Luke 21:1

ἀναβλέψας δέ. The expression seems to shew that He was sitting with downcast eyes, saddened, perhaps, in His 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.’

γαζοφυλάκιον. See John 8:20. 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 Kings 12:9; see Nehemiah 10:38; Jos. B. J. VI. 5; Antt. XIX. 6, § 1, and 2Ma 3:6-12. It contained the Corban, Matthew 27:6. 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, Matthew 6:4; Matthew 6:18.

πλουσίους. More literally, “He saw those who were casting their gifts into the treasury—rich men.” St Mark tells us that the gifts were large (Mark 12:41).