CHAPTER 11. JESUS JUDGED BY AND JUDGING HIS CONTEMPORARIES. We are not to suppose any close connection in time between the events related in this chapter and the Galilean mission. The reverse is implied in the vague introductory statement, that when Jesus had completed His instructions to the Twelv... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅτε ἐτέλεσεν διατάσσων. The participle here with a verb signifying to cease as often with verbs signifying to begin, continue, persevere, etc., _vide_ Goodwin, § 879. ἐκεῖθεν, from that place, the place where the mission was given to the Twelve. Where that was we do not know; probably in some place... [ Continue Reading ]
δεσμωτηρίῳ (from δεσμόω, δεσμός, a bond), in prison in the fortress of Machærus by the Dead Sea (Joseph., Antiq., 18, 5, 2), a fact already alluded to in Matthew 4:12. By this time he has been a prisoner a good while, long enough to develop a _prison mood_. ἀκούσας : not so close a prisoner but that... [ Continue Reading ]
_Message from the Baptist_ (Luke 7:18-23).... [ Continue Reading ]
εἶπεν αὐτῷ, said to Jesus, by them, of course. Σὺ εἶ : the question a grave one and emphatically expressed: _Thou_, art Thou ὁ ἐρχόμενος ? Art Thou He whom I spoke of as the One coming after me when I was baptising in the Jordan (Matthew 3:11)? It is a question whether Jesus be indeed the _Christ_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπαγγείλατε Ι.: go back and report to _John_ for _his_ satisfaction. ἃ ἀκ. καὶ βλέπετε, what you are hearing and seeing, not so much at the moment, though Luke gives it that turn (Matthew 7:21), but habitually. They were not to tell their master anything new, but just what they had told him before.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Answer of Jesus_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναβλέπουσιν : used also in classics to express recovery of sight. κωφοὶ, here taken to mean _deaf_, though in Matthew 9:32-33, it means _dumb_, showing that the prophecy, Isaiah 35:5, is in the speaker's thoughts. πτωχοὶ : vague word, might mean literal poor (De W.) or spiritual poor, or the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
μακάριος (_vide_ Matthew 5:3), possessed of rare felicity. The word implies that those who, on some ground or other, did not stumble over Jesus were very few. Even John not among them! On σκανδαλίζω _vide ad._ Matthew 5:29. ἐν ἐμοί, in anything relating to my public ministry, as appearing inconsiste... [ Continue Reading ]
τούτων δὲ πορευομένων : while John's messengers were in the act of going, Jesus began at once, without any delay, to make a statement which He deemed necessary to prevent injurious inferences from the message of the Baptist, or the construction He had put on it as implying doubt regarding Himself. τ... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judgment of Jesus concerning the Baptist_ (Luke 7:24-30). Characteristically magnanimous, while letting it be seen that He is aware of John's limits and defects.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλλὰ assumes the negative answer to the previous question and elegantly connects with it the following = “No; well, then, did you, etc.?” ἐν μαλακοῖς, neuter, ἱματίοις not necessary: in precious garments of any material, silk, woollen, linen; the fine garments suggestive of refinement, luxury, effem... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλλὰ τί ἐξ.: one more question, shorter, abrupt, needing to be supplemented by another (Weiss-Meyer) why then, seriously, went ye out? προφήτην ἰδεῖν; to see a _Prophet_ ? ναί, yea l right at last; a prophet, indeed, with all that one expects in a prophet vigorous moral conviction, integrity, streng... [ Continue Reading ]
οὑτος … γέγραπται. The περισσότερον verified and explained by a prophetic citation. The oracle is taken from Malachi 3, altered so as to make the Messianic reference apparent μου changed into σου. By applying the oracle to John, Jesus identifies him with the messenger whom God was to send to prepare... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν. First Christ expresses His personal conviction in solemn terms. What follows refers to John's intrinsic worth, not to his historic position as the forerunner. The latter rests on the prophetic citation. Christ's aim now is to say that the Baptist's _character_ is equal to his _positi... [ Continue Reading ]
This is the further justification of the περισσ. desiderated.... [ Continue Reading ]
The statement just commented on had to be made in the interests of truth and the Kingdom of God, but having made it Jesus reverts with pleasure to a tone of eulogy. This verse has created much diversity of opinion, which it would take long to recount. I find in it two thoughts: one expressed, the ot... [ Continue Reading ]
Conclusion of speech about John.... [ Continue Reading ]
he thought here is hinted rather than fully expressed. It has been suggested that the sense would become clearer if Matthew 11:12-13 were made to change places (Maldonatus). This inversion might be justified by reference to Luke 16:16, where the two thoughts are given in the inverse order. Wendt (L.... [ Continue Reading ]
proverbial form of speech often used by Jesus after important utterances, here for the first time in Matt. The truth demanding attentive and intelligent ears (ears worth having; taking in the words and _their import_) is that John is Elijah. It implies much that the kingdom is here and the king, and... [ Continue Reading ]
τίνι ὁμοιώσω : the parable is introduced by a question, as if the thought had just struck Him. τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην. The occasion on which the words following were spoken would make it clear who were referred to. Our guide must be the words themselves. The subjects of remark are not the βιασταὶ of Matt... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judgment of Jesus on His religious contemporaries_ (Luke 7:31-35). It is advisable not to assume as a matter of course that these words were spoken at the same time as those going before. The discourse certainly appears continuous, and Luke gives this utterance in the same connection as our evangel... [ Continue Reading ]
he commentary on the parable showing that it was the reception given to John and Himself that suggested it. μήτε ἐσθ. μήτε πιν.: eating and drinking, the two parts of diet; not eating nor drinking = remarkably abstemious, ascetic, that his religious habit; μήτε not οὐτε, to express not merely the fa... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ υἱὸς τ. ἀ.: obviously Jesus here refers to Himself in third person where we might have expected the first. Again the now familiar title, defining itself as we go along by varied use, pointing Jesus out as an exceptional person, while avoiding all conventional terms to define the exceptional elemen... [ Continue Reading ]
τότε, _then_, cannot be pressed. Luke gives the following words in instructions to the Seventy. The real historical occasion is unknown. It may be a reminiscence from the preaching tour in the synagogues of Galilee (Matthew 4:23). The reflections were made after Jesus had visited many towns and wrou... [ Continue Reading ]
_Reflections by Jesus on the reception given to Him by the towns of Galilee_ (Luke 10:13-15).... [ Continue Reading ]
Χοραζίν, Βηθσαϊδάν : the former not again mentioned in Gospels, the latter seldom (_vide_ Mark 6:45; Mark 8:22; Luke 9:10), yet scenes of important evangelic incidents, probably connected with the synagogue ministry in Galilee (Matthew 4:23). The Gospels are brief records of a ministry crowded with... [ Continue Reading ]
πλὴν : contracted from πλέον = moreover, for the rest, to put the matter shortly; not adversative here, though sometimes so used.... [ Continue Reading ]
he diversity in the reading μὴ or ἡ ἕως, etc., does not affect the sense. In the one case the words addressed to Capernaum contain a statement of fact by Jesus; in the other a reference to a feeling prevailing in Capernaum in regard to the facts. The fact implied in cither case is distinction on som... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀποκριθείς, answering, not necessarily to anything said, but to some environment provocative of such thoughts. ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι (= הוֹדָה לְ, Psalms 75:2, etc.). In Matthew 3:6 this compound means to make full confession (of sin). Here it = to make frank acknowledgment of a situation in a spirit pa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus worshipping_ (Luke 10:21-22). It is usual to call this golden utterance a prayer, but it is at once prayer, praise, and self-communing in a devout spirit. The occasion is unknown. Matthew gives it in close connection with the complaint against the cities (ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ), but Luke sets it... [ Continue Reading ]
ναί reaffirms with solemn emphasis what might appear doubtful, _viz._, that Jesus was content with the state of matters (_vide_ Klotz, _Devar._, i. 140). _Cf._ Matthew 11:9. πατήρ : nominative for vocative. ὄτι, because, introducing the reason for this contentment. οὕτως, as the actual facts stand,... [ Continue Reading ]
πάντα, all things necessary for the realisation of the kingdom (Holtz., H.C.). The πάντα need not be restricted to the hiding and revealing functions (Weiss, Nösgen). Hiding, indeed, was no function of Christ's. He was always and only a revealer. For the present Jesus has only a few _babes_, but the... [ Continue Reading ]
Δεῦτε : _vide ad_ Matthew 4:19, again authoritative but kindly. κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, the fatigued and burdened. This is to be taken metaphorically. The kind of people Jesus expects to become “disciples indeed” are men who have sought long, earnestly, but in vain, for the _summum bonum_, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The gracious invitation_. Full of O. T. reminiscences, remarks Holtz., H.C., citing Isaiah 14:3; Isaiah 28:12; Isaiah 55:1-3; Jeremiah 6:16; Jeremiah 31:2; Jeremiah 31:25, and especially Sir 6:24-3; Sir 6:28-3; Sir 51:23-3. De Wette had long before referred to the last-mentioned passage, and Pfleid... [ Continue Reading ]
ζυγόν : current phrase to express the relation of a disciple to a master. The Rabbis spoke of the “yoke of the law”. Jesus uses their phrases while drawing men away from their influence. μάθετε ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ : not merely learn from my example (Buttmann, _Gram._, p. 324: _on_, that is, from the case of),... [ Continue Reading ]
χρηστός, kindly to wear. Christ's doctrine fits and satisfies our whole spiritual nature reason, heart, conscience, “the sweet reasonableness of Christ”. φορτίον, the burden of obligation. ἐλαφρόν : in one respect Christ's burden is the heaviest of all because His moral ideal is the highest. But jus... [ Continue Reading ]