Luke 7:11

ἐν τῇ ἑξῆς, ‘the next day,’ אCD, La[148] Ti[149] But in this phrase St Luke seems to omit ἐν (Acts 21:1; Acts 25:17, &c.; comp. Luke 9:37). AB read ἐν τῷ ἑξῆς, ‘afterwards’.

[148] La. Lachmann.
[149] Ti. Tischendorf.

ἱκανοί. AC, La[150] Ti[151] Omitted by אBDFL, W.H[152]

[150] La. Lachmann.
[151] Ti. Tischendorf.
[152] W.H. Westcott and Hort.

11. ἐν τῇ ἑξῆς. If the reading τῇ be right we must understand ἡμέρᾳ, ‘day.’ Some MSS. (ABL, &c.) read τῷ, which would give a wider limit of time. In Luke 8:1 we have ἐν τῷ καθεξῆς, and it must be admitted that if ἐν τῇ ἑξῆς be the right reading it is unique. For in Luke 9:37, ἡμέρᾳ is supplied; and in Acts 21:1; Acts 25:17; Acts 27:18, ἐν is omitted. There is no chronological difficulty about the event taking place the ‘next day,’ as I have shewn in my Life of Christ, I. 285. St Luke alone, with his characteristic tenderness, preserves for us this narrative.

εἰς πόλιν καλουμένην Ναΐν. In the tribe of Issachar. The name means ‘lovely,’ and it deserves the name from its site on the northwest 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 Capernaum, 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.

οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἱκανοὶ καὶ ὄχλος πολύς. ‘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.