4 shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sin5 ners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay; 6 but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. He spake also this parable: A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: 8 cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig 9 about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. 10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise 12 lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. 13 And he laid his hands on her; and immediately she was made account of their greater wickedness, yet it is plain, that your sins, unless forsaken, will involve you in equal ruin." This was at once an admonition and a prophecy. In the great final war against Rome, the Jews perished by thousands, and their blood mingled with that of the victims, which they offered in sacrifice in their holy temple. 4. The event here recorded, like the one above, was probably of too little importance to be preserved in the annals of war and tyranny of that period. The tower in Siloam. Siloam is a fountain, existing, at the present day, near the walls of Jerusalem, on the south-east, towards the brook Kedron. The tower was, perhaps, a turret of the walls. - Sinners. In the Greek, "debtors;" by a figure in which sins are likened to debts. 6. Jesus continues the subject in a parable, in which the Jewish people are represented as a barren figtree, God as its owner, and his Son as the dresser of the vineyard. This we learn, not from any thing prefixed or subjoined to the story, but from the context in which it is placed. 7. Three years. It is said that a tree was given up as barren, if it bore no fruit during that period. The Talmuds represent the Jews, as very reluctant to cut down their fruit-trees. God spared his people from year to year, yet was none the less resolved, notwithstanding all this forbearance, finally to cut them off, if they continued impenitent and unfruitful. He is long-suffering to all men, in their wanderings and backslidings, but not the less certainly will he, in due time, call them to an account, and judge and reward them according to their deeds. It becomes us to inquire, whether we are cumbering the ground of his moral vineyard, or rendering him his fruits in their season. 11. A spirit of infirmity. So called, in reference to the Jewish notion of possession. Her disease is termed, straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue an- 14 swered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered 15 him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter 16 of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when he had 17 said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and 18 whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard-seed, 19 which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree, and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the 20 kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid 21 in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. in verse 12, simply an "infirmity," and in verse 16, is described as the "bondage of Satan." 14. There are six days, &c. It has been noticed here, as an incidental corroboration of the fact, that the ruler was seemingly so awed by the miracle, as to pass by Jesus, and vent his rage on the people who came to be healed. 15, 16. Loose his ox, &c. The quotations of Lightfoot, from the Jewish books, show that, within prescribed limits, these acts were accounted lawful on the Sabbath day. -A daughter of Abraham. Jesus would heighten the importance of her cure, by speaking of her as a descendant of the father of the faithful, to whom every Jew proudly traced his lineage. Whom Satan hath bound, i. e. who was disabled by her disorder, which was attributed, by the superstition of the times, to Satan, and thus spoken of by our Lord, who used the popular phraseology. If a brute should be taken care of on the Sabbath day, how much more should a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan, as you believe, bound, afflicted for eighteen long years, - be set free on the Sabbath? Thus his question rose to a climax. 17. We have here the distinction, elsewhere made, between the hostility of the scribes and Pharisees, who were darkened in mind and hardened in heart by their superstitions and formalities, and the favor of the common people, who heard him gladly, and in their simple-heartedness rejoiced in all his glorious and beneficent deeds, and welcomed him as a mighty prophet, if not the very Christ. 18-21. This corresponds with Mat. xiii. 31-33, where it is explained. One kind of the mustard, or sinapi, grows in the east to a considerable size. 22 And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and 23 journeying toward Jerusalem. Then said one unto him, Lord, 24 are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the straight gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek 25 to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know 26 you not whence ye are; then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our 27 streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence 28 ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of 29 God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the 30 south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold, there are last, which shall be first; and there are first, which shall be last. 22, 23. This is supposed to be his last journey towards the holy city: and it was his distinct foresight of coming events, which drew forth the pathetic exclamations of verses 34, 35. Then said one unto him, &c. It is an unsettled point, whether the inquirer referred to the present or future state, and it is practically of small consequence. The question might have been suggested by seeing our Lord attended by only a small group of followers. A tinge of irony, therefore, may have mingled with the idle curiosity of the querist: "Lord, are your disciples so few ?" 24. Jesus, instead of gratifying a merely foolish desire, bends his thoughts to the most solemn of all duties; it not being our concern, as has been forcibly said, to know how many will be saved, but to know how we may be saved. - Strive. The term in Greek is one, from which our certain of the Pharisees, saying word agonize is derived, and which refers to the contests of wrestlers in the public games. As the common saying is, "Strain every nerve." Compare Mat. vii. 13. — Not be able. Either because it is too late, or because they do not fulfil the necessary conditions. 25-27. Mat. xxv. 10-12.- We have eaten, &c. The very privileges they had once enjoyed, having been misused, would only aggravate their condemnation. Local acquaintance would be of no avail without spiritual congeniality. Mat. vii. 22, 23. 28, 29. Compare Mat. viii. 11, 12, and comments. The religious relations of the world are going to be altered. The Jews will no longer be the peculiar, chosen people, but the Gentiles also will be admit ted to the privileges of the sons of God. 30. Mat. xix. 30, xx. 16. unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence; for Herod will kill thee. And he said unto them, Go ye and tell that fox, Behold, I 32 cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless, I must walk to-day 33 and to-morrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which 34 killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Be- 35 hold, your house is left unto you desolate. And verily, I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. CHAPTER XIV. Miraculous Cure of the Dropsy, and Parables of Jesus. AND it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, that they watched 31. Will kill thee. Correctly, wishes or designs to kill thee. This was Herod Antipas, who put John the Baptist to death, and who, being alarmed, probably, at the popularity of Jesus, apparently employed the Pharisees to warn him out of his dominions, Galilee and Perma. 32. Go ye and tell thot fox, &c. Wetstein describes the character of Herod, "as one, who, like most of the princes and magistrates of his time, formed himself in resemblance of Tiberius, who valued no trait of his own mind more than his dissimulation. He was now an experienced fox, having held his government for thirty years, and sustaining the most opposite and various relations; of a vassal to Tiberius, a master over the Galileans, an ally to Sejanus, to his brothers, Philip and Archelaus, and to the other Herod; whose tempers were very unlike among themselves, and very wide from his own.” — İ cast out devils, &c. As much as to say, "Mine are works of benevolence, and need not excite the political jealousy of Herod."-To-day and to morrow, &c. These are idioms, to designate any short interval of time. -I shall be perfected. Or, shall end my course. The same word as used in John xix. 30, "It is finished." 33. Nevertheless, I must walk, &c. i. e. Though I shall die soon, yet I must pursue my work, as usual, as long as I live.-Perish out of Jerusalem, i. e. away from Jerusalem. The holy city monopolized the unenviable reputation of killing the messengers of God, though John the Baptist, if not others, had perished elsewhere. 34, 35. Compare Mat. xxiii. 3739, and notes. The heart of Jesus vibrated to the noblest emotions of amor patriæ, love of country, but they were swallowed up in the yet grander sentiment of philanthropy, love of mankind. He did not love the world less, but Jerusalem more. CHAPTER XIV. The three following chapters, xiv., xv., xvi., are supposed by Carpenter to contain discourses of our Lord, delivered in Perea. 1. To eat bread on the Sabbath day. 2 him. And behold, there was a certain man before him which 3 had the dropsy. And Jesus answering, spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? 4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, 5 and let him go: and answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway 6 pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer 7 him again to these things. And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out 8 the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a 9 more honorable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; 10 and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room, that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them 11 that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee |