Luke 11
MCGARLuke 11:1-13
(Probably Judæa.) L 1-13. [Jesus had already taught his disciples how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount. This disciple probably thought that the prayer already taught was too brief to be sufficient, especially as Jesus often prayed so long. It was customary for the rabbis to give their disciples forms of prayer, and the Baptist seems to have followed this practice, though the prayer taught by him appears soon to have been forgotten.] [The form given by Matthew is fuller [479] than this. See , , , .] [The substance of this passage is recorded by Matthew as a portion of the Sermon on the Mount. See is peculiar to Luke, and in , Matthew has “good things” where Luke has “Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the best of all gifts, being as necessary to the soul as food to the body. The scorpion is an insect somewhat similar to a small lobster.
It is two or three inches long, and has a sting at the end of its tail which is about as severe as that of a wasp. The old commentators tell us that the white scorpion, when rolled up, closely resembled an egg.] [481] [FFG 479-481]
Luke 11:14-23
(Galilee.) M 22-37; M 19-30; L 14-23. [Whose house is not stated.] [as on a previous occasion– ] [They could not sit down to a regular meal. A wonderful picture of the intense importunity of people and the corresponding eagerness of Jesus, who was as willing to do as they were to have done.] [These friends were his brothers and his mother, as appears from , . They probably came from Nazareth. To understand their feelings, we must bear in mind their want of [298] faith. See . They regarded Jesus as carried away by his religious enthusiasm , and thought that he acted with reckless regard for his personal safety.
They foresaw the conflict with the military authorities and the religious leaders into which the present course of Jesus was leading, and were satisfied that the case called for their interference. Despite her knowledge as to Jesus, Mary sympathized with her sons in this movement, and feared for the safety of Jesus.] [The man was brought because he could not come alone.
While Luke does not mention the blindness, the similarity of the narratives makes it most likely that he is describing the same circumstances as Matthew and Mark, so we have combined the three accounts.] [It was a time for amazement, for Jesus had performed a triple if not a quadruple miracle, restoring liberty, hearing and sight, and granting the power of speech. It wakened the hope that Jesus might be the Messiah, the son of David, but their hope is expressed in the most cautious manner, not only being stated as a question, but as a question which expects a negative answer. The question, however, was well calculated to arouse the envious opposition of the Pharisees.] [that is, some of the multitude. Who these “some” were is revealed by Matthew and Mark, thus:] [Beelzebub is a corruption of Baalzebub, There was a tendency among the heathen to name [299] their gods after the pests which they were supposed to avert. Thus Zeus was called (Averter of flies), and Apollo (Slayer of vermin). How Beelzebub became identified with Satan in the Jewish mind is not known.
In opposing the influence of Jesus and corrupting the public mind, these Pharisees showed a cunning worthy of the cultivated atmosphere, the seat of learning whence they came. Being unable to deny that a miracle was wrought (for Celsus in the second century is the first recorded person who had the temerity to do such a thing), they sought to so explain it as to reverse its potency, making it an evidence of diabolical rather than divine power.
Their explanation was cleverly plausible, for there were at least two powers by which demons might be cast out, as both were invisible, it might appear impossible to decide whether it was done in this instance by the power of God or of Satan. It was an explanation very difficult to disprove, and Jesus himself considered it worthy of the very thorough reply which follows.] [These probably felt that the criticisms of the Pharisees were unjust, and wished that Jesus might put them to silence by showing some great sign, such as the pillar of cloud which sanctioned the guidance of Moses, or the descending fire which vindicated Elijah.] [thus singling out his accusers] [We shall find that Jesus later replied to those who sought a sign. He here answers his accusers in a fourfold argument. First argument:] [family] [300] [The explanation given by the Pharisees represented Satan as divided against himself; robbing himself of his greatest achievement; namely, his triumph over the souls and bodies of men. Jesus argues, not that Satan not do this, but that he not, and that therefore the explanation which supposes him to do it is absurd. We should note that Jesus here definitely recognizes two important truths: 1.
That the powers of evil are organized into a kingdom with a head . 2. That division tends to destruction.
His argument therefore, “constitutes an incidental but strong argument against sectarianism. See " . Second argument:] [The sons of the Pharisees were not their children, but their disciples . Josephus mentions these exorcists (Ant. viii. 2, 5, and Wars vii. 6, 3), and there is abundant mention of them in later rabbinical books. Our Lord’s reference to them was merely for the purpose of presenting an and in no way implies that they exercised any power over the demons; nor could they have done so in any marked degree, else the similar work of Christ would not have created such an astonishment. The argument therefore is this, I have already shown you that it is against that Satan cast out Satan; I now show you that it is against The only instances of dispossession which you can cite are those of your own disciples.
Do they act by the power of Satan? They therefore shall be your judges as to whether you have spoken rightly in saying that Satan casts out Satan.
Third argument:] [The finger of God signifies the power of God [301] . [Jesus exercised this power in unison with the Spirit of God. Jesus here draws a conclusion from the two arguments presented. Since he does not cast out by Satan, he must cast out by the power of God, and therefore his actions demonstrated the potential arrival of the kingdom of God. The occasional accidental deliverance of exorcists might be evidence of the flow and ebb of a spiritual battle, but the steady, daily conquests of Christ over the powers of evil presented to the people the triumphant progress of an invading kingdom. It is an argument against the idea that there was a collusion between Christ and Satan. Fourth argument:] [Satan is the strong man, his house the body of the demoniac, and his goods the evil spirit within the man.
Jesus had entered his house, and robbed him of his goods; and this proved that, instead of being in league with Satan, he had overpowered Satan. Thus Jesus put to shame the Pharisees, and caused the divinity of his miracle to stand out in clearer light than ever.
The power of Jesus to dispossess the demon was one of his most convincing credentials, and its meaning now stood forth in its true light.] [Jesus here addresses the bystanders. In the spiritual conflict between Jesus and Satan, neutrality is impossible. There are only two kingdoms, and every soul is either in one or the other, for there is no third. Hence one who fought Satan in the name of Christ was for Christ . In the figure of gathering and scattering, the people are compared to a flock of sheep which Jesus would gather into the fold, but which Satan and all who aid him (such as the Pharisees) would [302] scatter and destroy.] [Jesus here explains to the Pharisees the awful meaning of their enmity. Blasphemy is any kind of injurious speech.
It is the worst form of sin, as we see by this passage. This does not declare that every man shall be forgiven all his sins, but that all kinds of sin committed by various men shall be forgiven.
The forgiveness is universal as to the sin, not as to the men] [Blasphemy against the Son may be a temporary sin, for the one who commits it may be subsequently convinced of his error by the testimony of the Holy Spirit and become a believer . But blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is in its nature an eternal sin, for if one rejects the evidence given by the Holy Spirit and ascribes it to Satan, he rejects the only evidence upon which faith can be based; and without faith there is no forgiveness. The difference in the two sins is therefore in no way due to any difference in the Son and Spirit The punishment is naturally eternal because the sin is perpetual. The mention of the two worlds is, “just an extended way of saying ’never’” . Some assert that the Jews would not know what Jesus meant by the Holy Spirit, but the point is not so well taken. See , , , ; , , , .
We see by Mark’s statement that blasphemy against the Spirit consisted in saying that Jesus had an unclean spirit, that his works were due to Satanic influence, and hence wrought to [303] accomplish Satanic ends. We can not call God Satan, nor the Holy Spirit a demon, until our state of sin has passed beyond all hope of reform.
One can not confound the two kingdoms of good and evil unless he does so maliciously and willfully.] [The meaning and connection are: “Be honest for once; represent the tree as good, and its fruit as good, or the tree as evil, and its fruit as evil; either say that I am evil, and that my works are evil, or, if you admit that my works are good, admit that I am good also and not in league with Beelzebub”–] [Realizing the hopelessness of this attempt to get an honest judgment out of dishonest hearts, Jesus plainly informs them as to the condition of their hearts. Their very souls were full of poison like vipers. Their sin lay not in their words, but in a condition of heart which made such words possible. The heart being as it was, the words could not be otherwise. “What is in the well will be in the bucket”–] [We have here a summary of the contrast given in the , . The good heart of Jesus brought forth its goodness, as the evil hearts of the Pharisees brought forth their evil.] [It may have seemed to some that Jesus denounced too severely a saying which the Pharisees had hastily and lightly uttered. But it is the word inconsiderately spoken which betrays the true state of the heart.
The hypocrite can talk like an angel if he be put on notice that his words are heard. Jesus here makes the basis of the judgment of God.
Elsewhere [304] we find it is , and again we find it is faith . There is no confusion here. The judgment in its finality must be based upon our Our faith forms our character, and our words and works are indices by which we may determine what manner of character it is.] [FFG 298-305]
Luke 11:24-36
(Galilee on the same day as the last section.) M 38-45; L 24-36. [Having been severely rebuked by Jesus, it is likely that the scribes and Pharisees asked for a sign that they might appear to the multitude more fair-minded and open to conviction than Jesus had represented them to be. Jesus had just wrought a miracle, so that their request shows that they wanted something different. We learn from Mark that they wanted a sign, not coming from him, but from heaven, such a sign as other prophets and leaders had given . “In Jewish superstition it was held that demons and false gods could give signs but only the true God signs " . The request was the renewal of the one which had assailed him at the beginning of his ministry , and re-echoed the wilderness temptation to advance himself by vulgar display rather than by the power of a life of divine holiness.] [305] [While the Jews of that generation could well be accused literally of adultery, Jesus here evidently uses it in its symbolic sense as used by the prophets. They represented Israel as being married to God and as being untrue to him– , , ] [They did not accept miracles of healing as a sign, and only one other kind of sign was given; viz.: that of Jonah. Jonah was shown to be a true prophet of God, and Nineveh received him as such because he was rescued from the fish’s belly, and Jesus was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead– ] [Jesus was one full day, two full nights, and parts of two other days in the grave.
But, as the Jews reckoned a part of a day as a whole day when it occurred at the beginning or end of a series, he was correctly spoken of as being three days in the grave. The Jews had three phrases, viz.: “on the third day,” “after three days,” and “three days and three nights,” which all meant the same thing; that is, three days, two of which might be fractional days.
With them three full days and nights would be counted as four days unless the count began at sundown, the exact beginning of a day . For instances of Jewish computation of days, see , , , , , , , . The Greek word here translated “whale” is “sea monster.” It is called in Jonah “a great fish” . Because of the supposed smallness of the whale’s throat, many think that it was the white shark, which is still plentiful in the Mediterranean, and which sometimes measures sixty feet in length, and is large enough to swallow a man whole. But it is now a well-established fact that whales can swallow a man, and there are many instances of such swallowings on record. The expression “heart of the earth” does not mean its center.
The Jews used the word “heart” to denote the interior of anything . The phrase is here [306] used as one which would emphatically indicate the actual burial of Christ.] [Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, situated on the Tigris River, and in its day the greatest city of the world.
Jonah’s preservation was a sign from heaven, because wrought without human instrumentality. The resurrection of Christ was such a sign to the Jews, but rejecting it, they continued to seek other signs– .] [Literally, repented into the teaching of Jonah. The meaning is that they repented so that they followed the course of life which the preaching prescribed. The phrase, “stand up,” refers to the Jewish and Roman custom which required the witness to stand up while testifying in a criminal case. The idea here is that the Ninevites, having improved the lesser advantage or privilege, would condemn the Jews for having neglected the greater. Nineveh’s privilege may be counted thus: a sign-accredited prophet preaching without accompanying miracles, and a forty-day period of repentance.
In contrast to this the Jewish privileges ran thus: the sign-accredited Son of God preaching, accompanied by miracles, in which many apostles and evangelists participated, a forty-year period in which to repent.] [a Hebraism, indicating a great distance] [The queen of Sheba is supposed to have been queen of Sabæa, or Arabia Felix, which lies in the southern part of the peninsula between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. But Josephus says she was from Ethiopia in Africa.
Her testimony will also be based on the compared privileges, which [307] stand thus: notwithstanding the dangers and inconveniences, she came a great distance to be taught of Solomon, but the Jews rejected the teaching of the Son of God, though he brought it to them. The teaching of Solomon related largely to this world, but Christ taught as to the world to come.] [places which are as cheerless to him as deserts are to man] [Rest is the desire of every creature. Jesus here gives us a graphic description of utter wretchedness.] [he still claimed it as his property] [It was empty, having no indwelling Spirit, swept of all righteous impressions and good influences, and garnished with things inviting to an evil spirit.] [seeing this inviting condition] [to reinforce and entrench himself] [while all demons are wicked they are not equally so] [take up their permanent abode there] [In the application of this parable, we should bear in mind that it tells of states or conditions experienced by man, and the comparison is between these two states or conditions and not between the condition of the man and other men. Such being the parable, the application of it is plain, for Jesus says, “Even so shall it be unto this evil generation.” We are not, therefore, to compare that generation with any previous one, as many do; for such would be contrary to the terms of the parable. It is simply an assertion that the last state of that generation would be worse than the first. The reference is to the continually increasing wickedness of the Jews, which culminated in the dreadful scenes which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem.
They were now like a man with one [308] evil spirit; they would then be like a man with seven more demons added, each of which was worse than the original occupant.] [This woman is the first on record to fulfill Mary’s prediction . It is the only passage in the New Testament which even suggests the idolatry of Mariolatry, but it was far enough from it, being merely a womanly way of expressing admiration for the son by pronouncing blessings upon the mother who was so fortunate as to bear him.] [Jesus does not deny the fact that Mary was blessed, but corrects any false idea with regard to her by pointing to the higher honor of being a disciple which was attainable by every one.
Mary’s blessing as a disciple was greater than her blessing as a mother; her moral and spiritual relation to Jesus was more precious than her maternal. Mary’s blessings came through believing God’s word . To know Christ after the Spirit is more blessed than to know him after the flesh– , , .] [This passage given in a slightly varying form is found in the Sermon on the Mount. See . It is here addressed to the Pharisees and reproves them for not using the light (his miracles) which was given to them. If they [309] had had an eye single to goodness, Christ’s light would have enlightened their souls. But their eye was double; they desired wonders and spectacular signs.] [FFG 305-310]
Luke 11:37-54
L 37-54. [The repast to which Jesus was invited was a morning meal, usually eaten between ten and eleven o’clock. The principal meal of the day was eaten in the evening. Jesus dined with all classes, with publicans and Pharisees, with friends and enemies.] [The Pharisee marveled at this because the tradition of the elders required them to wash their hands before eating, and, if they had been in a crowd where their bodies might have been touched by some unclean person, they washed their whole bodies. It was a custom which ministered to pride and self-righteousness.] [Our Lord’s speech is unsparingly denunciatory. To some it seems strange that Jesus spoke thus in a house where he was an invited guest. But our Lord never suspended the solemn work of reproof out of mere compliment.
He was governed by higher laws than those of conventional politeness] [Since God made both the inner and the outer, a true reverence for him requires that both parts be alike kept clean.] [That is, give your inner life, your love, mercy, compassion, etc., to the blessing of mankind, and then your inner purity will make you proof [312] against outward defilement– , , .] [The Pharisees in paying the tenth part, or tithe, to God, were so exact that they offered the tenth part of the seed even of the spearmint, rue and other small garden herbs, and many contended that the very stalks of these plants should also be tithed. Jesus commends this care about little things, but nevertheless rebukes the Pharisees because they were as careless about big things, such as justice, and the love of God, as they were careful about herb seed.
Rue was a small shrub about two feet high, and is said to have been used to flavor wine, and for medicinal purposes.] [They were vainglorious, loving the honors and attentions given by men . They loved on week days to be saluted in the marketplace, and on the Sabbath to sit in the semi-circular row of seats which were back of the lectern, or desk of the reader, and which faced the congregation.] [According to the Mosaic law, any one who touched a grave was rendered unclean . That they might not touch graves and be made unclean without knowing it, the Jews white-washed their graves and tombs once a year. But Jesus likens a Pharisee to graves which defiled men unawares. Their hypocrisy concealed their true nature, so that men were injured and corrupted by their influence without being aware of it. Jesus pronounces three woes upon the Pharisees for three sins, viz.: 1.
Hypocrisy, shown in pretending to be be very careful when they were really extremely careless; 2. Vainglory; 3.
Corruption of the public morals.] [Lightfoot supposes that a [313] scribe was one who copied the law of Moses, while a lawyer expounded the oral law or traditions of the elders. But it is more likely that the terms were used interchangeably. They leaned to the Pharisee party, and hence this one felt the rebuke which Jesus addressed to that party. The scribe intimated that Jesus had spoken hastily, and his speech is a suggestion to Jesus to correct or modify his unguarded words. But Jesus made no mistakes and spoke no hasty words.] [We have seen in the traditions with regard to the Sabbath how these Jewish lawyers multiplied the burdens which Moses had placed upon the people. They were careful to lay these burdens upon others, but equally careful not to bear them themselves–no, not even to keep the law of Moses itself– , .] [Tombs were usually dug in the rock in the sides of hills or cliffs.
To build them therefore was to decorate or ornament the entrance. Though their act in building the sepulchres was a seeming honor to the prophets, God did not accept it as such.
A prophet is only truly honored when his message is received and obeyed. The lawyers were not in fellowship with the prophets, but with those who murdered the prophets: hence the Saviour pictures the whole transaction from the killing of the prophets to the building of their sepulchres as in which all concurred, and all of which were guilty. Abbott gives the words a figurative meaning, thus: your fathers slew the prophets by violence, and you bury them by false teaching.] [314] [The phrase “wisdom of God” has been very puzzling, for the words spoken by Jesus are not found in any Old Testament book. Among the explanations the best is that which represents Jesus as quoting the trend or tenor of several prophecies such as , , . It may, however, be possible that Jesus is here publishing a new decree or conclusion of God, for the words specifically concerned the present generation. If so, Jesus assents to the decree of the Father by calling it “the wisdom of God,” and the language is kindred to that at , ] [Abel is accounted a prophet because his form of sacrifice prefigured that of Christ.
His murder is described at , the first historical book of the Bible, while that of Zachariah is described at , in the last historical book of the Old Testament. From the record of one, therefore, to the record of the other embraces the entire catalogue of the Old Testament martyrs.
Tradition assigns one of the four great sepulchral monuments at the foot of Olivet to Zachariah. That generation sanctioned all the sins of the past and went beyond them to the crucifixion of the Son of God. The best comment on this passage is the parable at . God made that generation the focus of the world’s light and privilege, but the men of that time made it the focus of the world’s wickedness and punishment. The punishment began about thirty-seven years later in the war with Rome, which lasted five years and culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem.] [A true knowledge of the Scriptures was a key which opened the door to the glories of Christ and his kingdom. This the lawyer had given away by teaching not the contents of the book, but the rubbish and trifles of tradition.
They did not open the door for themselves, and by their [315] pretentious interference they confused others in their efforts to open it.] [They plied him with many questions, hoping that they could irritate him into making a hot or hasty answer. For methods used to entrap Jesus see , , , ] [FFG 312-316]