Luke 16:1-13
Luke 16:1-13. THE UNJUST STEWARD... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 16:1-13. THE UNJUST STEWARD... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPS. Luke 9:51 to Luke 18:31 This section forms a great episode in St Luke, which may be called the departure for the final conflict, and is identical with the journey (probably to the Feast of the Dedication, John 10:22) which is partially touched upon in Matthew 18:1 to Matthew 20:16 and Mark 10... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΛΕΓΕΝ ΔῈ ΚΑῚ … Jesus now passes from the sin of hypocrisy to the cognate sin of cupidity, as in Matthew 6:18-19. The whole series of parables is anti-pharisaic. In interpreting the two following parables it is very necessary to bear in mind the _tertium comparationis_, i.e. the one special point wh... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΎΝΗΙ. אBD. δυνήσῃ is approved by Meyer as the more difficult reading. 2. ΤΊ ΤΟΥ͂ΤΟ�; This might mean ‘Why do I hear this?’ (So the A.V[298] “How is it” &c.) but it is simpler to render it ‘What is this that I hear about thee?’ comp. Acts 14:15, τί ταῦτα ποιεῖτε; The interrog. and relative clauses... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΚΆΠΤΕΙΝ ΟΥ̓Κ ἸΣΧΎΩ. ‘To dig I am not strong enough.’ ἘΠΑΙΤΕΙ͂Ν ΑἸΣΧΎΝΟΜΑΙ. Sir 40:28, “better die than beg.”... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΓΝΩΝ ΤΊ ΠΟΙΉΣΩ. The original graphically represents the sudden flash of discovery, ‘I have it! I know now what to do.’ _Subito_ consilium cepit.’ Bengel. ΕἸΣ ΤΟῪΣ ΟἼΚΟΥΣ ἙΑΥΤΩ͂Ν. “_Into their own houses_.” I will confer on them such a boon that they will not leave me houseless. This eating the bre... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡΟΣΚΑΛΕΣΆΜΕΝΟΣ ἝΝΑ ἝΚΑΣΤΟΝ. In the East rents are paid in kind, and a responsible steward, if left quite uncontrolled, has the amplest opportunity to defraud his lord, because the produce necessarily varies from year to year. The unjust steward would naturally receive from the tenants much more tha... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤᾺ ΓΡΆΜΜΑΤΑ. אBDL Copt. Goth. &c. τὸ γράμμα is a correction. 6. ΒΆΤΟΥΣ. The Hebrew _bath_ and the Greek μετρητής, rather less than, but roughly corresponding to, the _firkin_ = 9 gallons. This remission would represent a large sum of money. ΔΈΞΑΙ ΣΟΥ ΤᾺ ΓΡΆΜΜΑΤΑ. ‘Receive thy bill.’ (Vulg[299] _ca... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΌΡΟΥΣ. The cor was the same as the Hebrew homer = 10 ephahs. It is said to be about an English ‘quarter,’ i.e. 8 bushels, but from Jos. _Antt._ XV. 9, § 92, it seems to have been nearly 12 bushels. The steward knows what he is about, and makes his remissions according to the probabilities of the ca... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΚΎΡΙΟΣ. The lord is of course only the landlord of the parable. φρονίμως does not mean ‘wisely’ (a word which is used in a higher sense), but _prudently_. The tricky cleverness, by which the steward had endeavoured at once to escape detection, and to secure friends who would help him in his need,... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΚΛΊΠΗΙ אBDL, ἐκλείπῃ A, ἐκλίπητε EG &c., ἐκλείπετε D. See note. 9. ἙΑΥΤΟΙ͂Σ ΠΟΙΉΣΑΤΕ ΦΊΛΟΥΣ ἘΚ ΤΟΥ͂ ΜΑΜΩΝΑ͂ ΤΗ͂Σ�. Comp. Luke 16:8, ὁ κριτὴς τῆς�, Luke 18:6. It is the _qualitative_ genitive, and describes the characteristic _abuse_ of wealth. This descriptive genitive in Hebrew makes up for the pa... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ἘΛΑΧΊΣΤΩΙ. Comp. Luke 19:17. The most which we can have in this world is ‘least’ compared to the smallest gift of heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ�. The ideally genuine; lit. ‘_that which is true_,’ i.e. real and not evanescent. Earthly riches are neither true, nor ours.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΤΩ͂Ι�. The expression refers to the faithlessness of the unjust steward. The lesson of the verse is that nothing which we possess on earth is our own; it is entrusted to us for temporary use (1 Chronicles 29:14), which shall be rewarded by real and eternal possessions (1 Peter 1:4). “Vitaque _man... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓ΔΕῚΣ ΟἸΚΈΤΗΣ … ΔΟΥΛΕΎΕΙΝ. No _domestic_ can _slave_, &c. ΔΥΣῚ ΚΥΡΊΟΙΣ. God requires a whole heart and an undivided service. “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ,” Galatians 1:10. “Whosoever … will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God,” James 4:4. “Covetousness …... [ Continue Reading ]
DIVES AND LAZARUS: A PARABLE TO THE COVETOUS, PRECEDED BY REBUKES TO THE PHARISEES... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΙΛΆΡΓΥΡΟΙ. ‘Lovers of money,’ 2 Timothy 3:2. The charge is amply borne out by the references in the Talmud to the rapacity shewn by the Rabbis and Priests of the period. See Matthew 23:13. ἘΞΕΜΥΚΤΉΡΙΖΟΝ. _Kept scoffing at Him_. Comp. LXX[301] 2 Samuel 19:21; Psalms 2:4. The word is one expressive o... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝΏΠΙΟΝ ΤΩ͂Ν�. Luke 7:39; Luke 15:29; Matthew 23:25, &c. ΓΙΝΏΣΚΕΙ ΤᾺΣ ΚΑΡΔΊΑΣ. Hence God is called καρδιογνώστης in Acts 15:8; and “in thy sight shall no man living be justified,” Psalms 143:2. There is perhaps a reference to 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Chronicles 28:9. ὙΨΗΛΌΝ. ‘Lofty.’ ΒΔΈΛΥΓΜΑ. Their ‘deri... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΈΧΡΙ ἸΩΆΝΝΟΥ. This is one of our Lord’s clearest intimations that the aeon of the Law and the Prophets was now merging into a new dispensation, since they were only “a shadow of things to come,” Colossians 2:17. ΕἸΣ ΑΥ̓ΤῊΝ ΒΙΆΖΕΤΑΙ. The phrase is classical. Thuc. I. 63, VII. 69. It implies ‘is maki... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΊΑΝ ΚΕΡΑΊΑΝ. The tip or horn of a letter, such as that which distinguishes ב from כ or ה from ח. Thus the Jews said that the letter Yod prostrated itself before God, because Solomon had taken it from the law (in the word _Nashim_) by marrying many wives, and God made this same answer to them. Simil... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ�. At first sight this verse (which also occurs with an important limitation in Matthew 5:32) appears so loosely connected with the former as to lead the Dutch theologian Van der Palm to suppose that St Luke was merely utilising a spare fragment on the page by inserting isolated words of Christ. Bu... [ Continue Reading ]
ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ ΔΈ ΤΙΣ. He is left nameless, perhaps to imply that _his_ name was not “written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). Legend gives him the name _Nimeusis_ or _Nineues_. ‘Dives’ is simply the Latin for ‘a rich man.’ Our Lord in the parable continues the subject of His discourse against the Pharisees, by s... [ Continue Reading ]
ΛΆΖΑΡΟΣ. Lazarus is not from _lo ezer_, ‘no help,’ i.e. ‘forsaken,’ but from _Elî ezer_, ‘helped of God,’ _Gotthilf_. It is contracted from the commoner Eleazar. This is the only parable in which a proper name occurs; and the only miracles of which the recipients are named are, Mary Magdalene, Jairu... [ Continue Reading ]
21. The words ψιχίων τῶν are omitted with אBL. 21. ἈΠῸ ΤΩ͂Ν ΠΙΠΤΌΝΤΩΝ. ‘_From the things that fell_.’ The word ψιχίων in some MSS. is a reminiscence of Matthew 15:27. The clause καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐδίδου αὐτῷ in some MSS. is a gloss from Luke 15:16. It is not said that such fragments were refused him. ΟἹ... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ΤῸΝ ΚΌΛΠΟΝ ἈΒΡΑΆΜ. Comp. Luke 13:28. This expression is used as a picture for the banquet of Paradise (comp. Numbers 11:12; John 1:18; John 13:23, and Ps. Josephus, _De Maccab._ 13). ἈΠΈΘΑΝΕΝ ΔΈ. “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave,” Job 21:13. ΚΑῚ ἘΤΆΦΗ. Not... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΤΩ͂Ι ἍΙΔΗΙ. ‘In Hades.’ See Luke 10:15. Hades, which is represented as containing both Paradise and Gehenna, and is merely the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew _Sheol_, ‘the grave,’ is _the intermediate condition of the dead between death and the final judgment_. The scene on earth is contrasted wi... [ Continue Reading ]
ὝΔΑΤΟΣ. The partitive genitive—‘in _some_ water.’ But he who refused the crumbs is denied the drops. ὈΔΥΝΩ͂ΜΑΙ. ‘I am suffering pain.’ The verb is not βασανίζομαι. See Luke 2:48, where ὀδυνῶμαι is rendered ‘sorrowing.’ ἘΝ ΤΗ͂Ι ΦΛΟΓῚ ΤΑΎΤΗ. Perhaps meant to indicate the agony of remorseful memories... [ Continue Reading ]
ὯΔΕ. The ὅδε of the Rec[293] is a correction or a clerical error. [293] Rec. The Textus Receptus. 25. ΤΈΚΝΟΝ. ‘Child.’ Even in the punishment of Hades he is addressed by a word of tenderness (Luke 15:31; Luke 19:9). ἈΠΈΛΑΒΕΣ. ‘Receivedst to the full.’ Comp. ἀπέχειν, Luke 6:24. ΤᾺ�. The “good thin... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΆΣΜΑ ΜΈΓΑ ἘΣΤΉΡΙΚΤΑΙ. This, as Meyer says, is the argument _ex impossibili_ after the argument _ex aequo. Change of place_ is not a possible way of producing _change of soul_. Dives while he still had the heart of Dives would have been in agony even in Abraham’s bosom. But 1 Peter 3:19-20 throws a... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ΤῸΝ ΟἾΚΟΝ ΤΟΥ͂ ΠΑΤΡΌΣ ΜΟΥ. It is difficult not to see in this request the dawn of a less selfish spirit in the rich man’s heart.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΈΝΤΕ�. If there be any special meaning in this detail, the clue to it is now lost. Some have seen in it a reference to the five sons of the High Priest Annas, all of whom succeeded to the Priesthood,—Eleazar, Jonathan, Theophilus, Matthias, and the younger Annas, besides his son-in-law Caiaphas. Bu... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΩΫΣΈΑ ΚΑῚ ΤΟῪΣ ΠΡΟΦΉΤΑΣ. See John 1:45; John 5:39; John 5:46.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΕΙΣΘΉΣΟΝΤΑΙ. “We are saved by faithful hearing, not by apparitions,” Bengel. This was most remarkably exemplified in the results which followed the raising of another Lazarus (John 12:10), and the resurrection of our Lord Himself (Matthew 28:11-13). Observe that the reply of Abraham (‘be persuaded,... [ Continue Reading ]