Luke 11

1 teach us to pray. Our Lord’s answer to their request first suggests subjects for prayer (2-4), and then encourages persistency in prayer (5-13).

as John also taught his disciples. The Jewish teachers gave their disciples short forms of prayer. The prayer which follows is substantially the same as that which had already been given in the Sermon on the Mount, Matt. vi. 9-13, where see notes. The form of the prayer as it appears in the R.V. follows the best authorities (see the words enclosed in brackets).

2. When ye pray.** Lit., “Whensoever ye pray,” etc.

5 at midnight. During the hot season, travellers in the East often prefer the cool evening and night for a journey.

7 shut. Rather “locked”; and my family (servants and children), as well as myself, are in bed.

8 importunity. The force of the parable lies partly in the resemblances, partly in the contrasts. God is our Friend, our Father; but in Him there is nothing “evil.” If, then, importunity can overcome selfishness (5-8), and if natural affection leads a father to grant his child’s requests (11, 12), how surely may we reckon on the grace and wisdom

9. Ask . . . seek . . . knock. Prayer is to be marked by thoughtful and persevering earnestness; and the corresponding threefold promise gives us the fullest certainty that all such prayer is heard and will be answered. The matter of prayer had been given in vers. 2-4; here the manner of it is enjoined. With verses 9-13 cp. Matt. vii. 7-11.

11 a serpent. To a hungry child a stone would be useless; a serpent, not only useless, but injurious.

12 scorpion. A venomous reptile found in hot countries among the stones of old buildings.

13 the Holy Spirit. See note on Matt. vii. 11.

14,15,17-25. On this section and the next, see notes, Matt. xii. 22-45; Mark iii. 22.

18. If Satan also, etc. Our Lord here places Himself upon the standing ground of His opponents. If He really did cast out demons through the power of the devil, it would follow that Satan was at present employed in destroying his own work.

20 the finger of God. Matt. has “the Spirit of God.”

21. When a strong man armed, etc. Had I been in league with Satan, I should have left him to keep his power over men “in peace.” But what I am doing shows both my superiority and my enmity to him; so that there can be no neutrality (23).

27. Blessed, etc. An Oriental expression of the highest admiration. Contrast 1 Sam. xx. 30. Our Lord, not denying that it was a great happiness to have been His mother, nor reproving the maternal instinct which had prompted the exclamation, points out the far greater blessedness resulting from spiritual relationship to Himself; a principle which seems directly opposed to the religious veneration which has been claimed for our Lord’s mother: cp. Matt. xii. 46-50, and notes.

33-35. These verses are found also in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matt. v. 15; vi. 22, 23, and notes); and cp. viii. 16. They are here repeated, with a special application to the preceding discourse. As God made Solomon and Jonah to be a “light” to the queen of Sheba and to the men of Nineveh, so He is making “the Son of man” a “light” “to this generation” (John iii. 19; viii. 12).

33 a candle . . . a secret place . . . a bushel . . . a candlestick. Rather, “a lamp” . . . “a cellar” . . . “the bushel” . . . “the lampstand,” R.V.

34. The light of the body. Rather, “The lamp of thy body,” R.V. If the eye which admits the light be not healthy (i.e., if the soul be in a wrong state towards God and His truth), you will still be in darkness. “The Jews did not see the significance of our Lord’s teaching and miracles, because they shut the eyes of their understanding, which should be the light of their soul” (Alford). “Body” here metaphorically expresses man’s spiritual being.

36 as when the bright shining, etc. Rather, “as when a lamp lights you with its rays” (Moffatt).

37 to dine. To take the early or mid-day meal. It is the same Greek verb which is used in John xxi. 12, 15. It really means “to break one’s fast”; cp. Fr. déjeuner.

38 washed. This was a thorough washing of the hands: see note on Mark vii. 3. “We have no ground for supposing that the Saviour did not commonly wash Himself before a meal. Now perhaps He omitted it because He had just accepted the invitation, or because He was wearied by the day’s work which He had hitherto accomplished” (Speaker’s Commentary).

39. Now do ye, etc. This is one instance in which, etc. On the whole discourse, see Matt. xxiii., and notes. This summary specifies four chief sins: hypocrisy, covetousness, formal legalism, pride.

40. Ye fools. It is folly to attend only to the external observances of religion; for God made man with a soul as well as a body.

41 such things as ye have. This may be rendered, “Give as aims the contents” [i.e., of the vessel-yourselves]; meaning, instead of your ostentatious charities, give your hearts to the service of God and man. Or it may mean, “Give as aims the food which the vessels hold.”

42. Woe unto you, Pharisees, etc. The performance of one class of duties must not be made an excuse for the neglect of another.

44 graves which appear not. The same figure is found in Matt. xxiii. 27; but with a different application. There, the outward ostentation of the Pharisees is reproved; here, their inward secret wickedness.

49 said the wisdom of God. There is perhaps here a general allusion to 2 Chron. xxiv. 18-22. Cp. Matt. xxiii. 34.

51. It shall be required of this generation. See note on Matt. xxiii. 31.

52 have taken away the key of knowledge. See Matt. xxiii. 13, and note.