Luke 7:1

32-36 Compare Mat_5:44-48.

35 We have here the substance of the new covenant which the Lord will make with Israel when He restores them to their land and to His favor (Jer_31:27-34). After those days, He says I put My law within them, And I wIll write It on their hearts. The second greatest commandment, to love your associate as yourself, never had more than a superficial and perfunctory observance. But Ezekiel declares that in that day He will give them a new heart and a new spirit, and will take away the stony heart and give them a heart of flesh (Eze_36:26). This is the essential basis of the kingdom in Israel. The law will not be enforced from without but by a vital power within. They will actually care for the welfare of others rather than their own. So long as each one is concerned for himself alone, the best that government can do is to restrain the resultant evil. This happy form of rule will not extend beyond the people of the covenant. The nations will be ruled with an iron club (Rev_19:15). Their obedience will not be from the heart but compulsory, so that, when Satan is loosed, they are ready to rebel against the most beneficent form of government the world has ever seen (Rev_20:7-10).

36 The principle underlying these precepts is quite applicable in this day of grace, but a literal fulfillment of the promises is out of the question. Indeed, grace goes far beyond the spirit of this passage, for it gives freely without the promise of a recompense.

37-38 Compare Mat_7:1-2; Pro_19:17; Jam_2:13.

38 The figure is very expressive to one who has seen grain measured in the East. By squeezing down, shaking together and piling high until it runs over, the quantity of grain in a given measure is vastly increased. Grain was carried in the loose folds of the bosom of their garments.

39 Compare Mat_15:14.

39 Besides its general application, the Lord undoubtedly referred especially to the religious leaders in Israel. On several occasions He characterized the scribes and Pharisees as blind guides (Mat_15:14; Mat_23:16; Mat_23:24). The light that was in them was darkness, hence it was very dense.

40 Compare Mat_10:24-25; Joh_12:36.

41-42 Compare Mat_7:3-5.

41 Even those who are not blind should distrust their own eyesight. We can all see the obstructions in the discernment of others. Heredity, environment, religious associations, all intrude into our perception of things divine. If each one were more anxious to discover his own defects, he would be more fitted to help others. But how shall we extract the beam in our own eye? By carefully comparing our conclusions with evidences of revelation. Too many of us stereotype "truth" rather than hold to the facts on which all truth depends. Truth that does not bear a microscopic comparison with the minutest fact of the inspired Scriptures has no right to the name. A careful presentation of all the facts in available form should be the most efficient of all aids to remove our prejudices and reveal the truth.

43-45 Compare Mat_7:16-20; Mat_12:33-37.

43 In the kingdom "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree" (Mic_4:4), The fig tree figures their righteous government, hence the prophet adds, "and none shall make them afraid", The vine portrays the gladness and joy that ensue. The nation of Israel will never produce figs or grapes so long as they are thorns and thorn bushes. Far less can the nations of the world who have not received the cultivation accorded the people of the covenant. Good government and happy homes come from the heart and cannot be imposed on the unregenerate by penal laws.

46-48 Compare Mat_7:21-25; Isa_26:3-4; Isa_28:16; 1Co_3:10-11.

46 This parable presents the permanent character of the kingdom. Its foundation is laid deep in the solid stratum of God's purpose rather than the insecure sand of human expedience. The superstructure may look safe, but the stress of political storms will wreck every state but the one which will displace them and have no end. So, also, are those who are allied with these ingdoms. Those who heard and obeyed Him built a house whose foundations would last for the eon. Those who do not obey are caught in the crash preceding the kingdom.

1-10 Compare Mat_8:5-13.