Worthy.Bible » STRONG » Luke » Chapter 10 » Verse 1-12

Luke 10:1-12 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

1 G1161 After G3326 these things G5023 the Lord G2962 appointed G322 other G2087 seventy G1440 also, G2532 and G2532 sent G649 them G846 two G303 and two G1417 before G4253 his G846 face G4383 into G1519 every G3956 city G4172 and G2532 place, G5117 whither G3757 G3739 he himself G846 would G3195 come. G2064

2 Therefore G3767 said he G3004 unto G4314 them, G846 The harvest G2326 truly G3303 is great, G4183 but G1161 the labourers G2040 are few: G3641 pray ye G1189 therefore G3767 the Lord G2962 of the harvest, G2326 that G3704 he would send forth G1544 labourers G2040 into G1519 his G846 harvest. G2326

3 Go your ways: G5217 behold, G2400 I G1473 send G649 you G5209 forth G649 as G5613 lambs G704 among G1722 G3319 wolves. G3074

4 Carry G941 neither G3361 purse, G905 nor G3361 scrip, G4082 nor G3366 shoes: G5266 and G2532 salute G782 no man G3367 by G2596 the way. G3598

5 And G1161 into G1519 whatsoever G3739 G302 house G3614 ye enter, G1525 first G4412 say, G3004 Peace G1515 be to this G5129 house. G3624

6 And G2532 if G1437 G3303 the son G5207 of peace G1515 be G5600 there, G1563 your G5216 peace G1515 shall rest G1879 upon G1909 it: G846 if not, G1490 it shall turn G344 to G1909 you G5209 again. G344

7 And G1161 in G1722 the same G846 house G3614 remain, G3306 eating G2068 and G2532 drinking G4095 such things as G3844 they G846 give: G3844 for G1063 the labourer G2040 is G2076 worthy G514 of his G846 hire. G3408 Go G3327 not G3361 from G1537 house G3614 to G1519 house. G3614

8 And G2532 into G1519 whatsoever G1161 G3739 G302 city G4172 ye enter, G1525 and G2532 they receive G1209 you, G5209 eat such things G2068 as are set before G3908 you: G5213

9 And G2532 heal G2323 the sick G772 that are therein, G1722 G846 and G2532 say G3004 unto them, G846 The kingdom G932 of God G2316 is come nigh G1448 unto G1909 you. G5209

10 But G1161 into G1519 whatsoever G3739 G302 city G4172 ye enter, G1525 and G2532 they receive G1209 you G5209 not, G3361 go your ways out G1831 into G1519 the streets G4113 of the same, G846 and say, G2036

11 Even G2532 the very dust G2868 of G1537 your G5216 city, G4172 which G3588 cleaveth G2853 on us, G2254 we do wipe off G631 against you: G5213 notwithstanding G4133 be ye sure G1097 of this, G5124 that G3754 the kingdom G932 of God G2316 is come nigh G1448 unto G1909 you. G5209

12 But G1161 I say G3004 unto you, G5213 that G3754 it shall be G2071 more tolerable G414 in G1722 that G1565 day G2250 for Sodom, G4670 than G2228 for that G1565 city. G4172

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.