Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 10:21

ἠγαλλιάσατο. ‘Exulted,’ a much stronger word than the ‘rejoiced’ of the A.V[224]; and most valuable as recording one element—the element of exultant joy—in the life of our Lord, on which the Evangelists touch so rarely as to have originated the legend, preserved in the spurious letter of P. Lentulus to the Senate, that He wept often, but that no one had ever seen Him smile. The word ἐνεβριμήσατο τῷ πνεύματι (John 11:33) expresses the opposite extreme of emotion.

[224] A.V. Authorised Version.

ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι πάτερ. Literally, “I make grateful acknowledgment to Thee.” For the verb see Romans 14:11. It has this sense often in the LXX[225] It also means ‘to confess,’ Matthew 3:6, &c.

[225] LXX. Septuagint.

ἀπὸ σοφῶν καὶ συνετῶν … νηπίοις. Here we have the contrast between the ‘wisdom of the world,’ which is ‘foolishness with God,’ and the ‘foolishness of the world,’ which is ‘wisdom with God,’ on which St Paul also was fond of dwelling, 1 Corinthians 1:21; 1 Corinthians 1:26; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; Romans 1:22. For similar passages in the Gospels see Matthew 16:17; Matthew 18:3-4.

νηπίοις, i.e. to all who have “the young lamb’s heart amid the full-grown flocks”—to all innocent childlike souls, such as are often those of the truly wise. Genius itself has been defined as “the heart of childhood taken up and matured into the power of manhood.” God, says Gess, met the pride of intellect by blindness, and rewarded truth-loving simplicity by revelation.

ναὶ ὁ πατήρ. The nom. is here used in a vocative sense, as in Luke 8:54, ἡ παῖς ἔγειρε; Matthew 27:29, χαῖρε ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων. This is especially the case with the imperative, as in Luke 12:32, μὴ φοβοῦ τὸ μικρὸν ποίμνιον. The meaning is not however exactly the same as in the πάτερ at the beginning of the verse, but ‘Thou who art my Father.’

εὐδοκία ἔμπροσθέν σου. A Hebraism. Exodus 28:38.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 10:21

Old Testament

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