Mark vi. 11. ▾ cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh [× unto you]. 12 [But] I say unto you, that it shall Matt. x. 15. be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. 13 p Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, p Matt. xi. 21. Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in q Ezek. iii. 6. Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. 15 And thou, Capernaum, Matt. xi. 23. y which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. 16 t He that heareth you heareth me; and " he that despiseth t Matt. x. 40. you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. s see Ezek. xxvi. 20: xxxii. 18. Mark ix 37. John xii. 20. u 1 Thess. iv.8. v John v. 23. 17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy w John xii. 31: name. 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as W read, cleaveth to us, on our feet. W I omit. y read, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt be. Z render, in. of God is at hand," Matt. x. 7. 13.] In 17-24.] RETURN OF THE SEVENTY. As in ch. ix. 6-10, St. Luke attaches the return of the Seventy very closely to their mission. They probably were not many days absent. They say nothing of the reception of their message,-or it is not brought out in the Gospel, as not immediately belonging to the great central object of narration; they rejoice that more power seems to be granted to them than even His words promised, seeing that He commissioned them only to heal the sick, not to cast out devils, as He did the Apostles, ch. ix. 1. That this was a ground of joy not to be prominently brought forward, is the purport of our Lord's answer; the whole of which as far as ver. 24 inclusive is in the strictest connexion, and full of most weighty and deep truth. 17.] The fact that it was in thy name is perhaps too much lost sight of in the words unto us here-the disciples rejoice in their own endowment, and the source of it is put into the background. 18.] We may xvi. 11. Rev. ix. 1: xii. 8, 9. understand these words in two ways: (1) we may say, that in this brief speech our Lord sums up by anticipation, as so often in the discourses in John, the whole great conflict with and defeat of the power of evil, from the first, even till accomplished by His own victory. The words, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven, refer to the original fall of Satan, when he lost his place as an angel of light, not keeping his first estate; which fall however had been proceeding ever since step by step, and shall do so, till all things be put under the feet of Jesus, who was made lower than the angels. And this I beheld belongs to the period before the foundation of the world when He abode in the bosom of the Father. He is to be (see ver. 22) the great Victor over the Adversary, and this victory began when Satan fell from heaven. At the same time it may be doubted whether it is not (2) grammatically more correct, to refer the imperfect tense, I beheld, was beholding, to the time just past,-to the Lord's prophetic sight at the time of the ministering of the Seventy. If this view be correct, the words do not refer to any "triumph just gained," but to the Lord's glorious anticipations of final triumph, felt during the exercise of power by His servants. as lightning] Not the suddenness only x Mark xvi. 18. lightning fall from heaven. 19 Behold, I a give unto you Acts xxviii. 5. power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but [brather] rejoice, because 32. Ps. lxix. Y your names are written in heaven. 21z In that hour © Jesus rejoiced in a spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord 23. Hev. xiii. of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from y Exod. xxxii. 28. Isa. iv. 3. Dan. xii. 1. iv. 3. Heb. xii. 8: xx. 12: xxi. 27. Matt. xi. 25. the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes : a read, have given. C d bomit, with nearly all the authorities. many ancient authorities have, he rejoiced. read, with all the most ancient authorities, the holy spirit. of the fall, but the brightness of the 19.] Our Lord here, including all the written in heaven is an expression in various forms frequent in Scripture, and is opposed to "written in earth," Jer. xvii. 13, said of the rebellious. But no immutable predestination is asserted by it; in the very first place where it occurs, Exod. xxxii. 32, 33, the contrary is implied-see Ps. lxix. 28; Isa. iv. 3; Dan. xii. 1; Phil. iv. 3; Heb. xii. 23; Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, xx. 12, 15. The words your names seem to be a reference to in thy name above, which perhaps was with them a medium of self-praise, as so often with Christians. Our Lord says, 'the true cause of joy for you is, not the power shewn forth by or in you in My Name, but that you, your names, are in the book of life' as testified by the Spirit which "beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God," Rom. viii. 16. And this brings us to ver. 21, where our Lord rejoices in the revelation of these things even to the babes of the earth by the will and pleasure of the Father:-these things -not, the power over the enemy-but all that is implied in written in heaven. This, which is the true cause of joy to the believer, causes even the Saviour Himself to triumph, anticipating Isa. liii. 11. 21.] The words the holy, before spirit, cannot well be excluded from the text; the expression as thus standing, is alone in the New Testament, but is agreeable to the analogy of Scripture: compare Rom. i. 4: Heb. ix. 14: 1 Pet. iii. 18: see also Rom. xiv. 17: 1 Thess. i. 6. The ascription of praise, and the verses following, are here in the very closest connexion, and it is perfectly unimaginable that they should have been inserted in this place arbitrarily. The same has been said of their occurrence in Matt. xi. 25; and, from no love of harmonizing or escaping difficulties, but from a deep feeling of the inner spirit of both discourses, I am convinced that our Lord did utter, on the two separate occasions, these weighty words; and I find in them a most instructive instance of the way in which such central sayings were repeated by Him. It was not a rejoicing before (in Matthew), but only a confession: compare the whole discourse and notes. the introductory words in that hour, or "at that time," may have been introduced from one passage into the other, and perhaps by some one who imagined them the same, I would willingly grant, if needful; That b Matt, xxviii. xvi. 2. 18. John iii. 35: v. 27: b John i. 18: vi 44, 46. even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. 22 e a All things are delivered to me of my Father: and a no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son f will reveal him. 23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the Matt. xiii. 16. things that ye see: 24 for I tell you, d that many prophets a 1 Pet. i. 10. and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. e C с 25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal e Matt.xix. 16: life? 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? xxii. 35. how readest thou? 27 And he answering said, Thouf Deut. vi. 5. e many ancient authorities read, And he turned him unto his disciples, and said, All things. f better, is pleased to. not that, in the presence of such truths, such a trifle is worth mention, but that the shallow school of modern critics do mention, and rest upon such. On vv. 21, 22, see notes on Matt. xi. 25-27, observing here the gradual narrowing of the circle to which our Lord addresses himself, ver. 22 (margin),—then ver. 23 the same, with privately added. 23.] This verse should not be marked off from ver. 22 by a new paragraph, as is done in the A. V.: much less, as in the Gospel for the 13th Sunday after Trinity, joined with what follows: except perhaps that the lesson taught us by its occurring there is an appropriate one, as shewing us how the grace of Christian love, which is the subject of the following parable, fulfils and abounds over, legal obedience. It is in connexion with the preceding, and comes as the conclusion after the thanksgiving in ver. 21. A similar saying of our Lord occurs Matt. xiii. 16, 17, but uttered altogether on a different occasion and in a different connexion. 24. prophets and kings] David united both these, also Solomon. There may be an especial reference to the affecting last words of David, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1-5, which certainly are a prophecy of the Redeemer, and in which he says, ver. 5, "This is all my salvation, and all my desire, though he make it not to grow:"- -see also Gen. xlix. 18. 25-37.] QUESTION OF A LAWYER: THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN. well that St. Luke has related the other incident respecting an enquiry of the same kind, for the critics would be sure to have maintained that this incident was another report of Matt. xix. 16. Such clear cases as this should certainly teach us caution, in cases where no such proof is given of the independence of the different narratives : and should shew us that both questions addressed to our Lord, and answers from Him, were, as matter of fact, repeated. xii. 28. See however a case to which this 26. how readest thou? A common rab- Peculiar to Luke. As Stier remarks, it is 27.] The first part of this, together with Neh. ix. 29. Ezek. xx. 11, shalt live. 13, 21. Rom. x. 5. í ch. xvi. 15, shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy g Lev. xix. 18. mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said h Lev. xviii. 5. unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou 29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance there came down a certain * Ps. xxxviii. priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain 'Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had 11. 1 John iv. 9. Deut. xi. 13 ff., the Jews had written on Meyer thinks the man answered thus, ... from Jerusalem to Jericho, about 150 stripped him, not merely of his 32.] The Levite, the inferior minister of the law, did even worse; when he was at the place, he came and saw him;— came near, and then passed, as the other. 33-35.] The Samaritans were entirely, not half, Gentiles. Why our Lord mentions the name here, see below. compassion [8 on him], 34 and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And on the morrow [h when he departed], he took out two i pence, and gave them to the host, and said [unto him], Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36 Which [h now] of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. 8 not in the original. ǹ omitted by many of the oldest authorities. i render, denarii. had compassion] This was the great difference between the Samaritan and the others;-the actions which follow are but the expansion of this compassion. oil and wine] These were usual remedies for wounds in the East; Galen, cited by Wetstein, prescribes thus for a wound in the head. "Rub down the tenderest leaves of the olive,-pour in oil and red wine, and make a plaster :”— -see also Isa. i. 6. on his own beast, thereby denying himself the use of it. This is the only place where an inn, as we understand the word, a house for reception of travellers kept by a host, as distinguished from an empty caravanserai, is mentioned. The Rabbinical writers frequently speak of such, but under a name adopted from this Greek word. Bleek remarks that this serves to shew, that there were such inns in that neighbourhood, though certainly they were not frequent. two denarii] Some see in this, two days' wages. See note on Matt. xx. 2. 36.] It will be observed that our Lord not only elicits the answer from the questioner himself, but that it comes in an inverted form. The lawyer had asked, to whom he was to understand himself obliged to fulfil the duties of neighbourship? but the answer has for its subject one who fulfilled them to another. The reason of this is to be found,-partly in the relation of neighbourship being mutual, so that if this man is my neighbour, I am his also;-but chiefly in the intention of our Lord to bring out a strong contrast, by putting the hated and despised Samaritan in the active place, and thus to reflect back the likewise more pointedly. 'Observe, that the was neighbour, is literally became neighbour. The neighbour Jews became strangers, the stranger Samaritan became neighbour, to the wounded traveller. It is not place, but love, which makes neighbourhood." Wordsworth. 37.] The lawyer does not answer-The Samaritan: he avoids this; but he cannot avoid it in conviction and matter of fact. do thou likewise, i. e. 'count all men thy neighbours, and love them as thyself.' The student accustomed to look at all below the surface of Scripture, will not miss the meaning which lies behind this parable, and which -while disclaiming all fanciful allegorizing of the text-I do not hesitate to say that our Lord Himself had in view when He uttered it. All acts of charity and mercy done here below, are but fragments and derivatives of that one great act of mercy which the Saviour came on earth to perform. And as He took on Him the nature of us all, being 'not ashamed to call us brethren,' counting us all His kindred,— so it is but natural that in holding up a mirror (for such is a parable) of the truth in this matter of duty, we should see in it not only the present and prominent group, but also Himself and His act of mercy behind. And thus we shall not (in spite of the scoffs which are sure to beset such an interpretation, from the superficial school of critics) give up the interpretation of the Fathers and other divines, who see in this poor traveller, going from the heavenly to the accursed city (Josh. vi. 26: 1 Kings xvi. 34),-the race of man, the Adam who fell;-in the robbers and murderers, him who was a murderer from the beginning (John viii. 44); - in the treatment of the traveller, the deep wounds and despoilment which we have inherited from the fall;-in the priest and the Levite passing by, the inefficacy of the law and sacrifice to heal |
