probably the journey from the Peraean Bethany, beyond 
 Jordan (John x. 41, 42), to the Bethany near Jerusalem, to raise 
 Lazarus. 
 
 Good Master] This title was an impropriety, almost an imper- 
 tinence ; for the title ' good ' was never addressed to Rabbis by their 
 
286 ST LUKE, XVIII. [w. 19—22. 
 
 19 shall I do to inherit eternal life ? And Jesus said unto him, 
 Why callest thou me good ? none is good, save one, that isj 
 
 20 God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit 
 adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal. Do not bear 
 false witness. Honour thy father and thy mother. 
 
 II And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now 
 when Jesus heard these things^ he said unto him. Yet lackest 
 
 pupils. Therefore to address Jesus thus was to assume a tone almost 
 of patronage. Moreover, as the young Ruler did not look on Jesus 
 as divine, it was to assume a false standpoint altogether. 
 
 what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'\ In St Matthew the question 
 runs, 'what good thing shall I do?' Here, again, the young ruler 
 betrays a false standpoint, as though * eternal life ' were to be won by 
 quantitative works, or by some single act of goodness, — by doing and 
 not by being. It was indeed the fundamental error of his whole class. 
 Rom. ix. 32. 
 
 19. Why callest thou megood?'\ According to St Matthew the question 
 also ran, ' Why askest thou me about the good?' The emphasis is not 
 on the me (for the form used in the original is the enclitic /a6 not ifik) 
 but on good. Why do you give me this strange title which from your 
 point of view is unwarrantable ? Comp. Plato Fhaed. 27, *' to be a good 
 man is impossible... God alone could have this honour." 
 
 none is good, save one, that is, God] i John iii. 5. 
 
 20. Thou knowest the commandments] St Matthew says that our 
 Lord first answered, 'Keep the commandments,' and when the young 
 man asked, * What kind of commandments?' expecting probably some 
 recondite points of casuistry — minute rules [Halachoth) out of the oral 
 Law — our Lord to his surprise mentions the broadest and most obvious 
 commandments of the Decalogue. 
 
 Do not kill, &c.] Our Lord seems purposely to have mentioned only 
 the plainest commandments of the Second Table, to shew the young 
 man that he had fallen short even of these in their true interpretation ; 
 much more of that love to God which is the epitome of the first Table. 
 Thus does Christ 'send \he proud to the Law, and invite the humble to 
 the Gospel.' 
 
 21. All these have I kept] There seems to have been an accent of 
 extreme surprise in his reply. * You bid me not be a thief, adulterer, 
 murderer! For whom do you take me? I am no criminal. These I 
 kept since I was a child.' And then he added, 'what lack I yet?' 
 (Matt. xix. 20). — Here, again, the Gospel is true to the letter in its 
 picture of a Pharisaic Rabbi. Thus the Talmud describes one of the 
 classes of Pharisees as the tell-me-something-more-to-do-and-I-will-do-it 
 Pharisee; and when R. Chaninah was dying he said to the Angel of 
 Death, "Go and fetch me the Book of the Law, and see whether there 
 is anything in it which I have not kept." 
 
 22. when Jesus heard these things] St Mark says that 'looking on 
 him, he loved him,' or rather, 'was pleased with him.' Some have 
 
w. 23— 25.] ST LUKE, XVIII. 287 
 
 thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto 
 the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, 
 follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful : 23 
 for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he was very 24 
 sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches 
 enter into the kingdom of God ! For it is easier for a camel 25 
 
 rendered the words ' He kissed him, ' since Rabbis in token of approval 
 sometimes kissed a good scholar on the head ; this, however, would 
 require not egapesen, but ephilesen. There was something gracious and 
 sincere in the youth's eagerness, and therefore Jesus gave him that test 
 of something more high and heroical in religion which he seemed to 
 desire, but to which he failed to rise. 
 
 Yet lackest thou one thing\ This command to sell all and give to the 
 poor was special^ not general. The youth had asked for some great thing 
 to do, and Jesus, by thus revealing to him his own self-deception, shews 
 him that in spite of his spiritual pride and profession of magnanimity 
 he is but trying to serve two masters. The disciples had already ac- 
 cepted the test, xii. 33, xvi. 9. To the world in general the command 
 is not to sell all, but 'not to trust in uncertain riches, but to be rich 
 in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate,' i Tim. 
 vi. 17—19. 
 
 23. he was very sorrowful^ St Matthew says, 'he went away 
 grieving;' St Mark adds that 'his brow grew gloomy and cloudy at 
 the command' (arv^va.aa.'i eiri r^ Xoyu). And thus at the time he made, 
 through cowardice or meanness of mind, what Dante {/n/. X. 27) calls 
 ' i/ g7-an rifitcto,'' ' the great refusal, ' and the poet sees his shade among the 
 whirling throng of the useless and the facing-both-ways on the confines 
 of the Inferno. Nothing, however, forbids us to hope that the words 
 of Jesus who ' loved him ' sank into his soul, and brought him to a 
 humbler and holier frame of mind. But meanwhile he lost for his 
 earthly dross that eternal blessedness of self-sacrifice which Christ had 
 offered him. The day came when Saul of Tarsus was like this youth 
 'touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless;' but he had 
 grace to count all things but loss for Christ. Phil. iii. 6 — 9. 
 
 24. saw that he was very sorrowfut\ Several good uncials read 
 merely 'when Jesus saw him.' 
 
 shall they that have riches'] Rather, do they. The striking reading 
 of some MSS. {^, B, &c.) in Mk. x. 24, is that Christ, seeing the pained 
 astonishment of the disciples, said, "Children! how hard it is to enter 
 into the kingdom of God" — hard for all ; above all, hard for the rich. 
 Other MSS. have "for those that trust in riches "(comp. Prov. xi. 28) — but 
 that would be a truism; and, indeed, while they trust in riches, it would 
 be not only hard, but impossible. The point that Jesus wished to 
 teach was that riches are always a temptation and a snare, i Tim. 
 vi. 9, 10. Let us not forget that Judas heard these words only a few 
 days or weeks before he sold his Lord. It was almost a proverb among 
 the ancients that "the very rich are not good." Stobaeus, xciii. 27. 
 
288 ST LUKE, XVIII. [w. 26—30. 
 
 to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter 
 
 26 into the kingdom of God. And they that heard // said, 
 
 27 Who then can be saved ? And he said, The things which 
 are unpossible with men are possible with God. 
 
 28 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. 
 
 29 And he said unto them. Verily I say unto you. There is no 
 man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, 
 
 30 or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not 
 receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world 
 to come Hfe everlasting. 
 
 25. for a camel to go through a needless eye] To soften the apparent 
 harshness of this expression, some have conjectured Kami/on, 'a rope;' 
 and some have explained 'the needle's eye' of the small side gate for 
 passengers (at the side of the large city gates) , through which a camel 
 might press its way, if it were first unladen. But (i) the conjecture 
 Kamilon is wholly without authority, (ii) The name of 'the needle's 
 eye' applied to small gates is probably a modern one which has actually 
 originated from an attempt to soften this verse: — at any rate there is 
 no ancient trace of it. (iii) The Rabbinic parallels are decisive to 
 prove that a camel is meant because the Babylonian Jews using the 
 same proverb substitute 'an elephant' for *a camel.' (iv) It is the 
 object of the proverb to express htcman impossibility. In the human 
 sphere — apart from the special grace of God — it would be certain that 
 those who have riches would be led to ti'ust in them, and so would fail 
 to enter into the kingdom of God, which requires absolute humility, 
 ungrudging liberality, and constant self-denial. 
 
 26. Who then can be saved!] Here once more we catch the echo of 
 the sighing despair caused in the minds of the still immature Apostles 
 by some of our Lord's harder sayings. 
 
 27. are possible with God] See on i. 37. " There is nothing 
 too hard for thee," Jer. xxxii. 17; comp. Job xlii. 2; Zech. viii. 6. 
 
 28. Then Peter said] The feeling which dictated his remark is 
 uncertain ; perhaps it was a passing touch of self-congratulation ; per- 
 haps a plea for pity in the hard task of salvation. 
 
 we have left all] Rather, we left all, alluding to a particular crisis, 
 
 V. II. 
 
 29. There is no man that hath left house] Compare the sacrifice 
 and reward of the sons of Levi, Deut xxxiii. 8— 11. 
 
 for the kingdom of God's sake] Unless the motive be pure, the sacri- 
 fice is unavailing. 
 
 30. manifold more] St Matthew and St Mark say 'a hundredfold,' 
 and St Matthew adds that in the Palingenesia — the New Birthday of 
 the World, the Restoration of all things — they shall sit on twelve 
 thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. St Luke naturally omits 
 the more purely Hebraic conceptions. St Mark adds the two striking 
 
w. 31, 32.] ST LUKE, XVIII. 289 
 
 31 — 34. yesus prophesies that He should be crucified. 
 
 Then he took unto hi7n the twelve, and said unto them, 31 
 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are writ- 
 ten by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be 
 accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, 3» 
 
 words, ^^ with persecutions.^'' Of course, the promise of " the hundred- 
 fold " is neither literal nor quantitative, but qualitative and spiritual. 
 
 in this prese?it tiine\ Kairo — not only in this present aeon, but at 
 this very season. 
 
 31 — 34. Jesus prophesies that He should be crucified. 
 
 Between these verses and the last should probably be inserted the 
 journey from the Peraean Bethany to the Judaean Bethany, and the 
 Raising of Lazarus (John xi. i — 46). This signal miracle was om.itted by 
 the Synoptists for the same reasons as those which led them to a marked 
 reticence about the family of Lazarus (see o n x. 3 ^and my Life of Christy 
 II. 173). This miracle led to a meeting <ST tfie*Sanhedrin, at which it 
 was decided — mainly on the authority of Caiaphas — that Jesus must be 
 put to death though not during the ensuing Passover, — with such pre- 
 cautions as were possible. The terrible decision became known. Indeed, 
 it led to attempts to murder Lazarus and seize Jesus, which compelled 
 Him to retire secretly to the obscure village of Ephraim (John xi. 54) — 
 probably Et-Taiyibeh, not far from Bethel (Beitin), and about 20 miles 
 from Jerusalem. Here our Lord spent, in undisturbed and unrecorded 
 calm, the last few weeks of His life, occupied in training the Apostles 
 who were to convert the world. Towards the close of the time He 
 would see, from the hill of Ephraim, the crowds of Galilaean pilgrims 
 streaming down the Jordan valley to keep the Passover at Jerusalem,; 
 and, secure under their protection till His brief days of destined work 
 were done, He left His place of retreat to join their caravans for His 
 last solemn progress to Jerusalem. 
 
 31. Then he took unto him the twelve"] apart, and on the road, as 
 we learn from Matt. xx. 17. St Mark, with one of his graphic touches 
 of detail, describes Jesus walking before them, and (as we infer from 
 the expression of the Evangelist) in such awful majesty of sorrow 
 that those nearest Him were filled with deep amazement, and those who 
 were following at a greater distance felt a hush of fear (Mark x. 32). 
 Then it was that He beckoned them to Him, and revealed the crown- 
 ing circumstances of horror respecting His death. 
 
 all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of niayi 
 shall be accomplished] Rather, aU the things that have been written 
 through the prophets for the Son of Man shall be accomplished ; or, 
 perhaps, shall be accomplished to the Son of Man. 
 
 32. unto the Gentiles] This was the third, and by far the clearest 
 and most circumstantial prophecy respecting His death. Hitherto, 
 except for scattered hints which they could not understand (ix. 22, 45), 
 the Apostles might have supposed that Jesus would be put to death by 
 
 ST LUKE 19 
 
290 ST LUKE, XVIII. [vv. 33—35. 
 
 and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted 
 
 33 on : and they shall scourge hbn^ and put him to death : and 
 
 34 the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none 
 of these things : and this saying was hid from them, neither 
 knew they the things which were spoken. 
 
 35 — 43. Bartimaeus healed at J^ericho. 
 
 35 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto 
 Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging ; 
 
 the Jewish authorities. Now He tells them that He shall be delivered 
 to the Gentiles, which involved the fact that He should be crucified, as 
 indeed now for the first time He plainly told them (Matt. xx. 19). It 
 was necessary thus to check all blind material Messianic hopes, the 
 ineradicable prevalence of which was proved immediately afterwards 
 by the ambitious request of Salome and her sons (Mark x. 35 — 45 ; 
 Matt. XX. 20 — 28). But while the magnificent promises which they had 
 just heard, and the magnificent miracle which they would immediately 
 witness, together with the shouting multitudes who would soon be 
 attending our Lord, made it necessary thus to extinguish all worldly hopes 
 in their minds, yet to prevent them from being crushed with sorrow, 
 He now adds, without any ambiguity, the prophecy of His resurrection 
 on the third day. 
 
 34. they understood none of these things'] as had been the case before, 
 ix. 43 — 45 ; and St Mark tells us (ix. 32) that 'they were afraid to ask Him.' 
 It was only at a later period that the full significance of all these words 
 dawned on them (John xii. 16). We must learn, as Pascal says, to 
 love divine truths before we can understand them. The Apostles 
 refused to admit the plain meaning of these clear statements (Matt, 
 xvi. 22). 
 
 35 — 43. Bartimaeus healed at Jericho. 
 
 36. as he was come nigh unto Jericho] This would be a week 
 before our Lord's death — on the evening of Thursday, Nisan 7, or the 
 morning of Friday, Nisan 8. St Mark (x. 46) and St Matthew (xx. 29) 
 say that this miracle took place as He was leaving Jericho. With 
 simple and truthful writers like the Evangelists, we may feel sure that 
 some good reason underlies the obvious apparent discrepancy which 
 would however in any case be unimportant. Possibly it may arise from 
 the two Jerichos — the old town on the ancient site, and the new semi- 
 Herodian town which had sprung up at a little distance from it. And, 
 as Chrysostom says, such discrepancies have their own value as a 
 marked proof of the mutual independence of the Evangelists. 
 
 a certain blind man] St Matthew (xx. 30), as in the case of the 
 Gadarene demoniac, mentions two blind men ; and in any case a blind 
 man would hardly have been sitting quite alone. The name of Bar- 
 timaeus is only preserved by St Mark. 
 
w. 36— 43; 1,2.] ST LUKE, XVIII. XIX. 291 
 
 and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. 36 
 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And ^l 
 he cried, saying, Jesus, f/iou Son of David, have mercy on 
 me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he 39 
 should hold his peace : but he cried so much the more, T/iou 
 Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and 40 
 commanded him to be brought unto him : and when he was 
 come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou fMf I 41 
 shall do unto thee ? And he said. Lord, that I may receive 
 my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight : thy 42 
 faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his 43 
 sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, 
 when they saw //, gave praise unto God. 
 
 Ch. XIX. I — 10. Zacchaeus the Tax-gatherer. 
 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And be- ^^ 
 
 38. Jesus, thou Son of David'\ The use of this Messianic title im- 
 plies a strong faith in Bartimaeus. 
 
 have mercy on me\ * ' The Kyrie Eleison of the soul which precedes 
 its Hosanna." Van Oosterzee. 
 
 39. rebuked him, that he should hold his peace\ Compare xviii. 15; 
 Matt. xix. 13. 
 
 40. and when he was come near"] The narrative of St Mark, which 
 is evidently derived from an immediate eye-witness, describes Barti- 
 maeus as ' springing to his feet and flinging away his outer robe, ' when 
 he was told that Jesus had called him. 
 
 41. Lord'\ In St Mark the title given is Rabboni, the highest form 
 of the title Rabbi. 
 
 42. thy faith hath saved thee\ The brief sentences of the narrative 
 have been beautifully woven by Mr Longfellow into his little poem of 
 Blind Bartimaeus : 
 
 *' Those mighty voices three 
 'li/aoO k\^y]<jbv fie. 
 Qdpcrei, ^yeipe, (fxavet ae. 
 'H TriffTLS (Tov aicrwKi ae." 
 
 43. followed him, glorifying God] The time for any reticence re- 
 specting miracles was long past. St Luke is specially fond of record ■ 
 ing doxologies. See v. 26, vii. 16, xiii, 17, xvii. 15, xxiii. 47. 
 
 Ch. xix. 1 — 10. Zacchaeus the Tax-gatherer. 
 
 1. etitered and passed through] Literally, ^^ having entered yericho 
 was pcLs sing through it." 
 
 fericho] Jericho (the City of Palm trees, Deut. xxxiv. 3; Jndg. i. 
 16) is about 6 miles from the Jordan, and 15 from Jerusalem. It was 
 
 19 — 2 
 
292 ST LUKE, XIX. [vv. 3—7. 
 
 hold, there was a man named Zaccheus, which was the chief 
 
 3 among the pubHcans, and he was rich. And he sought to see 
 Jesus who he was ; and could not for the press, because he 
 
 4 was Httle of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up 
 into a sycomore tree to see him : for he was to pass that way. 
 
 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and 
 saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste, and 
 
 6 come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he 
 made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. 
 
 7 And when they saw //, they all murmured, saying. That he 
 
 from a point opposite to it that Moses had viewed Canaan, Deut. xxxiv. 
 I. When taken by Joshua the site had been cursed (Josh. vi. 26) : but, 
 in the reign of Ahab, Hiel of Bethel defied and underwent the curse 
 (i Kings xvi. 34). In later times Jericho became a great and wealthy 
 town, being fertilised by its abundant spring (2 K. ii. 21) and enriched by 
 its palms and balsams, Jos. Antt. iv. 6; B. y. iv. 8; Ecclus. xxiv. 14, 
 "I was exalted like a palm tree in Engaddi and like a rose plant in 
 yericho.'* The plant however usually called the rose of Jericho is the 
 Anastatica Hierochuntia of Linnaeus. A mediaeval Itinerary says that 
 the site — on which now stands the miserable and degraded village of 
 Riha — was 'most rich in flowers and odoriferous shrubs.' 
 
 2. behold'\ The style of this chapter shews that St Luke is using a 
 document of Aramaic origin. 
 
 a man named Zaccheus^ Z aMai mesins 'pure.' Ezr. ii. 9; Nehem. vii. 
 14; Jos. Vit. 46. There is a Zakkai in the Talmud, father of the 
 famous Rabbi Jochanan, and he also lived at Jericho. 
 
 tAe chief a??iong the publicans] Rather, a chief tax-gatherer. He 
 may even have risen as some Jews did, from the subordinate rank of 
 the portitores to that ai publicanus (Jos. B. y. ii. 14, § 9). Priests (see 
 on X. 31) and publicans — the latter employed to regulate the balsam- 
 duties, and the exports and imports between the domains of the Romans 
 and of Antipas — were the chief classes at Jericho (Jos. Antt. xiv. 4, 
 § I, XV. 4, § 2 ; Justin Hist. vi. 3). 
 
 3. he sought to see yesus'\ Doubtless his riches increased the odium 
 of his position, and being accustomed to contempt and hatred, he wished 
 to see One who was not only a great prophet, but also kind to tax- 
 gatherers and sinners. 
 
 4. into a sycomore tree'\ Not the same as the sycamine {mulberry) of 
 xvii. 6, or with our sycamore (or pseudo-platanus) but the Egjrptian fig, 
 of which the low spreading branches are very easy to climb. 
 
 5. ZaccheuSy make haste] Zacchaeus was so prominent a person 
 in Jericho that we can see no difficulty in his being known to Jesus by 
 name. 
 
 6. joyfully] This public honour done by the Messiah to one so 
 despised by all classes of his countrymen, ennobled him with a new feel- 
 ing of happiness and self-resj)ect. 
 
vv. 8— II.] ST LUKE, XIX. 293 
 
 was gone to be guest \vith a man that is a sinner. And Zac- s 
 cheus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the 
 half of my goods I give to the poor ; and if I have taken 
 any thing from any 77ian by false accusation, I restore him 
 fourfold. And Jesus said unto him. This day is salvation 9 
 come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abra- 
 ham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that 10 
 which was lost. 
 
 1 1 — 27. The Parable of the Pounds, 
 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a n 
 parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they 
 thought that the kingdom of God should immediately ap- 
 
 7. they all murmured'\ Rather, they all began to murimir aloud. 
 
 The 'fl//' is very significant as shewing how deep-seated was the na- 
 tional feeling which, because it was unworthy, our Lord at the very 
 zenith of His earthly popularity thus unflinchingly braved. Many of 
 them may not have heard His previous vindication of His object (Matt. 
 ix. 11—13). 
 
 to be guest'\ Literally, '■'to put up'"^ as though at a guest-chamber 
 (katahima), ii. 7; Mk. xiv. 14. 
 
 8. stood'^ The word means ' taking his position ' in sight of all the 
 crowd; see xviii. 11. 
 
 unto the Lord'\ Not to the crowd who had nothing but contempt and 
 hatred for him, but to Him who loved the nobler self which He saw in 
 him, and of whose notice he desired to be more worthy. 
 
 the half of my goods] A vast sacrifice for one whose very position 
 shewed that he had not been indifferent to wealth. 
 
 / give] i. e. I now propose to give ; a ptirpose not a past habit, 
 
 by false accusation] On the word esukophaniesa, see iii. 14. 
 
 fourfold] far more therefore than was required by the Mosaic Law, 
 which only demanded the restitution oiz. fifth part hey ond the principal, 
 Num. v. 7. The words neither deny nor affirm that any part of his 
 wealth had been thus dishonestly gained. 
 
 9. a son of Abraham] Used here in the high spiritual sense (Rom. 
 iv. II, 12, 16; Gal. iii. 7) though also true (as the name shews) in the 
 literal sense. See i. 55, iii. 8. 
 
 10. that which was lost] See xv. 1—32; Matt, xviii. 11; i Tim. i. 
 15; Ezek. xxxiv. 11 — 16, 
 
 11—27. The Parable of the Pounds. 
 
 11. because he was nigh to Jerusalem] Probably therefore the 
 parable was spoken on the journey. 
 
 should immediately appear] Literally, ''be ?nanifested to view. " The 
 disciples had the same excited anticipation after the Resurrection, Acts 
 
294 ST LUKE, XIX. [vv. 12—14. 
 
 .2 pear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a 
 
 far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 
 
 «3 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten 
 
 M pounds, and said unto them. Occupy till I come. But his 
 
 citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, 
 
 i. 6, 7. Our Lord was always careful to lead them away from false 
 material hopes. The lessons of the parable are patient waiting and 
 active work. 
 
 12. A certain nobleman, &c.] This would seem a most unintelli- 
 gible incident if we did not know what suggested it. The Evangelists 
 throw no gleam of light upon it, and the fact that we can from con- 
 temporary secular history not only explain it, but even trace (without 
 the slightest aid from any of the Gospels) the exact circumstances 
 which suggested it at this very place and time, is one of the many invalu- 
 able independent circumstances which enable us to prove from history the 
 absolute truthfulness of these records. Two 'nobles' — Herod the Great 
 and his son Archelaus — had actually gone from Jericho to a far country, 
 even to Rome, for the express purpose of 'receiving a kingdom' from 
 the all-powerful Caesar (Jos. Antt. xiv. 14, xvii. 9, §4: comp. iMacc. 
 viii. 13), and the same thing was subsequently done by Antipas (id. 
 Antt. xviii. 5, § r). It is deeply interesting to see how Jesus thus utilises 
 any incident — social or political — as a vehicle for spiritual instruction. 
 Probably if we knew the events of His day more minutely, we should 
 see the origin of many others of the parables. The facts here alluded 
 to would naturally be brought both to His mind, and to those of the 
 Galilaeans, by the sight of the magnificent palace at Jericho which 
 Archelaus had rebuilt. (Jos. Antt. xvii. 13, § r.) How little the inci- 
 dental machinery of parables should be theologically pressed, we may 
 see from the fact that here our Lord takes the movements and the 
 actions of a cruel and bad prince like Archelaus, to shadow forth cer- 
 tain truths of His own ministry (compare the Parables of the Unjust 
 Steward and the Unjust Judged. 
 
 13. his ten servants'] Rather, ten servants of his own ; for such a 
 noble would count his servants by hundreds. 
 
 ten pounds] The mina was 100 drachmas (xv. 8), and was worth 
 £^. 6s. Sd. in nominal value. The word is a corruption of the Hebrew 
 nianeh. (2 Chr. ix. 16.) A comparison of this parable with that of 
 the Talents (Matt. xxv. 14 — 30) will shew the wide diversities between 
 the two. Archelaus did actually leave money in the charge of some of 
 his servants, especially entrusting Philippus to look after his pecuniary 
 interests in his absence. 
 
 Occupy] Rather, Trade, negotiamini. Ps. cvii. 23, ^^^2X... occupy 
 their business in great waters " (Prayer- Book). For the command see 
 I Pet. iv. 10. 
 
 till I come] Another reading {kv <?, N, A, B, D, &c. ) would mean 
 'while T am on my journey,' but would involve a very dubious sense of 
 erchomai. 
 
vv. 15—22.] ST LUKE, XIX. 295 
 
 We \vill not have this man to reign over us. And it came 15 
 to pass, that when he was returned, having received the 
 kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called 
 unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might 
 know how much every 7nan had gained by trading. Then 16 
 came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten 
 pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good sei^-ant: 17 
 because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou 
 authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, 18 
 Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said 19 
 likewise to him. Be thou also over five cities. And another 20 
 came, saying. Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have 
 kept laid up in a napkin : for I feared thee, because thou 21 
 art an austere man : thou takest up that thou layedst not 
 down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith 22 
 
 14. hated himi And this was not strange, seeing that the very be- 
 ginning of his reign had been signalised by a hideous massacre of his 
 subjects. (Jos. Antt. xvii. 9, § 3.) 
 
 and sent a message after hint] Rather, an embassy to follow him 
 (xiv. 32). Here again the incident would be entirely obscure, if we did 
 not know from Josephus that the Jews did send an embassy of 50 to 
 Augustus — who were met on their arrival at Rome by 8000 Jews — to 
 recount the cruelties of Archelaus, and plead for deliverance from him 
 and the Herods generally. (Jos. Antt. xvil. 11, § i, &c.) Although not 
 immediately successful, the embassy was one of the circumstances which 
 led to his ultimate deposition. 
 
 this man] The 'this' is supremely contemptuous. For the fact 
 shadowed forth see John xv. 18, xix. 14, 15, 21. 
 
 15. having received the kingdoi7i\ Not however the coveted title of 
 king, which was refused him. 
 
 had gained by trading] diepragmateusato, a compound form of the 
 pragmateuesthai in vs. 13. The calling of the servants corresponds to 
 the "Give an account of thy stewardship" of xvi. 1. 
 
 16. thy pound hath gained] Literally, ^''earned in addition^ As 
 though there were no merit of his own in the matter. 
 
 17. in a very little] See xii. 48, xvi. lo. 
 
 have thou authority over ten cities] Another strange touch explained 
 by the history of the times. Archelaus had actually assigned the 
 government of cities to his adherents who had proved faithful, and this 
 was not an uncommon plan among the Herodian princes. "We shall 
 also reign with Him," 1 Tim. ii. 12. 
 
 21. I feared thee] A sure sign that he did not love him, i John iv. 
 i8. 
 
 takest up that thoji layedst not down] A typical description of injustice 
 forbidden alike by Jewish and Greek laws (Jos. c. Ap. II. 130). 
 
296 ST LUKE, XIX. [vv. 23—28. 
 
 unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou 
 wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, 
 taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not 
 
 23 sow: wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the 
 bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own 
 
 24 with usury? And he said unto them that stood by. Take 
 from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten 
 
 25 pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten 
 
 26 pounds.) For I say unto you. That unto every one which 
 hath shall be given ; and from him that hath not, even that 
 
 27 he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine ene- 
 mies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring 
 hither, and slay thetn before me. 
 
 28 And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending 
 up to Jerusalem, 
 
 22. Out of thine o-vn ntouth'\ **A powerful instance of the argu- 
 mentum ex concessis^ Lange. 
 
 23. into the bank] Rather, into a bank. The Greek word for 
 'bank' is trapeza (' a table'); hence a banker is t7'apeziies. This touch 
 contains the germ of the unrecorded saying {agraphon dogjna) of our 
 Lord, which is one of the most certainly genuine of those which are 
 preserved by tradition — "Shew yourselves approved moneychangers" 
 {ylveade Tpawe^lrai doKifu-Oi). 
 
 I might have rajnired mine own with usury\ Rather, I might have 
 exacted it with interest (on epraxa, see iii. 13). 
 
 24. Take from hi?n the pound] Here our Lord leaves the historical 
 groundwork. Compare ^Iatt. xxi. 43, "The kingdom of God shall be 
 taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." 
 viii. 18. 
 
 25. they said unto him] Perhaps the officials round the king ; but 
 as this verse is purely parenthetical, it may not impossibly be an inter- 
 pellation of the crowd, expressive of their vivid interest in the narrative. 
 
 26. even thai he hath] Comp. viii. 18, "even that which he seemeth 
 to have.'^ 
 
 27. mine enemies] They had once been 'citizens,' vs. 14. 
 
 slay thetn before me] Archelaus had similarly put some of his political 
 opponents to death. This, too, corresponds to ulterior truths — the ruin 
 and massacre of the unbelieving Jews. Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 25. 
 
 28. he went before] Literally, " he began to journey in front of them ;" 
 as though, for the delivery of the parable. He had paused to let the 
 crowd gather round Him. 
 
 ascending] The road from Jericho to Jerusalem is a continual ascent. 
 See X. 30, 31. 
 
29—351 ST LUKE, XIX. 297 
 
 29 — 40. The Ti'iiunphal Entry into Jerusalem. 
 
 And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Beth- 29 
 phage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of 
 Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go ye into 3° 
 the village over against you ; in the which at your entering 
 ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat : loose 
 him, and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, 31 
 Why do ye loose him ? thus shall ye say unto him. Because 
 the Lord hath need of him. And they that were sent went 32 
 their way, and found even as he had said unto them. And 33 
 as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto 
 them. Why loose ye the colt ? And they said, The Lord 34 
 hath need of him. And they brought him to Jesus : and 3s 
 they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus 
 
 29 — 40. The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. 
 
 29. Bethphage\ The site is not identified, but it seems to have been re- 
 garded as a suburb of Jerusalem. The name means House of {unripe) Figs. 
 
 and Bcthany\ Perhaps the House of Dates, but this is very un- 
 certain. The mention of Bethany after Bethphage is surprising. 
 Here, however, St Luke omits the supper in the house of 'Simon the 
 leper' (Matt. xxvi. 6—13; Mk. xiv. 3—9; John xii. 1—19) and the 
 anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany. Jesus arrived at Bethany before 
 sunset on Friday, Nisan 8 (March 31, A. d, 30), and therefore before the 
 Sabbath began. Here the throng of Galilaean pilgrims would leave Him 
 to go to their friends in Jerusalem, or to make booths for themselves in 
 the valley of the Kidron and on the slopes of Olivet. The Sabbath was 
 spent in quiet. The supper was in the evening, otherwise the Jews 
 could not have come from Jerusalem, as the distance exceeded a 
 Sabbath day's journey. It was on the next morning (Palm Sunday) that 
 our Lord started for Jerusalem. His stay at Bethany may have been 
 due to friendship, or may have been dictated by prudence. It was the 
 brooding over the imagined loss of the value of the precious ointment 
 — an assault of Satan at the weakest point — which first drove Judas to 
 his secret interview with the Sadducean priests. 
 
 two of his disciples'] The minute touch of description in Mk. xi. 4 has 
 led to the conjecture that Peter was one of these two. 
 
 30. a colt tied] St Luke is here less circumstantial than the other 
 Evangelists, and does not refer to the prophecy of Zech. ix. 9. 
 
 whereon yet never man sat] and therefore adapted for a sacred use. 
 See Num. xix. 2 ; Deut. xxi. 3 ; i Sam. vi. 7. 
 
 35. cast their garments upon the colt] to do Jesus royal honour. 
 Comp. 1 K. ix. 13. 
 
 they set Jesus thei-eon] It is clear that He rode upon the unused foal, 
 which was probably led by the bridle, while it is possible that the 
 
298 ST LUKE, XIX. [w. 36—40. 
 
 36 thereon. And as he went, they spread their clothes in the 
 
 37 way. And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent 
 of the mount of OUves, the whole multitude of the disciples 
 began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the 
 
 38 mighty works that they had seen ; saying, Blessed be the 
 King that cometh in the name of the Lord : peace in 
 
 39 heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pha- 
 risees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, 
 
 ♦o rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, 
 I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones 
 would immediately cry out. 
 
 mother went by its side. St Matthew, however, alone (apparently) 
 mentions two animals (xxi. 2, 7), and possibly this may have been due 
 to some confusion arising out of the Hebrew parallelism (Zech. ix. 9, 
 "riding upon an ass, even upon a colt, son of she-asses") in the transla- 
 tion into Greek from an Aramaic document. The ass in the East is not 
 a despised animal (Gen. xlix. 14, xxii. 3; Judg. v. 10), and it is only 
 because it was despised by Gentiles that Josephus substitutes for it 
 'horse' or 'beast of burden,' and the Seventy (LXX.) soften it down 
 into 'foal,' &c. The Gentile world abounded in sneers against this 
 narrative, and had all sorts of absurd stories about the Jews and the ass, 
 or ass's head, which they were supposed to worship (Jos. c. Ap. ii. 10; 
 Tac. Hist. V. 3. 4). The Christians were also called ass-worshippers 
 (Tert. Apol. 16; Minuc. Fel. Oct. 9), and this calumny is alluded to in 
 one of the hideously blasphemous wall caricatures [Graffiti). (See how- 
 ever King's Gnostics^ p. 90 ; Lundy, Monumental Christianity, p. 60.) 
 
 36. spread their clothes in the way] as well as leaves of trees and 
 branches of the palms, which they tore off and kept strewing as they 
 went along (Matt. xxi. 8), as in the reception of Mordecai (Targum on 
 Esther x. 15) and of the Maccabees (2 Mace. x. 7). The very same 
 mode of shewing honour was adopted when Mr Farran, the consul at 
 Damascus, visited Jerusalem in 1834, at a time of great distress. 
 
 37. even now at the descent of the mount of Olives] at the spot where 
 the main road from Bethany sweeps round the shoulder of the hill, and 
 the city first bursts full on the view. At this point the palm-bearing 
 procession from the city seems to have met the rejoicing crowd of the 
 Galilaean pilgrims who had started with Jesus from Bethany. 
 
 38. Blessed be the King] The various cries recorded by the three 
 Evangelists all come from the Great Hallel (Pss.cxiii. — cxviii). St John 
 alone (xii. 17 reading otl) points out that the Messianic enthusiasm had 
 been mainly kindled by the raising of Lazarus. 
 
 39. Master, rebuke thy disciples] St Matthew puts into the mouth of 
 "the Chief Priests and scribes" the ruder interpellation, "Hearest thou 
 what these say?" 
 
 40. the stones would imtnediately cry out] There seems to be an 
 allusion to the passage "For the stone shall cry out of the wall," which 
 
vv. 41— 44-] ST LUKE, XIX. 299 
 
 41 — 44. Jesus weeping over Jerusale7n. 
 
 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and 41 
 wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at 42 
 least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy 
 peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days 43 
 shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench 
 about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on 
 every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy 44 
 
 occurs amid denunciations of destruction on covetousness and cruelty in 
 Hab, ii. 11. 
 
 41 — 44. Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. 
 
 41. he beheld the city] The Temple was at that time magnificent with 
 gilding and white marble, which flashed resplendently in the spring 
 sunlight (Jos. B.y. v. 5, §6), and the city was very unlike the crumbling 
 and squalid city of to-day. But that "mass of gold and snow" woke 
 no pride in the Saviour's heart. Few scenes are more striking than 
 this burst of anguish in the veiy midst of the exulting procession. 
 
 wept over it] Not merely edakrusen 'shed silent tears' as at the grave 
 of Lazarus (John xi. 35) but eklatcsen 'wept aloud;' and that although 
 not all the agonies and insults of four days later could wring from Him 
 one tear or sigh. 
 
 42. at least in this thy day] Is. Iv. 6; 2 Cor. vi. 2. 
 
 which belong unto thy peace] Perhaps with a paronomasia on the 
 name of Salem or 'Peace,' and on the sound though not the derivation of 
 Jerusalem {Yeroo Shalom 'they shall see peace,' comp. Ps. cxxii. 6, 7). 
 Such plays on words often spring from deep emotion. (See my Chapters 
 on Language, pp. 269 — 276. ) Is. xlviii. 18, " O that thou hadst hearkened 
 to my commandments ! then had thy peace been as a river." 
 
 43. the days] often used of troublous times, like the Latin tempora. 
 shall cast a trench abotit thee] Rather, shall surround thee with a 
 
 palisade, Is. xxix. 3, 4, xxxvii. 33, LXX. Literally fulfilled forty 
 years afterwards at the siege of Jerusalem, when Titus surrounded the 
 city first with a palisaded mound {vallum and agger), and then with a 
 wall of masonry. 
 
 heep thee in on every side] The blockade established was so terribly 
 rigid that myriads of the Jews perished of starvation. 
 
 44. shall lay thee even with the ground] Titus, if we may trust 
 Josephus, accomplished this prophecy wholly against his will, being 
 driven to the utter subversion and destruction of the city, by the 
 desperate obstinacy of the Jews. Sulpicius Severus {Hist. II.), who is 
 supposed to be here incorporating a fragment of Tacitus, says, "alii et 
 Titus ipse evertendum templum in primis censebant quo plenius Judaeo- 
 rum et Chris tiano7-um religio tolleretur." Josephus says that it was so 
 frightfully desolated by the siege, that any Jew coming suddenly upon 
 it would have asked what place it was (Jos. B. y. VI. i, §1). It was 
 again laid waste in the rebellion under Barcochba- 
 
300 ST LUKE, XIX. [vv. 45— 48. 
 
 children within thee : and they shall not leave in thee one 
 stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time 
 of thy visitation. 
 
 45, 46. Filial Cleansing of the Temple. 
 
 45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them 
 
 46 that sold therein, and them that bought ; saying unto them, 
 It is written. My house is the house of prayer: but 
 ye have made it a den of thieves. 
 
 47, 48. Eager?iess of the People to hear. 
 
 47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests 
 and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to 
 
 48 destroy him, and could not find what they might do : for 
 all the people were very attentive to hear him. 
 
 and thy children within thee] The siege began at the Passover, and 
 hence it is said that nearly 3,000,000 Jewswere crowded into the city. 
 
 shall not leave in thee one stone upon another] The subsequent 
 attempt of the Jews to rebuild the Temple was frustrated by the out- 
 burst of subterranean fires. See Gibbon, ch. xxiii. ii. 309 (ed. Milman). 
 Comp. Mic. iii. 12. 
 
 of thy visitation] See Is. xxix. 1 — 4; Hos. x. 14, 15. For the word 
 'visitation' see i Pet. ii. 12; Ecclus. xviii. 20. The 'visitation' which 
 they had neglected was one of mercy, i. 68. 
 
 45, 46. Final Cleansing of the Temple. 
 
 45. he went into the temple] The procession of Galilaean pilgrims 
 would leave Jesus at the foot of Mount Moriah — (the ' Mountain of the 
 House,' Is. ii. 2), beyond which none might advance with dusty feet or 
 stained by travel. Jesus would enter by the Shushan gate. 
 
 began to cast out, &c.] As He had also done at the beginning of 
 His ministry, John ii. 15. The needs of the pilgrims — the money which 
 had to be changed — the purchase of cattle for sacrifice, &c. — had made 
 the cloisters, precincts, and even the outer court of the Temple a scene of 
 noisy and greedy barter, as the nave of St Paul's used to be a few genera- 
 tions ago. For further details, see Matt. xxi. 12, 13 ; Mk. xi. 15 — 17. 
 
 46. My house is the house of prayer] Is. Ivi. 7. See oni. 10, xviii. 10. 
 a deft of thieves] Rather, a brigands' cave. Our Lord had seen 
 
 many of these brigands' caves on the steep rocky sides of the Wady 
 Hamam and elsewhere. Comp. Jer. vii. 11, "Is this house which is 
 called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes?" It became 
 still more a murderers' cave when the sicarii made its pavement swim 
 with blood (Jos. B. J. iv. 3, §§ 7, 10). 
 
 47, 48. Eagerness of the People to hear. 
 48. were very attentive to hear him] Literally, ** were hanging front 
 him" i.e. hung on His lips; ''''pendebnf ab ore,'^ Verg. Aen. iv. 79. 
 
V. I.] ST LUKE, XX. 301 
 
 Ch. XX. I — 8. Sudden Question of the Priests and Scribes. 
 
 And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he 20 
 taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, 
 the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the 
 
 ** On thee the loyal-hearted hung." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 "Hanged on him, as the bee doth on the flower, the babe on the 
 breast, the little bird on the bill of her dam. Christ drew the people 
 after Him by the golden chain of His heavenly eloquence." J. Trapp. 
 
 Ch. XX. 1 — 8. Sudden Question of the Priests and Scribes. 
 
 1. on one of those days] 'Those' is omitted in N, B, D, L, Q. 
 
 By careful comparison of the Evangelists we find that after the 
 Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, our Lord was 
 received in the Temple by the children — probably those engaged in the 
 Choral Service of the Temple — wi th shouts of Hosanna, which again called 
 forth the embittered rebuke of the priests. These rebukes He silenced 
 by a reference to Ps. viii. 2. Then came the message brought to Him by 
 Andrew and Philip from the Greek enquirers (supposed by some to have 
 been sent by Abgarus V. , King of Edessa), and the Voice from Heaven. 
 After this he retired privately from the Temple, and bivouacked 
 {rjvXLadr]) for the night on the Mount of Olives (John xii. 20 — 5 ; Matt, 
 xxi. 17). Next morning — Monday in Passion Week — occurred the 
 incident of the Fruitless Figtree (Matt. xxi. 18, 19), and it was after 
 this that our Lord entered the Temple. This Monday in Passion week 
 may be called a Day of Parables, since on it were uttered the Parables 
 of the Two Sons (Matt. xxi. 28 — 32); the Rebellious Husbandmen 
 (9 — 16); the Rejected Cornerstone (17, 18) j and the Marriage of the 
 King's Son (Matt. xxii. i — 14). 
 
 preached the gospel] etiangelizomenou, iii. 18, iv. 43, &c. This beautiful 
 word is almost confined to St Luke, who uses it twenty-five times, and 
 St Paul, who uses it twenty times. 
 
 the chief priests and the scribes] The chief priests were the heads of . 
 the twenty-four courses. It was probably the humble triumph of Palm 
 Sunday, and the intense excitement produced in the city {kadaBt]) by 
 the arrival of Jesus (Matt. xxi. lo), which first awoke the active 
 jealousy of the chief priests of Jerusalem, who were wealthy Sadducees 
 in alliance with the Herodians, and who had hitherto despised Jesus as 
 only a ' Prophet of Nazareth. ' From this period of the narrative, the 
 hostility of the Pharisees, as such, is much less marked. Indeed they 
 would have sympathised with the cleansing of the Temple, which 
 involved a terrible reflexion on the greed and neglect of the hierarchic 
 party. 
 
 came upon him] The word implies a sudden and hostile demonstra- 
 tion (Acts xxiii. 27, iv. i, vi. 12). They thus surrounded Him while 
 He was walking in the Temple (Mark xi. 27). 
 
302 ST LUKE, XX. [vv. 2—8. 
 
 2 elders, and spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what au- 
 thority doest thou these things ? or who is he that gave thee 
 
 3 this authority ? And he answered and said unto them, I 
 
 4 will also ask you one thing ; and answer me : The baptism 
 
 5 of John, was it from heaven, or of men ? And they rea- 
 soned with themselves, saying, If we shall say. From heaven; 
 
 6 he will say. Why then believed ye him not ? But and if we 
 say. Of men ; all the people will stone us : for they be per- 
 
 7 suaded that John was a prophet. And they answered, that 
 
 8 they could not tell whence // was. And Jesus said unto 
 
 with the elders] There were probably three great sections of the 
 Sanhedrin: i, Priests; 2, Scribes and Rabbis (Sopherim, Tanaim, &c.); 
 and 3, Levites. Derenbourg, Pal. ch. vi. 
 
 2. by what authority] Rather, by what kind of authority. The 
 implication is *you are only called a Rabbi by courtesy ;' you are not a 
 'pupil of the wise ;' you are not a priest, or a scribe, or a political func- 
 tionary. Yet you usurp functions which rather belong to Caiaphas, or 
 the President of the Sanhedrin, or the Romans, or Herod. If you act 
 as a Prophet shew us a sign. Practically it was the old taunt by which 
 he had been grieved in Galilee (Matt. xii. 39, xvi. 4). 
 
 who is he that gave thee this authority?] Every recognised Rabbi had 
 received his diploma; every Priest his ordination. 
 
 3. / will also ask you one thing] Rather, a question. The divine 
 readiness and (if we may be allowed the expression) presence of mind 
 of Jesus was most conspicuously shewn on this perilous day and the 
 next day. 
 
 and answer me] We see from St Mark (xi. 30) that this emphatic 
 expression came after His question — as though to hasten their delay, 
 and break up a whispered colloquy of perplexity. 
 
 4. was it from heaven^ or of men?] Rather, from men. This was 
 equivalent to the question — with which surely the teachers of Israel 
 should at once have been provided with an answer — was the Baptist a 
 prophet or a seducer ? If they could not answer this question they were 
 obviously incompetent to decide as to the authority by which He worked. 
 
 5. they reasoned with themselves] They went aside to discuss together 
 what answer they should give. This deliberation rendered their con- 
 fession of ignorance more glaring and more fatal to their claims. 
 
 Why then believed ye him not f] See vii. 30. It never occurred to them 
 to speak with the courage of their convictions. 
 
 6. all the people will stone us] The word is a strong compound — 
 katalithasei — used here only — 'will stone us to death. Herod had 
 been daunted by the same dread, Matt. xiv. 5; Jos. Antt. xviii. 5, § 2. 
 It illustrates the furious bursts of fanaticism to which the Jews were liable 
 (John viii. 59, x. 31, &c.). 
 
 persuaded] Rather, firmly convinced. The tense implies an un- 
 alterable conclusion. 
 
vv. 9— II.] ST LUKE, XX. 303 
 
 them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these 
 iJiings. 
 
 9 — 19. The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. 
 
 Then began he to speak to the people this parable ; A 9 
 certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husband- 
 men, and went into a far country for a long time. And at ic 
 the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they 
 should give him of the fruit of the vineyard : but the hus- 
 bandmen beat him, and sent hi?n away empty. And again n 
 he sent another servant : and they beat him also, and en- 
 
 7. they could not tell] Rather, did not know. A wise answer in 
 cases of real uncertainty, as the Hebrew proverb taught — ^^ Learn to 
 say I do not know ;^'' but a base answer when they had an opinion but 
 did not dare to avow it ; and doubly base in the matter of a question on 
 which it was their plain duty to have arrived at a judgment. To be 
 reduced to this ignominious necessity of confessing ignorance (though 
 '*W(? know^' was one of their favourite phrases, John ix. 24, &c.) was a 
 public humiliation which they had brought upon themselves. 
 
 8. Neither tell I you] If they were incompetent to decide as to the 
 authority of the Prophet who had saluted Jesus as the Messiah, they 
 were obviously incompetent to decide as to J/is authority. 
 
 9 — 19. The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. 
 
 9. to the people] but still in the hearing of the priests and scribes who 
 had only withdrav^Ti a little into the background (vs. 19; Matt. xxi. 32, 
 45). St Luke here omits the Parable of the Two Sons (Matt. xxi. 28 — 
 32), in which, as in this Parable, the hidden meaning — applicable in 
 the first instance to Pharisees and the people, and in the second to Jews 
 and Gentiles — was hardly veiled. 
 
 a vineyard] As in Is. v. i — 7; Ps. Ixxx.; Ezek. xv. i — 6; Jer. ii. 21. 
 St Luke omits the special isolation, &c. of the vineyard. Vines, 
 grapes, and vineleaves were symbols of Palestine, on the coins of the 
 Maccabees. 
 
 to husbandmen] namely, (i) the Jewish nation; (2) their rulers and 
 teachers. 
 
 for a long time] The nearly two thousand years of Jewish History. 
 Comp. Matt. xxv. 19. In this long time they learnt to say "the Lord 
 hath forsaken the earth," Ezek. viii. 12; Ps. x. 5. 
 
 10. he sent a servant] The various 'servants' are the Judges, the 
 better Priests, and the Prophets. 
 
 that they should give him ofthef'uit] The payment is in kind, on the 
 mitayer system. 
 
 11. And again he sent another] Jer. xliv. 4. Literally, ^^ And he 
 added to send another" — a Hebraism, xix. 11; Acts xii. 3; Gen. 
 iv. 2. 
 
304 ST LUKE, XX. [vv. 12—17. 
 
 12 treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And 
 again he sent a third : and they wounded him also, and cast 
 
 13 him out. Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I 
 do ? I will send my beloved son : it may be they will 
 
 14 reverence him when they see him. But when the husband- 
 men saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This 
 is the heir : come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may 
 
 15 be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed 
 him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto 
 
 16 ^them ? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and 
 shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard /*/, 
 
 17 they said, God forbid. And he beheld them, and said, 
 
 entreated him shamefully] There is a gradation in their impious 
 audacity. In St Matthew (xxi. 35) it is (i) beat, (2) killed, (3) 
 stoned. In St Mark (xii. 3 — 5) it is ( i ) beat, and sent away empty ; 
 (2) wounded in the head, and insulted; (3) killed. And when more 
 servants are sent they beat some and kill some. 
 
 12. cast him out] On this treatment of God's messengers see on xiii. 
 33, 34 and Neh. ix. 26; i K. xxii. 24—27; 2 Chr. xxiv. 19 — 22; Acts 
 vii. 52; I Thess. ii. 15; Heb. xi. 36, 37, where the same charge is 
 reiterated. 
 
 13. IVhat shall I do?] Gen. i. 26, vi. 7. 
 
 I will send my beloved son] who "took on Him the form of a servant." 
 Our Lord's teaching respecting His own divine dignity advanced in dis- 
 tinctness as the end was approaching. 
 
 it may be\ Literally, '■'•perhaps^ It occurs here alone in the N. T. and 
 once only in the LXX., i Sam. xxv. 21 (Heb. "JX, E. V. 'surely'). 
 This 'perhaps' belongs of course only to the parable, but it (i) indicates 
 their free will, and (ii) enhances their awful crime to represent it as 
 having seemed all but inconceivable. 
 
 when they see him] Omitted in i<, B, C, D, L, Q. 
 
 14. that the inheritance may be ours] "His Son, whom he hath 
 appointed heir of all things," Heb. i. 2. Comp. John xi. 47 — 53. 
 "They killed that they might possess, and because they killed they lost." 
 Aug. 
 
 15. cast him out of the vineyard^ This may involve an allusion to 
 Christ suffering "without the gate," Heb. xiii. 12, 13; John xix. 17. 
 The prophecy was meant if possible at the last hour to prevent the 
 guilt of its own fulfilment (2 K. viii. 12, 13). 
 
 16. He shall come and destroy] In Matt. xxi. 41 this is the answer 
 of the people themselves to our Lord's question. 
 
 shall give the vineyard to others] "Lo, we turn to the Gentiles," Acts 
 xiii. 46. 
 
 God forbid] lAiexdWyy '' Might it not beP' Yieb. Chaltlah. In this 
 utterance we hear the groan of the Jewish people when the truth that they 
 
w. 18—20.] ST LUKE, XX. 305 
 
 What is this then that is written, The stone which the 
 builders rejected, the same is become the head 
 of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone 18 
 shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will 
 grind him to powder. And the chief priests and the scribes 19 
 the same hour sought to lay hands on him ; and they feared 
 the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this 
 parable against them. 
 
 20—26. Question about the Tribute Money. 
 And they watched him^ and sent forth spies, which should 20 
 
 were indeed to be rejected burst upon them. It woke an echo even in 
 the heart of the Apostle of the Gentiles. For the Hebrew expression 
 ChalUah see Gen, xliv. 7, 17 ; Josh. xxii. 29. It occurs ten times in the 
 Epistle to the Romans alone. See Life of St Paul, 11. 206. It is the 
 opposite of Amen, but occurs here alone in the Gospels. 
 
 17. he beheld thetn] Rather, looking fixedly on them, to add solem- 
 nity to His reference to their own Scriptures. 
 
 that is written] He here refers them to the very Psalm from which 
 the Hosanna of the multitude had been taken. 
 
 The stone which the builders rejected] This is a quotation from Ps. 
 cxviii. 22, comp. Is. xxviii. 16. The stone is regarded both as a founda- 
 tion-stone, and a stone at the angle of the building, binding the two 
 walls together. These words made a deep impression on St Peter 
 (I Pet. ii. 7, 8), 
 
 18. shall fall upon that stone] as the Jews did from the first, i Cor. 
 i. 23. See Is. viii. 14, 15. 
 
 shall be broken] Literally, ^^ shall be sorely bruised.^'* 
 it shall fall] as it did on the finally impenitent Jews after Christ's 
 Ascension. 
 
 it will grind him to powder] Literally, ^^ it shall winnow him" {Jer. 
 xxxi. 10), with obvious reference to the great Image which 'the stone 
 cut without hands ' smote and broke to pieces, so that its fragments be- 
 came "like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor, and the wind carried 
 them away," Dan. ii. 35. 
 
 19. against them] This decidedly shews the priniary sense of the 
 Parable. As yet they hardly realized its wider significance. So when the 
 priests and rulers saw that Jeremiah spoke against them, "Come," said 
 they, "and let us devise devices against Jeremiah... come, and let us smite 
 him with the tongue," Jer. xviii. 18, 
 
 After this parable our Lord added the Parable of the Marriage of the 
 King's Son, Thus in three continuous Parables He convicted the Priests 
 and Scribes (i) of false professions; (2) of cruel faithlessness; (3) of blind 
 presumption. This with their public humiliation about John's baptism 
 made them thirst for speedy vengeance. 
 
 ST LUKE 20 
 
3o6 ST LUKE, XX. [v. 21. 
 
 feign themselves just men^ that they might take hold of his 
 words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and 
 authority of the governor. And they asked him, saying, 
 Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, nei- 
 ther acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way 
 
 20—26. Question about the Tribute Money. 
 
 20. And they watched hint] For the word used see vi. 7, xiv. i, 
 xvii. 20. The incident now related took place on the Tuesday in Pas- 
 sion-week — the Day of Temptations, or insidious questions — the last and 
 greatest day of the public ministry of Jesus. On the previous evening 
 He had again retired to the Mount of Olives, and in the morning the 
 disciples remarked that the Fig-tree had withered. He had scarcely 
 arrived in the Temple when the plot of the Jewish rulers on the pre- 
 vious evening began to be carried out. 
 
 spies] Literally, ^^liers in wait'^ {efzhathetotis, Josh. viii. 14; Job xxxi. 9). 
 
 just men] Rather, righteous; ingenuous and scrupulous 'disciples of 
 the wise,' honestly seeking for instruction. They pretend to be strict 
 legalists who revive the scruples of Judas the Gaulonite. 
 
 ^hey] i.e. the priests. 
 
 take hold of his words] Comp. Ecclus. viii. 11," Rise not up in anger 
 at the presence of an injurious person, lest he lie in wait to entrap thee 
 in thy words.'''' The words might be rendered ' take hold of Him by His 
 speech."* 
 
 unto the power and authority of the governor] Rather, to the (Ro- 
 man) magistracy and to the jurisdiction of the procurator. Comp. 
 xii. II. They had not the power or the courage to put Christ to 
 death themselves. We see from Matt. xxii. 15; Mark xii. 16 that this 
 plot sprang from an unholy alliance of Pharisees with Herodians — 
 i.e. of scrupulosity with indifferentism — of devotees with sycophants; — 
 not the first or last instance of the ill-omened conjunction of Priests 
 and Statesmen — 
 
 "Statesmen bloodstained and Priests idolatrous 
 With dark lies maddening the blind multitude — " 
 
 who mutually hate each other, but unite in common hatred "to crush 
 a reformer whose zeal might be inimical to both." (Neander.) 
 
 21. Master, we know, &c.] There is something in this fawning 
 malice, and treacherous flattery, almost as repulsive as the kiss of 
 Judas. 
 
 neither acceptest thou the person of any] Gal. ii. 6. The word for 
 * person ' is prosopon, ' a mask ;' it is as though they would imply that 
 Jesus was not only an Impartial Judge, too true for sycophancy, but 
 also too keen-sighted to be deceived by hypocrisy. And the one blighting 
 word 'Ye hypocrites!' shewed them that their words were truer than 
 they had intended. From the phrase lambaneis prosopon are formed 
 the words prosopolemptes and prosopolempsia ; see Eph. vi. 9; Col. iii. 
 25; Acts x. 34, &c. It is a Hebrew phrase. Lev. xix. 15; Mai. i. 8. 
 
vv. 22—26.] ST LUKE, XX. 307 
 
 of God truly : is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Cesar, 22 
 or no ? But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto 23 
 them, Why tempt ye me ? Shew me a penny. Whose 24 
 image and superscription hath it ? They answered and said, 
 Cesar's. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto 25 
 Cesar the things which be Cesar's, and unto God the things 
 which be God's. And they could not take hold of his words 26 
 before the people : and they marvelled at his answer, and 
 held their peace. 
 
 22. is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Cesar, or no ,?] The 
 question was devised with so superlative a craft that it seemed impos- 
 sible for our Lord to escape. If He said 'It is lawful,' the Pharisees 
 hoped at once to undermine His popularity with the multitude. If 
 He said 'It is not lawful' (Deut. xvii. 15), the Herodiajis could at 
 once hand Him over, as a traitor, to the secular power. For ' tri- 
 bute' each Evangelist uses a different word — epikephalaion, 'poll-tax' 
 (Mark in D); the Latin kenson 'census' (Matt.); and the classical 
 phoron here and xxiii. 2. It was a capitation-tax, the legality of which 
 was Indignantly disputed by scrupulous legalists. 
 
 c7-aftiness'\ panourgian, a classical word only found in St Paul and 
 St Luke, 2 Cor. iv. 2, xi. 3, &c. 
 
 23. Why tempt ye me, &c.] Our Lord saw at once that it was a 
 cunning test-question meant only to entrap Him. Not for a moment 
 did these fawning spies deceive him though 
 
 "Neither man nor angel can discern 
 
 Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks 
 
 Invisible, except to God alone." 
 These Pharisees were illustrating the truth that " no form of self-deceit 
 is more hateful than that which veils spite and falsehood under the guise 
 of frankness, and behind the profession of religion," 
 
 24. Shew me a penny'\ A denarius. See on vii. 41. We see 
 from Mk. xii. 15, 16 that they were obliged to borrow the heathen coin 
 from one of the tables of the money-changers. They would only carry 
 Jewish money in their own girdles. 
 
 Whose image and superscription hath it?] On one side would be the 
 once beautiful but now depraved features of Tiberius ; the title Pontifex 
 Maximus was probably inscribed on the obverse. 
 
 25. unto Cesar the things which be Cesar's] St Paul very clearly 
 enforces the same duty in Rom. xiii. 6, 7. The 'tribute' in Matt. xvii. 
 24 was quite different ; it was the Temple didrachma. 
 
 and unto God the things which be GocTs] To Caesar you owe what he 
 demands of his own coinage ; to the Temple the tribute which you can 
 only pay in the shekel of the sanctuary ; to God you owe yourselves. Pay 
 to Caesar the coins which bear his stamp, to God the duties of your own 
 souls which bear His image. 
 
 26. they marvelled at his anszver] Comp. ii. 47. They thought that 
 
3o8 ST LUKE, XX. [vv. 27, 28. 
 
 2 7 — 40. Discomfiture of the Saddticees, 
 
 27 Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny 
 
 28 that there is any resurrection ; and they asked him, saying, 
 Master, Moses wrote unto us. If any man's brother die, 
 having a wife, and he die without children, that 
 
 escape was impossible for Him; and yet He instantly shatters their 
 deeply-laid plot to pieces by shewing that they — Pharisees and 
 Herodians alike — had absolutely decided the guestioft already (according 
 to their own rule "He whose coin is current is king of the land"), so 
 that there is no need for Him to give any opinion whatever about it. 
 The point was this, — their national acceptance of Caesar's coinage was 
 an unanswerable admission of Caesar's right. Tribute to them was no 
 longer a cheerful offering, but a legal due ; not a voluntary gift, but a 
 political necessity. The very word He used was decisive. They had 
 asked "Is it lawful to give {dotcnai)T'' He answers, 'Give back' 
 {apodote). By using these coins they all alike admitted that 'they had no 
 king but Caesar.' The Christians understood the principle perfectly 
 (i Pet. ii. 13, 14) as the ancient Jews had done (Jer. xxvii. 4 — 8). Yet 
 these hypocrites dared to shout three days afterwards that Jesus 'had 
 forbidden to give tribute to Caesar ! ' 
 
 27 — 40. Discomfiture of the Sadducees. 
 
 27. certain of the Sadducees] Matt. iii. 7. On the Sadducees see the 
 Excursus on Jewish Sects. They were undeterred by the discomfiture of 
 the Pharisees and Herodians, and perhaps their plot had been so 
 arranged as coincidently to humiliate our Lord, if they could, by a 
 difficult question, and so to shake His credit with the people. Some have 
 supposed that the memorable incident of the Woman taken in Adultery 
 (John viii. i — 11) also took place on this day; in which case there would 
 have been three temptations of Christ, one political, one doctrinal, and 
 one speculative. But that incident rose spontaneously, whereas these 
 had been pre-arranged. 
 
 which deny that there is any resurrection] Jos. Antt. xviii. r, § 4 ; 
 B. J. II. 8, § 14. They refused to see any proof of it in the Books 
 of Moses ; and to the Prophets and the other books (the Ketu- 
 bhiin or Hagiographa) they only attached a subordinate importance. 
 Their question was inspired less by deadly hatred than by supercilious 
 scorn. Wealthy and powerful, they only professed to despise Jesus, up 
 to this time, as a 'Prophet of Nazareth,' though now they became His 
 main murderers. They are not so much as mentioned by St John, and 
 very slightly by St Mark and St Luke, nor did Christ utter against 
 them the same denunciations as against the Pharisees, who were His 
 daily opponents. All the leading families of high priests at this period 
 were Sadducees, and — except where it comes into direct collision with 
 religion — Epicurean worldliness is more tolerant than interested fana- 
 ticism. 
 
 28. Moses 7urote unto us] The law of levirate marriage. Deut. 
 xxiii. 4. See on iii. ■23. 
 
w. 29—36.] ST LUKE, XX. 309 
 
 his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed 
 unto his brother. There were therefore seven brethren: and 29 
 the first took a wife, and died without children. And the 30 
 second took her to wife, and he died childless. And the 31 
 third took her ; and in Hke manner the seven also : and 
 they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died 32 
 also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is 33 
 she ? for seven had her to wife. And Jesus answering said 34 
 unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given 
 in marriage : but they which shall be accounted worthy to 35 
 obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, nei- 
 ther marry, nor are given in marriage : neither can they die 36 
 
 29. There were therefore seven brethrett] In Matt. xxii. 25 it runs 
 ** there were tvith us," as though they were aUuding to an actual case. 
 
 30. And the second took her] This question about the husband of 
 the "Sevenfold widow" was one of the materialistic objections to the 
 Resurrection, which as an insipid ' difficulty ' had often been discussed 
 in Jewish schools. It was excessively commonplace, and even if Jesus 
 had given the answer which contented the most eminent Rabbis of the 
 Pharisaic schools — that the woman would be the wife of the j^?'st 
 husband — it is hard to see what triumph these shallow Epicureans 
 (as the Talmud calls them) would have gained by their question. 
 
 33. whose wife ?] The forcible order of B, L is " the woman, 
 therefore, in the resurrection, whose ivife does she become of the seven 1''^ 
 
 for seven] Rather, for the seven. 
 
 34. The children of this world] i. e. all who live in the present dis- 
 pensation. Here, as often elsewhere, the word rendered ' world ' is 
 aeon, which properly means ' age.' It is not the kos?nos or material 
 Universe; but the Universe regarded subjectively, i.e. the Time-world. 
 
 35. accounted worthy] Comp. xxi. 36; Rev. iii. 4; 2 Thess. i. 5. 
 Sane magna dignatio. Bengel. 
 
 to obtain that world] i. e. the genuine inheritors of the future aeon 
 beyond the grave, xiv. 14; Phil. iii. 11. The answer of Jesus is not 
 only full of tolerant condescension, but also of a divine wisdom which 
 at once dwarfs into insignificance the most vaunted insight of the 
 Rabbinic Hillels and Shammais. It is further most important, as being 
 one of the very few passages which give us a clear glimpse into the 
 actual conditions of future blessedness. These Sadducees erred Ijecause, 
 in their ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God (Mark xii. 24), 
 they were imagining a kingdom which could be inherited by "flgsh and 
 blood." 
 
 36. neither can they die any more] Rather, for neither, &c. There 
 is no marriage and no more birth. " There shall be no more death," 
 Rev. xxi. 4. "The dead shall be raised incorruptible^^ i Cor, 
 XV. 52. 
 
3IO ST LUKE, XX. [w. 37— 39. 
 
 any more : for they are equal unto the angels ; and are the 
 
 37 children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now 
 that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, 
 when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and 
 
 38 the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is 
 not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto 
 him. 
 
 39 Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou 
 
 equal unto the angels] Like the angels in being immortal, but supe- 
 rior to them in privileges (Heb. i. 4; ii. 5 — 8). "When He shall 
 appear, we shall be like Hi??i ; for we shall see Him as He is," i John 
 iii. 2. In this one word our Lord refutes the Sadducean denial of the 
 existence of angels, Acts xxiii. 8 ; and incidentally those material 
 notions of future bliss (xiv. 15) which all the Jews held. 
 
 the children of God, being the childi'en of the resurrection] "/am 
 the resurrection, and the life," John xi. -25. 
 
 37. are raised] Literally, ^'' are being raised" — the present of eternal 
 certainty. 
 
 even Moses] The argument is d. fortiori, as though our Lord would 
 say, " the Prophets prove it abundantly, but I will not quote them 
 since you attach higher importance to the Law. You quote Moses to 
 throw doubt on the Resurrection ; but even Moses, &c." 
 
 shewed] Rather, disclosed, or revealed. 
 
 at the bush] Rather, in the Bush, i.e. in that section of Exodus (Ex. 
 iii.) which they called by that name, just as they called 2 Sam. i. 'the 
 Bow' and Ezek. i. ' the Chariot.' Comp. "in Elias," Rom. xi. 2 [marg.]. 
 
 38. he is not a God of the dead, but of the living] Rather, of dead 
 beings, but of living beings. The Pharisees had endeavoured to draw 
 proofs of immortality from the Law, i.e. from Numb. xv. 31. In later 
 times they borrowed this proof from Christ, — lighting their torches at 
 the sun though they hated its beams. But they had, up to this time, 
 offered no proof so deep and true as this. The argument is that God 
 would never have called Himself "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and 
 of Jacob," if these Patriarchs, after brief and sad lives, had become 
 mere heaps of crumbling dust. Would He have given confidence by 
 calling Himself the God of dust and ashes? So Josephus (?) says, 
 4 Mace. xvi. 24, "they who die for God's sake, live unto God as 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Patriarchs." Acts xvii. 28. 
 
 for all live unto him] Rom. xiv. 8, 9. Our Lord added, " Ye 
 therefore do greatly err." But how incomparably less severe is the 
 condemnation of religious and intellectual error, than the burning re- 
 buke against Pharisaic lovelessness ! 
 
 39. The7t certain of the scribes] Even the Pharisees could not fail 
 to see the luminous wisdom and spiritual depth of our Lord's reply, and 
 while all of them would rejoice at this unanswerable confutation of their 
 hereditary opponents, some of them would have the candour to express 
 
w. 40—44.] ST LUKE, XX. 31 1 
 
 hast well said. And after that they durst not ask him any 40 
 question at all, 
 
 41 — 47. The Scribes^ Sadducees, and Pharisees reduced to 
 a Confession of Ignorance. 
 
 And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is 41 
 David's son ? And David himself saith in the book of 42 
 Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on 
 my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot- 43 
 stool. David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then 44 
 his son? 
 
 their approval. Truth will always offend some, but others will value 
 it. After this grateful acknowledgment, however, one of them could 
 not refrain from gratifying the insatiable spirit of casuistry by asking 
 Christ 'which is the great commandment of the Law?' (Matt. xxii. 
 34 — 40; Mk. xii. 28 — 34.) This incident is omitted by St Luke, be- 
 cause he has given similar ones before. 
 
 40. they durst not ask him any qiiestion\ The total collapse of their 
 stratagems enhanced our Lord's peril, by shewing how impossible it 
 was for these rich and learned "pupils of the wise" to pose themselves 
 as superiors to Christ in wisdom and knowledge. Assumed contempt 
 was deepened into real hatred, and all the more after the next incident. 
 
 41—47. The Scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees reduced to 
 A Confession of Ignorance. 
 
 41. How say they that Christ is David's son .?] Rather, the Christ. 
 See John vii. 42 ; Ps. cxxxii. 11 ; Jer. xxiii. 5 ; Mic. v. 1. 
 
 42. in the book of Psalms'] Ps. ex. i. The Jews universally regarded 
 it as a Messianic Psalm, and in vs. 3 the LXX, renders, "From the 
 womb, before the morning star, did I beget thee." 
 
 The Lord said to my Lord] In the Hebrew it is "Jehovah said 
 to my Lord {Adottai)." 
 
 Sit thou on my right hand] Comp. Matt. xxvi. 64. 
 
 43. till I make thine enetfiies thy footstool] "He must reign till 
 He hath put all enemies under His feet," i Cor. xv. 25. 
 
 44. how is he then his soft ?] To a Jew it was inconceivable that a 
 father, or ancestor, should call his son "Lord." The only possible 
 solution — that the Messiah was only "made of the seed of David after 
 the flesh" (Rom. i. 3) was one which they had never chosen to accept. 
 They, like the Ebionites, expected for their Messiah a mere 'beloved 
 man.' And thus, for the second time on this day, they had drawn on 
 their own heads, by their hypocritic craft, the humiliating necessity 
 of publicly confessing their ignorance respecting matters of primary 
 importance before the people, whose absolute reverence they claimed. 
 They 'did not know' whether the Baptist was an Impostor or a Prophet ; 
 they * could not answer a word ' to a most obvious question as to the 
 
312 ST LUKE, XX. XXI. [w. 45—47 ; i. 
 
 45 Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his 
 
 46 disciples, Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long 
 robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest 
 seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts ; 
 
 47 which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long 
 prayers : the same shall receive greater damnation. 
 
 Ch. XXI. 1—4. The Widow's Mite. 
 21 And he looked up, and saw the rich 7nen casting their 
 
 Messianic hope which they put forward as the very centre of their 
 religion ! Comp. xiv. 6. 
 
 45. in the audience of all the people\ Rather, while all the people 
 "were listening-. Here followed the final rupture of Jesus with the 
 authorities — political, social, and religious — of His nation. They had 
 now made their own condemnation inevitable, and had justly provoked 
 that great Denunciation on which (as less intelligible to Gentiles) St 
 Luke here only touches. But he has given it in part before (xi. 39 — 52) 
 in his account of the hostile banquet at the house of a Pharisee. In 
 St Matthew it occupies, w^ith its rhythmic grandeur and awfully solemn 
 condemnation, the whole of the twenty-third chapter. 
 
 46. to walk in long robes] with special conspicuousness of fringes, 
 Numb. XV. 38 — 40. " The supreme tribunal," said R. Nachman, "will 
 duly punish hypocrites who wrap their talliths round them to appear, 
 what they are not, true Pharisees." 
 
 greetings in the ?narkets] See on xi. 43 : Videri quani esse was their 
 secret rule. 
 
 47. which devour widows' houses] Josephus expressly tells us that 
 the Pharisees had large female followings, and an absolute sway in the 
 Gynaekonitis or women's apartments, Jos. Antt. xviii. 2, § 4. 
 
 for a shew] Rather, in pretence. Their hypocrisy was so notorious 
 that even the Talmud records the warning given by Alexander Jannaeus 
 to his wife on his deathbed against painted Pharisees. And in their 
 seven classes of Pharisees the Talmudic writers place ^^Shechemites^' — 
 Pharisees "from self-interest ; Stumblers — so mock-humble that they will 
 not raise their feet from the ground ; Bleeders— 'io mock-modest, that 
 because they will not raise their eyes, they run against walls, &c. Thus 
 the Jewish writers themselves depict the Pharisees as the Tartuffes of 
 antiquity. 
 
 long prayers] Such as the twenty-six forms of prayer at ablution ; 
 the Eighteen Benedictions (Shemoneh Esreh), &c. 
 
 damnation] Rather, judgment. The word is not even katakrima, 
 or 'condemnation.' Their 'judgment' shall be more severe than that 
 of those who practised none of these religious ordinances. It should be 
 " more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment " than for these, 
 X. 14. 
 
 Ch. XXI. 1—4. The Widow's Mite. 
 
 1. he looked up] The expression seems to shew that He was sitting 
 
w. 2—5.] ST LUKE, XXI. 313 
 
 gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor 2 
 widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a 3 
 truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more 
 than they all: for all these have of their abundance cast in 4 
 unto the offerings of God : but she of her penury hath cast 
 in all the living that she had. 
 
 5 — 7. The Doom of the Te??iple, and the Question about 
 the End. 
 
 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned 5 
 
 with do\vncast eyes, saddened, perhaps, in His human spirit and 
 agitated by the great Denunciation ; but this last little incident is 'like 
 a rose amid a field of thistles,' — an act genuinely beautiful in the desert 
 of * official devotion.' 
 
 the rich men'\ More literally, *^ He saw those who were casting their 
 gifts into the treasujy — rich men.^^ St Mark tells us that the gifts were 
 large (Mk. xii. 41). 
 
 into the treasury] See John viii. 10. This was in the Court of the 
 Women. The High Priest Jehoiada had put a chest for this purpose 
 at the entrance of the House, 2 K. xii. 9 ; see Neh. x. 38 ; Jos. B. f. 
 VI. 5 ; Antt. XIX. 6, § i, and 2 Mace. iii. 6—12. It contained the Corban, 
 Matt, xxvii. 6. But in our Lord's day there were thirteen chests called 
 Shopheroth, from their trumpet-shaped openings, adorned with various 
 inscriptions. These rich men do not seem to have been observing the 
 injunctions both sacred and Talmudic to give secretly, Matt. vi. 4, 18. 
 
 1. also] If the hai be genuine, it should perhaps follow the tina — 
 "some one — even a widow." 
 
 two mites} "which make a farthing," Mk. xii. 42. The lepton or 
 prutah was the smallest of coins, and the Rabbis did not allow any one 
 to give less than two. 
 
 3. more than they all] because " one coin out of a little is better 
 than a treasure out of much, and it is not considered how much is 
 given, but how much remains behind." S. Ambrose. See 2 Cor. viii. 
 12. In the Talmud a High Priest is similarly taught by a vision not to 
 despise a poor woman's offering of meal. The true estimate of human 
 actions, as Godet well observes, is according to their quality, not 
 according to their quantity. 
 
 4. of their abundance] Rather, out of their overplus. The essence 
 of charity is self-denial. But in these days most people give ^mites'' out 
 of their vast superfluity, — which is no charity at all ; and they talk of 
 these offerings as 'mites,' as though that word excused and even 
 consecrated an offering miserably inadequate. 
 
 5—7. The Doom of the Temple, and the Question about 
 THE End. 
 
 6. as some spake] We learn from the other Evangelists that those 
 
314 ST LUKE, XXI. [vv. 6— 8. 
 
 6 with goodly stones and gifts, he said. As for these things 
 which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there 
 shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be 
 
 7 thrown down. And they asked him, saying. Master, but 
 when shall these things be? and what sign will there be 
 when these things shall come to pass ? 
 
 8 — 27. Signs of the End. 
 
 8 And he said. Take heed that ye be not deceived: for 
 
 who spoke were the Apostles, and that the question was asked as Jesus 
 sat on the Mount of Olives opposite to the Temple, perhaps gazing on 
 it as it shone in the last rays of sunset. 
 
 with goodly stones] bevelled blocks of stone, of which some are 
 described as having been forty cubits long and ten high ; double clois- 
 ters; monolithic columns; alternate slabs of red and white marble, &c. 
 See Jos. B. J. v. 5 and Bab. Siicca, f. 51, i. 
 
 and gifts] Rather, sacred offerings (Ps. Ixii.), such as the golden 
 chain of Agrippa; gifts of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Augustus, Helen of 
 Adiabene, and crowns, shields, goblets, &c. ; the golden vine with its 
 vast clusters given by Herod. (Jos. B. y. v. 5, § 4. See 2 Mace. v. i6; 
 and Jos. Antt. xiii. 3, xv. 11, § 3.) Hence Tacitus calls it " a temple of 
 immense opulence, " Hist. v. 8. 
 
 6. As for these things which ye behold] Rather, these tMngs 
 ■whicli ye are gazing on (it is what is called the ' pendent nomina- 
 tive'). 
 
 there shall not be left one stone upon another] See on xix. 44 and 
 the remarkable passage in 1 Esdras x. 54, "in the place where the 
 Highest beginneth to shew His city, there can no man's building be 
 able to stand." This was fulfilled in spite of the strong wish of Titus 
 to spare the Temple, Jos. ^. y. vi. 4, § 5 ; but see on xix. 44. He 
 was himself so amazed at the massive substructures that he could only 
 see in his conquest the hand of God (id. vi. 9, § i). This prophecy was 
 in reality that " Let us depart hence" which Josephus {B. J. vi. 5, § 3) 
 and Tacitus {Hist. v. 13) tell us was uttered by a mysterious Voice 
 before the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 7. they asked him] The questioners were Peter and James and 
 John and Andrew, Mark xiii. 3. 
 
 when... and what sign] Our Lord leaves the former question un- 
 answered (see on xvii. 20) and only deals with the latter. This was 
 His gentle method of discouraging irrelevant or inadmissible questions 
 (comp. xiii. 23, 24). 
 
 8—27. Signs of the End. 
 
 8. Take heed that ye be not deceived] A danger incurred even by 
 the elect. Matt. xxiv. 24. The moral key-notes of this great Dis- 
 course of the Last Things (Eschatology) are Beware! Watch! Endure! 
 Pray! 
 
w. 9— II.] ST LUKE, XXL 315 
 
 many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ ; and the 
 time draweth near : go ye not therefore after them. But < 
 when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not ter- 
 rified : for these things must first come to pass ; but the end 
 «• not by and by. 
 
 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, 
 and kingdom against kingdom : and great earthquakes shall 
 
 for many shall come in my name] *' Even now are there many anti- 
 christs," I John ii. 18. 
 
 the time draweth near] Rather, the crisis has approached. 
 
 9, wars and commotions'] The best comment on Xk\& primary fulfil- 
 ment of this Discourse is the Jewish War of Josephus, and the Annals 
 and History of Tacitus {A^m. xii. 38, XV. 22, xvi. 13), whose narra- 
 tive is full of earthquakes, wars, crimes, violences and pollutions, and 
 who describes the period which he is narrating as one which was "rich 
 in calamities, horrible with battles, rent with seditions, savage even 
 in peace itself." The main difficulties of our Lord's Prophecy vanish 
 when we bear in mind (i) that Prophecy is like a landscape in which 
 time and space are subordinated to eternal relations, and in which 
 events look like hills seen chain behind chain which to the distant 
 spectator appear as one ; and (ii) that in the necessarily condensed and 
 varying reports of the Evangelists, sometimes the primary fulfilment 
 (which is shewn most decisively and irrefragably by vs. 32 to be the 
 Fall of Jerusalem), sometimes the ultimate fulfilment is predominant. 
 The Fall of Jerusalem was the Close of that Aeon and a symbol of 
 the Final End (telos). This appears most clearly in the report of St 
 Luke. 
 
 commotions] akatastasias, conditions of instability and rottenness, the 
 opposite \.o peace, i Cor. xiv. 33; Jas. iii. 16. Such commotions were 
 the massacre of 20,000 Jews in their fight with the Gentiles at Caesarea ; 
 the assassinations or suicides of Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius; the 
 civil wars, &c. 
 
 be not terrified] The Greek word is the exact equivalent of our Eng- 
 lish word 'be not scared,^ xxiv. 37; i Pet. iii. 6; Prov. iii. 25. 
 
 but the end is not by and by] Rather, hut not immediately is the 
 end. For *by and by' see xvii. 7; Matt. xiii. 21; Mk. vi. 25. The 
 words are most important as a warning against the same eschatological 
 excitement which St Paul discourages in 2 Thess. (" The end is not 
 yet" Matt. xxiv. 6; Mk. xiii. 7.) The things which 'must first come 
 to pass ' before the final end were ( 1 ) physical disturbances — which so 
 often synchronise with historic crises, as Niebuhr has observed; (2) per- 
 secutions ; (3) apostasy ; (4) wide evangelisation ; (5) universal troubles 
 of war, &c. They were the "beginning of birth-throes" (Matt. xxiv. 
 8) ; what the Jews called the "birth-pangs of the Messiah." 
 
 11. earthquakes] Tac. Hist. I. 2. For such physical portents at 
 great crises see Thuc. i. 23; Tac. Ami. xii. 43, 64, Hist. i. 56; Liv. 
 XLiii. 13, &c. 
 
3i6 ST LUKE, XXI. fw. t2— i6. 
 
 be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences ; and fear- 
 
 12 ful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But 
 before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and per- 
 secute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into 
 prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's 
 
 13 sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle /*/ 
 ^^ therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall 
 
 15 answer : for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all 
 
 16 your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And 
 
 famtnes] Acts xi. 28. The original gives the common paronomasia 
 (play on words) li??ioi kai loimoi. 
 
 pestile7ices\ Josephus {B. J. VI. 9, § 3) mentions both pestilence and 
 famine as the immediate preludes of the storming of Jerusalem. They 
 were due, like the plague at Athens, to the vast masses of people — 
 Passover pilgrims — who were at the time crovyded in the city. 
 
 fearful sights] See Wisdom xvii. i — 22. The -woxd p/wbetra, 'terrors,' 
 occurs here alone. Among these would be the "Abomination of 
 Desolation," or "desolating wing of Abomination," which seems best to 
 correspond with the foul and murderous orgies of the Zealots which 
 drove all worshippers in horror from the Temple (Jos. B. y. IV. 3, § 7, 
 
 V. 6, § r, &c.)- Such too would be the rumour of monstrous births (id. 
 
 VI. 5, § 3); the cry 'woe, woe' for seven and a half years of the peasant 
 Jesus, son of Hanan ; the voice and sound of departing guardian-angels 
 (Tac. Hist. V. 13), and the sudden opening of the vast brazen Temple- 
 gate which required twenty men to move it (Jos. ib.). 
 
 signs.. fro?n heaven] Josephus mentions a sword-shaped comet. Both 
 Tacitus and Josephus mention the portent that 
 
 " Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds, 
 In rank, and squadron, and right form of war ; " 
 and Tacitus tells us how the blind multitude of Jews interpreted these 
 signs in their own favour {Hist. v. 13). 
 
 12. they shall lay their hands on you, &c.] The best comment 
 on the whole verse is found in Acts iv. 3, v. 17 — 41, vi. ix — 13, xii. 2, 
 xvi. 19 — 39, XXV. 23; 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17. Comp. John xv. 20, xvi. 2, 3. 
 
 13. for a testimony] See Mark xiii. 9. "In nothing terrified by 
 your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to 
 you of salvation,''"' Phil. i. 28. "A manifest token of the righteous 
 judgment of God," 2 Thess. i. 5. 
 
 14. not to meditate before] xii. 11 ; Matt. x. 19, 20. The meaning 
 is that they were neither to be anxious about the form of their Apologia, 
 not to make it skilfully elaborate. 
 
 15. I will give you a mouth] as in Ex. iv. 11, 12 ; Jer. i. 9; Is. vi. 6. 
 God, as Milton says, ' sendeth forth His cherubim with the hallowed 
 fire of His altar to touch the lips of whom He will.' 
 
 shall not be able to gainsay] See Acts iv. 14, vi. ro. 
 
vv. 17—22.] ST LUKE, XXI. 317 
 
 ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and 
 kinsfolks, and friends ; and some of you shall they cause to 
 be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my 17 
 name's sake. But there shall not a hair of your head perish. 18 
 In your patience possess ye your souls. 19' 
 
 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, 20 
 then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let 21 
 them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let 
 them which are in the midst of it depart out ; and let not 
 them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these 22 
 
 16. ye shall be betrayed^ In consequence of the disunions prophe- 
 sied in i. 34, xii. 53 ; Matt. x. 21. 
 
 some of you\ of the four to whom He was immediately speaking, per- 
 haps all, and certainly two were martyred. 
 
 17. hated of all meit] ii. 34, vi. 22; John xvii. 14; i Pet. iv. 14, 
 16. "As concerning this sect we know that eveiywhere it is spoken 
 against," Acts xxviii. 22. "We have found this man a pestilent 
 fellow, and a mover of sedition, and a ringleader of the sect of the 
 Nazarenes," id. xxiv. 5. "They speak against you as evil doers," 
 I Pet. ii. 12. " Reproached for the name of Christ," id. iv. 14. "A 
 malefic, an excessive, execrable superstition" (Tac, Plin. , Suet.). 
 ' Away with the godless ! ' ' The Christians to the lions ! ' 
 
 18. not a hai?- of your head'\ for they are "all numbered," Matt. 
 x. 30. The previous verse (16) is of course sufficient to shew that the 
 meaning is spiritual here, not literal as in Acts xxvii. 34. 
 
 shall... perish'\ i.e. not without the special Providence of God, nor 
 without reward, nor before the due time. Bengel. 
 
 19. hi your patience possess ye your sotds'] Rather, with the better 
 reading, By your patience ye shall g-ain your soiUs or lives. Mk. 
 xiii. 13. The need of patience and endurance to the end is very promi- 
 nently inculcated in the N. T., Rom. v. 3; 2 Thess. vii. 4 ; Heb. x. 36; 
 Jas. i. 4, &c. Endurance, not violence, is the Christian's protection, 
 and shall save the soul, and the trtie life, even if it loses all else. 
 
 20. Jerusalem compassed with ar7nies'\ See on xix. 43, and Jos. B.y. 
 V. 2, § 6, 12. Some regard this as the "abomination that maketh 
 desolate." 
 
 21. them tuhich are in Judea] This expression again most clearly 
 proves what was the near horizon of this Prophecy. 
 
 flee to the mountains'] The Christians, in consequence of " a certain 
 oracular utterance " (Euseb. H. E. ill. 5), or an angel-warning (Epi- 
 phan. Haer. I. 123), but more probably in consequence o{ this warning, 
 fled, before the siege, out of Judaea, to the little Peraean town of Pella, 
 among the Transjordanic hills. 
 
 in the midst of it] Rather, her, i.e. Jerusalem. 
 
 in the countries] Rather, in the fields. 
 
3i8 ST LUKE, XXI. [vv. 23—25. 
 
 be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written 
 
 23 may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, 
 and to them that give suck, in those days, for there shall be 
 
 24 great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And 
 they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led 
 away captive into all nations : and Jerusalem shall be trod- 
 den down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be 
 
 25 fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the 
 moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of 
 
 22. the days of vengeance] See Dan. ix. 26,27. Josephus again and 
 again calls attention to the abnormal wickedness of the Jews as the 
 cause of the divine retribution which overtook them. In his Wars 
 of the yews he declares that no generation and no city was "so plunged 
 in misery since the foundation of the world." B. J. v. 10, § 5. 
 
 all things which are wi'itteri] See xix. 42; Is. xxix. 2 — 4; Hos. x. 14, 
 15; Deut. xxviii. 49 — 57; i K. ix. 6 — 9; Ps. Ixxix. i — 13; Mic. ill. 
 8—12. 
 
 23. woe unto them that are with child] The *woe' is only an ex- 
 pression of pity for them because their flight would be retarded or 
 rendered impossible. 
 
 great distress... and wrath] i Thess. ii. 16, "Wrath is come upon them 
 to the uttermost." Josephus says that, when there were no more to 
 plunder or slay, after " incredible slaughter and miseries," Titus ordered 
 the city to be razed so completely as to look like a spot which had 
 been never inhabited. B. J. vi. xo, vii. i. 
 
 24. fall by the edge of the sword] Literally, ^^ month of the sword. ^"^ 
 Gen. xxxiv. 26. 1,100,000 Jews are said to have perished in the war 
 and siege. "It seems as though the whole race had appointed a ren- 
 dezvous for extermination." Renan. 
 
 led away captive into all natiojis] Josephus speaks of 97,000 Jev/s 
 sent to various provinces and to the Egyptian mines. B. f. vi. 9. 
 
 shall be trodden down of the Gentiles] So that the very thing hap- 
 pened which the Maccabees had tried to avert by their fortifications 
 (i Mace. iv. 60). All sorts of Gentiles — Romans, Saracens, Persians, 
 Franks, Norsemen, Turks — have ' trodden down ' Jerusalem since then. 
 The estai patonmene of the original implies a more permanent result 
 than the simple future. Comp. Rev. xi. 2. 
 
 until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled] By the times — ' seasons ' 
 or 'opportunities' of the Gentiles — is meant the period allotted for 
 their full evangelisation. Rom. xi. 25, "Blindness in part is happened 
 to Israel, tintil the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." 
 
 26. signs in the sun, and in the mooft, and in the stars] The articles 
 should be omitted. These signs are mainly metaphorical — the eclipse 
 of nations and the downfall of potentates — though there may be literal 
 fulfilments also. The language is that of the ancient prophets, Amos 
 viii. 9; Joel ii. 30, 31 ; Ezck. xxxii. 7, 8, as in Rev. vi. 12 — 14. 
 
w. 26—32.] ST LUKE, XXI. 319 
 
 nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 
 men's hearts faiUng them for fear, and for looking after 26 
 those things which are coming on the earth : for the powers 
 of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of 27 
 man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 
 
 28. Hope for the Faithful, 
 
 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look 28 
 up, and lift up your heads ; for your redemption draweth 
 nigh. 
 
 29 — 36 Parable of the Fig-tree. Duty of Watchfulness. 
 
 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and 29 
 all the trees ; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know 30 
 of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So sj 
 likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know 
 ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say 32 
 unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be ful- 
 
 distress of nations] Synoche, xii. 50 and 2 Cor. ii. 4. 
 
 the sea and the waves roaring] The true reading is probably riX'^^'*', 
 and the translation, **m perplexity at the roar of the sea and surged' 
 Comp. Ps. xlvi. 4. *' In that day they shall roar against them like the 
 roaring of the sea" Is. v. 30. The raging sea is the sea of nations, Jude 
 13 ; Rev. xvii. 15. 
 
 26. men^ s hearts failing them] 'Literally ^ "men fainting" 
 on the earth] Literally, *'^« the habitable world. ^^ 
 
 the powers of heaveri] i.e. the "bright dynasts" (Aesch. Ag. 6) — the 
 Hosts of the Heavens. 
 
 27. coming in a cloud] Metaphorically in great world crises (Matt. 
 xvi. 17, 28); actually at the Last Coming. Acts i. 11 j Matt. xxvi. 
 €4; Rev. xiv. 14. 
 
 28. Hope for the Faithful. 
 
 28. look up] The ' earnest expectation ' [apokaradokia — * watching 
 with outstretched neck') of the creature, Rom. viii. 19, 23. This verb 
 unakuptein only occurs in xiii. 11. Comp. Matt. xxiv. 31. 
 
 29—36. Parable of the Fig-tree. Duty of Watchfulness. 
 
 29. and all the trees] This is added by St Luke only. The fig-tree 
 would be specially significant to Jewish readers. 
 
 32. This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled] This 
 
320 ST LUKE, XXI. [vv. 33—36. 
 
 33 filled. Heaven and earth shall pass away : but my words 
 shall not pass away. 
 
 34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts 
 be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares 
 
 35 of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For 
 as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face 
 
 36 of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, 
 that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things 
 that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of 
 man. 
 
 verse has a nearer and a farther meaning. That very generation would 
 not have passed when, 40 years later, the Jewish nation wa^ crushed, 
 and the Mosaic dispensation rendered impossible. But genea also 
 means race, and the Jewish race shall last till the end of all things. 
 
 33. Heaven and earth shall pass away] 2 Pet. iii. 7 ; Is. li. 6 ; Ps. 
 cii. 26. 
 
 dul my words shall not pass away\ Rather, my sa3rlngs, my utter- 
 ances. Is. xl. 8. 
 
 34. surfeiting] The headache after drunkenness. — Lat. crapula. 
 drunke7iness'\ Comp. Rom. xiii. 13. Hence the exhortation "be 
 
 sober," nepsate, i Pet. iv. 7 ; i Thess. v. 6. 
 
 cares of this life] Comp. Matt. xiii. 22. The surfeit oi yesterday ; 
 drunkenness oi to-day ; cares for to-7norrow (Van Oosterzee). 
 
 35. as a snare] Eccles. ix. 12 "as the fishes that are taken in an 
 evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of 
 men snared in an evil time." There is the same metaphor in Is. xxiv. 
 17. The common metaphor is "aj a thief^ i Thess. vi. 3; Rev. iii. 3, 
 xvi. 15; but St Paul uses this metaphor also, Rom. xi. 9; i Tim. 
 iii. 7. 
 
 them that dwell] Literally, ^Hhem that sit.^^ A Hebraism (Gen. xix. 
 30, &c.), but perhaps with the collateral notion of 'sitting at ease,' Jer. 
 viii 14, XXV. 29 (LXX.). 'Face of the earth' is also a Hebraism, 2 Sam. 
 xviii. 8. 
 
 36. pray always] xviii. i ; Eph. vi. 18. Render, watcli ye at all 
 times, making supplication. 
 
 accounted worthy] See on xx. 35. Another reading is ^^yemay prevaiV^ 
 {katischusete). 
 
 to stand before the Son of man] "The ungodly shall not stand in the 
 judgment," Ps. i. 5. "Who shall stand when He appeareth," Mai. 
 iii. 2. 
 
 the Son of man] See on v. 24, ix. 58. On this day our Lord also 
 uttered the Parables of the Ten Virgins and of the Talents, and other 
 warnings, Matt. xxv. On this occasion too (as Van Oosterzee con- 
 jectures) our Lord may have used His agraphon dogma "in that 
 wherein I shall find you, in that will I judge you," Just. Mart. Dial^ 
 
 XLVII. 
 
vv. 2>^, 38 ; I, 2.] ST LUKE, XXI. XXII. 321 
 
 37, 38. How J^esus spent the last Public Days of His 
 Ministry. 
 
 And in the day time he was teaching in the temple ; and 37 
 at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called 
 the mou7it of Olives. And all the people came early in the 38 
 morning to him in the temple, for to hear him. 
 
 Ch. XXII. I, 2. Approach of the Passover. The Purpose 
 of the Priests. 
 Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is 22 
 called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes 2 
 
 37, 38. How Jesus spent the last Public Days of His 
 Ministry. 
 
 37. in the day time] Rather, during the days. The notice is retro- 
 spective, applying to Palm Sunday, and the Monday and Tuesday 
 in Passion Week. After Tuesday evening He never entered the Temple 
 again. Wednesday and Thursday were spent in absolute and unre- 
 corded retirement, perhaps with His disciples in the house at Bethany, 
 until Thursday evening when He went into Jerusalem again for the Last 
 Supper. 
 
 at night] Rather, during- the nights. 
 
 and abode] Literally, ^^iised to bivouac;''^ it is very probable that 
 He slept in the open air with His disciples, as is very common with 
 Orientals. He would be safe on the slopes of Olivet, among the 
 booths of the Galilaean pilgrims; see xxii. 39 ; John xviii. i, 2. 
 
 in the niouni] Literally, " into •" i. e. he went to, and stayed upon. 
 
 38. ca7ne early in the viorning] The verb, which does not occur else- 
 where in the N.T., means Resorted to Him at early dawn, ^ Jer. xxix. 
 19, 'rising up early' (LXX.). 
 
 in the tcDiple] Comp. xix, 47; Acts v. 21. They came for the last 
 time on Tuesday morning. On the Thursday morning, Nisan 13, our 
 Lord woke never to sleep on earth again. 
 
 A few cursive MSS. here add the "Gospel for Penitents," John vii. 
 53— viii. II. 
 
 Ch. XXII. 1, 2. Approach of the Passover. The Purpose 
 OF the Priests. 
 
 In this narrative of the Last Supper, Passion, Trial, and Crucifixion 
 the chief points peculiar to St Luke are in xxii. 8, 15, 24, 28 — 30, 43, 
 44, 6i, xxiii. 2, 5—16, 27—31, 34, 39— 43> 4^, 51- 
 
 1. dmv nigh] Rather, was drawing near. 
 
 which is called the Passover] This little explanation shews most 
 clearly that St Luke is writing mainly for Gentiles. Strictly speaking 
 the Passover was wc'^ co-extensive with theFeast of Unleavened Bread, as 
 
 ST LUKE 2 1 
 
322 ST LUKE, XXII. [v. 3. 
 
 sought how they might kill him; for they feared the 
 people. 
 
 3 — 6. The Traitor and the Priests. 
 3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being 
 
 is clearly stated in Numb, xxviii. 16, 17, "In \he fourteenth day of the 
 first month is the passover...7m^ in \\\q fifteenth is the feast" (Lev. xxiii. 
 5, 6). Passover is the translation of the Hebrew Pesach; of this the 
 Greek pascha is a transliteration with a sort of alliterative allusion 
 to the Greek pascho, I suffer. See on the Passover Ex. xii. 1 1 — 20. 
 The Jews of later ages had gradually assumed that a wide difference 
 was intended between the "Egyptian passover" and the ** permanent 
 passover." 
 
 2. the chief priests and scribes'] Their humiliation and defeat before 
 the people — the immense and divine superiority of the wisdom of Jesus 
 so publicly displayed — had at last aroused them into irreconcilable 
 hostility. It is very noticeable that the Pharisees, as a distinct party, 
 now vanish entirely into the background. They are scarcely mentioned 
 again except in Malt, xxvii. 62. 
 
 sought] Rather, were seeking. The word involves a continuous 
 effort, and probably includes the memorable meeting in the Palace of 
 Caiaphas, which is traditionally placed on the 'Hill of Evil Counsel,' 
 but was probably close to the Temple precincts. They seem to have 
 come on that occasion, in consequence of the advice of Caiaphas, to 
 three conclusions, (i) To put Jesus to death; {2) to do it as secretly as 
 possible ; and (3) not to do it during the Feast, so as to avoid the chance 
 of tumults on the part of the Galilaean pilgrims. If this meeting was 
 on Tuesday evening, at the very time that they were deciding not to 
 kill Jesus (Ps. ii. 2) for more than eight days — and it was unusual to 
 put to death during the Passover, Acts xii. 4 — He, seated on the 
 slopes of Olivet, was telling His disciples that before the Passover He 
 should be slain, Matt. xxvi. i — 5. 
 
 3 — 6. The Traitor and the Priests. 
 3. Then entered Satan into yudas\ No other expression seems 
 adequately to explain his wickedness. It began in avarice, disappoint- 
 ment, and jealousy ; and, when he had long w^eakened his soul by 
 indulgence in these dark, besetting sins, the imaginary loss of the 
 " 300 pence " of which he would have had the disposal (John xii. 4, 5 ; 
 Mk. xiv. 10), — th« now undisguised announcement of our Lord that He 
 should be not only rejected, but <rr«fz/?'<?a' (Matt. xx. 19) — the consequent 
 shattering of all Messianic hopes — the growing sense that he was 
 becoming distasteful to his Master and his fellows— the open rebuke 
 which he had drawn on his own head by his hypocritic greed at 
 Bethany Qohn xii. 6) — the rumoured hostility of all the most venerated 
 authorities of the nation — all these formed the climax of his tempta- 
 tions: — and then, at last, the tempting opportunity met the susceptible 
 disposition. " Instead of dominion — service ; instead of power — per- 
 
W.4— 6.] ST LUKE, XXII. 3^3 
 
 of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and 4 
 communed with the chief priests and captains, how he 
 might betray him unto them. And they were glad, and 5 
 covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought 6 
 opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the 
 multitude. 
 
 secution ; instead of honour — shame ; this was all that was left of his 
 hopes and prospects once so brilliant." His crime was but the epitome 
 of months — perhaps years — of secret faithlessness. "Dicitur Satan in 
 reprobos intrare, cum reverso Dei metu, extincta rationis luce, pudore 
 etiam excusso, sensus omnes occupat." Calvin. 
 Iscariot] See on vi. 16. 
 
 4. he went his way] We infer from the combined accounts that he 
 met the priests on two occasions, on one of which the bargain was 
 proposed, and on the other concluded. 
 
 communed] Spoke with. 
 
 captains] Literally, ^'gefierals^ The Z<?z^///(r captains of the Temple 
 who kept order during the Feasts. There was strictly only one who bore 
 the title of "the general of the Temple" — "man of the mountain of 
 the House" (see Neh. ii. 8, vii. 2 ; Jer. xx. i ; 2 Mace. iii. 4) ; but he 
 had guards under him (Jos. B. J. vi. 5, § 3), and the name might be 
 applied to the whole body. One of the bitter complaints against the 
 High Priests of the day was that they made their own sons "generals 
 of the Temple. " St Luke was aware that the special title applied only 
 to one person, as appears from Acts iv, i. 
 
 how he might betray him] Rather, give Him up. The word used is 
 noiprodo, but the xmldeT parado. 
 
 5. they were glad] This spontaneous offer — and that too from one 
 of Christ's immediate followers — seemed to solve all their difficulties. 
 
 covenanted] Or, 'agreed;' in St Mark, 'promised.^ In Matt. xxvi. 15 
 it is said that they 'paid' or 'weighed' him the money, with a reference 
 to Zech. xi. 12, 13 (LXX.). This was perhaps done at a second meeting 
 when the actual plan was ripened. 
 
 to give him money] The proposal came from the wretched man 
 himself (Matt. xxvi. 15). The paltry sum given (which is mentioned 
 by St Matthew only) — 30 shekels, about £1. i6j-., the price given for 
 the meanest slave — shews that this sum was either regarded as earnest- 
 money, or more probably that the Priests felt themselves quite able 
 to carry out their plot, though less conveniently, without any aid from 
 Judas. On one side of these shekels would be stamped the olive-branch, 
 the emblem of peace ; on the obverse the censer, the type of prayer, 
 with the inscription, "Jerusalem the Holy" ! 
 
 6. sought opportunity] Doubtless he was baffled at first by the 
 entire and unexpected seclusion which Jesus observed on the Wednesday 
 and Thursday. 
 
 in the absence of the multitude] Rather, without a mob ; drep is 
 poetic, and only occurs here and in vs. 35. 
 
 21 2 
 
324 ST LUKE, XXII. [vv. 7—12. 
 
 7 — 13. Preparation for the Passover. 
 
 7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the pass- 
 
 8 over must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, 
 
 9 Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. And 
 10 they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare ? And 
 
 he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the 
 city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; 
 
 " follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye 
 shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith 
 unto thee. Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the 
 
 12 passover with my disciples ? And he shall shew you a large 
 
 7—13. Preparation for the Passover. 
 
 7. Then came the day of unleavened bread'\ All leaven was most 
 carefully and scrupulously put away on the afternoon of Thursday, 
 Nisan 13. 
 
 when the passover must be kiUed'\ Rather, be sacrificed. On the 
 difficult question whether the Last Supper was the actual Paschal meal, 
 or an anticipatory Passover, see the Excursus. 
 
 8. he sent Peter and jfohn'] Apparently our Lord, now withdrawn 
 from His active work, said nothing about the Passover till the disciples 
 questioned Him as to His wishes. The old law that the Paschal Lamb 
 must be chosen ten days beforehand had long fallen into desuetude. 
 Its observance would have been impossible for the myriads of pilgrims 
 who came from all parts of the world. 
 
 10. a man... bearing a pitcher of waterl A very unusual sight in the 
 East, where the water is drawn by women. He must probably have 
 been the slave of one who was an open or secret disciple; unless we 
 have here a reference to the Jewish custom of the master of a house 
 himself drawing the water with which the unleavened bread was 
 kneaded on Nisan 13. If so the "man bearing a pitcher of water" may 
 have even been the Evangelist St Mark, in the house of whose mother, 
 and probably in the very upper room where the Last Supper was held, 
 the disciples used at first to meet (Acts xii. i^). The mysteriousness 
 of the sign was perhaps intended to baffle, as long as was needful, the 
 machinations of Judas. 
 
 11. goodman"] See on xii. 39. 
 guestchamber] Kataluma, rendered *'inn^^ in ii. 7. 
 
 the passover] Although reasons will be given in Excursus V. for 
 the view that this was not the actual Passover, it is clear that our 
 Lord designedly spoke of it as His Passover, and gave it a paschal 
 character. It is possible that Jewish customs unknown to us made it 
 allowable for individuals on special occasions to anticipate the regular 
 passover. 
 
w. 13—17] ST LUKE, XXII. 325 
 
 upper room furnished : there make ready. And they went, 13 
 and found as he had said unto them : and they made ready 
 the passover. 
 
 14 — 38. The last Supper. 
 
 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the m 
 twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With 15 
 desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before 
 I suffer : for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, 16 
 until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took ^^ 
 the cup, and gave thanks, and said,. Take this, and divide 
 
 12. upper roofh] The usual place of resort for large gatherings in a 
 Jewish house ; probahly the very room which also witnessed the appear- 
 ance of the Risen Christ to the Twelve, and the Descent of the Holy 
 Ghost at Pentecost. 
 
 furnished^ with divans, cushions, &c. Ezek. xxiii. 41 (LXX.); Acts 
 ix. 34 (Greek). 
 
 14 — 38. The last Supper. 
 
 14. when the hour was come'] If the meal was intended to be 
 directly Paschal, this would be "between the two evenings" (Ex. xii. 6); 
 a phrase interpreted by the Jews to mean between three and six, and 
 by the Samaritans to mean between twilight and sunset. Probably 
 Jesus and His disciples, anxious to avoid dangerous notice, would set 
 forth towards dusk. 
 
 he sat down] Rather, reclined. The custom of eating the Passover 
 standing had long been abandoned. 
 
 15. With desire I have desired] i.e. I earnestly desired. A He- 
 braism. Matt. xiii. 14, &c. 
 
 to eat this passover] The expression may perhaps point to the fact 
 that this was not the actual Jewish Paschal meal, but one which was 
 intended to supersede it by a Passover of far more divine significance. 
 
 18. / will not any more eat thereof] The true reading probably is, 
 I will not eat it. The 'not any more' however is a correct gloss. 
 
 until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God] i.e. until the true Pass- 
 over has been offered by my death, and so the new kingdom esta- 
 blished. 
 
 17. he took the cup, and gave thanks] Literally, '■'■ and aftei- receiving 
 the cup, and giving thaiiks." From eiccharistein comes our word 
 Eucharist. 
 
 The main customs of the Jevnsh Passover are as follows : — (i) Each 
 drinks a cup of wine — *the cup of consecration' — over which the master 
 of the house pronounces a blessing. (2) Hands are washed, and a table 
 carried in, on which are placed bitter herbs, cakes of unleavened bread, 
 the Charoseth (a dish made of dates, raisins, and vinegar), the paschal 
 lamb, and the flesh of the Chagigah or feast-offering. (3) The father 
 
326 ST LUKE, XXII. [vv. 18—20. 
 
 18 // among yourselves : for I say unto you, I will not drink of 
 the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 
 
 19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake //, and 
 gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for 
 
 20 you : this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup 
 after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my 
 blood, which is shed for you. 
 
 dips a morsel of unleavened bread and bitter herbs, about the size of 
 an olive, in the Charoseth, eats it with a benediction, and distributes a 
 similar 'sop' to all present. (4) A second cup of wine is poured 
 out, and the youngest present asks the meaning of the service, to 
 which the father replies. (5) The first part of the Hallel (Ps. cvii. — 
 cxiv.) is sung. (6) Grace is said, and a benediction again pro- 
 nounced ; after which the father distributes bitter herbs and unleavened 
 bread dipped in the Charoseth. (7) The Paschal lamb is eaten, and 
 a third cup of wine handed round. (8) After another thanksgiving, 
 a fourth cup — the cup of joy — is drunk. (9) The rest of the Hallel 
 (Ps. cxv. — cxviii.) is sung. 
 
 The cup mentioned in this verse has been supposed to be the third 
 cup of wine in the Jewish ceremonial ; and the actual chalice of the 
 Eucharist (the **cup of blessing," i Cor. x. 16, Cos ha-Berdchah) is 
 identified with the fourth cup. We also see in the Last Supper the 
 benediction, and possibly the Hallel (Matt. xxvi. 30). But (i) the 
 identifications are somewhat precarious. (2) There is no certainty that 
 the ^^ Sacrificial Passover''^ thus observed by the Jews was identical in 
 ceremonial with the *^ Memorial Passover'''' which now alone they are 
 able to observe. 
 
 18. of the fruit of the vine] This is perhaps a reference to the 
 Jewish benediction pronounced over the fii^st cup, 'Blessed be Thou, 
 O Lord our God, who hast created the fruit of the vine.' 
 
 19. he took breadl The account in St Luke closely agrees with 
 that given by St Paul (i Cor. xi. 23 — 26), which he 'received from the 
 Lord.' 
 
 This is 7ny bod}>\ Comp. "I am the door," John x. 7. "That rock 
 was Christ," i Cor. x. 4. "The bread which we break, is it not the 
 communion of the body of Christ?" i Cor. x. 16. AH the fierce 
 theological debates between Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Zuinglians, 
 Calvinists, &c. might have been avoided if men had borne in mind the 
 warning of Jesus, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth 
 nothing : the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are 
 life," John vi. 63. 
 
 in remetnbrauce of me"] The emphasis is on the latter words. The 
 Christian Passover was no more to be in remembrance of the deli- 
 • verance from Egypt, but of that far greater deliverance wrought by 
 Christ. 
 
 20. the new testatnent] Hence the name of the New Testament. 
 The word Diatheke (Ileb. Berith) means both a will, and an agreement 
 
vv. 21— 26.] ST LUKE, XXIT. 327 
 
 But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with 21 
 me on the table. And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was 22 
 determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. 
 And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them 23 
 it was that should do this t/img. 
 
 And there was also a strife among them, which of them 24 
 should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, 25 
 The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them ; and 
 they that exercise authority upon them are called benefac- 
 tors. But ye shall not be so : but he that is greatest among 26 
 
 or covenant, see Jer. xxxi. 31. "It contains all the absolute elements of 
 the one, with the conditional elements of the other. Hence the New 
 Testament [kaine Diatheke) is the revelation of a new relation on God's 
 part with the conditions necessary to its realisation on man's part." 
 Fairbairn. 
 
 in 77iy blood] i.e. ratified by my blood shed for you. The best com- 
 ment is Heb. ix. 15, 18 — 22; i Cor. xi. 25. The other Synoptists have 
 " my blood of the New Testament." 
 
 21. the hand of him that betrayeth me] For fuller details of this last 
 awful warning to Judas, and of the intimation of the person intended 
 to His nearest disciples, see Matt. xxvi. 21 — 25; Mk. xiv. 18 — 21; 
 John xiii. 21 — 26. Whether Judas actually partook of the Holy Com- 
 munion has always been uncertain. Bengel quotes the language of 
 St Ambrose to Theodosius, "Will you hold forth those hands still 
 dripping with the blood of unjust slaughter, and with them take the 
 most holy body of the Lord?" 
 
 22. as it was determined] "being delivered by the determinate 
 counsel and foreknowledge of God," Acts ii. 23, iv. 27, 28. "The 
 Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,^' Rev. xiii. 8. The 
 type of Judas was Ahithophel, Ps. xli. 9. 
 
 23. to inquire among themselves] The pathetic details are given by 
 St John. It is characteristic of their noble, simple, loving natures that 
 they seem to have had no suspicions of Judas. 
 
 24. And there was also a strife] Philoneikia, *an ambitious conten- 
 tion,' occurs here only. It is probable that this dispute arose while 
 they were taking their places at the couches {triclinia), and may pos- 
 sibly have been occasioned by some claim made by Judas for official 
 precedence. He seems to have reclined on the left of our Lord, and 
 John on the right, while Peter seems to have been at the top of the 
 next mat or couch, at the left of Judas, across and behind whom he 
 stretched forward to whisper his question to St John (John xiii. 23, 24). 
 For previous instances of this worldly ambition see ix. 46 — 48 ; 
 Matt. XX. 20 — 24. 
 
 25. exercise lordship] Peter learnt this lesson well, r Pet. v. 3. 
 
 are called benefactors] Euergetai — a name often inscribed on coins. 
 How worthless and hollow the title was the disciples knew from the 
 
328 ST LUKE, XXII. [w. 2'/— 33. 
 
 you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he 
 
 27 that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at 
 meat, or he that serveth ? is not he that sitteth at meat ? 
 
 28 but I am among you as he that serveth. Ye are they which 
 
 29 have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint 
 unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; 
 
 30 that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and 
 sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 
 
 31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath 
 
 32 desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat : but I 
 have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not : and when thou 
 
 33 art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto 
 
 instances of Ptolemy Euergetes and other Syrian tyrants. Onias had 
 been more deserving of the name, 2 Mace. iv. 2. 
 
 26. let him be\ Rather, let him become, — let him shew himself to 
 be in reality. 
 
 the younger] who in Eastern families often fulfils menial duties. Acts 
 V. 6. 
 
 27. I am among you as he that serveth] The true Euergetes is the 
 humble brother, not the subtle tyrant. See Matt. xx. 28. " Took upon 
 him the form of a servant," Phil. ii. 7. St Luke here omits the beauti- 
 ful acted parable of the Lord washing the disciples' feet (John xiii. i — 
 20), as also the words to Judas, and his going forth into the night. 
 
 28. in my toiiptations] See on iv. 13. 
 
 29. I appoint unto you a kingdom'] See xii. 32. " If we suflTer 
 we shall also reign with Him," 2 Tim. ii. 12. Diatithemai is *I ap- 
 point by way of bequest,' Ps. Ixxxi. 4 (LXX.). 
 
 30. sit on thrones] Our Lord here perhaps designedly omitted the 
 word "twelve," Matt. xix. 28 (Rev. iii. 21). 
 
 judging] " The saints shall judge the world," i Cor. vi. 2. But the 
 clause is omitted in some MSS. 
 
 31. Simon, Simon] The repetition of the name gave combined 
 solemnity and tenderness to the appeal (x. 41). 
 
 Satan hath desired to have you] Ratlier, Satan demanded you (plur.), 
 or ' gained you by asking.' " Not content with Judas," vs. 3. Bengel. 
 
 that he may sift you] The word siniasai, from sinion, a sieve, 
 occurs here only. Satan, too, has his winnowing fan, that he may get 
 his chaff. Judas has been already winnowed away from the Apostolic 
 band, and now Satan demands Peter (comp. Job i. 9). The warning 
 left a deep impression on Peter's mind, i Pet. v. 8, 9. For the 
 metaphor see Amos ix. 9, 10. 
 
 32. I have prayed for thee] Rather, I made supplication concerning 
 thee, shewing that Peter, the most confident, was at that moment 
 the most imperilled, though Jesus had prayed for them all (John xvii. 
 9,11). 
 
 that thy faith fail not] The word means ' fail not uttei'ly, ox finally. 
 
w. 34—37.] ST LUKE, XXII. ^ 329 
 
 him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, 
 and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall 34 
 not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that 
 thou knowest me. And he said unto them, Wlien I sent 35 
 you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any 
 thing 1 And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, 36 
 But now, he that hath a purse, let him take //, and likewise 
 his scrip : and he that hath no sword, let him sell his gar- 
 ment, and buy one. For I say unto you, that this that is 37 
 written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was 
 reckoned among the transgressors: for the things 
 
 when thou art conve^'ted, strengthen thy brethren"] Comp. Ps. li. 13. 
 So, after the Resurrection, Jesus said to him, " Feed my sheep" (John 
 xxi. 17). The very word for 'strengthen ' sank into his heart, and is 
 repeated in his Epistle, i Pet. v. 10. ' Converted ' has not here its 
 technical meaning — but * when thou hast turned again.' It means more, 
 however, than merely vicissim, 'in turn.' Comp. i Pet. ii. 25; 
 1 Pet. ii. 11, 22; Matt. xiii. 15, &c. 
 
 33. / afH ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death] Ra- 
 ther, even into prison, even into death, and the order and emphasis 
 should be, 'Lord, zvith Thee I am ready,' &c. This 'flaring enthusiasm' 
 is always to be suspected of weakness. Prov. xxviii. 26; i Cor. x. 12. 
 
 34. Peter] The only occasion on which Jesus is recorded to have 
 used to him the name Pie gave. It is used to remind him of his strength 
 as well as his weakness. 
 
 the cock shall not crow this day] It was, perhaps, already past mid- 
 night. St Mark says more exactly (xiv. 30) 'shall not crow twice.^ 
 But St Luke's expression merely means, ' that part of the dawn which 
 is called the cock-crow {alektorophonia, gallicinium) shall not be over 
 before, &c.' 
 
 35. without purse, &c.] See ix. 3, x. 4. 
 
 36. Bui now] This was an intimation of their totally changed rela- 
 tion to the world. There was no spontaneous hospitality, no peaceful 
 acceptance, no honoured security, to be looked for now, 
 
 he that hath no s7vord, let him sell his garment, and bicy one] Rather, 
 he that hath not (either purse or scrip to buy a sword with), let him, 
 &c. Of course the expression was not meant to be taken with unin- 
 telligent literalness. It was in accordance with that kind metaphorical 
 method of expression which our blessed Lord adopted that His words 
 might never be forgotten. It was to warn them of days of hatred and 
 opposition in which self-defence might become a daily necessity, though 
 not aggression. To infer that the latter is implied has been one of the 
 fatal errors which arise from attributing infallibility to wrong inferences 
 from a superstitious letter-worship. 
 
 37. he was reckoned among the transgressors] A quotation from Is. 
 
330 ST LUKE, XXII. [v v. 38— 40. 
 
 38 concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord, behold, 
 here are two swords. And he said unto them. It is enough. 
 
 39 — 46. The Agony in the Garden, 
 
 39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the 
 
 40 mount of OHves ; and his disciples also followed him. And 
 
 liii. 12. Hence clearly the sword could not be for His defence, as they 
 carelessly assumed. 
 
 for\ Rather, for indeed. 
 
 have an end\ The end {telos) was drawing near ; it would come on 
 the following day [Tetelestai, John xix. 30). 
 
 38. here are two szuords] It was a last instance of the stolid literal- 
 ism by which they had so often vexed our Lord (Matt. xvi.'6 — 12). As 
 though He could have been thinking of two miserable swords, such as 
 poor Galilaean pilgrims took to defend themselves from wild beasts or 
 robbers ; and as though two would be of any use against a world in 
 arms ! It is strange that St Chrysostom should suppose ' knives ' to be 
 intended. This was the verse quoted by Boniface VIIL, in his famous 
 Bull Unam sanctaT?i, to prove his possession of both secular and spiri- 
 tual power ! 
 
 And he said unto them, It is enough"] Not of course meaning that 
 two swords Avere enough, but sadly declining to enter into the matter 
 any further, and leaving them to meditate on His words. The formula 
 was one sometimes used to waive a subject ; comp. i Mace. ii. 33. See 
 p. 384. " It is a sigh of the God-man over all violent measures meant 
 to further His cause." 
 
 39 — 48. The Agony in the Garden. 
 
 39. A7td he came otct] St Luke here omits all the touching incidents 
 which St John alone records — the discourses so "rarely mixed of sad- 
 ness and joys, and studded with mysteries as with emeralds ;" Peter's 
 question, "Lord, whither goest thou?"; the melancholy remark of 
 Thomas about the way; Philip's "Lord, shew us the Father;" the 
 perplexed enquiry of Judas Lebl)aeus; the rising from the Table; the 
 Parable of the Vine and the Branches, perhaps suggested by the trellised 
 vine under which they passed out into the moonlight; and the great 
 High Priest's prayer. 
 
 to the mount of Olives'] down the valley over the brook, or, rather, 
 dry wady of the Kedron, and then up the green slope beyond it to 
 the garden or small farm (xw/J^oi/) of Gethsemane, "the oil press," 
 which is about half a mile from the city. Probably (John xviii. 2) it 
 belonged to a disciple ; possibly to St Mark. Judas knew the spot, and 
 had ascertained that Jesus was going there. He had gone out to get 
 the band necessary for His arrest. 
 
 followed him] The walk would be under the full Paschal moon amid 
 the deep hush that falls over an Oriental city at night. The only recorded 
 
vv. 41— 44.] ST LUKE, XXII. 331 
 
 when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye 
 enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from 41 
 them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 
 saying. Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: 42 
 nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there 43 
 appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening 
 him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: 44 
 and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling 
 
 incident of the walk is one more warning to the disciples, and specially 
 to St Peter. Matt. xxvi. 32 — 35. 
 
 40. he said unto the7)i\ First He left eight of them to sleep under 
 the trees while He withdrew with Peter and James and John, whom He 
 told to watch and pray. 
 
 41. he was withcb-awn^ Literally, ^'' He was taken away,^^ or 'He 
 tore Himself away' (comp. xxi. i), shewing the reluctance with which 
 He parted from this support of loving sympathy under the imperious 
 necessity of passing through His darkest hour alone. Perhaps He 
 withdrew deeper into the shadow of the ancient olive-trees. (In esti- 
 mating the force of sucli words as ekballo, apospao. Sec, it should 
 however be borne in mind that in Hellenistic Greek their old classical 
 force was weakened by colloquialism. See 2 Mace. xii. 10.) 
 
 and kneeled dowfi\ "and fell on His face," Matt. xxvi. 39. 
 
 42. if thou be willing\ The principle of His whole life of suffering 
 obedience, John v. 30, vi. 38. 
 
 this cup\ Matt. xx. 12 ; comp. Ezek. xxii. 31 ; Ps. Ixxv. 8. This prayer 
 is an instance of the "strong crying and tears," amid which He "learned 
 obedience by the things which He suffered," Heb. v. 7, 8. 
 
 43. there appeared an angel'] As after His temptation. Matt. iv. 11. 
 This and the next verse are not of absolutely certain authenticity, since 
 they are omitted in A, B, and by the first corrector of S; and Jerome 
 and Hilary say that they were omitted in "very many" Greek and 
 Latin MSS. Their omission may have been due to mistaken reverence; 
 or their insertion may have been made by the Evangelist himself in a 
 later recension. 
 
 44. being in an agony] The word which occurs here only in the N.T. — 
 though we often have the verb agonizojnai — means intense struggle and 
 pressure of spirit, which the other Evangelists also describe in the strong 
 words ademonein (Matt. xxvi. 37) and ekthambeisthai (Mk. xiv. 33). It was 
 an awful anguish of His natural life, and here alone (Matt. xxvi. 38 ; John 
 xii. -27) does He use the word fvxn of Himself. It was not of course a 
 mere shrinking from death and pain, which even the meanest natures 
 «an overcome, but the mysterious burden of the warld's guilt (2 Cor. v. 
 -1 1 ) — the shrinking of a sinless being from the depths of Satanic hate 
 and horror through which He was to pass. As Luther says 'our hard 
 impure flesh' can hardly comprehend the sensitiveness of a fresh un- 
 stained soul coming in contact with horrible antagonism. 
 
 as it were great drops of blood \ Such a thing as a ' bloody sweat ' 
 
332 ST LUKE, XXII. [vv. 45— 48. 
 
 45 down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, 
 and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for 
 
 46 sorrow, and said unto them, Why sleep ye ? rise and pray, 
 lest ye enter into temptation. 
 
 47 — 53. The Traitor's Kiss. The Arrest. Malchus. 
 
 47 And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that 
 was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and 
 
 48 drew near unto J esus to kiss him. But Jesus said unto him, 
 
 seems not to be wholly unknown (Arist. Hist. Anini. iii. 19) under 
 abnormal pathological circumstances. The blood of Abel 'cried from 
 the ground ;' but this blood ' spake better things than the blood of 
 Abel' (Gen. iv. 10; Heb. xii. 24). St Luke does not however use 
 the term 'bloody sweat,' but says that the dense sweat of agony fell 
 from him " like blood gouts" — which may mean as drops of blood do 
 from a wound. 
 
 45. sleeping for sorrow] Ps. Ixix. 20. The last two words give 
 rather the cause than the excuse. They are analogous to " the spirit 
 indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" of Matt. xxvi. 41. St Luke 
 here abbreviates the fuller records given in Matt. xxvi. ; Mk. xiv., from 
 which we find that Jesus thrice came to His Apostles, and thrice found 
 them sleeping (see Is. Ixiii. 3), — each momentary pause of prayer mark- 
 ing a fresh step in His victorious submission. This was the Temptation 
 of Jesus by every element of anguish, as He had been tempted in the 
 wilderness by every element of desire. 
 
 46. Why sleep ye ?'\ "Simon, sleepest thou? Were ye so unable to 
 watch with me a single hour?" Matt. xxvi. 40; Mk. xiv. 37. The 
 secojid time He does not seem to have spoken to them. The third time 
 He knew that it was too late. The object of their watching had now 
 ceased, for He heard the tramp of men in the distance, and saw the 
 glare of their torches; and therefore it was with a tender irony that He 
 said, 'Sleep on now and take your rest' (as far as any help which you 
 can render to Me is concerned), but ' Rise, let us be going,' for now 
 sleep will be alike impossible to us all. 
 
 47 — 53. The Traitor's Kiss. The Arrest. Malchus. 
 
 47. behold a multitude] Composed of Levitical guards under their 
 * general;' a Roman chiliarch ('tribune'), with some soldiers, part 
 of a maniple or cohort ((r7re?/)a) from the Fort of Antonia (John xviii. 12); 
 and some priests and elders. 
 
 one of the twelve] It seems as if in narrating the scene the Evangelists 
 unconsciously add the circumstance which to their mind branded the 
 deed with its worst horror. For the terror which seized the multi- 
 tude, the precipitate entrance of Judas into the garden, and our Lord's 
 first words to him, see John xviii. 3 — 9. 
 
vv. 49-53.] ST LUKE, XXII. 333 
 
 Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man mth a kiss ? When 49 
 they which were about him saw what would follow, they said 
 unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword ? And one 50 
 of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his 
 right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. 51 
 And he touched his ear, and healed him. Then Jesus said 52 
 unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the 
 elders, which were come to him. Be ye come out, as against 
 a thief, with swords and staves ? When I was daily with you S3 
 
 48. with a kiss\ He exclaimed 'Rabbi, Rabbi, hail' (' Peace to thee, 
 Rabbi'), Mk. xiv. 45 ; but received no ' Peace to thee' in reply. Over- 
 acting his part, he not only kissed His Lord (ephilesen), but kissed Him 
 fervently {katephilese?i, deosculaiiis est). 
 
 49. they\ Specially Peter, but the Synoptists suppress his name from 
 obviously prudential reasons which no longer existed when St John 
 wrote. 
 
 Lord, shall we smite with the sword T\ Since it was illegal to carry 
 swords on a feast-day, we have here another sign that the Last Supper 
 had not been the Passover. The bringing of the sword was part of the 
 misconception which Jesus had not cared further to remove at the 
 supper; and if Judas had pressed into the enclosure they may have 
 been entirely unaware as yet of the number of the captors. Future 
 years would teach them that Christ's cause is served by dying, not by 
 killing. The full reply of our Lord on this incident must be found 
 by combining Matt. xxvi. 53, John xviii. 10, 11. 
 
 50. the servant of the high priest'\ Malchus. 
 
 right ear] A specific touch not found in the other Evangelists. All 
 three use the diminutive — if the readings can be relied on. {diriov, Matt, 
 xxvi. 51 ; (hrdpLov, Mk. xiv. 47 ; tbrlou, John xviii. 10. In this passage we 
 have both o5s and wrt'oi;.) No stress can be laid on this. Languages in 
 their later stage often adopt diminutives to avoid the trouble of genders. 
 See my Langiiage and Languages, p. 319. 
 
 51. Suffer ye thus far] Probably addressed to the captors, and 
 meaning Excuse thus much resistance; or 'Allow me liberty thus 
 far' — free my arms a moment that I may heal this wounded man. 
 These snatches of dialogue — often of uncertain interpretation from their 
 fragmentary character (e.g. Mk. ix. 23; Matt, xxvi. 50; John viii. 25), 
 are inimitable marks of genuineness. It was probably during this pause 
 that 'all His disciples' — even Peter, even John — 'forsook Him and fled.' 
 
 52. unto the chief priests... which were co?ne to him] The expression 
 shews that these venerable persons had kept safely in the background till 
 all possible danger was over. It is evident that the whole band dreaded 
 some exertion of miraculous power. 
 
 as against a thief] Rather, a brigand or robber. Am I one of the 
 Sicarii, or bandits ? It is a reproach to them for their cowardice and 
 secrecy. 'If I had really done wrong, how is it that you did not arrest 
 me in the Temple?' 
 
334 ST LUKE, XXII. [w. 54, 55. 
 
 in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but 
 this is your hour, and the power of darkness. 
 
 54 — 62. Peter's Denial. 
 
 54 Then took they him, and led him^ and brought him into 
 
 55 the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off. And 
 
 53. this is your hour, and the power of darkness^ A reproach to 
 them for their base, illegal, midnight secrecy. St Luke omits the 
 incident of the young man with the sindon cast round his naked body, 
 Mk. xiv. 51, 52. 
 
 the pmver ofdarknessi Rather, the authority (exousia). The power 
 is not independent, but delegated or permitted, since the Death of Christ 
 is part of a divine plan (John xviii. 4, xix. ii, &c.). 
 
 64 — 62. Peter's Denial. 
 
 64. Then took they hint] Rather, seizing Him. 
 
 and led hini\ with His hands bound, probably behind His back, John 
 xviii. 12. 
 
 into the high priesfs hoiise'\ The actual High Priest was Joseph 
 Caiaphas (another form of Kephas), son-in-law of Annas (see on iii. 2). 
 The trial of our Lord by the Jews was in three phases — (i) before Annas 
 (John xviii. 12 — 18); (2) before Caiaphas (here and Matt. xxvi. 59 — 68; 
 Mk. xiv. 55 — d^); (3) before the entire Sanhedrin at dawn (vs. 6(i\ 
 Matt, xxvii. i ; Mk. xv. i). Each trial might be regarded as supremely 
 important. Annas, or Hanan son of Seth, was the most influential of 
 the ex-High Priests, and may, as Sagan (Deputy) or Nasi (President), 
 have virtually wielded the sacerdotal power. The result therefore of a 
 trial before him would involve a fatal praejudiciuin, since the utmost 
 reverence was paid to his age, wealth, power, and shrewdness. — The 
 second trial was before the most important committee of the Sanhedrin, 
 which might in one sense be called 'the whole Sanhedrin' (Mk. xiv. 55), 
 and though it could have no legal validity, being held at night, it 
 served as a sort of ana/crisis or preliminary enquiry, which left the 
 final decision only formal. — The third trial was held at dawn before 
 the entire Sanhedrin, and pas;sed the final decree of condemnation 
 against Jesus for blasphemy, which had been already pre-determined. 
 The enmity of the priests may have partly arisen (as I have given 
 reasons for believing in the Life of CJiristy ii. 334) from the fact 
 that the cleansing of the Temple involved an interference with their 
 illicit gains. After the first trial — at which Jesus was first smitten — 
 He was sent bound to Caiaphas, who perhaps lived in the same house. 
 These three Jewish trials were illegal in almost every particular. The 
 Sanhedrin was generally a merciful and cautious tribunal, but was now 
 a mere dependent body entirely under the influence of the Sadducees, 
 who were the most ruthless of Jewish sects. 
 
 Peter follozved afar off\ "to see the end," Matt. xxvi. 58. It was a 
 
w. 56— 58.] ST LUKE, XXII. 335 
 
 when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and 
 were set down together, Peter sat down among them. But 56 
 a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and ear- 
 nestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with 
 him. And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not. 57 
 And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art 58 
 
 most unwise exposure of himself to temptation. His admission into the 
 courtyard of the High Priest's house was due to the influence of John, 
 who was known to the High Priest, and spoke to the portress (John 
 xviii. 15, 16). 
 
 55. they had kindled a fire\ The spring nights at Jerusalem, which 
 is 2610 feet above the level of the sea, are often cold. 
 
 in the midst of the hall\ Rather, of the court. 
 
 sat down among them\ i.e. among the servants of the High Priest — 
 sat in the middle (mesos) of a group composed of the very men who 
 had just been engaged more or less directly in the arrest of His Lord. 
 It was like the impetuosity of his character, but most unwise for one of 
 his temperament. St John says (xviii. 18) that ' he stood,' and perhaps 
 we have here a touch of restlessness. 
 
 a certain ?)iaid'\ Apparently the portress (John xviii. 17) who 
 had been meanwhile relieved, and who, after a fixed gaze, recognised 
 Peter as the man whom she had admitted. She therefore exclaimed, 
 "This fellow too (as well as John) was with Him." The reports of the 
 Evangelists differ, but each faithfully preserves the kai. 
 
 a certain jfiaid beheld him] The accounts of these denials by the 
 Evangelists are (as St Augustine says of their narratives generally) 
 "various, but not contrary." They are capable of perfectly easy and 
 perfectly natural reconcilement, and are a valuable proof of inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 56. by the fire] Rather, to the light, i.e. with the light of the 
 brazier shining full on him. 
 
 earnestly looked upon hitn] See iv. 20. 
 
 57. Woman, I know him not] "nor do I understand what you 
 mean," Mk. xiv. 68. The 'Woman!' should come last. Peter — who 
 has been described as ' homalos anomalon ' or ' consistently incon- 
 sistent' — shewed just the same kind of weakness many years later. 
 Gal. ii. 12, 13. 
 
 58. after a little while] The trial before the Sacerdotal Committee 
 naturally took some time, and they were awaiting the result. 
 
 another saw him] After his first denial "before them all" (Matt. 
 xxvi. 70) he probably hoped to shake off this dangerous curiosity; and, 
 perhaps as his guilt was brought more home to him by the first crowing of 
 the cock (Mk. xiv. 68), he stole back out of the light of the brazier where 
 he had been sitting with the servants, to the gate or vestibule {pnlona, 
 Matt. xxvi. 71, proaulion, Mk. xiv. 68). Of this second denial St John 
 says, ^^ they said to him" (xviii. 25); and as the portress was sure to 
 have gossipped about him to the girl who relieved her at her post, the 
 
336 ST LUKE, XXII. [vv. 59—61. 
 
 59 also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. And about the 
 space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, 
 Of a truth this fellow also was with him : for he is a Galilean. 
 
 60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And 
 
 61 immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the 
 Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remem- 
 bered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him. 
 
 second denial was due to his being pointed out by the second maid to 
 the group of idlers who were hanging about the door, one of whom was 
 prominent in pressing the charge against him. Matt. xxvi. 71 (dXX?;); 
 Mk. xiv. 69 (17 iraLbla Kit}) ; John xviii. 25 [elirov); here ^repos. What 
 discrepancy then worth speaking of is there here? Doubtless the 
 second and third charges became more and more general as the news 
 spread among the group. It is much more important to notice the 
 moral law of "linked lies" by which 'once denied' always has a ten- 
 dency to become 'thrice denied.' "Whom," asks St Augustine, 
 ** have you ever seen contented with a single sin? " 
 Man] A mode of displeased address, xii. 14. 
 
 59. adozii the space of one hour after] To St Peter it must have 
 been one of the most terrible hours of his life. 
 
 another] Here again the main charge was prominently made by one 
 — a kinsman of Malchus, who had seen Peter in the garden, and was 
 known to St John from his acquaintance with the High Priest's house- 
 hold (John xviii. ■26, av-^^evr]%); but others came up {TrpoaeXOovTes ol 
 €<TT&res, Matt. xxvi. 73 ; ol TrapeaTcSTes, Mk. xiv. 70), and joined in 
 it, and this is implied by St Mark's "kept saying to Peter" [iXeyov). 
 
 for he is a Galilean] This they could at once tell by the misplaced 
 gutturals of the provincial dialed which 'bewrayed him' (i.e. pointed 
 him out). 
 
 60. Man^ I know not what thou sayest] St Luke drops a veil over 
 the 'cursing and swearing' which accompanied this last denial (Matt. 
 xxvi. 74). 
 
 the cock crew] Rather, a cock. It crew for the second time. Mi- 
 nute critics have imagined that they found a 'difficulty' here because 
 the Talmud says that cocks and hens, from their scratching in the 
 dung, were regarded as unclean. But as to this the Talmud contra- 
 dicts itself, since it often alludes to cocks and hens at Jerusalem (e. g. 
 Berachoth, p. 27, i). Moreover the cock might have belonged to the 
 Roman soldiers in Fort Antonia. 
 
 61. the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter] St Luke alone pre- 
 .serves this most touching incident. Jesus must have looked on His 
 erring Apostle either from the chamber in which He was being tried, if 
 it was one of those chambers with open front (called in the East viuck 
 ^ad); or else at the moment when the trial was over, and He was being 
 led across the courtyard amid the coarse insults of the servants. If so the 
 moment would have been one of awful pathos to the unhappy Apostle. 
 
vv. 62— 65-] ST LUKE, XXII. 337 
 
 Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter 62 
 went out, and wept bitterly. 
 
 62i — 65. The First Derision. 
 
 And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote &i 
 him. And when they had bHndfolded him, they stroke him 64 
 on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that 
 smote thee ? And many other things blasphemously spake 65 
 they against him. 
 
 62. wetit oiif] into the night, but "to meet the morning dawn." 
 and wept] Not only edakruse, 'shed tears,' but eklaiise, 'wept aloud;' 
 
 and, as St Mark says (xiv. 72), eklaie, 'he continued weeping.' It was 
 more than a mere burst of tears. 
 
 bitterly] St Mark says epibalon, which may mean, 'when he thought 
 thereon,' or ' flinging his mantle over his head.' 
 
 63—65. The First Derision. 
 
 Hanan had simply tried to entangle Jesus by insidious questions. 
 
 The course of the trial before Caiaphas was different. The Priests 
 on that occasion "sought false witness," but their false witnesses con- 
 tradicted each other in their attempt to prove that He had threatened 
 to destroy the Temple. Since Jesus still kept silence, Caiaphas rose, 
 walked into the midst of the hall, and adjured Jesus by the Living 
 God to say whether He was "the Christ, the Son of God." So adjured, 
 Christ answered in the affirmative, and then Caiaphas, rending his 
 robes, appealed to the assembly, who, most illegally setting aside the 
 need of any further witnesses, shouted aloud that He was *A man of 
 Death ' {ish maveth) , i. e. deserving of capital punishment. From this 
 moment He would be regarded by the dependents of the Priests as a 
 condemned criminal. 
 
 63. smote hifn] No less than five forms of beating are referred to 
 by the Evangelists in describing this pathetic scene — derontes here (a 
 general term); etupton, 'they kept smiting;' paisas in the next verse, 
 implying violence; ekolaphisan, 'slapped with the open palm,' Matt. 
 xxvi. 67; errapisan, 'smote with sticks' (id.); and rapistnasin eballo?t, 
 Mk. xiv. 65. See the prophecy of Is. 1. 6. The Priests of that day, and 
 their pampered followers, were too much addicted to these brutalities 
 (Acts xxi. 32, xxiii. 2), as we learn also from the Talmud. 
 
 64. blindfolded him] Probably by throwing an abba over his head 
 and face. Mk. xiv. 65. The Talmud says that the False Messiah, Bar 
 Cochba, was similarly insulted. 
 
 65. blasphemously] This term now bears a different meaning. Here 
 it merely means '^ reviling Him. ^ 
 
338 ST LUKE, XXII. [vv. 66—70. 
 
 dd — 71. The third y ewish Trial. 
 
 66 And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and 
 the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led 
 
 67 him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ ? tell us. 
 And he said unto them, If I tell you, you will not believe : 
 
 68 and if I also ask you^ you will not answer me, nor let me 
 
 69 go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand 
 
 70 of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou then 
 the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that 
 
 66—71. The third Jewish Trial. 
 
 66. as soon as it was day\ The Oral Law decided that the Sanhedrin 
 could only meet by daylight. 
 
 elders of the people^ Literally, '■^ the presbytery of the people," as in Acts 
 xxii. 5. 
 
 elders... chief priests... scribes'] See Mk. xv. i. The three constituent 
 parts of the Sanhedrin, i Mace. xiv. czS. The Sanhedrin was the suc- 
 cessor of the Great Synagogue, which ended with Simon the Just. 
 Where they met is uncertain. It was either in the Paved Hall, or ' Hall 
 of Squares' {Lischath haggazzith); or in the Beth Midrash (Temple 
 Synagogue), a chamber which abutted on the "middle wall of partition" 
 [Chel), or in the Chamijoth 'shops' or 'booths' founded by the house 
 of Hanan to sell doves, &c. for the temple. 
 
 their cotcncil] Sytiedrioti, from -which the word Sanhedrin (mistakenly 
 spelt Sanhedrim) is derived. The word is first found on the occasion 
 when they summoned before them Hyrcanus II., son of Alexander 
 Jannaeus. It gloried in being a mild tribunal, but was now an extremely 
 degenerate body, and unworthy of its earher traditions (Jos. Ajttt. xiii. 
 10, § 6; B. y. II. 8, § 14). The Jewish authorities had lost the power 
 of inflicting death ; they could only pass sentence of excommunication, 
 and hand over to the secular arm. 
 
 67. Art thou the Christ ?\ The object of the Sanhedrin was some- 
 what different from that of the Priests in the house of Caiaphas. They 
 had only succeeded in establishing (by a most illegal personal appeal) a 
 charge of constructive blasphemy. But ' blasphemy ' was not a charge 
 on which a Roman could pronounce capital sentence. Hence, in order 
 to get Christ crucified, they needed a charge oi treason, which might be 
 constructed out of His claim to be the Messiah. 
 
 ye will not believe'] As they had shewn already. John viii. 59, x. 31. 
 
 68. if I also ask you, you will not answer] This is our Lord's protest 
 against the illegal violence of the whole proceedings. 
 
 69. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit] Rather, But from hence- 
 forth (comp. i. 48, v, 10) shall the Son of man be seated at. Our 
 Lord seems at last to have broken His silence in these words, in order 
 to end a miserable and useless scene. The words would at once recall 
 Dan. vii. 13, 14; see John i. 51. 
 
vv. 7i; 1,2.] ST LUKE, XXII. XXIII. 339 
 
 I am. And they said, What need we any further witness ? 71 
 for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth. 
 
 Ch. XXIII. I — 4. First phase of the Trial before Pilate. 
 
 And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him 23 
 unto Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We 2 
 
 70. Ye say that lam] A Hebrew formula {antt^ amartd). "Your 
 words verify themselves. " See some striking remarks in De Quincey, 
 Works, III. 304. But the formula like " Thou sayest" in John xviii. 37 
 seems also to have been meant to waive further discussion. See p. 385. 
 
 What need we any further luitjiess ?] Caiaphas had made the same 
 appeal to the audience at the night trial. Van Oosterzee mentions that 
 at the trial of the Reformer Farel, the Genevan Priests addressed him 
 in these very words, and he replied, "Speak the words of God, and not 
 those of Caiaphas." — This trial was followed by the second derision, in 
 which it almost seems as if the Sanhedrists themselves took part. Matt, 
 xxvi. 67. St Luke here omits the remorse and horrible end of Judas, 
 on which he touches in Acts i. 18. 
 
 Ch. XXIII. 1—4. First phase of the Trial before 
 Pilate. 
 
 1. the whole mtiltitude'] Rather, the whole number {plethos, not 
 ochlos). 
 
 unto Pilate] The fact that our Lord " suffered under Pontius Pilate" 
 is also mentioned by Tacitus (Ann. xv. 44), Pontius Pilatus was a 
 Roman Knight, who (a.d. 26) had been appointed, through the in- 
 fluence of Sejanus, sixth Procurator of Judaea. His very first act — the 
 bringing of the silver eagles and other insignia of the Legions from 
 Caesarea to Jerusalem — a step which he was obliged to retract — had 
 caused fierce exasperation between him and the Jews. This had been 
 increased by his application of money from the Corban or Sacred Trea- 
 sury to the secular purpose of bringing water to Jerusalem from the 
 Pools of Solomon (see xiii. 4]. In consequence of this quarrel Pilate 
 sent his soldiers among the mob with concealed daggers — (a fatal pre- 
 cedent for the Sicarii) — and there had been a great massacre. A third 
 tumult had been caused by his placing gilt votive shields dedicated to 
 the Emperor Tiberius, in his residence at Jerusalem. The Jews re- 
 garded these as idolatrous, and he had been obliged by the Emperor's 
 orders to remove them. He had also had deadly quarrels with the 
 Samaritans, whom he had attacked on Mount Gerizim in a movement 
 stirred up by a Messianic impostor; and with the Galilaeans "whose 
 blood he had mingled with their sacrifices" (xiii. i). He reflected the 
 hatred felt towards the Jews by his patron Sejanus, and had earned 
 the character which Philo gives him of being a savage, inflexible, and 
 arbitrary ruler. The Procurator, when at Jerusalem for the great 
 Festivals, seems to have occupied an old palace of Herod's, known in 
 consequence as Herod's Praetorium (Philo, Leg. ad Caium, p. 1034). 
 
 22 — 2 
 
340 ST LUKE, XXIII. [vv. 3, 4. 
 
 found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to 
 give tribute to Cesar, saying that he himself is Christ a 
 King. And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of 
 the Jews ? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it. 
 Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, 
 I find no fault in this man. 
 
 It was a building of peculiar splendour, and our Lord was conducted to it 
 from the Hall of Meeting, across the bridge which spanned the Valley 
 of Tyropoeon. It is however possible that Pilate may have occupied a 
 part of Fort Antonia, and it has been supposed that this view receives 
 some confirmation from the discovery by Capt. Warren of a subter- 
 ranean chamber with a pillar in it, which is believed to be not later 
 than the age of the Herods, and is on the suggested site of Antonia. Mr 
 Fergusson {Temples of the Jews, p. 176) inclines to the view that this 
 newly-discovered chamber may have been the very scene of our Lord's 
 flagellation. Our Lord was bound (Matt, xxvii. 2) in sign that He was 
 now a condemned criminal. This narrative of the Trial should be com- 
 pared throughout with John xviii., xix. 
 
 2. We founds A word intended to excite prejudice. 
 
 perverting the nation\ The technical Jewish name for an offender of 
 this sort was Mesith, 'seducer' or 'impostor,' Acts xiii. 8 — 10. This 
 was iYiQixJirst head of indictment, and had the advantage of being per- 
 fectly vague. 
 
 fo7-bidding to give tribute to Cesar] This was a complete falsehood ; 
 but a political accusation was necessary for their purpose, since a 
 heathen would not have listened to any religious accusation. The 
 mixture of religion with politics is always perilous to truth and 
 sincerity. This was their second charge. 
 
 that he himself is Christ a King] The word ' King' is an explanation 
 to bring the case under the head of treason. Yet they must have been 
 well aware that this charge was all the more false in spirit from being 
 true in the letter ; — for Christ had always refused and prevented every 
 effort to make Him a temporal king Qohn vi. 15). This was their third 
 charge. 
 
 3. Art thou the King of the Jews ?] St Luke narrates the trial very 
 briefly. The Jewish priests had expected that on their authority Pilate 
 would at once order Him to execution ; but, on the contrary, he meant 
 first to hear the case, and asked them what accusation they brought, 
 refusing to accept their bare assertion that He was "a malefactor." 
 Pilate only attends to the //izW charge, and asks Christ this question on 
 the Roman principle that it was always desirable to secure the confes- 
 sion of the accused. We see from St John (xviii. 33) that Jesus had 
 been led into the Praetorium while His accusers stayed without ; that He 
 had not heard their accusations (id. vs. 34), and that Pilate was now 
 questioning Him at a private examination. 
 
 Thou sayest it] For a fuller account of the scene read John xviii. 
 33 — 38. It is alluded to in i Tim. vi. 13. 
 
w. 5— 7.] ST LUKE, XXIII. 341 
 
 5 — 24. The Trial before Herod. Further endeavours of 
 Pilate to procure His acquittal. The Choice of Bar abbas. 
 The condem7iation to the Cross. 
 
 And they were the more fierce, saying. He stirreth up 5 
 the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from 
 Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he 6 
 asked whether the man were a Galilean. And as soon as ^ 
 he knew that he belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he 
 sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem 
 
 4. I find no fault in this man} This conclusion, which sounds so 
 abrupt in St Luke, was the result of the conversation with Pilate in 
 which Jesus had said "My Kingdom is not of this world." It had con- 
 vinced Pilate of His innocence, and he expressed his conviction in this 
 unhesitating acquittal. The word for ' fault ' {aitioti) occurs in Acts 
 xix. 40. 
 
 5 — 24. The Trial before Herod. Further endeavours of 
 Pilate to procure His acquittal. The Choice of Bar- 
 abbas. The condemnation to the Cross. 
 
 5. And they were the more fierce} Rather, But they were more 
 urgent. This and similar expressions hardly convey to us the terrible 
 violence and excitement of an Oriental mob. 
 
 Jewry} Rather, Judaea (comp. Dan. v. 13). These words furnish 
 one of the traces in the Synoptists of the Judaean ministry which they 
 imply, but do not narrate, Comp. "throughout the whole of Judaea," 
 Acts X. 37. 
 
 beginning from Galilee} See iv, 14. This is probably mentioned to 
 prejudice Pilate all the more against Him, as he had a quarrel with the 
 Galilaeans, but dmii rejn amplificant, Pilato dant riniam. Bengel. 
 
 7. he sent him to Herod} The word used is technical — afiepempsen^ 
 the Lat. i-emisit — and means the remission of a question to a higher court 
 (Acts XXV. I ; comp. Philem. 11 ; Jos. B. y. II. 20, § 5). St Luke alone 
 preserves this interesting incident. He seems to have had special 
 in ormation about Herod's court. Pilate's object may have been (i) to 
 get rid of the responsibility — or at least to divide it — by ascertaining 
 Herod's opinion ; (2) to do a cheap act of courtesy which might soothe 
 the irritation which Herod, as well as the Jews, felt against him. Ves- 
 pasian paid a similar compliment to Agrippa. Jos. B.y. ill. 10, § 10. 
 
 who himself also was at Jernsalefn} '■'•also,'''' i.e. as well as Pilate. Herod 
 lived at Tiberias, and Pilate at Caesarea. During the immense assem- 
 blages of the Jewish feasts the two rulers had come to Jerusalem, Pilate 
 to maintain order, Herod to gain popularity among his subjects by a 
 decent semblance of conformity to the national religion. At Jerusalem 
 Herod occupied the old palace of the Asmonaean princes (Jos. B. J . 
 II. i6; Antt. xx. 8, § 11). 
 
342 ST LUKE, XXIII. [vv. 8—12. 
 
 8 at that time. And when Herod saw Jesus, he was ex- 
 ceeding glad : for he was desirous to see him of a long 
 season, because he had heard many things of him; and 
 
 9 he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then 
 he questioned with him in many words ; but he answered 
 
 10 him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and 
 
 11 vehemently accused him. And Herod with his men of war 
 set him at nought, and mocked hiin, and arrayed him in 
 
 12 a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate. And the 
 same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together : for 
 before they were at enmity between themselves. 
 
 at that time\ Rather, in those days (of the Feast). 
 
 8. many thmgs] These words should be omitted (X, B, D, K, L, M). 
 and he hoped to have seen sof?ie miracle done by hini\ ix. 7 — 9, Herod 
 
 seems to have deteriorated. He had encouraged the visits of the 
 Baptist on less frivolous grounds than these. It must have been a deep 
 aggravation of Christ's sufferings to be led bound, amid coarse attendants, 
 through the densely crowded streets. 
 
 9. he a7iswered hi??i nothmg] Is. liii. 7. A murderer of the Prophets, 
 who was living in open and flagrant incest, and who had no higher 
 motive than mean curiosity, deserved no answer. Our Lord used of 
 Antipas the only purely contemptuous word which He is ever recorded 
 to have uttered (xiii. 32). 
 
 10. and vehemently accused him"] They were now bent on securing 
 their purpose, and perhaps feared that Herod's well-known weakness 
 and superstition might rob them of their prey; — especially as he was 
 much less afraid of them than Pilate was, having strong influence in 
 Rome. 
 
 11. with Ms men of war] Literally, '■^with his armies,''^ i.e. with his 
 soldiers. 
 
 set him at nought] treating Him not as a criffiijial, but only as a 
 person worthy of contempt. "He is despised and rejected of men;" 
 "he was despised and we esteemed him not," Is. liii. 3. 
 
 ift a gorgeous robe] Literally, ^^ bright raiment,''^ Acts x. 30. Probably 
 a zuhite festal garment. 
 
 sent him again] anepempsen as before — remisit in fortim apprehen- 
 sionis. This involved a second distinct acquittal of our Lord from 
 every political charge brought against Him. Had He in any way been 
 guilty of either (i) perverting the people, (2) forbidding to pay tribute, 
 or (3) claiming to be a king, it would have been Herod's duty, and 
 still more his interest, to punish Him. His dismissal of the case was a 
 deliberate avowal of His innocence. 
 
 12. were viade friends together] Rather, became friends with one 
 another. Ps. ii. i — 3. 
 
 they were at enmity] perhaps in consequence of the incident mentioned 
 
w. 13—17.] ST LUKE, XXIII. 343 
 
 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and 13 
 the rulers and the people, said unto them, Ye have brought 14 
 this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people : and 
 behold, I, having examined him before you, have found 
 no fault in this man touching those thiiigs whereof ye accuse 
 him : no, nor yet Herod : for I sent you to him ; and lo, 15 
 nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore 16 
 chastise him, and release him. (For of necessity he must ^^ 
 
 in xiii. i. This is the first type of Judaism and Heathenism leagued 
 together to crush Christianity. 
 
 13. called together the chief priests] This was a formal speech from 
 a be?7ia — perhaps the throne of Archelaus — set on the tessellated pave- 
 ment called by the Jews Gabbatha (John xix. 13). Now was the golden 
 opportunity which Pilate should have seized in order to do what he knew 
 to be right ; and he was really anxious to do it because the meek Ma- 
 jesty of the Lord had made a deep impression upon him, and because 
 even while seated on the beina, he was shaken by a presentiment of 
 warning conveyed to him by the dream of his wife (Matt, xxvii. 19). 
 But men live under the coercion of their own past acts, and Pilate by 
 his cruelty and greed had so bitterly offended the inhabitants of every 
 province of Judaea that he dared not do anything more to provoke the 
 accusation which he knew to be hanging over his head (comp. Jos. 
 Antt. XVIII. 3, § 2. B.y, II. 9, § 4). 
 
 14. have found no fault iji this man] Thus Pilate's word {heicron) 
 is a direct contradiction of that of the High Priest's (Jieuromen, vs. 1). 
 The / is emphatic ; you bring a charge, / after a public examination find 
 it to be baseless. 
 
 15. for I sent you to hini\ Ox for he sent Him back to uSf (5<, B, K, 
 L, M). 
 
 is done unto him] Rather, hath Deen done by Him. 
 
 16. / will therefore chastise him] This was the point at which 
 Pilate began to yield to the fatal vacillation which soon passed into guilt 
 and made it afterwards impossible for him to escape. He had just 
 declared the prisoner absolutely innocent. To subject Him, therefore, 
 to the horrible punishment of scourging merely to gratify the pride of 
 the Jews, and to humble Him in their eyes (Deut. xxv. 3), was an act 
 of disgraceful illegality, which he must have felt to be most unworthy 
 of the high Roman sense of 'Justice.' The guilty dread which made 
 Pilate a weak man is well illustrated by what Philo says of him {Leg. ad 
 Caium, 38). But he was the unconscious fulfiller of prophecy (Is. liii. 
 5). The restless eagerness of his various attempts to secure the acquittal 
 of Jesus is brought out most forcibly by St John. 
 
 17. For of necessity, 8ic.] Rather, But. The whole verse, how- 
 ever, is of dubious genuineness, and may have come from a marginal 
 gloss. It is omitted in A, B, K, L. In D it is placed after vs. 19. 
 The Gospels are our sole authority for this concession, which is, how- 
 ever, entirely in accordance with Roman policy. 
 
344 ST LUKE, XXIII. [vv. 18—22. 
 
 18 release one unto them at the feast.) And they cried out all 
 at once, saying, Away with this man^ and release unto us 
 
 19 Barabbas : (who for a certain sedition made in the city, and 
 -2.0 for murder, was cast into prison.) Pilate therefore, willing 
 
 21 to release Jesus, spake again to the7n. But they cried, saying, 
 
 22 Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third 
 time, Why, what evil hath he done ? I have found no cause 
 
 18. all at once] If we read plethei iox pampleihei, the meaning will 
 be that * they (the priests) called aloud to the naultitude,' as in Matt, 
 xxvii. 20. The choice of Barabbas by the mob was not spontaneous ; 
 it was instigated by these priestly murderers. The guilt of the Cruci- 
 fixion rests mainly with the Priests, because it was mainly due to their 
 personal influence (Mk. xv. 11). 
 
 release unto us Barabbas] This was the last drop in the cup of 
 Jewish iniquity. Rom. xi. 30 — 33. 
 
 Barabbas] Rather, Bar- Abbas, 'Son of a (distinguished) father,' or 
 Bar-Rabbas, 'Son of a great Rabbi,' Origen had the reading, 'Jesus 
 Bar- Abbas,' in Matt, xxvii. 17, and as Jesus was a common name, 
 and Bar-Abbas is only a patronymic, the reading is not impossible. 
 At this stage of the trial, Barabbas may have been led out, and 
 the choice offered them between 'Jesus Bar-Abbas and Jesus which 
 is called Christ ' as they stood on the pavement side by side. 
 
 19. who] The word implies 'a man of such a kind, that, &c.' 
 and for viurdej'] "Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired 
 
 a jnnrderer to be granted unto you," Acts iii. 14. Nothing is known 
 of Bar- Abbas, but it has been conjectured from his name that he or his 
 father belonged to the order of the Sanhedrists, who therefore desired 
 his release. If he had been a follower of Judas of Galilee, or engaged 
 in the riot against Pilate about his use of the Corban, he would enlist 
 the sympathies of the people also. 
 
 20. spake again to them] Rather, called unto them again. He 
 did not make them a second speech, but simply called out again his 
 question as to their choice. 
 
 21. they cried] The word implies a continuous cry of increasing 
 vehemence. The vox populi was in this instance vox Diaboli. 
 
 Crucify him, crucify him] This wild and terrible outcry was pro- 
 voked by Pilate's unjust question to them how he should deal with 
 Jesus. After this it was quite vain to say, "Why, what evil hath he 
 done ? " Yet even in yielding he cannot refrain from irritating them with 
 the expression, " your king." It was something more than a mere taunt. 
 It was due to a flash of genuine conviction that the Prisoner before him 
 was greater and nobler than the greatest and noblest Jew he had ever 
 seen. 
 
 22. the third ti7ne] We can only obtain from all the four Evangelists, 
 and especially from St John, a full conception of the earnestness with 
 which Pilate strove to escape from the necessity of what he felt to be 
 
w. 23—25.] ST LUKE, XXIII. 345 
 
 of death in him : I will therefore chastise him, and let him 
 go. And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that 23 
 he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the 
 chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it 24 
 should be as they required. And he released unto them him 25 
 that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom 
 they had desired ; but he delivered Jesus to their will. 
 
 a needless crime. If he was not.asTertulIian says, ^'jam pro conscien- 
 tiasi(a Christianus,'''' he was evidently deeply impressed ; and the impos- 
 sibility of doing right must have come upon him as a terrible Nemesis 
 for his past sins. It is very noteworthy that he took step after step to 
 secure the acquittal of Jesus. i. He emphatically and publicly an- 
 nounced His perfect innocence. 2. He sent Him to Herod. 3. He 
 made an offer to release Him as a boon. 4. He tried to make scourging 
 take the place of crucifixion. 5. He appealed to compassion. St John 
 shews still more clearly how in successive stages of the trial he sets aside, 
 i. the vague general charge of being "an evil doer" (xviii. 30); ii. of 
 being in any seditious sense "a king" (xviii. 39) ; iii. of any guilt in His 
 religious claims (xix. 12). He only yields at last through fear (xix. 12), 
 which makes him release a man guilty of the very crime for which he 
 delivers Jesus to a slave's death. The fact that Pilate's patron Sejanus 
 had probably by this time fallen, and that Tiberius was executing all 
 connected with him, may have enhanced Pilate's fears. He knew that 
 an accusation of High Treason (under the Lex Majestatis) was gene- 
 rally fatal (Tac. Ann. ill. 38. Suet. Tib. 58). All this, with other 
 phases of these last scenes, will be found fully brought out in my Life 
 of Christ, II. pp. 360 — 391. 
 
 23. the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed^ St Luke 
 here omits the flagellation (Matt, xxvii. 26); the derision and mock 
 homage of the soldiery — the scarlet sagum and crown of thorns ; the 
 awful scene of the Ecce Homo ; the fresh terror of Pilate on hearing 
 that He called Himself "the Son of God," and the deepening of that 
 terror by the final questioning in the Praetorium; the "Behold your 
 King ! "; the introduction of the name of Caesar into the shouts of the 
 multitude; Pilate's washing his hands; the last awful shout "His blood 
 be on us and on our children ; " and the clothing of Jesus again in His 
 own garments. (See Matt, xxvii.; Mk. xv. ; John xviii., xix.) To sup- 
 pose that there was a second scourging after the sentence is a mistake. 
 Matt, xxvii. 26 is retrospective. 
 
 24. gave sentetice'\ Epekrine (only found in 2 Mace. iv. 47), not 'fol- 
 lowed their praejudicium,' but gave final sentence. The two technical 
 formulae for the sentence of death would be — to the Prisoner ' Ibis ad 
 crucem' ('Thou shalt go to the Cross'); to the attendant soldier, *I miles, 
 expedi crucem' ('Go soldier, get ready the Cross'). 
 
 -ivhom they had desired^ Rather, whom they were demanding. Comp. 
 Acts xiii. 18. 
 
346 ST LUKE, XXIII. [w. 26—28. 
 
 2 6 — 3 2 . Simon the Cy reman. The Daughters of Jerusalem, 
 
 26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one 
 Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him 
 
 27 they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And 
 there followed him a great company of people, and of 
 
 28 women, which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus 
 
 26 — 32. Simon the Cyrenian. The Daughters of Jerusalem. 
 
 26. Simon, a Cyrenian] There was a large colony of Jews in the 
 . powerful African city of Cyrene, and the Cyrenians had a synagogue at 
 
 Jerusalem (Acts ii. 10, vi. 9, xi. 20). Simon may have come to keep the 
 feast. St Mark calls him **the father of Alexander and Rufus," pos- 
 sibly the Christians mentioned in Acts xix. 33; Rom. xvi. 13. 
 
 coming out of the country'] Not necessarily from labouring in the 
 fields: still the notice accords with the many other incidental signs 
 that this was not the Feast-Day, but the day preceding it. See 
 Excursus V. The Apocryphal ""Acts of Pilate' says that the sol- 
 diers met Simon at the city gate (John xix. 17). There is no historical 
 authority for the identification of the Via Dolorosa or for the ' Stations' 
 of the Via Crucis. The latter are said to have originated among the 
 Franciscans. 
 
 on hi?fi they laid the cross] Probably because our Lord, enfeebled by 
 the terrible scourging and by the long hours of sleepless agitation, was 
 too feeble to bear it. This seems to be specially implied by Mk. xv. 21. 
 It is not certain whether they made Simon carry the entire cross or 
 merely part of the burden. (Comp. Gen. xxii. 6; Is. ix. 6.) The Cross 
 was not carried in the manner with which pictures have made us 
 familiar, but either in two separate pieces — the body of the cross 
 (staticulum) and its transom {antenna)', or by tying these two pieces 
 together in the shape of a V {furca). The Cross was certainly not 
 the crux decussata (X) or St Andrew's Cross; nor the C7'ux cojnmissa 
 (T St Anthony's Cross); but the ordinary Roman Cross (f crux 
 immissa. See Matt, xxvii. 37). The Hebrew word for Cross is the 
 letter Thau (Ezek. ix. 4), which gave abundant opportunities for the 
 allegorising tendency of the Fathers. On the body of the Cross was 
 certainly a projecting piece of wood {Trrjyfxa, sedile) to support the 
 sufferer, but there was no suppedancum or rest for the feet ; and from 
 xxiv. 39 it seems certain that one nail (if not two) was driven through 
 the feet. Nothing could exceed the agony caused by this "most cruel 
 and horrible punishment" as even the ancients unanimously call it. 
 
 that he might bear it after Jesus] Hence various Gnostic sects (e.g. 
 the Basilidians) devised the fable that Simon was executed by mistake 
 for Jesus, a fable which, through Apocryphal legends, has found its 
 way into the Koran (Koran, Suras 3, 4). St Matthew (xxvii. 32) and 
 St Mark use the technical word i)y-)'6.pevaav, 'impressed for service.' 
 Perhaps the Jews had received a hint that Simon was a disciple. 
 
 27. of women} Some of them may have come to offer the ano 
 
vv. 29— 32.] ST LUKE, XXIIL 347 
 
 turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not 
 for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For 29 
 behold, the days are coming, in the .which they shall say, 
 Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and 
 the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they be- 30 
 gin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the 
 hills. Cover us. For if they do these thi?igs in a green 31 
 tree, what shall be done in the dry ? And there were also 32 
 two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. 
 
 dynes which were supposed to be demanded by the Rabbinic interpre- 
 tation of Prov. xxxi. 6. This is the only other recorded incident of the 
 procession to Calvary, and it is mentioned by St Luke alone. It is 
 a sad fact that no man— not even His Apostles — seems to have come 
 forward to support these His last hours. 
 
 bewailed'] Rather, were beating their breasts for Him. Comp. 
 viii. 52, xviii. 13. 
 
 28. turning unto them said] The only recorded words between 
 His condemnation and crucifixion. Pity wrung from Him the utter- 
 ance which anguish and violence had failed to extort. 
 
 Daughters c^yertisalejn] The wailing women were not therefore His 
 former Galilaean followers, viii. 2, 3. 
 
 for yourselves] Some of them at least would survive till the terrible 
 days of the Siege. 
 
 and for your children] Comp. Matt, xxvii. 25, "His blood be on us 
 and on our children.'*^ 
 
 29. Blessed are the barren] Comp. xi. 27; Hos. ix. 12 — 16. The 
 words received their most painful illustration in the incident of the 
 Siege, which had long been foretold in prophecy (Deut. xxviii. 53 — 57; 
 Jer. xix. 9), that women were driven even to kill and eat their own 
 children: Jos. B. J. v. 10, VI. 3. The 'Blessed' shewed an awful 
 reversal of the proper blessedness of motherhood. 
 
 30. to the mountains, Fall on us] Comp. Hos. x. 8. Hundreds of 
 the Jews at the end of the siege hid themselves in subterranean recesses, 
 and no less than 2000 were Icilled by being bm-ied under the ruins of 
 these hiding-places (Jos. B. J. vi. 9, § 4). We cannot fail to see in 
 these events something of what St John calls "the wrath of the Lamb," 
 Rev. vi. 16. Even a terror is entreated as a relief from yet more 
 horrible calamities. 
 
 31. For if they do these things in a g)-een tree, what shall be done in 
 the dry?] Rather, what must happen in the dry? The meaning of 
 this proverb is not clear, and hence it early received the most absurd 
 explanations. It can however only mean either (i) *If they act thus 
 cruelly and shamefully while the tree of their natural life is still green, 
 what horrors of crime shall mark the period of its blighting?' — in which 
 case it receives direct illustration from Ezek. xx. 47 ; comp. xxi. 3, 4 ; 
 or (2) 'If they act thus to Me the Innocent and the Holy, what shall be 
 the fate of these, the guilty and false?' — in which case it expresses the 
 
348 ST LUKE, XXI 1 1. [w. 33, 34. 
 
 33 — 38. The Crucifixion and Mockery. The Title. 
 
 33 And when they were come to the place, which is called 
 Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one 
 
 34 on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said 
 Jesus, Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they 
 
 same thought as i Pet. iv. 17, 18. (vSee Prov. xi. 31 j Ezek. xx. 47, xxi. 4; 
 Matt. iii. 10, and p. 385.) For the historic fulfihnent in the horrors of 
 a massacre so great as to weary the very soldiers, see Jos. B. J. vi. 44. 
 
 32. two othei-] Perhaps followers of the released Barabbas. They 
 were not 'thieves,' but 'robbers' or 'brigands,' and this name was not 
 undeservedly given to some of the wild bands which refused Roman 
 authority. See Is. liii. 9. 
 
 vialefactors\ Kakourgoi. The same English word is used in John 
 xviii. 30, where it is literally ^^ doing evil.^'' 
 
 33 — 38. The Crucifixion and Mockery. The Title. 
 
 33. the place, which is called Calvary] It is nowhere in Scripture 
 called 'a hill,' and it was certainly not in any sense a steep or lofty hill. 
 The only grounds for speaking of it as a hill are (i) tradition; and (2) 
 the name. Calvary is the Latin form of Golgotha, and means *a skull' 
 (as the same Greek word kranion is rendered in Matt, xxvii. 33). Like 
 the French Chaumont, this name might describe a low rounded hill, 
 Ewald identifies it with Gareb (Jer. xxxi. 39), and Kraft accordingly 
 derives Golgotha from 7J, 'hill,' and Jiri^l, 'death.' The name has led 
 to the legend about Adam's skull lying at the foot of the Cross, which is 
 so often introduced into pictures. 
 
 34. Father, forgive theni] Is. liii. 12, "He bare the sins of many, 
 and made intercession for the transgressors." These words were 
 probably uttered at the terrible moment when the Sufferer was out- 
 stretched upon the Cross and the nails were being driven through the 
 palms of the hands. They are certainly genuine, though strangely 
 omitted by B, D. We must surely suppose that the prayer was uttered 
 not only for the Roman soldiers, who were the mere instruments of the 
 executors, but for all His enemies. It was in accordance with His own 
 teaching (Matt. v. 44), and His children have learnt it from Him 
 (Acts vii. 59, 60; Euseb. H.E. Ii. 29). They were the first of the seven 
 words from the Cross, of which three (vs. 34, 43, 46) are recorded by St 
 Luke only, and three (John xix. 27, 28, 30) by St John only. The last 
 cry also began with the word "Father." The seven words are 
 
 Luke xxiii. 34. The Prayer for the Murderers. 
 Luke xxiii. 43. The Promise to the Penitent. 
 John xix. 26. The provision for the Mother. 
 Matt, xxvii. 46; Mk. xv. 34. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? 
 John xix. 28. The sole expression of human agony. 
 John xix. 30. " It is finished." 
 
 Luke xxiii. 46. " Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." 
 Thus they refer to His enemies, to penitents, to His mother and disciple, 
 
vv. 35— 38.] ST LUKE, XXIII. 349 
 
 do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. And the 35 
 people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them de- 
 rided hi77i^ saying, He saved others ; let him save himself, if 
 he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also 36 
 mocked him, coming to hiniy and offering him vinegar, and 37 
 saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself. And 38 
 
 to the agony of His soul, to the anguish of His body, to His work, and 
 to His Heavenly Father. St Luke here omits our Lord's refusal of 
 the sopor — the medicated draught, or myrrh-mingled wine (Mk. xv. 23 ; 
 Matt, xxvii. 34), which, if it would have deadened His pains, would 
 also have beclouded His faculties. 
 
 forgive thevi\ aphes ; Christ died "for the remission [aphesin) of sins," 
 Matt. xxvi. 28. 
 
 they know not what they dol Rather, are doing. "Through ignorance 
 ye did it," Acts iii. 17; i Cor. ii. 8. "Judaei clamant Crucifige; 
 Christus clamat Ignosce. Magna illorum iniquitas sed major tua, O 
 Domine, pietas." St Bernard. 
 
 they parted his raiinent'\ For the fuller details see John xix. 23, 24. 
 
 35. beholding] The word implies that they gazed as at a solemn 
 spectacle, Ps. xxii. 17; Zech. xii. 10. They seem as a body to have 
 been far less active in insult than the others. 
 
 with them] These words are omitted in 5<, B, C, D, L, &c. 
 
 derided] The same strong word which is used in xvi. 14 ; i Esdr. i. 5 1. 
 
 He saved others] They said this in the same spirit as the Nazarenes, 
 iv. 23. 
 
 if he be Christ, the chosen of God] Literally, *^\i this man (con- 
 temptuously) be the Christ of God, the chosen." For otiier insults 
 see Matt, xxvii. 40 — 43; Mk. xv. 29 — 32. Observe how the universal 
 derision of what appeared to be such abject failure and humiliation 
 enhances our estimate of the faith of the dying robber. 
 
 36. the soldiers also mocked him] A quaternion of soldiers (John 
 xix. 53) with a centurion. Similarly Tacitus says of the Christian 
 martyrs who perished in the Neronian persecution, ''^ pereiintibus addita 
 ludibria'''' {An7i. XV. 44). 
 
 offering hii7i vinegar] It was their duty to watch Him (Matt, xxvii. 
 36), for sufferers sometimes lingered alive upon the cross for days. It is 
 hardly to be wondered at if, with such a vile example before them as the 
 derision by the Priests and Elders, these provincial or Roman soldiers 
 — men of the lowest class, and "cruel by their wars, to blood inured" — 
 beguiled the tedious hours by the mockery of the Innocent. By the 
 word "mocked" seems to be meant that they lifted up to His lips the 
 vessels containing their ordinary drink — sour wine {posca, John xix. 29. 
 Comp. Num. vi. 3; Ruth ii. 14) — and then snatched them away. Probably 
 a large earthen jar oi posca for the use of these soldiers lay near the foot of 
 the Cross (Ps. Ixix. 21 ; John xix. 29). All these insults took place during 
 the earlier part of the Crucifixion, and before the awful darkness came on. 
 
 37. If thou be the King of the Jews] as the title over Thy Cross asserts. 
 
350 ST LUKE, XXIII. [v. 38. 
 
 a superscription also was written over him in letters of 
 Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING 
 OF THE JEWS. 
 
 The soldiers would delight in these taunts, because, like the ancients 
 generally, they detested all Jews. Tumults of the most violent kind 
 often arose from the brutal insolence of hatred which they shewed to the 
 conquered nation. 
 
 38. a stiperscription\ A tUtilus written in black letters on a board 
 smeared with white gypsum, and therefore very conspicuous. To put 
 such a board over the head of a crucified person was the ordinary 
 custom. The jeers of the soldiers were aimed at the Jews in general 
 quite as much as at the Divine Sufferer; and these jeers probably 
 first opened the eyes of the priests to the way in which Pilate had 
 managed to insult them. 
 
 in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew] This is omitted in ^?, B, 
 L, and some ancient versions, though the fact is undoubted from John 
 xix. 20. Thus the three great languages of the ancient world — the lan- 
 guages of Culture, of Empire, and of Religion — bore involuntary witness 
 to Christ. 
 
 This is the King of the Jews] The superscription is given differently 
 by each Evangelist. St Luke perhaps gives the peculiarly scornful Latin 
 form. ^'- Rex Judaeorum hie est^ The other Evangelists give 
 This is Jesus the King of the Jews. Matt, xxvii. 37. 
 The King of the Jews. Mk. xv. 26. 
 Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. John xix. 19. 
 
 Although no serious and sensible writer would dream of talking about 
 'a discrepancy' here, it is very probable that the differences arise from 
 the different forms assumed by the Title in the three languages. We may 
 then assume that the Title over the Cross was as follows : 
 
 '0 ^aaiKevs toju 'Jovdaioiv 
 Rex Judaeorum hie est. 
 
 John. 
 Mark. 
 Luke. 
 
 It will be seen that St Matthew's is an accurate combination of the 
 three, not ojie of which was an accusation. 
 
 It was only while the Priests were deriding Christ that it began to 
 dawn on them that Pilate, even in angrily yielding to their violent 
 persistence, had avenged himself in a way which they could not resent, 
 by a deadly insult against them and their nation. This was their King, 
 and this was how they had treated Him. Thus our Lord reigned even 
 on His Cross, according to the curious old reading of Ps. xcvi. 10, 
 i^aalXevaev airb rod ^v\ov (LXX.), Regnavit a ligno. (See Life of Christ, 
 1. 12, n) For the attempt of the Priests to get the superscription altered 
 
w. 39— 4I.J ST LUKE, XXIII. 351 
 
 39 — 43. The Penitent Robber. 
 
 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on 39 
 him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the 40 
 other answering rebuked him, saying. Dost not thou fear 
 God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ? And we 41 
 
 see John xix. i\^ 11. In refusing it Pilate shewed the insolent ob- 
 stinacy which Philo attributes to him. The actual title was a glo- 
 rious testimony to Jesus and an awful reproach to the Jews. Ps. ii. 6. 
 Thus His Cross becomes, as St Ambrose says, His trophy ; the gibbet 
 of the Malefactor becomes the feretriwi — the spoil-bearing sign of 
 triumph — of the Victor. See this alluded to in Col. ii. 14, 15. ^Life 
 of St Paul, II. 461.) 
 
 39—43. The Penitent Robber. 
 
 39. one of the malefactors^ In St Matthew and St Mark we are told 
 that both the robbers "reviled" Him. Here then we might suppose that 
 there was an irreconcilable discrepancy. But though the Evangelists 
 sometimes seem to be on the very verge of mutual contradiction, no 
 single instance of a positive contradiction can be adduced from their 
 independent pages. The reason of this is partly that they wrote the 
 simple truth, and partly that they wrote under divine guidance. The 
 explanation of the apparent contradiction lies in the Greek words used. 
 The two first Synoptists tell us that both the robbers during an early 
 part of the hours of crucifixion reproached '^^'iVA {jJ:vd^i^ov), but we learn 
 from St Luke that only one of them used injurious and insulting language 
 to Him {e^\aa(p7]fi€L). If they were followers of Barabbas or Judas of 
 Galilee they would recognise no Messiahship but that of the sword, and 
 they might, in their very despair and agony, join in the reproaches 
 levelled dy all classes alike at One who might seem to them to have 
 thrown away a great opportunity. It was quite common for men on 
 the cross to talk to the multitude, and even to make harangues (for 
 instances see my Life of Christ, 11. 409, n.)', but Jesus, amid this universal 
 roar of execration or reproach from mob, priests, soldiers, and even these 
 wretched fellow-sufferers, hung on the Cross in meek and awful silence. 
 
 If thou be Christ^ or, Art thou not the Christ? i<, B, C, L. 
 
 40. But the other'] The 'bonus latro,' or 'Penitent Robber,' is called 
 by various traditional names, and in the Arabic 'Gospel of the Infancy' 
 (an Apocryphal book) he is called Titus and Dysmas in Ev. Nicodem. X., 
 and a story is told that he had saved the Virgin and her Child from his 
 comrades during their flight into Egypt. There are robber caves in the 
 Valley of Doves which leads from Gennesareth to Kurn Hattin (see on 
 vi. 12), and he may have been among the crowds who hung on the lips 
 of Jesus in fonner days. " Doubtless the Cross aided his penitence. 
 On the soft couch conversion is rare." Bengel. 
 
 Dost not thou fear God] Rather, Dost not thou even fear God ? 
 
352 ST LUKE, XXIII. [vv. 42— 44. 
 
 indeed justly ; for we receive the due reward of our deeds : 
 
 42 but this iJian hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto 
 Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy king- 
 
 43 dom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To 
 day shalt thou be with me in paradise. 
 
 44 — 49. JDarkfiess. The Veil of the Tei7iple rent. The End. 
 Remorse of the Spectators. 
 
 44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness 
 
 41. we receive the due reward of our deeds] Literally, **w<f receive 
 back things worthy of the cri?nes we did." 
 
 hath done nothing amiss] Literally, ^^ did nothing out of place" (like 
 our "out of the way," i.e. nothing unusual or wrong). The wox^ prasso 
 in both clauses implies grave actions (see vs. 51), and this testimony 
 implies entire innocence. It is the broadest possible acquittal. The 
 word atopos occurs in 2 Thess. iii. 2. 
 
 42. Jesus, Lord] Rather, Oh, Jesus; the **Lord" is omitted in 
 S, B, C, L. He may well have been encouraged by having heard the 
 prayer of Jesus for His murderers, vs. 34. " Oravit misericordia ut 
 oraret miseria." Aug. 
 
 Lord, remember me] A truly humble prayer for a far-off remem- 
 brance. He calls I/im Lord whom the very Apostles had left, and 
 recognises Him as a King who even when dead could benefit the 
 dead. Even Apostles might have learnt from him. (Bengel.) 
 
 i?tto thy kingdom] Rather, in thy kingdom. We must not lose 
 sight of the faith which can alone have dictated this intense appeal to 
 One who hung mute upon the Cross amid universal derision. 
 
 43. To day] An unexpected boon, — for the crucified often lingered 
 in agony for more than two days. 
 
 To day shalt thou be with me in paradise] Paradeisos is de- 
 rived from the Persian word Fardes, meaning a king's garden or 
 pleasaunce. Here it is * a garden ' in which are more blessed trees than 
 those in the garden of Golgotha. (Bengel. ) It is used ( i ) for the garden of 
 Eden (Gen. ii. 8, &c.) ; and (2) for that region of Hades {Sheol) in which 
 the spirits of the blest await the general Resurrection, Acts ii. 31; 
 I Cor. XV. 55 ; Rev. ii. 7. The Sapphic verse on the tomb of the great 
 Copernicus alludes to the prayer of the Penitent Robber : 
 **Non parem Paulo veniam requiro 
 Gratiam Petri neque posco, sed quam 
 In crucis ligno dederis latroni 
 Sedulus oro." 
 44 — 49. Darkness. The Veil of the Temple rent. The End. 
 Remorse of the Spectators. 
 
 44. it was about the sixth hour] i. e. mid-day. This seems at first sight 
 to contradict John xix. 14, but there is fair ground to conjecture that 
 'sixth' (which would be written S"') was an early misreading for 'third' 
 (written V). For other proposed solutions of the discrepancy see Lift 
 
vv. 45, 46.] ST LUKE, XXIII. 353 
 
 over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was 45 
 darkened, and the vail of the temple was rent in the midst. 
 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, 46 
 Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and 
 having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 
 
 of Christ, II. 385. The solution which asserts that St John used a 
 different way of reckoning time is very precarious. St Luke omits the 
 presence of the Virgin and the two other Marys and Salome at the 
 Cross, and the words "Woman, behold thy son," "Behold thy mother." 
 During the three hours' darkness no incident is recorded, but we trace 
 a deepening sense of remorse and horror in the crowd. The fact that 
 the sun was thus "turned into darkness" was, at last, that 'sign from 
 heaven ' for which the Pharisees had mockingly asked. 
 
 over all the earthy Rather, over all the land. There is no reason 
 to believe that the darkness was over all the world. The Fathers 
 (Origen, c. Cels. ii. 33, 59, and Jerome, Chroii.) indeed appeal to two 
 heathen historians — Phlegon and Thallus — for a confirmation of it, but 
 the testimony is too vague to be relied on either as to time or circum- 
 stance. They both speak of att eclipse. 
 
 45. And the sun was darkened'\ Instead of these words some MSS. 
 (K, B, C, &c.) read '''■the sun eclipsing,'''' or ^'/ailingy The reading seems 
 only to be an attempt, and that a very unsuccessful one, to account for 
 the darkness. That it could not have been due to an eclipse is certain, 
 for the Paschal moon was at the full. 
 
 the vail of the temple was rent in the midsi\ The veil intended must 
 be what was called the Parocheth^ or inner veil, which hung between the 
 Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. It was very heavy, and splendid 
 with embroidery. It is alluded to in Heb. vi. 19, ix. 3, x. 19, 20. The 
 obvious significance of the portent was the departure of the Shechinah 
 or Presence of God from His now-deserted Temple. This particular 
 event is (naturally) not mentioned by the Jews, but we may have a 
 reference to it in the various omens of coming wrath which they say 
 occurred "forty years" before the destruction of the Temple, and in 
 which Jochanan Ben Zakkai saw the fulfilment of Zech. xi. i. For a 
 fuller account of these events see Matt, xxvii. 51 — 53; Mk. xv. 33. 
 Jerome on Matt, xxvii. 51 says that a great lintel over the gate of the 
 Temple fell and was shattered. 
 
 46. And when jfesus had cried with a loud voice, he said] Rather, 
 And, crying with a loud voice, Jesus said. St Luke here omits the 
 £11, Eli, lama sabachthani, and the effect of that cry on the multitude 
 (Matt, xxvii. 46 — 50); the *' I thirst," which was the sole word of physical 
 suffering wrung from Him in all His agonies ; and the one word ( Tete- 
 lestai) in which He expressed the sense that His work was finished. 
 
 Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit] A reference to Ps. xxxi. 
 5 ; comp. Acts vii. 59 ; i Pet. ii. 23. These words have been among 
 the dying utterances of St Polycarp, St Augustine, St Bernard, John 
 Huss, Jerome of Prague, Luther, Melancthon and Columbus. 
 
 he gave up the ghost] None of the Evangelists use the word "He 
 
 ST LUKE 
 
 ^2> 
 
354 ST LUKE, XXIII. [w. 47— 50. 
 
 47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified 
 
 48 God, saying. Certainly this was a righteous man. And all 
 the people that came together to that sight, beholding the 
 things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. 
 
 49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him 
 from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things. 
 
 50 — 54. Joseph of Arijfiathaea. The taking down from the 
 Cross. The Entombment. 
 
 50 And behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsel- 
 died " {ethanen), but exepneusen (literally, ' He breathed forth,' here 
 and Mk. xv. 37), and ' He sent forth' or * gave up His spirit' {aphekcn, 
 paredoken to ptieuma, Matt, xxvii. 50; John xix. 30); probably because 
 they wish to indicate the truth stated in John x. 18, that He gave up 
 His life "because He willed, when He willed, how He willed." Aug. 
 Comp. Eph. V. 2 ; Gal. ii. 20. 
 
 47. the centurion'\ who commanded the quaternion of soldiers. It is 
 remarkable that St Luke gives us several instances of 'good cen- 
 turions,' vii. 2, xxiii. 47; Acts x. i, xxii. 26, xxvii. 43. 
 
 saw what was do?te] See Mk. xv. 39 ; Matt, xxvii. 54. 
 
 he glorified God] A notice characteristic of St Luke (ii. 20, v. 25, 
 vii. 16, xiii. 13, xvii. 15, xviii. 43), 
 
 this was a righteous man] Tliis remark might have been drawn forth 
 by the silent majesty and holiness of the Sufferer. After the earth- 
 quake he may have added, " Truly this man was a Son of God " 
 (Matt, xxvii. 54). The latter phrase sounds at first incongruous on the 
 lips of a heathen, though 'Son of God' is found as a title of Augustus 
 in some inscriptions. But the centurion had twice heard our Lord 
 pray to 'His Father' (vss. 34, 46), and even Pilate had been over- 
 powered by the awful dread lest He should be something more than 
 man (John xix. 7 — 9). 
 
 48. all the people] Rather, all the crowds. 
 
 smote their breasts, and returned] Rather, returned, smiting their 
 breasts. It must be remembered that the People had not acted spon- 
 taneously in this matter, but had been goaded on by the Priests. 
 
 49. And all his acquaintance] Rather, But. Peculiar to St Luke. 
 Comp. ii. 44. 
 
 stood afar off, beholding these things] The word used is not theo- 
 rountes, as in vs. 35. There is, perhaps, in the "afar off," a sad allusion 
 to Ps. xxxviii. II, "My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my 
 sore ; and my kinsmen stafid afar off." St Luke omits the breaking of 
 the legs of the rubbers, and the piercing of the side of Jesus by the 
 soldiers, which are narrated in John xix. 31 -37. 
 
vv. 51—53.] ST LUKE, XXIII. 355 
 
 ler ; and he was a good man, and a just : (the same had not si 
 consented to the counsel and deed of them ;) he was of Ari- 
 mathea, a city of the Jews : who also himself waited for the 
 kingdom of God. This man went unto Pilate, and begged 52 
 the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in 53 
 
 60 — 54. Joseph of Arimathaea. The taking down from the 
 Cross. The Entombment. 
 
 50. a counseller] i.e. a member of the Sanhedrin, and therefore (as 
 one of the 70 most distinguished members of the ruling classes) a per- 
 son of great distinction. St Mark (xv. 43) calls him ' an honourable 
 councillor.' Godet somewhat fancifully sees in St Mark's description 
 of him the Roman ideal ; as in St Luke's 'good and just,' the Greek 
 ideal (/caXos Kayadbs); and in St Matthew's 'a rich man,' the Jewish 
 ideal. 
 
 a good man, and ajiist\ The first word describes his moral charac- 
 ter, the latter his strict religious life as an orthodox Jew. Rom. v. 7. 
 
 51. the same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them"] It 
 is remarkable that Joseph is the only Sanhedrist of whom this excep- 
 tion is recorded. We cannot, however, doubt that it was true of Nico- 
 demus also, since he was ^'^ the teacher of Israel" (John iii. 10), which 
 may possibly mean the third officer of the Synagogue, who was known 
 by the name of the Chakam or * Wise Man.' The word ' deed ' might 
 almost be rendered ' crime.' 
 
 Arimathea^ The name is a modification of the later Hebrew 
 Ramtha, 'a hill,' and is the same name as Ramah, Ramathaim, &c. 
 Hence the town of Joseph has been variously identified with Ramleh in 
 Dan, Ramathaim in Ephraim (i Sam. i. i), and Ramah in Benjamin 
 (Matt. ii. 18). 
 
 also"] i.e. as well as Christ's open followers. The same word is pre- 
 served in Matt, xxvii. 57, "who also himself was a disciple," though as 
 St John (xix. 38) adds, " secretly for fear of the Jews." 
 
 waited for the kingdom of God^ See ii. 25, and p. 382. 
 
 52. went unto Pilate, andb»gged the body of fesus'l This was a bold, 
 and might even have proved to be a perilous request. Hence the 
 ' boldly ' {tolmesas) of Mk. xv. 43. Pilate seems to have granted the 
 boon without a bribe because the Jewish care for burial was well known 
 (Matt. xiv. 12; Acts viii. 2; Jos. B. J. iv. 5, § 2), and was indeed a 
 part of their Law (Deut. xxi. 23). For the surprise of Pilate at the rapid 
 death of Jesus^ and his enquiry about it from the centurion, and other 
 details, see Mk. xv. 44. 
 
 53. wrapped it in linen'] in a sindon, or piece of fine white linen. 
 Comp. Mk. xiv. 51. Two other words, othonia (John xix. 40) and 
 soudarion (John xx. 7), are used of the various cerements of Jesus. 
 That Joseph bought this sinddn, apparently on this day (Mk. xv. 46), is 
 one of the many incidental signs furnished even by the Synoptists that 
 the true Passover did not begin till the evening of the Friday on which 
 our Lord was crucified. On the part taken by Nicodemns in the En- 
 
 23—2 
 
3S6 ST LUKE, XXIII. [w. 54—56. 
 
 linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, 
 
 54 wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the 
 preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 
 
 55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, 
 followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body 
 
 56 was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and oint- 
 ments j and rested the sabbath day according to the com- 
 
 tombment, and the spices which he brought, see John xix. 39, 40. Both 
 Joseph and Nicodemus in acting thus not only shewed great courage, 
 but also great self-sacrifice ; for the touching of a corpse made them 
 ceremonially unclean, and thus prevented them from any share in the 
 Paschal Feast. 
 
 in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone'] This rock-hewn tomb (Matt., 
 Mk., comp. Is. xxii. 16) was in a garden (comp. Jos. Antt. ix. 10, § 4; 
 X. 3, § 2) adjoining the scene of the crucifixion, if not an actual part of 
 it. John xix. 41. "He made His grave with the rich," Is. liii. 9. 
 The mouth of these rocky tombs was closed with a large stone, called 
 by the Jews Gdlal, which could only be rolled there by the labour of 
 several men (John xi. 39). 
 
 54. the preparation] This word parasketie became the ordinary 
 Greek word for Friday, because on Friday the Jews diligently prepared 
 for the Sabbath, which began at sunset. The afternoon is called pro- 
 sabbaton in Mk. xv. 42. Jos. Antt. xvi. 6. We are told that Sham- 
 mai, the almost contemporary founder of the most rigid school of legal- 
 ists, used to spend the whole week in meditating how he could best 
 observe the Sabbath. 
 
 drew on] Literally, " began to dawn" This expression is used, 
 although the Sabbath began at sunset (Mk. xv. 42), because the whole 
 period of darkness was regarded as anticipatory of the dawn. Hence 
 the Jews sometimes called the evening of Friday * the daybreak. * When 
 St John (xix. 31) calls the coming Sabbath **a high day," the expres- 
 sion seems clearly to imply that it was both the Sabbath and the day of 
 the Passover. 
 
 65. the women also] The two other Synoptists mention specially 
 Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of James and Joses. 
 
 followed after] Literally, ^^ following closely ^ 
 
 66. they returned] As the sunset was now rapidly approaching, 
 they must have hurried home to complete their preparations before the 
 Sabbath began. 
 
 prepared spices and ointments] The spices are dry, the ' perfumes ' 
 liquid. They wished to complete the imperfect embalming of the 
 body which Joseph and Nicodemus had hastily begun. Comp. 1 Chr. 
 xvi. 14. They had to purchase the spices (Mk. xvi. i). St Matthew 
 alone relates the circumstances under which the Jews obtained leave 
 to place a watch over the sepulchre, and to seal the stone, xxvii. 
 62-66. 
 
 and rested] This clause is closely connected with the next chapter. 
 
w. 1—3.] ST LUKE, XXIV. 357 
 
 mandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early 24 
 in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the 
 spices which they had prepared, and certain others with 
 them. 
 
 2 — 12. Vision of Angels to the Wo7nen. Peter visits the 
 Tomb. 
 
 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepul- 2 
 chre. And they entered in, and found not the body of 3 
 
 "And during the Sabbath day they rested... but on the first day of the 
 week, &c." 
 
 Ch. XXIV. 1. Now'\ Rather, But. 
 
 very early in the morning] Literally, at deep dawn, i.e. at the 
 earliest morning twilight, 'while it was yet dark' (John xx. i), though 
 the sun began to rise before they reached the tomb (Mk. xvi. 2). St John 
 mentions only Mary of Magdala (xx. i); St Matthew adds Mary, mother 
 of James (xxviii. i); St Mark adds Salome (xvi, i); and St Luke Joanna, 
 vs. 10. They may have gone singly or in small groups, the Marys 
 being separate from the others. There is no discrepancy in the different 
 narratives, although, as we might have expected, they are fragmentary 
 and seem to reflect the varied and tumultuous emotions of those who 
 were the first to see the Lord. The Easter music, as Lange says, is not 
 'a monotonous chorale' but an impassioned fugue. 
 
 and certain others with them] These words are probably spurious, not 
 being in X, B, C, L. 
 
 2 — 12. Vision of Angels to the Women. Peter visits the 
 Tomb. 
 
 2. they found the stone rolled away'] On their way they had con- 
 sidered how they should get over this difficulty, since the stone was 
 "very great" (Mk. xvi. 3). From St Mark's expression, "looking up," 
 we infer that the tomb was slightly elevated; and from St John's 
 "lifted" {■r]pixhov) that the first aperture of the tomb was horizontal. 
 St Matthew also tells us of the Angel and the Earthquake (xxviii. 1 — 4). 
 
 3. found not the body] Even advanced sceptics admit this circum- 
 stance as indisputable^ nor has one of them been able to invent the most 
 remotely plausible explanation of the fact by natural causes. For the 
 white-robed angel or angels in the tomb, see Mark xvi. 5 ; John xx. 
 II, 12. On the mention, omission, and numbers of these angels Van 
 Oosterzee quotes a very striking remark from Lessing. "Cold dis- 
 crepancy-mongers, do ye not then see that the Evangelists do not count 
 the angels?... There were not only two angels, there were millions of 
 them. They appeared not always one and the same, not always the same 
 two; sometimes this one appeared, sometimes that; sometimes on this 
 place, sometimes on that; sometimes alone, sometimes in company; 
 sometimes they said this, sometimes they said that." 
 
358 ST LUKE, XXIV. [vv. 4— 12. 
 
 4 the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much 
 perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in 
 
 5 shining garments : and as they were afraid, and bowed down 
 their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye 
 
 6 the living among the dead ? He is not here, but is risen : 
 remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Gali- 
 
 7 lee, saying. The Son of man must be delivered into the 
 hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise 
 
 g again. And they remembered his words, and returned from 
 the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and 
 
 to to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and 
 Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with 
 
 11 them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their 
 words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them 
 
 12 not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre ; and 
 stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by them- 
 
 ofthe Loi'd yesus] These words are omitted in D. The combination 
 'Lord Jesus' would however naturally begin at this point, as it is common 
 in the Acts and Epistles, where 'Lord Jesus Christ' occurs about 40 
 times, though not found in the Gospels. 
 
 4. much perplexed^ The word means 'utterly at a loss.' 
 
 in shinmg i^arments] Literally, '■^flashing as with lightning" which 
 recalls the expression of Matt, xxviii. 3 ; comp. ix. 29. 
 
 5. Why seek ye the living arnong the dead?] Comp. Acts i. 11. 
 The expression ^Uhe living'^ is probably used on the lips of the angels 
 with something of its true mystic depth. John i. 4, v. 26, xi. 25, 
 XX. 31. 
 
 6. when he was yet tn Galilee] Matt. xvii. 22, 23. 
 
 9. returned from the septilchj'e] Comp, Matt, xxviii. 8. From John 
 XX. 2 we infer that Mary of Magdala had, in the first instance, run from 
 the sepulchre to tell Peter and John of the removal of the stone, and 
 had therefore not seen the first vision of angels. The apparent contra- 
 diction in Mk. xvi. 8 obviously means that they 'said not one word on 
 the subject to any one' except the Apostles to whom they were expressly 
 told to announce it (Matt, xxviii. 7). 
 
 10. and other women] See viii. 2, 3. 
 
 11. as idle tales] The strong word used {leros) implies mere nonsensi- 
 cal talk. 
 
 believed them not] The imperfect shews /trj/j/dw/ incredulity ; 'they 
 disbelieved them.' 
 
 12. Then arose Peter] For the fuller details see John xx. 2 — 9. It 
 should be simply ^ but Peter arose.'' The 'but' implies his readiness to 
 believe. The presence of John, though omitted here, is implied in 
 vs. 24. The verse is probably genuine, though omitted in D. 
 
 ih: linen clothes] Othonia, a very general term, and perhaps including 
 
vv. 13—15.] ST LUKE, XXIV. 359 
 
 selves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which 
 was come to pass. 
 
 13 — 35. The Disciples at Euimaus. 
 
 And behold, two of them went that same day to a village 
 called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore 
 furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which 
 had happened. And it came to pass, that while they com- 
 
 the linen bands in which the Body had been swathed in spices. Comp. 
 John XX. 6, 7. 
 
 laid by themselves] Important as incidentally refuting the story dis- 
 seminated by the Jews (Matt, xxviii. 11 — 15). Such a stealing of the 
 body was on every ground impossible under the conditions, and had it 
 been even possible could only have been a hurried and perilous work. 
 Yet this absurd Jewish fiction was repeated and amplified twelve 
 centuries later in the blasphemous Toldoth Jeshu. 
 
 departed, wondering in himself] Rather, departed to Ms own house, 
 wondering (comp. John xx. 10). The surprise, the alarm, the perplexed 
 incredulity of the Disciples, admitted by all the Evangelists alike, add 
 force to those evidences which so absolutely convinced them of the 
 miracle which they had never contemplated. The stunning blow of the 
 Crucifixion had made them forget the prophecies of Jesus, which even at 
 the time they had been unable to receive with any comprehension or 
 conviction. (See ix. 43 — 45; John ii. 18 — 22, vi. 61 — 64, x. 17, 18, 
 xiii. 31; Matt. xii. 38 — 42, xvi. 13 — 27, xvii. i — 9; Mk. x. 32 — 34, &c.) 
 
 13—35. The Disciples at Emmaus. 
 
 13. two of them] It is expressly implied in vs. 33 that they were 
 not Apostles. One was Cleopas (an abbreviation of Cleopatros), of 
 whom we know nothing, for the natJie is not the same as Clopas ( = A1- 
 phaeus or Chalpai, John xix. 25), though they jfiay have been the same 
 person (see on vi. 15). The other is unknown, and unconjecturable. 
 There is no shadow of probability that it was St Luke himself (Theo- 
 phylact). This exquisite narrative is given by St Luke alone, though 
 mentioned m Mk. xvi. 12, 13. 
 
 went] Rather, were going. 
 
 a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore 
 furlongs] Omit '^ about" which has nothing to sanction it in the text. 
 The distance (6^ miles) shews that Emmaus could not have been the 
 Emmaus of i Mace. iii. 40, ix. 50, &c. (Amwas or Nicopolis), which is 
 176 furlongs (22 miles) from Jerusalem, Jos. B. J. II. 20, § 4, or the 
 Galilaean Emmaus or ''Hot Springs" (Jos. B. y. iv. i, § 3, vii. 6, 
 § 6). It may be the Emmaus of Jos. ^. y. vii. 6, § 6 {Kulonieh Succah, 
 IV. 5), which according to one reading was 60 furlongs from Jerusalem. 
 Had the Emmaus been 160 furlongs distant (as in the reading of N, I, 
 K, N, &c.) they could not have returned the same evening to Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
36o ST LUKE, XXIV. [vv. 16—21. 
 
 muned together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and 
 
 16 went with them. But their eyes were holden that they 
 
 17 should not know him. And he said unto them. What manner 
 ^communications are these that ye have one to another, as 
 
 18 ye walk, and are sad ? And the one of them, whose name was 
 Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger 
 in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are 
 
 19 come to pass there in these days ? And he said unto them. 
 What things ? And they said unto him. Concerning Jesus 
 of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word 
 
 20 before God and all the people : and how the chief priests 
 and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, 
 
 21 and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been 
 he which should have redeemed Israel : and beside all this, 
 
 15. yestis himself drew near] A beautiful illustration of the pro- 
 mise in Matt, xviii. 20. 
 
 16. that they should not know hi?fi\ Rather, recognise Him. There 
 are two other instances of the same remarkable fact. Mary of Mag- 
 dala did not recognise Him (John xx. 14), nor the disciples on the 
 Lake (John xxi. 4). The same thing is evidently implied in vs. 37 and 
 in Matt, xxviii. 17; and it exactly accords with the clear indications 
 that the Resurrection Body of our Lord was a Glorified Body of which 
 the conditions transcended those of ordinary mortality. It is empha- 
 sized in Mk. xvi. 12, where we are told that He was manifested in a 
 different form from that which He had worn before. 
 
 17. that ye have one to another] Literally, ^^ cast to and fro ^ 
 
 and are sad] The true reading seems to be and they stood still 
 [estathesan, N, A, B, and some ancient versions; estesan, L), looking sad. 
 They stopped short, displeased at the unwelcome, and possibly perilous, 
 intrusion of a stranger into their conversation. 
 
 18. whose name was Cleopas] See on vs. 13. The mention of so 
 entirely obscure a name alone proves that the story is not an invention. 
 Pii non sua sed aliorum causa memorantur, Bengel. 
 
 Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalerri] Rather, Dost thou live 
 alone as a stranger in Jerusalem ; art thou some lonely sojourner in 
 Jerusalem, come from a distance? 
 
 19. a prophet^ mighty in deed and word] See a remarkable parallel 
 to this description in Acts ii. 11. 
 
 21. we ti'usted] This would imply that now their hope was dimmed, 
 if not quenched. This perhaps led to the reading '■we trust^ (elpizomen 
 for elpizomen) in fc< and some inferior MSS., which Alford calls a '''■ cor- 
 rection for decorum. ^^ 
 
 which should have redeemed Israel] The form of the expected 
 redemption is explained in Acts i. 6, 
 
VV.22— 27.] ST LUKE, XXIV. 361 
 
 to day is the third day since these th'mgs were done. Yea, 22 
 and certain women also of our company made us astonished, 
 which were early at the sepulchre ; and when they found 23 
 not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen 
 a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain 24 
 of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and 
 found it even so as the women had said : but him they saw 
 not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart 25 
 to believe all that the prophets have spoken : ought not 26 
 Christ to have suffered these tilings^ and to enter into his 
 glory ? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he 27 
 
 to day is the third day] The words might be literally rendered ' He is 
 leading this third day.' The expression seems to imply, 'if there had 
 been any hope it would have been confirmed before now.' 
 
 23. which said] Rather, which say. This mention of a sort of 
 double hearsay ('women saying — of angels who say') shews the extreme 
 -hesitation which appears throughout the narrative. 
 
 24. dut him they saw not] This phrase most naturally and ten- 
 derly expresses their incredulity and sorrow. It also shews how im- 
 possible is the sceptical theory that the Disciples were misled by hallu- 
 cinations. "Z^j hallncines," says Bersier, "parlent en hallucinis •''' but 
 against any blind enthusiasms we see that the Apostles and Disciples 
 were most suspiciously on their guard. They accepted nothing short of 
 most rigid proof. 
 
 25. O fools] The expression is much too strong. It is not the 
 word aphrones (see xi. 40), but anoetoi, 'foolish,' 'unintelligent.' (Gal. 
 iii. I.) 
 
 26. ought not Christ to have siiffered] Rather, the Christ. It was 
 a divine necessity {ouchi edei?), Matt. xxvi. 54; John xii. 24, 32, xi. 
 49 — 52; Acts xvii. 3; I Pet. i. 10, ri. Thus St Luke mainly dwells 
 on the Resurrection as a spiritual necessity ; St Mark as a great fact ; 
 St Matthew as a glorious and majestic manifestation ; and St John in its 
 effects on the minds of the members of the Church. (Westcott.) 
 
 27. beginning at Moses] The promise to Eve (Gen. iii. 15); the 
 promise to Abraham (Gen. xxii. 18); the Paschal Lamb (Ex. xii.); 
 the Scapegoat (Lev. xvi. i — 34); the brazen serpent (Numb. xxi. 9); 
 the greater Prophet (Deut. xviii. 15); and the star and sceptre (Numb, 
 xxiv. 17); the smitten rock (Num. xx. 11; i Cor. x. 4), &c. 
 
 a7id all the prophets] Immanuel, Is. vii. 14. "Unto us a Child is 
 born, &c." Is. ix. 6, 7. The Good Shepherd, Is. xl. 10, ir. The Meek 
 Sufferer, Is. 1. 6. He who bore our griefs, Is. liii. 4, 5. The Branch, 
 Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 14, 15. The heir of David, Ezek. xxxiv. 23. The 
 Ruler from Bethlehem, Mic. v. 2. The Branch, Zech. vi. 12. The 
 lowly King, Zech. ix. 9. The pierced Victim, Zech. xii. 10. The 
 smitten Shepherd, Zech. xiii. 7. The Messenger of the Covenant, 
 Mai. iii. i. The Sun of Righteousness, Mai. iv. 2; and many other 
 passages. Dr Davison, in his admirable and standard book on Pro- 
 
362 ST LUKE, XXIV. [vv. 28—33. 
 
 expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things con- 
 
 28 cerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village, whi- 
 ther they went : and he made as though he would have gone 
 
 29 further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us : 
 for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent. And he 
 
 30 went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat 
 at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed //, and 
 
 31 brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and 
 
 32 they knew him ; and he vanished out of their sight. And they 
 said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while 
 he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the 
 
 33 scriptures ? And they rose up the same hour, and returned 
 to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and 
 
 phecy, pp. r^^ — 287, shews that there is not one of the Prophets with- 
 out some distinct reference to Christ except Nahum, Jonah (who was 
 himself a type and Prophetic Sign), and Habakkuk, who however uses 
 the memorable words quoted in Rom. i. 17. The expression is im- 
 portant, as shewing the prevalently Messianic character of the Old 
 Testament ; for of course we cannot suppose that our Lord went 
 through each prophet separately, but only that He pointed out "the 
 tenor of the Old Testament in its ethical and symbolical character." 
 
 in all the scriptures'] fragmentarily {polumeros) and multifariously 
 {polutropos), Heb. i. i, e.g. in the Psalms passim, and in the types of 
 Joshua, &c. 
 
 28. he made as though he would have gone further] Rather, would 
 go. It is of course implied that He would have gone further, but for 
 the strong pressure of their entreaty. Comp. Mk. vi. 48. We learn 
 from these passages how needful it is to win Christ's Presence by 
 praying for it. 
 
 29. Abide with us] It is this beautiful verse which has furnished 
 the idea of Lyte's dying hymn, 'Abide with me, fast falls the even- 
 tide.' 
 
 he went in to tarry with them] Comp. Heb. xiii. 2, " thereby some 
 have entertained angels unawares." 
 
 30. he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them] Rather, 
 the bread. Comp. xxii. 19. Our Lord seems, by a kind of natural 
 authority, to have assumed the position of host ; which shews that they 
 were at an inn. 
 
 31. he vanished] See on vs. 16. 
 
 32. Did not our heart burn] Rather, Was not our heart burn 
 Ing? 
 
 while he talked with us] Rather, to us. "Never man spake like 
 this man." John vii. 46. 
 
 33. and returned to Jerusalem] " They fear no longer the night journey 
 from which they had dissuaded their unknown companion." Bengel. 
 
vv. 34—36.] ST LUKE, XXIV. 363 
 
 them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, 34 
 and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things 35 
 were done in the way, and how he was known of them in 
 breaking of bread. 
 
 36 — 49. Appearance ofj^esus to the Apostles. 
 
 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst 36 
 
 34. hath appeared to Simon] The same appearance, to Simon alone, 
 is mentioned in i Cor. xv. 5, but there is not even a tradition as to 
 the details. (The passage in i Cor. xv. 4 — 8 is the earliest written 
 allusion to the facts of the Resurrection, ) 
 
 35. in breaking of bread] Rather, in the breaMng* of the bread. 
 The alteration is important as giving to the act a sacramental 
 character. It has been objected that Cleopas and his companion, not 
 being Apostles, had not been present at the institution of the Lord's 
 Supper ; but this was by no means the only occasion on which Christ 
 had solemnly broken bread and blessed it (see ix. 16). St Mark adds 
 that some of the disciples received even this narrative with distrust 
 (xvi. 13), which once more proves that, so far from being heated 
 enthusiasts ready to accept any hallucination, they shewed on the 
 contrary a most cautious reluctance in accepting even the most cir- 
 cumstantial evidence. 
 
 The young reader will be glad to see a part of the beautiful passage 
 of Cowper on this scene: 
 
 "It happen'd on a solemn eventide 
 Soon after He who was our surety died, 
 Two bosom friends, each pensively inclined, 
 The scene of all those sorrows left behind. 
 Sought their own village, busied as they went 
 In musings worthy of this great event. 
 They spake of Him they loved, of Him whose life, 
 
 Though blameless, had incurred perpetual strife. 
 
 * * * » 
 
 Ere yet they brought their journey to an end 
 A stranger joined them, courteous as a friend. 
 And asked them with a kind engaging air 
 
 What their affliction was, and begged a share. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 He blessed the bread, but vanished at the word, 
 And left them both exclaiming, 'Twas the Lord ! 
 Did not our hearts feel all He deigned to say. 
 Did not they burn within us by the way?" 
 
 Conversation. 
 
 36 — 49. Appearance of Jesus to the Apostles. 
 
 36. stood in the midst of them] The words imply a sudden appear- 
 ance. The Eleven, with the exception of Thomas the Twin, were sitting 
 
364 ST LUKE, XXIV. [vv. 37—42. 
 
 37 of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they 
 were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had 
 
 38 seen a spirit. And he said unto them. Why are ye troubled? 
 
 39 and why do thoughts arise in your hearts ? Behold my 
 hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; 
 for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 
 
 \o And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands 
 
 M and his feet. And while they yet beHeved not for joy, and 
 
 ♦2 wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any m.eat? And 
 
 they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honey- 
 
 at supper with the doors closed through their fear of the Jews (John xx. 
 19). This is one of the most remarkable appearances of the Risen Christ. 
 His intercourse with them on this occasion consisted of a greeting (36) ; 
 a reproach and consolation (38; Mk. xvi. 14); a demonstration of the 
 reality of His person (39 — 43; John xx. 20); an opening of their 
 understandings (44 — 46); an appointment of the Apostles to the mi- 
 nistries of remission and witness (47, 48; John xix. ^\, 23); a promise 
 of the Spirit, for the fulfilment of which they were to wait in Jerusalem 
 (49). At the close of this great scene He once more pronounced the 
 benediction of Peace, and breathed on them with the words * Receive 
 the Holy Spirit' (John xx. 22). It is doubtless the extreme fulness with 
 which St Luke has narrated this appearance which led him in accordance 
 with his economy of method to omit some of the other appearances. 
 
 37. terrified'] Literally, ^^ scared ^ 
 
 that they had seen a spirW] Rather, that they were gazing on a 
 spirit. See on vs. 16. 
 
 38. thoughts'] Rather, reasonings. 
 
 39. handle me, and see] PsHaphesate ; ** which we have looked upon 
 and our hands have handled {epselapkesan) of the Word of Life," i John 
 i. I ; comp. John xx. 20, 27. For other uses of the word see Acts xvii. 
 27 ; Heb. xii. 18. 
 
 hath not flesh and bones] **I am not a bodiless spirit" are words 
 attributed to Him in Ignatius {ad Smy7-n. 3). Clemens of Alexandria 
 has preserved a curious, but utterly baseless, legend, that St John, 
 touching the body, found that his hands passed through it. From the 
 omission of "blood" with "flesh and bones" very precarious infer- 
 ences have been drawn. 
 
 40. and his feet] which must therefore have been pierced, and not 
 merely tied to the Cross. 
 
 41. believed not for joy] One of the psychological touches of which 
 St Luke is fond, and profoundly true to nature (comp. Liv. xxxix. 49). 
 
 any meat] Rather, anything to eat; see on iii. ir, viii. 55. 
 
 42. a piece of a broiled fish] A meal of fish at Jerusalem might 
 surprise us, if we did not learn from the Talmud that it was regularly 
 supplied from the inexhaustible stores of the Lake of Gennesareth {Life 
 of Christ f I. 142). 
 
vv. 43— 47-] ST LUKE, XXIV. 365 
 
 comb. And he took it^ and did eat before them. And he ^J 
 said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto 
 you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be ful- 
 filled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the 
 prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened 45 
 he their understanding, that they might understand the scrip- 
 tures, and said unto them. Thus it is written, and thus it 46 
 behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third 
 day : and that repentance and remission of sins should be 47 
 preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jeru- 
 
 and of a honeycomb^ Omitted in S, A, B, D, L, «&c. 
 
 43. and did eat before thefn] This was one of the ' infallible proofs ' 
 appealed to in Acts i. 3 ; comp. John xxi. 12, 13 ; "who did eat and 
 drink with Him after He rose from the dead," Acts x. 41. Jerome 
 {adv. Pelag. II.) mentions a strange addition in some MSS., viz. that the 
 disciples said that * the wickedness and increduHty of the age is 
 a substance which does not permit the true virtue of God to be appre- 
 hended through impure spirits ; therefore even now reveal Thy justice.' 
 A few MSS. and versions here add, 'and gave them the remains.' 
 
 44. These are the words] i. e. this is the meaning of the words. 
 which I spake unto you] yiwm. 31; Matt. xvi. 21. 
 
 while I was yet with you] Important as shewing that the forty days 
 between the Resurrection and the Ascension were not intended to be a 
 continuous sojourn with the Disciples, or an integral portion of the 
 Lord's human life. 
 
 which were written] See on vss. 26, 27. 
 
 the law... the prophets., the psalms] This corresponds with the (possibly 
 later) Jewish division of the Old Testament into the Pentateuch, Prophets, 
 and Ketubhim (Hagiographa). 
 
 45. opened he their understanding] Spiritual things can only be 
 spiritually discerned, i Cor. ii. 10 — 13. On this most important truth 
 see Matt. xi. 27, xiii. 11, xvi. 17; John xvi. 13; Acts xvi. 14. "Open 
 thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law," 
 Ps. cxix. 18. 
 
 that they might understand the scriptures] Hence the power with 
 which they — till this time so dull and slow of heart — henceforth explained 
 them. Acts i. 16, 20, ii. 16, 25, &c. 
 
 46. and thus it behoved Christ to suffer] Read, thus it is written that 
 the Christ should suffer, N, B, C, D, L. 
 
 47. remission of sins] See on i. 77. "Your sins are forgiven you for 
 His name's sake," and i John ii. 12. 
 
 among all nations] See Gen. xii. 3, "all families of the earth." Ps. 
 xxii. 27, "all kindreds of the nations." Is. xlix. 6, "a light to the 
 Gentiles," &c. See on ii. 32. 
 
 beginning at J erusalem] " For out of Zion shall go forth the law, 
 and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem," Is. ii. 3 ; Mic. iv. 2. 
 
366 ST LUKE, XXIV. [w. 48, 49. 
 
 4^ salem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, 
 I send the promise of my Father upon you : but tarry ye in 
 the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from 
 on high. 
 
 50 — 53. The Ascension. 
 50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lift up 
 
 48. ye are witnesses] John xv. 27. How prominent in the minds of 
 the Apostles was this ministry of witness may be seen from Acts i. 8, 
 ii. 32, iii. 15, iv. 33, v. 30—32, &c. 
 
 49. the promise of tny Father] both in the Prophecies of the Old 
 Testament (Is. xliv. 3; Ezek. xxxvi. 26; Joel ii. 28) and by His own 
 mouth (John xiv. 16, 17, 20, xv. 26, xvi. 7). Comp. Acts i. 4, 5, 8. 
 It is difficult not to see in this expression a distinct allusion to the 
 discourses which are recorded by St John alone. 
 
 until ye be endued] Rather, until ye put on the garment of. For 
 the metaphor see Rom. xiii. 14; Eph. iv. 24, &c. We are unclothed 
 till we receive heavenly gifts. "They had been washed Qohn xv. 3), now 
 the clothing is promised." Bengel. 
 
 There are ten recorded appearances of the Risen Christ (including 
 that at the Ascension), of which St Luke only narrates three (the 4th, 
 5th, and loth), though he alludes to others (e.g. the 3rd). They are 
 
 1. To Mary of Magdala. John xx. 11 — 17 {'Noli me tangere')', 
 Mk. xvi. 9. 
 
 2. To other women, who adore Him. Matt, xxviii. 9, 10. 
 
 3. To Peter. Luke xxiv. 34 ; i Cor. xv. 5. 
 
 4. To the Disciples on the way to Emmaus. Luke xxiv. 13 — 35; 
 Mk. xvi. 12, 13. 
 
 5. To ten Apostles and others. Luke xxiv. 36 — 49; John xx. 19 — 
 23 ; Mk. xvi. 14. 
 
 6. To the Eleven Apostles. The incredulity of Thomas removed. 
 John XX. 26 — 29. 
 
 7. To seven Apostles at the Lake of Galilee. John xxi. i — 24. 
 
 8. To five hundred on a hill of GaUlee. Matt, xxviii. 16 — 20; Mk. 
 xvi. 15 — 18; I Cor. XV. 6. 
 
 9. To James, the Lord's brother, i Cor. xv. 7. 
 
 10. Before the Ascension. Luke xxiv. 50, 5 1 ; Acts i. 6 — 9. 
 
 Since more Appearances of the Risen Christ than those here narrated 
 were well known to St Paul (i Cor. xv. 5—7), it may be regarded as 
 certain that they were known also to St Luke. If he here omits them 
 it must be borne in mind (i) that neither he nor any of the Evangelists 
 profess to furnish a complete narrative ; (2) that St Luke especially 
 shews a certain 'economy' (as has been already pointed out) in only 
 narrating typical incidents; (iii) that he is here hastening to the close of 
 his Gospel ; and (iv) that he has other particulars to add in the Acts of 
 the Apostles, 
 
vv. 50—53.] ST LUKE, XXIV. 367 
 
 his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he 51 
 blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into 
 heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jeru- 52 
 salem with great joy : and were continually in the temple, 53 
 praising and blessing God. Amen. 
 
 60 — 53. The Ascension. 
 
 50. he led them out] Not of course at the conclusion of the last 
 scene, but at the end of the forty days, Acts i. 3. 
 
 as far as to Bethany^ Rather, as far as towards Bethany {.pros, 
 N, B, C, D, &c. ). The traditional scene of the Ascension is the central 
 summit of the Mount of Olives {Jebel et-Tiir); but it is far more probable 
 that it took place in one of the secluded uplands which lie about the 
 village. See a beautiful passage in Dean Stanley's Sinai and Palestine^ 
 ch. iii. 
 
 51. he was parted from theni] "A cloud received Him out of their 
 sight," Acts i. 9. The original however conveys a clearer impression. 
 He stood apart fro7n the?n (aorist) and was gradually borne into heaven. 
 The latter words are not found in t<, D. 
 
 carried up into heaven] See Eph. iv. 8. The withdrawal of His 
 Bodily Presence preceded His Spiritual Omnipresence. The omission 
 of the Ascension by St Matthew and St John would be more remark- 
 able if it was not assumed by them both (John iii. 13, vi. 62, xx. 17; 
 Matt. xxiv. 30). 
 
 52. returned to yerusalem] For fuller details see Acts i. 3 — \i. 
 
 with great joy] as Jesus had promised (John xvi. 20, ii). It is re- 
 markable that they shewed great joy now that they were losing for ever 
 the earthly presence of their Lord. It shews their faith in the promise 
 that His spiritual presence should be even nearer and more precious 
 (John xiv. 28, xvi. 7). 
 
 53. continually in the temple] This expression is one of the links 
 between the Gospel and the Acts (see Acts ii. 46, iii. i, &c,). 
 
 praising and blessing God^ Acts ii. 46, v. 42. 'Praise is the fruit 
 of joy.' A characteristic close in accordance with the usual spirit 
 of St Luke. See Introd. p. 24, and ii. 20, v. 25, vii. 16, xiii. 13, xvii. 
 15, xviii. 43, xxiii. 47. 
 
 Amen] Probably a liturgical addition, as it is omitted in X, C, D, L, 
 &c. "The Ascension," says Godet, " realises in the person of the Risen 
 Son of Man the design of God towards Humanity." That divinely- 
 foreordained purpose {prothesis) was to make of sanctified believers a 
 Family of God's children like His only Son. Rom. viii. 28, 29; Eph. 
 ii. 6 ; Heb. ii. 10. The work of Christ is continued by the Church, 
 enlightened by the Spirit of God at Pentecost, and awaiting its per- 
 fection at the Second Advent. "Since then salvation involves these 
 three things —Grace, Holiness, Glory, each Gospel, especially that of 
 St Luke, requires, as its second volume, the Acts ; as its third, the 
 Revelation of St John. " 
 
EXCURSUS I. 
 
 On the Meaning of iv rots tov irarpos /xov in Lk. ii. 49 (the first 
 
 RECORDED WORDS OF JeSUS). 
 
 In my Life of Christ (l. 78) I deliberately adopted the rendering of 
 the English Version, but my view of the meaning has since been changed 
 by a monograph kindly sent me by the Rev. Dr Field of Norwich, 
 from which I here borrow some illustrations. 
 
 It might seem that the words lose something of their force and beauty 
 by the adoption of the rendering "m my Father's house ;^^ but we must 
 remember (i) that they are the words of a young and guileless Boy who 
 was "subject unto his parents;" (2) that they must be interpreted with 
 reference to their context. Joseph and his mother might have known 
 that He would be "about His Father's business" without knowing 
 where He was. The answer had reference to His mother's gentle 
 reproach about their agonising search for Him. His answer is "Why 
 this search? might you not have conjectured that I was in my Father's 
 House?" The other meaning would therefore be less appropriate. It 
 is also less supported. We have no exact instance of h toU tivos eTuai 
 meaning "to be about a person's business," though we have something 
 like it, e.g. i Tim. iv. 15 iv tovtoh tadi, and the Latin *'totus in Hits." 
 This idiom seems however to imply an absolute absorption which is 
 not here intended. If the word o\os had been added the sense and the 
 idiom would indeed have been clear, and thc^re would have been a 
 distant analogy to the phrase employed in the story that when the 
 young Alexander talked with the Persian Ambassadors he did not ask 
 
EXCURSUS I. 369 
 
 about the Golden Vine, the king's dress, &c. but "was entirely occupied 
 with the most important matters of the government " (oAos iv tois 
 KvpLOJTdToti Tjv ttjs -^ye/xouias), so that the strangers were amazed {iKire- 
 wXiJxdai), Plut. II. 342. But had our Lord meant to say * Know ye not 
 that I must be absorbed in my Father' s ivork V He would have expressed 
 His meaning less ambiguously, and if He spoke in Aramaic those who 
 recorded the sentence in Greek would hardly have left the meaning 
 doubtful. — On the other hand "in my Father's House" is the ordinary 
 and natural meaning of the words. — Oikemasi or doniasi might be 
 understood, but in fact the article alone — ta, 'the things or belongings 
 of — was colloquially used in this sense; e.g. q. to. AOkwvos (Theocr. 
 II. 76), 'where Lycon's kozise is;' ei's to. tov d§eX0oi;, 'into my brother's' 
 (Lysias c. Eratosth. p. 195), h toIs tov SecnrdTov eavrov elvai avTov dvdyKT) 
 (Chrysost. Horn. Lii. in Gen.), 'wherever he may chance to go he must 
 be in his Master's house.' Esther vii. 9, ev tois 'A/xdi/, 'in Haman's 
 house;' (LXX.) Job xviii. 20, iu rots avTov ^-q^ovTaL ^TepoL, 'others shall 
 live in his house.' See too Gen. xli. 51, LXX. In this interpretation 
 the Vulgate, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Peshito Syriac concur, as do Origen, 
 Theophylact, Euthymius, Epiphanius, and Theodoret. 
 
 But it may be asked 'may we not admit both meanings, one as 
 primary and one as secondary?' This is the view adopted by Alford 
 and others; but I agree with Dr Field in the remark that "it is certain 
 that only one of the meanings was in the mind of the artless Child from 
 whose lips they fell, and that that meaning" (so far as the mere signifi- 
 cance of the words was concerned) "was rightly apprehended by those 
 who heard them." 
 
 EXCURSUS n. 
 The Double Genealogies of Christ as the Son of David. 
 
 The general facts are these : 
 
 (i) The genealogy of our Lord in St Matthew descends from 
 Abraham to Jesus, in accordance with his object in writing mainly 
 for the Jews. 
 
 The genealogy in St Luke ascends from Jesus to Adam, and to God, 
 in accordance with his object in writing for the world in general. He 
 spans the generations of mankind from the first Adam to the Second 
 Adam, who was the Lord from heaven (i Cor. xv. 20, 45, 47). 
 
 (ii) The generations are introduced in St Matthew by the word 
 ''begat;" in St Luke by the genitive with the ellipse of "son." Thus 
 in St Matthew we have 
 
 Abraham begat Isaac, 
 
 And Isaac begat Jacob, &c.; 
 
 ST LUKE 24 
 
370 
 
 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 but in St Luke 
 
 Being the son (as was reputed) of Joseph, 
 (The son) of Eli 
 
 of Matthat, 
 
 &c. 
 
 (iii) St Matthew says that 
 David begat Solomon 
 
 Rehoboam 
 
 Abijah 
 
 Asa 
 
 Jehoshaphat 
 
 Jehoram [Ahaziah, Joash, 
 
 I _ Amaziah omitted] 
 Uzziah 
 
 Jotham 
 
 I 
 
 Ahaz 
 
 Hezels-iah 
 
 Manasseh 
 
 I 
 
 Amos 
 
 I 
 Josiah 
 
 Jeconiah and his 
 brethren 
 
 Shealtiel 
 
 Zerubbabe] 
 
 Elmadam 
 
 Kosam 
 
 I 
 Adaiah 
 
 Melchi 
 
 I 
 Neriah 
 
 I 
 Shealtiel (in i Chr. iii. 19 we 
 I findPedaiah, who was 
 
 Zerubbabell perhaps the actual fa- 
 ther ; Shealtiel may 
 j have adopted his ne- 
 
 I phewi). 
 
 Thus St Lul<e ^ives 21 names between David and Zerubbabel where 
 St Matthew only gives 15, and all the names except that of Shealtiel 
 (Salathiel) are different. 
 
 ' Some authorities maintain that Zerubbabel was the grandson of Shealtiel, and 
 that we have six sons of Shealtiel in 1 Chron. iii. 18. 
 
 St Luke (merely reversing the 
 order) traces the line through 
 David 
 
 Nathan 
 
 Mattathah 
 
 I 
 
 Menna 
 
 Meleah 
 
 Eliakim 
 
 Jonan 
 Joseph 
 
 Judas 
 Symeon 
 
 Levi 
 Matthat 
 
 Jorim 
 
 Eliezer 
 
 Jesus 
 
EXCURSUS 11. 
 
 371 
 
 (iv) St Matthew says that 
 
 Zerubbabel begat Abihud 
 
 Eliakim 
 
 I 
 
 Asor 
 
 Zadok 
 
 I. 
 Achim 
 
 St Luke traces the line through 
 Zerubbabel— [Rhesa] 
 
 (Hananiah, i Chr. iii. 19). 
 
 (Abihud of Matthew, Ho- 
 daiah of i Chr. iii. 24). 
 
 Johanan 
 
 Judah 
 
 Joseph 
 
 Shimei 
 
 Elihud Mattathiah 
 
 I I 
 
 Eliezer Mahath 
 
 Matthan Nogah 
 
 I I 
 
 Jacob Azaliah 
 
 Joseph Nahum 
 
 i 
 Amos 
 
 Mattathiah 
 
 Joseph 
 
 Jannai 
 
 Melchi 
 
 Levi 
 
 Matthat 
 
 i' 
 
 Joseph 
 
 Thus it will be seen that St Luke gives 17 generations between 
 Zerubbabel and Joseph, where St Matthew only gives 9, and all the 
 names are different. 
 
 The two main difficulties then which we have to meet are 
 (a) The difference in the number of the generations ; 
 (/S) The difficulties in the dissimilarity of the names. 
 
 (a) The difficulty as to ^Ae numder of the generations is not serious, 
 because (i) it is a matter of daily experience that the number of gene- 
 rations in one line often increases far more rapidly than that in another ; 
 but also because (2) St Matthew has arranged his genealogies in an 
 arbitrary numerical division of tesseradecads (for the manner in which 
 these tesseradecads are arranged the student must refer to commentaries 
 on St Matthew), and because nothing was more common among the 
 Jews than the adoption of this symmetrical method, at which they 
 arrived by the free omission of generations, provided that the fact of 
 the succession remained undoubted. Thus in ^ Chron. xxii. 9 "son" 
 stands for "grandson," and Ezra (in Ezra vii. i — 5) omits no less than 
 seven steps in his own pedigree, and among them his own father, — 
 which steps are preserved in i Chron. vi. 3 — 15. 
 
 24 — 2 
 
372 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 (j8) The difficulty as to the dissimilarity of names will of course only 
 affect the two steps of the genealogies at which they begin to diverge, 
 before they again coalesce in the names of Shealtiel and of Joseph. 
 
 One of the commonest ways of meeting the difficulty has been to 
 suppose that St Luke is giving the genealogy not of Joseph but of 
 Mary — the genealogy of Christ by actual births not by legal claim. 
 
 This solution (first suggested by Annius of Viterbo at the close of 
 the 1 5th century), though still adopted by some learned men, must 
 be rejected, (i) because there is no trace that the Jews recognised the 
 genealogies of women as constituting a legal right for their sons ; 
 and (2) because it would do the strongest violence to the language of 
 St Luke to make it mean ' Being, as was reputed, the son of Joseph 
 \but really the son of Mary, who was the daughter} of Eli, &c.' 
 
 We must therefore regard it as certain that both genealogies are 
 genealogies of Joseph adduced to prove that in the eye of the Jewish 
 law Jesus was of the House of David. The question is not what we 
 should have expected about the matter, but what is actually the case. 
 
 A. First then, how can Joseph be called in St Matthew the son of 
 Jacob, in St Luke the son of Eli? 
 
 (a) An ancient explanation was that Matthan, a descendant of David 
 in the line of Solomon (as given by St Matthew) was the husband of a 
 woman named Estha, and became the father of Jacob; on his death 
 his widow Estha married Melchi, a descendant of David in the line of 
 Nathan (as given by St Luke), and had a son named Eli. Eli, it is 
 said, died childless, and Jacob, his half-brother, in accordance with the 
 law of levirate^ marriages (Deut. xxv. 5, 6; Matt. xxii. 23 — 27), took 
 his widow to wife, and became the father of Joseph. Thus 
 David David 
 
 I I 
 
 Solomon Nathan 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 I I 
 
 Matthan = Estha = Melchi 
 
 * I I 
 
 Jacob Eli 
 
 I \ I 
 Joseph \Joseph 
 
 (by levirate (by le^al 
 marriage with succession), 
 the widow of Eli). 
 
 St Luke might naturally give the latter genealogy because it would 
 be the one recognised by Romans, with whom the notion of legal as 
 distinguished from natural sonship was peculiarly strong. This solution 
 derives very great authority from the fact that it is preserved for us by 
 Eusebius (H. E. I. 7) from a letter of Juliu* Africanus, a Christian 
 writer who lived in Palestine in the third century, and who professed to 
 derive it from private memoranda preserved by Uhe Desposyni or kindred 
 of the Lord. 
 
 1 So called from the Latin word levir, ' a brother-in-law,' 
 
EXCURSUS II. 373 
 
 (P) But the difficulty about this view — not to mention the strange 
 omission of Levi and Matthat, which may be possibly due to some trans- 
 position — is that St Matthew's genealogy will then ho. partly legal (as in 
 calling Shealtiel the son of Jeconiah) and partly natural (in calling 
 Joseph the son of Jacob). But perhaps (since Jul. Africanus does not 
 vouch for the exact details) there was so far a confusion that it was Jacob 
 who was childless, and Eli who became by a levirate marriage the father 
 of Joseph. If this be so, then St Matthew's is throughout the legal, and 
 St Luke's throughout the statural genealogy. Even without the sup- 
 position of a levirate marriage, if Jacob were childless then Joseph, the 
 son of his younger brother Eli, would become heir to his claims. The 
 tradition mentioned rm.y point in the direction of the true solution even if 
 the details are inexact. 
 
 (7) We may here add that though the Virgin's genealogy is not 
 given {oiK k-^^v^ako^-fiQt) rj irapdhos, S. Chrys.), yet her Davidic descent 
 is assumed by the sacred writers (Lk. i. 32; Acts ii. 30, xiii. 23; Rom. 
 i. 3, &c.), and was in all probability involved in that of her husband. 
 How this was we cannot say with certainty, but if we accept the tradi- 
 tion which has just been mentioned it is not impossible that Mary may 
 have been a daughter of Eli (as is stated in an obscure Jewish legend, 
 Lightfoot, Hor. Hcbr. ad loc. ) or of Jacob, and may have married her 
 cousin Joseph jure agnationis. At any rate we have decisive and inde- 
 pendent proof that the Davidic descent of our Lord was recognised by the 
 Jews. They never attempted to avert the jealousy of the Romans about 
 the royal descent of the Desposyni (Euseb. H. E. i. 7), and Rabbi 
 Ulla (circ. -210) says that "Jesus was exceptionally treated because of 
 royal descent'^ (T. B. Sanhedr. 43 a, Amsterdam ed., see Derenbourg, 
 Palest, p. 349. But it is possible that the words mean ' influential with 
 the (Roman) government'). 
 
 B. We have now to explain why St Matthew says that Shealtiel 
 (Salathiel) was the son of Jeconiah, while St Luke says that he was the 
 son of Neriah. 
 
 The old suggestion that the Zerubbabel and Shealtiel of St Luke are 
 different persons from those of St Matthew may be set aside at once. 
 But the true answer seems to be that Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) was either 
 actually childless, as was so emphatically prophesied by Jerem. xxii. 
 24 — 30, or that, at any rate, his children (if he ever had any, as seems 
 possible from vs. 28; i Chr. iii. 17 — 19; and Jos. Antt. X. ii, § 2) died 
 childless in Babylon. It is true that the word rendered 'childless' 
 C^ni^) may mean 'forlorn' or 'naked;' but the other is the more 
 natural meaning of the word, and so it was understood by the Jews, 
 who however supposed that, after a long captivity, he repented and the 
 curse was removed. Setting aside this mere conjecture, it seems probable 
 that Jeconiah was, or became, absolutely childless, and that therefore in 
 the 37th year of his captivity he adopted a son to preserve his race from 
 extinction. His choice however was limited. Daniel and others of the 
 seed royal were eunuchs in the palace of the King of Babylon (Dan. i. 
 3 ; 2 Kings XX. 16), and Ishmael and others were excluded by their 
 murder of Gedaliah ; to say nothing of the fact that the royal line had 
 been remorselessly mown down by Jehu and by Athaliah. He therefor? 
 
374 EXCURSUS II. 
 
 adopted the seven sons of Neri, the twentieth from David in the line of 
 Nathan. We seem to have an actual intimation of this in Zech. xii. 12, 
 where *^the faynily of Nathan apart^^ is commemorated as well as "the 
 family of David apart" because of the splendid Messianic prerogative 
 which they thus obtained. And this is remarkably confirmed by Rabbi 
 Shimeon Ben Jochai in the Zohar., where he speaks of Nathan, the son of 
 David, as the father of Messiah the Comforter (because Menachem, 
 'comforter,' stands numerically for 138, which is the numerical value of 
 the letters of Tsemach, 'the Branch'). Hence too Hephzibah, the wife 
 of Nathan, is called the mother of the Messiah. (See Schottgen, Hor. 
 Hebr. on i. 31.) 
 
 The failure of the Messianic promise in the direct natural line of 
 Solomon is no difficulty in the way of this hypothesis, since while the 
 promise to David was absolute (2 Sam. vii. 12) that to Solomon was 
 conditional (i Kings ix. 4, 5). 
 
 If these very simple and probable h)q)otheses be accepted no difficulty 
 remains; and this at least is certain — that no error can be demonstrated. 
 A single adoption, a7id a single levirate marriage, account for the 
 apparent discrepancies. St Matthew gives the legal descent through a 
 line of Kings descended from Solomon — thejus successionis ; St Luke the 
 natural descent — ihtjus sanguinis. St Matthew's is a royal, St Luke's 
 a natural pedigree. It is a confirmation of this view that in Joseph's 
 private and real genealogy we find the names Joseph and Nathan recur- 
 ring (with slight modifications like Matthat, &c.) no less than seven 
 times. That there must be some solution of this kind is indeed self- 
 evident, for if the desire had been to hvuent a. genealogy no one would 
 have neglected a genealogy deduced through a line of Kings. 
 
 C. i. We need only further notice that in vs. 27 the true transla- 
 tion probably is "the son of the Rhesa Zerubbabel." Rhesa is not a 
 proper name, but a Chaldee title meaning ' Prince. ' Thus the head of 
 the Captivity is always known by Jewish writers as the Resh Galootha. 
 
 ii. In vs. 32 we have only three generations — Boaz, Obed, Jesse — 
 between Salmon and David; a decisive proof that the common chrono- 
 logy is wrong in supposing that more than four hundred years elapsed 
 between the conquest of Canaan and David. 
 
 iii. In vs. 24 the Matthat is perhaps identical with the Matthan of 
 Matt. i. 15; if so the line recorded by St Matthew may have failed at 
 Eliezer, and Matthan, the lineal descendant of a younger branch, would 
 then be his heir. 
 
 iv. In vs. 36 the Cainan (who must be distinguished from the 
 Cainan of vs. 37) is possibly introduced by mistake. The name, though 
 found in this place of the genealogy in the LXX., is not found in any 
 Hebrew MS. of the O. T., nor in the Samaritan, Chaldee, and Syriac 
 versions (Gen. xi. 12; i Chr. i. 24). It is omitted in the Codex Bezae 
 (D), and there is some evidence that it was unknown to Irenaeus. 
 
 V. The difference between the two genealogies thus given without a 
 word of explanation constitutes a strong probability that neither Evan- 
 gelist had seen the work of the other. 
 
EXCURSUS II. 375 
 
 The conclusions arrived at as probable may be thus summarized. 
 
 David's line through Solomon failed in Jeconiah, who therefore 
 adopted Shealtiel, the descendant of David's line through Nathan. 
 
 (Shealtiel being also childless adopted Zerubbabel, son of his brother 
 Pedaiah, i Chr. iii. 17 — 19.) 
 
 Zerubbabel's grandson, Abihud (Matt.), Judah (Lk.), or Hodaiah 
 (i Chr.) — for the three names are only modifications of one another — had 
 two sons, Eliakim (Matt.) and Joseph (Lk.). 
 
 Eliakim's line failed in Eliezer ; and thus Matthan or Matthat became 
 his legal heir. 
 
 This Matthan had two sons, Jacob the father of Mary, and Eli the 
 father of Joseph ; and Jacob having no son adopted Joseph his heir and 
 nephew. 
 
 It is true that these suggestions are not capable of rigid demonstration, 
 but (a) they are entirely in accordance with Jevdsh customs ; (j8) there 
 are independent reasons which shew that they are probable; (7) no 
 other hypotheses are adequate to account for the early existence of a 
 double genealogy in Christian circles. 
 
 EXCURSUS III. 
 On putting New {viov) Wine into Fresh {Kaivohi) Bottles. 
 
 It is usually considered a sufficient explanation of this passage to say 
 that the ' bottles ' of the ancients were skins, and not bottles of glass , 
 and that whereas fermenting wine would burst old, worn, and sun- 
 cracked skins, it would only distend new skins. 
 
 It is exceedingly doubtful whether such an explanation is tenable. 
 
 a. It is quite true that the ' bottles ' of the East were skins, as the 
 Greek word askos implies^. They are still made in the East exactly as 
 they used to be made thousands of years ago, by skinning an animal 
 from the neck, cutting off the head and legs, and drawing off the skin 
 without making a slit in the belly. The legs and neck are then tightly 
 tied and sewn up, and the skin with the hair on it is steeped in tannin 
 and pitched at the sutures (Tristram, Nat. Hist. Bib., p. 92). 
 
 /3. It is also quite true that ' wine ' must here mean the juice of the 
 grape which has not yet fermented, 'must,' as this explanation implies. 
 For * still wine' — wine after fermentation — may be put in any bottles 
 whether old or new. It has no tendency to burst the bottles that con- 
 tain it. 
 
 7. But unfermented wine which was intended to ferment certainly 
 could not be kept in any kind of leather bottle whether old or new. The 
 fermentation would split open the sutures of the leather, however new 
 the bottle was. 
 
 ' The root is sk, found also in skm. 
 
376 EXCURSUS III. 
 
 5. It seems, therefore, to be a very probable conclusion that our Lord 
 is not thinking at all of fermented, intoxicating wine, but of ''viust^ — the 
 liquid which the Greeks called ad yXevKos — tuns of which are kept for 
 years in France, and in the East ; which (as is here stated) improves by 
 age ; which is a rich and refreshing, but non-intoxicating beverage ; 
 and which might be kept with perfect safety in new leather bottles. 
 
 e. Why, then, would it be unsafe to put the tnust in old bottles ? 
 
 Because if the old bottles had contained ' wine ' in the ordinary sense — 
 i.e. the fermented juice of the gi-ape — or other materials, "minute por- 
 tions of albuminoid matter would be left adhering to the skin, and 
 receive yeast germs from the air, and keep them in readiness to set up 
 
 fermentation in the new unfermented contents of the skin As soon 
 
 as the unfermented grape-juice was introduced, the yeast germs would 
 begin to grow in the sugar and to develop carbonic dioxide. If the 
 must contained one-fifth sugar it would develop 47 times its volume of 
 gas, and produce an enormous pressure which no bottle, new or old, 
 could withstand." 
 
 Unless, therefore, some other explanation can be produced, it is at 
 least possible — if not most probable — that our Lord, in speaking of 
 'wine,' here means must. 
 
 Thus much is at any rate certain : — the conditions of our Lord's 
 comparison are not fulfilled either by fermented wine, or by grape- 
 juice intended for fermentation. Fermented wine could be kept as 
 well in old bottles as in new ; and grape-juice intended to ferment 
 would burst far stronger receptacles than the newest leathern bottle. 
 See Job xxxii, 19. "The rending force of the pent-up gas would burst 
 even the strongest iron-bound cask." When fermentation is intended, 
 it goes on in the wine- vat. 
 
 Columella, an almost contemporary Latin writer, describing the then 
 common process of preserving grape-juice in the form of unfermented 
 must^ lays the same stress on its being put i)ito a nei': amphora. 
 
 EXCURSUS IV. 
 On the Meaning of EPIOUSION in Lk. xi. 3. 
 
 After the very learned and elaborate examination to which the word 
 has been subjected by Bishop Lightfoot, On Revision 195 — 234, and 
 Dr M*=Clellan, New Testament dT^i — 647, it will be sufficient here to 
 touch on their conclusions. 
 
 This word was so rare that even learned Greek Fathers like Origen 
 considered that it had been invented by the Evangelists and were un- 
 certain as to its meaning. It is even still a dispute whether it has a 
 temporal or a qualitative meaning, i.e. whether it means 
 
 i, bread for the day, in one of the subordinate senses of a. continual 
 or ^.future: — or 
 
EXCURSUS IV. 377 
 
 ii. for our subsistence, whether a. physical, or /3. spiritual: — 
 or again (giving to epi the sense of * upon,' i.e. 'in addition to') whether 
 it meant 
 
 iii. beyond other substances, implying either a. ^ super substantial,^ 
 i.e. preeminent, or /3. consubstantial. 
 
 The meanings suggested under iii. may be at once dismissed as the 
 mere artificial 'afterthoughts of theology.' 
 
 The decision depends partly on the etymology. It has been thought 
 that the word may be derived from epi and ienai, or from epi and ousia. 
 
 It seems however an insuperable objection to the latter etymology 
 that it has the form epiousios not epousios, and with the etymology fall the 
 meanings suggested under ii., i.e. hrezd ior our physical, ox spiritual, 
 subsistence. 
 
 If then the word be derived from epi and ienai it comes either from 
 {ho) epion [chrotios) or {he) epiousa (hemera). In either case it would 
 mean 'bread for the coming day,' i.e. for to-morrow, or for to-day; and 
 Bishop Lightfoot brings some evidence to shew that this was the sense 
 accepted by the Church till the more mystical sense was supported by 
 Origen. He sums up his essay by the words "Thus the familiar ren- 
 dering 'daily' which has prevailed uninterruptedly in the Western 
 Church from the beginning is a fairly adequate representation of the 
 original; nor indeed does the English language furnish any one word 
 which would answer the purpose so well" (p. 234). On the other hand 
 Dr M*^Clellan, as the result of another exhaustive criticism, decides on 
 the meaning ^'■proper to the future world,'''' and would render it ^^ need- 
 ful,^'' an interpretation which he argues that "etymology, original tra- 
 dition, sense and context unite in establishing" (p. 646). He would 
 therefore take it in the sense of "Give us day by day our bread of Life 
 Eternal." 
 
 May we not however suppose that our Lord mentally referred to 
 Prov. XXX. 8, " Feed me with food convenient for ine," LXX. avvra^ov 
 S^ fxoi rh ZiovTa koI to, avrapKr) ? If so the simpler and more obvious 
 meaning is to be preferred. 
 
 But I may observe in conclusion that practically the difference is 
 nothing: for — in uttering the prayer — whichever sense the Christian 
 may attach to the adjective he will certainly include the spiritual sense 
 ill using the word "bread" (John vi. 51). 
 
 EXCURSUS V. On xxii. 7. 
 
 Was the Last Supper an actual Passover? 
 
 The question whether, before the institution of the Lord's Supper, our 
 Lord and His Disciples ate the usual Jewish Passover — in other words, 
 whether in the year of the Crucifixion the ordinary Jewish passovei 
 
378 EXCURSUS V. 
 
 (Nisan 15) began on the evening of Thursday or on the evening of 
 Friday — is a question which has been ably and voluminously debated, 
 and respecting v^^hich eminent authorities have come to opposite con- 
 clusions. 
 
 From the Synoptists alone we should no doubt infer that the ordinary 
 Paschal Feast was eaten by our Lord and His Disciples, as by all the 
 Jews, on the evening of Thursday (Matt. xxvi. 2, 17, 18, 19; Mk. xiv. 
 14 — 16; Luke xxii. 7, 11 — 13, 15). 
 
 On the other hand, St John uses language which seems quite as dis- 
 tinctly to imply that the Passover was not eaten till the next day (xiii. i, 
 ^'■before the Feast of the Passover;" 29, "those things that we have 
 need of against the feast;" xviii. 28, "they themselves went not into 
 the judgment-hall lest they should be defiled ; but that they might eat 
 the passover^^). He also calls the Sabbath (Saturday) a high day (a 
 name given by the Jews to ihtjirst and last days of the octave of a feast) 
 apparently because it was both a Sabbath and the first day of the Pass- 
 over; and says (xix. 14) that Friday was "the preparation of the Pass- 
 over." Here the word used is Paraskeu} (as in Luke xxiii. 54). Now 
 this word may no doubt merely mean 'Friday,' since every Friday was 
 a preparation for the Sabbath ; but it seems very difficult to believe that 
 the expression means 'Passover Friday.' 
 
 Now since the language of St John seems to be perfectly explicit, and 
 since it is impossible to explain away his expressions by any natural 
 process — though no doubt they can be explained away by a certain 
 amount of learned ingenuity — it seems more simple to accept his express 
 statement, and to interpret thereby the less definite language of the 
 Synoptists. 
 
 We may set aside many current explanations of the difficulty, such as 
 that— 
 
 a. Two diffisrent days may have been observed in consequence of 
 different astronomical calculations about the day. 
 
 or /3. Some laxity as to the day may have been introduced by 
 different explanations of "between the two evenings." 
 
 or 7. The Jews in their hatred put off their Passover till the next 
 evening. 
 
 or 5. St John, by "eating the Passover," may have meant no more 
 than eating the Chagigah or festive meal. 
 
 or e. The supper described by St John is not the same as that 
 described by the Synoptists. 
 
 or f. The Last Supper was an ordinary Passover, only it was eaten 
 by anticipation. 
 
 Setting aside these and many other untenable views, it seems proba- 
 ble that the Last Supper was not the ordinary Jewish Paschal meal, 
 but was eaten the evening before the ordinary Jewish Passover ; and 
 that the language of the Synoptists is perfectly consistent and explicable 
 on the view that our Lord gave to His last Supper a Paschal character 
 ("to eat this Passover," or ^^ this as a Passover," Lk. xxii. 15), and 
 spoke of it to His disciples as their Passover. Hence had arisen in th^ 
 
EXCURSUS V. 379 
 
 Church the view that it actually was the Paschal meal — which St John 
 silently corrects. The spread of this impression in the Church would 
 be hastened by the fact that in any case Thursday was, in one sense, 
 'the first day of unleavened bread,' since on that day all leaven was 
 carefully searched for that it might be removed. 
 
 When we adopt this conclusion — that the Last Supper was not the 
 Paschal Feast itself, but intended to supersede and abrogate it — it is 
 supported by a multitude of facts and allusions in the Synoptists 
 themselves ; e. g. i. The occupations of the Friday on which Jesus was 
 crucified shew no sign whatever of its having been a very solemn 
 festival. The Jews kept their chief festival days with a scrupulosity 
 almost as great as that with which they kept their Sabbaths. Yet on 
 this Friday working, buying, selling, holding trials, executing criminals, 
 bearing burdens, &c. is going on as usual. Everything tends to shew 
 that the day was a common Friday, and that the Passover only began 
 at sunset. 
 
 ii. The Sanhedrin had distinctly said that it would be both dan- 
 gerous and impolitic to put Christ to death on the Feast day (Mk. xiv. 
 1, and comp. Acts xii. 4). 
 
 iii. Not a word is said in any of the Evangelists about the Lamb — 
 the most important and essential element of the Paschal meal ; nor of 
 the unleavened bread at the Supper ; nor of the bitter herbs ; nor of 
 the sauce Charoseth ; nor of the account given by the Chief Person 
 present of the Institution of the Passover, &c. 
 
 Further than this, many arguments tend to shew that this Last Sup- 
 per was not a Paschal meal ; e. g. : 
 
 a. Early Christian tradition — apparently down to the time of Chry- 
 sostom — distinguished between the Last Supper and the Passover. 
 Hence the Eastern Church always uses leavened bread at the Eucharist, 
 as did the Western Church down to the 9th century. 
 
 j8. Jewish tradition — with no object in view — fixes the Death of 
 Christ on the afternoon before the Passover {Erebh PesacJi). 
 
 7. The language of St Paul (i Cor. v. 7, xi. 23) seems to imply that 
 the Lord's Supper was not the Passover, but a Feast destined to super- 
 sede it. 
 
 5. If our Lord had eaten an actual Paschal meal the very evening 
 before His death, the Jews mig?it fairly have argued that He was not 
 Himself the Paschal Lamb ; whereas 
 
 e. There was a peculiar symbolic fitness in the fact that He — the 
 True Lamb — was offered at the very time when the Lamb which was 
 but a type was being sacrificed. 
 
 For these and other reasons — more fully developed in the Life of Christ, 
 pp.471 — 483 — I still hold that the Last Supper was not the actual 
 Jewish Passover, but a ^wa^z- Passover, a new and Christian Passover, 
 
38o EXCURSUS VI. 
 
 EXCURSUS VI. 
 On Sects of the Jews. 
 
 In the time of our Lord the main Jewish sects were — the Essenes, 
 the Sadducees, and the Pharisees. 
 
 The Herodians, mentioned in Mk. iii. 6, xii. 13; Matt. xxii. 16, were not 
 so much a religious sect as a political party which accepted the rule of the 
 Herods. Politically they were descended from the old Grecising apostates, 
 for whom Jason proposed the title of Antiochians (2 Mace. iv. 9). They 
 may be most briefly described as the anti-national party, who wished 
 the Jews to forget as much as possible their customs and aspirations, 
 adopt cordial relations with Rome, and accept 'Greek fashions and 
 heathenish manners,' 1 Mace. iv. 13, 14. They seem to have been 
 Sadducees in religion, and were closely connected with the powerful 
 families which Herod the Great had introduced from Babylon and 
 Egypt, and who at this time monopolised the High Priesthood among 
 themselves. The Talmud connects them with the Boethusim, so called 
 from Simon son of Boethus, whose daughter (named Mariamne) Herod 
 the Great married. They had gone so far at one time as to attempt 
 to represent Herod the Great to the Jews as the promised Messiah ! 
 (Tert. Praesc. 45). 
 
 The Essenes are not mentioned in the Gospels, nor is there any 
 indication that Jesus ever came into contact with them. They were a 
 small, exclusive, ascetic, isolated community, with whose discourage- 
 ment of marriage, and withdrawal from all the active duties of life, our 
 Lord could have had no sympathy. Their importance as a sect belongs 
 to a somewhat later period of the Gospel History. 
 
 The Sadducees were the priestly-aristocratic party, who were in 
 close alliance with the ruling powers. The name is probably derived from 
 Tsedakah 'righteousness,' and was originally meant to distinguish them 
 from the Separatist or Pharisaic party, which in their opinion was too 
 narrow and exclusive. The names, like all party names, soon acquired 
 an insulting force, and may be roughly illustrated by saying that the 
 Sadducees were regarded as Rationalists and the Pharisees as Ritualists. 
 In the time of our Lord the Sadducees had much political power, 
 derived from their wealth, their offices, and their political connexions, 
 but they had no popular following. Their grasping and avaricious 
 spirit made them hateful to the people, and this hatred was specially 
 felt towards their chief representatives — the family of Annas. 
 
 They rightly refused to recognise the extravagant importance attached 
 by the Pharisees to the Oral Law ; and they seem to have unduly depre- 
 ciated the authority of the Hagiographa and the Prophets in comparison 
 with that of Moses. It was this which led to their scepticism about the 
 immortality of the soul and the existence of angels and spirits. Their 
 worldlincss and want of moral earnestness made them less useful than 
 they might otherwise have been in counteracting the hypocritic exter- 
 nalism and frivolous scrupulosity of the Pharisees. 
 
EXCURSUS VI. 381 
 
 The name Pharisees seems to have been derived from FetHshoot, 
 'separation.' They were the national party, and were pohtically 
 descended from the Chasidim, mentioned in i Mace ii. 42, vii. 13. No 
 doubt many good and faithful men, like Nicodemus and Joseph of 
 Arimathaea, existed in their body, but Jewish writers themselves admit, 
 and the Talmud amply and in many passages confirms, the terrible 
 charges brought against them by our Lord in His Great Denunciation 
 (Matt, xxiii. ; see notes on Luke xi. 42 — 54). Those charges were 
 mainly against their greed, ambition, tyranny, and sacrifice of things 
 essential to unimportant minutiae, — in one word, their arbitrary and ex- 
 cessive ceremonialism, which had led them to sacrifice the spirit and 
 even the letter of the Mosaic Law to their own Oral Law or Tradition of 
 the Fathers. " Long prayers, and devouring of widows' houses ; flaming 
 proselytism and subsequent moral neglect ; rigorous stickling for the 
 letter, boundless levity as to the spirit ; high-sounding words as to the 
 sanctity of oaths, and cunning reservations of casuistry ; fidelity in trifles, 
 gross neglect of essential principles ; the mask of godliness without the 
 reality ; petty orthodoxy and artificial morals — such was Pharisaism." 
 " It was," says Canon Mozley, "an active religion founded upon egotism" 
 — religion allied with the pride of life in its most childish and empty 
 forms. It was a ' ' false goodness " — and therefore ' ' an unrepentant type of 
 evil." "The Pharisaic conscience was a /"^w^ conscience — with a potent 
 sway over mint, anise, and cumin, but no power over the heart." And 
 therefore the Pharisees were " the only class which Jesus cared publicly 
 to expose." See ' Sermon on the Pharisees ' in Mozley's Univ. Sermons^ 
 pp. 28—51. 
 
 Josephus {Antt. xviii. i, §§ 3, 4, xiii. 5, § 9, B. J. 11. 8, § 14) gives 
 some notices of these sects, but his account of them can by no means be 
 exclusively trusted. 
 
 EXCURSUS VIL 
 Illustrations of St Luke derived from the Talmud. 
 
 A few only of the following illustrations — which will I think be 
 found both curious and important — may be found in Schottgen's 
 Horae Hebraicae. The majority of them are entirely new, and I have 
 chiefly derived them from the yet unpublished Talmudic collections of 
 Mr P. J. ITershon. 
 
 I. 21. Marvelled that he tarried so long in the Tejnple. 
 The Jews believed that catastrophes sometimes occurred, not only 
 (as in the case of Heliodorus, 2 Mace iii. 24) for intrusion into the 
 Temple, but for any irregularity in it. See the story of the death of a 
 (Sadducean) High Priest in Yoma, f. \() b. Comp. Lev. xvi. 13, "that 
 he die not. " 
 
382 EXCURSUS VII. 
 
 II. 25. Waiting for the consolation of Israel. 
 II. 38. That looked for redemption. 
 "Ravah said, When a man is brought up for judgment (after death) 
 he is asked... ^<3:j/ thou been waiting for salvation?"" (i.e. looking for the 
 advent of the Messiah). Shabbath, f. 31 a. 
 
 II. 41. His parents went to yerusalem every year at the feast of the 
 
 Passover. 
 In Mechilta i, \*j b the wife of Jonah is commended for going to the 
 yearly feasts. 
 
 II. 46. Both hearing them and asking them questions. 
 I have shewn that this was entirely in accordance with Jewish cus- 
 tom : besides the self-attested instance of the young Josephus we find 
 that "when Rabbi Shimon Ben Gamaliel and Rabbi Jehoshua Ben 
 Korcha were seated in the debating room upon divans Rabbi Elazer 
 Ben Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi [i.e. Judah the Holy] sat before them on 
 the ground asking questions and starting objections. The other Rabbis 
 exclaimed *We drink of their water' (i.e. of their wisdom) 'and they 
 sit upon the ground!' Seats were therefore brought in, and the two 
 children were seated upon them." Babha Metsia, f. 84 b. 
 
 VI. 35. Lend, hoping for nothing again. 
 
 From Ps. xv. 5 the Rabbis said that he who lent his money without 
 usury was regarded as having kept the whole law. Shemoth Rabba, 
 
 f- 130, 3- 
 
 VII. 50. Go in pecue. 
 
 Lit. Hnto peace' (efs elpTJvrjv), comp. ii. 29, **Now lettest thou thy 
 servant depart in peace" {ip elpTjvjj). 
 
 "Rabh Laive Bar Chaitha said, In taking leave of a dying man 
 one should say 'Go in peace' {beshalSm), and not 'into peace' [lesha- 
 I6m), for God said to Abraham 'Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. ^ 
 Otherwise one should not say 'Goinpeiice' but Uinto peace;' for David 
 said to Absalom 'Go in peace^ {^ Sam. xv. 9), and he went and was 
 hanged; but Jethro said to Moses (Ex. iv. 18) 'Go unto peace,'' and he 
 went and prophesied." Moed Katon, f. 29, i. The same rule is given 
 with the same reasons in Berachoth, f. 64 a. 
 
 X. 31. He passed by on the other side. 
 In Midrash Koheleth, {. gi b, s. beautiful story is told of the blessing 
 earned by Abba Techama for carrying a sick man into a town, and 
 going back (in spite of the Sabbath) to fetch his bundle. See Schottgen, 
 //or. Hebr. ad hic. 
 
 X. 34. Pouring in oil and wine. 
 Speaking of circumcision, and the method adopted to heal the wound, 
 we find the rule '■^ If there is no mixed oil and wine ready each may be 
 added separately" (Shabbath, f. 133 a). 
 
EXCURSUS VII. 383 
 
 As an additipnal instance of the extreme Sabbath scrupulosity among 
 the Jews we may add the rest of the passage : ^*No dressing is to be 
 prepared for it on the Sabbath, but a rag may be put on" (see John vii. 
 22). "If the latter is not ready on the spot it may be fetched from 
 other premises wrapped on the finger ^ The latter rule is given to avoid 
 the appearance of breaking the Sabbath by carrying the rag. 
 
 X. 42. The good part. 
 No doubt the use of the word ^epis is a reference to the feast which 
 Martha was preparing. The phrase and the metaphor are found in 
 Hebrew literature. See Schottgen ad loo. 
 
 XII. 19. Soul... take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 
 So in Taanith, f. \x a, "When the people is in trouble let no man 
 say, I will go home, and eat, and drink, and peace be to thee, O my 
 soul." 
 
 XII. 53. The daughter in law against her mother in law. 
 "In the generation when the Son of David will come daughters wil 
 
 stand up against their mothers, daughters in law against their mothers 
 in law. Sanhedrin, f. 97, i. 
 
 XIII . 1 4. In them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. 
 Thus we are told that thorough bathing was permitted on the Sabbath 
 except in the Mediterranean, and the Dead Sea, because the waters of 
 these seas were supposed to possess medicinal properties, and healing 
 is not allowed on the Sabbath day. Shabbath, f. 109 a. 
 
 XIII. 23. Are there few that be saved? 
 Some of the Rabbis answered this question in the affirmative, and 
 Rabbi Shimeon Ben Jochai was so satisfied about his own righteousness 
 as to say that if only two were saved, he and his son would be those 
 two. Sticca, f. 45 ^. 
 
 XIV. 8 — II. On taking the lowest place. 
 "Ben Azai said, Descend from thy place, and sit down two or 
 three degrees lower. Let them rather bid thee go up higher than 
 come down lower ; as it is said, • For better it is that it should be said 
 unto thee, Come up hither, than that thou shouldest be put lower in the 
 presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen,' Prov. xxv. 7." 
 Abhoth of Rabbi Nathan, 2. 
 
 XIV. II. Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased. 
 "Greatness flees from him who strives for it, but it follows him 
 who flees from it," Erubhin, f. r.^ b. "Whoever abases himself, the 
 
384 EXCURSUS VII. 
 
 Holy One, blessed be He, exalts him, and whoever exalts himself, the 
 Holy One, blessed be He, abases him." Id. ib. 
 
 The latter coincidence compels the belief either that our Lord was 
 here (as elsewhere) using a current Jewish proverb, or that the Tal- 
 mudic writer, consciously or unconsciously, borrows from Him. 
 
 XV. 7. Who need no repentance. 
 The Jews distinguished between two classes of good men ; those 
 who, like David, had repented after sin; and the 'perfect just.' 
 SuccUy f. 45 b. 
 
 XVI. 8. The children of this world {or ' age^). 
 ' The children of this age ' are opposed to * the children of the 
 age to come,' who in Berachoth, f. 4 by are defined to be " those who 
 to their evening prayers add prayers about (Israel's) redemption." 
 
 XVI. 9. Into everlasting habitations (' into the eternal tents '). 
 "When the wicked are burnt up, God makes a tent in which He 
 hides the just, Ps. xxvii. 5." Siphra, f. 187. 
 
 XVI. 1^. Was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. 
 " 'This day,' said Rabbi Qudah the Holy], 'he sits in the bosom 
 of Abraham,' i.e. he died." Kiddushin, f. 72 b. 
 
 XVII. 6. Be thou plucked up by the root. 
 In the famous story of Babha Metsia, f. 59 b. Rabbi Eliezer is 
 said to have given this among other miraculous proofs that his rule 
 (halacha) was right. 
 
 XXI. 5. Ho^v it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts. 
 "It is said, Whoever has not seen Herod's temple, has never seen 
 a beautiful structure in his life. How did he build it ? Ravah replied, 
 With white and green marble, so that it appeared in the distance like 
 the waves of the sea. " Babha Bathra, f. 3 b. 
 
 XXI. 7. When shall these things be? 
 "Rabbis Jochanan and Elazer both said, The present generation 
 (i.e. after the destruction of Jerusalem), whose iniquities are hidden, 
 have not been informed of the time of their restoration.' Yoma, 
 f- 19. «• 
 
 XXII. 38. // is enough. 
 Schottgen compares this with the very frequent Rabbinic phrase 
 -ji^*!, used generally with a shade of indignation to stop useless remarks. 
 
EXCURSUS VII. 385 
 
 XXII. 70. Art thou the Son of God? And he said unto them. Ye say 
 
 that I am. 
 ., In the description of the death of Rabbi (Judah Hakkodesh, or 
 the Holy, the compiler of the Mishna), we are told that Bar Cappara 
 was commissioned by the other Rabbis to see whether he was dead 
 or alive. He returned with his robe rent behind, and said, " The angels 
 are victorious, and the holy ark is taken away." "/$• Rabbi deadV^ 
 asked they. " You have said it,'''' he answered. Kethubhoth, f. 103 b. 
 
 XXIII. 31. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be 
 done in the dry? 
 
 Although this exact proverb does not occur (apparently) in 
 Jewish literature, there are others exceedingly like it, e.g. "Rabbi 
 Ashi asked Bar Kippok what mourning he made on the death of 
 Ravina. He replied, ' If the flame has fallen among the cedars, what 
 chance is there for the hyssop on the wall ? If Leviathan is drawn 
 up with a hook, what hope is there for little fish ? If the net is thrown 
 in flooding streams, what chance is there for stagnant pools ?' " Moed 
 Katon, f. 25 b. Comp. Jer. xii. 5. 
 
 The proverb adduced by Schottgen on i Cor. xv. 33, ' Two dry 
 logs and one green one ; the dry bum up the green, ' seems to have no 
 connexion with it. 
 
 5T LUKE 25 
 
INDEX I. 
 
 Abia, course of, 45 
 
 Abila, its position, 81 ; capital of Abi- 
 lene, 81 
 
 Abilene, Lysanias tetrarch of, 81 
 
 Abraham's seed, Jews supposed privi- 
 leges of, 85 
 
 Ahithophel, a type of Judas Iscariot, 
 
 ,327. . 
 
 almsgiving, 218 
 
 angel, appearance of, to Zacharias, 47 
 
 angels, ministry of, dwelt on by St Luke, 
 46; visit to shepherds, 67; at the se- 
 pulchre, 358 
 
 Anna, the prophetess, 74 
 
 Annas, some account of, 82 
 
 annunciation of the birth of St John the 
 Baptist, 44; of the birth of Jesus, 51 
 
 Apocryphal Gospels, account of annun- 
 ciation in, 53 ; on the questioning of 
 the doctors by Christ, 77 
 
 Apostles, selection of, 131 — 134; lists of, 
 131; some account of, 132 — 134; mis- 
 sion of, 179; instructions to, 180; re- 
 turn of, after mission, 182 ; lesson to, 
 on meekness, 192 ; strife among, at the 
 Last Supper, 327 
 
 Archelaus, 294, 296 
 
 Arnold quoted, 257 
 
 ascension of our Lord, 367 
 
 Aser, the tribe of, 74 
 
 Ave Maria, 51 
 
 baptism, symbol of John the Baptist's, 
 
 83 ; by the Spirit, 90 ; by fire, 90 ; 
 
 reasons for our Lord's, 92 
 Barabbas, his crime, 344 
 Bartimaeus, healing of blind, 291 
 beatitudes, 135 — 137 
 Beelzebub, 213 
 Benedictus, the, 59, 60 
 Bethany, meaning of, 297 ; the sisters 
 
 of, 207 , the ascension near, 367 
 Bethlehem, inn at, 66; meaning of, 65 
 Bethphage, its probable situation, 297 
 Bethsaida, western, 182; eastern = Beth- 
 
 saida-Julias, 182 
 blasphemy ag.iinst the Holy Ghost, 224 
 blind leaders of the blind, 142 
 brethren of our Lord, 168 
 
 Browning, quoted 256 
 Byron, quoted 257 
 
 Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas, 81 
 Calvary, our Lord's crucifixion on, 348 
 Capernaum, first mention of, by St Luke, 
 
 104; some account of, 106; Christ's 
 
 woe uttered on, 201 
 census of Caesar Augustus, 62, 63 
 centurion, healing of servant of, 144 — 
 
 146; probably a proselyte, 144 
 chief priests, seek to slay our Lord, 
 
 322; clamour for His crucifixion, 
 
 345 
 childlessness, how regarded by Jews, 
 
 148 
 children brought to our Lord, 285 
 Chorazin, 200 
 church, woman in parable of ten pieces 
 
 of silver likened to, 255, 256 
 circumcision, of St John the Baptist, 
 
 57 ; of Jesus, 70 
 Codex Bezae, a reading of, 128 
 Coleridge quoted on the Nativity, 68, 
 
 69 
 colt, 297 
 
 confession of St Peter, 185 
 corn, plucking ears of, 125 
 Cowper quoted, on the walk to Emmaus, 
 
 363 
 cross, taking up of, daily, 187; form of 
 
 our Lord's, 346 ; our Lord's borne by 
 
 Simon of Cyrene, 346 
 Cyrenius, 64 
 
 darkness, the, at the Crucifixion, 352 
 demoniac, healing of, 108; Gergesene, 
 
 healing of, 171 ; boy, healing of, 191 
 demons, Jews' belief in power of, 173 
 denials, the three, of our Lord by St 
 
 Peter, 335, 336 
 devil, the temptation of Christ by the, 
 
 95 — 100 ; power delivered to, 98 ; a 
 
 dumb, ca.st out, 212 
 disciples at Emmaus, 359 — 363 
 Dives and Lazarus, parable of, 268 
 divorce, laxity of the law of, among the 
 
 Jews, 268 
 dogs of the East, 269 
 
INDEX. 
 
 387 
 
 door, the narrow, 239 
 
 dropsy, healing of man with, 244 
 
 el Gh6r, wilderness of, 82 
 
 Elias, resemblance between St John and, 
 
 ^^ 
 Elisabeth visited by Mary, 53, 54 
 
 Emmaus, two disciples at, 359 
 
 epiousion, 376, 377 
 
 Essenes, 380 
 
 evangelists, compared to four cherubim 
 
 in Ezekiel's vision, 13 ; silence on the 
 
 childhood of Jesus, 76 
 eye, the evil, 216 
 
 faith of centurion, 146 
 
 fasting, Jewish rules concerning, 283 
 
 fig-tree, parable of, 235 
 
 five thousand, feeding of, 184 
 
 foundations, false and true, 143 
 
 fox, likeness of Herod Antipas to a, 241 
 
 funeral at Nain, 147 
 
 Gabriel, appearance to Zacharias, 48; 
 
 appearance to Mary, 51 
 Gadara, situation of, 170 
 Gadarenes, rejection of our Lord by, 
 
 174 
 Galileans, outbreak of Romans on, 234 
 Galilee, situation of, 51 ; its extent, 80 ; 
 
 sea of. III 
 genealogy of our Lord, 93 ; Excursus on 
 
 369—375 
 Gennesaret, lake of, iii; storm on, 169 
 Gerasa, situation of, 171 
 Gergesene demoniac, healing of, 170 — 
 
 gospels, table of peculiarities and coinci- 
 dences, 8; written in Hellenistic Greek, 
 10; compared to river of Eden, 12; 
 prophetic picture of, in Ezekiel's vision 
 of the four cherubim, 13; summary 
 of differences of, 17 
 
 graves, Pharisees likened to, 219 
 
 head, custom of anointing, 158 
 
 Hermon, probable scene of the trans- 
 figuration, 188 
 
 Herod Antipas, parents of, 80; his 
 banishment, 80; his dominions, 80; im- 
 prisons John the Baptist, 91 ; his alarm 
 at the progress of Christ's ministry, 
 181 ; is likened by our Lord to a fox, 
 241; our Lord before, 342 
 
 Herodians, some account of, 380 
 
 Herod Philip, parents of, 80; marriage 
 with Salome, 80 ; extent of his tetrarch- 
 ate, 81 
 
 Herods, genealogy of the, 39 
 
 Herod the Great, kingdom of, 44 
 
 Herrick quoted, 250 
 
 high priests, order of, 82 
 
 Hillel, 246; on divorce, 268 
 
 Hinnom, valley of, 223 ; infamy of. 223 
 
 Holy Ghost, the descent of, at our Lord's 
 
 baptism, 92 ; blasphemy against, 324 
 horn of salvation, 59 
 house built upon a rock, 143 
 
 incense, offering of, 46 
 
 Ituraea, Herod Philip tetrarch of, 80; 
 
 position of, 81 
 Ituraeans, 8t 
 
 Jairus, daughter of, restored to life, 179 
 James, St, call of, 114; presence at the 
 
 raising of Jairus' daughter, 178 ; at the 
 
 transfiguration, 188; rebuked by our 
 
 Lord, 196 
 Jericho, road to, 204; blind Bartimseus 
 
 healed at, 290 ; some account of, 291 
 Jerusalem, Christ's lament over, 242; our 
 
 Lord's triumphal entry into, 297 ; fall 
 
 of, foretold by our Lord, 299, 317 ; time 
 
 of the siege of, 300 ; desolation of, 317 
 Jesus 
 
 (i) Nativity and Maiiifestation 
 
 annunciation of His birth, 52 ; day 
 of birth uncertain, 65 ; His birth, 66 ; 
 His circumcision, 70 ; presentation in 
 the temple, 70; return to Nazareth, 
 75 ; goes up to the passover, 76; 
 tarries behind in the temple, 77; 
 returns with His parents, 78 ; is bap- 
 tized by John, 92 ; tempted of the 
 devil, 94 — 100 
 
 (ii) Ministry in Galilee 
 
 preaches at Nazareth, loi ; is re- 
 jected, 105; heals a demoniac at 
 Capernaum, 108 ; heals Simon's wife's 
 mother, 109 ; and the sick at evening, 
 no; calls four disciples, 114; heals a 
 leper, 116; heals a paralytic, 117; 
 reproves Pharisees, 127; heals the 
 man with a withered hand, 129; 
 heals the centurion's servant, 144 — 
 146; raises the widow's son at Nain, 
 147 ; receives John the Baptist's 
 disciples, 148; eats in the house of 
 Simon the Pharisee, 154; His feet 
 anointed by Mary Magdalene, 156; 
 stills the storm, 169 ; heals the Ger- 
 gesene demoniac, 170 — 174; heals 
 the woman with an issue of blood, 
 178 ; restores the daughter of Jairus 
 to life, 179; sends forth the twelve, 
 179; feeds the five thousand, 184; 
 prophesies His death and resurrec- 
 tion, 185 ; heals demoniac boy, 191 ; 
 teaches His apostles meekness, 192; 
 tolerance, 193 
 
 (iii) Ministry after leaviftg Galilee 
 is rejected by the Samaritans, 194; 
 sends forth the seventy, 199 ; is en- 
 tertained by the sisters at Bethany, 
 207; teaches His disciples to pray, 
 210; casts out a dumb devil, 211; 
 rebukes the blasphemous Pharisees, 
 
388 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 213, 214; rebukes egotism, 225: 
 teaches trustfulness, 227 ; almsgiving, 
 228; and watchfulness, 229; heals 
 woman on sabbath, 236 ; rebuked by 
 ruler of synagogue, 237; is enter- 
 tained by a Pharisee, 243 ; heals a 
 man with the dropsy, 244 ; teaches 
 humility, 246 ; and that the poor are 
 to be invited to feasts, 247 ; teaches 
 whole-heartedness, 251; rebukes the 
 covetous Pharisees, 266; shews the 
 peril of those through whom offences 
 come, 271 ; the power of faith, 273; 
 and insufficiency of works, 274; heals 
 the ten lepers, 275 ; tells of the 
 kingdom of God, 276 ; and His own 
 coming, 278 ; blesses little children, 
 285 ; puts the young ruler to test, 286 ; 
 reveals the danger of riches, 287 
 (iv) Last Journey to Jertisaletn and 
 Passion 
 
 predicts His crucifixion, 289 ; heals 
 blind Bartimseus, 291 ; his triumphal 
 entry into Jerusalem, 297 ; weeps 
 over Jerusalem, and foretells its 
 destruction, 299 ; questions the priests 
 and scribes, 302 ; replies to the 
 Pharisees respecting tribute money, 
 307 ; to the Sadducees respecting 
 resurrection, 308, 309, 310; reduces 
 the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees 
 to a confession of ignorance, 311, 312 ; 
 predicts destruction of the temple, 
 314; the end of the world, 315; 
 and the desolation of Jerusalem, 317; 
 sends St Peter and St John to pre- 
 pare the passover, 324; institutes 
 the Holy Eucharist, 326: foretells 
 Peter's denial of Him, 329 ; His agony 
 in the garden, 331; prayer, 331; 
 finds His disciples asleep and re- 
 proaches them, 332; is denied by 
 St Peter, 335 ; mocked by the Jews, 
 337; is tried before the Sanhedrin, 
 338; and before Pilate 339; sent to 
 Herod, 141 ; sentenced by Pilate, 
 345; is led to Calvary, 346; and 
 crucified, 348 ; His superscription, 
 350; forgives the penitent robber, 
 352; dies, 353; is buried, 356 
 (v) Victory over the Grave and 
 Ascension 
 
 His resurrection, 358; and walk to 
 Emmaus, 360; His appearance to 
 the apostles, 363—366; His ascen- 
 sion, 367 
 Jews, hatred between Samaritans and, 
 195; self-satisfaction of, compared to 
 elder son in parable of the prodigal, 
 262 ; parable against self-righteous, 
 281 ; sects of, 380, 381 
 
 Joanna ministers to our Lord, 161 
 ohn, St, call of, 114; presence at the 
 raising of Jairus' daughter, 178; at the 
 
 transfiguration, 188; rebuked by our 
 Lord, 196; sent to prepare the pass- 
 over, 324 
 
 John's, St, gospel, time of composition, 
 9; difference between this and the 
 synoptic gospels, 10, 11; distinctive 
 peculiarities of, 16, 17 ; records pre- 
 served in, loi 
 
 John, St, the Baptist, annunciation of his 
 birth, 44; is to be a Nazarite, 47 ; his 
 office foretold, 48; his resemblance to 
 Elias, 48; his birth and circumcision, 
 57; his preaching and baptism, 83; 
 answers to the multitude, 86 — 89 ; an- 
 nounces the Messiah, 89; imprisoned 
 by Herod Antipas, 91 ; sends to Jesus 
 from prison, 148 ; account of, by Jesus, 
 
 151 
 
 Joseph of Arimathaea, begs the body of 
 Jesus, 355 ; his new tonib, 356 
 
 Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Vir- 
 gin, his lineage, 51 ; journeys to Beth- 
 lehem, 65 
 
 Judas Iscariot, call of, 133 ; conspires 
 with the chief priests, 323 ; his betrayal 
 of our Lord, 332 
 
 judge, parable of the unjust, 279 
 
 judgment of others, 141 
 
 Keble quoted, 6g, 203 
 
 kingdom of God, coming of, 276; to be 
 
 received as a little child, 285 
 knowledge of salvation, 60 
 
 labourers in the vineyard, parable of, 
 
 303. 304 
 
 lawyers rebuked by our Lord, 220; dif- 
 ference between Pharisees and, 220 
 
 Lazarus, parable of Dives and, 268 
 
 lepers, healing of the ten, 275; the 
 thankless nine, 275 
 
 leprosy, some account of, 115 
 
 Levi, identity of, with St Matthew, 120 
 
 liberality, principle of, 140 
 
 light, the inward, 216 
 
 livelihood, means of, possessed by Jesus- 
 and the twelve, i6r 
 
 Lord's prayer, the, 209; explanation of^ 
 210, 2tl 
 
 Lot's wife, held up as a warning, 278 
 
 love, laws of, 139 
 
 Lovelace quoted, 251 
 
 Luke, St, mention of his name in Scrip- 
 ture, 18; nationality, 19; early connec- 
 tion with St Paul, 19; his stay at 
 Philippi, 19; journey to Rome with 
 St Paul, 20 ; traditions as to his death, 
 20; his profession, 21 
 
 Luke's, St, gospel ; time of composition, 9; 
 distinctive peculiarities of, 16; a void 
 in continuity of, 184; 
 (i) authenticity of, 22, 23; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 389 
 
 (ii) characteristics of, 23 — 30 ; hymno- 
 logy, 23 — 24 ; thanksgiving, 24 ; 
 prayer, 24 ; good tidings, 25 ; of in- 
 fancy, 26; to the world, 26; of 
 womanhood, 26 ; of the poor and 
 despised, 27; of the outcast, 28; of 
 tolerance, 28; miracles peculiar to, 
 29 ; parables peculiar to, 29 ; 
 
 (iii) analysis of, 30 — 36 ; 
 
 (iv) illustrations derived from the 
 Talmud, 381—385 
 Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene, 81 ; not 
 
 mentioned in history, 81 
 
 Magnificat, the, compared with Judith's 
 Song and that of Hannah, 55 
 
 Malchus, the ear of, cut off by St Peter, 
 333 ; healed by our Lord, 333 
 
 malefactors, the two, 347, 351 
 
 Makor, fortress of, 91 
 
 Mark's, St, Gospel, resemblance with 
 that of St Luke, 8, 9 ; time of compo- 
 sition, 9; written on the testimony of 
 St Peter, 10; distinctive peculiarities 
 of, 15, 16 
 
 marriage, question of the Sadducees con- 
 cerning, 308 
 
 Martha, entertains our Lord, 207; is 
 reproved by Him, 208 
 
 Mary Magdalene, identity of, with the 
 woman at Simon's house, 155, 161 ; 
 anoints our Lord's feet, 156; her sins 
 are forgiven, 159; ministers to our 
 Lord, 161 ; at sepulchre, 358 
 
 Mary, mother of James, at sepulchre, 
 358 
 
 Mary, sister of Lazarus, chooses the 
 better part, 208 
 
 Mary, St, the Virgin, her early residence 
 at Nazareth, 51 ; visited by Gabriel, 
 51; her ready faith, 52; visits Eliza- 
 beth, 53, 54 ; returns to her home, 57 ; 
 purification of, 71 
 
 Matthew, St, call of, identity with Levi, 
 120; feast at the house of, 121 
 
 Matthew's, St, Gospel, time of compo- 
 sition, 9; distinctive peculiarities of, 
 14. 15 
 
 mercy, laws of, 141 
 
 Milton, quoted on "Angels of the 
 Presence," 49; the Nativity, 68; the 
 Circumcision, 70 ; the Holy Spirit, 92, 
 95; evil spirits, 173; Moloch worship, 
 223 
 
 miracles, peculiar to St Luke, 29 ; words 
 used to express, in the Gospels, 108 
 
 mission of Apostles, 179; object of, 181 
 
 mustard- seed, parable of, 238 
 
 Naaman the Syrian, 105 
 
 Nain, raising of widow's son of, 147 ; 
 
 situation of, 147 
 nature of Christ, declaration of by the 
 
 Church, 75 
 
 Nazareth, fitness for early abode of Jesus, 
 78 ; its situation and beauty, 79 ; syna- 
 gogue of, 102 
 
 Nazarite, St John the Baptist a, 47 
 
 Nunc Dimittis, 71 
 
 Olives, Mount of, our Lord's abode in, 
 
 321 
 oral law, mstances of, set aside by 
 
 Christ, 128 
 
 parables peculiar to St Luke, 29; of the 
 new and the old, 124 ; houses built on 
 good and bad foundations, 143 ; the 
 children in the market-place, 152; the 
 creditor and two debtors, 157; the 
 sower, 162; the candle, 167; the good 
 Samaritan, 204 ; the rich fool, 226 ; ser- 
 vants waiting for their lord, 229: 
 faithful steward, 230; the barren fig- 
 tree, 235 ; the grain of mustard-seed 
 and leaven, 238 ; the wedding supper, 
 246; the great supper, 249; the lost 
 sheep, 254 ; the piece of silver, 255 ; 
 the prodigal son, 256; the unjust stew- 
 ard, 263 ; Dives and Lazarus, 268 ; the 
 ploughing slave, 273 ; the unjust judge, 
 279 ; the Pharisee and the publican, 282 ; 
 the pounds, 294; the labourers in the 
 vineyard, 303, 304; the fig-tree, 319 
 
 paralytic, healing of, 118 
 
 Passover, the first attended by our Lord, 
 76; our Lord's preparation for, 324; 
 customs of, as practised by the Jews, 
 325, 326; "was the last supper an 
 actual?" 377 — 379 
 
 people, eagerness of, to hear Jesus, 300 
 
 Peter, St, first mention of by St Luke, 
 109; his wife's mother is healed, 109; 
 callof, 114; presence at raising of Jairus' 
 daughter, 178; his confession, 185; at 
 the Transfiguration, 188 ; sent to pre- 
 pare the passover, 324; his denials fore- 
 told, 329; his fall, 335; at sepulchre, 
 358 
 
 Pharisees, righteousness of, 122; reject 
 the counsel of God, 152 ; blasphemy of, 
 213; our Lord rebukes hypocrisy of, 
 218, 219; modern existence of, 219; 
 the leaven of, 222; rebukes to the covet- 
 ous, 267; Excursus on, 381 
 
 Philippi, St Luke's stay at, 19 
 
 Pilate, predecessors and successors of, 89; 
 some account of, 339 ; our Lord's first 
 appearance before, 340; His second 
 appearance before, 343 ; the efforts of, 
 to secure our Lord's acquittal, 345 ; 
 gives the irrevocable sentence, 345 
 
 pinnacle of temple, 99 
 
 prayer in temple, 46; our Lord's, 209; 
 persistence in, 211; duty of urgent, 
 279; of humble, 284; of publican, 284; 
 posture of the Jews at, 284; of our 
 Lord for His murderers, 348 
 
390 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 prayers of our Lord mentioned by St 
 Luke, 92 
 
 preaching of John the Baptist, 86, 87 
 
 presentation in temple, 71 
 
 priests, courses of, 44, 45; their sudden 
 question, 301 
 
 prison of John the Baptist, 91 
 
 privileges, peril of, abused, 215 
 
 procurator, title of Pilate, 80 
 
 prodigal son, parable of, 256; applica- 
 tions of, 256; explanations of, 256 — 
 263 
 
 prophecy of John the Baptist, 84, 85 ; 
 general meaning of, 84 
 
 pounds, parable of the, 294; its lesson, 
 294 
 
 poverty of Christ, 197 
 
 publicans, their question to John the Bap- 
 tist, 88 ; the office of, 88, 292 ; dislike 
 of by Jews, 88 
 
 punishment, proportional to sin, 231 
 
 purification, offerings at, 71 
 
 Quarantania, Mount, 95 
 
 reed, likeness of John the Baptist to a, 
 
 150 
 reign of Christ for ever, 52 
 relation of apostles to our Lord, 134 
 rents, mode of payment of, in the East, 
 
 264 
 resurrection of the widow's son at Nain, 
 147; of Jairus' daughter, 179; Christ 
 foretells his, 186, and answers the Sad- 
 ducees respecting, 309, 310; of our 
 Lord, 358; appearances of our Lord 
 after, 360, 363 
 riches, danger of, 287 
 righteousness of Pharisees, 122 
 ruler, question of the young, 285 
 
 sabbath, plucking of corn on, 127 ; mira- 
 cles wrought on, 129, 236, 244; argu- 
 ment against Jewish formalism of, 237, 
 245; Jewish entertainments on, 24^ 
 
 Sadducees, attempt to ensnare our Lord, 
 308, 309 ; Excursus on, 380 
 
 salt, the savourless, 253 
 
 Samaritan, Parable of Good, 204; heal- 
 ing of the, leper, 275 
 
 Samaritans, reject Christ, 195; hatred 
 between Jews and, 195 
 
 Sanhedrin, 338; our Lord before the, 
 
 .338 
 
 Sarepta, 105 
 
 Satan tempts our Lord, 94 — 100 ; com- 
 pared to a strong man, 214; entered 
 into Judas, 322 
 
 scribes, teaching of, compared with 
 Christ's, 107; some account of, 121 
 
 sepulchre, visit of women to, 357 ; stone 
 of, 357 
 
 sermon on the Mount, differences be- 
 
 tween St Matthew and St Luke's re- 
 cord of, 1 36 
 
 seventy. Mission of the, 198 ; instruc- 
 tions of our Lord to, 199 
 
 Shakespeare quoted, on temptation, 96; 
 on the devil's use of Scripture, 99 ; on 
 mercy, 141 ; on ingratitude, 276 
 
 Sheba, the queen of, 215 
 
 Shechinah, 67, 190 
 
 sheep, parable of the lost, 254 
 
 signs of the times, 232 ; duty resultant 
 from, 232; of the End, 314, 319 
 
 silence of healed leper enjoined, reasons 
 for, 116 
 
 Siloam, Pool of, 235; tower of, 235 
 
 Simeon, 71 ; his song, 72 ; called Theo- 
 dokos, 72 ; prophesies of Jesus, 73 
 
 Simon of Cyrene, bears the cross, 346 
 
 Simon Peter, see Peter 
 
 Simon the Pharisee entertains our Lord, 
 
 Simon Zelotes, 133 
 
 slave, parable of the ploughing, 273 
 
 soldiers, their question to John the Bap- 
 tist, 88; special temptations of, 89; 
 mockery of, at crucifixion, 349 
 
 Son of God, 53 
 
 Son of Man, meaning and use of the 
 title, 119, 137; the coming of, 277, 278, 
 3^9 
 
 sower, parable of the, 162 ; its explana- 
 tion, 165 
 
 sparrows, 224 
 
 steward, parable of the unjust, 263 ; main 
 lesson of, 264, 265 
 
 superscription, on the Cross, 350 
 
 supper, the last, celebration of, 325; 
 our Lord's preparations for, 324; "was 
 the, an actual Passover?" 377 — 379 
 
 Susanna, ministers to our Lord, 161 
 
 synagogue, officers of, 102 ; Christ reads 
 in, 102; ruler of, 176 
 
 synoptic Gospels, 8; difference between 
 them andwthat of St John, 10, n; 
 theory of resemblances to each other, 
 II, 12 
 
 swine, devils enter into, 173 
 
 table, Jews' method of sitting at, 155 
 Talmud, illustrations of St Luke derived 
 
 from, 381 — 385 
 Tel Hum, ruins of synagogue at, 145 
 temple, presentation of Jesus in the, 71; 
 
 final cleansing of the, by Jesus, 30J ; 
 
 Christ prophesies destruction of, 314; 
 
 stones and gifts of, 314 ; veil of, rent 
 
 in twain, 353 
 temptation, the, of Christ, 95 ; supposed 
 
 scene of, 95 ; how to be viewed, 96 ; 
 
 order of, in St Matthew, 98 
 tetrarch, use of term in New Testa- 
 ment, 80 
 Theophilus, dedication of St Luke's 
 
 works to, 21, 43 
 
INDEX. 
 
 39J 
 
 Tiberius Caesar, 80, 307 
 tolerance, lesson of, by our Saviour, 193 
 tombs, demoniac among the, 171 
 Trachonitis, a country of robbers, 81 ; its 
 
 position, 81 
 transfiguration, the, 188 ; probable scene 
 of, 188 ; circumstances attending, 189; 
 time of, 190 
 treasure-chests in the temple, 313 
 trials of our Lord, the three, by the Jews, 
 
 .334 
 tribute to Caesar, Christ questioned re- 
 specting, 307 ; Christ falsely accused 
 of forbidding, 340 
 
 uncial manuscripts, table of, 37 
 
 veil of temple rent in twain at the Cru- 
 cifixion, 353 
 vision of Ezekiel, 12 
 
 washing, custom of, among Jews, 217 
 
 widow, the importunate, 280 ; the offer- 
 ing of the, 313 
 
 wine, new, into fresh bottles, 124, 375, 376 
 
 woes, 138 
 
 woman with issue of blood healed by our 
 Lord, 178; with spirit of infirmity 
 healed by our Lord, 236 
 
 women, minister to our Lord, 160 ; follow 
 our Lord to Calvary, 346; at Cruci- 
 fixion, 354 ; go to the sepulchre, 357 
 
 words of our Lord, the first recorded, 
 368, 369 
 
 Wordsworth (Bp) on comparison of the 
 Gospels to the Four Cherubim of 
 Ezekiel's vision, 13 
 
 world, gain of, and loss of soul, 187 ; end 
 of, foretold, 315 
 
 Zacchaeus, the tax-gatherer, 292 
 
 Zacharias, the blood of, 220 
 
 Zacharias, vision of, 46 ; is struck dumb, 
 
 50 ; recovers his speech, 57 
 zealots, some account of, 133 
 Zebedee, social position of, 115 
 
 INDEX II. 
 
 WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 
 
 Abh6th, 127 
 
 Abila, 81 
 
 acceptable year, 103 
 
 accused, 263 
 
 after three days, 77 
 
 alabaster, 155 
 
 alms, 218 
 
 altar of incense, 47 
 
 apostles, 131 
 
 ass or an ox, 245 
 
 assaria, 224 
 
 attentive to hear him, 300 
 
 avenge, 280 
 
 babes, 202 
 
 Barabbas, 344 
 
 baskets, 184 
 
 beam, 142 
 
 bed, 167 
 
 Beelzebub, 213 
 
 Bethany, 297 
 
 Bethlehem, 65 
 
 Bethphage, 297 
 
 Bethsaidl, 109 
 
 best robe, 260 
 
 blasphemy, 119 
 
 border of His garment, 177 
 
 bosom, 141 
 
 Calvary, 34S 
 
 came upon them, 67 
 
 camel, 288 
 
 captains, 323 
 
 centurion, 144 
 
 chaff, 90 
 
 chance, 204 
 
 chief rooms, 246 
 
 Christ, 68 
 
 closets, 222 
 
 commandments, 45 
 
 compel, 250 
 
 couch, 118 
 
 covered, 222 
 
 cross, 346 
 
 decree, 62 
 
 denarius, 157, 206 
 
 depart from me, 1 13 
 
 divider, 225 
 
 drachma, 255 
 
 eagles gathered together, 279 
 
 Elizabeth, 45 
 
 En Gannim, 195 
 
 epiousion, 376, 377 
 
 everlasting habitations, 265 
 
 faint, 279 
 
 fan, 90 
 
 farthing, 224 
 
 fastings, 74 
 
 five hundred pence, 157 
 
 Gehenna, 223 
 
 generation of vipers, 84 
 
 Gennesareth, tii 
 
 glory of the Lord, 67 
 
 goodman, 230 
 
 goodwill toward men, 69 
 
 gospel, 7 
 
392 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 guest, to be, 293 
 
 guest-chamber, 324 
 
 Hades, 269 
 
 hate, 251 
 
 highly favoured, 51 
 
 hold thy peace, 108 
 
 housetop, 118, 278 
 
 husks, 258 
 
 hypocrites, 219 
 
 importunity, 211 
 
 increased, 79 
 
 in order, 43 
 
 inn, 66 
 
 instantly, 144 
 
 Iscariot, 133 
 
 Jericho, 291 
 
 Jesus, 52 
 
 John, 47 
 
 key of knowlcd>4e, 221 
 
 kiss, 158 
 
 latchei, 69 
 
 Lazarus, -^tg 
 
 legion, 172 
 
 leprosy, 115 
 
 lihes, 228 
 
 linen, 355 
 
 loins girded, 229 
 
 Lord, 68, 145 
 
 Lord's Christ, 72, 186 
 
 mammon of unrighteousness, 265 
 
 man's life, 225 
 
 manger. 66 
 
 master, 1 12 
 
 Maitfiew, 120 
 
 measures, 264 
 
 measures of wheat, 264 
 
 meat, 86 
 
 millstone, 272 
 
 mite, 233, 313 
 
 most excellent, 43 
 
 mote, 142 
 
 mystery, 164 
 
 Nazareth, 51, 65 
 
 needle's eye, 288 
 
 nets, 112 
 
 Nunc Diniittis, 72 
 
 ordinances, 45 
 
 parable, 163 
 
 paradise, 352 
 
 passover, 322 
 
 perfected, 242 
 
 Phanuel, 74 
 
 phylacteries, 204 
 
 pondered, 70 
 proselyte, 144 
 proseuchae, 131 
 publicans, 88 
 purification, 70 
 purple and fine linen, 268 
 rejoiced, 202 
 riotous living, 257 
 Salem, 299 
 Satan, 95 
 Saviour, 67 
 scribe, 121 
 scrip, 180 
 servant, 144, 146 
 shewbrcad, 127 
 sixth hour, 352 
 stature, 79 
 stone, 96 
 stood, 29-4 
 stuff, 278" 
 superscription, 350 
 surfeiting, 320 
 Susaima, 161 
 swaddling-clothe.^, 66 
 sword, 73 
 sycamine tree, 27^ 
 sycomore tree, 292 
 synagogue, 102, 225 
 synoptists, 8 
 tabernacle, 189 
 ten pieces of silver, 255 
 ten pounds, 294 
 tetrarch, 80 
 Theodokos, 72 
 Theophilus, 43 
 thieves, 204 
 tiling, 118 
 tittle, 267 
 Told6th, 127 
 Tophet, 224 
 Trachonitis, 81 
 tribute money, 307 
 twelve years old, 76 
 two coaLs. 86, 140, 188 
 unloose, 90 
 uppermost scats, 219 
 weary me, 200 
 wept over it, 299 
 wisely, 264 
 write fifty, 204 
 writing table, 58 
 Zaccliacus, 292 
 Zacharias, 44 
 
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 these most valuable little commentaries. We had rather purchase 
 these than nine out of ten of the big blown up expositions. Quality is 
 far better than quantity, and we have it here." — Sivord and Trowel. 
 
 I. Kings. " This is really admirably well done, and from first to 
 last there is nothing but commendation to give to such honest work." — 
 Bookseller. 
 
 II. Kings. "The Introduction is scholarly and wholly admirable, 
 while the notes must be of incalculable value to students." — Glasgow 
 Herald. 
 
 "It is equipped with a valuable introduction and commentary, and 
 makes an admirable text book for Bible-classes." — Scots7Jian. 
 
 "It would be difficult to find a commentary better suited for general 
 use. " — A cademy. 
 
 The Book of Job. "Able and scholarly as the Introduction is, it is 
 far surpassed by the detailed exegesis of the book. In this Dr Davidson's 
 strength is at its greatest. His linguistic knowledge, his artistic habit, 
 his scientific insight, and his literary power have full scope when he 
 comes to exegesis. ...The book is worthy of the reputation of Dr Davidson ; 
 it represents the results of many years of labour, and it will greatly help 
 to the right understanding of one of the greatest works in the literature 
 of the world." — The Spectator. 
 
 " In the course of a long introduction, Dr Davidson has presented 
 us with a very able and very interesting criticism of this wonderful 
 book. Its contents, the nature of its composition, its idea and purpose, 
 its integrity, and its age are all exhaustively treated of.... We have not 
 space to examine fully the text and notes before us, but we can, and do 
 heartily, recommend the book, not only for the upper forms in schools, 
 but to Bible students and teachers generally. As we wrote of a previous 
 volume in the same series, this one leaves nothing to be desired. The 
 
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 noies are full and suggestive, without being too long, and, in itself, the 
 introduction forms a valuable addition to modern Bible literature." — The 
 Educational Times. 
 
 "Already we have frequently called attention to this exceedingly 
 valuable work as its volumes have successively appeared. But we have 
 never done so with greater pleasure, very seldom with so great pleasure, 
 as we now refer to the last published volume, that on the Book of Job, 
 by Dr Davidson, of Edinburgh.... We cordially commend the volume to 
 all our readers. The least instructed will understand and enjoy it ; 
 and mature scholars will learn from it." — Methodist Recorder. 
 
 Job — Hosea. "It is difficult to commend too highly this excellent 
 series, the volumes of which are now becoming numerous. The two 
 books before us, small as they are in size, comprise almost everything 
 that the young student can reasonably expect to find in the way of helps 
 towards such general knowledge of their subjects as may be gained 
 without an attempt to grapple with the Hebrew ; and even the learned 
 scholar can hardly read without interest and benefit the very able intro- 
 ductory matter which both these commentators have prefixed to their 
 volumes. It is not too much to say that these works have brought 
 within the reach of the ordinary reader resources which were until 
 lately quite unknown for understanding some of the most difficult and 
 obscure portions of Old Testament literature." — Guardian. 
 
 Ecclesiastes; or, the Preacher. — "Of the Notes, it is sufficient to 
 say that they are in every respect worthy of Dr Plumptre's high repu- 
 tation as a scholar and a critic, being at once learned, sensible, and 
 practical. . . . An appendix, in which it is clearly proved that the 
 author of Ecclesiastes anticipated Shakspeare and Tennyson in some 
 of their finest thoughts and reflections, will be read with interest by 
 students both of Hebrew and of English literature. Commentaries are 
 seldom attractive reading. This little volume is a notable exception." — 
 The Scotsvian. 
 
 "In short, this little book is of far greater value than most of the 
 larger and more elaborate commentaries on this Scripture. Indispens- 
 able to the scholar, it will render real and large help to all who have to 
 expound the dramatic utterances of The Preacher whether in the Church 
 or in the School." — The Expositor. 
 
 "The *■ ideal biography' of the author is one of the most exquisite 
 and fascinating pieces of writing we have met with, and, granting its 
 starting-point, throws wonderful light on many problems connected with 
 the book. The notes illustrating the text are full of delicate criticism, 
 fine glowing insight, and apt historical allusion. An abler volume 
 than Professor Plumptre's we could not desire." — Baptist Magazine. 
 
 Jeremiah, by A. W. Streane. "The arrangement of the book is 
 well treated on pp. xxx., 396, and the question of Baruch's relations 
 with its composition on pp. xxvii., xxxiv., 317. The illustrations from 
 English literature, history, monuments, works on botany, topography, 
 etc., are good and plentiful, as indeed they are in other volumes of this 
 series." — Church Quarterly Review, April, 1881. 
 
 "Mr Streane's Jeremiah consists of a series of admirable and well- 
 nigh exhaustive notes on the text, with introduction and appendices, 
 drawing the life, times, and character of the prophet, the style, contents, 
 
4 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS & COLLEGES. 
 
 and arrangement of his prophecies, the traditions relating to Jeremiah, 
 meant as a type of Christ (a most remarkable chapter), and other 
 prophecies relating to Jeiemiah.^'—rTAe English Churchmati and Clerical 
 Journal. 
 
 Obadiah and Jonali. " This number of the admirable series of 
 Scriptural expositions issued by the Syndics of the Cambridge Uni- 
 versity Press is well up to the mark. The numerous notes are 
 excellent. No difficulty is shirked, and much light is thrown on the 
 contents both of Obadiah and Jonah. Scholars and students of to-day 
 are to be congratulated on having so large an amount of information on 
 Biblical subjects, so clearly and ably put together, placed within their 
 reach in such small bulk. To all Biblical students the series will be 
 acceptable, and for the use of Sabbath-school teachers will prove 
 invaluable." — North British Daily Mail. 
 
 " It is a very useful and sensible exposition of these two Minor 
 Prophets, and deals very thoroughly and honestly with the immense 
 difficulties of the later-named of the two, from the orthodox point of 
 view." — Expositor. 
 
 " Haggai and Zechariati. This interesting little volume is of great 
 value. It is one of the best books in that well-known series of 
 scholarly and popular commentaries, 'the Cambridge Bible for Schools 
 and Colleges ' of which Dean Perowne is the General Editor. In the 
 expositions of Archdeacon Perowne we are always sure to notice 
 learning, ability, judgment and reverence .... The notes are terse 
 and pointed, but full and reliable." — Chiirchman. 
 
 " The Gospel according to St Matthew, by the Rev. A. Carr. The 
 introduction is able, scholarly, and eminently practical, as it bears 
 on the authorship and contents of the Gospel, and the original form 
 in which it is supposed to have been written. It is well illustrated by 
 two excellent maps of the Holy Land and of the Sea of Galilee." — 
 English Churchman. 
 
 "St Matthew, edited by A. Carr, M.A. The Book of Joshua, 
 edited by G. ¥. Maclear, D.D. The General Epistle of St James, 
 edited by E. H. Plumptre, D.D. The introductions and notes are 
 scholarly, and generally such as young readers need and can appre- 
 ciate. The maps in both Joshua and Matthew are very good, and all 
 matters of editing are faultless. Professor Plumptre's notes on 'The 
 Epistle of St James' are models of terse, exact, and elegant renderings 
 of the original, which is too often obscured in tlae authorised version." — 
 Nonconforjnist. 
 
 "St Mark, with Notes by the Rev. G. F. Maclear, D.D. Into 
 this small volume Dr Maclear, besides a clear and able Introduc- 
 tion to the Gospel, and the text of St Mark, has compressed many 
 hundreds of valuable and helpful notes. In short, he has given us 
 a capital manual of the kind required — containing all that is needed to 
 illustrate the text, i.e. all that can be drawn from the history, geography, 
 customs, and manners of the time. But as a handbook, giving in a 
 clear and succinct form the information which a lad requires in order 
 
 lo stand an examination in the Gospel, it is admirable I can very 
 
 heartily commend it, not only to the senior boys and girls in our High 
 Schools, but also to Sunday-school teachers, who may get from it the 
 very kind of knowledge they often find it hardest to get." — Expositor. 
 
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " With the help of a book like this, an intelligent teacher may make 
 'Divinity' as interesting a lesson as any in the school course. The 
 notes are of a kind that will be, for the most part, intelligible to boys 
 of the lower forms of our public schools ; but they may be read with 
 greater profit by the fifth and sixth, in conjunction with the original 
 text." — The Academy, 
 
 *' St Luke. Canon Farrar has supplied students of the Gospel 
 with an admirable manual in this volume. It has all that copious 
 variety of illustration, ingenuity of suggestion, and general soundness of 
 interpretation which readers are accustomed to expect from the learned 
 and eloquent editor. Any one who has been accustomed to associate 
 the idea of 'dryness' with a commentary, should go to Canon Farrar's 
 St Luke for a more correct impression. He will find that a commen- 
 tary may be made interesting in the highest degree, and that without 
 losing anything of its solid value. . . . But, so to speak, it is too good 
 for some of the readers for whom it is intended." — The Spectator, 
 
 "Canon Farrar's contribution to The Cambridge School Bible 
 is one of the most valuable yet made. His annotations on The Gospel 
 according to St Luke, while they display a scholarship at least as sound, 
 and an erudition at least as wide and varied as those of the editors of 
 St Matthew and St Mark, are rendered telling and attractive by a 
 more lively imagination, a keener intellectual and spiritual insight, a 
 more incisive and picturesque style. His St Luke is worthy to be ranked 
 with Professor Plumptre's St James, than which no higher commend- 
 ation can well be given." — The Expositor. 
 
 "St Luke. Edited by Canon Farrar, D.D. We have received with 
 pleasure this edition of the Gospel by St Luke, by Canon Farrar. It is 
 another instalment of the best school commentary of the Bible we pos- 
 sess. Of the expository part of the work we cannot speak too highly. 
 It is admirable in every way, and contains just the sort of informa- 
 tion needed for Students of the English text unable to make use of the 
 original Greek for themselves." — The N'onconformist and Independent. 
 
 "As a handbook to the third gospel, this small work is invaluable. 
 The author has compressed into little space a vast mass of scholarly in- 
 formation. . . The notes are pithy, vigorous, and suggestive, abounding 
 in pertinent illustrations from general literature, and aiding the youngest 
 reader to an intelligent appreciation of the text. A finer contribution to 
 'The Cambridge Bible for Schools' has not yet been made." — Baptist 
 Magazine. 
 
 "We were quite prepared to find in Canon Farrar's St Luke a 
 masterpiece of Biblical criticism and comment, and we are not dis- 
 appointed by our examination of the volume before us. It reflects very 
 faithfully the learning and critical insight of the Canon's greatest works, 
 his 'Life of Christ' and his 'Life of St Paul', but differs widely from 
 both in the terseness and condensation of its style. What Canon Farrar 
 has evidently aimed at is to place before students as much information 
 as possible within the limits of the smallest possible space, and 
 in this aim he has hit the mark to perfection.''' — The Examiner. 
 
6 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS & COLLEGES. 
 
 The Gospel according to St John. "Of the notes we can say with 
 confidence that they are useful, necessaiy, learned, and brief. To 
 Divinity students, to teachers, and for private use, this compact 
 Commentary will be found a valuable aid to the better understanding 
 of the Sacred Text." — School Guardian. 
 
 *' The new volume of the ' Cambridge Bible for Schools ' — the 
 Gospel according to St John, by the Rev. A. Plummer — shows as 
 careful and thorough work as either of its predecessors. The intro- 
 duction concisely yet fully describes the life of St John, the authenticity 
 of the Gospel, its characteristics, its relation to the Synoptic Gospels, 
 and to the Apostle's First Epistle, and the usual subjects referred to in 
 an 'introduction'." — The Christian Church. 
 
 *'The notes are extremely scholarly and valuable, and in most cases 
 exhaustive, bringing to the elucidation of the text all that is best in 
 commentaries, ancient and modern." — The English Cliurchinan and 
 Clerical yournal. 
 
 "(i) The Acts of the Apostles. By J. Rawson Lumby, D.D. 
 (2) The Second Epistle of the Corinthians, edited by Professor Lias. 
 The introduction is pithy, and contains a mass of carefully-selected 
 information on the authorship of the Acts, its designs, and its sources. 
 
 The Second Epistle of the Corinthians is a manual beyond all praise, 
 
 for the excellence of its pithy and pointed annotations, its analysis of the 
 contents, and the fulness and value of its introduction." — Examiner. 
 
 "The concluding portion of the Acts of the Apostles, under the very 
 competent editorship of Dr Lumby, is a valuable addition to our 
 school-books on that subject. Detailed criticism is impossible within 
 the space at our command, but we may say that the ample notes touch 
 with much exactness the very points on which most readers of the text 
 desire information. Due reference is made, where necessary, to the 
 Revised Version ; the maps are excellent ; and we do not know of any 
 other volume where so much help is given to the complete understand- 
 ing of one of the most important and, in many respects, difficult books 
 of the New Testament." — School Guardian. 
 
 "The Rev. H. C G. Moule, M.A., has made a valuable addition 
 to The Cambridge Bible for Schools in his brief commentaiy on 
 the Epistle to the Romans. The 'Notes' are very good, and lean, 
 as the notes of a School Bible should, to the most commonly ac- 
 cepted and orthodox view of the inspired author's meaning ; while the 
 Introduction, and especially the Sketch of the Life of St Paul, is a model 
 of condensation. It is as lively and pleasant to read as if two or three 
 facts had not been crowded into well-nigh every sentence." — Expositor. 
 
 "The Epistle to the Romans. It is seldom we have met with a 
 work so remarkable for the compression and condensation of all that 
 is valuable in the smallest possible space as in the volume before us. 
 Within its limited pages we have 'a sketch of the Life of St Paul,' 
 we have further a critical account of the date of the Epistle to the 
 Romans, of its language, and of its genuineness. The notes are 
 numerous, full of matter, to the point, and leave no real difficulty 
 or obscurity unexplained." — The Exafniner, 
 
 i 
 
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 * ' The First Epistle to the Corintliians. Edited by Professor Lias. 
 Every fresh instalment of this annotated edition of the Bible for Schools 
 confirms the favourable opinion we formed of its value from the exami- 
 nation of its first number. The origin and plan of the Epistle are 
 discussed with its character and genuineness." — The Nonco7iformist. 
 
 "The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. By Professor Lias. The 
 General Epistles of St Peter and St Jude. By E. H. Plumptre, D. D. 
 We welcome these additions to the valuable series of the Cambridge 
 Bible. We have nothing to add to the commendation which we 
 have from the first publication given to this edition of the Bible. It is 
 enough to say that Professor Lias has completed his work on the two 
 Epistles to the Corinthians in the same admirable manner as at first. 
 Dr Plumptre has also completed the Catholic Epistles." — Nonconformist. 
 
 The Epistle to the Ephesians. By Rev. H. C. G. Moule, M.A. 
 '* It seems to us the model of a School and College Commentary — 
 comprehensive, but not cumbersome; scholarly, but not pedantic." — 
 Baptist Magazine. 
 
 The Epistle to the Philippians. " There are few series more valued 
 by theological students than ' The Cambridge Bible for Schools and 
 Colleges,' and there will be no number of it more esteemed than that 
 by Mr H. C. G. Moule on the Epistle to the Philippians.^' — Record. 
 
 " Another capital volume of 'The Cambridge Bible for Schools and 
 Colleges.' The notes are a model of scholarly, lucid, and compact 
 criticism . " — Baptist Magazine. 
 
 Hebrews. " Like his (Canon Farrar's) commentary on Luke it 
 possesses all the best characteristics of his writing. It is a work not 
 only of an accomplished scholar, but of a skilled teacher." — Baptist 
 Magazine. 
 
 '' We heartily commend this volume of this excellent work." — 
 Sunday School Chronicle. 
 
 **The General Epistle of St James, by Professor Plumptre, D.D. 
 Nevertheless it is, so far as I know, by far the best exposition of the 
 Epistle of St James in the English language. Not Schoolboys or 
 Students going in for an examination alone, but Ministers and Preachers 
 of the Word, may get more real help from it than from the most costly 
 and elaborate commentaries." — Expositor. 
 
 The Epistles of St John. By the Rev. A. Plummer, M.A., D.D. 
 "This forms an admirable companion to the 'Commentary on the 
 Gospel according to St John,' which was reviewed in The Church?nan 
 as soon as it appeared. Dr Plummer has som.e of the highest qualifica- 
 tions for such a task ; and these two volumes, their size being considered, 
 will bear comparison with the best Commentaries of the time." — The 
 Churchman. 
 
 " Dr Plummer's edition of the Epistles of St John is worthy of its 
 companions in the 'Cambridge Bible for Schools' Series. The 
 subject, though not apparently extensive, is really one not easy to 
 treat, and requiring to be treated at length, owing to the constant 
 reference to obscure heresies in the Johannine writings. Dr Plummer 
 has done his exegetical task well." — The Saturday Review. 
 
THE CAMBRIDGE GREEK TESTAMENT 
 
 FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES 
 
 with a Revised Text, based on the most recent critical authorities, and 
 
 English Notes, prepared under the direction of the General Editor, 
 
 The Very Reverend J. J. S. PEROWNE, D.D. 
 
 " Has achieved an excellence luhich puts it above criticism^ — Expositor. 
 
 St Matthew. " Copious illustrations, gathered from a great variety 
 of sources, make his notes a very valuable aid to the student. They 
 are indeed remarkably interesting, while all explanations on meanings, 
 applications, and the like are distinguished by their lucidity and good 
 sense."— Fall Mall Gazette. 
 
 St Mark. ' ' The Cambridge Greek Testament of vi^hich Dr Maclear's 
 edition of the Gospel according to St Mark is a volume, certainly 
 supplies a vi^ant. Without pretending to compete with the leading 
 commentaries, or to embody very much original research, it forms a 
 most satisfactory introduction to the study of the New Testament in 
 the original. ...Dr Maclear's introduction contains all that is known of 
 St Mark's life; an account of the circumstances in which the Gospel 
 was composed, with an estimate of the influence of St Peter's teaching 
 upon St Mark ; an excellent sketch of the special characteristics of this 
 Gospel ; an analysis, and a chapter on the text of the New Testament 
 generally. " — Saturday Reviezv. 
 
 St Luke. "Of this second series we have a new volume by 
 Archdeacon Farrar on St L7tke, completing the four Gospels. ...It 
 gives us in clear and beautiful language the best results of modern 
 scholarship. We have a most attractive Introduction. Then follows 
 a sort of composite Greek text, representing fairly and in very beautiful 
 type the consensus of modern textual critics. At the beginning of the 
 exposition of each chapter of the Gospel are a few short critical notes 
 giving the manuscript evidence for such various readings as seem to 
 deserve mention. The expository notes are short, but clear and helpful. 
 For young students and those who are not disposed to buy or to study 
 the much more costly work of Godet, this seems to us to be the best 
 book on the Greek Text of the Third Qto%y^eV — Methodist Recorder. 
 
 St John. " We take this opportunity of recommending to ministers 
 on probation, the very excellent volume of the same series on this part 
 of the New Testament. We hope'that most or all of our young ministers 
 will prefer to study the volume in the Cambridge Greek Testament for 
 Schools." — Methodist Recorder. 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles. "Professor Lumby has performed his 
 laborious task well, and supplied us with a commentary the fulness and 
 freshness of which Bible students will not be slow to appreciate. The 
 volume is enriched with the usual copious indexes and four coloured 
 maps." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 I. Corinthians. "Mr Lias is no novice in New Testament exposi- 
 tion, and the present series of essays and notes is an able and helpful 
 addition to the existing books." — Guardian. 
 
 The Epistles of St John. "In the very useful and well annotated 
 series of the Cambridge Greek Testament the volume on the Epistles 
 of St John must hold a high position ... The notes are brief, well 
 informed and intelligent." — Scotsman. 
 cambkiucje: printkd by c. J. clay, m.a. and sons, at the university press. 
 
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
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THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSTTY PRESS. 3 
 
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