Luke 5

Notes on the verses

Chap. V. Ver. 1. And it came to pass.—No particular day or time is here pointed out; but one day, while he was preaching.—The lake of Gennesaret—Called also “the sea of Galilee,” and “of Tiberias;” called also in the Old Testament, “the Sea of Cinnereth.” (Numbers 34:11). (Joshua 12:3). Mp 2. Two ships.—Evidently fishing-barks.—Standing—That is, aground; not afloat. Ver. 3. Thrust out a little.—So that the people on land might hear, without incommoding him.—Sat down, &c.—This account of the calling of Peter and Andrew, James and John, will be found, as Dr. Townson observes, on a near inspection, to tally marvellously with the preceding ones of Matthew and Mark; and is one of the evidences, that the Evangelists vary only in the number or choice of circumstances, and write from the same idea of the fact which they lay before us.

Though St. Matthew and Mark do not exactly tell us, that St. Peter was in the vessel when he was called by Christ, they signify as much in saying that he was casting a net into the sea; and only St. Luke informs us that James and John assisted Peter in landing the fish, yet it is implied, for Mark says, that, when Christ had gone a little farther, he saw them mending their nets, which had been torn by the weight of fish hauled on shore.—Bagster. tions of power and glory. See (Isaiah 6:5). Ver. 6. “They were unworthy of such manifesta- tions.” Ver. 11. “they forsook all and followed him.—They had followed him before, (John 1:43); but not so as to forsake all. Till now they wrought at their ordinary calling.”—Wesley.

Ver. 12—17. And it came to pass.—The cure of the leper here mentioned is recorded by (Matthew 8:2-3); also in Mark i. Ver. 16. Into the wilderness.—Literally, “Into the deserts;” Campbell, “Solitary places.” Ver. 17. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.—Query, whom? Not the Pharisees and lawyers, surely. We apprehend that part of this passage should be read in a parenthesis, thus: Ver. 15. “Great multitudes came… to be healed, (and he withdrew, &c….. And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, and there were Pharisees, &c. sitting by….,) and the power of the Lord was (present) to heal them;” viz. the multitudes that came to be healed. So (for substance) Glassius, Doddridge, Campbell, and Boothroyd.

It is evident enough, from what follows, that the Pharisees came not to be healed, but to cavil and find fault. Ver. 18—26. And behold, men brought in a bed, &c.—This is the same narrative as in (Matthew 9:2-8), where we offered some general remarks; and in (Mark 2:3-12). Ver. 19. They went upon the house-top.—The plain state of the case seems to have been this: not being able to approach our Lord, because of the crowd, they ascended the flat roof by the outer stairs, and, uncovering the roofing, whether of tiling or thatching, about the place where Jesus sat, they let down the couch by the orifice. In all this there appears no difficulty; and the damage, considering the slight structure and thin roofing of eastern houses, could not have been great.

—Bagster.