42 But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of Yahweh, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world;
"'All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh's. It is holy to Yahweh. If a man redeems anything of his tithe, he shall add a fifth part to it. All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Yahweh. He shall not search whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.'"
Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat you flesh. For I didn't speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
Stand in the gate of Yahweh's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Don't you trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, are these. For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor; if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt: then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore. Behold, you trust in lying words, that can't profit. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that you may do all these abominations?
Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways: as a nation that did righteousness, and didn't forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. Why have we fasted, [say they], and you don't see? [why] have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find [your own] pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you don't fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh? Isn't this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! "What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?," says Yahweh. "I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, And the fat of fed animals. I don't delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs, Or of male goats. When you come to appear before me, Who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies. My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts; They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek justice, Relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, Plead for the widow."
As soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. The children of Israel and Judah, who lived in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated to Yahweh their God, and laid them by heaps. In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. When Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed Yahweh, and his people Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said, Since [the people] began to bring the offerings into the house of Yahweh, we have eaten and had enough, and have left plenty: for Yahweh has blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Luke 11
Commentary on Luke 11 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 11
Lu 11:1-13. The Disciples Taught to Pray.
1. one, &c.—struck with either the matter or the manner of our Lord's prayers.
as John, &c.—From this reference to John, it is possible that disciple had not heard the Sermon on the Mount. Nothing of John's inner teaching (to his own disciples) has been preserved to us, but we may be sure he never taught his disciples to say, "Our Father."
2-4. (See on Mt 6:9-13).
3. day by day, &c.—an extension of the petition in Matthew for "this day's" supply, to every successive day's necessities. The closing doxology, wanting here, is wanting also in all the best and most ancient copies of Matthew's Gospel. Perhaps our Lord purposely left that part open: and as the grand Jewish doxologies were ever resounding, and passed immediately and naturally, in all their hallowed familiarity into the Christian Church, probably this prayer was never used in the Christian assemblies but in its present form, as we find it in Matthew, while in Luke it has been allowed to stand as originally uttered.
5-8. at midnight … for a friend is come—The heat in warm countries makes evening preferable to-day for travelling; but "midnight" is everywhere a most unseasonable hour of call, and for that very reason it is here selected.
7. Trouble me not—the trouble making him insensible both to the urgency of the case and the claims of friendship.
I cannot—without exertion which he would not make.
8. importunity—The word is a strong one—"shamelessness"; persisting in the face of all that seemed reasonable, and refusing to take a denial.
as many, &c.—His reluctance once overcome, all the claims of friendship and necessity are felt to the full. The sense is obvious: If the churlish and self-indulgent—deaf both to friendship and necessity—can after a positive refusal, be won over, by sheer persistency, to do all that is needed, how much more may the same determined perseverance in prayer be expected to prevail with Him whose very nature is "rich unto all that call upon Him" (Ro 10:12).
9-13. (See on Mt 7:7-11.)
13. the Holy Spirit—in Matthew (Mt 7:11), "good gifts"; the former, the Gift of gifts descending on the Church through Christ, and comprehending the latter.
Lu 11:14-36. Blind and Dumb Demoniac Healed—Charge of Being in League with Hell, and Reply—Demand of a Sign, and Reply.
(See on Mt 12:22-45.)
14. dumb—blind also (Mt 12:22).
20. the finger of God—"the Spirit of God" (Mt 12:28); the former figuratively denoting the power of God, the latter the living Personal Agent in every exercise of it.
21, 22. strong man—meaning Satan.
armed—pointing to all the subtle and varied methods by which he wields his dark power over men.
keepeth—"guardeth."
his palace—man whether viewed more largely or in individual souls—how significant of what men are to Satan!
in peace—undisturbed, secure in his possession.
22. a stronger than he—Christ: Glorious title, in relation to Satan!
come upon him and overcome him—sublimely expressing the Redeemer's approach, as the Seed of the woman, to bruise the Serpent's head.
taketh from him all his armour—"his panoply," "his complete armor." Vain would be the victory, were not the means of regaining his lost power wrested from him. It is this that completes the triumph and ensures the final overthrow of his kingdom. The parable that immediately follows (Lu 11:24-26) is just the reverse of this. (See on Mt 12:43-45.) In the one case, Satan is dislodged by Christ, and so finds, in all future assaults, the house preoccupied; in the other, he merely goes out and comes in again, finding the house "EMPTY" (Mt 12:44) of any rival, and all ready to welcome him back. This explains the important saying that comes in between the two parables (Lu 11:23). Neutrality in religion there is none. The absence of positive attachment to Christ involves hostility to Him.
23. gathereth … scattereth—referring probably to gleaners. The meaning seems to be, Whatever in religion is disconnected from Christ comes to nothing.
27, 28. as he spake these things, a … woman of the company—of the multitude, the crowd. A charming little incident and profoundly instructive. With true womanly feeling, she envies the mother of such a wonderful Teacher. Well, and higher and better than she had said as much before her (Lu 1:28, 42); and our Lord is far from condemning it. He only holds up—as "blessed rather"—the hearers and keepers of God's word; in other words, the humblest real saint of God. (See on Mt 12:49, 50.) How utterly alien is this sentiment from the teaching of the Church of Rome, which would excommunicate any one of its members who dared to talk in the spirit of this glorious saying! (Also see on Mt 12:43.)
29-32. (See on Mt 12:39-42.)
33-36. (See on Mt 5:14-16; Mt 6:22, 23.) But Lu 11:36 here is peculiarly vivid, expressing what pure, beautiful, broad perceptions the clarity of the inward eye imparts.
Lu 11:37-54. Denunciation of the Pharisees.
38. marvelled, &c.—(See Mr 7:2-4).
39-41. cup and platter—remarkable example of our Lord's way of drawing the most striking illustrations of great truths from the most familiar objects and incidents of life.
ravening—rapacity.
40. that which is without, &c.—that is, He to whom belongs the outer life, and right to demand its subjection to Himself—is the inner man less His?
41. give alms … and … all … clean—a principle of immense value. As the greed of these hypocrites was one of the most prominent features of their character (Lu 16:14; Mt 23:14), our Lord bids them exemplify the opposite character, and then their outside, ruled by this, would be beautiful in the eye of God, and their meals would be eaten with clean hands, though never so fouled with the business of this worky world. (See Ec 9:7).
42. mint … rue, &c.—rounding on Le 27:30, which they interpreted rigidly. Our Lord purposely names the most trifling products of the earth, as examples of what they punctiliously exacted the tenth of.
judgment and the love of God—in Mt 23:25, "judgment, mercy, and faith." The reference is to Mic 6:6-8, whose third element of all acceptable religion, "walking humbly with God," comprehends both "love" and "faith." (See on Mr 12:29; Mr 12:32, 33). The same tendency to merge greater duties in less besets us still, but it is the characteristic of hypocrites.
these ought ye, &c.—There is no need for one set of duties to jostle out another; but of the greater, our Lord says, "Ye ought to have done" them; of the lesser, only "ye ought not to leave them undone."
43. uppermost seats—(See on Lu 14:7-11).
greetings—(See on Mt 23:7-10).
44. appear not, &c.—As one might unconsciously walk over a grave concealed from view, and thus contract ceremonial defilement, so the plausible exterior of the Pharisees kept people from perceiving the pollution they contracted from coming in contact with such corrupt characters. (See Ps 5:9; Ro 3:13; a different illustration from Mt 23:27).
46. burdens grievous, &c.—referring not so much to the irksomeness of the legal rites (though they were irksome, Ac 15:10), as to the heartless rigor with which they were enforced, and by men of shameless inconsistency.
47, 48. ye build, &c.—Out of pretended respect and honor, they repaired and beautified the sepulchres of the prophets, and with whining hypocrisy said, "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets," while all the time they "were witnesses to themselves that they were the children of them that killed the prophets" (Mt 23:29, 30); convicting themselves daily of as exact a resemblance in spirit and character to the very classes over whose deeds they pretended to mourn, as child to parent.
49-51. said the wisdom, &c.—a remarkable variation of the words in Mt 23:34, "Behold I SEND." As there seems plainly an allusion to ancient warnings of what God would do with so incorrigible a people, so here Christ, stepping majestically into the place of God, so to speak, says, "Now I am going to carry all that out." Could this be other than the Lord of Israel in the flesh?
50. all … required of this generation—As it was only in the last generation of them that "the iniquity of the Amorites was full" (Ge 15:16), and then the abominations of ages were at once completely and awfully avenged, so the iniquity of Israel was allowed to accumulate from age to age till in that generation it came to the full, and the whole collected vengeance of Heaven broke at once over its devoted head. In the first French Revolution the same awful principle was exemplified, and Christendom has not done with it yet.
prophets—in the New Testament sense (Mt 23:34; see 1Co 12:28).
51. blood of Zacharias—Probably the allusion is not to any recent murder, but to 2Ch 24:20-22, as the last recorded and most suitable case for illustration. And as Zacharias' last words were, "The Lord require it," so they are warned that "of that generation it should be required."
52. key of knowledge—not the key to open knowledge, but knowledge, the only key to open heaven. In Mt 23:13, they are accused of shutting heaven; here of taking away the key, which was worse. A right knowledge of God's Word is eternal life (Joh 17:3); but this they took away from the people, substituting for it their wretched traditions.
53, 54. Exceedingly vivid and affecting. They were stung to the quick—and can we wonder?—yet had not materials for the charge they were preparing against Him.
provoke him, &c.—"to harass Him with questions."