Luke 4:16-19

The Reading. Luke 4:16. Καί. “And in these itinerancies He came also. ” John (John 2:12) and Matthew (Matthew 4:13) refer to this time the transfer of the residence of Jesus (and also, according to John, of that of His mother and brethren) from Nazareth to Capernaum, which naturally implies a visit to Nazareth. Besides, John places the miracle at the marriage at Cana at the same time. Now, Cana being such a very short distance from Nazareth, it would have been an affectation on the part of Jesus to be staying so near His native town, and not visit it.

The words, where He had been brought up, assign the motive of His proceeding. The expression, according to His custom, cannot apply to the short time which had elapsed since His return to Galilee, unless, with Bleek, we regard it as an indication that this event is of later date, which indeed is possible, but in no way necessary. It rather applies to the period of His childhood and youth. This remark is in close connection with the words, where He had been brought up. Attendance at the synagogue was, as Keim has well brought out (t. i. p. 434), a most important instrument in the religious and intellectual development of Jesus. Children had access to this worship from the age of five or six; they were compelled to attend it when they reached thirteen (Keim, t. i. p. 431). But it was not solely by means of these Scripture lessons, heard regularly in the synagogue several times a week, that Jesus learned to know the O. T. so well. There can be no doubt, as Keim says, that He possessed a copy of the sacred book Himself. Otherwise He would not have known how to read, as He is about to do here.

The received reading, having unrolled, Luke 4:17, is preferable to the Alex. var., having opened. The sacred volumes were in the form of rectangular sheets, rolled round a cylinder. By the expression, He found, Luke gives us to understand that Jesus, surrendering Himself to guidance from above, read at the place where the roll opened of itself.

We cannot then infer, as Bengel does, from the fact of this passage being read by the Jews on the day of atonement, that this feast was being observed on that very day. Besides, the present course of the Haphtaoth, or readings from the prophets, dates from a later period.

This passage belongs to the second part of Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1 et seq.). This long consecutive prophecy is generally applied to the return from the captivity. The only term which would suggest this explanation in our passage is αἰχμαλώτοις, properly prisoners of war, Luke 4:19. But this word is used with a more general meaning. St. Paul applies it to his companions in work and activity (Col 4:10). The term πτωχός, poor, rather implies that the people are settled in their own country. The remarkable expression, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, makes the real thought of the prophet sufficiently clear. There was in the life of the people of Israel a year of grace, which might very naturally become a type of the Messianic era. This was the year of jubilee, which returned every fifty years (Leviticus 25). By means of this admirable institution, God had provided for a periodical social restoration in Israel. The Israelite who had sold himself into slavery regained his liberty; families which had alienated their patrimony recovered possession; a wide amnesty was granted to persons imprisoned for debt, so many types of the work of Him who was to restore spiritual liberty to mankind, to free them from their guilt, and restore to them their divine inheritance. Jesus, therefore, could not have received from His Father a text more appropriate to His present position the inauguration of His Messianic ministry amidst the scenes of His previous life.

The first words, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, are a paraphrase of the term מָשִׁיחַ, H5431, Messiah (Χριστός, Anointed). Jesus, in reading these words, could not but apply them to His recent baptism. The expression ἕνεκεν οὗ cannot signify here wherefore: “The Spirit is upon me; wherefore God hath anointed me;” this would be contrary to the meaning. The LXX. have used this conjunction to translate ‡ ַיעַן, H3610, which in the original signifies, just as יַעַןאֲשֶׁר, because, a meaning which the Greek expression will also bear (on this account that, propterea quod).

On the first day of the year of jubilee, the priests went all through the land, announcing with sound of trumpets the blessings brought by the opening year (jubilee, from יוֹבֵל, H3413, to sound a trumpet). It is to this proclamation of grace that the words, to announce good news to the poor, undoubtedly allude, Leviticus 25:6; Leviticus 25:14; Leviticus 25:25.

The words, to heal the broken in heart, which the Alex. reading omits, might have been introduced into the text from the O. T.; but, in our view, they form the almost indispensable basis of the word of Jesus, Luke 4:23. We must therefore retain them, and attribute their omission to an act of negligence occasioned by the long string of infinitives

The term κηρύξαι ἄφεσιν, to proclaim liberty, employed Luke 4:19, also alludes to the solemn proclamation of the jubilee. This word ἄφεσιν is found at almost every verse, in the LXX., in the statute enjoining this feast. Bleek himself observes that the formula קָרָאדַּרוֹר, which corresponds to those two Greek terms, is that which is employed in connection with the jubilee; but notwithstanding, this does not prevent his applying the passage, according to the common prejudice, to the return from the captivity! The prisoners who recover their freedom are amnestied malefactors as well as slaves set free at the beginning of this year of grace. The image of the blind restored to sight does not, at the first glance, accord with that of the jubilee; but it does not any better suit the figure of the return from the captivity. And if this translation of the Hebrew text were accurate, we should have in either case to allow that the prophet had departed from the general image with which he had started. But the term in Isaiah (אֲסוּרִים, properly bound) denotes captives, not blind persons. The expression פְּקַחאּ ˜ קוֹחַ׃ signifies, it is true, the opening of the eyes, not the opening of a prison. But the captives coming forth from their dark dungeon are represented under the figure of blind men suddenly restored to sight.

The words, to set at liberty them that are bruised, are taken from another passage in Isaiah (58:). Probably in Luke's authority this passage was already combined with the former (as often happens with Paul). The figurative sense of τεθραυσμένοι, pierced through, is required by the verb to send away. The acceptable year of the Lord is that in which He is pleased to show mankind extraordinary favours. Several Fathers have inferred from this expression that the ministry of Jesus only lasted a single year. This is to confound the type and the antitype.