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Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Luke 11

Luke 11:1

CHAPTER XI. _Christ teaches his disciples to pray_, 1-4. _Shows the necessity of importunity in prayer_, 5-13. _Casts out a dumb demon_, 14. _The Jews ascribe this to the power of Beelzebub; our Lord_ _vindicates his conduct_, 15-23. _Miserable state of the Jews_, 24-26. _Who they are that ar... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:4

Verse Luke 11:4. _LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION_, c.] Dr. Lightfoot believes that this petition is intended against the visible apparitions of the devil, and his actual obsessions he thinks that the meaning is too much softened by our translation. _Deliver_ _us from evil_, is certainly a very inadequa... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:6

Verse Luke 11:6. _IN HIS JOURNEY IS COME_] Or, perhaps more literally, _A_ _friend of mine is come to me out of his way_, εξ οδου, which renders the case more urgent-a friend of mine, benighted, belated, and who has lost his way, is come unto me. This was a strong reason why he should have prompt re... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:7

Verse Luke 11:7. _MY CHILDREN ARE WITH ME IN BED_] Or, _I and my children_ _are in bed_; this is Bishop PEARCE'S translation, and seems to some preferable to the common one. See a like form of speech in 1 Corinthians 16:11, and in Ephesians 3:18. However, we may conceive that he had his little child... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:9

Verse Luke 11:9. _AND_ (or, _therefore_) _I SAY UNTO YOU, ASK_] Be importunate with God, not so much to prevail on _him_ to save you, as to get yourselves brought into a proper disposition to receive that mercy which he is ever disposed to give. He who is not importunate for the salvation of his sou... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:12

Verse Luke 11:12. _OFFER HIM A SCORPION?_] σκορπιον. The Greek etymologists derive the name from σκορπιζειν τον ιον, _scattering_ _the poison_. But is there any _similitude_ between a _scorpion_ and an _egg_, that the one might be given and taken in _place_ of the other? We know there is the utmost... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:13

Verse Luke 11:13. _THE HOLY SPIRIT_] Or, as several MSS. have it, πνευμα αγαθον, _the good spirit_. Matthew 7:11, Matthew 7:11.... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:27

Verse 27. _A CERTAIN WOMAN - LIFTED UP HER VOICE, AND SAID_] It was very natural for a _woman_, who was probably a _mother_, to exclaim thus. She thought that the happiness of the woman who was mother to such a son was great indeed; but our blessed Lord shows her that even the holy virgin could not... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:31

Verse 31. _THE QUEEN OF THE SOUTH_, c.] Perhaps it would be better to translate, _A queen of the south, and the men of this _ _race, shall rise up in judgment_, c. Luke 11:7, Luke 11:7. The 32d verse Luke 11:32 may be read in the same way.... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:33

Verse 33. _NO MAN, WHEN HE HATH LIGHTED_, c.] Matthew 5:15, Matthew 5:15. Our Lord intimates, that if he worked a miracle among such an obstinate people, who were determined to disbelieve every evidence of his Messiahship, he should act as a man who lighted a candle and then covered it with a bushel... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:34

Verse Luke 11:34. The _LIGHT OF THE BODY IS THE EYE_] Or, _the eye is the_ _lamp of the body_. Matthew 6:22, c. The Luke 11:35 and Luke 11:36 verses are wanting in some MSS., and are variously read in others.... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:36

Verse Luke 11:36. _THE WHOLE SHALL BE FULL OF LIGHT_] Or, _altogether_ _enlightened_; i.e. when the eye is perfect, it enlightens the whole body. Every object within the reach of the eye is as completely seen as if there was an eye in every part. So the eye is to every part of the body what the lamp... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:37

Verse 37. _TO DINE_] οπως αριστηση. The word αριστειν dignifies the _first_ eating of the day. The Jews made but _two_ meals in the day; their αριστον may be called their _breakfast_ or their _dinner,_ because it was _both_, and was but a slight meal. Their chief meal was their δειπνον or supper, af... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:40

Verse 40. _DID NOT HE THAT MADE THAT WHICH IS WITHOUT_] Did not the maker of the dish form it so, both outwardly and inwardly, as to answer the purpose for which it was made? And can it answer this purpose without being clean in the inside as well as on the outside? God has made you such, both as to... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:41

Verse 41. _GIVE ALMS OF SUCH THINGS AS YE HAVE_] Meaning either what was within the _dishes_ spoken of before; or what was within their _houses_ or _power_: or what they had _at hand_, for so τα ενοντα is used by the purest Greek writers. Cease from _rapine_: far from spoiling the poor by wicked ex... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:43

Verse 43. _YE LOVE THE UPPERMOST SEATS_] Every one of them affected to be a _ruler_ in the synagogues. Matthew 23:5, Matthew 23:5.... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:44

Verse 44. _YE ARE AS GRAVES WHICH APPEAR NOT_] In Matthew 23:27, our Lord tells them that they _exactly resembled white-washed tombs_: they had no fairness but on the _outside_: (see the note there:) but here he says they are like _hidden tombs_, graves which were not distinguished by any outward de... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:45

Verse 45. _THOU REPROACHEST AS_] He alone who searches the heart could unmask these hypocrites; and he did it so effectually that their own consciences acknowledged the guilt, and _re-echoed_ their own reproach.... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:46

Verse 46. _YE LADE MEN WITH BURDENS_] By insisting on the observance of the traditions of the elders, to which it appears, by the way, they paid no great attention themselves. Matthew 23:4, Matthew 23:4.... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:48

Verse 48. _TRULY YE BEAR WITNESS_] Ye acknowledge that those of old who killed the prophets were your _fathers_, and ye are about to show, by your conduct towards me and my apostles, that ye are not _degenerated_, that _ye_ are as capable of murdering a prophet _now_, as _they_ were _of old_.... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:49

Verse 49. _THE WISDOM OF GOD_] These seem to be Luke's words, and to mean that Jesus, _the wisdom of God_, (as he is called, 1 Corinthians 1:24,) added the words which follow here, on that occasion: and this interpretation of the words is agreeable to that of Matthew, who makes Jesus speak in his ow... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:50

Verse Luke 11:50. _THAT THE BLOOD_] That the particle ινα may be translated _so that_, pointing out the _event_ only, not the _design_ or _intention_, Bishop Pearce has well shown in his note on this place, where he refers to a like use of the word in Luke 9:45; Luke 14:10; John 10:17; Romans 5:20;... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:51

Verse Luke 11:51. _FROM THE BLOOD OF ABEL_] See this subject explained at large on Matthew 23:34. _REQUIRED_] εκζητηθησεται may be translated either by the word _visited_ or _revenged_, and the latter word evidently conveys the meaning of our Lord. They are here represented as having this blood amo... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:52

Verse Luke 11:52. _YE HAVE TAKEN AWAY THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE_] By your traditions ye have taken away the true method of interpreting the prophecies: ye have given a wrong meaning to those scriptures which speak of the kingdom of the Messiah, and the people are thereby hindered from entering into it. M... [ Continue Reading ]

Luke 11:53

Verse Luke 11:53. _BEGAN TO URGE_ HIM _VEHEMENTLY_] δεινως ενεχειν, They _began to be furious_. They found themselves completely unmasked in the presence of a vast concourse of people. See Luke 12:1, (for we can not suppose that all this conversation passed while Christ was at meat in the Pharisee'... [ Continue Reading ]

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