Lange Commentary - Luke 17:11 - 17:19

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Lange Commentary - Luke 17:11 - 17:19


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

I. The Journeyings through the Boundaries between Samaria and Galilee, and the noticeable Events during the same. Luk_17:11 to Luk_18:14

1. The Ten Lepers (Luk_17:11-19)

11And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13And they lifted up their voices [the voice, or, a cry], and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? [Have not the ten ( ïἱ äÝêá ) been cleansed?] but where are the nine? 18There are not found that returned to give glory to God [Are there none found returning, &c.?], save this stranger [foreigner, ἀëëïãåíÞò ]. 19And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole [lit., saved thee].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_17:11. And it came to pass.—An exact harmonistics would have, after Luk_17:10, to insert the account of the raising of Lazarus, and the deliberation of the hostile Sanhedrim held in consequence of this, Joh_11:1-53. After these events the Saviour tarries some time in the small town of Ephraim, till the approaching Passover calls Him again to Jerusalem, Joh_11:54-55. In the beginning of this last journey to the feast follow the occurrences related by Luk_17:11 seq. The healing of the ten lepers did not, therefore, take place during an excursion of our Lord from Ephraim (Olshausen, Von Gerlach), but at the very beginning of the journey to the feast, which Luke alone gives an account of. Once more before He takes leave of His public life, the Saviour will in part wander through the regions which had been the theatre of His earlier activity, and so by words and deeds show that He does not avoid His mighty enemies.

Äéὰ ìÝóïõ .—There is no ground for altering the reading either into ìÝóïí , äéὰ ìÝóïí , or ἀíὰ ìÝóïí . See Meyer, ad loc. The expression intimates, not that He was travelling through the midst of the two here-named lands—for in this case not Samaria but Galilee would have to be first named—but that He was travelling in the midst between these two lands, so that He kept on the borders without penetrating into the interior of the country, in confinio, Bengel. So also Lange, L. J. 2. p. 1065. The opinion that the mention of Samaria took place only in consequence of the appearance of a Samaritan in this narrative, Luk_17:16 (Strauss), is one of the frivolities of the negative criticism, which contribute not a little to throw suspicion upon its moral character.

Luk_17:12. Ten lepers.—Upon the leprosy see on Luk_5:12-16, and Lightfoot on Mat_8:2. In 2Ki_7:3 we find an example of leprous men, driven by need, having united themselves with one another in a company. As unclean, they were obliged to remain at least 4 ells distant from the untainted. See Lev_13:46; Num_5:2. That even to them in their isolation the report of Jesus had made its way, is a striking proof of the greatness of His fame.

Luk_17:13. Jesus, Master, ἐðéóôÜôá , not êýñéå .—Although they do not yet know the Saviour’s Messianic dignity, yet they account Him a prophet, mighty in deed and word; their faith is sincere without being perfect, on which account also the Saviour does not repel them. But in order to show to the disciples that He in the manner in which He accomplishes His benefits is bound to no form whatever, as well as at the same time to try the faith of the lepers, He this time effects the cure in an entirely peculiar way. Full of leprosy as they yet are, they must go to the priests, in order to have themselves declared clean by these. In this, it is true, there is implied the indirect promise that they would actually become clean even before they came to their priests, but yet it was no easy requirement that they should, yet unhealed, begin their journey thither. It appears that the Saviour in this way would not only try them, but also avoid any occasion whatever for scandal, and give the representatives of the Theocracy their due honor, comp. Lev_13:2; Lev_14:2. Probably the Israelitish lepers now go towards the village lying in the vicinity (the whole scene we have to conceive as yet outside of the êþìç ), while the Samaritan went probably to his own priests, who, without doubt, observed the same laws of purification. In the midst of their believing journey the healing at once comes to pass.

Luk_17:15. Turned back.—Not after he had reall been declared clean by the Samaritan priests (Calvin, Luther, Lange); for in this case the Saviour would not have been able to wonder that the nine others had not returned, since these certainly had to make a much longer journey to their priests. No, ἐí ôῷ ὑðÜãåéí all were healed, and all ought to have returned at once, in order to thank their Deliverer. That the nine had allowed themselves to be kept back by the influence of hostilely disposed priests (Berl. Bibl.), is an entirely arbitrary conjecture. Not hours, but only moments had intervened between the command and the healing, between the healing and the thanksgiving. Or are we to suppose our Lord to have tarried inactive a half day at the entrance of the êþìç , in order to see whether one would perchance return?

A Samaritan.—The other lepers, without doubt, after the priest had declared them clean, returned joyfully to their dwelling; but the Samaritan does not content himself with having received the benefit, he will also praise the Benefactor. His thankfulness is of the right kind, for it displays itself as a glorifying of God, Luk_17:15, and that is well-pleasing to the Saviour, Luk_17:18. But the praise of Him who was the first cause of the benefit brings no prejudice to the honor to which the Mediator of this healing may make claim. With loud voice he praises God, and falls down at Jesus’ feet, ready, as is of course understood, after that to obey His command, and now to go to the priests.

Luk_17:17. Where are the nine?—In order to understand the full melancholy earnestness of this inquiry, we must consider this event in its historical connection. The Saviour here also is not concerned for honor from man, but He who knows well what is in man knows also that gratitude towards God could not be very heartfelt, where one did not feel himself obliged even to a word of thanks towards his human benefactor. His complaint, in and of itself a just one, if we regard the extraordinariness, the undeservedness, and the magnitude of the benefit bestowed, becomes the mote affecting, if we consider the time in which it was uttered. Well acquainted with the plans which had already been forged in Judæa for His destruction, the Saviour yet once again makes this boundary-tract of Galilee the theatre of His saving love, and even at the first miracle on this journey it is manifested how very much the prevailing tone of feeling is now altered. For formerly a miracle performed on one, animated many hundred tongues to His praise; now, on the other hand, the healing of ten unhappy ones does not even elicit from the majority of the healed, still less from the inhabitants of the village, even a single word of thanks. He has this time rather concealed than made conspicuous the brilliant character of the miracle by its form, but He experiences at the same time how the Doer of the miracles is at once forgotten, and while He on His part, even in this last period, displays His respect for the law and the priesthood, He is rewarded therefor with a mean slight. The observation of this fact goes to the Saviour’s heart; and as He had just shown Himself the compassionate High-priest, He feels Himself now the deeply contemned Messiah. Yet the complaint to which His sadness gives utterance, is at the same time a eulogy for the one thankful one who had appeared before Him, and with the words: “Rise up, go thy way, thy faith hath saved thee;” the benefit is for this one heightened, confirmed, sanctified.

It was perhaps the learning of this distinction between the Samaritan and the Jews, which occasioned Luke, from his broad Pauline point of view, to note down this occurrence, which, we know not from what special reasons, the other Synoptics pass over. Not improbable is the view that he here by a speaking example wished to place in a clear light the unthankfulness of the Jews towards the Saviour, which showed itself throughout His course. Comp. Schleiermacher, l. c. 215. But that Luke does not for all this show any unwarranted, unhistorical preference for the Samaritans (Schwegler, a. o.) appears sufficiently from Luk_9:53.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The essence of faith manifests itself in the ten lepers. Faith recognizes in Jesus the only willing and all-sufficient Helper, and allows itself to be impelled by life’s necessity to take refuge in Him. It is observed by the Saviour with pleasure, exercised by trial, and never put to shame, so far as the heart is upright before Him, even when the conceptions of the understanding, respecting the Redeemer, are as yet extremely defective. It is the only way to salvation, not only in a natural, but also in a spiritual, respect, and must, if it is of the right kind, reveal itself in sincere thankfulness towards God and towards the Saviour.

2. No less appears here the nature of true thankfulness. It can only be required and attested when one knows himself to be healed and redeemed by Christ; but then it can and may not possibly fail to appear. Like love, so also is thankfulness towards God most intimately connected with thankfulness towards man, comp. 1Jn_4:20. “Deo ingratus, non erit hominibus gratus.” Melanchthon. It reveals itself with irresistible force, as in the case of this Samaritan, who, after he had first with hoarse voice [i. e., husky with leprosy.—C. C. S.] called on the Redeemer, returns again immediately after his healing, in order with loud voice to give God the glory. And as unthankfulness does not only deny the Saviour, but also perturbs Him, so, on the other hand, genuine gratitude is rewarded by augmented gifts of grace, Luk_17:19, so that the declaration: “He that has, to him shall be given,” finds here also its full application.

3. The ingratitude of the nine, in contrast with the one Samaritan, bears so far as this a symbolical character, that it gives an example of the unfavorable reception which the Saviour ever found in Israel, in opposition to the higher esteem which was accorded Him in the heathen world.

4. The love which the Saviour here also, as often, exhibits for the Samaritans, was for the apostles a pædagogic lesson, which, as appeared from the extended commission that was given them, Act_1:8, was doubly necessary, and afterwards also bore its fruits in the zeal with which they preached the Gospel to Samaria too. Acts 8.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Augmenting hostility hinders not the Saviour from working so long as it is day.—Leprosy, the image of the defilement and the misery of sin.—How life’s necessity brings together and unites men.—Misery’s cry of distress: 1. Unanimously raised; 2. graciously answered.—Jesus, a Master who takes compassion on those who call on Him in distress.—Jesus, in the healing of the ten lepers, revealing Himself as the image of the invisible God, comp. Psa_50:15.—Perplexing requirements and ways of the Lord have no other purpose than to strengthen the yet weak faith.—The Divine institutions of the Old Testament are by the Saviour in the days of His flesh honored and practised.—What is adventured in faith on Jesus’ word is never resultless.—Not always are good and evil found just where we should expect them a priori.—The great contrasts which present themselves in the history of the ten lepers: 1. Great misery on the one hand, great grace on the other hand; 2. great unthankfulness from many, thankful recognition from one; 3. Israel blessed with benefits, but rejected by its own fault—the stranger praised and accepted.—Human thankfulness and unthankfulness in relation to the Lord, and the Lord in relation to them.—How true thankfulness towards God reveals itself in the glorifying of Jesus.—The sad inquiry, Where are the nine? 1. What were they once? 2. where are they now? 3. What do they afterwards become?—The thankful stranger a true citizen of the kingdom of God.—He that honors grace received is worthy of greater grace!—What is the faith that has any true saving power? A faith which is: 1. Humble in entreaty; 2. courageous in approaching; 3. joyful in thanksgiving.

Starke:—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—The world is a hospital full of infirm and sick.—J. Hall:—Like and like agree well; pure to pure, impure to impure.—O Jesus, give us grace to seek Thee and strength to wait on Thee.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—From the leprosy of sin there can no one heal us but He that is called Jesus, Mat_1:21.—Nothing agrees better together than human misery and Christ’s compassion.—Hedinger:—Whoever will spiritually recover, let him show himself to experienced people and Christians.—Christ is indeed a Physician of all men, but He does not heal all in one way.—O man, if God hath graciously heard thy Eleison, forget not then to bring Him thy Hallelujah.—Quesnel:—With genuine thanksgiving there is true humility.—Bibl. Wirt.:—Shameful is unthankfulness towards our neighbor, but much shamefuller towards God and His many benefits.—Learn to suffer and shun ingratitude.—Follow not the multitude; better be with the one than with the nine.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—On humiliation follows exaltation, on repentance departure in peace.—Canstein:—So great and glorious is faith, that that is attributed to it which yet is only God’s grace and benefit.

Lavater:—Even the thanks that are most His due, Christ rewards with new manifestations of grace.—Heubner:—The true penitent goes towards Christ indeed, but remains in humility, nevertheless, standing afar off.—The spiritually sick also, when he needs comfort, should show himself to the priest.—The priests cannot make clean but declare clean.—Those of erroneous belief put to shame very often the confessors of the true religion.—The multitude of evil and the rareness of good examples in human society.—Christ now, as then, experiences the unthankfulness of men.—Unthankfulness so frequent a phenomenon because humility is lacking.—He that prays without giving thanks, closes to himself the door of acceptance of his prayer.

On the Pericope.—Couard:—Our life must be a continued praying and giving thanks: 1. Praying in relation to our necessities; 2. giving thanks in relation to the Divine benefits of grace.—Ahlfeld:—Where are the nine?—How is it as to thy thanksgiving prayers towards God?—Rautenberg:—The intent of the Divine help: 1. That we may recognize the Divine help; 2. receive it with thanksgiving; 3. through it grow in holiness.—Westermeyer:—Comp. Psa_50:15; Psalms 1. The commended call; 2. the promised help; 3. the owing thanks.—W. Otto:—Unthankfulness is the world’s reward; this Isaiah 1. An experience gained in the world; 2. an accusation preferred against the world; 3. a shame lying upon the world. 4. a harm arising for the world.—Fuchs:—Christ makes us clean: 1. From what? 2. whereby? 3. Whereto?—Souchon:—Insincere and sincere faith.—Stier:—How the Lord here to our shame complains of the unthankfulness of men.—J. J. Miville:—Compelled piety.