VI. (1) ON THE SECOND SABBATH AFTER THE FIRST. — Literally, _the second-first Sabbath._ There is nothing like the phrase in any other author, and its meaning is therefore to a great extent conjectural. Its employment by St. Luke may be noted as indicating his wish to be accurate as an historian. He... [ Continue Reading ]
IT CAME TO PASS ALSO ON ANOTHER SABBATH. — See Notes on Matthew 12:9; Mark 3:1. WHOSE RIGHT HAND WAS WITHERED. — St. Luke alone specifies which hand it was that was affected.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WATCHED HIM. — Better, _were watching. _... [ Continue Reading ]
RISE UP, AND STAND FORTH IN THE MIDST. — Here again, and throughout what follows, we have another example of a narrative in which St. Mark and St. Luke agree much more closely than either agrees with St. Matthew.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LOOKING ROUND ABOUT UPON THEM. — See Notes on Mark 3:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE FILLED WITH MADNESS. — The expression is peculiar to St. Luke’s report. COMMUNED ONE WITH ANOTHER. — It seems singular that Luke, who in other respects seems to have had so many points of contact with people connected with the Herods (see _Introduction_)_,_ should have omitted the fact wh... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WENT OUT INTO A MOUNTAIN TO PRAY. — Better, _into the mountain,_ or, _the hill-country._ The stress laid on the prayers of Jesus is again characteristic of St. Luke. CONTINUED ALL NIGHT IN PRAYER TO GOD. — The original, at least, admits of another rendering. The word translated “prayer” (_proseuc... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN IT WAS DAY. — In the place which he assigns to the choice of the Twelve, St. Luke agrees more closely with St. Mark than with St. Matthew, who makes it precede the narratives of the disciples plucking the ears of corn, and the healing of the withered hand, which here it follows. A precisely... [ Continue Reading ]
(14-16) SIMON, (WHOM HE ALSO NAMED PETER). — For the list of the Twelve Apostles see Notes on Matthew 10:2. The only special points in St. Luke’s list are (1) that he gives Simon Zelotes, obviously as a translation, for Simon the Cananite, or Cananæan, of the other two lists, and gives _James’s Jud... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CAME DOWN WITH THEM, AND STOOD IN THE PLAIN. — We are again confronted with harmonistic difficulties. In St. Matthew (Matthew 10) the mission of the Twelve is followed by a full discourse on their Apostolic work and its perils. Here it is followed by a discourse which has so many points of re... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WENT VIRTUE OUT OF HIM. — The use of the term “virtue” (or _power_) in this technical sense is peculiar to St. Luke, and may be noted as characteristic of the medical Evangelist. (Comp. _Introduction._)... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED BE YE POOR... — See Notes on Matthew 5:1. The conclusion there arrived at — that the two discourses differ so widely, both in their substance and in their position in the Gospel narrative, that it is a less violent hypothesis to infer that they were spoken at different times than to assume t... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED ARE YE THAT HUNGER NOW. — In the second beatitude, as in the first, we note the absence of the words that seem to give the blessing on those that “hunger and thirst after righteousness” its specially spiritual character. The law implied is obviously the same as before. Fulness of bread, a li... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED ARE YE. — See Notes on Matthew 5:10. The clause “when they shall separate you from their company” is peculiar to St. Luke, and refers to the excommunication or exclusion from the synagogue, and therefore from social fellowship, of which we read in John 16:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
LEAP FOR JOY. — The word is peculiar to St. Luke in the New Testament, and occurs elsewhere only in Luke 1:41; Luke 1:44.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WOE UNTO YOU THAT ARE RICH! — Better, _woe for you,_ the tone being, as sometimes (though, as Matthew 23 shows, not uniformly) with this expression, one of pity rather than denunciation. (Comp. Matthew 23:13; Mark 13:17; Luke 21:23.) We enter here on what is a distinct feature of the Sermon on t... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO YOU THAT ARE FULL! — The fulness is, as the context shows, that of the satiety of over-indulgence. The word is closely connected with that _fulness_ (rather than “satisfying”) of the flesh of which St. Paul speaks in Colossians 2:23. WOE UNTO YOU THAT LAUGH NOW! — We note here, as so often... [ Continue Reading ]
SO DID THEIR FATHERS TO THE FALSE PROPHETS. — The words are of very wide application, but it is probable that there is a special reference in them to the time of Hezekiah and the later kings of Judah. (Comp. Isaiah 30:10; Jeremiah 5:31.) They open a wide question as to the worth of praise as a test... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. — See Notes on Matthew 5:44. It should be noted that the great command of the gospel is set forth in the Sermon on the Plain in its width and universality, without being formally contrasted with the Pharisaic gloss, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy,” as in the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND UNTO HIM THAT SMITETH THEE... — See Notes on Matthew 5:39. AND HIM THAT TAKETH AWAY THY CLOKE. — St. Luke’s report of the maxim points to direct violence, St. Matthew’s to legal process. It is noticeable also that St. Luke inverts the order of the “cloke” and the “coat.” _“_If he takes the uppe... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE TO EVERY MAN THAT ASKETH OF THEE. — See Note on Matthew 5:42.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS YE WOULD THAT MEN SHOULD DO TO YOU... — See Note on Matthew 7:12. The very different arrangement of the precepts in the two discourses is obviously an argument against their identity.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF YE LOVE THEM WHICH LOVE YOU. — See Note on Matthew 5:46, and note St. Luke’s use, as writing for Gentiles, of the wider term “sinners,” instead of the more specific “publicans,” which pointed the maxim, perhaps, for those who originally heard it, and certainly for St. Matthew’s Jewish readers... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE DO GOOD TO THEM... — Actual deeds of kindness take the place in St. Luke which in St. Matthew is occupied by the salutations which were but the outward signs of kindness.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE LEND TO THEM... — This special illustration of the law of unselfish kindness is in this collocation peculiar to St. Luke; but it is implied in the precept of Matthew 5:42. TO RECEIVE AS MUCH AGAIN. — It is noticeable, as implying that the precepts were given in the first instance to Jewish he... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVE YE YOUR ENEMIES. — The tense of the Greek verb may be noted as implying a perpetual abiding rule of action. HOPING FOR NOTHING AGAIN. — Better, _in nothing losing hope._ It is possible that the Greek verb may have the sense given in the text, but its uniform signification in the LXX. (as in Sir... [ Continue Reading ]
BE YE THEREFORE MERCIFUL. — The form of the sentence is the same as that of Matthew 5:48, but “merciful” takes the place of “perfect,” as being the noblest of the divine attributes, in which all others reach their completeness. The well-known passage in Shakespeare on the “quality of mercy,” is, per... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDGE NOT, AND YE SHALL NOT BE JUDGED. — See Note on Matthew 7:1. In St. Luke’s report there is something like a climax. “Seek not to judge at all. If you must judge, be not eager _to_ condemn.” FORGIVE. — Better, _set free, release,_ or _acquit;_ the word expressing a quasi-judicial act rather tha... [ Continue Reading ]
GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN. — The imagery clearly points to a measure of grain, so pressed and shaken that it could hold no more. INTO YOUR BOSOM. — The large fold of an Eastern dress over the chest, often used as a pocket. WITH THE SAME MEASURE THAT YE METE. — See Notes on Matthew 7:2; Mark 4:24,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SPAKE A PARABLE UNTO THEM. — The verse is noticeable (1) as causing a break in the discourse which has no parallel in the Sermon on the Mount; (2) as giving an example of the wider sense of the word “parable,” as applicable to any proverbial saying that involved a similitude. On the proverb i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DISCIPLE IS NOT ABOVE HIS MASTER. — See Notes on Matthew 10:24; John 15:20. Here the application of the proverb is obviously very different. The connection of thought is somewhat obscure, and we may not unreasonably believe that some links have been omitted. As it is, however, we can infer somet... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHY BEHOLDEST THOU..? — See Notes on Matthew 7:4. The two reports of the proverb agree almost verbally, as if its repetition had impressed it deeply on the minds of the hearers.... [ Continue Reading ]
(43-46) FOR A GOOD TREE BRINGETH NOT FORTH... — See Notes on Matthew 7:16. Here again, judging by what we find in St. Matthew, there may have been missing links; but even without them the conjunction “for” does not lose its force. The good tree of a Christ-like life cannot bring forth the “corrupt f... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THORNS MEN DO NOT GATHER FIGS. — The form of the illustration differs slightly from that in St. Matthew, where the thorns are connected with grapes, and the figs with thistles. The word for “bramble bush” is the same as that used in Luke 20:37, and in the LXX. version of Exodus 3:2, and Deuterono... [ Continue Reading ]
A GOOD MAN OUT OF THE GOOD TREASURE. — See Note on Matthew 12:35. There the words are spoken in immediate connection with the judgment which the Pharisees had passed on our Lord as casting out devils by Beelzebub, and follow on a reproduction of the similitude of the tree and its fruit. The sequence... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHY CALL YE ME, LORD, LORD. — The teaching is the same in substance, though not _in_ form.... [ Continue Reading ]
(47-49) WHOSOEVER COMETH TO ME. — See Notes on Matthew 7:24. Here again the all but verbal reproduction of the parable shows the impression which its repetition had left on the minds of men. The variations, however, are not without significance. St. Luke alone reports that the wise man “digged deep”... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE FLOOD AROSE. — Here we have some-what less fulness of detail than in St. Matthew’s mention of “the rain” and the “wind,” as well as the rivers or streams. The word rendered “flood” referred primarily to the “sea,” but had been transferred to the movement of any large body of water. AND COU... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT HEARETH, AND DOETH NOT. — More specific than St. Matthew in adding “without a foundation,” somewhat less so in giving “on the earth” instead of “on the sand.”... [ Continue Reading ]