XIII. (1) THE GALILEEANS, WHOSE BLOOD PILATE HAD MINGLED WITH THEIR SACRIFICES. — The incident is not related by Josephus or any other historian, but it was quite in harmony with Pilate’s character. (See Note on Matthew 27:2.) We may fairly infer it to have originated in some outburst of zealous fa... [ Continue Reading ]
SUPPOSE YE THAT THESE GALILÆANS ...? — The tale had probably been told with a conviction, expressed or implied, that the massacre had been a special judgment for some special and exceptional guilt. Our Lord at once, here as in John 9:7, sweeps away all their rash interpretations of the divine govern... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON WHOM THE TOWER IN SILOAM FELL. — Here, again, we have a reference to an incident not recorded elsewhere. It was clearly one that had impressed the minds of men with horror, as a special judgment. At or near to Siloam, the modern _Birket-Silwan,_ is a swimming-pool, or tank (John 9:7), where the... [ Continue Reading ]
A CERTAIN MAN HAD A FIG TREE. — The parable stands obviously in very close connection with the foregoing teaching. The people had been warned of the danger of perishing, unless they repented. They are now taught that the forbearance and long-suffering of God are leading them to repentance. The sharp... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY CUMBERETH IT THE GROUND_?_ — The Greek verb means more than that the fig-tree was what we call a useless burden or incumbrance, and implies positive injury. It is commonly rendered by “bring to nought,” or some like phrase. (In 1 Corinthians 13:8 it is rendered “fail.”) This would seem, indeed,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DUNG IT. — Literally, _and put dung._ Homely as the imagery is, it suggests fertilising and gracious influences not less vividly than the dew or rain from heaven, and points, perhaps, specifically to such as are working on us in our earthly surroundings, as contrasted with the directly supernatu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF IT BEAR FRUIT. — Some of the better MSS. have, _if it bear fruit in the time to come_... With either reading the sentence is elliptical, and the insertion of “well,” as in the English, is needed to convey its meaning.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WAS TEACHING IN ONE OF THE SYNAGOGUES. — The narrative that follows is peculiar to St. Luke. The indefiniteness as to time and place indicate that it was probably one of the previously unrecorded traditions which he met with when he entered on his personal search for materials. This is in par... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THERE WAS A WOMAN.... — The description indicates the accuracy of the trained observer. The duration of the affliction (as in Acts 9:33), the symptoms of permanent curvature of the spine, the very form of the two participles, _bent together_.... _unable to unbend,_ are all characteristic. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
WOMAN, THOU ART LOOSED FROM THINE INFIRMITY. — Better, _thou hast been loosed_... The words were obviously a test of the woman’s faith. Would she, on hearing the words, make the effort to do what she had not done for eighteen years? The verb, it may be noted, is in the perfect. The work of healing w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE LAID HIS HANDS ON HER. — The bodily act was, as in the analogous cases of the blind and dumb (see Note on Matthew 9:29), a help to the faith which was necessary, on the woman’s part, that she might receive the full benefit of the divine act of power. When this was done, she poured forth her j... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE ANSWERED WITH INDIGNATION. — The traditional law for the work of the Jewish physician was that he might act in his calling in cases of emergency, life and death cases, but not in chronic diseases, such as this. This law the ruler of the synagogue wished to impose as a... [ Continue Reading ]
DOTH NOT EACH ONE OF YOU ...? — The principle is the same as that in Matthew 12:11 (where see Note), but the case is put in even a stronger form. There the illustration is drawn from what might seem an exceptional act for an exceptional emergency; here from the regular practice of men, where their o... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM SATAN HATH BOUND. — The words imply the belief that there was another source than mere bodily disease for the infirmity — in part, at least, the belief that all disease — or very many forms of it — is directly or indirectly traceable to the power of the Enemy. So St. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh”... [ Continue Reading ]
(18-21) THEN SAID HE, UNTO WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD LIKE? — See Notes on Matthew 13:31. The first impression with most readers, in the absence of any apparent trace of sequence, is that we have an isolated fragment of our Lord’s teaching, torn from the context in which we find it in St. Matthew. O... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WENT THROUGH THE CITIES AND VILLAGES, TEACHING, AND JOURNEYING. — Literally, _making a journey,_ as implying a circuit deliberately planned. This is apparently the continuation of the same journey as that of which Luke 9:51 recorded the beginning. There seems reason to believe, as stated in t... [ Continue Reading ]
ARE THERE FEW THAT BE SAVED? — More accurately, _that are being saved,_ or, _that are in the way of salvation._ The Greek participle is present, not perfect, and this sense should be borne in mind both here and in 2 Corinthians 2:15 — still more so, perhaps, in Acts 2:47, where the English version g... [ Continue Reading ]
STRIVE TO ENTER IN AT THE STRAIT GATE. — See Notes on Matthew 7:13. Another instance of general teaching adapted to a special occasion. We note, however, the variation, “strive to enter in” — i.e., struggle as the wrestler struggles (the word being the same as that in 1 Corinthians 9:25; 1 Timothy 6... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN ONCE THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE... — The passage contains elements that are common at once to Matthew 7:22; Matthew 25:10, where see Notes.... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE EATEN AND DRUNK... — Better, _we ate and drank_..., and _Thou didst teach._ The words differ slightly from those in Matthew 7:22, which put higher claims into the mouths of the speakers, “Did we not prophecy in Thy name...?” They are, _i.e.,_ the representatives of those who hold office in t... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH. — See Notes on Matthew 8:11; but notice, as an interesting variation, the addition of the “prophets” to the names of the three patriarchs.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND, BEHOLD, THERE ARE LAST... — See Note on Matthew 19:30. In point of time, it may be noticed, this is the first utterance of the great law that God’s judgment reverses man’s. When it was uttered in reference to the young ruler, it was but a fresh application of the wider law. Here the application... [ Continue Reading ]
HEROD WILL KILL THEE. — This is the only intimation of such a purpose, and it is, of course, a question whether the Pharisees reported what they actually knew, out of feelings more or less friendly to our Lord, or invented a false tale in order that _they_ might get rid of His presence among them, o... [ Continue Reading ]
GO YE, AND TELL THAT FOX... — The word was eminently descriptive of the character both of the Tetrarch individually, and of the whole Herodian house. The fact that the Greek word for “fox” is always used as a feminine, gives, perhaps, a special touch of indignant force to the original. He had so ide... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS I MUST WALK. — Better, _I must journey,_ or, _I must go onward,_ the word being that used in Luke 9:51; Luke 9:53. The words indicate the intensity of conviction and of purpose as that expressed before. I cannot bring myself to accept the words that follow — “to-day and to-morrow...” —... [ Continue Reading ]
O JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM, WHICH KILLEST THE PROPHETS. — See Notes on Matthew 23:37. Here, as in other like cases, we have to choose between the alternatives of the words having been spoken on two different though similar occasions, or of one of the Evangelists misplacing the words which were actually... [ Continue Reading ]