Bible Commentaries
Luke 17

Verse 1

Impossible [ανενδεκτον] . Inadmissable. Only here in New Testament. See on it cannot be, ch. 13 33.

Offenses. See on offend, Matthew 5:29; and compare on Matthew 16:23.

Verse 2

It were better [λυσιτελει] . Only here in New Testament. The verb means to pay what is due, and is equivalent to our phrase, it pays.

Millstone. Compare Matthew 18:6. The correct reading here is liqov mulikov, a millstone; not a great millstone as Matthew.

Thrown [ερριπται] . Hurled : with an underlying sense of violence, called out by so great an outrage.

Verse 3

Rebuke. See on straitly charged, ch. 9 21.

Verse 6

Sycamine. Or mulberry. Luke distinguishes between this and sukomorea, the fig - mulberry (ch. 19 4). The names were sometimes confused, but a physician would readily make the distinction, as both were used medicinally.

Verse 9

I trow not. Omitted by the best texts.

Verse 10

Unprofitable [αχρειοι] . From creia, requirement; something which the master must pay. Not useless, but having rendered no service beyond what was due. "The profit does not begin until the servant goes beyond his obligation" (Meyer). "A servant owes all things" (Bengel).

Verse 11

Through the midst of. It may also mean between or on the borders of. The Am. Rev. insists on the latter.

Verse 12

Lepers. See on ch. Luke 5:12.

Verse 20

With observation [μετα παρατηρησεως] . Only here in New Testament. The progress of the kingdom cannot be defined by visible marks like that of an earthly kingdom. Its growth in the world is a process of pervasion, like the working of the leaven through the lump.

Verse 21

Within. Better, in the midst of. Meyer acutely remarks that "you refers to the Pharisees, in whose hearts nothing certainly found a place less than did the ethical kingdom of God." Moreover, Jesus is not speaking of the inwardness of the kingdom, but of its presence. "The whole language of the kingdom of heaven being within men, rather than men being within the kingdom, is modern" (Trench, after Meyer).

Verse 24

Lighteneth [αστραπτουσα] . Only here and ch. 24:4.

Verse 25

Rejected. See on disallowed, 1 Peter 2:4; and tried, 1 Peter 1:7.

Verse 31

Goods. See on Matthew 12:29.

On the house - top. See on Matthew 24:17.

Verse 33

Shall preserve [ζωογονησει] . Only here and Acts 7:19. Originally to engender; thence to produce alive or endue with life, and so to preserve alive. Wyc., shall quicken it.

Verse 37

Eagles. See on Matthew 24:28. ===Luke 18:0

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PARABLES OF THE UNJUST JUDGE AND THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN.

Peculiar to Luke. 1 - 14.