‏ Luke 17:11-37

Verse 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, Lu 9:51, 52. All who went from Galilee to Jerusalem must have necessarily passed through Samaria, unless they had gone to the westward, a very great way about. Therefore John tells us, Joh 4:4, that when Jesus left Judea to go into Galilee, it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria; for this plain reason, because it was the only proper road. "It is likely that our Lord set out from Capernaum, traversed the remaining villages of Galilee as far as Samaria, and then passed through the small country of Samaria, preaching and teaching every where, and curing the diseased, as usual." Calmet.

Verse 12. Ten-lepers] Concerning the leprosy see the note on Mt 8:2; and on Le 13:1, &c. and Le 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 Le 13:46; Nu 5:2; 2Ki 15:5.

Verse 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 should be strong and earnest, when the disease is great and inveterate. Sin is the worst of all leprosies; it not only separates those to whom it cleaves from the righteous, but it separates them from God; and nothing but the pitying heart and powerful hand of Christ Jesus can set any soul free from it.

Verse 14. Show yourselves unto the priests.] According to the direction, Le 13:2, &c.; Le 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 which those only were required by the law to do who were already healed.

And-as they went] In this spirit of implicit faith; they were cleansed. God highly honours this kind of faith, and makes it the instrument in his hand of working many miracles. He who will not believe till he receives what he calls a reason for it, is never likely to get his soul saved. The highest, the most sovereign reason, that can be given for believing, is that God has commanded it.

Verse 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.

Verse 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.

Verse 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! art thou of this number?

Verse 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 will love much, Lu 7:47.

Verse 19. Thy faith hath made thee whole.] Thy faith hath been the means of receiving that influence by which thou hast been cleansed.

Verse 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 come in such a way as to be discerned only by sagacious critics, or is only to be seen by those who are scrupulously watching for it; it is not of such a nature as to be confined to one place, so that men might say of it, Behold it is only here, or only there: for this kingdom of God is publicly revealed; and behold it is among you; I proclaim it publicly, and work those miracles which prove the kingdom of God is come; and none of these things are done in a corner."

Dr. Lightfoot has well observed that there are two senses especially in which the phrase "kingdom of heaven," is to be understood. 1. The promulgation and establishment of the Christian religion. 2. The total overthrow of the Jewish polity. The Jews imagined that when the Messiah should come he would destroy the Gentiles, and reign gloriously over the Jews: the very reverse of this, our Lord intimates, should be the case. He was about to destroy the whole Jewish polity, and reign gloriously among the Gentiles. Hence he mentions the case of the general deluge, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. As if he had said: "The coming of this kingdom shall be as fatal to you as the deluge was to the old world, and as the fire and brimstone from heaven were to Sodom and Gomorrah." Our Lord states that this kingdom of heaven was within them, i.e. that they themselves should be the scene of these desolations, as, through their disobedience and rebellion, they possessed the seeds of these judgments. See Clarke on Mt 3:2.

Verse 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, 2Ch 23:1-11.

Verse 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. When he says, Ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, he either means, ye of this nation, ye Jews, and addresses his disciples as if they should bear witness to the truth of the declaration; intimating that heavy calamities were about to fall upon them, and that they should desire in vain to have those opportunities of returning to God which now they rejected; or, he means that such should the distressed state of this people be, that the disciples would through pity and tenderness desire the removal of those punishments from them, which could not be removed because the cup of their iniquity was full. But the former is more likely to be the sense of the place.

Verse 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. See Clarke on Mt 24:23.

Verse 24. As the lightning, that lighteneth] See this particularly explained, Mt 24:27, 28.

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.

Verse 26. As it was in the days of Noe] See Clarke on Mt 24:38.

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 God.

Verse 29. It rained fire and brimstone] Instead of it rained, Ge 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.

Verse 31. He which shall be upon the housetop] See this explained on Mt 24:17.

Verse 32. Remember Lot's wife.] Relinquish every thing, rather than lose your souls. She looked back, Ge 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 own folly and sin. It is a proof that we have loved with a criminal affection that which we leave with grief and anxiety, though commanded by the Lord to abandon it.

Verse 33. Whosoever shall seek to save his life] These or similar words were spoken on another occasion. See on Mt 10:39; 16:25, 26.

Verse 34. - 36. On the subject of these verses see Mt 24:40, 41. The 36th verse Lu 17:36 is, without doubt, an interpolation; see the margin. It was probably borrowed from Mt 24:40. The whole verse is wanting in-ABEGHKLQS, more than fifty others, the Coptic, AEthiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, and many of the fathers: Griesbach has left it out of the text. Well might our translators say in the margin, This 36th verse is wanting in most of the Greek copies. Griesbach thinks it might have been omitted on account of the similar ending, (see the preceding verse,) or that it was borrowed from Mt 24:40.

Verse 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. See Clarke on Mt 24:28.

Thither will the eagles (or vultures) be gathered together. The jackal or chakal is a devourer of dead bodies; and the vulture is not less so: it is very remarkable how suddenly these birds appear after the death of an animal in the open field, though a single one may not have been seen on the spot for a long period before. The following chapter seems to be a continuation of this discourse: at least it is likely they were spoken on the same occasion. Both contain truths which the reader should carefully ponder, and receive in the spirit of prayer and faith, that he may not come into the same condemnation into which these have fallen.

‏ Luke 18:1-14

CHAPTER XVIII.

The parable of the importunate widow, 1-8.

Of the Pharisee and the publican, 9-14.

Infants brought to Christ, 15-17.

The ruler who wished to know how he might inherit eternal life,

18-23.

Our Lord's reflections on his case, 24-27.

What they shall receive who follow Christ, 28-30.

He foretells his approaching passion and death, 31-34.

He restores a blind man to sight at Jericho, 35-43.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVIII.

Verse 1. Men ought always to pray] Therefore the plain meaning and moral of the parable are evident; viz. that as afflictions and desolations were coming on the land, and they should have need of much patience and continual fortitude, and the constant influence and protection of the Almighty, therefore they should be instant in prayer. It states, farther, that men should never cease praying for that the necessity of which God has given them to feel, till they receive a full answer to their prayers. No other meaning need be searched for in this parable: St. Luke, who perfectly knew his Master's meaning, has explained it as above.

Verse 2. A judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man] It is no wonder that our Lord calls this person an unrighteous judge, Lu 18:6. No person is worthy to be put in the sacred office of a judge who does not deeply fear God, and tenderly respect his fellow creatures. Because this person feared not God, he paid no attention to the calls of justice; and because he respected not man, he was unmoved at the complaint of the widow. Even among the heathens this was the character of a man totally abandoned to all evil. So Dion Cassius says of Vitellius, that he neither regarded gods nor men-ουτετωνανθρωπωνουτετωνθεωνεφροντιζεν.

Verse 3. Avenge me of mine adversary.] The original, εκδικησον μεαποτουαντιδικουμου, had better be translated, Do me justice against, or vindicate me from, my adversary. If the woman had come to get revenge, as our common translation intimates, I think our blessed Lord would never have permitted her to have the honour of a place in the sacred records. She desired to have justice, and that only; and by her importunity she got that which the unrighteous judge had no inclination to give, but merely for his own ease.

Verse 4. He said within himself] How many actions which appear good have neither the love of God, nor that of our neighbour, but only self-love of the basest kind, for their principle and motive!

Verse 5. She weary me.] υπωπιαζημε, Stun me. A metaphor taken from boxers, who bruise each other, and by beating each other about the face blacken the eyes. See 1Co 9:27.

Verse 6. Hear what the unjust judge saith.] Our blessed Lord intimates that we should reason thus with ourselves: "If a person of such an infamous character as this judge was could yield to the pressing and continual solicitations of a poor widow, for whom he felt nothing but contempt, how much more ready must God be, who is infinitely good and merciful, and who loves his creatures in the tenderest manner, to give his utmost salvation to all them who diligently seek it!"

Verse 7. And shall not God avenge his own elect] And will not God the righteous Judge do justice for his chosen? Probably this may refer to the cruel usage which his disciples had met with, and were still receiving, from the disobedient and unbelieving Jews; and which should be finally visited upon them in the destruction of their city, and the calamities which should follow. But we may consider the text as having a more extensive meaning. As God has graciously promised to give salvation to every soul that comes unto him through his Son, and has put his Spirit in their hearts, inducing them to cry unto him incessantly for it; the goodness of his nature and the promise of his grace bind him to hear the prayers they offer unto him, and to grant them all that salvation which he has led them by his promise and Spirit to request.

Which cry day and night unto him, &c.] This is a genuine characteristic of the true elect or disciples of Christ. They feel they have neither light, power, nor goodness, but as they receive them from him; and, as he is the desire of their soul, they incessantly seek that they may be upheld and saved by him.

Though he bear long with them?] Rather, and HE is compassionate towards THEM, and consequently not at all like to the unrighteous judge. Instead of μακροθυμων, and be long-suffering, as in our translation, I read μακροθυμει, he is compassionate, which reading is supported by ABDLQ, and several others. The reason which our Lord gives for the success of his chosen, is, 1. They cry unto him day and night. 2. HE is compassionate towards THEM. In consequence of the first, they might expect justice even from an unrighteous judge; and, in consequence of the second, they are sure of salvation, because they ask it from that God who is towards them a Father of eternal love and compassion. There was little reason to expect justice from the unrighteous judge. 1. Because he was unrighteous; and 2. Because he had no respect for man: no, not even for a poor desolate widow. But there is all the reason under heaven to expect mercy from God: 1. Because he is righteous, and he has promised it; and 2. Because he is compassionate towards his creatures; being ever prone to give more than the most enlarged heart can request of him.

Every reader must perceive that the common translation is so embarrassed as to be almost unintelligible; while that in this note, from the above authorities, is as plain as possible, and shows this beautiful parable to be one of the most invaluable pieces in the word of God.

Verse 8. He will avenge them speedily.] Or, He will do them justice speedily-ενταχει, instantly, in a trice. 1. Because he has promised it; and 2. Because he is inclined to do it.

When the Son of man cometh] To require the produce of the seed of the kingdom sown among this people.

Shall he find faith on the earth?] Or rather, Shall he find fidelity in this land? Shall he find that the soil has brought forth a harvest proportioned to the culture bestowed on it? No! And therefore he destroyed that land.

Verse 9. Despised] εξουθενουντας, Disdained, made nothing of others, treated them with sovereign contempt. Our Lord grants that the Pharisees made clean the outside: but, alas! what pride, vain glory, and contempt for others, were lodged within!

Verse 10. A Pharisee] For a description of the Pharisees and their tenets, See Clarke on Mt 16:1.

Publican.] See an account of these on Mt 5:46. Both these persons went to the temple to pray, i.e. to worship God: they were probably both Jews, and felt themselves led by different motives to attend at the temple, at the hour of prayer: the one to return thanks for the mercies he had received; the other to implore that grace which alone could redeem him from his sins.

Verse 11. Stood and prayed thus with himself] Or, stood by himself and prayed, as some would translate the words. He probably supposed it disgraceful to appear to have any connection with this penitent publican: therefore his conduct seemed to say, "Stand by thyself; I am more holy than thou." He seems not only to have stood by himself, but also to have prayed by himself; neither associating in person nor in petitions with his poor guilty neighbour.

God, I thank thee, &c.] In Mt 5:20, our Lord says, Unless your righteousness abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God: see the note there. Now, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is described here by a Pharisee himself. We find it was twofold: 1. It consisted in doing no harm to others. 2. In attending all the ordinances of God, then established in the Jewish economy; and in these things they were not like other men, the bulk of the inhabitants of the land paying little or no attention to them. That the Pharisees were in their origin a pure and holy people can admit of little doubt; but that they had awfully degenerated before our Lord's time is sufficiently evident. They had lost the spirit of their institution, and retained nothing else than its external regulations. See Clarke on Mt 16:1.

1. This Pharisee did no harm to others-I am not rapacious, nor unjust, nor an adulterer. I seize no man's property through false pretences. I take the advantage of no man's ignorance in buying or selling. I avoid every species of uncleanness. In a word, I do to others as I wish them to do to me. How many of those called Christians are not half as good as this Pharisee! And, yet, he was far from the kingdom of God.

2. He observed the ordinances of religion-I fast twice in the week. The Jewish days of fasting, in each week, were the second and fifth; what we call Monday and Thursday. These were instituted in remembrance of Moses' going up to the mount to give the law, which they suppose to have been on the fifth day; and of his descent, after he had received the two tables, which they suppose was on the second day of the week.

Verse 12. I give tithes of all that I possess.] Or, of all I acquire, κτωμαι. Raphelius has well observed, that this verb, in the present tense, signifies to acquire-in the preter, to possess: the Pharisee's meaning seems to be, "As fast as I gain any thing, I give the tenth part of it to the house of God and to the poor." Those who dedicate a certain part of their earnings to the Lord should never let it rest with themselves, lest possession should produce covetousness. This was the Pharisee's righteousness, and the ground on which he builded his hope of final salvation. That the Pharisees had a strong opinion of their own righteousness, the following history will prove:-

"Rabbi Simeon, the son of Jochai, said: The whole world is not worth thirty righteous persons, such as our father Abraham. If there were only thirty righteous persons in the world, I and my son should make two of them; but if there were but twenty, I and my son would be of the number; and if there were but ten, I and my son would be of the number: and if there were but five, I and my son would be of the five; and if there were but two, I and my son would be those two; and if there were but one, myself should be that one." Bereshith Rabba, s. 35, fol. 34. This is a genuine specimen of Pharisaic pride. No wonder that our Lord accused these of pride and vain glory: they were far from humility, and consequently far from righteousness.

Verse 13. The publican, standing afar off] Not because he was a heathen, and dared not approach the holy place; (for it is likely he was a Jew;) but because he was a true penitent, and felt himself utterly unworthy to appear before God.

Would not lift up-his eyes] Holding down the head, with the eyes fixed upon the earth, was, 1. A sign of deep distress. 2. Of a consciousness and confession of guilt. And, 3. It was the very posture that the Jewish rabbins required in those who prayed to God. See Ezr 9:6; and Mishna, in Berachoth, chap. v.; and Kypke's note here. So the Pharisee appears to have forgotten one of his own precepts.

But smote upon his breast] Smiting the breast was a token of excessive grief, commonly practised in all nations. It seems to intimate a desire, in the penitent, to punish that heart through the evil propensities of which the sin deplored had been committed. It is still used among the Roman Catholics in their general confessions.

God be merciful to me] ιλασθητιμοι-Be propitious toward me through sacrifice-or, let an atonement be made for me. I am a sinner, and cannot be saved but in this way. The Greek word ιλασκω, or ιλασκομαι, often signifies to make expiation for sin; and is used by the Septuagint, Ps 65:4; 78:38; 79:9, for kipper, he made an atonement. So ιλασμος a propitiation, is used by the same, for chataah, a sacrifice for sin, Eze 44:27; and ιλαστηριον, the mercy seat, is, in the above version, the translation of kapporeth, the lid of the ark of the covenant, on and before which the blood of the expiatory victim was sprinkled, on the great day of atonement. The verb is used in exactly the same sense by the best Greek writers. The following from Herodotus, lib. i. p. 19, edit. Gale, is full in point. θυσιησιμεγαλησιτονενδελφοισιθεονιλασκετο, Croesus appeased, or made an atonement to, the Delphic god by immense sacrifices. We see then, at once, the reason why our blessed Lord said that the tax-gatherer went down to his house justified rather than the other:-he sought for mercy through an atonement for sin, which was the only way in which God had from the beginning purposed to save sinners. As the Pharisee depended on his doing no harm, and observing the ordinances of religion for his acceptance with God, according to the economy of grace and justice, he must be rejected: for as all had sinned and come short of the glory of God, and no man could make an atonement for his sins, so he who did not take refuge in that which God's mercy had provided must be excluded from the kingdom of heaven. This was no new doctrine: it was the doctrine publicly and solemnly preached by every sacrifice offered under the Jewish law. Without shedding of blood there is no remission, was the loud and constant cry of the whole Mosaic economy. From this we may see what it is to have a righteousness superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees. We must humble ourselves before God, which they did not: we must take refuge in the blood of the cross, which they would not; and be meek and humble of heart, which they were not.

Many suppose that the Pharisees thought they could acquire righteousness of themselves, independently of God, and that they did not depend on him for grace or power: but let us not make them worse than they were-for this is disclaimed by the Pharisee in the text, who attributes all the good he had to God: O God, I thank thee, that I am not as others-it is thou who hast made me to differ. But this was not sufficient: restraining grace must not be put in the place of the great atonement. Guilt he had contracted-and this guilt must be blotted out; and that there was no way of doing this, but through an atonement, the whole Jewish law declared. See Clarke on Mt 5:20.

Verse 14. Went doom to his house justified] His sin blotted out; and himself accepted.

Rather than the other] ηεκεινος: that is, the other was not accepted, because he exalted himself-he made use of the mercies which he acknowledged he owed to God, to make claims on the Divine approbation, and to monopolize the salvation of the Most High! He was abased, because he vainly trusted that he was righteous, and depended on what he had been enabled to do, and looked not for a change of heart, nor for reconciliation to God. It is a strange perversion of the human mind, to attempt to make God our debtor by the very blessings which his mere mercy has conferred upon us! It was a maxim among the Jews, that whoever brought a sacrifice to the temple returned justified. But our Lord shows that this depended on the state of mind-if they were not humbled under a sense of sin, they were not justified, though they had even offered a sacrifice.