CHAPTER XVII. _Christ teaches the necessity of avoiding offences_, 1, 2. _How to treat an offending brother_, 3, 4. _The efficacy of faith_, 5, 6. _No man by his services or obedience can profit his Maker_, 7-10. _He cleanses ten lepers_, 11-19. _The Pharisees inquire when the kingdom of God s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:2. _A MILL-STONE_] That drowning a person with a stone tied about the neck was an ancient mode of punishment, see proved in the note on Matthew 18:6; Matthew 18:7, to which let the following be added. To have a _mill-stone hanged about the neck_, was a common proverb. "Samuel saith, A... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:3. _IF THY BROTHER TRESPASS_] See the notes on Matthew 18:21; Matthew 18:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:5. _INCREASE OUR FAITH._] This work of pardoning _every_ offence of _every_ man, and that _continually_, seemed so difficult, even to the _disciples_ themselves, that they saw, without an extraordinary degree of faith, they should never be able to keep this command. But some think that... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:6. _AS A GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED_] A faith that _increases_ and _thrives_ as that is described to do, Matthew 13:32, where see the note. See also Matthew 17:20. _THIS SYCAMINE_] The words seem to intimate that they were standing by such a tree. The _sycamine_ is probably the same as th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 7. - 9. _WHICH OF YOU, HAVING A SERVANT_] It is never supposed that the master waits on the servant -- the servant is bound to wait on his master, and to do every thing for him to the uttermost of his power: nor does the former expect _thanks_ for it, for he is _bound_ by his agreement to act... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:10. _WE ARE UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS_] This text has often been produced to prove that no man can live without committing sin against God. But let it be observed, the text says _unprofitable_ servants, not _sinful_ servants. If this text could be fairly construed to countenance _sinful i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:11. _HE PASSED THROUGH THE MIDST OF SAMARIA AND GALILEE_] He first went through Galilee, whence he set out on his journey; and then through Samaria, of which mention is made, Luke 9:51-42. All who went from Galilee to Jerusalem must have necessarily passed through Samaria, unless they... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:12. _TEN - LEPERS_] Concerning the leprosy see the note on Matthew 8:2; and on Leviticus 13:1, c. and Leviticus 14:1, c.. _WHICH STOOD AFAR OFF_] They kept at a distance, because forbidden by law and custom to come near to those who were sound, for fear of infecting them. See Leviticu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:13. _THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICES_] They cried with _one_ accord-they were all _equally_ necessitous, and there was but _one_ _voice_ among them all, though _ten_ were engaged in crying at the same time. As they were _companions_ in suffering, they were also companions in prayer. Prayer... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:14. _SHOW YOURSELVES UNTO THE PRIESTS._] According to the direction, Leviticus 13:2, c. Leviticus 14:2, c. Our Lord intended that their cure should be received by _faith_: they depended on his goodness and power and though they had no promise, yet they went at his command to do that wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:15. _ONE OF THEM, WHEN HE SAW THAT HE WAS HEALED_, c.] It seems that he did not wait to go first to the priest, but turned immediately back, and gave public praise to the kind hand from which he had received his cure.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:16. _HE WAS A SAMARITAN._] One who professed a very corrupt religion; and from whom much less was to be expected than from the other _nine_, who probably were _Jews_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:17. _WHERE ARE THE NINE?_] Where are the numbers that from time to time have been converted to God? Are they still found praising him, with their faces on the dust, as they did at first? Alas! how many are turned back to perdition! and how many are again mingled with the world! Reader!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:18. _THIS STRANGER._] Often God receives more praise and affectionate obedience from those who had long lived without his knowledge and fear, than from those who were bred up among his people, and who profess to be called by his name. The simple reason is, _Those who have MUCH forgiven... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:19. _THY FAITH HATH MADE THEE WHOLE._] Thy faith hath been the means of receiving that influence by which thou hast been cleansed.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:20. _COMETH NOT WITH OBSERVATION_] _With scrupulous_ _observation_. That this is the proper meaning of the original, μετα παρατηρησεως, KYPKE and others have amply proved from the best Greek writers. As if he had said: "The kingdom of God, the glorious religion of the Messiah, does not... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:21. _LO HERE! OR, LO THERE!_] Perhaps those Pharisees thought that the Messiah was kept secret, in some private place, known only to some of their rulers; and that by and by he should be proclaimed in a similar way to that in which _Joash_ was by Jehoiada the priest. See the account, 2... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:22. _WHEN YE SHALL DESIRE TO SEE ONE OF THE DAYS_] As it was our Lord's constant custom to support and comfort the minds of his disciples, we cannot suppose that he intimates here that _they_ shall be left destitute of those blessings necessary for their support in a day of trial. Whe... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:23. _AND THEY SHALL SAY_] Or, _And IF they shall say_. Two MSS., the _Syriac_ and _Armenian_, have εαν, IF. _SEE HERE_] KM, _sixteen_ others, and the later _Syriac_, have ο χριστος, _Behold the Christ is here_. This is undoubtedly the meaning of the place. Matthew 24:23, Matthew 24:23... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:24. _AS THE LIGHTNING, THAT LIGHTENETH_] See this particularly explained, Matthew 24:27.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _BUT FIRST MUST HE SUFFER MANY THINGS_] As the cup of the iniquity of this people shall not be full till they have finally rejected and crucified the Lord of life and glory, so this desolation cannot take place till after my death.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF NOE_] Matthew 24:38, Matthew 24:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _THEY DID EAT, THEY DRANK_, c.] They spent their whole lives in reference to this world and made no sort of provision for their immortal souls. So it was when the Romans came to destroy Judea; there was a universal carelessness, and no one seemed to regard the warnings given by the Son of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _IT RAINED FIRE AND BRIMSTONE_] Instead of _it_ rained, Genesis 19:24 justifies the insertion of the pronoun _he_, as implied in the verb εβρεξε; for it is there said that _Jehovah rained fire and brimstone from Jehovah out of heaven_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _HE WHICH SHALL BE UPON THE HOUSETOP_] See this explained on Matthew 24:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE._] Relinquish every thing, rather than lose your souls. _She looked back_, Genesis 19:26; probably she _turned back_ also to carry some of her goods away - for so much the preceding verse seems to intimate, and became a monument of the Divine displeasure, and of her ow... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:33. _WHOSOEVER SHALL SEEK TO SAVE HIS LIFE_] These or similar words were spoken on another occasion. See on Matthew 10:39; Matthew 16:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:34. On the subject of these verses see Matthew 24:40. The 36th verse Luke 17:36 is, without doubt, an interpolation; see the _margin_. It was probably borrowed from Matthew 24:40. The whole verse is wanting in - ABEGHKLQS, more than fifty others, the Coptic, AEthiopic, Gothic, Slavoni... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Luke 17:37. _WHERE, LORD?_] In what place shall all these dreadful evils fall? The answer our Lord gives in a figure, the application of which they are to make themselves. Where the _dead carcass is_, there will be the _birds of prey _- where the _sin_ is, there will the _punishment be_. Matth... [ Continue Reading ]