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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Luke 10 Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/luke/101.htm" /><link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cardo&subset=greek-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/luke/10.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/luke/10-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Cambridge</a> > <a href="../luke/">Luke</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../luke/9.htm" title="Luke 9">◄</a> Luke 10 <a href="../luke/11.htm" title="Luke 11">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-1.htm">Luke 10:1</a></div><div class="verse">After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.</div><a href="/context/luke/10-1.htm" title="After these things the LORD appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, where he himself would come....">Luke 10:1-24</a>. The Mission of the Seventy.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">1. </span><span class="ital">After these things</span>] i.e. after finally leaving Galilee, and starting on His great Peraean progress.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">other seventy also</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">also others </span>(besides the Twelve) <span class="bld">seventy in number. </span>Some MSS. read seventy-two (B, D, M, &c.). The number had evident reference to the Elders of Moses (<a href="/numbers/11-16.htm" title="And the LORD said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with you.">Numbers 11:16</a>), where there is the same variation; the Sanhedrin; and the Jewish belief (derived from Genesis 10) as to the number of the nations of the world. The references to Elim with its 12 wells and 70 palm-trees are mere plays of allegoric fancy.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">two and two</span>] The same merciful provision that we see in the brother- pairs of the Twelve.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">into every city,</span> &c.] Clearly with the same object as in <a href="/luke/9-52.htm" title="And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.">Luke 9:52</a>. It may have been all the more necessary because hitherto He had worked less in the Transjordanic regions.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-2.htm">Luke 10:2</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly <i>is</i> great, but the labourers <i>are</i> few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.</div><span class="bld">2</span>. <span class="ital">The harvest truly is great</span>] Compare <a href="/matthew/9-37.htm" title="Then said he to his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few;">Matthew 9:37</a>; <a href="/john/4-35.htm" title="Say not you, There are yet four months, and then comes harvest? behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.">John 4:35</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">sendforth</span>] The word literally means ‘drive forth,’ and though it has lost its full force implies urgency and haste. See similar uses of the word in <a href="/john/10-4.htm" title="And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.">John 10:4</a>, <a href="/matthew/9-38.htm" title="Pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.">Matthew 9:38</a>, <a href="/mark/1-12.htm" title="And immediately the spirit drives him into the wilderness.">Mark 1:12</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-3.htm">Luke 10:3</a></div><div class="verse">Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.</div><span class="bld">3</span>. <span class="ital">as lambs</span>] ‘as sheep,’ <a href="/matthew/10-16.htm" title="Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the middle of wolves: be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.">Matthew 10:16</a> (of the Twelve). The slight variation must not be pressed. The impression meant to be conveyed is merely that of simplicity and defencelessness. A tradition, as old as Clemens Romanus, tells us that St Peter had asked (on the previous occasion), ‘But how then if the wolves should tear the lambs?’ and that Jesus replied, ‘Let not the lambs fear the wolves when the lambs are once dead,’ and added the words in <a href="/matthew/10-28.htm" title="And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.">Matthew 10:28</a>. There is no reason to doubt this interesting tradition, which may rank as one of the most certain of the ‘unwritten sayings’ (<span class="ital">agrapha dogmata)</span> of our Lord.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-4.htm">Luke 10:4</a></div><div class="verse">Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.</div><span class="bld">4</span>. <span class="ital">neither purse</span>] Compare <a href="/context/luke/9-1.htm" title="Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases....">Luke 9:1-6</a>, and notes; <a href="/context/matthew/10-1.htm" title="And when he had called to him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease....">Matthew 10:1-42</a>. St Luke uses the Greek <span class="ital">balantion;</span> St Mark the Oriental <span class="ital">zonen</span> ‘girdle.’<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">salute no man by the way</span>] A common direction in cases of urgency (<a href="/2_kings/4-29.htm" title="Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go your way: if you meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute you, answer him not again: and lay my staff on the face of the child.">2 Kings 4:29</a>), and partly explicable by the length and loitering elaborateness of Eastern greetings (Thomson, <span class="ital">Land and Book,</span> ii. 24).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-5.htm">Luke 10:5</a></div><div class="verse">And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace <i>be</i> to this house.</div><span class="bld">5</span>. <span class="ital">Peace be to this house</span>] Adopted in our service for the Visitation of the Sick. God’s messengers should begin first with prayers for peace, not with objurgations. Bengel.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-6.htm">Luke 10:6</a></div><div class="verse">And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.</div><span class="bld">6</span>. <span class="ital">the son of peace</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">a son of peace</span>, i.e<span class="bld">.</span> <span class="ital">a man of peaceful heart.</span> Comp. for the phrase <a href="/luke/16-8.htm" title="And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.">Luke 16:8</a>, <a href="/luke/20-36.htm" title="Neither can they die any more: for they are equal to the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.">Luke 20:36</a>; <a href="/john/17-12.htm" title="While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name: those that you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.">John 17:12</a>; <a href="/ephesians/5-6.htm" title="Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things comes the wrath of God on the children of disobedience.">Ephesians 5:6</a>; <a href="/ephesians/5-8.htm" title="For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord: walk as children of light:">Ephesians 5:8</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">it shall turn to you again</span>] <a href="/matthew/10-13.htm" title="And if the house be worthy, let your peace come on it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.">Matthew 10:13</a>. “My prayer returned into mine own bosom,” <a href="/psalms/35-13.htm" title="But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.">Psalm 35:13</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-7.htm">Luke 10:7</a></div><div class="verse">And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.</div><span class="bld">7</span>. <span class="ital">eating and drinking such things as they give</span>] As a plain right. <a href="/1_corinthians/9-4.htm" title="Have we not power to eat and to drink?">1 Corinthians 9:4</a>; <a href="/context/1_corinthians/9-7.htm" title="Who goes a warfare any time at his own charges? who plants a vineyard, and eats not of the fruit thereof? or who feeds a flock, and eats not of the milk of the flock?...">1 Corinthians 9:7-11</a>.<span class="ital"><span class="p"><br /><br /></span>the labourer is worthy of his hire</span>] Referred to by St Paul, <a href="/1_timothy/5-18.htm" title="For the scripture said, You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn. And, The laborer is worthy of his reward.">1 Timothy 5:18</a>. Doubtless he may have been aware that our Lord had used it, but the saying was probably proverbial.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-8.htm">Luke 10:8</a></div><div class="verse">And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:</div><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-9.htm">Luke 10:9</a></div><div class="verse">And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.</div><span class="bld">9</span>. <span class="ital">The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you</span>] So that our Lord’s last messages resembled His first preaching, <a href="/matthew/4-17.htm" title="From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.">Matthew 4:17</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-10.htm">Luke 10:10</a></div><div class="verse">But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,</div><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-11.htm">Luke 10:11</a></div><div class="verse">Even the very dust of your city, which 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.</div><span class="bld">11</span>. <span class="ital">Even the very dust</span>] <a href="/context/acts/13-49.htm" title="And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region....">Acts 13:49-51; Act 18:5-7</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-12.htm">Luke 10:12</a></div><div class="verse">But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.</div><span class="bld">12</span>. <span class="ital">more tolerable in that day for Sodom</span>] The great principle which explains these words may be found in <a href="/context/luke/12-47.htm" title="And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes....">Luke 12:47-48</a> (compare <a href="/context/hebrews/2-2.htm" title="For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;...">Hebrews 2:2-3</a>; <a href="/context/hebrews/10-28.htm" title="He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:...">Hebrews 10:28-29</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-13.htm">Luke 10:13</a></div><div class="verse">Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.</div><span class="bld">13</span>. W<span class="ital">oe unto thee</span>, <span class="ital">Chorazin</span>] The mention of this town is very interesting because this is the only occasion (<a href="/matthew/11-21.htm" title="Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.">Matthew 11:21</a>) on which the name occurs, and we are thus furnished with a very striking proof of the fragmentariness of the Gospels. The very site of Chorazin was long unknown. It has now been discovered at <span class="ital">Keraseh</span>, the ruins of an old town on a wady, two miles inland from Tel Hum (Capernaum). At a little distance these ruins look like mere rude heaps of basaltic stones.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Bethsaida</span>] See on <a href="/luke/9-10.htm" title="And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.">Luke 9:10</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">mighty works</span>] Literally, <span class="ital">“powers.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>they had a great while ago repented</span>] like Nineveh (<a href="/context/jonah/3-5.htm" title="So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them....">Jonah 3:5-10</a>), “Surely had I sent thee unto them they would have hearkened unto thee,” <a href="/ezekiel/3-6.htm" title="Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you.">Ezekiel 3:6</a>; comp. <a href="/james/4-17.htm" title="Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.">James 4:17</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-14.htm">Luke 10:14</a></div><div class="verse">But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.</div><span class="bld">14</span>. <span class="ital">more tolerable...at the judgment</span>] A very important verse as proving the ‘intermediate state’ (Hades) of human souls. The guilty inhabitants of these cities had received their temporal punishment (<a href="/context/genesis/19-24.htm" title="Then the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;...">Genesis 19:24-25</a>); but the final judgment was yet to come.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="15"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-15.htm">Luke 10:15</a></div><div class="verse">And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.</div><span class="bld">15</span>. <span class="ital">And thou, Capernaum)</span> Christ’s “own city.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">exalted to heaven</span>] by inestimable spiritual privileges. “Admitted into a holier sanctuary, they were guilty of a deeper sacrilege.” A better reading is (for <span class="greekheb">ἡ</span> … <span class="greekheb">ὑψωθεῖσα</span>) is <span class="greekheb">μὴ ὑψωθήσῃ</span>; “Shalt thou be exalted to heaven? Thou shalt be thrust down...!”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">shalt be thrust dawn to hell)</span> Rather, <span class="bld">as far as Hades. </span>When our Lord uttered this woe these cities on the shores of Gennesareth were bright and populous and prospering; now they are desolate heaps of ruins in a miserable land. The inhabitants who lived thirty years longer may have recalled these woes in the unspeakable horrors of slaughter and conflagration which the Romans then inflicted on them.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>It is immediately after the celebrated description of the loveliness of the Plain of Gennesareth that Josephus goes on to tell of the shore strewn with wrecks and putrescent bodies, “insomuch that <span class="ital">the misery was not only an object of commiseration to the Jews</span>, <span class="ital">but even to those that hated them and had been the authors of that misery</span>,” Jos. <span class="ital">B. J.</span> III. 10, § 8. For fuller details see my <span class="ital">Life of Christ,</span> II. 101 sq.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="16"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-16.htm">Luke 10:16</a></div><div class="verse">He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.</div><span class="bld">16</span>. <span class="ital">despiseth)</span> Literally, <span class="ital">“setting at nought</span>.” For comment on the verse see <a href="/1_thessalonians/4-8.htm" title="He therefore that despises, despises not man, but God, who has also given to us his holy Spirit.">1 Thessalonians 4:8</a>; <a href="/matthew/18-5.htm" title="And whoever shall receive one such little child in my name receives me.">Matthew 18:5</a>; <a href="/john/12-44.htm" title="Jesus cried and said, He that believes on me, believes not on me, but on him that sent me.">John 12:44</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="17"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-17.htm">Luke 10:17</a></div><div class="verse">And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.</div><span class="bld">17</span>. <span class="ital">returned again with joy</span>] The success of their mission is more fully recorded than that of the Twelve.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">the devils</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">the demons. </span>They had been bidden (<a href="/luke/10-9.htm" title="And heal the sick that are therein, and say to them, The kingdom of God is come near to you.">Luke 10:9</a><span class="bld">) </span>to “heal the sick;” but these are the only healings that they mention.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">are subject</span>] Rather, are being subjected.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="18"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-18.htm">Luke 10:18</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.</div><span class="bld">18</span>. <span class="ital">I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven</span>] Rather, I <span class="bld">was </span>observing Satan as lightning fallen from heaven, <a href="/context/isaiah/14-9.htm" title="Hell from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming: it stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations....">Isaiah 14:9-15</a>. We find similar thoughts in <a href="/john/16-11.htm" title="Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.">John 16:11</a>; <a href="/john/12-31.htm" title="Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.">John 12:31</a>, “now shall the prince of this world be cast out;” <a href="/1_john/3-8.htm" title="He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.">1 John 3:8</a>; <a href="/hebrews/2-14.htm" title="For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;">Hebrews 2:14</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="19"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-19.htm">Luke 10:19</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.</div><span class="bld">19</span>. <span class="ital">I give</span>] Read, I <span class="bld">have given, </span>with <span class="greekheb">א</span>, B, C, L, &c.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">power</span>] Rather, the authority.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">to tread on serpents and scorpions</span>] Compare <a href="/context/mark/16-17.htm" title="And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;...">Mark 16:17-18</a>. So far as the promise was <span class="ital">literal,</span> the only fact of the kind referred to in the<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>N. T. is <a href="/context/acts/28-3.htm" title="And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand....">Acts 28:3-5</a>. In legend we have the story of St John saved from poison, which is represented in Christian art as a viper escaping from the cup (Jameson, <span class="ital">Sacred and Legendary Art,</span> I. 159). But it may be doubted whether the meaning was not predominantly spiritual as in <a href="/genesis/3-15.htm" title="And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.">Genesis 3:15</a>; <a href="/romans/16-20.htm" title="And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.">Romans 16:20</a>; <a href="/psalms/91-13.htm" title="You shall tread on the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under feet.">Psalm 91:13</a>; <a href="/isaiah/11-8.htm" title="And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.">Isaiah 11:8</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">nothing shall by any means hurt you</span>] <a href="/romans/8-28.htm" title="And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.">Romans 8:28</a>; <a href="/romans/8-39.htm" title="Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.">Romans 8:39</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="20"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-20.htm">Luke 10:20</a></div><div class="verse">Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.</div><span class="bld">20</span><span class="ital">.</span> <span class="ital">are written in heaven</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">have been recorded in the heavens </span>(reading <span class="greekheb">ἐγγέγραπται</span><span class="ital">).</span> On this ‘Book of God,’ or ‘Book of Life,’ see <a href="/exodus/32-32.htm" title="Yet now, if you will forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray you, out of your book which you have written.">Exodus 32:32</a>; <a href="/psalms/69-28.htm" title="Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.">Psalm 69:28</a><span class="ital">;</span> <a href="/daniel/12-1.htm" title="And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.">Daniel 12:1</a>; <a href="/philippians/4-3.htm" title="And I entreat you also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life.">Php 4:3</a>; <a href="/hebrews/12-23.htm" title="To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,">Hebrews 12:23</a>; <a href="/revelation/13-8.htm" title="And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.">Revelation 13:8</a>; <a href="/revelation/20-12.htm" title="And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.">Revelation 20:12</a>; <a href="/revelation/21-27.htm" title="And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defiles, neither whatever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.">Revelation 21:27</a>. It is the opposite to being “written in the earth,” <a href="/jeremiah/17-13.htm" title="O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake you shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.">Jeremiah 17:13</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="21"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-21.htm">Luke 10:21</a></div><div class="verse">In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.</div><span class="bld">21</span>. <span class="ital">rejoiced</span>] Rather, exulted, a much stronger word, and most valuable as recording one element — the element of exultant joy—in the life of our Lord, on which the Evangelists so rarely touch as to have originated the legend, preserved in the spurious letter of P. Lentulus to the Senate, that He wept often, but that no one had ever seen Him smile.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">I thank thee, O Father</span>] Literally, “I <span class="ital">make grateful acknowledgment to Thee</span> .”<span class="ital"><span class="p"><br /><br /></span>from the wise and prudent...unto babes</span>] Here we have the contrast between the ‘wisdom of the world,’ which is ‘foolishness with God,’ and the ‘foolishness of the world,’ which is ‘wisdom with God,’ on which St Paul also was fond of dwelling, <a href="/1_corinthians/1-21.htm" title="For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.">1 Corinthians 1:21</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/1-26.htm" title="For you see your calling, brothers, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:">1 Corinthians 1:26</a>; <a href="/context/2_corinthians/4-3.htm" title="But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:...">2 Corinthians 4:3-4</a>; <a href="/romans/1-22.htm" title="Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,">Romans 1:22</a>. For similar passages in the Gospels see <a href="/matthew/16-17.htm" title="And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father which is in heaven.">Matthew 16:17</a>; <a href="/context/matthew/18-3.htm" title="And said, Truly I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven....">Matthew 18:3-4</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">unto babes</span>] i.e. to all who have “the young lamb’s heart amid the full- grown flocks”—to all innocent childlike souls, such as are often those of the truly wise. Genius itself has been defined as “the heart of childhood taken up and matured into the power of manhood.”<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="22"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-22.htm">Luke 10:22</a></div><div class="verse">All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and <i>he</i> to whom the Son will reveal <i>him</i>.</div><span class="bld">22</span>. <span class="ital">All things are delivered to me of my Father</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">were delivered to me by, </span>cf. <a href="/luke/20-14.htm" title="But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.">Luke 20:14</a><span class="bld">. </span>This entire verse is one of those in which the teaching of the Synoptists (<a href="/matthew/28-18.htm" title="And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth.">Matthew 28:18</a>) comes into nearest resemblance to that of St John, which abounds in such passages (<a href="/john/1-18.htm" title="No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.">John 1:18</a>; <a href="/john/3-35.htm" title="The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.">John 3:35</a>; <a href="/context/john/5-26.htm" title="For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the Son to have life in himself;...">John 5:26-27</a>; <a href="/john/6-44.htm" title="No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.">John 6:44</a>; <a href="/john/6-46.htm" title="Not that any man has seen the Father, save he which is of God, he has seen the Father.">John 6:46</a>; <a href="/context/john/14-6.htm" title="Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me....">John 14:6-9; Joh 17:1-2</a>; <a href="/1_john/5-20.htm" title="And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.">1 John 5:20</a>). In the same way we find this view assumed in St Paul’s earlier Epistles (e.g. <span class="ital"><a href="/1_corinthians/15-24.htm" title="Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.">1 Corinthians 15:24</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/15-27.htm" title="For he has put all things under his feet. But when he said all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.">1 Corinthians 15:27</a></span>), and magnificently developed in the Epistles of the Captivity (<a href="/philippians/2-9.htm" title="Why God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:">Php 2:9</a>; <a href="/context/ephesians/1-21.htm" title="Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:...">Ephesians 1:21-22</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="23"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-23.htm">Luke 10:23</a></div><div class="verse">And he turned him unto <i>his</i> disciples, and said privately, Blessed <i>are</i> the eyes which see the things that ye see:</div><span class="bld">23</span>. <span class="ital">Blessed are the eyes</span>] Comp. <a href="/matthew/13-16.htm" title="But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.">Matthew 13:16</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="24"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-24.htm">Luke 10:24</a></div><div class="verse">For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen <i>them</i>; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard <i>them</i>.</div><span class="bld">24</span>. <span class="ital">prophets and kings</span>] e.g. Abraham, <a href="/genesis/20-7.htm" title="Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for you, and you shall live: and if you restore her not, know you that you shall surely die, you, and all that are yours.">Genesis 20:7</a>; <a href="/genesis/23-6.htm" title="Hear us, my lord: you are a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchers bury your dead; none of us shall withhold from you his sepulcher, but that you may bury your dead.">Genesis 23:6</a>; Jacob, <a href="/genesis/49-18.htm" title="I have waited for your salvation, O LORD.">Genesis 49:18</a>; Balaam, <a href="/numbers/24-17.htm" title="I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.">Numbers 24:17</a>; David, <a href="/context/2_samuel/23-1.htm" title="Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,...">2 Samuel 23:1-5</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">and have not seen them</span>] <a href="/john/8-56.htm" title="Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.">John 8:56</a>; <a href="/context/ephesians/3-5.htm" title="Which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;...">Ephesians 3:5-6</a>; <a href="/hebrews/11-13.htm" title="These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.">Hebrews 11:13</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>“Save that each little voice in turn<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Some glorious truth proclaims;<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">What sages would have died to learn</span>,<span class="ital"><span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Now taught by cottage dames.”</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Keble.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="25"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-25.htm">Luke 10:25</a></div><div class="verse">And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?</div><span class="bld">25-37. </span>The Parable of the Good Samaritan.<span class="bld"><span class="p"><br /><br /></span>25</span>. <span class="ital">a certain lawyer</span>] A teacher of the Mosaic Law—differing little from a scribe, as the man is called in <a href="/mark/12-28.htm" title="And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?">Mark 12:28</a>. The same person may have had both functions—that of preserving and that of expounding the Law.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">tempted him</span>] Literally, <span class="ital">“putting Him fully to the test”</span> (<a href="/luke/4-12.htm" title="And Jesus answering said to him, It is said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.">Luke 4:12</a>); but the purpose does not seem to have been so deliberately hostile as in <a href="/luke/11-54.htm" title="Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.">Luke 11:54</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">what shall I do to inherit eternal life?</span>] See <a href="/luke/18-18.htm" title="And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?">Luke 18:18</a>, and the answer there also given. It is interesting to compare it with the answer given by St Paul <span class="ital">after</span> the Ascension, <a href="/context/acts/16-30.htm" title="And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?...">Acts 16:30-31</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="26"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-26.htm">Luke 10:26</a></div><div class="verse">He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?</div><span class="bld">26</span>. <span class="ital">how readest thou?</span>] The phrase resembled one in constant use among the Rabbis, and the lawyer deserved to get no other answer because his question was not sincere. The very meaning and mission of his life was to teach this answer.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="27"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-27.htm">Luke 10:27</a></div><div class="verse">And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.</div><span class="bld">27</span>. <span class="ital">Thou shalt love the Lord thy God</span>] This was the summary of the Law in <a href="/deuteronomy/6-5.htm" title="And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.">Deuteronomy 6:5</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/10-12.htm" title="And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,">Deuteronomy 10:12</a>; <a href="/leviticus/19-18.htm" title="You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.">Leviticus 19:18</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">and thy neighbour as thyself</span>] Hillel had given this part of the answer to an enquirer who similarly came to put him to the test, and as far as it went, it was a right answer (<a href="/romans/13-9.htm" title="For this, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.">Romans 13:9</a>; <a href="/context/galatians/5-13.htm" title="For, brothers, you have been called to liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another....">Galatians 5:13-14</a>; <a href="/james/2-8.htm" title="If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well:">James 2:8</a>); but it became futile if left to stand alone, without the <span class="ital">first </span>Commandment.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="28"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-28.htm">Luke 10:28</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.</div><span class="bld">28</span>. <span class="ital">Thou hast answered right</span>] “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” <a href="/genesis/4-7.htm" title="If you do well, shall you not be accepted? and if you do not well, sin lies at the door. And to you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him.">Genesis 4:7</a>; “which if a man do, he shall live in them,” <a href="/leviticus/18-5.htm" title="You shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.">Leviticus 18:5</a>; <a href="/romans/10-5.htm" title="For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which does those things shall live by them.">Romans 10:5</a>; but see <a href="/context/galatians/3-21.htm" title="Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness should have been by the law....">Galatians 3:21-22</a><span class="ital">.</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">this do</span>] As the passage from Deuteronomy was one of those inscribed in the phylacteries (little leather boxes containing four texts in their compartments), which the scribe wore on his forehead and wrist, it is an ingenious conjecture that our Lord, as He spoke, pointed to one of these.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="29"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-29.htm">Luke 10:29</a></div><div class="verse">But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?</div><span class="bld">29</span>. <span class="ital">willing to justify himself</span>] “before men”—a thing which the Pharisees were ever prone to do, <a href="/luke/16-15.htm" title="And he said to them, You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.">Luke 16:15</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">who is my neighbour?</span>] He wants his moral duties to be labelled and defined with the Talmudic precision to which ceremonial duties had been reduced.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="30"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-30.htm">Luke 10:30</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus answering said, A certain <i>man</i> went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded <i>him</i>, and departed, leaving <i>him</i> half dead.</div><span class="bld">30</span>. <span class="ital">A certain man</span>] Clearly, as the tenor of the Parable implies, a Jew.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">went down from Jerusalem to Jericho</span>] A rocky, dangerous gorge (Jos. <span class="ital">B. J.</span> IV. 8, § 3), haunted by marauding Bedawin, and known as ‘the bloody way’ (<span class="ital">Adommim</span>, Jerome, <span class="ital">De loc. Hebr.</span> and on <a href="/jeremiah/3-2.htm" title="Lift up your eyes to the high places, and see where you have not been lien with. In the ways have you sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your prostitutions and with your wickedness.">Jeremiah 3:2</a><span class="ital">).</span> The “went down” is strictly accurate, for the road descends very rapidly from Jerusalem to the Jordan valley. The distance is about <span class="ital">21</span> miles. For Jericho, see <a href="/luke/19-1.htm" title="And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.">Luke 19:1</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">thieves</span>] Rather, <span class="ital">“robbers,” “brigands.”</span> Palestine was notorious for these plundering Arabs. Herod the Great had rendered real service to the country in extirpating them from their haunts, but they constantly sprung up again, and even the Romans could not effectually put them down (Jos. <span class="ital">Antt.</span> <a href="/luke/20-6.htm" title="But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.">Luke 20:6</a>, § 1<span class="ital">; B. J.</span> xi. <span class="ital">12,</span> § 5). On this very road an English baronet—Sir Frederic Henniker—was stripped and murdered by Arab robbers in 1820. “He was probably thinking of the Parable of the Samaritan when the assassin’s stroke laid him low,” Porter’s <span class="ital">Palestine,</span> I. 151.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">wounded him</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">laying blows on him.</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">half dead</span>] Some MSS. omit the <span class="greekheb">τυγχάνοντα</span>, ‘chancing to be still alive.’ So far as the robbers were concerned, it was a mere accident that any life was left in him.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="31"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-31.htm">Luke 10:31</a></div><div class="verse">And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.</div><span class="bld">31</span>. <span class="ital">by chance</span>] Rather, <span class="bld">by coincidence, i.e.</span> at the same time. The word ‘chance’ (<span class="greekheb">τύχη</span>) does not occur in Scripture. The nearest approach to it is the participle <span class="greekheb">τυχὸν</span> in <a href="/1_corinthians/15-37.htm" title="And that which you sow, you sow not that body that shall be, but bore grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:">1 Corinthians 15:37</a> (if <span class="greekheb">τυγχάνοντα</span> be omitted in <a href="/luke/10-30.htm" title="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.">Luke 10:30</a>). Chance, to the sacred writers, as to the most thoughtful of the Greeks, is ‘the daughter of Forethought;’ is “God’s unseen Providence, by men nicknamed Chance” (Fuller). “Many good opportunities work under things which seem fortuitous.” Bengel.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">a certain priest</span>] His official duties at Jerusalem were over, and he was on his way back to his home in the priestly city of Jericho. Perhaps the uselessness of his external service is implied. In superstitious attention to the letter, he was wholly blind to the spirit, <a href="/context/deuteronomy/22-1.htm" title="You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them: you shall in any case bring them again to your brother....">Deuteronomy 22:1-4</a><span class="bld">.</span> See <a href="/1_john/3-17.htm" title="But whoever has this world's good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?">1 John 3:17</a>. He was selfishly afraid of risk, trouble, and ceremonial defilement, and, since no one was there to know of his conduct, he was thus led to neglect the traditional kindness of Jews <span class="ital">towards their own countrymen</span> (Tac. <span class="ital">Hist.</span> v. 5, Juv. xiv. 103, 104), as well as the positive rules of the Law (<a href="/deuteronomy/22-4.htm" title="You shall not see your brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide yourself from them: you shall surely help him to lift them up again.">Deuteronomy 22:4</a>) and the Prophets (<a href="/isaiah/58-7.htm" title="Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?">Isaiah 58:7</a>).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">that way</span>] Rather, on that road. It is emphatically mentioned, because there was <span class="ital">another</span> road to Jericho which was safe and therefore more frequently used.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="32"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-32.htm">Luke 10:32</a></div><div class="verse">And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked <i>on him</i>, and passed by on the other side.</div><span class="bld">32</span>. <span class="ital">came and looked on him</span>] This vivid touch shews us the cold curiosity of the Levite, which was even baser than the dainty neglect of the Priest. Perhaps the Priest had been aware that a Levite was behind him, and left the trouble to him: and perhaps the Levite said to himself that <span class="ital">he</span> need not do what the priest had not thought fit to do.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>By choosing <a href="/context/galatians/3-16.htm" title="Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ....">Galatians 3:16-23</a> as the Epistle to be read with this Gospel (13th Sunday after Trinity) the Church indicates her view that this Parable implies the failure of the Jewish Priesthood and Law to pity or remove the misery and sin of man.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="33"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-33.htm">Luke 10:33</a></div><div class="verse">But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion <i>on him</i>,</div><span class="bld">33</span>. <span class="ital">a certain Samaritan</span>] A Samaritan is thus selected for high eulogy—though the Samaritans had so ignominiously rejected Jesus (<a href="/luke/9-53.htm" title="And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.">Luke 9:53</a>)-<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">as he journeyed</span>] He was not ‘coming down* as the Priest and Levite were from the Holy City and the Temple, but from the unauthorised worship of alien Gerizim.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">had compassion on him</span>] Thereby shewing himself, in spite of his heresy and ignorance, a better man than the orthodox Priest and Levite; and all the more so because he was an ‘alien’ (see on <a href="/luke/17-18.htm" title="There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.">Luke 17:18</a>), and “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (<a href="/john/4-9.htm" title="Then said the woman of Samaria to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.">John 4:9</a>), and this very wounded man would, under other circumstances, have shrunk from the touch of the Samaritan as from pollution. Yet this ‘Cuthaean’—this ‘worshipper of the pigeon’—this man of a race which was accused of misleading the Jews by false fire signals, and of defiling the Temple with human bones—whose testimony would not have been admitted in a Jewish court of law—with whom no Jew would so much as eat (Jos. <span class="ital">Antt</span>. xx. 6, § 1, xviii. 2, § 2;<span class="ital">B. J.</span> ii. 12, § 3)—shews a spontaneous and perfect pity of which neither Priest nor Levite had been remotely capable. The fact that the Jews had applied to our Lord Himself the opprobrious name of “Samaritan” (<a href="/john/8-48.htm" title="Then answered the Jews, and said to him, Say we not well that you are a Samaritan, and have a devil?">John 8:48</a>) is one of the indications that a deeper meaning lies under the beautiful obvious significance of the Parable.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="34"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-34.htm">Luke 10:34</a></div><div class="verse">And went to <i>him</i>, 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.</div><span class="bld">34</span>. <span class="ital">pouring in oil and wine</span>] The ordinary remedies of the day. <a href="/isaiah/1-6.htm" title="From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.">Isaiah 1:6</a>; <a href="/mark/6-13.htm" title="And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.">Mark 6:13</a>; <a href="/james/5-14.htm" title="Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:">James 5:14</a>. See Excursus VII.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">set him on his own beast</span>] The word implies the labour of ‘lifting him up,’ and then the good Samaritan <span class="ital">walked by</span> his side.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">brought him to an inn</span>] <span class="ital">Pandocheion.</span> See on <a href="/luke/2-7.htm" title="And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.">Luke 2:7</a>. There the word is <span class="ital">kataluma,</span> a mere khan or caravanserai. Perhaps this inn was at Bahurim. In this and the next verse a word or two suffices to shew the Samaritan’s sympathy, helpfulness, self-denial, generosity, and perseverance in kindliness.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="35"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-35.htm">Luke 10:35</a></div><div class="verse">And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave <i>them</i> to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.</div><span class="bld">35</span>. <span class="ital">took out</span>] Literally, “<span class="ital">throwing out”</span> of his girdle.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">two pence</span>] i.e. two <span class="ital">denarii;</span> enough to pay for the man for some days. The Parable lends itself to the broader meaning which sees the state of mankind wounded by evil passions and spiritual enemies; left unhelped by systems of sacrifice and ceremonial (<a href="/galatians/3-21.htm" title="Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness should have been by the law.">Galatians 3:21</a>); pitied and redeemed by Christ (<a href="/isaiah/61-1.htm" title="The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;">Isaiah 61:1</a>), and left to be provided for until His return by spiritual ministrations in the Church. But to see in the “two pence” any specific allusion to the Old and New Testaments, or to ‘the two sacraments,’ is to push to extravagance the elaboration of details.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">to the host</span>] The word occurs here only in the N. T., and the fact that in the Talmud the <span class="ital">Greek</span> word for ‘an inn with a host’ is adopted, seems to shew that the institution had come in with Greek customs. In earlier and simpler days the open hospitality of the East excluded the necessity for anything but ordinary khans.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="36"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-36.htm">Luke 10:36</a></div><div class="verse">Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?</div><A name="37"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-37.htm">Luke 10:37</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.</div><span class="bld">37</span>. <span class="ital">He that shewed mercy on him</span>] Rather, the pity. By this poor periphrasis the lawyer avoids the shock to his own prejudices, which would have been involved in the hated word, ‘the Samaritan.’ “He will not name the Samaritan by name, the haughty hypocrite.” Luther.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Go, and do thou likewise</span>] The general lesson is that of the Sermon on the Mount, <a href="/matthew/5-44.htm" title="But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you;">Matthew 5:44</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="38"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-38.htm">Luke 10:38</a></div><div class="verse">Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.</div><span class="bld">38-42. </span>The Sisters of Bethany.<span class="bld"><span class="p"><br /><br /></span>38</span>. <span class="ital">into a certain village</span>] Undoubtedly Bethany, <a href="/john/11-1.htm" title="Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.">John 11:1</a>. Both this and the expression “<span class="ital">a certain woman</span>” are obvious traces of a tendency to reticence about the family of Bethany which we find in the Synoptists (<a href="/matthew/26-6.htm" title="Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,">Matthew 26:6</a>; <a href="/mark/14-3.htm" title="And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she broke the box, and poured it on his head.">Mark 14:3</a>). It was doubtless due to the danger which the family incurred from their residing in the close vicinity of Jerusalem, and therefore of “the Jews,” as St John always calls the Pharisees, Priests, and ruling classes who opposed our Lord.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span>By the time that St John wrote, after the destruction of Jerusalem, all need for such reticence was over. It is mere matter of conjecture whether ‘Simon the leper’ was the father of the family, or whether Martha was his widow; nor can Lazarus be identified with the gentle and holy Rabbi Eliezer of the Talmud. This narrative clearly belongs to a period just before the winter Feast of Dedication, because Bethany is close to Jerusalem. Its introduction at this point by St Luke (who alone preserves it, see Introd. p. 27) is due to subjective grouping, and probably to the question “what shall I do?” <a href="/luke/10-25.htm" title="And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?">Luke 10:25</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="39"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-39.htm">Luke 10:39</a></div><div class="verse">And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.</div><span class="bld">39</span>. <span class="ital">which also sat at Jesus</span>’<span class="ital"> feet</span>] The “also” shews that Mary too, in her way, was no less anxious to give Jesus a fitting reception. Here, in one or two lines, we have a most clear sketch of the contrasted character of the two sisters, far too subtly and indirectly accordant with what we learn of them in St John to be due to anything but the harmony of truth. This is one of the incidents in which the Evangelist shews such consummate psychologic skill and insight that he is enabled by a few touches to set before us the most distinct types of character.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">and heard his word</span>] Rather, was listening to His discourse.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="40"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-40.htm">Luke 10:40</a></div><div class="verse">But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.</div><span class="bld">40</span>. <span class="ital">cumbered about much serving</span>] The word for “cumbered” literally means ‘was being dragged in different directions,’ i.e. was <span class="ital">distracted</span> (<a href="/1_corinthians/7-35.htm" title="And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare on you, but for that which is comely, and that you may attend on the Lord without distraction.">1 Corinthians 7:35</a>). She was anxious to give her Lord a most hospitable reception, and was vexed at the contemplative humility which she regarded as slothfulness.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">came to him</span>] Rather, but suddenly coming up (<a href="/luke/20-1.htm" title="And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came on him with the elders,">Luke 20:1</a><span class="ital">;</span> <a href="/acts/23-27.htm" title="This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.">Acts 23:27</a>). We see in this inimitable touch the little petulant outburst of jealousy in the loving, busy matron, as she hurried in with the words, “Why is Mary sitting there <span class="ital">doing nothing?”</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">left me</span>] The Greek word means ‘left me alone in the middle of my work’ to come and listen to you.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">bid her therefore that she help me</span>] We almost seem to hear the undertone of ‘It is no use for <span class="ital">me</span> to tell her.’ Doubtless, had she been less ‘fretted’ (<span class="greekheb">θορυβάζῃ</span><span class="bld">), </span>she would have felt that to leave her. alone and withdraw into the background while this eager hospitality was going on was the kindest and most unselfish thing which Mary could do.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="41"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-41.htm">Luke 10:41</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:</div><span class="bld">41</span>. <span class="ital">Martha</span>, <span class="ital">Martha</span>] The repeated name adds additional tenderness to the rebuke, as in <a href="/luke/22-31.htm" title="And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:">Luke 22:31</a>; <a href="/acts/9-4.htm" title="And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why persecute you me?">Acts 9:4</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">thou art careful and troubled about many things</span>] “I would have you without carefulness,” <a href="/1_corinthians/7-32.htm" title="But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:">1 Corinthians 7:32</a>; <a href="/matthew/6-25.htm" title="Therefore I say to you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?">Matthew 6:25</a>. The words literally mean, ‘Thou art anxious and bustling.’ Her inward solicitude was shewing itself in outward hastiness.<span class="ital"><span class="p"><br /><br /></span>but one thing is needful</span>] The context should sufficiently have excluded the very bald, commonplace, and unspiritual meaning which has been attached to this verse,—that only <span class="ital">one dish</span> was <span class="ital">requisite.</span> Clearly the lesson conveyed is the same as in <a href="/matthew/6-33.htm" title="But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.">Matthew 6:33</a>; <a href="/matthew/16-26.htm" title="For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?">Matthew 16:26</a>, even if our Lord’s <span class="ital">first</span> reference was the lower one. The various readings ‘but there is need of few things,’ or ‘of few things or of one’ (<span class="greekheb">א</span>, B, various versions, &c.) seem to have risen from the notion that even for the simplest meal more than one dish would be required. This, however, is not the case in the simple meals of the East.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">that good part</span>] Rather, portion (as of a banquet, <a href="/genesis/43-34.htm" title="And he took and sent messes to them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.">Genesis 43:34</a>, LXX.; <a href="/john/6-27.htm" title="Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give to you: for him has God the Father sealed.">John 6:27</a>) or inheritance, <a href="/psalms/73-26.htm" title="My flesh and my heart fails: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.">Psalm 73:26</a>. <span class="greekheb">ἥτις</span><span class="ital"> = quippe quae.</span> The <span class="ital">nature</span> of the portion is <span class="ital">such that, &c.</span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">which shall not be taken away from her</span>] To speak of such theological questions as ‘indefectible grace’ here, is to use the narrative otherwise than was intended. The general meaning is that of <a href="/philippians/1-6.htm" title="Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:">Php 1:6</a><span class="ital">; </span><a href="/1_peter/1-5.htm" title="Who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.">1 Peter 1:5</a>. It has been usual with Roman Catholic and other writers to see in Martha the type of the active, and in Mary of the contemplative disposition, and to exalt one above the other. This is not the point of the narrative, for both may and ought to be combined as in St Paul and in St John. The gentle reproof to Martha is aimed <span class="ital">not</span> at her hospitable activity, but at the ‘fret and fuss,’ the absence of repose and calm, by which it was accompanied; and above all, at the tendency to reprobate and interfere with excellence of a different kind.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="42"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/10-42.htm">Luke 10:42</a></div><div class="verse">But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.</div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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