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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 18 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/luke/18.htm" /><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'; 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<a href="/2_corinthians/4-16.htm" title="For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.">2Corinthians 4:16</a>; <a href="/galatians/6-9.htm" title="And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.">Galatians 6:9</a>; <a href="/2_thessalonians/3-13.htm" title="But you, brothers, be not weary in well doing.">2Thessalonians 3:13</a>). The whole verse is remarkable as being one of the few instances (<a href="/luke/18-9.htm" title="And he spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:">Luke 18:9</a> being another) in which a parable is introduced by a distinct statement as to its drift and aim.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-2.htm">Luke 18:2</a></div><div class="verse">Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:</div>(2) <span class= "bld">There was in a city a judge.</span>—The words have an interest historically, as testifying to the general disorganisation and corruption of justice which prevailed under the then government of Galilee and Peræa. Under the direct administration of the Roman Procurator, severe as his rule was, there was probably a better state of things.<p>The case put for the purpose of the parable was obviously an extreme one. Every motive that ordinarily leads men in office to act rightly was absent. Conscience was dead, and there was no love of approbation or fear of blame to supply its place.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-3.htm">Luke 18:3</a></div><div class="verse">And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">There was a widow in that city.</span>—The neglect of the cause of the widow had always been noted by Lawgiver and Prophet—and it was one of the notes of a high ethical standard in both—as the extremest form of oppressive tyranny (<a href="/exodus/22-22.htm" title="You shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.">Exodus 22:22</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/10-18.htm" title="He does execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.">Deuteronomy 10:18</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/27-19.htm" title="Cursed be he that perverts the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.">Deuteronomy 27:19</a>; <a href="/isaiah/1-17.htm" title="Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.">Isaiah 1:17</a>; <a href="/isaiah/1-23.htm" title="Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.">Isaiah 1:23</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/22-7.htm" title="In you have they set light by father and mother: in the middle of you have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in you have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.">Ezekiel 22:7</a>). Comp. also the speech of the widow of Tekoah (<a href="/2_samuel/14-2.htm" title="And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched there a wise woman, and said to her, I pray you, feign yourself to be a mourner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not yourself with oil, but be as a woman that had a long time mourned for the dead:">2Samuel 14:2</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/14-5.htm" title="And the king said to her, What ails you? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and my husband is dead.">2Samuel 14:5</a>).<p><span class= "bld">She came unto him.</span>—The tense implies continual coming.<p><span class= "bld">Avenge me of mine adversary.</span>—The term is used in its legal sense. She was plaintiff, and he defendant, or, it may be, <span class= "ital">vice versâ.</span> The judge put off his decision, and the “law’s delay” was worse to her than the original wrong had been.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-4.htm">Luke 18:4</a></div><div class="verse">And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;</div>(4) <span class= "bld">He would not for a while.</span>—The judge was callous and dead to pity, even for that extremest wretchedness. The pleadings of the widow were simply an annoyance, which at first he bore with indifference.<p><span class= "bld">Though I fear not God, nor regard man.</span>—Here, also, there is a graphic touch of intensity. The man had passed beyond the stage of hypocrisy, conscious or unconscious, and saw himself even as others, even as God, saw him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-5.htm">Luke 18:5</a></div><div class="verse">Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Lest by her continual coming she weary me.</span>—The latter verb is again one which takes its place in the vocabulary of unusual words common to St. Luke and St. Paul. It meets us in <a href="/1_corinthians/9-27.htm" title="But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.">1Corinthians 9:27</a>, and is there rendered “I k<span class= "ital">eep under</span> my body.” Literally, however, it expresses the act of the pugilist when he strikes a blow which leaves a livid bruise on his opponent’s face, and it would seem to have been transferred, in the natural transition of popular metaphor into the forms of colloquial language, from the arena to common life. So we talk of men “hitting hard” or “giving a knock-down blow” in controversy or debate. What is described here is the continuous shower of blows, each of which is short of a “knock-down,” while their accumulative effect is, in the nearest equivalent of modern English, that the man is so “punished” that he is glad to give over at any price.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-6.htm">Luke 18:6</a></div><div class="verse">And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">The unjust judge.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">the judge of injustice,</span> as with the unjust steward in <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>, the usual adjective giving way to the stronger, more Hebraic idiom of the characterising genitive.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-7.htm">Luke 18:7</a></div><div class="verse">And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?</div>(7) <span class= "bld">And shall not God avenge his own elect?</span>—There is at first something which jars on us in this choice of an extreme instance of human unrighteousness as a parable from which we are to learn the nature and the power of prayer. It is not as it was with the Unjust Steward, for there, according to the true interpretation of the parable, the unrighteous man stood for those who were relatively, at least, themselves unrighteous. It is a partial explanation that our Lord presses home upon the disciples an <span class= "ital">a fortiori</span> argument. If reiterated entreaties prevail with men, whose character and wills are set against them, how much more with God, in whom character and will anticipate the prayer? Even so, however, we have the difficulty that the idea of prayer as prevailing, at last, through manifold repetitions, seems at variance with the teaching that condemns vain repetitions, on the ground that our Father knows our necessities before we ask Him. (See Note on <a href="/matthew/6-7.htm" title="But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.">Matthew 6:7</a>.) May we not think that here, as elsewhere, there is an intentional assumption by our Lord of a stand-point which was not His own, but that of those whom He sought to teach? Even His disciples were thinking of God, not as their Father, who loved them, but as a far-off King, who needed to be roused to action. They called on Him in their afflictions and persecutions, and their soul fainted within them, and they became weary of their prayers. Might not the parable be meant (1) to teach such as these that from their own point of view their wisdom was to persevere in prayer, and (2) to lead them to reconsider the ground from which they had started? And the one result would in such a case lead on almost necessarily to the other. Prayer hag a marvellous self-purifying power, and the imperfect thoughts of God in which it may have had its beginning become clearer as it continues. It is one of the ever-recurring paradoxes of the spiritual life, that when we are most importunate we feel most strongly how little importunity is needed.<p><span class= "bld">Avenge his own elect.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">work out His vengeance for,</span> the Greek noun having the article. The “vengeance” is not, however, that of retaliation such as human passions seek for, but primarily the “vindication” of God’s elect, the assertion of their rights, and includes retribution upon others only so far as it is involved in this. (Comp. the use of the word in <a href="/romans/12-19.htm" title="Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, said the Lord.">Romans 12:19</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/7-11.htm" title="For behold this selfsame thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it worked in you, yes, what clearing of yourselves, yes, what indignation, yes, what fear, yes, what vehement desire, yes, what zeal, yes, what revenge! In all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.">2Corinthians 7:11</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-30.htm" title="For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, said the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.">Hebrews 10:30</a>.) This is the first occurrence of the word “elect” in St. Luke’s Gospel, but it begins to be prominent about this time in our Lord’s teaching. (See Notes on <a href="/matthew/20-16.htm" title="So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.">Matthew 20:16</a>; <a href="/matthew/24-22.htm" title="And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.">Matthew 24:22</a>.) The “elect” are the disciples who being “called” obey the “call” (<a href="/romans/8-30.htm" title="Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.">Romans 8:30</a>). The further question, What leads them to obey? is not here in view.<p><span class= "bld">Which cry day and night unto him.</span>—The words look to the coming trials and afflictions of the elect, which as yet the disciples knew not, or knew only in part. To see the world against them, and its rulers crushing them, to fight against overwhelming odds, this would tempt them to think that God was not with them, that He had deceived them. (Comp. the language of <a href="/jeremiah/20-7.htm" title="O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocks me.">Jeremiah 20:7</a>.) In the prayer of the souls beneath the altar (<a href="/revelation/6-10.htm" title="And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?">Revelation 6:10</a>), we have an echo of the question. In St. Peter’s insistence on the “long-suffering” of God (<a href="/2_peter/3-9.htm" title="The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.">2Peter 3:9</a>), we have a proof that he had learnt the answer.<p><span class= "bld">Though he bear long with them.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">bearing long with them.</span> The better MSS. give “and <span class= "ital">bear long with them.”</span> The English, which suggests the thought that God bears with, <span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> tolerates, His elect, is misleading. What is meant is, that He shows Himself <span class= "ital">slow to anger “over them,” i.e.,</span> where they are concerned. They implore that “long-suffering” for themselves. They are tempted to murmur when it is extended to others.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-8.htm">Luke 18:8</a></div><div class="verse">I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?</div>(8) <span class= "bld">When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith?</span>—The question implies, it is obvious, an answer in the negative. When St. Luke wrote his Gospel, men were witnessing a primary, though partial, fulfilment of the prophecy. Iniquity was abounding, and the love of many was waxing cold. And yet in one sense He was near, even at the doors (<a href="/context/james/5-8.htm" title="Be you also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draws near.">James 5:8-9</a>), when men thought that the wheels of His chariot drove slowly. So has it been, and so will it be, in the great “days of the Lord” in the Church’s history, which are preludes of the final Advent; so shall it be in that Advent itself.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-9.htm">Luke 18:9</a></div><div class="verse">And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Unto certain which trusted in themselves . . .</span>—Here, as above, the purpose of the parable is stated at the outset. It is, perhaps, open for us to think that isolated fragments of our Lord’s teaching, treasured up here and there in the memory of disciples, and written down in answer to St. Luke’s inquiries in the second stage of the growth of the Gospel records, would be likely to have such an introduction.<p>The “certain which trusted” are not specified as being actually Pharisees, and included, we may believe, disciples in whom the Pharisee temper was gaining the mastery, and who needed to be taught as by a <span class= "ital">reductio ad absurdum,</span> what it naturally led to.<p><span class= "bld">Despised others.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">the rest</span>—<span class= "ital">viz.,</span> all others. The word for “despise,” literally, <span class= "ital">count as nothing,</span> is again one of those which St. Luke has, and the other Evangelists have not (that in <a href="/mark/9-12.htm" title="And he answered and told them, Elias truly comes first, and restores all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nothing.">Mark 9:12</a> differs in form), but which is frequent in the vocabulary of St. Paul (<a href="/romans/14-3.htm" title="Let not him that eats despise him that eats not; and let not him which eats not judge him that eats: for God has received him.">Romans 14:3</a>; <a href="/romans/14-10.htm" title="But why do you judge your brother? or why do you set at nothing your brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.">Romans 14:10</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/16-11.htm" title="Let no man therefore despise him: but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come to me: for I look for him with the brothers.">1Corinthians 16:11</a>, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span> This universal depreciation of others would seem almost an exaggeration, if experience did not show—<span class= "ital">e.g.,</span> as in the history of Montanism and analogous forms of error—how easily men and women, religious societies and orders, drift into it, and how hard it is to set any limits to the monomania of egotism—above all, of religious egotism. It never uttered itself, perhaps, in a more repulsive form than when the Pharisees came to speak of the great mass of their brother-Israelites as the brute people, the “people of the earth.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-10.htm">Luke 18:10</a></div><div class="verse">Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Went up into the temple.</span>—The peculiar form of the verb, “went <span class= "ital">up,”</span> was strictly justified by the position of the Temple. It stood on what had been Mount Moriah, and rose high above the other buildings of the city.<p><span class= "bld">The one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.</span>—The two words would be more pictorially suggestive to the disciples than they are, at first, to us. They would see the Pharisee with his broad blue <span class= "ital">zizith,</span> or fringe, and the <span class= "ital">Tephillin</span> (=prayers), or phylacteries, fastened conspicuously on brow and shoulder; the publican in his common working dress, with no outward badge to testify that he was a child of the Covenant. Here, as in the case of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son (where see Notes), the parable may have stated actual facts. Of one such publican we read not long afterwards. (See Note on <a href="/luke/19-8.htm" title="And Zacchaeus stood, and said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.">Luke 19:8</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-11.htm">Luke 18:11</a></div><div class="verse">The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men <i>are</i>, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.</span>—A false stress has often been laid on the Pharisee’s attitude, as though his standing erect was in itself an indication of his self-righteous pride. But the publican also stood, and although another tense of the same verb is used, it is an over-subtle refinement to see this difference between the two forms. Standing was, indeed, with the Jews, the customary attitude of prayer. The self-same participle is used here of the Pharisee, and in <a href="/luke/19-8.htm" title="And Zacchaeus stood, and said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.">Luke 19:8</a> of Zacchæus. The order of the words in the Greek is “standing by (or, <span class= "ital">with</span>) himself, prayed thus (or, <span class= "ital">as follows</span>);” and it is a question of punctuation whether the words point to the Pharisee’s standing “by himself,” shrinking from contact with others, and so making himself the “observed of all observers,” or, as in the Authorised version, that he “prayed with himself.” The general use of the preposition is all but decisive in favour of the latter view. It does not follow, however, as has been somewhat hastily assumed, that the prayer was a silent one, that even he would not have dared to utter aloud such a boast as that which follows. There was nothing in the character of the typical Pharisee to lead him to any such sense of shame; and silent prayer, never customary among the Jews at any time, would have been at variance with every tradition of the Pharisees. (Comp. Notes on <a href="/matthew/6-5.htm" title="And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.">Matthew 6:5</a>; <a href="/matthew/6-7.htm" title="But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.">Matthew 6:7</a>). So far as the phrase has any special point, it indicates that he was not praying to God at all; he was practically praying to himself, congratulating himself, half-consciously, that he had no need to pray, in the sense of asking for pardon, or peace, or righteousness, though it might be right, by way of example, to perform his acts of devotion and to thank God for what he had received. The words remind us—(1) of the title which Marcus Aurelius gave to his Stoic <span class= "ital">Meditations</span>—“<span class= "ital">Thoughts</span> (or better, perhaps, <span class= "ital">communings</span>)<span class= "ital"> with himself”</span>—in which he, too, begins with thanksgiving and self-gratulations on the progress he had made in virtue from his youth onward (<span class= "ital">Meditt.</span> i. 1); (2) of the more modern theory which recognises the value of prayer as raising the thoughts of man to a higher level, by a kind of self-mesmerising action, but excludes from it altogether the confession of sin, or the supplication for pardon, or the “making our wants known unto God” (<a href="/philippians/4-6.htm" title="Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.">Philippians 4:6</a>). The verb for “prayed” is in the tense which implies continuance. He was making a long address, of which this was a sample (<a href="/luke/20-47.htm" title="Which devour widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.">Luke 20:47</a>).<p><span class= "bld">God, I thank thee . . .</span>—We cannot say that the formula, as a formula, was wrong. We are bound to thank God that we have been kept from sins. But all devout minds, and all rightly-constructed liturgies, have recognised the truth that confession must come first, and that without it thanksgiving is merely the utterance of a serene self-satisfaction in outward comforts, or, as here, of spiritual pride.<p><span class= "bld">That I am not as other men.</span>—Here, as before, <span class= "ital">the rest of mankind.</span> This was the first false step. He did not compare his own imperfections with the infinite perfections of the Eternal, but with the imagined greater imperfections of his fellow-men, and so <span class= "ital">he</span> stood as one who had gained the shore, and looked with pride, but not with pity, on those who were still struggling in the deep waters.<p><span class= "bld">Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, . . .</span>—The first word was aptly chosen, and was obviously suggested by the presence of the other supplicant. “Six publicans and half-a-dozen extortioners” had become a proverb; and the offensive epithet, if not meant to be heard by the publican, was, at any rate, mentally directed at him. In actual life, as our Lord teaches, there was a far worse, because a more hypocritical, “extortion” practised generally by the Pharisees themselves (<a href="/matthew/23-25.htm" title="Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.">Matthew 23:25</a>; <a href="/luke/11-39.htm" title="And the Lord said to him, Now do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.">Luke 11:39</a>). The other words are more generally put, but they were obviously spoken with side glances at this or that bystander. The language of Cromwell in dissolving the Long Parliament, saying to one “Thou art an adulterer,” and to another “Thou art a drunkard and a glutton,” to a third “and thou an extortioner,” offers a curious instance of unconscious parallelism (Hume’s <span class= "ital">History of England,</span> chap. 60).<p><span class= "bld">Or even as this publican.</span>—This was the climax of all. He saw the man smiting on his breast in anguish, and no touch of pity, no desire to say a word of comfort, rises in his soul. The penitent is only a foil to the lustre of his own virtues, and gives the zest of contrast to his own insatiable vanity. The very pronoun has the ring of scorn in it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-12.htm">Luke 18:12</a></div><div class="verse">I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">I fast twice in the week.</span>—From the negative side of his self-analysis the Pharisee passes to the positive. The Stoic Emperor is a little less systematic, or rather groups his thanksgiving after a different plan, and, it must be owned, with a higher ethical standard. On the fasts of the Pharisees on the third and fifth days of the week, see Note on <a href="/matthew/6-16.htm" title="Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.">Matthew 6:16</a>.<p><span class= "bld">I give tithes of all that I possess.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">of all that I acquire,</span> as in <a href="/matthew/10-9.htm" title="Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,">Matthew 10:9</a>; <a href="/acts/1-18.htm" title="Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out.">Acts 1:18</a>. Tithe was a tax on produce, not on property. The boast of the Pharisee is, that he paid the lesser tithes, as well as the greater—of mint, anise, and cummin (<a href="/matthew/23-23.htm" title="Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.">Matthew 23:23</a>), as well as of corn and wine and oil. There is something obviously intended to be significant in the man’s selection of the good deeds on which he plumes himself. He does not think, as Job did in his boasting mood, that he had been “a father to the poor,” and had “made the widow’s heart to sing for joy” (<a href="/job/29-13.htm" title="The blessing of him that was ready to perish came on me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.">Job 29:13</a>; <a href="/job/29-16.htm" title="I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.">Job 29:16</a>), nor look back, as Nehemiah looked, upon good deeds done for his country (<a href="/nehemiah/13-14.htm" title="Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.">Nehemiah 13:14</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/13-22.htm" title="And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy.">Nehemiah 13:22</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/13-31.htm" title="And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.">Nehemiah 13:31</a>) in the work of reformation. For him fasting and tithes have come to supersede the “weightier matters of the Law” (<a href="/matthew/23-23.htm" title="Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.">Matthew 23:23</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-13.htm">Luke 18:13</a></div><div class="verse">And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as <i>his</i> eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">The publican, standing afar off.</span>—The words point to a sense of shame which kept the publican away from the crowd of worshippers who pressed forward to the ark-end of the outer court of the Temple—away, above all, from the devout and respectable Pharisee. So might some “forlorn and desperate castaway” crouch, at some solemn service, in the remote corner of the nave of a cathedral. He, too, stood, for that was the received attitude of prayer, and kneeling, at such a time and in that place, would have been ostentatious.<p><span class= "bld">Would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven.</span>—There is a subtle delineation of what one may call the physiognomy of repentance, which should not pass unnoticed. The downcast look stands in contrast with the supercilious expression (taking the adjective in its most literal sense) of the Pharisee.<p><span class= "bld">But smote upon his breast.</span>—The same act meets us as the expression of extremest sorrow in those who stood by the cross (<a href="/luke/23-48.htm" title="And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.">Luke 23:48</a>). Looked at physiologically, it seems to imply a tension of the vessels of the heart, such as we all feel in deep emotion, to which outward impact seems, in some measure, to minister relief. So men strike their chest, when suffering from cold, to quicken the circulation of the blood. As being spontaneous and involuntary, it attested the reality of the emotion, and contrasted with the calm, fixed attitude of the Pharisee.<p><span class= "bld">God be merciful to me a sinner.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">to me the sinner,</span> as though, like St. Paul, he singled out his own guilt as exceptional, and thought of himself as “the chief of sinners” (<a href="/1_timothy/1-15.htm" title="This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.">1Timothy 1:15</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-14.htm">Luke 18:14</a></div><div class="verse">I tell you, this man went down to his house justified <i>rather</i> than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">This man went down to his house, justified rather than the other.</span>—The Greek participle is in the perfect, implying a completed and abiding justification. There is something suggestive in the fact that the “house” is made the test in each case. Home-life is the test of the reality and acceptableness of our worship. The Pharisee, in spite of his self-fratulation, betrayed a conscience ill at ease by irritability, harshness, sitting in judgment upon others. The publican, not in spite of his self-condemnation, but by reason of it, went home with a new sense of peace, showing itself in a new gentleness and cheerfulness.<p><span class= "bld">For every one that exalteth himself.</span>—Comp. Note on <a href="/luke/14-11.htm" title="For whoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.">Luke 14:11</a>. What had there been said, in its bearing on man’s outward life, and as shown by the judgment of men, is here transferred, the law remaining the same, to the higher regions of the spiritual life and to God’s judgment. In both cases there is a needless variation in the English version, the Greek giving the same verb for both “abased” and “humbleth.”<p>The lessons of the parable force themselves upon every reader. The spirit of religious egotism, however, is not easily exorcised, and we need, perhaps, to be reminded that the temper of the Pharisee may learn to veil itself in the language of the publican, men confessing that they are “miserable sinners,” and resting, with a secret self-satisfaction in the confession; or that, conversely, the publican—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> the openly non-religious man—may cease to smite upon his breast, and may come to give God thanks that he is not as the Pharisee.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-15.htm">Luke 18:15</a></div><div class="verse">And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when <i>his</i> disciples saw <i>it</i>, they rebuked them.</div>(15-17) <span class= "bld">And they brought unto him also infants.</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/19-13.htm" title="Then were there brought to him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.">Matthew 19:13-15</a>; <a href="/context/mark/10-13.htm" title="And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.">Mark 10:13-16</a>. St. Luke, for some reason or other (possibly because he had recorded like teaching in <a href="/luke/16-18.htm" title="Whoever puts away his wife, and marries another, commits adultery: and whoever marries her that is put away from her husband commits adultery.">Luke 16:18</a>), omits the previous teaching as to divorce. The use of the specific word for “infants” is peculiar to him. The use of the word in <a href="/luke/1-41.htm" title="And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:">Luke 1:41</a>; <a href="/luke/1-44.htm" title="For, see, as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.">Luke 1:44</a>; <a href="/luke/2-12.htm" title="And this shall be a sign to you; You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.">Luke 2:12</a>; <a href="/luke/2-16.htm" title="And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.">Luke 2:16</a>, where it is rendered “babe,” shows that it includes the very earliest stage of childhood, and so is not without its importance in its bearing on the question of infant baptism, so far as that question is affected by this narrative.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-16.htm">Luke 18:16</a></div><div class="verse">But Jesus called them <i>unto him</i>, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">Suffer little children to come unto me.</span>—The close agreement with St. Mark in this and the following verse, makes it probable that this is one of the passages which St. Luke derived from personal communication with him. (See <span class= "ital">Introduction.</span>)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-18.htm">Luke 18:18</a></div><div class="verse">And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?</div>(18-23) <span class= "bld">And a certain ruler asked him, . . .</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/19-16.htm" title="And, behold, one came and said to him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?">Matthew 19:16-25</a>; <a href="/context/mark/10-17.htm" title="And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?">Mark 10:17-22</a>. St. Luke alone describes the inquirer as a “ruler.” As used without any defining genitive, and interpreted by <a href="/luke/23-13.htm" title="And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,">Luke 23:13</a>; <a href="/luke/23-35.htm" title="And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.">Luke 23:35</a>, <a href="/john/3-1.htm" title="There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:">John 3:1</a>; <a href="/john/7-26.htm" title="But, see, he speaks boldly, and they say nothing to him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?">John 7:26</a>; <a href="/john/7-48.htm" title="Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?">John 7:48</a>, <span class= "ital">et al.,</span> it seems to imply that he was a member of the Council or <span class= "ital">Sanhedrin.</span> The term “youth,” in <a href="/matthew/19-20.htm" title="The young man said to him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?">Matthew 19:20</a>, is not at variance with this inference. It is defined by Philo as including the period between twenty-one and twenty-eight—an age at which a place in the Council was probably open to one who was commended both by his wealth and his devotion. St. Paul obviously occupied a position of great influence at a time when he is described as a “young man” (<a href="/acts/7-58.htm" title="And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.">Acts 7:58</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-19.htm">Luke 18:19</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none <i>is</i> good, save one, <i>that is</i>, God.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">Why callest thou me good?</span>—The agreement with St. Mark is again closer than with St. Matthew.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-20.htm">Luke 18:20</a></div><div class="verse">Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">Thou knowest the commandments.</span>—St. Luke here agrees with St. Matthew in omitting the “defraud not,” which we find in St. Mark.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-21.htm">Luke 18:21</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">From my youth up.</span>—The detail may be noted as a point in common with St. Mark, as also is the omission of the question, “What lack I yet?” given in St. Matthew.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-22.htm">Luke 18:22</a></div><div class="verse">Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Yet lackest thou one thing.</span>—It may be noted that the words almost imply the previous question, which has just been referred to.<p><span class= "bld">And come, follow me.</span>—St. Luke, with St. Matthew, omits the “taking up thy cross,” which is found in many, but not all, MSS. of St. Mark.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-23.htm">Luke 18:23</a></div><div class="verse">And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">He was very sorrowful.</span>—St. Luke’s word stands half-way between St. Matthew’s “sorrowing” and St. Mark’s vivid “lowering” or “frowning.” (See Note on <a href="/mark/10-22.htm" title="And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.">Mark 10:22</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">He was very rich.</span>—St. Luke’s equivalent for <span class= "ital">he had great possessions.</span> There is, perhaps, something suggestive, especially on the view which has been taken as to the identity of the young ruler, and the purport of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, in the use of the very same adjective as had been employed in that parable.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-24.htm">Luke 18:24</a></div><div class="verse">And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!</div>(24-27) <span class= "bld">When Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful.</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/19-23.htm" title="Then said Jesus to his disciples, Truly I say to you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.">Matthew 19:23-26</a>; <a href="/context/mark/10-23.htm" title="And Jesus looked round about, and said to his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!">Mark 10:23-27</a>. The better MSS. give simply, “When Jesus saw him, He said . . .”<p><span class= "bld">How hardly shall they that have riches . . .</span>—Another verbal agreement with St. Mark.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-25.htm">Luke 18:25</a></div><div class="verse">For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">Through a needle’s eye.</span>—The Greek word for “needle” in the better MSS. differs from that in St. Matthew and St. Mark, and is a more classical word. That which the others use was unknown to Attic writers. The fact, small as it is, takes its place among the signs of St. Luke’s culture.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-26.htm">Luke 18:26</a></div><div class="verse">And they that heard <i>it</i> said, Who then can be saved?</div>(26) <span class= "bld">And they that heard it.</span>—St. Luke’s way of putting the fact suggests the thought either that others may have been present besides the disciples who are named in the other Gospels, or that only some of the disciples heard what had been said.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-27.htm">Luke 18:27</a></div><div class="verse">And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">The things which are impossible with men.</span>—The answer is substantially the same as we find in the other Gospels, but it assumes in St. Luke something more of the form of a generalised axiom.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-28.htm">Luke 18:28</a></div><div class="verse">Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.</div>(28-30) <span class= "bld">Then Peter said, . . .</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/19-27.htm" title="Then answered Peter and said to him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed you; what shall we have therefore?">Matthew 19:27-30</a>; <a href="/mark/10-28.htm" title="Then Peter began to say to him, See, we have left all, and have followed you.">Mark 10:28</a>. The better MSS. have, “We have left our own (possessions).” “All” was probably substituted from a recollection of the words as found in the other reports.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-29.htm">Luke 18:29</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake,</div>(29) <span class= "bld">There is no man that hath left . . .</span>—There is possibly something characteristic in the omission of the “lands,” which we find in the other Gospels. To leave a “house” implied the breaking-up of the life of home and its relationships, but the companion of Paul and Barnabas might well have thought so little of parting with a “field,” as a simple possession (comp. <a href="/context/acts/1-18.htm" title="Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out.">Acts 1:18-19</a>; <a href="/acts/4-34.htm" title="Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,">Acts 4:34</a>), that the word hardly dwelt upon his memory as connected with the idea of a special and extraordinary sacrifice.<p><span class= "bld">For the kingdom of God’s sake.</span>—Note the freedom of reporting in the substitution of this phrase in the place of “for My name’s sake,” in St. Matthew, and “for My sake and the gospel’s” in St. Mark.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-30.htm">Luke 18:30</a></div><div class="verse">Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">Who shall not receive manifold more.</span>—Note, as again, perhaps, characteristic, the omission of the essentially Jewish image of the “sitting on twelve thrones” in St. Matthew, of the clause “with persecutions,” in St. Mark, and of the words, “Many that are first shall be last . . .” which we find in both.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-31.htm">Luke 18:31</a></div><div class="verse">Then he took <i>unto him</i> the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.</div>(31-34) <span class= "bld">Then he took unto him the twelve.</span>—See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/20-17.htm" title="And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said to them,">Matthew 20:17-19</a>; <a href="/context/mark/10-32.htm" title="And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen to him,">Mark 10:32-34</a>. St. Luke, like St. Mark, passes over the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. The insertion of the reference to the prophecies of the Passion is, on the other hand, peculiar to him, and is, perhaps, connected with the prominence given to those prophecies in <a href="/luke/24-27.htm" title="And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.">Luke 24:27</a>; <a href="/context/luke/24-44.htm" title="And he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.">Luke 24:44-45</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-32.htm">Luke 18:32</a></div><div class="verse">For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:</div>(32) <span class= "bld">He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles.</span>—The words are nearly the same as in the other Gospels, but the “spitefully entreated” is peculiar to St. Luke.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-34.htm">Luke 18:34</a></div><div class="verse">And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.</div>(34) <span class= "bld">They understood none of these things.</span>—The whole verse is peculiar to St. Luke, and reproduces what had been said before in <a href="/luke/9-45.htm" title="But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.">Luke 9:45</a>, where see Note. It is as though his professional habit of analysis led him to dwell on these psychological phenomena as explaining the subsequent bewilderment of the disciples, and their slowness to believe that their Lord had risen from the dead (<a href="/luke/24-11.htm" title="And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.">Luke 24:11</a>; <a href="/luke/24-21.htm" title="But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.">Luke 24:21</a>; <a href="/luke/24-25.htm" title="Then he said to them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:">Luke 24:25</a>; <a href="/luke/24-38.htm" title="And he said to them, Why are you troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?">Luke 24:38</a>). They heard the words, but, as we say, did not “take in” their meaning. For a like analysis, see Note on <a href="/luke/22-45.htm" title="And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,">Luke 22:45</a>.<p><span class= "bld">This saying was hid from them.</span>—The verb so rendered occurs here only in the New Testament. Its precise meaning is “covered” or “veiled,” rather than hidden. Some such thought of dimmed perception was in St. Paul’s mind when he said of the unbelieving Jews that, as they heard the Law and the Prophets, “the veil was upon their hearts” (<a href="/2_corinthians/3-15.htm" title="But even to this day, when Moses is read, the veil is on their heart.">2Corinthians 3:15</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-35.htm">Luke 18:35</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:</div>(35) <span class= "bld">As he was come nigh unto Jericho.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">as He was coming nigh.</span> See Notes on <a href="/context/matthew/20-29.htm" title="And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.">Matthew 20:29-34</a>; <a href="/context/mark/10-46.htm" title="And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.">Mark 10:46-52</a>. St. Luke, for some reason, passes over the ambitious request of the sons of Zebedee. He agrees with St. Mark, and not with St. Matthew, as to there being <span class= "ital">one</span> blind man, and as to the miracle being wrought on the approach to Jericho, not on the departure from it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-36.htm">Luke 18:36</a></div><div class="verse">And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.</div>(36) <span class= "bld">Hearing the multitude pass by.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">a multitude,</span> the Greek having no article, and its absence better expressing the vague impression left on the blind man by the sound of many footsteps and voices.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-39.htm">Luke 18:39</a></div><div class="verse">And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, <i>Thou</i> Son of David, have mercy on me.</div>(39) <span class= "bld">They which went before</span>—<span class= "ital">viz.,</span> those who were in advance of Jesus; probably, if we suppose <a href="/mark/10-32.htm" title="And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen to him,">Mark 10:32</a> to represent the usual order, not the disciples, but a portion of the crowd. On “the Son of David,” see Note on <a href="/matthew/9-27.htm" title="And when Jesus departed there, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, You son of David, have mercy on us.">Matthew 9:27</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-41.htm">Luke 18:41</a></div><div class="verse">Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.</div>(41) <span class= "bld">Lord, that I may receive my sight.</span>—As St. Luke uses “Lord” (<span class= "ital">kyrie</span>) for St. Mark’s “Rabboni,” it may be inferred that he uses it in a somewhat higher sense than either of his two words for Master. (See Notes on <a href="/luke/5-5.htm" title="And Simon answering said to him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.">Luke 5:5</a>; <a href="/luke/8-24.htm" title="And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.">Luke 8:24</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-42.htm">Luke 18:42</a></div><div class="verse">And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.</div>(42) <span class= "bld">Thy faith hath saved thee.</span>—Better, as in St. Mark, <span class= "ital">Thy faith hath made thee whole,</span> the immediate reference being obviously to the restoration of the man’s sight, and that which was in the immediate future being recognised as already ideally completed. Beyond this, as in the use of the same formula in <a href="/luke/7-50.htm" title="And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go in peace.">Luke 7:50</a>, there lies in the word a reference to the salvation, the healthiness of spiritual vision, of which the restoration of bodily sight was at once the type and the earnest.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/luke/18-43.htm">Luke 18:43</a></div><div class="verse">And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw <i>it</i>, gave praise unto God.</div>(43) <span class= "bld">Glorifying God.</span>—The account of the effect of the miracle on the blind man himself, and on the people, is peculiar to St. Luke, and seems to belong to the class of phenomena which he loved to study (<a href="/context/luke/5-25.htm" title="And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that where on he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.">Luke 5:25-26</a>; <a href="/luke/7-16.htm" title="And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God has visited his people.">Luke 7:16</a>; <a href="/acts/3-8.htm" title="And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.">Acts 3:8</a>; <a href="/context/acts/14-10.htm" title="Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on your feet. And he leaped and walked.">Acts 14:10-11</a>).<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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