Lange Commentary - Luke 21:1 - 21:4

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Lange Commentary - Luke 21:1 - 21:4


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

C. Revelations concerning the Parusia, and Leave-takings in the midst of His Friends

Luk_21:1 to Luk_22:36

The Leaving of the Temple. Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Fulness of the Time

1. The Widow’s Mite (Luk_21:1-4)

(Parallel to Mar_12:41-44.)

1And he looked up, and [Looking up, he], saw the [om., the] rich men casting theirgifts into the treasury. 2And he saw also a certain [some one and that a, ôéíá êáß for êáὶ ôéíá ] poor widow casting in thither two mites. 3And he said, Of a truth I say untoyou, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: 4For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God:but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_21:1. And looking up, ἀíáâëÝøáò .—Here also we must unite the accounts of Mark and Luke, in order to be able to form to ourselves a correct conception of the true course of this miniature but lovely narrative. Even this deserves to be noted, that we see our Lord sitting so tranquilly in the temple ( êáèßóáò , Mark) shortly after His terrific “Woe to you!” had resounded. He will avoid even the slightest appearance of having gone away in any excitement, or from any sort of fear of further attacks. The place where we have to seek Him, over against God’s chest, is known to us also from Joh_8:20. We may understand the thirteen offering chests (Shofaroth) which were marked with letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and stood open there in order to receive gifts for different sacred and benevolent purposes, about whose destination and arrangement we find much that is interesting gathered in Lightfoot, Decas Chorograph. in Marcum, Luke 3. Perhaps, however, a particular treasure-chest is meant, of which also Josephus speaks, Ant. Jud. xix. 6, 1. Comp. 2Ki_12:9. In view of the uncertainty of the matter, it is at least precipitate to be so ready with the imputation that the Evangelists have been inexact in their statement, like, for instance, De Wette.

Luk_21:2. Some one, and that a poor widow, ôéíá êáὶ ÷Þñáí .—See notes on the text. Perhaps one of those whose unhappy fate Jesus had just portrayed, Luk_20:47. We need not, however, assert on this account that He designedly made such honorable mention of this particular widow in order to make the contrast yet stronger with the haughty and unloving Pharisees. He is now through with them. The contrast was not made, but born of the reality of life.—Two mites, äýï ëåðôÜ .—As to the pecuniary value, see on the parallel in Mark. It is a question of little account whether the Rabbinic rule, nemo ponat ëåðôüí in cistam eleëmosynarum, is really applicable here, which Meyer disputes, and whether, therefore, it was true that in no case could less than two mites be cast into the ãáæïöõëÜêéïí . It certainly cannot be proved that this rule was applicable also to the äῶñá ôïῦ Èåïῦ . At all events, necessity knows no law, and Bengel’s remark, quorum unum vidua retinere poterat, remains therefore true.

Luk_21:3. Ðëåῖïí ðÜíôùí .—It deserves to be noted that our Lord does not at all censure or lightly esteem the gifts of the rich. Not once again does there resound a “Woe to you, ye hypocrites!” in rebuke He will, after what has just been said in the temple, not again open His mouth. Only He extols far above the beneficence of these, the gift of the poor widow. For the rich have of their abundance cast in åὶò ôὰ äῶñá , that is, not ad monumenta preciosa, ibi in perpetuum dedicata (Bengel), but ad dona, in thesauro asservata. The woman, on the other hand, gave of her poverty, Ü ̓ ðáíôá ôὸí âßïí ὀ ̔ í åῖ ̓ ÷å , comp. Luk_8:43; Luk_15:12 (yet more strongly and briefly, Mark: ðÜíôá ὅóá åῖ÷åí ). The value of her gift is, therefore, reckoned not according to the pecuniary amount, but according to the sacrifice connected therewith. How our Lord became acquainted with the widow’s necessity we do not know; perhaps she belonged to those known as poor; nothing hinders us, however, to refer it to the Divine knowledge which penetrated the life of Nathanael and the Samaritan woman. Enough, He shows that He has attentively observed the work of love, and praises it because He knows out of what source it flowed. He does not, it is true, directly compare the disposition, but only the ability, of the different givers with each other; but certainly He would not have so highly valued the material worth of the little gift, if He had not at the same time calculated also the moral worth. In no case would He have praised the widow if she had brought her offering, like most of the Pharisees, from ignoble impulses. Now, He will not withhold from her His approbation, since her heart in His eyes passes for richer than her gift. He does not ask whether this gift will be a vain one; whether it is well to support with such offerings the temple-chest and its misuse; whether a worship ought to be yet supported by widows, which a few years afterwards is to fall before the sword of the enemy. He looks alone at the ground, the character and purpose of her act, and the poor woman who has given up all in good faith, but has kept her faith, gains now with her two pieces of copper an income of imperishable honor.

How the judgment of our Lord respecting this widow finds at the same time an echo in every human heart, appears to us if we direct our look to particular parallel expressions from profane literature. According to the Jewish legend (see Wetstein on Mar_12:43), a high-priest who had despised a handful of meal which a poor woman brought to a sacrifice, is said to have received a revelation not to contemn this small gift, because she had therewith, as it were, given her whole soul. According to Seneca, De Benef, i. Luk_1:58, the poor Æschines, who, instead of an offering of money, dedicated himself to Socrates, brought a greater offering than Alcibiades and others with their rich gifts. An act similar to that of the poor widow we find stated in Hofmann, Missionsstunden, i. 5. Vorlesung.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The narrative of the Widow’s Mite makes in this connection a similar impression to that of a friendly sunbeam on a dark tempestuous heaven, or a single rose upon a heath full of thistles and thorns. Just in this appears the Divine in our Lord, that He, in a moment when the fate of Jerusalem, and with this the coming of the kingdom of God into the whole world, so completely fills His mind, has yet eyes and heart for the most insignificant individual, and is disposed to adorn even so lowly a head with the crown of honor. We need no other proof for the celestially pure temper in which He left the accursed temple after such words of wrath. It is as if He cannot so part, as if at least His last word must be a word of blessing and of peace, so that we scarcely know in what character in this hour of sundering we shall most admire the King of the kingdom of God, whether more as Punisher of hidden evil, or as Rewarder of hidden good.

2. In the judgment also which He passes, the Son is the image of the invisible Father. Comp. 1Sa_16:1-13. Men judge the heart according to the deeds; the Lord judges the deed according to the heart. Therewith is connected, moreover, the phenomenon that the sacred history relates very much which profane history gives over to oblivion, and the reverse. Heroic deeds and great events of the world are passed over here in silence, but not the cup of cold water, the widow’s mite, the ointment of Mary, and the like.

3. The history of the two mites is a new proof of the power of little things, and of the gracious favor with which the Lord looks upon the least offering which only bears the stamp of a sancta simplicitas. With right, therefore, has this text been regarded as an admirable mission-text, since the mission-chest receives no insignificant increment from widows’ mites, over which an “Increase and multiply” has been uttered. By the example of this woman the penny clubs for the mission cause, the Ketten-vereine of the Gustavus Adolphus Society, [the weekly penny offerings of our Sunday scholars,] &c., are sanctioned. Even in a material respect the word 2Co_12:10, becomes true for the church of our Lord.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The last look of the Lord at those surrounding Him in the temple.—The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all, Pro_20:2.—The beneficence of the rich and of the poor compared with one another.—How one can be beneficent even without giving much, Act_3:6.—The true art of reckoning: 1. For love no offering is too great; 2. in God’s eyes no offering of love is too little.—The judgment of the Lord: 1. Other than the judgment of man; 2. better than the judgment of man.—How little really a rich man does when he does nothing but give.—The heart is the standard of the deeds.—The need of bringing something as a sacrifice, inseparable from the inwardly religious life, 2Sa_24:24.—How the history of the poor widow teaches us: 1. Carefulness in our judgment upon others; 2. strictness in our judgment upon ourselves; 3. watchfulness in respect to the approaching judgment of the Lord.

Starke:—The eyes of the Lord are directed upon God’s chest; keepers of it, look well to what ye do!—Canstein:—It is something comforting and refreshing to the poor, that they can give more than the rich.—Cramer:—As God does not regard the person, so does He not regard the gifts and offerings, but the heart and the simplicity of faith.—Let no one despise true widows; there are heroines of faith among them, 1Ti_5:3.—Heubner:—All gifts should be a sacrifice.—What once was done too much, now is done too little.—Even small gifts are of importance for the general cause; the Lord can add His blessing thereto.—Religion raises the value of all gifts.—Liberality, honor and love to the temple, contempt of earthly things, trust in God, are the main traits in the portrait of the widow.—Carl Beck:—The measure of the Heavenly Judge for our good works: 1. A staff to support the lowly; 2. a staff to beat down the lofty.—W. Hofacker:—Jesus’ look of pleasure and acknowledgment which rested upon the gift of the widow: 1. A look full of strengthening, comforting favor; 2. a look full of the earnestness of lofty and holy inquiry upon us all.—Knapp:—The standard with which the Lord our Saviour determines the worth or unworthiness of our benevolent gifts and works.—Kapff:—The practice of beneficent compassion.—N. Beets:—The work of love and its Witness.

Footnotes:

Luk_21:2.— Êáß must not be expunged, nor with Lachmann bracketed, but with Tischendorf be placed after ôéíá , as a more particular description of the woman.

Luk_21:4.— Ôïῦ Èåïῦ , suspicious, as an explicative addition, which is wanting in B., [Cod. Sin.,] L., X., Cursives, Coptic version, &c.