Luke 5:1-11
Luke 5:1-11. THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. THE CALLING OF FOUR DISCIPLES... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 5:1-11. THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. THE CALLING OF FOUR DISCIPLES... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ�. אABL, Edd. ‘_and heard_’ for τοῦ�. ‘_to_ hear.’ 1. ἘΠΙΚΕΙ͂ΣΘΑΙ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ι. With this section compare Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20. St Mark (as is his wont) uses stronger words (ἐπιπίπτειν, θλίβειν) to express the physical inconvenience, and adds that sometimes at any rate, the multitude pressed... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΛΟΙ͂Α. אBD. πλοιάρια, ‘little boats.’ AC. ἜΠΛΥΝΟΝ. BD. This is a far better reading than the ἀπέπλυναν of Rec[106] The sense requires an imperfect. [106] Rec. The Textus Receptus. 2. ΠΛΟΙ͂Α, ‘boats.’ ἙΣΤΩ͂ΤΑ, _drawn up close to the shore_, or lying at anchor. ἜΠΛΥΝΟΝ ΤᾺ ΔΊΚΤΥΑ. They might have... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΑΝΑΓΑΓΕΙ͂Ν. The technical word for putting out to sea, 2Ma 12:4. ΚΑΘΊΣΑΣ. The ordinary attitude (as we have seen, Luke 4:20) for a sermon.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὩΣ ΔῈ ἘΠΑΎΣΑΤΟ ΛΑΛΩ͂Ν. 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. ΧΑΛΆΣΑΤΕ, ‘let ye down.’ The first command (ἐπανάγαγε) is in the singular, and is addressed to Peter only as “the _pilot_ of the Gal... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΙΣΤΆΤΑ. The word is not _Rabbi_ as in the other Evangelists,—a word which Gentiles would not have understood but Ἐπιστάτα (in its occasional classic sense of ‘teacher’) which is peculiar to St Luke (Luke 5:5; Luke 8:24; Luke 8:45; Luke 9:33; Luke 9:49; Luke 17:13), who _never_ uses Rabbi. These ar... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΛΗ͂ΘΟΣ ἸΧΘΎΩΝ ΠΟΛΎ. Of this—as of all miracles—we may say with St Gregory _Dum facit miraculum prodit mysterium_—in other words the miracle was an acted parable, of which the significance is explained in Matthew 13:47. Banks of fish, suddenly congregated, are not uncommon in the Lake of Gennesareth... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤΈΝΕΥΣΑΝ. 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. ΤΟΙ͂Σ ΜΕΤΌΧΟΙΣ, ‘fellow-workers.’ ἘΝ ΤΩ͂Ι ἙΤΈΡΩΙ ΠΛΟΊΩΙ. St Luke uses ἕτερος for ‘another of two,’ much more frequen... [ Continue Reading ]
ἸΔῺΝ ΔῈ ΣΊΜΩΝ ΠΈΤΡΟΣ. Apparently it was only when he saw the boats sinking to the gunwale with their load of fish that the tenderness and majesty of the miracle flashed upon his mind. ἜΞΕΛΘΕ�' ἘΜΟΥ͂. The word implies _leave my boat_ and go from me. Here again is the stamp of truthfulness. Any one in... [ Continue Reading ]
ΘΆΜΒΟΣ ΠΕΡΙΈΣΧΕΝ ΑΥ̓ΤΌΝ, ‘astonishment seized him.’... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΟΙΝΩΝΟΊ, ‘associates’ in profits, &c. comp. Luke 5:7. ΜῊ ΦΟΒΟῪ. 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” (Matthew 14:28); and when he saw the Risen Lord standing... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΦΈΝΤΕΣ ΠΆΝΤΑ. The sacrifice was a willing one, but they were not unconscious of its magnitude; and it was the allusion to it by Peter which called forth the memorable promise of the hundredfold (Luke 18:28-30; Mark 10:29-30). We gather from St Mark that Zebedee (Zabdia) and his two sons had hired s... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΜΙΑ͂Ι ΤΩ͂Ν ΠΌΛΕΩΝ, ‘_in one of the cities_.’ 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 Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45. St Mark seems to imply that it was in a house. Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEALING OF A LEPER... [ Continue Reading ]
ἭΨΑΤΟ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂. This was a distinct violation of the _letter_, but not of course of the _spirit_ of the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 13:46; Numbers 5:2). In order to prevent the accidental violation of this law, lepers, until the final stage of the disease, were then as now secluded from all living contact... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΑΥ̓ΤῸΣ ΠΑΡΉΓΓΕΙΛΕΝ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ι ΜΗΔΕΝῚ ΕἸΠΕΙ͂Ν. He personally charged him to tell it to no one. The use of αὐτὸς for Jesus (He—the Master) is chiefly found in St Luke. Comp. Aristoph. _Nub._ 218. These injunctions to reticence marked especially the early part of the ministry. See Luke 4:35; Luke 5:14... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙΉΡΧΕΤΟ ΔῈ ΜΑ͂ΛΛΟΝ Ὁ ΛΌΓΟΣ ΠΕΡῚ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂. ‘But the talk about Him spread the more.’ This is a classical use of διέρχομαι, Soph. _Aj._ 978; Thuc. VI. 46. It is only used once again by St Luke (Acts 5:34) and once by St Paul (1 Timothy 1:7). It is clear that the leper disobeyed the strict injunction o... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑΥ̓ΤῸΣ ΔῈ ἮΝ ὙΠΟΧΩΡΩ͂Ν ἘΝ ΤΑΙ͂Σ ἘΡΉΜΟΙΣ. ‘But He Himself was retiring in the wilderness and praying.’ St Mark (Mark 1:45) gives us the clearest view of the fact by telling us that the leper blazoned abroad his cure in every direction, “_so that He was no longer able to enter openly into a city, but... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ΤῸ ἸΑ͂ΣΘΑΙ ΑΥ̓ΤΌΝ. אABL, Ti[107] W.H[108] αὐτοὺς ACD. See note. [107] Ti. Tischendorf. [108] W.H. Westcott and Hort. 17. ἘΝ ΜΙΑ͂Ι ΤΩ͂Ν ἩΜΕΡΩ͂Ν. ‘_On one of those_ days.’ The vagueness of the phrase shews that no stress is here laid on chronological order. In Matthew 9:2-8; Mark 2:3-12 the scen... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEALING OF THE PARALYTIC... [ Continue Reading ]
ἌΝΔΡΕΣ. Four bearers, Mark 2:3. ΠΑΡΑΛΕΛΥΜΈΝΟΣ. The word used by Matthew (Matthew 9:1-8) and Mark (Mark 2:1-12) is “paralytic,” but as that is not a classic word, St Luke uses “having been paralysed.” ἘΖΉΤΟΥΝ ΑΥ̓ΤῸΝ ΕἸΣΕΝΕΓΚΕΙ͂Ν. St Mark explains that the crowd was so great that they could not even... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΟΊΑΣ. Rec[109] has the gloss διὰ ποίας. [109] Rec. The Textus Receptus. 19. ΜῊ ΕὙΡΌΝΤΕΣ. Comp. Luke 2:45. ΠΟΊΑΣ, ‘in what way’ (ὁδοῦ might have been expressed). The διὰ ποίας of Ebr. is a grammatical gloss, as also are the readings πῶς and πόθεν. ποίᾳ is an unsupported conjecture of Bornemann. W... [ Continue Reading ]
ἌΝΘΡΩΠΕ. St Mark has “Son,” and St Matthew “Cheer up, son,” which were probably the exact words used by Christ. ἈΦΈΩΝΤΑΊ ΣΟΙ. ‘Have been forgiven thee,’ i.e. now and henceforth. The form ἀφέωνται found in the four Evangelists (Matthew 9:2; Mark 2:5; 1 John 2:12) is according to Suidas a Doric form f... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΊΣ ἘΣΤΙΝ ΟὟΤΟΣ ὋΣ ΛΑΛΕΙ͂ ΒΛΑΣΦΗΜΊΑΣ; This is a perfect iambic line. The word οὖτος is contemptuous. St Matthew puts it still more barely, ‘This fellow blasphemes.’ To indulge such thoughts and feelings was distinctly “to think evil thoughts.” ΒΛΑΣΦΗΜΊΑΣ. In classical Greek the word means abuse and... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΙΓΝΟῪΣ ΔῈ Ὁ ἸΗΣΟΥ͂Σ. ‘Jesus, recognising.’ ΤΟῪΣ ΔΙΑΛΟΓΙΣΜΟῪΣ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ν. ‘Their reasoning.’... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΊ ἘΣΤΙΝ ΕΥ̓ΚΟΠΏΤΕΡΟΝ …; The adj. εὕκοπος is not found in Attic. In the N.T. it is only used in the comparative. Any one 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 p... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑΡΑΛΕΛΥΜΈΝΩΙ. This is more classical than παραλυτικῷ, which comes from the parallel passage. 24. Ὁ ΥἹῸΣ ΤΟΥ͂�. _Ben-Adam_ has a _general_ sense of any human being (Psalms 8:5; Job 25:6, &c.); in a _special_ sense in the O.T. it is nearly 90 times applied to Ezekiel, though _never_ used by himself _... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΦ' Ὅ. Altered by copyists into the easier ἐφ' ᾧ. 25. ἘΦ' Ὃ ΚΑΤΈΚΕΙΤΟ. The ἐφ' ᾧ of the Rec[121] is a less common expression. Ἐφ' ὅ is another instance of a prep. of motion with a verb of rest as in ἔστη ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλόν John 21:4; καθίσεσθε ἐπὶ δώδεκα θρόνους Matthew 19:28, and the phrase εἶναι ἐπὶ... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΛΉΣΘΗΣΑΝ ΦΌΒΟΥ. See on Luke 5:8. ΠΑΡΆΔΟΞΑ. ‘Startling things,’ ‘things contrary to expectation.’ It expresses the οὐδέποτε οὔτως εἴδομεν of Mark 2:12 and the ἐθαύμασαν of Matthew 9:8. It occurs nowhere else in the N.T.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΘΕΆΣΑΤΟ. ‘He observed.’ ὈΝΌΜΑΤΙ ΛΕΥΕΊΝ. It may be regarded as certain that Levi is the same person as the Evangelist St Matthew. The name Matthew (probably a corruption of Mattithjah) means, like Nathanael, Theodore, Dositheus, Adeodatus, &c., ‘the gift of God,’ and it seems to have been the name... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CALL AND FEAST OF LEVI. ON FASTING. THE NEW AND THE OLD... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤΑΛΙΠῺΝ ΠΆΝΤΑ. It is most probable that St Matthew, like the sons of Jona and of Zebedee, had known something of our Lord before this call. If Alphaeus (Matthew 10:3; Mark 2:14) be the same as the father of James the Less, and the same as Clopas (John 19:25) the husband of Mary, and _if_ this Mary... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΟΊΗΣΕΝ ΔΟΧῊΝ ΜΕΓΆΛΗΝ. This shews that Matthew had something to sacrifice when he “left all.” Δοχὴ literally means ‘reception.’ It only occurs again in Luke 14:13. ἮΝ. ‘Was present.’ Comp. Luke 5:17. ὌΧΛΟΣ ΠΟΛῪΣ ΤΕΛΩΝΩ͂Ν. Comp. Luke 15:1. The tax-gatherers in their deep, and not wholly undeserved... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΟἹ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΙ͂Σ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ν. ‘And _their_ Scribes,’ i.e. those Scribes who belonged to their party. BCL, Vulg[110] It[111] &c. [110] Vulg. Vulgate. [111] It. Old Latin Version (Itala). 30. ἘΓΌΓΓΥΖΟΝ. This Ionic onomatopœia is common in Hellenistic Greek. ΟἹ ΦΑΡΙΣΑΙ͂ΟΙ ΚΑῚ ΟἹ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΙ͂Σ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ν. ‘_... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ὙΓΙΑΊΝΟΝΤΕΣ. ‘_Those in sound health_.’ Our Lord’s words had both an obvious and a deeper meaning. As regards the ordinary duties and respectability of life these provincial scribes and Pharisees were really “whole” as compared with the flagrant “sinfulness” of the tax-gatherers and “sinners.” In... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓Κ ἘΛΉΛΥΘΑ. ‘I am not come.’ ΔΙΚΑΊΟΥΣ. ‘_Righteous persons_.’ 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, a... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ΜΑΘΗΤΑΊ. Omit διατί with אBL, Ti[112] W.H[113] &c. [112] Ti. Tischendorf. [113] W.H. Westcott and Hort. 33. ΟἹ ΔῈ ΕἾΠΑΝ. 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 s... [ Continue Reading ]
EXCURSUS III ON PUTTING NEW (νέον) WINE INTO FRESH (καινοὺς) 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 suncracked skins, it wo... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΉ; _num_? ΤΟῪΣ ΥἹΟῪΣ ΤΟΥ͂ ΝΥΜΦΩ͂ΝΟΣ. This is a Hebraism for the friends of the bridegroom—the paranymphs—who accompanied him to meet the bride and her maidens; Judges 14:11. The question would be specially forcible to John’s disciples who had heard him speak of “the joy of the friend of the brideg... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΛΕΎΣΟΝΤΑΙ ΔῈ ἩΜΈΡΑΙ. ‘But there will come days.’ ΚΑῚ ὍΤΑΝ�' ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ν Ὁ ΝΥΜΦΊΟΣ. ‘And when’ (καὶ ABD). Comp. John 16:16, “A little while and ye shall not see me.” The verb used—ἀπαρθῇ—occurs nowhere else in the N. T., though we have ἐξαρθῇ (1 Corinthians 5:2). It clearly points to a violent end. Thi... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΠῸ ἹΜΑΤ. ΚΑΙΝ. ΣΧΊΣΑΣ. אBDL, Ti[114] W.H[115] &c. σχίσει אBCDL. συμφωνήσει אABC. [114] Ti. Tischendorf. [115] W.H. Westcott and Hort. 36. ἜΛΕΓΕΝ ΔῈ ΚΑΊ. St Luke uses the phrase to introduce some fresh development or illustration of the subject. See Leviticus 13:54; Leviticus 14:12; Leviticus 16:1... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΣΚΟΎΣ. ‘Wine-skins.’ Our Lord often illustrates two aspects of the same truth by a _pair_ of parables (e.g. the Hid Treasure and the Pearl; the Sower and the Tares, &c.). 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 ferme... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ�. ACD; omitted in אBL, Copt. 38. ΟἾΝΟΝ ΝΈΟΝ ΕἸΣ�. ‘New wine into fresh wineskins.’ The new spirit requires fresh forms for its expression 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... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕΥ̓ΘΈΩΣ. A; omitted by אBCL, Copt. Arm. Aeth. Ti[116] W.H[117] [116] Ti. Tischendorf. [117] W.H. Westcott and Hort. ΧΡΗΣΤΌΣ. אB, Ti[118] W.H[119] χρηστότερος AC, La[120] [118] Ti. Tischendorf. [119] W.H. Westcott and Hort. [120] La. Lachmann. 39. ΠΙῺΝ ΠΑΛΑΙΌΝ. The reading of the Rec[124] gives a... [ Continue Reading ]