62 lines
12 KiB
HTML
62 lines
12 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
|
|
<script src="../../../js/basepath.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/nav.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainHeader.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script type="text/javascript">
|
|
PriorBook = 'Mark';
|
|
PriorBookURL = './Comm/jfb/Mar/Mar000.html';
|
|
PriorChapter = 'Luke 13';
|
|
PriorChapterURL = './Comm/jfb/Luk/Luk013.html';
|
|
NextBook = 'John';
|
|
NextBookURL = './Comm/jfb/Jhn/Jhn000.html';
|
|
NextChapter = 'Luke 15';
|
|
NextChapterURL = './Comm/jfb/Luk/Luk015.html';
|
|
Title = 'The Gospel According to Luke';
|
|
SubTitle1 = 'Commentary by DAVID BROWN';
|
|
SubTitle2 = '';
|
|
SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 14';
|
|
SubTitle3Cased = 'Chapter 14';
|
|
Author = ' Jamieson, Fausset & Brown';
|
|
imageMasthead = 'jfb.gif';
|
|
authorCite = 'Robert Jamieson; A.R. Fausset; and David Brown';
|
|
</script>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/JFB.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
</head><body>
|
|
<p id="Chapter14" align="center">Commentary by DAVID BROWN<br>CHAPTER 14
|
|
<p id="Lu14_1"><a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,'1-24');">Luk 14:1-24</a>. HEALING OF A DROPSICAL MAN, AND MANIFOLD TEACHINGS AT A SABBATH FEAST.
|
|
<p id="Lu14_2"><b>2. man before him</b>—not one of the company, since this was apparently <i>before</i> the guests sat down, and probably the man came in hope of a cure, though not expressly soliciting it [DE WETTE].
|
|
<p id="Lu14_3"><b>3-6.</b> (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Mat/Mat012.html#Mt12_11">Mt 12:11-12</a>).
|
|
<p id="Lu14_7"><b>7-11. a parable</b>—showing that His design was not so much to inculcate mere politeness or good manners, as <i>underneath</i> this to teach something <i>deeper</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,11);">Luk 14:11</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>chief rooms</b>—principal seats, in the middle part of the couch on which they reclined at meals, esteemed the most honorable.
|
|
<p id="Lu14_8"><b>8. wedding</b>—and seating thyself at the wedding <i>feast.</i> Our Lord avoids the appearance of personality by this delicate allusion to a different kind of entertainment than this of his host [BENGEL].
|
|
<p id="Lu14_9"><b>9. the lowest</b>—not a <i>lower</i> merely [BENGEL].
|
|
<br><br><b>with shame</b>—"To be lowest is only ignominious to him who affects the highest" [BENGEL].
|
|
<p id="Lu14_10"><b>10. Friend</b>—said to the <i>modest</i> guest only, not the proud one (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,9);">Luk 14:9</a>) [BENGEL].
|
|
<br><br><b>worship</b>—honor. The whole of this is but a reproduction of <a onclick="return mV('Pro',25,6,7);">Pro 25:6-7</a>. But it was reserved for the matchless Teacher to <i>utter articulately,</i> and <i>apply to the regulation of the minutest features of social life,</i> such <i>great laws of the Kingdom of God,</i> as that of <a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,11);">Luk 14:11</a>.
|
|
<p id="Lu14_11"><b>11. whosoever,</b> etc.—couching them in a chaste simplicity and proverbial terseness of style which makes them "apples of gold in a setting of silver." (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Luk/Luk018.html#Lu18_14">Luk 18:14</a>).
|
|
<p id="Lu14_12"><b>12-14. call not thy friends</b>—Jesus certainly did not mean us to dispense with the duties of ordinary fellowship, but, remitting these to their proper place, inculcates what is better [BENGEL].
|
|
<br><br><b>lest...a recompense be given thee</b>—a fear the world is not afflicted with [BENGEL]. The meaning, however, is that no <i>exercise of principle</i> is involved in it, as selfishness itself will suffice to prompt to it (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',5,46,47);">Mat 5:46-47</a>).
|
|
<p id="Lu14_13"><b>13. call the poor</b>—"Such God Himself calls" (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,21);">Luk 14:21</a>) [BENGEL].
|
|
<p id="Lu14_14"><b>14. blessed</b>—acting from disinterested, god-like compassion for the wretched.
|
|
<p id="Lu14_15"><b>15-24. when one...heard...he said, Blessed,</b> etc.—As our Lord's words seemed to hold forth the future "recompense" under the idea of a great Feast, the thought passes through this man's mind, how blessed they would be who should be honored to sit down to it. Our Lord's reply is in substance this: "The great Feast is prepared already; the invitations are issued, <i>but declined;</i> the feast, notwithstanding, shall not want abundance of guests; but not one of its present contemners—who shall yet come to sue for admission—shall be allowed to taste of it." This shows what was lacking in the seemingly pious exclamation of this man. It was Balaam's, "Let me <i>die the death</i> of the righteous, and let my last end be like his" (<a onclick="return mV('Num',23,10);">Num 23:10</a>), without any anxiety about <i>living his life;</i> fondly wishing that all were right with him <i>at last,</i> while all heedless of the precious <i>present.</i>
|
|
<p id="Lu14_16"><b>16. a great supper</b>—(Compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',25,6);">Isa 25:6</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>bade many</b>—<i>historically,</i> the Jews (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Mat/Mat022.html#Mt22_3">Mat 22:3</a>); generally, those within the pale of professed discipleship.
|
|
<p id="Lu14_17"><b>17. supper-time...all now ready</b>—pointing undoubtedly to the now ripening preparations for the great Gospel call. (See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Mat/Mat022.html#Mt22_4">Mat 22:4</a>.)
|
|
<p id="Lu14_18"><b>18. all began to make excuse</b>—(Compare <a onclick="return mV('Mat',22,5);">Mat 22:5</a>). Three excuses, given as specimens of the rest, answer to "the <i>care of this world</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,18);">Luk 14:18</a>), "the <i>deceitfulness of riches</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,19);">Luk 14:19</a>), and "the <i>pleasures of this life</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,20);">Luk 14:20</a>), which "choke the word" (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',13,22);">Mat 13:22</a>). Each differs from the other, and each has its own plausibility, but <i>all come to the same result:</i> "We have other things to attend to, more pressing just now." Nobody is represented as saying, I <i>will not</i> come; nay, all the answers imply that <i>but for</i> certain things they <i>would</i> come, and when these are out of the way they <i>will</i> come. So it certainly is in the case intended, for the last words clearly imply that the <i>refusers</i> will one day become <i>petitioners.</i>
|
|
<p id="Lu14_21"><b>21. came, and showed,</b> etc.—saying as in <a onclick="return mV('Isa',53,1);">Isa 53:1</a>. "It is the part of ministers to report to the Lord in their prayers the compliance or refusal of their hearers" [BENGEL].
|
|
<br><br><b>angry</b>—in one sense a <i>gracious</i> word, showing how sincere he was in issuing his invitations (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',33,11);">Eze 33:11</a>). But it is the <i>slight</i> put upon him, the sense of which is intended to be marked by this word.
|
|
<br><br><b>streets and lanes</b>—<i>historically,</i> those within the same pale of "the city" of God as the former class, but the despised and outcasts of the nation, the "publicans and sinners" [TRENCH]; generally, all similar classes, usually overlooked in the first provision for supplying the means of grace to a community, half heathen in the midst of revealed light, and in every sense miserable.
|
|
<p id="Lu14_22"><b>22. yet there is room</b>—implying that these classes <i>had</i> embraced the invitation (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',21,32);">Mat 21:32</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mar',12,37);">Mar 12:37</a>, last clause; <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',7,48,49);">Jhn 7:48-49</a>); and beautifully expressing the longing that should fill the hearts of ministers to see their Master's table filled.
|
|
<p id="Lu14_23"><b>23. highways and hedges</b>—outside the city altogether; <i>historically,</i> the heathen, sunk in the lowest depths of spiritual wretchedness, as being beyond the pale of all that is revealed and saving, "without Christ, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,12);">Eph 2:12</a>); generally, all such still. Thus, this parable <i>prophetically</i> contemplates the extension of the kingdom of God to the whole world; and <i>spiritually,</i> directs the Gospel invitations to be carried to the lowest strata, and be brought in contact with the outermost circles, of human society.
|
|
<br><br><b>compel them to come in</b>—not as if they would make the "excuses" of the first class, but because it would be hard to get them over two difficulties: (1) "We are not fit company for such a feast." (2) "We have no proper dress, and are ill in order for such a presence." How fitly does this represent the difficulties and fears of the <i>sincere!</i> How is this met? "Take no excuse—make them come as they are—bring them along with you." What a directory for ministers of Christ!
|
|
<br><br><b>that my house may be filled</b>—"Grace no more than nature will endure a vacuum" [BENGEL].
|
|
<p id="Lu14_24"><b>24. I say unto you, That none</b>—Our Lord here appears to throw off the veil of the parable, and proclaim the Supper <i>His own,</i> intimating that when transferred and transformed into its final glorious form, and the refusers themselves would give all for another opportunity, He will not allow one of them to taste it. (<i>Note.</i> This parable must not be confounded with that of <a onclick="return mV('Pro',1,'24-33');">Pro 1:24-33</a>; <i>The Marriage Supper,</i> <a onclick="return mV('Mat',22,'2-14');">Mat 22:2-14</a>).
|
|
<p id="Lu14_25"><a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,'25-35');">Luk 14:25-35</a>. ADDRESS TO GREAT MULTITUDES TRAVELLING WITH HIM.
|
|
<p><b>25. great multitudes with him</b>—on His final journey to Jerusalem. The "great multitudes" were doubtless people going to the passover, who moved along in clusters (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',2,44);">Luk 2:44</a>), and who on this occasion falling in with our Lord had formed themselves into one mass about Him.
|
|
<p id="Lu14_26"><b>26, 27. If any <i>man,</i></b> etc.—(See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Mat/Mat010.html#Mt10_34">Mat 10:34-36</a>, and <a onclick="return mV('Mar',8,34,35);">Mar 8:34-35</a>).
|
|
<p id="Lu14_28"><b>28-33. which of you,</b> etc.—Common sense teaches men not to <i>begin</i> any costly work without first seeing that they have wherewithal to <i>finish.</i> And he who does otherwise exposes himself to general ridicule. Nor will any wise potentate enter on a war with any hostile power without first seeing to it that, despite formidable odds (two to one), he be able to stand his ground; and if he has no hope of this, he will feel that nothing remains for him but to make the best terms he can. <i>Even so,</i> says our Lord, "in the warfare you will each have to wage as My disciples, despise not your enemy's strength, for the odds are all against you; and you had better see to it that, despite every disadvantage, you still have wherewithal to hold out and win the day, or else not begin at all, and make the best you can in such awful circumstances." In this simple sense of the parable (STIER, ALFORD, etc., go wide of the mark here in making the enemy to be <i>God,</i> because of the "conditions of peace," <a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,32);">Luk 14:32</a>), two things are taught: (1) Better not begin (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',3,15);">Rev 3:15</a>), than begin and not finish. (2) Though the contest for salvation be on our part an awfully unequal one, <i>the human will,</i> in the exercise of that "faith which overcometh the world" (<a onclick="return mV('1Jo',5,4);">1Jo 5:4</a>), and nerved by power from above, which "out of <i>weakness</i> makes it <i>strong</i>" (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',11,34);">Hbr 11:34</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Pe',1,5);">1Pe 1:5</a>), becomes heroical and will come off "more than conqueror." But without <i>absolute surrender of self</i> the contest is hopeless (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',14,33);">Luk 14:33</a>).
|
|
<p id="Lu14_34"><b>34, 35. Salt,</b> etc.—(See on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Mat/Mat005.html#Mt5_13">Mat 5:13-16</a>; and <a onclick="return mV('Mar',9,50);">Mar 9:50</a>).
|
|
</div></div><div class="return"><a href="#top">Return to Top</a></div>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainFooter.js" type="text/javascript"></script> |