Luke 20
DOYLYLuke 20:6
- — the people will stone us.] They had themselves accustomed the people to this violence; for, when they could not legally convict their enemies, they incited the multitude to stone them. See John x. 31; Acts xiv. 19. Grotius.
Luke 20:9
- — A certain man &c.] Respecting the parable, see notes at Matt. xxi. 33—41.
Luke 20:10
- — at the season] “When the time of fruit drew near,” Matt. xxi. 34.
Luke 20:14
- — the inheritance may be our’s.] Not by right, but by seizure, Matt. xxi. 38.
Luke 20:16
- He shall come and destroy &c.] The chief priests and elders answer thus, (see Matt. xxi. 41,) not readily perceiving the tendency of the parable; but, presently after, finding that they themselves were the persons
whom Jesus represented under the similitude of the husbandmen, they began to recall their words, and said, “God forbid.” Dr. S. Clarke.
Luke 20:20
- — which should feign themselves just men.] Might pretend to ask his opinion from conscientious motives; but in reality with the intent to ensnare Him. Dr. S. Clarke.
— of the governor.] Of the Roman governor. On this account they put the question to Christ respecting the payment of tribute to Cesar, in the hope that He would deny the lawfulness of it, and so furnish a ground of accusation against Him, as an enemy to Cesar. Dr. Whitby.
Luke 20:21
- And they asked him, saying,] For the remainder of this chapter, see further notes at the passages of St. Matthew, referred to in the margin.
The Sadducees confited. How Christ is the son of David. Anno DOMINI 33.
Luke 20:34
- — The children of this world &c.] Our blessed Lord corrects their fond mistake in judging of the life to come by the life that now is, when circumstances would be widely different. In this world, where mankind go off and die daily, there is a necessity of a constant and regular succession to supply the decays of mortality; but, in the world to come, when none die any more, there is no necessity for such supplies. Dr. Waterland.
Luke 20:35
- — the resurrection from the dead.] Our Lord, agreeably to the Jewish style of that period, calls that only “a resurrection,” which is a resurrection to glory. Dr. Campbell.
Luke 20:36
- Neither can they die any more:] They shall no longer be subject to the changes and accidents of this mortal state: but they shall all be like the angels of God, glorious, unchangeable, and immortal; and shall continue in the presence of God in a state of perfect bliss, and in the eternal enjoyment of unalterable happiness. Dr. S. Clarke.
— for they are equal unto the angels:] The highest angels in heaven are God’s ministers and messengers, and are glorious and happy in their obedience: and the very meanest of the sons of men, if not wanting in the duties of their present station, whatever it be, will be advanced to the same likeness. The lowest offices in God’s service become the steps of our highest advancement. Dr. Ogden.
— are the children of God.] Good men are now the children of God, because they resemble Him in the holy disposition of their minds; but then they will be like
Him in the participation of His happiness, so far as finite and created beings are capable; the whole man, body as well as soul, shall be partaker of immortality. Abp. Tillotson.
— children of the resurrection.] That is, partakers of the resurrection, and of the eternal life which will follow it. Beausole.
Luke 20:37
- — even Moses shewed] As the Sadducees had formed their objection (ver. 28.) from the books of Moses, our Saviour thinks proper to confute them out of the writings of Moses, although there were passages in other parts of the Old Testament, which might seem more plain and express to His purpose of confuting the Sadducees. Dr. Waterland.
Luke 20:38
- — is not a God of the dead, but of the living:] The words are “I am,” not “I was;” therefore God was then the God of those three patriarchs, the latest of whom had been dead above 1700 years; still He continued to be their God; therefore those patriarchs were still living and endowed with intelligence, somewhere or other, when God declared He was still their God; that is, they were alive as to their better parts, their souls. Thus the Sadducees, who denied the separate subsistence of souls or spirits, were confuted at once, and that by a very clear and plain text, produced even from the books of Moses. Dr. Waterland.
— for all live unto him.] The souls of the just are already in the hands of God, and it is certain that their bodies will be raised and again united to them by His almighty power. Dr. Hammond.