Luke 7:11,12

Luke 7:11-12. The Meeting.

The reading ἐν τῷ ἑξῆς (χρόνῳ), in the following time, does not connect this narrative so closely with the preceding as the reading ἐν τῇἑξῆς (ἡμέρᾳ), the following day. This is a reason for preferring the former; it is only natural that the more precise should be substituted for the less definite connection. Robinson found a hamlet named Neïn to the south-west of Capernaum, at the northern foot of the little Hermon. It is in this locality, moreover, that Eusebius and Jerome place the city of Nain. Jesus would only have to make a day's journey to reach it from Capernaum. Josephus (Bell. Jude 1:4; Jude 1:4.9. 4) mentions a city of Nain, situated on the other side of Jordan, in the south part of the Peraea; and Kostlin, relying on the expressions in Luke 7:17, applied this name to this town in the immediate neighbourhood of Judaea, and thought that Luke's narrative must have come from a Judaean source. But we shall see that Luke 7:17 may be explained without having recourse to this supposition, which is not very natural.

The καὶ ἰδού, and behold, expresses something striking in the unexpected meeting of the two processions, the train which accompanied the Prince of Life, and that which followed the victim of death. This seems to be expressed also by the relation of ἱκανοί in Luke 7:11 to ἱκανός in Luke 7:12. The first of these words has been omitted by many MSS., because the expression: his disciples, appeared to refer to the apostles alone.

At Luke 7:12 the construction is Aramaean. The dative τῇ μητρί expresses all the tenderness of the relationship which had just been severed.