13 Woe to thee, Chorazin! woe to thee, Bethsaida! for if the works of power which have taken place in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they had long ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish! for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, none entering in. From the land of Chittim it is revealed to them. Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle! The merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished thee. And on great waters, the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue; and she was the market of the nations. Be thou ashamed, Sidon, for the sea hath spoken, the strength of the sea, saying, I have not travailed nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men [nor] brought up virgins. -- When the report came into Egypt, they were sorely pained at the news of Tyre. Pass over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the coast! Is this your joyous [city], whose antiquity is of ancient days? Her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. Who hath purposed this against Tyre, the distributor of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose dealers were the honourable of the earth? Jehovah of hosts hath purposed it, to profane the pride of all glory, to bring to nought all the honourable of the earth. Overflow thy land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish: there is no more restraint. He hath stretched out his hand over the sea, he shaketh the kingdoms. Jehovah hath given a commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy the strongholds thereof, and hath said, Thou shalt no more exult, [thou] oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon: get thee up, pass over to Chittim; even there shalt thou have no rest. Behold the land of the Chaldeans: this people did not exist; the Assyrian founded it for the dwellers in the desert: they set up their towers, they destroyed the palaces thereof; he brought it to ruin. Howl, ships of Tarshish! for your fortress is laid waste. And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it shall be for Tyre as the harlot's song. Take a harp, go about the city, thou forgotten harlot! Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. And it shall come to pass at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre; and she will return to her hire, and will commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the face of the ground. And her merchandise and her hire shall be holy to Jehovah: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before Jehovah, to eat and be sufficed, and for excellent clothing.
Yea also, what have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Zidon, and all the districts of Philistia? Will ye render me a recompence? But if ye recompense me, swiftly [and] speedily will I bring your recompence upon your own head; because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my beautiful pleasant things, and the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the children of the Greeks, that ye might remove them far from their border. Behold, I will raise them up out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will bring your recompence upon your own head. And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken.
according as it is written, God has given to them a spirit of slumber, eyes not to see, and ears not to hear, unto this day. And David says, Let their table be for a snare, and for a gin, and for a fall-trap, and for a recompense to them: let their eyes be darkened not to see, and bow down their back alway. I say then, Have they stumbled in order that they might fall? Far be the thought: but by their fall [there is] salvation to the nations to provoke them to jealousy.
not to many peoples of strange language and of difficult speech, whose words thou canst not understand: had I sent thee to them, would they not hearken unto thee? But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for none of them will hearken unto me. For all the house of Israel are hard of forehead and stiff of heart.
Then began he to reproach the cities in which most of his works of power had taken place, because they had not repented. Woe to thee, Chorazin! woe to thee Bethsaida! for if the works of power which have taken place in you, had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they had long ago repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in judgment-day than for you. And *thou*, Capernaum, who hast been raised up to heaven, shalt be brought down even to hades. For if the works of power which have taken place in thee, had taken place in Sodom, it had remained until this day.
And he comes to Bethsaida; and they bring him a blind man, and beseech him that he might touch him. And taking hold of the hand of the blind man he led him forth out of the village, and having spit upon his eyes, he laid his hands upon him, and asked him if he beheld anything. And having looked up, he said, I behold men, for I see [them], as trees, walking. Then he laid his hands again upon his eyes, and he saw distinctly, and was restored and saw all things clearly. And he sent him to his house, saying, Neither enter into the village, nor tell [it] to any one in the village.
And the apostles having returned related to him whatever they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart into [a desert place of] a city called Bethsaida. But the crowds knowing [it] followed him; and he received them and spake to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those that had need of healing. But the day began to decline, and the twelve came and said to him, Send away the crowd that they may go into the villages around, and [into] the fields, and lodge and find victuals, for here we are in a desert place. And he said to them, Give *ye them to eat. And they said, We have not more than five loaves and two fishes, unless *we* should go and buy food for all this people; for they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down in companies by fifties. And they did so, and made them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fishes, looking up to heaven he blessed them, and broke and gave to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were filled; and there was taken up of what had remained over and above to them in fragments twelve hand-baskets.
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except any one be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
And being disagreed among themselves they left; Paul having spoken one word, Well spoke the Holy Spirit through Esaias the prophet to our fathers, saying, Go to this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear and not understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive. For the heart of this people has become fat, and they hear heavily with their ears, and they have closed their eyes; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known to you therefore, that this salvation of God has been sent to the nations; *they* also will hear [it].
And according as Esaias said before, Unless [the] Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and made like even as Gomorrha. What then shall we say? That [they of the] nations, who did not follow after righteousness, have attained righteousness, but [the] righteousness that is on the principle of faith. But Israel, pursuing after a law of righteousness, has not attained to [that] law. Wherefore? Because [it was] not on the principle of faith, but as of works. They have stumbled at the stumblingstone, according as it is written, Behold, I place in Zion a stone of stumbling and rock of offence: and he that believes on him shall not be ashamed.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Luke 10
Commentary on Luke 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
In this chapter we have,
Luk 10:1-16
We have here the sending forth of seventy disciples, two and two, into divers parts of the country, to preach the gospel, and to work miracles in those places which Christ himself designed to visit, to make way for his entertainment. This is not taken notice of by the other evangelists: but the instructions here given them are much the same with those given to the twelve. Observe,
Upon this occasion, the evangelist repeats,
Luk 10:17-24
Christ sent forth the seventy disciples as he was going up to Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles, when he went up, not openly, but as it were in secret (Jn. 7:10), having sent abroad so great a part of his ordinary retinue; and Dr. Lightfoot thinks it was before his return from that feast, and while he was yet at Jerusalem, or Bethany, which was hard by (for there he was, v. 38), that they, or at least some of them, returned to him. Now here we are told,
Luk 10:25-37
We have here Christ's discourse with a lawyer about some points of conscience, which we are all concerned to be rightly informed in and are so here from Christ though the questions were proposed with no good intention.
Luk 10:38-42
We may observe in this story,