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Luke 10:21 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

21 In that same hour he was full of joy in the Holy Spirit and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children: for so, O Father, it was pleasing in your eyes.

Cross Reference

2 Corinthians 4:3 BBE

But if our good news is veiled, it is veiled from those who are on the way to destruction:

1 Corinthians 2:6-8 BBE

But still we have wisdom for those who are complete in knowledge, though not the wisdom of this world, and not of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing: But we give the news of the secret wisdom of God, which he had kept in store before the world came into existence, for our glory; Of which not one of the rulers of this world had knowledge: for if they had, they would not have put the Lord of glory on the cross:

Colossians 2:2-3 BBE

So that their hearts may be comforted, and that being joined together in love, they may come to the full wealth of the certain knowledge of the secret of God, even Christ, In whom are all the secret stores of wisdom and knowledge.

Ephesians 1:11 BBE

In whom we have a heritage, being marked out from the first in his purpose who does all things in agreement with his designs;

Ephesians 1:5 BBE

As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose,

Matthew 16:17 BBE

And Jesus made answer and said to him, A blessing on you, Simon Bar-jonah: because this knowledge has not come to you from flesh and blood, but from my Father in heaven.

Matthew 13:11-16 BBE

And he said to them in answer, To you is given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Because whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have more; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. For this reason I put things into the form of stories; because they see without seeing, and give ear without hearing, and the sense is not clear to them. And for them the words of Isaiah have come true, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you: For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well. But a blessing be on your eyes, because they see; and on your ears, because they are open.

Isaiah 66:1 BBE

The Lord says, Heaven is the seat of my power, and earth is the resting-place for my feet: what sort of house will you make for me, and what place will be my resting-place?

Matthew 11:25-27 BBE

At that time Jesus made answer and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children. Yes, Father, for so it was pleasing in your eyes. All things have been given to me by my Father; and no one has knowledge of the Son, but the Father; and no one has knowledge of the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will make it clear.

1 Corinthians 1:9-29 BBE

God is true, through whom you have been given a part with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I make request to you, my brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you will all say the same thing, and that there may be no divisions among you, so that you may be in complete agreement, in the same mind and in the same opinion. Because it has come to my knowledge, through those of the house of Chloe, that there are divisions among you, my brothers. That is, that some of you say, I am of Paul; some say, I am of Apollos; some say, I am of Cephas; and some say, I am Christ's. Is there a division in Christ? was Paul nailed to the cross for you? or were you given baptism in the name of Paul? I give praise to God that not one of you had baptism from me, but Crispus and Gaius; So that no one may be able to say that you had baptism in my name. And I gave baptism to the house of Stephanas; but I am not certain that any others had baptism from me. For Christ sent me, not to give baptism, but to be a preacher of the good news: not with wise words, for fear that the cross of Christ might be made of no value. For the word of the cross seems foolish to those who are on the way to destruction; but to us who are on the way to salvation it is the power of God. As it says in the holy Writings, I will put an end to the wisdom of the wise, and will put on one side the designs of those who have knowledge. Where is the wise? where is he who has knowledge of the law? where is the man of this world who has a love of discussion? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For because, by the purpose of God, the world, with all its wisdom, had not the knowledge of God, it was God's pleasure, by so foolish a thing as preaching, to give salvation to those who had faith in him. Seeing that the Jews make request for signs, and the Greeks are looking for knowledge: But we give the good news of Christ on the cross, a hard thing to the Jews, and a foolish thing to the Gentiles; But to those of God's selection, Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God. Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honour, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God.

John 17:24-26 BBE

Father, it is my desire that these whom you have given to me may be by my side where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given to me, because you had love for me before the world came into being. Father of righteousness, I have knowledge of you, though the world has not; and to these it is clear that you sent me; And I have given to them knowledge of your name, and will give it, so that the love which you have for me may be in them and I in them.

Luke 15:9 BBE

And when she has it again, she gets her friends and neighbours together, saying, Be glad with me, for I have got back the bit of silver which had gone from me.

Luke 15:5 BBE

And when he has got it again, he takes it in his arms with joy.

Matthew 21:16 BBE

Have you any idea what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, Yes: have you not seen in the Writings, From the lips of children and babies at the breast you have made your praise complete?

Zephaniah 3:17 BBE

The Lord your God is among you, as a strong saviour: he will be glad over you with joy, he will make his love new again, he will make a song of joy over you as in the time of a holy feast.

Isaiah 53:11 BBE

... made clear his righteousness before men ... had taken their sins on himself.

Psalms 8:2 BBE

You have made clear your strength even out of the mouths of babies at the breast, because of those who are against you; so that you may put to shame the cruel and violent man.

Job 5:12-14 BBE

Who makes the designs of the wise go wrong, so that they are unable to give effect to their purposes. He takes the wise in their secret designs, and the purposes of the twisted are cut off suddenly. In the daytime it becomes dark for them, and in the sunlight they go feeling about as if it was night.

1 Peter 2:1-2 BBE

So putting away all wrongdoing, and all tricks and deceits and envies and evil talk, Be full of desire for the true milk of the word, as babies at their mothers' breasts, so that you may go on to salvation;

1 Corinthians 3:18-20 BBE

Let no man have a false idea. If any man seems to himself to be wise among you, let him become foolish, so that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolish before God. As it is said in the holy Writings, He who takes the wise in their secret designs: And again, The Lord has knowledge of the reasonings of the wise, that they are nothing.

John 11:41 BBE

So they took away the stone. And Jesus, looking up to heaven, said, Father, I give praise to you for hearing me.

Mark 10:15 BBE

Truly I say to you, Whoever does not put himself under the kingdom of God like a little child, will not come into it at all.

Isaiah 62:5 BBE

For as a young man takes a virgin for his wife, so will your maker be married to you: and as a husband has joy in his bride, so will the Lord your God be glad over you.

Isaiah 35:8 BBE

And a highway will be there; its name will be, The Holy Way; the unclean and the sinner may not go over it, and those who go on it will not be turned out of the way by the foolish.

Isaiah 29:18-19 BBE

And in that day those whose ears are stopped will be hearing the words of the book; and the eyes of the blind will see through the mist and the dark. And the poor will have their joy in the Lord increased, and those in need will be glad in the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 29:14 BBE

For this cause I will again do a strange thing among this people, a thing to be wondered at: and the wisdom of their wise men will come to nothing, and the sense of their guides will no longer be seen.

Psalms 25:14 BBE

The secret of the Lord is with those in whose hearts is the fear of him; he will make his agreement clear to them.

Psalms 24:1 BBE

<A Psalm. Of David.> The earth is the Lord's, with all its wealth; the world and all the people living in it.

Commentary on Luke 10 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 10

Lu 10:1-24. Mission of the Seventy Disciples, and Their Return.

As our Lord's end approaches, the preparations for the establishment of the coming Kingdom are quickened and extended.

1. the Lord—a becoming title here, as this appointment was an act truly lordly [Bengel].

other seventy also—rather, "others (also in number), seventy"; probably with allusion to the seventy elders of Israel on whom the Spirit descended in the wilderness (Nu 11:24, 25). The mission, unlike that of the Twelve, was evidently quite temporary. All the instructions are in keeping with a brief and hasty pioneering mission, intended to supply what of general preparation for coming events the Lord's own visit afterwards to the same "cities and places" (Lu 10:1) would not, from want of time, now suffice to accomplish; whereas the instructions to the Twelve, besides embracing all those to the Seventy, contemplate world-wide and permanent effects. Accordingly, after their return from this single missionary tour, we never again read of the Seventy.

2. The harvest, &c.—(See on Mt 9:37).

pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest—(See on Mt 9:38).

3-12. (See on Mt 10:7-16).

10. son of peace—inwardly prepared to embrace your message of peace. See note on "worthy," (see on Mt 10:13).

12-15. (See on Mt 11:20-24).

for Sodom—Tyre and Sidon were ruined by commercial prosperity; Sodom sank through its vile pollutions: but the doom of otherwise correct persons who, amidst a blaze of light, reject the Saviour, shall be less endurable than that of any of these.

16. He that, &c.—(See on Mt 10:40).

17. returned—evidently not long away.

Lord, &c.—"Thou hast exceeded Thy promise, for 'even the devils,'" &c. The possession of such power, not being expressly in their commission, as in that to the Twelve (Lu 9:1), filled them with more astonishment and joy than all else.

through thy name—taking no credit to themselves, but feeling lifted into a region of unimagined superiority to the powers of evil simply through their connection with Christ.

18. I beheld—As much of the force of this glorious statement depends on the nice shade of sense indicated by the imperfect tense in the original, it should be brought out in the translation: "I was beholding Satan as lightning falling from heaven"; that is, "I followed you on your mission, and watched its triumphs; while you were wondering at the subjection to you of devils in My name, a grander spectacle was opening to My view; sudden as the darting of lightning from heaven to earth, lo! Satan was beheld falling from heaven!" How remarkable is this, that by that law of association which connects a part with the whole, those feeble triumphs of the Seventy seem to have not only brought vividly before the Redeemer the whole ultimate result of His mission, but compressed it into a moment and quickened it into the rapidity of lightning! Note.—The word rendered "devils," is always used for those spiritual agents employed in demoniacal possessions—never for the ordinary agency of Satan in rational men. When therefore the Seventy say, "the devils [demons] are subject to us," and Jesus replies, "Mine eye was beholding Satan falling," it is plain that He meant to raise their minds not only from the particular to the general, but from a very temporary form of satanic operation to the entire kingdom of evil. (See Joh 12:31; and compare Isa 14:12).

19. Behold, I give you, &c.—not for any renewal of their mission, though probably many of them afterwards became ministers of Christ; but simply as disciples.

serpents and scorpions—the latter more venomous than the former: literally, in the first instance (Mr 16:17, 18; Ac 28:5); but the next words, "and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you," show that the glorious power of faith to "overcome the world" and "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one," by the communication and maintenance of which to His people He makes them innocuous, is what is meant (1Jo 5:4; Eph 6:16).

20. rejoice not, &c.—that is, not so much. So far from forbidding it, He takes occasion from it to tell them what had been passing in His own mind. But as power over demons was after all intoxicating, He gives them a higher joy to balance it, the joy of having their names in Heaven's register (Php 4:3).

21, 22. Jesus … said, &c.—The very same sublime words were uttered by our Lord on a former similar occasion (see on Mt 11:25-27); but (1) There we are merely told that He "answered and said" thus; here, He "rejoiced in spirit and said," &c. (2) There it was merely "at that time" (or season) that He spoke thus, meaning with a general reference to the rejection of His gospel by the self-sufficient; here, "In that hour Jesus said," with express reference probably to the humble class from which He had to draw the Seventy, and the similar class that had chiefly welcomed their message. "Rejoice" is too weak a word. It is "exulted in spirit"—evidently giving visible expression to His unusual emotions; while, at the same time, the words "in spirit" are meant to convey to the reader the depth of them. This is one of those rare cases in which the veil is lifted from off the Redeemer's inner man, that, angel-like, we may "look into it" for a moment (1Pe 1:12). Let us gaze on it with reverential wonder, and as we perceive what it was that produced that mysterious ecstasy, we shall find rising in our hearts a still rapture—"Oh, the depths!"

23, 24. (See on Mt 13:16, 17).

Lu 10:25-37. Question of a Lawyer and Parable of the Good Samaritan.

25. tempted him—"tested him"; in no hostile spirit, yet with no tender anxiety for light on that question of questions, but just to see what insight this great Galilean teacher had.

26. What is written in the law—apposite question to a doctor of the law, and putting him in turn to the test [Bengel].

27. Thou shalt, &c.—the answer Christ Himself gave to another lawyer. (See on Mr 12:29-33).

28. he said, &c.—"Right; This do, and life is thine"—laying such emphasis on "this" as to indicate, without expressing it, where the real difficulty to a sinner lay, and thus nonplussing the questioner himself.

29. willing—"wishing," to get himself out of the difficulty, by throwing on Jesus the definition of "neighbor," which the Jews interpreted very narrowly and technically, as excluding Samaritans and Gentiles [Alford].

30. A certain man—a Jew.

from Jerusalem to Jericho—a distance of nineteen miles northeast, a deep and very fertile hollow—"the Temple of Judea" [Trench].

thieves—"robbers." The road, being rocky and desolate, was a notorious haunt of robbers, then and for ages after, and even to this day.

31, 32. came down a … priest … and a Levite—Jericho, the second city of Judea, was a city of the priests and Levites, and thousands of them lived there. The two here mentioned are supposed, apparently, to be returning from temple duties, but they had not learnt what that meaneth, 'I will have mercy and not sacrifice' [Trench].

saw him—It was not inadvertently that he acted.

came and looked—a further aggravation.

passed by—although the law expressly required the opposite treatment even of the beast not only of their brethren, but of their enemy (De 22:4; Ex 23:4, 5; compare Isa 58:7).

33. Samaritan—one excommunicated by the Jews, a byword among them, synonymous with heretic and devil (Joh 8:48; see on Lu 17:18).

had compassion—His best is mentioned first; for "He who gives outward things gives something external to himself, but he who imparts compassion and tears gives him something from his very self" [Gregory The Great, in Trench]. No doubt the priest and Levite had their excuses—It is not safe to be lingering here; besides, he's past recovery; and then, may not suspicion rest upon ourselves? So might the Samaritan have reasoned, but did not [Trench]. Nor did he say, He's a Jew, who would have had no dealings with me (Joh 4:9), and why should I with him?

34. oil and wine—the remedies used in such cases all over the East (Isa 1:6), and elsewhere; the wine to cleanse the wounds, the oil to assuage their smartings.

on his own beast—himself going on foot.

35. two pence—equal to two day's wages of a laborer, and enough for several days' support.

36. Which … was neighbour?—a most dexterous way of putting the question: (1) Turning the question from, "Whom am I to love as my neighbour?" to "Who is the man that shows that love?" (2) Compelling the lawyer to give a reply very different from what he would like—not only condemning his own nation, but those of them who should be the most exemplary. (3) Making him commend one of a deeply hated race. And he does it, but it is almost extorted. For he does not answer, "The Samaritan"—that would have sounded heterodox, heretical—but "He that showed mercy on him." It comes to the same thing, no doubt, but the circumlocution is significant.

37. Go, &c.—O exquisite, matchless teaching! What new fountains of charity has not this opened up in the human spirit—rivers in the wilderness, streams in the desert! What noble Christian institutions have not such words founded, all undreamed of till that wondrous One came to bless this heartless world of ours with His incomparable love—first in words, and then in deeds which have translated His words into flesh and blood, and poured the life of them through that humanity which He made His own! Was this parable, now, designed to magnify the law of love, and to show who fulfils it and who not? And who did this as never man did it, as our Brother Man, "our Neighbor?" The priests and Levites had not strengthened the diseased, nor bound up the broken (Eze 34:4), while He bound up the brokenhearted (Isa 61:1), and poured into all wounded spirits the balm of sweetest consolation. All the Fathers saw through the thin veil of this noblest of stories, the Story of love, and never wearied of tracing the analogy (though sometimes fancifully enough) [Trench]. Exclaims Gregory Nazianzen (in the fourth century), "He hungered, but He fed thousands; He was weary, but He is the Rest of the weary; He is saluted 'Samaritan' and 'Demoniac,' but He saves him that went down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves," &c.

Lu 10:38-42. Martha and Mary.

38. certain village—Bethany (Joh 11:1), which Luke so speaks of, having no farther occasion to notice it.

received him … her house—The house belonged to her, and she appears throughout to be the older sister.

39. which also—"who for her part," in contrast with Martha.

sat—"seated herself." From the custom of sitting beneath an instructor, the phrase "sitting at one's feet" came to mean being a disciple of any one (Ac 22:3).

heard—rather, "kept listening" to His word.

40. cumbered—"distracted."

came to him—"presented herself before Him," as from another apartment, in which her sister had "left her to serve (or make preparation) alone."

carest thou not … my sister, &c.—"Lord, here am I with everything to do, and this sister of mine will not lay a hand to anything; thus I miss something from Thy lips, and Thou from our hands."

bid her, &c.—She presumes not to stop Christ's teaching by calling her sister away, and thus leaving Him without His one auditor, nor did she hope perhaps to succeed if she had tried.

41. Martha, Martha—emphatically redoubling upon the name.

careful and cumbered—the one word expressing the inward worrying anxiety that her preparations should be worthy of her Lord; the other, the outward bustle of those preparations.

many things—"much service" (Lu 10:40); too elaborate preparation, which so engrossed her attention that she missed her Lord's teaching.

42. one thing, &c.—The idea of "Short work and little of it suffices for Me" is not so much the lower sense of these weighty words, as supposed in them, as the basis of something far loftier than any precept on economy. Underneath that idea is couched another, as to the littleness both of elaborate preparation for the present life and of that life itself, compared with another.

chosen the good part—not in the general sense of Moses' choice (Heb 11:25), and Joshua's (Jos 24:15), and David's (Ps 119:30); that is, of good in opposition to bad; but, of two good ways of serving and pleasing the Lord, choosing the better. Wherein, then, was Mary's better than Martha's? Hear what follows.

not be taken away—Martha's choice would be taken from her, for her services would die with her; Mary's never, being spiritual and eternal. Both were true-hearted disciples, but the one was absorbed in the higher, the other in the lower of two ways of honoring their common Lord. Yet neither despised, or would willingly neglect, the other's occupation. The one represents the contemplative, the other the active style of the Christian character. A Church full of Marys would perhaps be as great an evil as a Church full of Marthas. Both are needed, each to be the complement of the other.