Luke 11:53

And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things: AND AS HE SAID THESE THINGS UNTO THEM, THE SCRIBES AND THE PHARISEES BEGAN TO URGE HIM VEHEMENTLY, AND TO PROVOKE HIM TO SPEAK OF MANY THINGS;...

Luke 11:53._And while he was saying these things to them. _I have formerly mentioned that the preceding sentences were not inserted by Luke in their proper place. For while he was relating that Christ at a dinner reproved the scribes, he introduced also the latest discourses by which, a little before his death, he reproved their wicked courses; and in like manner, the reproof which we have just now examined is inserted by Luke, in connection with a different narrative. If any one prefer to follow the opinion of those who conjecture that Christ repeated the same discourses on various occasions, I have no great objection. After pronouncing the curses which have been now explained, he concludes by saying that all the scribes became more inveterate against Christ, so that they did not cease to _entrap him by ensnaring questions; _which ought to be referred to the conversation held a

37-54 We should all look to our hearts, that they may be cleansed and new-created; and while we attend to the great things of the law and of the gospel, we must not neglect the smallest matter God has appointed. When any wait to catch something out of our mouths, that they may insnare us, O Lord, give us thy prudence and thy patience, and disappoint their evil purposes. Furnish us with such meekness and patience that we may glory in reproaches, for Christ's sake, and that thy Holy Spirit may rest upon us....

Verse Luke 11:53. _BEGAN TO URGE_ HIM _VEHEMENTLY_] δεινως ενεχειν, They _began to be furious_. They found themselves completely unmasked in the presence of a vast concourse of people. See Luke 12:1, (for we can not suppose that all this conversation passed while Christ was at meat in the Pharisee's house, as Matthew, Matthew 23:25, shows that these words were spoken on another occasion.) They therefore questioned him on a variety of points, and hoped, by the multitude and impertinence of their questions, to puzzle or irritate him, so as to induce him to _speak rashly_, (for this is the import of the word αποστοματιζειν,) that they might find some subject of accusation against him. See Wetstein...

TO URGE HIM VEHEMENTLY - To press upon him “violently.” They were enraged against him. They therefore pressed upon him; asked him many questions; sought to entrap him, that they might accuse him. PROVOKE HIM ... - This means that they put many questions to him about various matters, without giving him proper time to answer. They proposed questions as fast as possible, and about as many things as possible, that they might get him, in the hurry, to say something that would be wrong, that they might thus accuse him. This was a remarkable instance of their cunning, malignity, and unfairness....

EXPOSITION LUKE 11:1 The _Lord_'_s teaching on the_ _subject of prayer. _Again the scene is far away from Jerusalem; no special note of _time _or _place _enables us to fix the scene or date with any exactness. Somewhere in the course of the last journeyings towards Jerusalem, related especially in this Gospel, did this scene and its teaching take place. LUKE 11:1 LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY, AS JOHN ALSO TAUGHT HIS DISCIPLES. It seems as though some of his disciples—we know at this period many were with him besides the twelve—heard their Master praying. It appeared to them—no doubt, as they caught here and there a word and expression as he prayed, perhap

AND AS HE SAID THESE THINGS UNTO THEM,.... Denounced the above woes upon them, charging them with the above crimes, and threatening them with divine vengeance: THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES BEGAN TO URGE HIM VEHEMENTLY; to fall upon him with their tongues, and express great rage, wrath, and virulence against him: AND TO PROVOKE HIM TO SPEAK OF MANY THINGS; they put questions to him, and urged him to answer them, and did all they could to irritate him to say things that they could improve against him, to draw words out of his mouth, and then wrest and pervert them....

Luke 11:14. _And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils._ One would hardly have thought that they could have gone to such a length as that; but when men hate Christ, there is nothing they will not say against him. It is no subject of surprise when great heresies arise, for they are the natural outcome of human enmity against Christ and his truth. People in such a state of heart will say anything; they will give utterance to thoughts that you could not have imagined would have entered any human brain; it is the enmity of the heart to Christ that produces this blasphemy of the tongue. Luke 11:16. And others,

CHAPTER 11 _ 1. The Prayer Given to the Disciples (Luke 11:1 .)_ 2. The Friend at Midnight. (Luke 11:5) 3. Encouragement to Pray. (Luke 11:11) 4. A Demon Cast Out and the Blasphemous Accusation. (Luke 11:14) 5. The Return of the Unclean Spirit. (Luke 11:23) 6. The Blessedness of Hearing the Word. (Luke 11:27) 7. The Sign of Jonas. (Luke 11:29) 8.

CONDEMNATION OF PHARISEES AND SCRIBES._ Cf._ (though the arrangement is different) Matthew 23*, where the Jerusalem setting is more suitable (perhaps Lk. wishes to make the Jerusalem discourses end with the apocalypse of Mark 13). It is strange that Jesus should offend His host, first by deed, then by word. The Pharisees emphasized outer cleanliness at the expense of inward, but on the other hand early Christian asceticism distorted the teaching and example of Jesus, and produced a crowd of unwashed saints. LUKE 11:38 reminds us of Mark 7:2. Luke 11:39. of the cup and of the platter may be an insertion from Matthew 23:25.