Luke 21:37-38

3. General View of the Situation: Luke 21:37-38.

The preceding discourse was delivered by Jesus on the Tuesday or Wednesday evening. Luke here characterizes our Lord's mode of living during the last days of His life. Αὐλίζεσθαι : to pass the night in the open air. The use of the εἰς arises from the idea of motion contained in ἐζερχόμενος (Bleek). 4 Mnn. place here, after Luke 21:38, the account of the woman taken in adultery, which in a large number of documents is found John 7:53 to John 8:11. We can only see in this piece, in Luke as well as in John, an interpolation doubtless owing to some marginal note taken by a copyist from the Gospel of the Hebrews, and which in some MSS. had found its way into the text of the Gospel. As to the rest, this narrative would stand much better in Luke than in John. It has a close bond of connection with the contents of chap. xx (the snares laid for Jesus). And an event of this kind may have actually occurred in the two or three days which are summarily described in Luke 21:37-38.