Luke 18

Luke 18:1

I am resolved. Godet says: ``All at once, after long reflection, he exclaims, as if striking his forehead: I have hit it.’’ Many a rich man reaches a similar resolve when about to die. They may receive me. He will put his Lord’s debtors under such obligations to him that they will give him a home.

Luke 18:2

He called every one. The debtors; those that owed rent or on account.

Luke 18:3

A hundred measures of oil. Olive oil, one of the commonest products of Palestine. The measure contained about sixty pints. Take thy bill. The contract. Sit down quickly. In great haste, lest the dishonest transaction might be interrupted. Write fifty. The throwing off of fifty measures would be equivalent to several hundred dollars.

Luke 18:4

Hundred measures of wheat. The wheat measure was about eleven bushels; the twenty remitted would be 220 bushels.

Luke 18:5

The lord commended the unjust steward. Commended not his faithfulness, but his wisdom in looking out for a home when about to lose his place. The one point taught is a prudent foresight that uses earthly resources to provide for a time when these resources will fail us.

Luke 18:6

And I say unto you. The parable has ended and Christ now makes the application. Mammon of unrighteousness. Mammon is equivalent to money, or wealth; called the “mammon of unrighteousness”, not because it is acquired unrighteously, but because most use it unrighteously, treating it as their own, when they are only stewards. What is the use the Lord charges us to put it to? It is: “Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness (riches), that when it shall fail (when you can use it no longer), they shall receive you into eternal tabernacles (heaven)”. It is strange that there is any difficulty over this passage, as translated clearly in the Revised Version. The only friends who can receive us into heaven are the Father and the Son.

These are, then, the friends we must secure. During life our means must be so used as to please God and to lay up eternal treasure. If we use it as a trust of the Lord we will secure such a friend. Instead of hoarding we must make heavenly friends.

Luke 18:8

If therefore ye have not been faithful. If one is faithless in an earthly trust, how can he expect to receive a heavenly trust?

Luke 18:9

Another man’s. That which belongs to God. All who have property should understand that it is another’s. Your own. The true riches, because they become a part of our being, the inalienable possession of the redeemed.

Luke 18:10

No servant can serve two masters. See PNT Matthew 6:24.

Luke 18:11

The Pharisees . . . derided him. They understood the parable as an attack on covetousness and, like the worldly wise, thought his doctrine foolish.

Luke 18:12

Is abomination. Man exalts wealth, but the love of wealth, “the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10), is “an abomination in the sight of God” (Lu 16:15).

Luke 18:13

The law and the prophets. See PNT Matthew 11:13.

Luke 18:14

Than one tittle of the law to fail. See PNT Matthew 5:18.

Luke 18:15

Every one that putteth away his wife. See PNT Matthew 5:31.

Luke 18:16

“The Rich Man and the Beggar” (Lu 16:19-31). A parable, also, showing the consequences of a worldly spirit and the worldly use of wealth. Arnot says: ``Here, as in other cognate parables, great wisdom is displayed in bringing the whole force of the rebuke to bear on one point. It is not intimated that this man made free with other people’s money, or that he had gained his fortune in a dishonest way. All other charges are removed, that the weight lying all on one point may more effectively imprint the intended lesson. To have represented him as dishonest, or drunken, would have blunted the weapon’s edge.

Here is an affluent citizen, on whose fair fame the breath of scandal can fix no blot. He had a large portion in the world, and did not seek–did not desire–any other. He spent his wealth in pleasing himself, and did not lay it out in serving God or helping man.’' A certain rich man. Not one whom the world would call great, but eminently respectable; one whom the worldly would admire, while the poor man was one whom the covetous world despise. Clothed in purple. The purple was anciently the royal color, the gorgeous hue of the imperial robes, and hence the very term, “the purple”, is still used to signify the royal dignity. Fine linen. The finest apparel. Fared sumptuously every day. Enjoying not only the most sumptuous fare on the table every day, but every sensual enjoyment. How the world would admire his lot in life!

Luke 18:17

A certain beggar. Beggary, such as is here depicted, is much more common in the East than with us, and, in the absence of any more systematic provision, alms-giving to the poor was insisted upon by the Old Testament (Job 29:13 Psalms 41:1 112:9 Proverbs 14:31). Named Lazarus. Augustine says: ``Does not Christ seem to you to have been reading in that book where the found the name of the poor man written, but found not the name of the rich? For that book is the Book of Life.’' Laid at his gate. Carried there because unable to walk. At the gate, where so many were passing, would be a favorable place for alms. Full of sores. Cutaneous sores are most common in connection with abject poverty.

Luke 18:18

The dogs came and licked his sores. How abject his lot! Helpless, a beggar, glad to get crumbs, the dogs around him licking his sores! Such a lot the world would despise.

Luke 18:19

The beggar died. What became of his body is not stated. It may have been vast into the potter’s field. Was carried by the angels. Here is one who in his life had not a single friend, and now, suddenly, not one, but many angels wait upon him (Luther). His body may have had no pall-bearers, but angels carried his soul. Into Abraham’s bosom. The place of rest where Abraham welcomed his children; heavenly bliss. The Jews spoke of those who went to Abraham’s heavenly abode as in Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. We are to infer that he had a splendid burial; his body was placed in a costly tomb, but where was “he”?

Luke 18:20

In hell. The abode of departed spirits, and to the wicked, a place of punishment. Being in torments. His wealth has failed him; his good things have departed. Seeth Abraham . . . and Lazarus. A proof of recognition beyond the grave. Afar off. Widely apart in condition, character, and space.

Luke 18:21

And he cried. The only instance in the New Testament of prayers to the saints. Father Abraham. His trust was in his fleshly descent. He said, “We have Abraham to our father” (Matthew 3:9 Lu 3:8). Send Lazarus. He seems to think that he has some claims on him, in return for his crumbs. Dip the tip of his finger in water. He only dares ask the smallest favor. Tormented in this flame. Greswell says: ``Flame may be regarded as a figurative term, to represent acutest suffering of which a spirit is susceptible by a material image of misery the most die.''

Luke 18:22

Son. Abraham recognizes the fleshly tie. His answer is fatherly, affectionate. Remember. Analogy gives us every reason to suppose that in the disembodied state the whole life on earth will lie before the soul in all its thoughts, words, and deeds, like the map of the past journey before a traveler (Alford). Thy good things. He was of the number who receive their portion in this life, instead of that good part which shall never be taken from them. He had preferred the world and its rewards, and had obtained them. But he had lost the world to come. “Thy” is emphatic. Earthly possessions and enjoyments were his choice. Now he is comforted. The saved leave all sorrows behind when they leave the earth; the lost leave all their joys behind.

Luke 18:23

There is a great gulf fixed. It is permanent and impassable. There is no bridging over the abyss. Destiny has been decided in life.

Luke 18:24

Send him to my father’s house. This is introduced. not to show an interest in his brethren, but to call out the reply:

Luke 18:26

They have Moses and the prophets. If they would refuse to hear the word of God, they would refuse to repent at the bidding of a ghost.

Luke 18:28

Neither will they be persuaded, etc. This was demonstrated in the case of Jesus himself. The Jews refused to accept Christ, though Moses and the prophets testified of him. They asked for a sign, and “the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 12:39 16:4; Lu 11:29,30), his resurrection from the dead, was given. Still they refused to repent. Unbelief is due, not to a lack of evidence, but to a rebellious heart. The seat of skepticism is in the moral nature.

Luke 18:30

Various Sayings of Christ SUMMARY OF LUKE 17: Offenders and Offenses. The Power of Faith. The Ten Lepers Cleansed. The Kingdom of God. The Coming of Christ. Lot’s Wife. It is impossible but that causes of sin will come. See notes on Matthew 18:6-7.

Luke 18:32

If thy brother shall trespass against thee, rebuke him. See notes on Matthew 18:15-22. Observe that kind rebuke, as well as forgiveness, is a duty.

Luke 18:34

Increase our faith. They desire more faith. In the face of the overwhelming odds against them, the general unbelief, and the fact that Jesus would not be the kind of a Christ that they and all the Jews had expected, they felt the need of more faith.

Luke 18:35

As a grain of mustard seed. See PNT Matthew 13:32. Sycamine tree. A species of the fig. It should obey you. See notes on Mr 11:22-26.

Luke 18:36

Which of you? This parable is drawn from the Eastern usages where the same servant who works in the field often serves at the table.

Luke 18:37

Gird thyself. The loose flowing garments needed to be girded up by the belt when one was serving.

Luke 18:39

We are unprofitable servants. Our Master owes us no thanks when we serve him faithfully, for we have only done our duty. The heavenly reward to the faithful is of grace, not of debt (Romans 11:6).

Luke 18:40

As he went to Jerusalem. When is uncertain. If on his last journey, it was when the Lord first departed from Galilee, before his teaching in Perea. Through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. From the west to the east, so as to cross the Jordan.

Luke 18:41

There met him ten men that were lepers. For account of the leprosy, and the laws of Moses concerning it, see PNT Matthew 8:2. These lepers, excluded from other society, grouped together for company. Stood afar off. As required by the law of Moses (Leviticus 13:46).

Luke 18:43

Go shew yourselves. To be officially pronounced clean, a certificate had to be obtained from the priests (see PNT Matthew 8:4). They were cleansed. As they went, an act of faith, they were healed. Not one would have been healed if he had disobeyed.