John Bengel Commentary - Luke 4:18 - 4:18

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John Bengel Commentary - Luke 4:18 - 4:18


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Luk 4:18-19. Πνεῦμα Κυρίου ἐπʼ ἐμὲ· οὗ εἵνεκεν ἔχρισέ με· εὐαγγελίσασθα. πτωχοῖς, ἀπέσταλκέ με, ἰάσασθαι τοὺς συντετριμμένους τὴν καρδίαν·-ἀνάβλεψιν, ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμένους ἐν ἀφέσει· κηρύξαι ἐνιαυτὸν Κυρίου δεκτὸν καὶ ἡμέραν ἀνταποδόσεως) Isa 61:1-2, LXX: πνεῦμα-ἀνάβλεψιν· καλέσαι, κ.τ.λ. Several particulars here are worthy of being noticed. I. The Hebrew accents give us a most effective stopping. II. οὗ εἵνεκεν signifies the same as יֹען, for this reason because, on account of this inasmuch as. So Num 14:43, Οὗ εἵνεκα ἀπεστράφητε, because ye are turned away from. Ammonius says οὕνεκα signifies the same as ὅτι. The sense in this passage is, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me. Even then already Jesus implied distinctly that He was the Christ. It is from His anointing, that the abiding of the Spirit of the Lord on the Christ is deduced. As the[continuous] state of personal union [the union of His humanity and Divinity], so that of His anointing flows from the act. III. From the anointing flows the especial, nay, the preaching peculiarly characteristic of this Prophet, viz., that of the Gospel; from the oil flows the joy [i.e. from the anointing oil comes the joy, answering to the “good tidings,” Isa 61:1, and “the oil of joy,” Luk 4:3]: from the ‘sending’ [l. c., Luk 4:3] comes the “healing [Luk 4:18 : in Isaiah “to bind up”] of the broken-hearted.” IV. This very clause, curare contribulatos corde, “to heal the broken-hearted,” as the translator of Irenæu[46] has it, I am induced to retain chiefly on the authority of Irenæu[47], although others have omitted it.[48] V. Καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀναβλεψιν, is not taken from Isa 42:7, but from Isa 61:1. So the words are found in the LXX. translation for the Hebrew ולאסורים פקחקוח. Moreover פקח in the books of the Old Testament, denotes not every kind of opening whatever, but that of the ears once; besides, very frequently, the opening of the eyes. For this reason the seventy translators have referred it in this passage to the blind. However, Isaiah spake of such an opening of the eyes, as is vouchsafed, not to the blind, but to those set free from the darkness of a prison (see Isa 61:1), as the writer of the Chaldee paraphrase rightly saw. VI. ἈΠΟΣΤΕῖΛΑΙ ΤΕΘΡΑΥΣΜΈΝΟΥς ἘΝ ἈΦΈΣΕΙ, is taken from the preceding part, Isa 58:6, ἈΠΌΣΤΕΛΛΕ ΤΕΘΡΑΥΣΜΈΝΟΥς ἘΝ ἈΦΈΣΕΙ; whence the Israelitic ἌΦΕΣΙς is made by accommodation to answer to the ἌΦΕΣΙς, effected through the Messiah. The minister, of his own accord, handed to our Lord, in the synagogue, the book of Isaiah: it was therefore a portion from Isaiah which was the one usually read on that Sabbath. Isa 61:1-2, was not the Haphtara (or publicly read portion) at all: but there was a Haphtara, consisting of Isa 57:13 to Isa 58:14, and that too on the day of expiation, which in the Ord. Temp., page 254; Ed. ii., page 220, 221, and Harm. Ev., page 186, etc., we have shown, corresponded on that year (which was the twenty-eighth of the Dion. era.-Not. Crit.) with the Sabbath mentioned in Luke. From which it is evident, that an ordinary and an extraordinary lesson were joined together by the Lord in His reading, and by the Evangelist in writing the account of it. VII. As to the words ΚΑῚ ἩΜΈΡΑΝ ἈΝΤΑΠΟΔΌΣΕΩς. See App. Crit., Ed. ii. on this passage.[49] In this clause, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD upon ME, contains a remarkable testimony to the Holy Trinity [the Spirit, the Father, and Jesus]. Jesus was full of the Spirit, Luk 4:1; Luk 4:14.-οὗ εἵνεκεν) The [50] in ἝΝΕΚΑ passes into ΕἸ, not only poetically, but also Ionically and Attically.-ΠΤΩΧΟῖς, to the poor) In Israel, and subsequently among the Gentiles. Regard is had to them also in ch. Luk 6:20.-ἄφεσιν, remission [but Engl. Vers., deliverance]) The word is here employed with great propriety.[51]

[46] renæus (of Lyons, in Gaul: born about 130 A.D., and died about the end of the second century). The Editio Renati Massueti, Parisinæ, a. 1710.

[47] renæus (of Lyons, in Gaul: born about 130 A.D., and died about the end of the second century). The Editio Renati Massueti, Parisinæ, a. 1710.

[48] A, Iren. 260, Hil. 577, retain the clause. BDLabc, Orig. 2,636; 4,13, Hilar. 92, omit it. Some MSS. of Vulg. omit, others retain it.-ED. and TRANSL.

[49] Vulg. etc., add “et diem retributionis.” b has “et diem redditionis;” a, “et diem redemptions.” But ABD Hil. 92, and Rec. Text reject the addition, which manifestly is interpolated from Isaiah, and is appropriate, not to the Gospel message of peace delivered at Christ’s first Advent, but to His second Advent to judgment.-ED. and TRANSL.

[50] Laudianus: Bodl. libr., Oxford: seventh or eighth cent.: publ. 1715: Acts def.

[51] Literally, referring to the setting free a captive; spiritually, to the remission of sins and the deliverance of the captive sinner.-ED. and TRANSL.