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13And one of the company said unto him, Master [Teacher], speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. 14And he said unto him, Man, who made [appointed] me a judge or a divider over you? 15And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of [all] covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 16And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground 17[estate; lit., place, ÷þñá ] of a certain rich man [had] brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow [deposit] my fruits [or, crops]? 18And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required [lit., they require] of thee: then whose shall those things be, which 21thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
22And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought [Be not anxious] for your [the] life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23The life is more than meat [food], and the body is more than raiment [apparel]. 24Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls 25[birds]? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature [length of life, ἡëéêßáí ] one cubit? 26If ye then be not able to do [even] that thing which is least, why take ye thought [are ye anxious] for the rest? 27Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not [how they neither toil nor spin, V. O.]; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? 29And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or [and] what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and [or, but] your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31But rather seek ye the kingdom of God [seek ye 32his kingdom]; and all [om., all] these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags [purses] which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth 34[destroyeth]. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
2. As respects now Luk_12:1-34 in particular, we will, in order to be able better to survey the rich matter contained in this portion of the discourse, divide it into three parts. In the first, Luk_12:1-12, the tone of warning predominates; in the second, Luk_12:13-21, we perceive a tone of instruction, while in the third, Luk_12:22-34, a tone of encouragement and comfort becomes evident.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
First of all.—Thus does the Saviour begin to speak to His disciples, and exhibits hereby His forbearance and self-control, in that He at this moment, when the Pharisees are inflamed with blind rage against Him, does not turn Himself directly to the masses with His warning. ÉÉñῶôïí not to be joined with ôïῖò ìáèçô . (Luther, Bengel, Knapp, a. o.), which would be partly obscure, partly purposeless, partly also without example; but with ðñïóÝ÷åôå =Luk_9:61. After that which had just taken place, the Saviour has no warning so much at heart as just this.
Of the leaven.—Comp. Mat_16:6. As appears from the conversation after the second miracle of the Loaves, the Saviour designated by the leaven of the Pharisees their doctrine, and this not in general, for then it would have contained also pure Mosaic elements, but so far as it had been disfigured by the spirit of their sect. It is thus probable, even a priori, that He, inasmuch as He was at a former time zealous against this æýìç , now also has this doctrine in mind. On this ground we must fully subscribe to the penetrating remark of Meyer: “Here also it is not hypocrisy that is meant (as commonly explained), because otherwise afterward ἡ ὑðüêñéóéò (with an article) would have to stand, but the pernicious doctrines and ordinances of the Pharisees upon which Jesus but just before had been debating at table. Of this He says: ‘Their essence is hypocrisy,’ which gives an element of the warning with the ground on which it rests.”
Luk_12:2. There is nothing covered.—Comp. Mat_10:26. As hypocrisy in itself is not permitted, Luk_12:1, so is it besides fruitless, since the truth sooner or later comes to light.—Concealed—hidden (with entire generality of meaning), both from God and man. Nothing,—Good as well as Evil; that which is greatest as well as that which is least.
Luk_12:3 : Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness.—A singular statement, if we bring it exclusively into connection with the apostolic êÞñõãìá , for we read indeed of the Saviour that He preached to His disciples in the ear (Mat_10:27), but their preaching was from the beginning destined to the greatest publicity. Therefore the opinions (De Wette: “an incongruous expression.” Bengel: cum timore aliquo. Meyer: “All that ye—on account of persecutions—shall have taught in secret, will—at the victory of My cause—be proclaimed with the greatest publicity.”). This whole antithesis of persecution and victory is, however, plainly gratuitous. But why, moreover, is it necessary to understand here so decidedly the apostolic êÞñõãìá ? It is much more simple if we understand in general all which, whether by the apostles or by the people, Luk_12:1, has been spoken in secret and is hereafter to be brought to the light. Luk_12:2, it is said of everything hidden that it shall come to the light; Luk_12:3, more definitely of the hidden words of each one. By this reminder hypocrisy is opposed in its deepest grounds, and even before the apostles could come into the temptation of concealing truth from the fear of man, it is indicated to them in Luk_12:4-5, whom they must not fear, and whom they must beyond question fear.
Luk_12:4. Be not afraid.—Comp. Mat_10:28. We have here the question, who is meant by the name: ôὸí — ἐîïõóßáí ἕ÷ïíôá ἔìâáëåῖí åἰò ôὴí ãÝåííáí , God or Satan? The majority of commentators have, in agreement with the exegetical tradition, decided in favor of the former view; some voices have been raised for the latter (Olshausen, Stier, Lange, L. J. ad loc., Besser, Arndt, Riechel, Van Oosterzee, L. J.). After the retractation of Lange, also, on Matthew ad loc., we cannot but assusme that the truth is on the side of the minority. Grounds: 1. Fear can only be here interpreted in one sense, in that of being afraid of, being on one’s guard; for this certainly the word denotes in the first part of the admonition, and he whom man has to fear, äὲ ìᾶëëïí , cannot be the Supreme Love, but must necessarily be Satan. It is true, there is a distinction in the construction. We have first: ìὴ öïâçèῆôå ἀðὸ ôῶí , ê . ô . ë ., then: öïâÞèçôå äὲ ôὸí ἔ÷ïíôá , ê . ô . ë . Bengel already remarked: Plus est, timeo illum, quam timeo ab illo. But the Saviour uses in the connection of the parallel passage, Mat_10:26, öïâÞèçôå with the accusative also in the sense of being afraid, and the ìᾶëëïí (in Matthew) plainly intimates that here an increase of fear (of being afraid) unto yet much greater fear takes place; that the Saviour, therefore, does not give His disciples the admonition in order, instead of the first named feeling, to awaken another within them, but on the other hand to cherish the same fear in yet much higher degree.
2. Besides, Satan is the proper soul-murderer, even as men are murderers of the body: but of God it is never said that He destroys the soul. To the objection that the devil nowhere appears in Scripture as the one who damns to hell (Olshausen), we must answer that he appears here not as judge, but as executor of the retributive judgment of God, under His special permission. [Where in the New Testament is the mediæval notion of the devil as God’s bailiff, or executioner, countenanced?—C. C. S.] The body he kills through men who are his instruments, Joh_8:40-41; the soul he destroys through the deadly destruction of sin. From among the many foes who could do them great harm, the Saviour brings one forward who was capable of inflicting the greatest of all upon them, and whom they accordingly must fear much more. Therefore He adds, according to Luke, with visible intensity: “Yea, I say unto you, fear him.” “Whoever can think of the Heavenly Father, we understand not how his ear can hear.” Stier.
3. Least of all does such a designation of the Father belong to a discourse in which the Saviour speaks to His friends, for their encouragement, of a special Providence, which has numbered even the hairs of their head. On all these grounds we here understand “the fearful unnamed and yet well-known One, whose kingdom is hell, who here already beguiles the soul and there forever tortures body and soul.” Besser. [Hell is described as the place of Satan’s punishment; where is it described as the place of his dominion?—C. C. S.] The Saviour wishes to fill His disciples with holy fear: “That the evil enemy may not beyond deliverance devour their soul to destruction.” Lange, Bibl. Gedichte. Or, if any one, perchance, finds a difficulty in this that He addresses such a warning to His disciples, then may we remark with Chrysostom: ôß ãåÝííçò ÷áëåðþôåñïí ; ἀëë ̓ ïὐäὲí ôïῦ ôáýôçò ÷ñçóéìþôåñïí öüâïé . Ὁ ãὰñ ôῆò ãåÝííçò öüâïò ôὸí ôῆò âáóéëåßáò ἡìῖíêïìßæåé óôÝöáíïí . Ἔíèá öüâïò ἐóôßí , ïὐê ἔóôé öèüíïò . ἔíèá öüâïò ἐóôß , ÷ñçìÜôùí ἔñùò ïὐê ἐíü÷ëåé . Ý ̓ íèá öüâïò ἐóôßí , ἔóâåóôáé èõìüò , ἐðéèõìßá êáôÝóôáëôáé ðïíçñÜ , ἅðáí ἀëüãéóôïí ἐîþñéóôáé ðÜèïò . Homil. VI. ad popul. Antioch., tom. vi., p. 560. Yet enough already to justify our doubt that here the friends of Jesus are required to fear God, who in the immediately following verse is, on the other hand, represented as the object of their child-like trust, Ab utraque parte saltem disputari potest.
[The following remarks on the parallel passage in Matthew appear to me to present in a clear light the inadmissibleness of the author’s interpretation.—C. C. S.
“Stier designates it as ‘the only passage of Scripture whose words may equally apply to God and the enemy of souls.’ He himself is strongly in favor of the latter interpretation, and defends it at much length; but I am quite unable to assent to his opinion. It seems to me at variance with the connection of the discourse, and with the universal tone of Scripture regarding Satan. If such a phrase as öïâåῖóèáé ôὸí äéÜâïëïí could be instanced as= öõëÜîáóèáé ôὸí ä ., or if it could be shown that anywhere power is attributed to Satan analogous to that indicated by ὁ äõíÜìåíïò ê . ø . ê . ó . ἀðïëÝóáé ἐí ã ., I should then be open to the doubt whether he might not here be intended; but seeing that öïâåῖóèáé ἀðü , indicating terror, is changed into öïâåῖóèáé , so usually followed by ôὸí èåüí in a higher and holier sense (there is no such contrast in Luk_12:26, and therefore that verse cannot be cited as ruling the meaning of this), and that God Alone is throughout the Scripture the Almighty dispenser of life and death, both temporal and eternal, seeing also that Satan is ever represented as the condemned of God, not ὁ äõí . ἀðïëÝóáé , I must hold by the general interpretation, and believe that, both here and in Luk_12:3-7, our Heavenly Father is intended as the right object of our fear. As to this being inconsistent with the character in which He is brought before us in the next verse, the very change of construction in öïâåῖóèáé would lead the mind on out of the terror before spoken of, into that better kind of fear always indicated by that expression when applied to God, and so prepare the way for the next verse. Besides, this sense is excellently in keeping with Luk_12:29 in another way… The parallel passage, Jam_4:12, even in the absence of other considerations, would be decisive. Full as his epistle is of our Lord’s words from this Gospel, it is hardly to be doubted that in åἷò ἐóôéí ὁ íïìïèÝôçò ὁäõíÜìåíïò óῶóáé êáὶ ἀðïëÝóáé , he has this very verse before him. This Stier endeavors to escape by saying that ἀðïëÝóáé , barely, as the opposite to óῶóáé , is far from being = øõ÷ὴíἀðïëÝóáé in a context like this. But as connected with íïìïèÝôçò , what meaning can ἀðïëÝóáé bear except that of eternal destruction?”—Alford.]
Luk_12:6. Five sparrows.—A beautiful version of the same saying, Mat_10:29. So insignificant is the worth of sparrows in daily life, that whoever buys them for twopence gets one into the bargain, and yet what is regarded among men as almost worthless is with God in heaven not forgotten. To the disciples it is left to calculate how far they excel such sparrows in value.
Luk_12:8. Also I say unto you.—The repetition several times of this announcement is also to the attentive hearer a proof that here different sayings of the Saviour, originally belonging in an entirely different connection, are chrestomathically put together. With this also the anxious inquiry after the connection between this and the immediately preceding admonition falls away. Respecting the matter itself, the courageous confession of Christ, see the remark on Mat_10:32, and on Luk_9:26. Here it is especially the reward of a confession coram angelis; in the parallel passage in Matthew, on the other hand, that of a confession coram Patre.
Luk_12:10. But unto him that hath blasphemed against the Holy Ghost.—Respecting the sin against the Holy Spirit, comp. Lange on Mat_12:31-32, and the authors there stated. As entirely inadequate we may consider the view that this sin is nothing else than “the ascribing those miracles to the power of the devil which Christ wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Wesley. It must be placed entirely in one line with the sin which cannot be forgiven, and of which the Scriptures speak also in other places, Heb_10:26; 1Jn_5:16. Only then, however, can we speak of the sin against the Holy Spirit where a high measure of religious enlightenment and development exists; and in opposition to the not knowing of that which one does, Luk_23:34, we have here to understand fully conscious and stubborn hatred against God and that which is Divine as it exists in its highest development. The highest grace alone makes the deepest apostasy possible, and only he who has reached an important height can plunge into such a depth. Before his conversion Paul blasphemed the Son of Man and it was forgiven him; had he kicked against the pricks, suppressed with all his might the impression received, then would he have committed the sin which cannot be forgiven. Of Judas we might perhaps say that he committed this sin, and refer to the judgment which, Mat_26:24, is uttered concerning him.—As respects the punishment for this sin, we have to bear in mind the word of Augustine (De Civit. Dei. xxi. 24): “neque enim de quibusdam veraciter diceretur, quod eis non remittetur, neque in hoc sœculo, neque in futuro, nisi essent, quibus, etsi non in isto, tamen remittatur in futuro.” A brief but good description of the nature of this sin is given by Stier, ii. p. 44. Respecting the distinction between the Reformed and Lutheran expositors, of whom the former believe that no regenerate person, the latter that such alone, can fall into this sin, we cannot here speak. The grounds for the opinion of the latter are found in Stier and Olshausen; those of the opposite views in J. Muller, Christ. Lehre von der Sünde, ii. p. 566.
Luk_12:11. Before the synagogues.—One may not unjustly doubt whether the former warning against the sin against the Holy Spirit was wholly congruous for the faithful, devoted disciples of the Saviour; this promise, on the other hand, is very definitely given with reference to their future calling as preachers of the Gospel. The accumulation of expressions is especially adapted to indicate to them that they would be cited not only before Jewish but also before heathen tribunals, and the here-given promise of the Holy Spirit is of such a kind that it promises to them a direct immediate help from above for all cases in which they could need it. Although, however, this help is here limited to that which they should say in their defence, it is understood without doubt that this defence of the apostles was at the same time a testimony, êÞñõãìá , in the most exalted sense of the word, and that the assistance already promised them for the lesser should be far less still withheld for the higher. The Book of Acts is an uninterrupted and continuous exposition of the significance and force of this saying. Comp. especially the apologetic discourses of Peter and Paul. Therefore, with right, Bengel: “aut quid dicatis etiam prœter apologiœ necessitatem.”
2. It is well known how high a rank the mysteries occupy in the heathen religions of antiquity. Those initiated into them believed themselves to have attained a higher degree of piety; from the familiar they mounted up into the region of the unfamiliar, which no uninitiated foot ever dared tread, no indiscreet tongue betray. But in the Christian sphere precisely the opposite is the case. Here the êåêáëõììÝíïí is not the higher but the lower degree, and not into the chambers but upon the housetops are His followers directed; a proof at the same time of the fact that the restoration of the heathen mysteries in the bosom of the Catholic Church is in principle against the original spirit of Christianity, and that secret orders, that do not venture to come to the light with that which they actually profess or do, have to fear His veto who demanded publicity in the noblest sense of the word, and whose cause more than any other is worthy to face the brightest light.
3. There are words of the Saviour which are best understood and estimated when they are read in the light of a clear starry heaven. To this belongs also the saying of the sparrows and the hairs of the head. “When I consider Thy heavens the work of Thy fingers, the moon and stars which Thou hast ordained: what is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou hast numbered the hairs of his head?” In order, however, rightly to estimate the whole comfort of this doctrine of a providentia specialissima, we must never forget that the Saviour here speaks to His friends, who precisely as such were the objects of the special providence of God.
4. The immortality of the soul in the philosophical sense of the word is as far from being expressly taught and proved by the Saviour as the being and the unity of God; ordinarily He presupposes what indeed cannot be doubted. Not the purely negative conception of immortality, but the positive conception of resurrection and eternal life, stands in the Scriptures of the New Covenant in the foreground. But for this reason we may the less fail to notice that He at least once has in so many words declared that the soul, which is definitely distinguished from the body, can in no case be destroyed. The New Testament Demonology also receives by this saying an important degree of light, and the admonition which He gives to His disciples, that they should be perpetually on their guard against Satan’s craft and might, they in their turn hold up before their fellow-believers, Eph_6:10; 1Pe_5:8; Jam_4:7, et alibi.
5. The sin against the Holy Spirit may in no wise (as e.g. Colani does) be made equivalent to the sin against one’s own conscience. Conscience speaks even in the breast of the rudest heathen; against the Holy Spirit, however, no one can sin who does not already possess more than usual knowledge and experience of the power of Christian truth.
6. Not unjustly is the Saviour’s promise of the assistance of the Holy Spirit regarded as one of the strongest grounds of the high authority in which the word and writings of the apostles stand. Especially according to the parallel in Mat_10:19-20, is that which this Spirit speaks in them definitely distinguished from the utterances of their own individual consciousness. The manner of the Spirit’s working may be incomprehensible; but so much we see at once, that we have here to understand an entirely extraordinary immediate influence; for it was to be given them ἐí áὐôῇ ôῇ ὥñᾳ . The promise of this assistance extended as well to the substance as to the form of their language ( ðῶò ἤ ôß ), and this help was to support them so mightily (comp. Luk_21:14-15) that it would be morally impossible for their enemies to persevere in offering them resistance. At the same time this help is promised them for everything which they had to say, not alone respecting their own persons, but also concerning the cause of their Lord. Their writings also, in which this apology of their faith is stated according to the varying necessities of the time, are entirely the faithful expression of that which the Spirit gave them in such moments to ponder, to speak, to write; and this whole promise, communicated by all the Synoptics, is only the brief summary of all that which the Saviour in His parting discourse in John has brought into view in greater detail in reference to the Paraclete.
Starke:—Who does not teach aright, he also lives not aright; and who does not live aright, he also does not teach aright.—Quesnel:—The saints avoid not the light, and do nothing of which they must be ashamed before God’s judgment.—Hedinger:—God’s proclamation of grace is no secret of alchemy, but every one is to know and understand it.—The marvellous simplicity which is found in the Gospel, Psa_19:9.—Brentius:—If servants and children of God have much of the suffering of Christ, they are also richly comforted through Christ.—The soul has its own individual existence; therefore it may fare well or ill with it when it is separated from the body.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—It is impossible that God should leave those that trust in Him.—Everything, even the least of things, that happens to man is God’s ruling.—It is not enough to believe with the heart on Jesus, but we must also resolutely and joy fully confess Him with the mouth before the world.—There is a sin greater than others, and also worthy of heavier punishment.—Majus:—Every Christian must be ready to give account of his hope, 1Pe_3:15.—The great ones of the earth have been from the beginning for the most part great enemies to Christ and His Gospel.—The inner ministry of the Holy Ghost is very closely connected with the outer, and must not remain separated from it, 1Ti_6:3-5.
Palmer (on the parallel, Mat_10:26-33):—The Lord’s might and men’s impotency: 1. His work He accomplishes, and man cannot hinder it; 2. His faithful ones He protects, and man cannot hinder it; 3. the unfaithful He overthrows, and man cannot hinder it.—Van Oosterzee:—The government of God takes note of trifles. This is truth: 1. Too sure for doubt; 2. too glorious to be slighted; 3. too instructive to be forgotten.—Beck:—Whence comes true courage?
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Man.—The answer exhibits no personal displeasure of the Saviour against the bearer of the unseemly request, but only shows that the Saviour was by no means minded to enter upon a sphere which could not possibly be His own. His answer involuntarily reminds us of the language which once an Egyptian uttered to Moses, Exo_2:14.
Luk_12:15. Take heed and beware of covetousness.—Not only of covetousness which has just before appeared in the definite form of cleaving to a disputed inheritance, but of all exaggerated love of earthly possession. If the petitioner (Luk_12:13) still remained in the circle of the hearers, the Saviour here renders him a better service than if He had made him rich; He will heal him of his chief malady. To this end serves the parable of the Rich Fool, which Luke alone has preserved, and of which it is not unjustly affirmed, “It is scarcely to be called a parable, so distinctly does it of itself and without any diversion of thought set forth the relation to God” (Riggenbach).
For a man’s life … which he possesseth.—A difficult sentence, in which however the reading of Tischendorf, áὐôῷ , appears to deserve the preference above that of Lachmann, áὐôïῦ . The best construction, on the whole, appears to be this: “ ὅôé ἡæùὴ áὐôῷ ïὐê ἐóôßí ôéíé ἐí ôῷ ðåñéóóåýåéí (infinitive for the substantive) ἐê ôῶí ὑðáñ÷üíôùí áὐôïῦ .— ÆùÞ is not here to be taken in the sense of the happiness of life but = øõ÷Þ , as Schott paraphrases: “siquidem quando quis bonis abundat, tamen vita ejus a bonis minime pendet.” Not from the possession of many goods, but from the will of God, who lengthens or shortens the thread of life, does it depend whether one remains long and quietly here in life or not. One may be preserved in life without possessing goods, and also remain in the possession of goods and unexpectedly lose life. That riches in and of themselves do not give happiness is undoubtedly true, yet not the chief thought of this parable.
Luk_12:17. The estate of a certain rich man.—Probably a quite considerable space of ground, not ÷ùñßïí , but ÷þñá . Not without intention does the Saviour choose as His example a man who gathers his riches in a customary, legitimate, apparently innocent way. “Modus hic ditescendi innocentissimus et tamen periculosus.” Bengel. The first thing which is lacking to this fortunate rich man is complete contentment.
What shall I do?—With discontent is joined anxiety and perplexity, since he does not know how he shall manage with his treasures. A similar perplexity to that which is related, Mar_16:3, in which, however, God does not come into the midst and give help. That his increased prosperity offers him opportunity to do something for his poor brethren, does not even come into his mind; selfishness strikes the key-note, even in the four times recurring ìïõ : ôïὺò êáñðïýò ìïõ , ê . ô . ë .
Luk_12:18. I will pull down my barns.—By a forcible tearing down, therefore, he believes he shall open the way to his happiness. The ἀðïèῆêáé were for the most part subterraneous dry vaults. It is possible that the Rich Fool is thinking of enlarging them, but also that he is of a mind to build up greater ἀðïèῆêáé from the foundation. Here also there is not the least mention of the poor, but, on the other hand, an emphatic exaltation of his ãåííÞìáôá as his highest earthly ἀãáèÜ .
Luk_12:19. Soul.—To the continuing discontent and rising care of the rich man is added now the self-deceit of the falsest hope. Unconsciously he confesses that he has hitherto not yet found the long sighed-for rest, but expects it, and that for a long time, when the intended work shall have been entirely completed. Very finely, Meyer: “to my soul, not exactly mihi, but to my soul, the seat of the sensibilities, here of the desire of enjoyment.” Not only idleness, no, revelling, is the ideal that this fool mirrors to himself. The reference to the passage, Sir_11:17-19, is in this whole representation almost impossible to mistake.
Luk_12:20. Thou fool.—The searching contrast between the soliloquy of the fool and the judgment of God, belongs to the greatest beauties of the parable. This beauty, however, is lost if we think here merely of a decretum Dei (Kuinoel) instead of the invisible King of Heaven appearing in speech and action, and suddenly causing him to feel that not even so many hours are allotted him as he had been dreaming of years— ἀðáéôïῦóéí . Who now is to fulfil this sentence? God Himself (Meyer); the death-angels to whom I have committed the power (Von Gerlach); robbers and murderers (Bornemann, Paulus)? The latter is perhaps the most agreeable to the concrete character of the parable; neither is there any ground whatever for understanding the verb impersonally. If we understand burglars demanding his life of him, the requirement has then double emphasis. There is thereby the image of terror held up before the rich man, to him especially in the highest degree frightful; and the question immediately following thereon, “Whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” acquires still higher significance if we assume that the murderers, unknown to him and already approaching, shall be at the same time the robbers of his goods. Nor does Luk_12:21 offer any difficulty to this explanation if we only keep the tertium comparationis in mind.
Luk_12:21. So is he that.—He dreams as illusively as this fool, in order sooner or later to awake in a similarly terrible manner. Èçóáõñßæùí ἑáõôῷ , in suum commodum, so that in his enjoyment consists the chief end which he in the augmentation of his treasures has in mind. To this restless and fruitless èçóáõñßæåéí is opposed the still and abiding ðëïõôåῖí åἰò Èåüí which is directed towards God and Divine things, and in another passage is called “laying up treasures in heaven,” Mat_6:20.
2. Not as a judge concerning inheritances, but as a Redeemer from sins, and from avarice among them, not less than from hypocrisy, will the Saviour exhibit Himself on this occasion. Such a consideration is wholly in the spirit of the third, the Pauline Gospel (comp. 1Ti_6:6-10), and deserves the more to be laid to heart, inasmuch as avarice is not seldom especially the sin of the saints, who have already died to the lusts of the flesh, and are made free from the natural pride of the heart. As to the rest, the parable of the Rich Fool is also full of allusions to Old Testament utterances. See, e.g., Job_22:25; Psa_39:7; Psa_49:12 seq.; Jer_17:11; Psa_72:10-11.
3. If we consider that the parable of the Rich Fool was uttered in the presence of the disciples of Jesus, and also, therefore, of Judas, we find new occasion to admire the Saviour’s wisdom in teaching which so indirectly but powerfully attacks the darling sin of the future traitor.
For homiletical treatment, either the 15th verse or the 21st verse offers the point of departure. For a harvest-sermon also this parable is especially adapted.
Starke:—Quesnel:—The goods of this world give often occasion for discord, disquiet, and offence.—Canstein:—It is not great wealth that preserves the temporal life of man, but God’s power and blessing.—God’s blessing reaches even over the fields of the ungodly, Mat_5:45.—They who receive the richest blessing are wont often to forget their benefactor.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Earthly souls have ever earthly thoughts and purposes.—Majus:—Epicurean men soon have their everlasting reward.—The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men that they are vain.—Bibl. Wirt.:—The avaricious are unhappy in this world and that to come.—Majus:—Whoever is rich in God, like Abraham, David, and Solomon, whom earthly riches hurt not, he uses them according to the Lord’s will. [Grave exception may be taken to the last-named of these three examples.—C. C. S.]
Heubner:—Even the strictest bands of consanguinity do not protect selfish hearts against discord.—How great is the self-love of the vain-minded?—Cleaving to earthly good a folly.—The poor Rich Fool comes before God’s judgment with a lost name, with a lost soul, with a lost world, with a lost heaven (Rieger).—The true wealth of man.—Comp. two homilies of Basil, Opp. ii. p. 43, Edit. Garner.—Arndt:—Fleshly security: 1. Its form; 2. God’s judgment upon it.—Lisco:—Concerning the misleading of many citizens of the kingdom by earthly wealth.—Avarice considered as the destroyer of all the harvest-blessing.—Krummacher:—How faith keeps harvest-home and how unbelief. The two classes of men diverge essentially: 1. In their view of the Divine blessing received; 2. in the use that they make of the same; 3. in the relation of dependence in which they place themselves to the blessing.—Gerok:—The rich man—a poor man; see how one can miscalculate.—Couard:—What is requisite if our earthly care is not to be a sinful one.—Kliefoth:—What shall we take with us through the gates of the grave?
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk_12:23. The life is more than food.—“You turn it exactly round; food is meant to serve life, but life forsooth serves food; clothes are to serve the body, but the body forsooth must serve the clothing, and so blind is the world that it sees not this.” Luther. If God bestows the higher, He by that very fact already gives a pledge that He will not withhold the lesser. Rom_8:32.
Luk_12:24. Consider the ravens.—Psa_147:9. Perhaps also an indirect reminiscence of the miraculous history of Elijah, 1Ki_17:6. By êáôáíïÞóáôå there is more meant than a superficial view, rather an observing and studying, of the ravens. Matthew, using more general terms, has only ðåôåéíÜ . Perhaps at this particular moment birds or lilies had in His immediate vicinity drawn the attention of the Saviour to this, and given Him occasion to this figurative mode of speech.
Luk_12:25. To his length of life.—See Lange on Mat_6:27.
Luk_12:27. Consider the lilies.—The plural designates the êñßíá not necessarily as a mass but also as individuals.— ÉÉῶò ïὔôå íÞèåé , ê . ô . ë ., an indirect question, whose more complete form is found in Matthew. See the notes on the text.
In all his glory.—When he showed himself in his full royal magnificence. See 2Ch_9:15.
Luk_12:29. Neither be ye of doubtful mind, or, do not exalt yourselves, éὴ ìåôåùñßæåóèå .—The usage of this word is familiar, which echoes also in our “Meteor.” See the rich collection of examples in Kuinoel, ad loc. Ìåôåùñßæåóèáé can signify nothing else than: To lift one’s self so far on high that one shines like an aerial phenomenon, but must also share the fate of so many wandering lights. Comp. the familiar: “Tolluntur in altum, ut lapsu graviore ruant.” Especially does the high flight of fancy appear here to be meant, when one creates imagined necessities for himself, and for this reason is doubly ill-content with reality, and for this very reason allows himself so much the more to be seduced into unbelieving anxiety. The more modest the wishes, the more easily is the heart contented.
Luk_12:31. Seek ye His kingdom.—There is no sufficient ground for transferring hither from Mat_6:33, the adverb ðñῶôïí . According to Luke it is the Saviour’s will that we should seek absolutely after God’s kingdom; in which case the precept is only apparently different from that given in Mat_6:33. The ðñῶôïí æçôåῖôå which is there enjoined is also a seeking that excludes every further anxiety. In the sense in which they are to seek the kingdom of God, the Saviour’s disciples have nothing more to strive after. See Lange on the passage in Matthew.
Luk_12:32. Fear not, little flock.—In the first place, here, without doubt, allusion is made to the fear combated in the foregoing verses, but then also further, fear which might hinder them in the seeking of the kingdom of God. This seeking should in no case be fruitless: for it was t