CHAPTER XI. Instructions of Jesus, and his Rebukes of the Scribes and Pharisees. AND it came to pass, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. 3 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is in- 4 debted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. - And he said unto them, Which of you shall have 5 a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine in his journey 6 is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he 7 from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give 8 "Oh! blest beyond all daughters of the earth! Where thy hush'd spirit drew celestial birth? vain thing for us; because it is our life." CHAPTER XI. 1. Praying. Many instances are recorded of our Lord's engaging in secret and social acts of devotion. 2-4. Compare Mat. vi. 9-13. Our Father. Jesus always addressed, and directed his disciples to address, the Father, as the sole and supreme object of divine worship. 5, 6. The following parable is designed to teach the efficacy of prayer, and the importance of its being offered with constancy and earnestness. Luke xviii. 1-8.-Midnight. The most unseasonable hour. Owing to the excessive heat of the east, however, men are accustomed to travel in the night. The friend had just arrived from his journey. 7. My children are with me in bed. This signifies, according to Burder, that they were all in bed in the same apartment, not in the same bed. him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he 9 will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; 10 knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that 11 knocketh, it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any 14 of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a 12 fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an 13 egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the 15 people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out devils 16 through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. And others, tempting 17 him, sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself, is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house 18 falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through 19 Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do 8. Because of his importunity. "It seems that the Saviour designed to dispose his subject, so as to compare the least with the greatest. He does not suppose, therefore, any relation by blood, such as father, brother, or son; nor does he allow even friendship to have any thing to do, in granting the assistance wanted, but very justly supposes, that importunity alone would prevail. On the other hand stands exhibited the divine relation, in which our heavenly Father constituted man to himself. He is acknowledged to be, not only a friend, but a Father, and the petitioners stand in the character of sons." 9-13. See Mat. vii. 7-11, and notes. A continued exhortation to earnestness and confidence in prayer, that we should pray without ceasing. 12. Ascorpion. The scorpion was about the size of an egg, and resembled one in appearance when rolled up. 14-23. Compare Mat. xii. 22-30; Mark iii. 22–27. 18. If Satan also be divided, &c. Jesus reasons thus, to use the language of Newcome: "I am establishing a kingdom of righteousness by beneficent miracles; and if Satan assisted me in such a work, he would destroy his own power. You represent him as averting both natural and moral evil, instead of delighting in them. But it is plain, from the nature of my doctrines and miracles, that he is the vanquished, and not the confederate. And if there be such an unnatural confederacy, your own kinsfolk will appear to be engaged in it, and it will be too general not to be discovered." your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the king- 20 dom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed 21 keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger 22 than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not 23 with me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a 24 man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then 26 goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. And it came to pass, as 27 he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, 28 rather blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. 25 And when the people were gathered thick together, he 29 began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son 30 of man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise 31 up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them; for she came from the utmost parts of the earth, to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with 32 this generation, and shall condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 20. Finger of God, i. e. the power, or spirit, of God. Mat. xii. 28. 24-26. Explained in Mat. xii. 43-45. 26. As has been observed, a relapse into vice, like a relapse into insanity, renders the case more hopeless than before. 27. A natural burst of female sensibility and affection. It has been suggested, that this circumstance arose from the name of Jesus' moth er being mentioned in the crowd. 28. Our Saviour lost no opportunity of inculcating the paramount importance and blessedness of doing the will of God. 29-32. Refer to Mat. xii. 38-42, and comments.-Began to say. Said. 33 No man when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they 34 which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of dark35 ness. Take heed therefore, that the light which is in thee be 36 not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. 37 And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with 38 him and he went in and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before 39 dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your in40 ward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without, make that which is within 41 also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and be42 hold, all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint, and rue, and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God. These ought ye to have 43 done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees ! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and 33-36. See notes on Mat. vi. 22, 23.-Secret place; xovлτηy, hence our English word crypt, or vault. 35. Ďarkness. “Do not bring such a mind along with thee, but a candid, benign, gentle mind; then thou wilt be all bright and clear thyself, and all things will be bright and clear to thee." As the eye enlightens the whole body, and, if it is diseased, the whole body is darkened, so, if the illumination of truth shine on the prejudiced, diseased mind, its rays will be quenched in darkness. Keep, therefore, the mind's eye pure and clear in its vision. 37, 38. Besought him to dine with him. Probably with an insidious design.-Marvelled, &c. The Pharisees esteemed it a very great impurity to eat with unwashed hands. 11 VOL. II. 39. Compare Mat. xxiii. 25.-Ravening. Rapine. 40, 41. Fools. Or, unthinking men. - Did not he, &c. i. e. God. Can you hope to deceive him, who is the Maker of all?-Give alms, &c. "Body and soul," argues our Lord, "had the same author, and the one, especially the more ignoble part, ought not to engross our regards to the neglect of the more noble; and even as to vessels, the general way of cleansing them, in a moral and spiritual sense, is by making them the instruments of conveying relief to the distressed and needy." Of such things as ye have. The original may mean, either of the contents, or, according to your ability. 42-44. See comments on Mat. xxiii. 23, 26, 27.-Woe. Alas.-Rue. greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, 44 hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Then answered 45 one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying, thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you also, ye law- 46 yers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and 47 your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness, that ye allow 48 the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, 49 I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute; that the blood of all the prophets, which 50 was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zach- 51 arias, which perished between the altar and the temple. Verily, I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. Woe unto 52 you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye Á small garden herb, strong-scented, and of a bitter taste, used medically. Graves which appear not. In Matthew, the Pharisees are compared to whitened sepulchres, but here, to graves, over which men walked without knowing it. 46. Lade men, &c. They were most rigid in exacting compliance with their burdensome ceremonies. 47-51. Compare Mat. xxiii. 2936, and notes. 47, 48. The character of the Pharisees was so bad, that it gave the appearance of approbation to their fathers' conduct, and might lead to the suspicion, that they built the sepulchres of the prophets, not so much in honor of them, as of their murderers. Priestley has paraphrased it, "Your conduct, in building sepulchres for the prophets, compared with your temper and disposition, so like that of your fathers, would make a stranger think that what you do was only a continuation of what they had begun, they killing the prophets, and you burying them." 49-52. Compare Mat. xxiii. 34– 36. 49. The wisdom of God. Some obscurity rests on this phrase. In Matthew, Jesus speaks in his own person. He was in truth the brightest manifestation of the wisdom of God. Carpenter observes, that ver. 49-51 appear to have been added by Luke, as what he knew to have been uttered by Christ in a similar connexion. 50, 51. This generation. This race, this lineage, i. e. the Jews, as some understand it.- Between the altar and the temple. The altar was without the temple. 52. Mat. xxiii. 13. Key of knowledge. Among the ceremonies of conferring degrees on the pupils of Jewish schools, at one period, was one, according to Maimonides, of presenting a key, to signify, that they might now open to others the treasures of knowledge. |