Luke 19:1
XIX. (1) AND PASSED THROUGH JERICHO. — Better, _and was passing through._ The narrative that follows is peculiar to this Gospel.... [ Continue Reading ]
XIX. (1) AND PASSED THROUGH JERICHO. — Better, _and was passing through._ The narrative that follows is peculiar to this Gospel.... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS A MAN NAMED ZACCHÆUS,... — The name appears in the Old Testament in the form Zaccai (Ezra 2:9; Nehemiah 7:14), and meant “pure” or “innocent.” Rabbinic writers mention a Zacchæus as living at Jericho about this time, the father of a famous Rabbi, Jochanan or John. THE CHIEF AMONG THE PUBLI... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SOUGHT. — Better, _was seeking._ The verb expresses vividly the oft-repeated attempts of the man, little of stature, to get a glimpse of the Prophet as He passed. FOR THE PRESS. — The word is the same as that elsewhere rendered “multitude” or “crowd.” The motive is left to be inferred. It was no... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CLIMBED UP INTO A SYCOMORE TREE. — The name of “sycomore” has been variously applied — (1) to a species of maple (_Acer pseudo-platanus_)_;_ (2) to the mulberry (_Morus nigra_)_,_ more properly, “sycamine,” as in Luke 17:6; and (3) to the fig mulberry (_Ficus sycomorus_). The last is the tree he... [ Continue Reading ]
TO DAY I MUST ABIDE AT THY HOUSE. — The words gain a fresh significance, if we remember that Jericho was at this time one of the chosen cities of the priests. (See Note on Luke 10:30.) Our Lord passed over their houses, and those of the Pharisees, in order to pass the night in the house of the publi... [ Continue Reading ]
RECEIVED HIM JOYFULLY. — The joy is significant as implying previous yearning, a desire for communion with the new Teacher, the wish to sit at His feet and drink in the words of eternal life.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ALL MURMURED. — Better, _were all murmuring._ It is significant that the murmur was not confined to a special section of rigorous Pharisees, but came from the whole crowd. The chief publican was clearly not popular, and probably the priestly tone of the place (see Note on Luke 19:5) gave additi... [ Continue Reading ]
ZACCHÆUS STOOD, AND SAID UNTO THE LORD... — The word for “stood” is the same as that used in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:11). Too much stress has, perhaps, been laid on its supposed force as indicating self-assertion in both cases. It does not seem to imply more than that Z... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS DAY IS SALVATION COME TO THIS HOUSE. — The Greek tense, _This day came there salvation to this house,_ has a force which it is not easy to express in English, implying that the salvation was already looked back upon as completed in the past. In one sense salvation had come in the personal prese... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SON OF MAN IS COME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST. — Like words had been spoken once before, under circumstances that presented a very striking contrast to those now before us. Then the loving purpose of the Christ had for its object the “little child,” as yet untouched by the world’s o... [ Continue Reading ]
HE ADDED AND SPAKE A PARABLE. — As in Luke 18:1; Luke 18:9, so here, it is characteristic of St. Luke that he states, more fully than is common in the other Gospels, the occasion and the purpose of the parable which follows. The verse throws light upon all the history that follows. In all previous v... [ Continue Reading ]
A CERTAIN NOBLEMAN WENT INTO A FAR COUNTRY. — See Notes on Matthew 25:14, with which the parable that follows has many obvious points of resemblance. There are, however, many noticeable differences in detail. At the outset we have the new feature of the nobleman going “into a far country to receive... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DELIVERED THEM TEN POUNDS. — In this, again, we have a noticeable difference. Here we begin with equality; in Matthew 25:15 the servants start with unequal amounts, “according to their several ability.” So far as we lay stress on the difference, it implies that the trust in this case is that whi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HIS CITIZENS HATED HIM, AND SENT A MESSAGE AFTER HIM. — Here, also, recent history supplied a feature in the parable. This was precisely what the Jews had done in the case of Archelaus, both at the time referred to in the Note on Luke 19:12, and later on, when their complaints were brought befor... [ Continue Reading ]
IT CAME TO PASS, THAT WHEN HE WAS RETURNED. — See Note on Matthew 25:19. The absence of the words “after a long time” is noticeable, and suggests the thought that our Lord may have added them in the later form of the parable as a further safeguard against the prevalent expectations of the immediate... [ Continue Reading ]
THY POUND HATH GAINED TEN POUNDS. — The increase is on a larger scale than in the parable in Matthew 25. There each of the faithful servants gains as much again as he had received. Here the gain is tenfold (1,000 per cent.). Adopting the view which has been taken of the distinctive ideas of the two... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THOU HAST BEEN FAITHFUL IN A VERY LITTLE. — More literally, _because thou didst become faithful._ The words are in their substance like those in St. Matthew, but their absolute identity with those in the lesson drawn from the parable of the Unjust Steward (see Note on Luke 16:10) is every wa... [ Continue Reading ]
THY POUND, WHICH I HAVE KEPT.,. — Literally, w_hich I kept_ — _i.e.,_ all along. He had never made any effort at doing more. LAID UP IN A NAPKIN. — The smaller scale of the parable is shown in the contrast between this and the “hiding the talent in the earth,” in St. Matthew. The “napkin” (the Gree... [ Continue Reading ]
I FEARED THEE, BECAUSE THOU ART AN AUSTERE MAN. — The Greek adjective (from which the English is derived) is not used elsewhere in the New Testament. Literally, it means _dry,_ and so, hard and stiff. In 2Ma. 14:30 it is translated “churlish.” On the plea of the wicked servant, see Note on Matthew 2... [ Continue Reading ]
OUT OF THINE OWN MOUTH WILL I JUDGE THEE. — See Note on Matthew 25:26. These words are, perhaps, somewhat more emphatic than in the parallel passage. The very term which the servant had dared to apply to his lord, is repeated with a solemn impressiveness.... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO THE BANK. — Literally, the _table,_ or _counter._ The Greek substantive is the root of the word translated “exchangers” in Matthew 25:27 (where see Note). THAT AT MY COMING I MIGHT HAVE REQUIRED... — Literally, _And when I came I should have got it with interest._ USURY. — The word is used (a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID UNTO HIM, LORD... — The touch of wonder, perhaps of indignation, is peculiar to St. Luke. It can scarcely be thought of as simply an element of dramatic vividness. It foreshadows the feelings with which men have in all ages looked on those greater than themselves. They grudge the influ... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO EVERY ONE WHICH HATH SHALL BE GIVEN. — This again takes its place among the oft-repeated axioms of our Lord’s teaching. It meets us after the parable of the Sower (Luke 8:18; Matthew 13:12; Mark 4:25), in that of the Talents (Matthew 25:29), and here. (See Notes on the several passages.)... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOSE MINE ENEMIES. — This feature of the parable is peculiar to St. Luke’s report. Like the earlier portions of the outer framework of the story, it had an historical groundwork in the conduct of Archelaus on his return from Rome (Jos. _Wars, ii._ 7, § 3). Spiritually, it represents, in bold fi... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WENT BEFORE, ASCENDING UP TO JERUSALEM. — Better, _going up,_ as elsewhere throughout the New Testament. The words indicate the same mode of journeying as that which we have traced before — the Master going on in advance, and the disciples following. (See Notes on Luke 8:1; Mark 10:32.) The jour... [ Continue Reading ]
(29-38) WHEN HE WAS COME NIGH TO BETHPHAGE AND BETHANY. — On the general narrative, see Notes on Matthew 21:1; Mark 11:1. In details we note (1) that St. Luke unites the “Bethphage” of St. Matthew with the “Bethany” of St. Mark; (2) that, as a stranger to Judæa, he speaks of the “mountain _that was... [ Continue Reading ]
GO YE INTO THE VILLAGE OVER AGAINST YOU. — The agreement with St. Matthew and St. Mark is singularly close.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THE LORD HATH NEED OF HIM. — See Note on Matthew 21:3 as to the meaning of the word “Lord” as thus used.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OWNERS THEREOF. — IN this instance St. Luke, though less graphic in his narrative generally, is more specific than St. Mark, who represents the question as coming from “some of those that stood by.” The use of the same Greek word for “owner” and for the “Lord” affords a striking example of the e... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAST THEIR GARMENTS UPON THE COLT. — St. Luke agrees with St. Mark in speaking of the “colt” only, not of the “ass.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SPREAD THEIR CLOTHES IN THE WAY. — Better, _garments,_ the word being the same as in the preceding verse, and in both cases meaning the outer garment or cloak. (See Note on Matthew 5:40.) St. Luke, it may be noticed, does not mention the “branches of trees” of which St. Matthew and St. Mark spe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DESCENT OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. — The Greek word for “descent” is not used by any other New Testament writer. As being a technical geographical word, it was one that might naturally be used by one who may have been a pupil of Strabo, or a student of his works. (See _Introduction._) TO PRAISE GO... [ Continue Reading ]
PEACE IN HEAVEN, AND GLORY IN THE HIGHEST. The substitution of “glory” for the “Hosanna” of St. Matthew and St. Mark is characteristic of the Gentile Evangelist. The parallelism between the shouts of the multitude before the Passion, and the song of the angels at the Nativity (Luke 2:14) is, in many... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SOME OF THE PHARISEES. — The comparative brevity of St. Luke’s description is more than compensated by the interest of the two narratives that follow, and which are found in his Gospel only. The section of the Pharisees that spoke was probably that which had all along more or less acknowledged o... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THESE SHOULD HOLD THEIR PEACE. — Here, then, at the very moment when He foresaw most clearly His own approaching end, and the failure of all earthly hopes of the city over which He wept, our Lord accepted every word that disciples or multitude had uttered of Him as being in the fullest sense true... [ Continue Reading ]
HE BEHELD THE CITY, AND WEPT OVER IT. — This, and the tears over the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35), are the only recorded instances of our Lord’s tears. It is significant that in the one case they flow from the intensity of personal friendship, in the other from that of the intense love of country w... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THOU HADST KNOWN, EVEN THOU. — The emphatic repetition of the pronoun, as in Isaiah 48:15; Isaiah 51:12; Ezekiel 5:8; Ezekiel 6:3; Ps. ixxvi. 7, speaks of the strongest possible emotion. The broken form of the sentence, “If thou hadst known...,” with no corresponding clause as to what would then... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAYS SHALL COME UPON THEE. We again come upon a cluster of words peculiar, as far as the New Testament is concerned, to St. Luke, and belonging to the higher forms of historical composition. SHALL CAST A TRENCH ABOUT THEE. — The Greek substantive means primarily a stake, then the “stockade” or... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHALL LAY THEE EVEN WITH THE GROUND. — See Note on Matthew 24:2. What is there said of the Temple, is here repeated of the city as a whole, and describes a general demolition of everything that could be demolished. So Josephus (_Wars,_ viii. 1, § 1) describes the work as being done so effectivel... [ Continue Reading ]
(45-48) AND HE WENT INTO THE TEMPLE. — See Notes on Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15. St. Luke apparently agrees with St. Matthew in thinking of the expulsion of the money-changers as taking place on the same day as the Entry. His narrative is here the least descriptive of the three.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE TAUGHT DAILY IN THE TEMPLE. — Literally, _He was teaching._ THE CHIEF OF THE PEOPLE. — Literally, _the first of the people._ The word is the same as in Mark 6:21, for “the chief estates” of Galilee. Here, apparently, it denotes those who, whether members of the Sanhedrin or not, were men of... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE PEOPLE WERE VERY ATTENTIVE TO HEAR HIM. — Literally, _hung upon him as they heard._ The Greek phrase is another of the words characteristic of St. Luke. Its force may be gathered by its use in the Greek version of Genesis 44:30, where it stands for “his life is bound up in” (or, _hangs upon_... [ Continue Reading ]