CHAPTER VIII. _Jesus preaches through every city and village_, 1. _Women minister to him_, 2, 3. _Instructs the multitudes by the parable of the sower_, 4-8. _Explains it at large to his disciples_, 9-15. _Directions how to improve by hearing the Gospel_, 16-18. _His mother and brethren seek h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:2. _OUT OF WHOM WENT SEVEN DEVILS_]. Who had been possessed in a most extraordinary manner; probably a case of inveterate lunacy, brought on by the influence of evil spirits. The number _seven_ may here express the superlative degree. _Mary Magdalene_ is commonly thought to have been... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:3. _HEROD'S STEWARD_] Though the original word, επιτροπος, signifies sometimes the _inspector_ or _overseer_ of a _province_, and sometimes a _tutor of children_, yet here it seems to signify the _overseer of Herod's domestic affairs_: the _steward of his _ _household_. _Steward of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:5. _A SOWER WENT OUT TO SOW_] See all this parable largely explained on Matthew 13:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:12. _THOSE BY THE WAY SIDE_] Bishop PEARCE thinks that Luke by ον here means σποροι, the _seeds_, though he acknowledges that he has never found such a word as σποροι in the plural number signifying _seeds_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:15. _WITH PATIENCE._] Rather, _with perseverance_. The Greek word υπομονη, which our translators render _patience_, properly signifies here, and in Romans 2:7, _perseverance_. The _good ground_, because it is _good_, strong and vigorous, _continues_ to bear: _bad_ or _poor_ ground canno... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:16. _LIGHTED A CANDLE_] This is a repetition of a part of our Lord's sermon on the mount. See the notes on Matthew 5:15; Matthew 10:26; and on Mark 4:21, Mark 4:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:17. _FOR NOTHING IS SECRET_, c.] Whatever I teach you in private, ye shall teach publicly and ye shall illustrate and explain every parable now delivered to the people.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:18. _EVEN THAT WHICH HE SEEMETH TO HAVE._] Or rather, _even_ _what he hath_. ο δοκει εχειν, rendered by our common version, _what_ _he seemeth to have_, seems to me to contradict itself. Let us examine this subject a little. 1. To _seem_ to have a thing, is only to have it in _appearan... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:19. _HIS MOTHER AND BRETHREN_] See the notes on Matthew 12:46, c., and on Mark 3:31, c.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:22. _LET US GO OVER_, c.] Matthew 8:24, Matthew 8:24, c., and see on Mark 4:36.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:23. _THERE CAME DOWN A STORM OF WIND - AND THEY - WERE IN_ _JEOPARDY._] This is a parallel passage to that in John 1:4. _There was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like_ _to be broken_: the latter clause of which is thus translated by the _Septuagint_: και το πλοιον εκ... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?_] Ye have a power to believe, and yet do not exercise it! Depend on God. Ye have _little faith_, (Matthew 8:26), because you do not use the grace which I have already given you. Many are looking for more faith without using that which they have. It is as possible to h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _THE COUNTRY OF THE GEDARENES_] Or, according to several MSS., _Gerasenes_ or _Gergasenes_. Matthew 8:28, Matthew 8:28, and Mark 5:1, Mark 5:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _A CERTAIN MAN_] See the case of this demoniac considered at large, on the parallel places, Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:1. In _India deranged_ persons walk at liberty through the streets and country in all manner of dresses; sometimes entirely _naked_; and often perish while strolling from place... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _JESUS_, THOU _SON OF GOD MOST HIGH_] The words _Jesus_ and _God_ are both omitted here by several MSS. I think it is very likely that the demons mentioned _neither_. They were constrained in a summary way to acknowledge his power; but it is probable they did not pronounce _names_ which we... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _AND THEY BESOUGHT HIM THAT HE WOULD NOT COMMAND THEM_ _TO GO OUT INTO THE DEEP._] In the Chaldaic philosophy, mention is made of certain _material demons_, who are permitted to wander about on the earth, and are horribly afraid of being sent into abysses and subterranean places. _Psellus_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _THEN WENT THE DEVILS OUT OF THE MAN, AND ENTERED INTO_ _THE SWINE_] Some critics and commentators would have us to understand all this of the _man himself_, who, they say, was a _most_ _outrageous maniac_; and that, being permitted by our Lord, he ran after the swine, and drove them all d... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _THEY FLED, AND WENT AND TOLD IT_] απελθοντες, _They_ _went_, is omitted by almost every MS. of repute, and by the best of the ancient versions. _Griesbach_ leaves it out, and with propriety too, as it is not likely that so correct a writer as Luke would say, _They fled, and WENT and told... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 40. GLADLY _RECEIVED HIM_] This is the proper import of the word απεδεξατο; therefore our translators needed not to have put _gladly_ in italics, as though it were not expressed in the text. _Raphelius_ gives several proofs of this _in loc_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 41. _A MAN NAMED JAIRUS_] See these two miracles-the raising of Jairus's daughter, and the cure of the afflicted woman - considered and explained at large, on Matthew 9:18, and Mark 5:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 42. _THE PEOPLE THRONGED HIM._] συνεπνιγον αυτον - almost _suffocated him_-so great was the throng about him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 43. _SPENT ALL HER LIVING UPON PHYSICIANS_] Mark 5:26, Mark 5:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 46. _I PERCEIVE THAT VIRTUE_] δυναμιν, Divine or _miraculous_ _power_. This Divine emanation did not proceed always from Christ, as necessarily as _odours_ do from _plants_, for then all who touched him must have been equally partakers of it. Of the many that touched him, this woman and _none... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:54. _HE PUT THEM ALL OUT_] That is, the _pipers_ and those who made a _noise_, weeping and lamenting. See Matthew 9:23; Mark 5:38. Pompous funeral ceremonies are ridiculous in themselves, and entirely opposed to the spirit and simplicity of the religion of Christ. Every where they meet... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 8:55. _AND HE COMMANDED TO GIVE HER MEAT._] Though she was raised to life by a miracle, she was not to be preserved by a miracle. Nature is God's great instrument, and he delights to work by it; nor will he do any thing by his sovereign power, in the way of miracle, that can be effected b... [ Continue Reading ]