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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Matthew 7:9 - 7:11
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
A parable to bring home this truth:
v. 9. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
v. 10. Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
v. 11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?
He appeals to their love as parents. It is unthinkable that a father who is worthy of the name would substitute a stone for the bread, or a serpent for the fish, which his children ask of him. There is a resemblance, purposely. A father might find it necessary to refuse a child's petition outright, but he surely would not demean himself by mocking him. The grammatical construction is purposely made difficult in order to set the parent over against and yet beside the son. Such a selfish, grudging, mean spirit is considered unnatural even among men, from whom one might, according to the natural depravity of their heart, possibly expect a behavior of that kind. Natural affection is so strong in the average mother and father that it will not let harshness and heartlessness gain the upper hand; they have the knowledge and the common sense to give only good gifts to their children, if they give any at all. The word here used refers not only to the quality of goodness, but also to the measure in which they are given, generously, in larger amount than the children ask. Now he argues from the less important to the more important. That heavenly Father, whose benevolent power and beneficent kindness has been declared to you, that model of goodness and love toward all His children, will surely not do less! In bountiful measure, above all that we ask and think, Eph_3:20, He will give good gifts. Surely no vestige of doubt can remain with such an assurance.