Luke 11
BolesLuke 11:1-13
- JESUS’ ABOUT PRAYER
1 And it came to pass, as he was praying Jesus had taught his disciples to pray by precept (Matthew 6:7-15) and example (Luke 9:29). The example of Jesus on this occasion stirred them to fresh interest in prayer and reminded them of the teachings of John the Baptist. (Luke 5:33.) Jesus gave them the substance of a model prayer as recorded in Matthew 6:7-15. Jesus was praying “in a certain place”; this indefinite statement shows that Luke did not make a definite time or place, but that his “order” is one of thought. This occasion may have followed close upon the visit at Bethany, the “one of his disciples” in that case perhaps being a later one, and Jesus here repeating what had been taught the twelve disciples in Matthew 6:9. The “certain place” would then be near Jerusalem. This disciple said: “Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.”
2-4 And he said unto them, When ye pray,—Two causes may be listed for this request—the example of Jesus and the fact that John had taught his disciples to pray. Many think that his form is different in time and place from that given in Matthew 6:9-13; however this is of little consequence. The importance of prayer justifies a repetition of teaching concerning it. In Matthew the suggestive occasion is the habit of “vain repetitions”; in Luke the occasion is a direct request. In Matthew the prayer is followed with a fuller statement of the condition of forgiveness, while in Luke Jesus gives encouragement to persevering in prayer. The simplicity, brevity, beauty, directness, generality, and spiritual fitness make this prayer a model one.
Father, Hallowed be thy name.—God is to be addressed, not as Creator, or Ruler, or Almighty, or as the Omniscient One —but as “Father.” This form of address is comprehensive enough to include all the rest. It puts in the foreground his love and care, and is chosen to suggest our relation to him and his relation to us. His name is to be hallowed; this means that we are to give reverence, honor and homage to it; it forbids our using his name in an irreverent way; we are to hold it with majesty, purity, and glory. “Thy kingdom come.” The first petition is not for ourselves, but for the interest of his kingdom; his kingdom must be put first. Our interests are to be identified with the interests of his kingdom. At the time that this prayer was taught, the kingdom had not been established; it was still in the future, and they were to look forward with prayer to its coming.
Give us day by day our daily bread.—This phrase or petition may have been suggested from the daily gift of the manna in the wilderness. After we have sought first the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, we may make request for bread, daily needs for the body, and daily bread for the soul may be fairly understood as included in this prayer. We are dependent on God, and the petition of this prayer for daily bread keeps before us our dependence on him. The asking each day for the bread of the day carries with it efforts on our part to earn our daily bread. We are to work for it. When we pray for the kingdom to spread, we obligate ourselves to work for the spreading of the kingdom; so when we pray for our daily bread, we are pledging ourselves to cooperate with God through all of the laws that he has given for the production of bread.
And forgive us our sins;—Jesus teaches us here to ask God for forgiveness, as we ourselves have already forgiven those who have sinned against us. One ground, and apparently the only ground, except the mercy of God, on which we can ask to be forgiven, is that we have forgiven all—every one from our heart. It is useless to ask God to forgive us when we have neglected or refused to forgive others. Jesus teaches emphatically and clearly the conditions of God’s forgiving us, and one of these conditions is that we already have a forgiving heart toward others. We pray that we may not be led into temptation. Jesus and God may permit us to be tempted but we ask not to be led into temptation, and not to be tempted above that we are able to bear. (1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Peter 2:9.)
5, 6 And he said unto them,—This has a close connection with the prayer which just precedes it. The request made of Jesus was “Lord, teach us to pray”; Jesus not only gives instruction, but gives an illustration which puts the greatest stress upon persistent importunity. One had a friend who came to his house “at midnight,” and requested the loan of “three loaves” to set before his guest who was on a journey, and had stopped to remain overnight with him. This request came at an unusual hour; his friend must arise from slumber, tear himself from his little ones, unbolt his well-fastened door, and hand out three loaves of bread. The man had come for the bread and would not return without it. Some have suggested that “three loaves” were asked for, because of a custom —one loaf for the guest, one for the host, and one to show abundance.
7, 8 and he from within shall answer and say,—The man awakened at midnight is severely tested; he responded to the call of his friend in a vexed tone. He did not wish to be bothered; his door was shut; his children were in bed with him or in the same sleeping place. The Greek word for bed applied to any room or place used for sleeping, as well as to a bed or couch. There were so many obstacles in the way, and it would be so much trouble to unbar the door, find the loaves, and disturb the children that the friend answered that he could not be bothered with him. His friendship would not move him to grant the request, but the importunity, literally “the shamelessness” of the caller would cause him to “arise and give him as many as he needeth.”
9, 10 And I say unto you, Ask,—“Ask,” “seek,” and “knock” represent the three ways of striving to have our wants supplied. Not content with asking, we are to follow it by seeking and searching (Deuteronomy 4:29), and to add to that knocking. When asking does not bring all that is needed, we continue seeking, as well as asking (John 15:7; John 16:23); and when there are obstacles as locked doors, barred gates, knock for help , that the difficulties may be removed and a door opened for spiritual blessings and spiritual opportunities. The three-fold repetition—“ask,” “seek,” and “knock”—comes naturally from the illustration that has just been given. Ask and seek as the man who went to his sleeping friend at midnight; “knock” at the door earnestly as he did for to such asking, seeking, knocking, God’s door of mercy will be opened. These three repetitions of command are more than mere repetitions; since to seek is more than to ask, and to knock more than to seek. These emphasize the deep earnestness and persistency that must be exercised in prayer.
11, 12 And of which of you that is a father—This is another illustration emphasizing prayer. A loaf of bread in the East bore resemblance to a flat stone, suggestive of this comparison; some fish also resembled a serpent in form, as an eel. These two illustrations are given by Matthew. (Matthew 7:9-10.) Luke only gives the third illustration of the comparison between the egg and scorpion. The scorpion was a crab-shaped animal, and some species were exceedingly poisonous. If a child should ask for any form of food, an earthly parent would not give him a hurtful thing in answer to the child’s request; hence God would not give harmful things to his children who ask him in earnest prayer. Some think that “a scorpion for an egg” was a proverbial expression. Jesus now makes his own application of these illustrations.
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts— There is no longer a comparison, but a contrast; the contrast is between man and Jehovah as our Father. It may also signify the contrast between Jehovah God and the gods of the heathen. . If earthly parents know how to give “good things” to their children, how much more shall God our Father “give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” It is worthy of notice that the argument for persevering prayer increases. First from a friend, then from a father, who is more than a friend, and now from the relation of heavenly Father, who is infinitely more than an earthly father.
Luke 11:14-36
- AND REBUKED
14 And he was casting out a demon—The demoniac spirit in the man seems to have made the man dumb. If this is the same case as that noticed in Matthew 12:22 he was blind also. When the demon was cast out by the power of Jesus, the man’s powers of speech were restored to him, and the people marveled at this power in Jesus to drive out evil spirits. Others think that this was a different case to that mentioned by Matthew 12:22 and Mark 3:19-30. The greatness of the miracle excites the astonishment of many; this leads to the charge and the demand in the next two verses.
15, 16 But some of them said,—As presented here by Luke, there are two classes of objectors: (1) those who charged him with working through Beelzebub, the prince of support of his claims, demanded yet other signs from heaven. When this demon was cast out of the man he had instantaneous relief. “Beelzebub” comes from the Aramaic, and was the name for the chief of demons; Beelzebub was a Philistine god of the flies, and this title may not unnaturally have been transferred to Satan. The issue between Jesus had his enemies was too vital to be omitted, hence all three of them give a record of this accusation against Jesus. We have it in Matthew 9:32-34 and much more fully in 12:22-32.
17-20 But he, knowing their thoughts,—Jesus first answered the charge that his power came from Satan. The kingdom or a house divided, filled with discord, strife, dissension, and anarchy cannot stand; a kingdom is destroyed by internal civil war. If Jesus cast out demons because he was in league with Satan, then his kingdom was divided against itself; Satan is casting out Satan; how can his kingdom stand? (Mark 3 23.) To ask the question was the most forceful way of saying it cannot stand. But if Satan cast out demons, by whom did their sons cast them out? The pretended power of the Pharisees to cast out evil spirits belonged to their sons. This was a keen and justifiable term of the charge upon them, popularly known as “argumentum ad hominem.” Even your sons will become your judges to condemn you on the charge; demons to do cast out demons.
But if I by the finger of God—If he, by “the finger of God,” or power of God, or Holy Spirit, cast out demons, then the kingdom of God had come unawares upon them. On the phrase, “finger of God,” compare the expression of the magicians to Pharaoh—“this is the finger of God.” (Exodus 8:19.) The “kingdom of God,” not kingdom of heaven, is the uniform phrase used by Luke. It will be noticed here that Satan is represented as a real personal being, not a mere principle of evil.
21-23 When the strong man fully armed—The reasoning here is clear and forceable. So long as Satan, the strong man armed kept his palace and no mightier foe assailed him, he had things his own way and his household goods were undisturbed; but when the Son of God came down upon him with far mightier forces, he wrests from him his old weapons and quickly divides his spoils. Jesus, if he had been in league with Satan, would have left him to keep his power over men in peace; but by his casting out demons, he showed that he is an enemy to Satan and superior to him—that he had himself overpowered Satan and conquered him.
He that is not with me is against me;—This is a proverbial saying and was probably repeated often by Jesus; it was suited to the various classes of his hearers, many of whom were secret enemies or undecided and wavering or timid friends. Jesus emphatically declares that there can be no middle ground. He that does not take part with God and Christ must take part with Satan.
24-26 The unclean spirit when he is gone—Here Jesus teaches the law of Satanic operations; this especially relates to demonical possessions. When a spirit of Satan is cast out of one person or place, it seeks another favorable place. The meaning here is that the evil spirit wanders about and finds no rest; then it decides to return, and taking to itself seven other evil spirits does return. The evil spirit returns to its house, the human soul, and finds it swept and garnished as a reformed, yet unconverted, person might be.
27-28 And it came to pass,—“A certain woman” was impressed with the wisdom and moral grandeur of Jesus as a great Teacher, and in true womanly ways cried out aloud in the multitude and gave expression to her praise. Tradition says this woman was a maidservant to Martha and Mary; there is no evidence of the truthfulness of this tradition. The woman’s expressions indicate that she was a mother, as she voices motherly instincts and feelings. Her beatitude is similar to that of Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. (Luke 1:42.) This good woman is fulfilling Mary’s own prophecy. (Luke 1:48.) One way of praising Jesus was to praise his mother.
But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they—The instant response of Jesus turns the thought to the far higher blessedness of those who “hear the word of God, and keep it.” The woman’s sentiment was a true expression of her heart, but Jesus showed who should receive the richest blessings. She was blessing Jesus through his mother, but Jesus in contrast turns attention to others and gives them a beatitude. Jesus gives praise to his mother, but he never intended that she be worshiped; he does not deny the woman’s words, but points out who, rather than his natural mother, are to be counted as blessed, even those who hear and keep the word, the whole counsel, commands, and will of God. Hearing is not enough; one must hear and do or “keep” the commandments of God.
29 And when the multitudes were gathering—When the multitudes were thronging together, or assembling, Jesus announced certain truths. Matthew 12:38-45 may be compared with Luke’s record here. Luke does not state a definite time; he does not tell us when the multitudes were assembling. It is very probable that frequent gatherings during Christ’s ministry were had. Jesus now answers those noticed in verse 16, who were seeking a sign from heaven. The generation was an evil one, for it was unbelieving, and demanded unreasonable evidences of the divinity of Jesus; they wanted a heavenly sign, but the only sign granted was that of Jonah. The preaching of Jesus ought to have been sign enough as in the case of Jonah.
30 For even as Jonah became a sign—As Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so Jesus and his preaching should have been sufficient sign to his generation. Jonah had been commanded to go to Nineveh and warn them against impending destruction; but instead of going to Nineveh he went in the opposite direction, and went aboard a vessel. A storm arose and Jonah was thrown overboard by the crew Jehovah had prepared a great fish and Jonah was swallowed and remained in the fish for three days and nights; he was then thrown out of the fish on the dry land, and was then instructed to go to Nineveh. He went to Nineveh and preached to the Ninevites. Jonah came forth from the sea monster to preach to the Ninevites; so Jesus came forth from the heart of the earth to send forth the gospel to every creature. Jonah’s remaining in the belly of the fish became a type of Jesus remaining in the grave. This is the sign that Jesus gave as his proof of his Messiahship.
31 The queen of the south shall rise up—“The queen of the south” was the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1); Sheba is supposed to be the southern part of the Arabian peninsula. It is called here “the ends of the earth”; this is an expression to denote a great distance. (Jeremiah 6:20.) She came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and was filled with admiration. She had faith; she was not unbelieving; for she made the long journey to hear the wisdom of Solomon. There was in the very presence of the people something or a sign greater, or superior to that of Jonah or to Solomon. The miracles and preaching of Jesus were more significant and superior in kind and degree than those in the day of Jonah or of Solomon when the people believed.
32 The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment—Jesus passes on in his discourse and contrasts that generation with the Ninevites, whom they despised as heathens and Gentile sinners. They would be witnesses against that generation for rejecting Jesus; the unreasonableness of the impenitent of this generation would be condemned by the example of the Ninevites and the queen of Sheba. The Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah, who only made them a temporary visit and performed no miracles. Jesus was living among them and preaching the gospel of the Messiah, yet they did not believe him. Jonah preached to the Ninevites about 840 B.C. Jesus as recorded by Luke here contrasted the Ninevites and the queen of the south; the climax is greater; it was more terrible to be condemned by the Ninevites than by the queen of Sheba.
33 No man, when he hath lighted a lamp,—In the discourses of Jesus this illustration occurs repeatedly, being used for various purposes, yet always appropriate. (See Matthew 5:15; Matthew 6:22; Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16.) Jesus uses a very apt illustration; a lamp was used for light, and no one would put it in a secret place, or “in a cellar,” or “under the bushel”; when lighted, it was placed on the stand that it might give light to those who were in the room. The Greek word for “secret place” or “cellar” means any concealed place, like a vault, crypt, or covered way, or place like a cellar, a mere hole where persons would not enter. The “bushel” was a common household measure holding about a peck.
34 The lamp of thy body is thine eye:—As the lamp is made for light and its useful purposes, so the eye was made for vision, needing therefore to be in perfect condition so as to fulfill its functions well. In like manner the moral light of God comes into this world through Christ to be accepted by men honestly and with unprejudiced mind. For as a blurred eye dooms the whole body to darkness, so does a prejudiced, worldly heart shut off the light of God and doom the miserable man to the darkness of delusion and death. The “eye is single” when it is undimmed and has its natural and proper powers for straight and clear seeing; when the eye is evil, that is, it lacks its powers of clear and correct sight, the body is full of darkness.
35, 36 Look therefore whether the light—If the only source of light be darkness, great indeed is the darkness. The eye gives expression and radiance to the face and person; when the eye is dark the whole person is gloomy and sad. The eye has been called “the window of the soul”; hence through the eyes the different moods of the soul are expressed. Disputing and questioning the work and authority of Jesus as these Pharisees and others were doing, and demanding unreasonable signs, and disbelieving the signs which he had already given them, was like having an eye that is dark; the whole spiritual man is soon filled with evil, with deep spiritual darkness. (John 3:19; 2 Corinthians 4:4.)
Luke 11:37-54
- OF
37, 38 Now as he spake, a Pharisee asketh him—A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him. This Pharisee was more friendly than many of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a religious sect among the Jews who were very particular about the ceremonies of the law; in fact, they had added many of their traditions to the law; they were as careful to observe their traditions as they were to observe the law. This Phari-see was not a disciple of Jesus. Jesus accepted the invitation. The original shows that it was an early meal, perhaps “breakfast.” It was less formal than a dinner. Who the Pharisee was, or why he asked Jesus, we are not informed; some think that he invited him to criticize his teachings and his life.
And when the Pharisee saw it,—Jesus accepted the invitation and went into the house and dined with the Pharisee. It was the Jewish custom to dip the hands in water before eating and often between courses for ceremonial purification. In Galilee the Pharisees and scribes had criticized Jesus severely and often because he ate with unwashed hands. (Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23.) On this occasion Jesus had reclined at the breakfast without this ceremonial dipping in water his hands. This neglect of Jesus to follow the custom of the Pharisees caused them to wonder. It became an occasion for Jesus to teach them a lesson. Perhaps this Pharisee was horrified, not that the hands of his guest were unclean, but that he had not conformed to the Pharisaic ceremony of washing before the meal.
39 And the Lord said unto him,—Though Jesus was a guest in the house and at the table of this Pharisee, yet he did not hesitate to condemn the tradition which had been added to the law, and which stood in the way of this Pharisee accepting the truth. Jesus charged the Pharisees with making the outside clean, but neglecting the inside. He did not object to cleansing the outside, but his objection was the cleansing of the outside and leaving the inside unclean; the Pharisees would substitute the outside cleansing for the inward cleansing; this Jesus severely condemned. Jesus used the common illustration of “the cup and of the platter” because these were on the table while they were eating. It was a severe charge to say that they were “full of extortion and wickedness.” The Pharisees kept the external regulations, but their hearts were full of plunder and wickedness. The psalmist had said “Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” (Psalms 51:6.) A cleansed body does not make a pure heart any more than fine clothes make a noble character.
40, 41 Ye foolish ones, did not he that made—God had made the outside and the inward part also; he required cleanliness of both parts. They are called “foolish ones” because they put the emphasis on the wrong thing; at other times Jesus called them hypocrites. The Pharisees gave alms and thought that they were acceptable to God because of their mere giving of alms. They gave alms of what they had and then claimed that all things that they had were clean because they had given alms of it. It mattered not how they had obtained their possession, they acted as though their fraudulent gains were sanctified because they gave a part of them to Jehovah. They thought that they could use lawfully and enjoy all things of which they gave alms. (Luke 19:8-9; Romans 14:14; 1 Timothy 4:4-5; Titus 1:15.)
42 But woe unto you Pharisees!—A curse is pronounced upon the Pharisees; Jesus was not talking “about” the Pharisees, but he was talking “to” them. The reason assigned is that they carefully “tithe mint and rue and every herb,” and fail to appreciate the full significance of this. To “tithe” meant to take a tenth of anything and give it to Jehovah. “Mint” was a garden plant like our “spearmint”; “rue” was a shrubbery plant about two feet high and was grown in their gardens; “herb” was a general term to include similar plants. Matthew 23:23 has “anise” and “cummin.” These were garden plants used principally for flavoring purposes. They were careful to tithe these things, but neglected the important things of “justice and the love of God.” Mathew adds “faith.” It was right for them to tithe these things, but wrong for them to neglect the important things. These things ye ought to do, said Jesus, but you ought not to have left undone “the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith.” (Matthew 23:23.)
43 Woe unto you Pharisees!—This “woe” is pronounced upon these Pharisees because they loved to occupy the “chief” or “first” seats in the synagogue. The chief seats were elevated in a semicircle at one end of the synagogue and facing the congregation. Sometimes these seats were sold to those who were able to pay the best price for them. Matthew 23:6 has also the chief place at feasts, given by Luke (Luke 14:20:46) as a mark characteristic of the Pharisees. The Pharisees loved these positions of honor; they also loved reverential salutations, titles of honor, and praise of men. They liked to receive the plaudits of men in the market places. In all these places they appeared to be very pious and wanted praises for their pretended loyalty to the law.
44 Woe unto you!—This condemnation is pronounced upon them by Jesus for their hypocrisy. Matthew includes the scribes and other hypocrites with the Pharisees. “Hypocrites” were like stage actors who put on masks and assumed characters that did not belong to them; they were base pretenders. They were like graves or tombs that are hidden from view by age or the growth of grass or weeds and men passing over them are defiled. So people were spiritually defiled by these hypocrites, whose pretended righteousness hid from view their depraved character. These hidden graves would give ceremonial defilement for seven days. (Numbers 19:16.)
45 And one of the lawyers answering saith—The “lawyers” were generally Pharisees; they were oftentimes the same as the “scribes.” This lawyer felt the reproach that Jesus had given to the Pharisees and so informed him. He felt that what Jesus had said was an insult to the lawyers or to his class. They were interpreters of the law, and were not lawyers in our modern use of that word. He was shrewd enough to see the force of what Jesus had said and felt that the denunciations applied to the lawyers as well as to the Pharisees, he felt that his dignity had been insulted as well as that of the Pharisees.
46 And he said, Woe unto you lawyers also!—The “lawyers,” one of whom now rebuked Jesus, justly merited the condemnation, and Jesus pronounced three woes upon this class. Jesus showed them to be hypocrites, for they by their interpretations and traditions placed heavy burdens upon the people, but they did not get under the load and help bear them; they would not even touch the burden with their fingers. While they made the law fearfully burdensome to the people they touched not those burdens themselves with one of their fingers; but, on the contrary, they exempted themselves by their interpretations entirely from those burdensome constructions which they imposed upon the people. To make law bear heavily on the people, but light as air upon the lawyers and Pharisees, was the uttermost moral abomination.
47 Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets,— Sepulchres among the Jews were often caves, or were hewn out in rocks on the sides of hills and the entrance decorated with ornaments. (Genesis 23:9; Isaiah 22:16.) Some interpret this speech of Jesus as being severe irony. They now pretend greatly to honor the prophets, but their fathers had killed the prophets, and they were walking in the footsteps of their fathers; they did not condemn their fathers for killing the prophets, but went to great trouble and expense to adorn heir graves. This sounds very much like much of our modern hypocrisy, both as individuals and as nations.
48 So ye are witnesses and consent—The generation to which Jesus was talking became guilty of the sins of their fathers by consenting or endorsing the crimes which they did in killing the prophets. Jesus knew that these Pharisees and lawyers were getting ready to destroy him. Their fathers killed the prophets, and now they were building tombs of costly stones, and were adding endless burdens by their traditions. Their fathers had disobeyed the prophets and had destroyed them; the present generation was concealing them under their whitewash of tradition, so that men could not recognize them nor their teaching. In this way they were witnesses and consenting unto the works of their fathers. It is a high crime against God to persecute and destroy God’s prophets of the present generation, but destroy those of a former generation.
49-51 Therefore also said the wisdom of God,—“The wisdom of God” as used here does not refer to any book of the Old Testament; it has reference to Jesus as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:30. Possibly it may mean that God in his wisdom said what Jesus now states hence there is no reference to a previous revealed “saying.” This wisdom of God now announced that God would send his prophets and apostles to them and that they would persecute and kill them. The generation to which Jesus was speaking was no better than the generation that killed the prophets of God; the present generation was seeking to do even a greater crime than their fathers had done; hence, the condemnation that fell upon their fathers would come with greater force upon them. The sins of the fathers should be visited upon the children (Exodus 20:5), especially of that generation which sanctioned the sins of the past, and even went beyond them.
from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah,—Abel, the second son of Adam, was the righteous martyr, and the first recorded in the Bible, and Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada, is the last one recorded, according to the Jewish arrangement of the Old Testament. (2 Chronicles 24:20-22.) His last words were: “Jehovah look upon it, and require it.” However there is some difficulty in determining definitely who this Zachariah was. Many of God’s prophets between Abel and Zachariah had been slain. Some think that this Zachariah was the son of Barachiah; however the usual explanation is that it has reference to Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest who was slain in the court of the temple. Matthew 23:35 gives Zachariah as the son of Barachiah. Some think that in some way “Barachiah” as used by Matthew should be “Jehoiada” , they think these names have been interchanged. Chronologically the murder of Uriah by Jehoiakim was later (Jeremiah 26:23), but this climax is from Genesis to Second Chronicles.
Zachariah was slain between the altar and the sanctuary; that is, between the brazen altar in the court and the temple. The condemnation should be cumulative, bringing the blood or the guilt for shedding the blood of all of the prophets upon this generation.
52 Woe unto you lawyers!—This is the third woe pronounced upon the lawyers. This woe is pronounced upon them because they had taken away “the key of knowledge.” Spiritual wisdom is represented as a treasure in a room or house, on which were lock and key; the lawyers had locked the door, and either carried, that is, “kept” the key, or it may mean, they had taken it away. In either case they were responsible as teachers of the law for the ignorance of the people. They had not entered in, neither had they permitted others to enter in. Jesus was revealing the will of God unto the people; these lawyers had refused to accept this teaching and were hindering the people from accepting it.
53, 54 And when he was come out from thence,—The maliciousness of the scribes and Pharisees is clearly and strongly described here. The original Greek may mean that they terribly pressed him, enraged, and plied him with questions concerning more things, setting a trap for him, to catch (or “hunt artfully”) something from his mouth. So soon as Jesus went out from the Pharisee’s house (verse 37) these scribes and Pharisees were ready to spend all of their fury upon him. Jesus had in no uncertain terms very severely rebuked their hypocrisy; they were enraged against him and now sought to take some word and pervert it into some accusation against Jesus. What became of the breakfast that Jesus went in to eat, we know not, but the rage of both Pharisees and lawyers, together with the scribes, knew no bounds. Jesus had pronounced three woes upon the Pharisees and three upon the lawyers. They were “laying wait for him”; this vivid picture of the anger of these Pharisees and lawyers which Luke draws presents them as treating Jesus as if he were a beast of prey.