--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 282 of 769 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/282/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 282. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/282/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 2 of 2. ## 282. Luke · 16 of 51 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/282/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/282/#p-N [¶0] Lend, hoping for nothing again - Μηδεν απελπιζοντες. The rabbins say, he who lends without usury, God shall consider him as having observed every precept. Bishop Pearce thinks that, instead of μηδεν we should read μηδενα with the Syriac, later Arabic, and later Persic; and as απελπιζειν signifies to despair, or cause to despair, the meaning is, not cutting off the hope (of longer life) of any man, neminis spem amputantes, by denying him those things which he requests now to preserve him from perishing. ### Verse 36 [¶2] Be ye therefore merciful - Or, compassionate; οικτιρμονες, from οικτος, commiseration, which etymologists derive from εικω to give place, yield, because we readily concede those things which are necessary to them whom we commiserate. As God is ever disposed to give all necessary help and support to those who are miserable, so his followers, being influenced by the same spirit, are easy to be entreated, and are at all times ready to contribute to the uttermost of their power to relieve or remove the miseries of the distressed. A merciful or compassionate man easily forgets injuries; pardons them without being solicited; and does not permit repeated returns of ingratitude to deter him from doing good, even to the unthankful and the unholy. See on [Mat 5:7] (note). ### Verse 37 [¶4] Judge not - See on [Mat 7:1] (note). "How great is the goodness of God, in being so willing to put our judgment into our own hands as to engage himself not to enter into judgment with us, provided we do not usurp the right which belongs solely to him in reference to others!" [¶5] Condemn not - "Mercy will ever incline us not to condemn those unmercifully whose faults are certain and visible; to lessen, conceal, and excuse them as much as we can without prejudice to truth and justice; and to be far from aggravating, divulging, or even desiring them to be punished." [¶6] Forgive - The mercy and compassion which God recommends extend to the forgiving of all the injuries we have received, or can receive. To imitate in this the mercy of God is not a mere counsel; since it is proposed as a necessary mean, in order to receive mercy. What man has to forgive in man is almost nothing: man's debt to God is infinite. And who acts in this matter as if he wished to receive mercy at the hand of God! The spirit of revenge is equally destitute of faith and reason. ### Verse 38 [¶8] Give, and it shall be given - "Christian charity will make no difficulty in giving that which eternal truth promises to restore. Let us give, neither out of mere human generosity, nor out of vanity, nor from interest, but for the sake of God, if we would have him place it to account. There is no such thing as true unmixed generosity but in God only; because there is none but him who receives no advantage from his gifts, and because he engages himself to pay these debts of his creatures with an excessive interest. So great is the goodness of God, that, when he might have absolutely commanded us to give to our neighbor, he vouchsafes to invite us to this duty by the prospect of a reward, and to impute that to us as a desert which he has a right to exact of us by the title of his sovereignty over our persons and estates." [¶9] Men live in such a state of social union as renders mutual help necessary; and, as self-interest, pride, and other corrupt passions mingle themselves ordinarily in their commerce, they cannot fail of offending one another. In civil society men must, in order to taste a little tranquillity, resolve to bear something from their neighbors; they must suffer, pardon, and give up many things; without doing which they must live in such a state of continual agitation as will render life itself insupportable. Without this giving and forgiving spirit there will be nothing in civil society, and even in Christian congregations, but divisions, evil surmisings, injurious discourses, outrages, anger, vengeance, and, in a word, a total dissolution of the mystical body of Christ. Thus our interest in both worlds calls loudly upon us to Give and to Forgive. [¶10] Bosom - Κολπον, or lap. Almost all ancient nations wore long, wide, and loose garments; and when about to carry any thing which their hands could not contain, they used a fold of their robe in nearly the same way as women here use their aprons. The phrase is continually occurring in the best and purest Greek writers. The following example from Herodotus, b. vi., may suffice to show the propriety of the interpretation given above, and to expose the ridiculous nature of covetousness. "When Croesus had promised to Alcmaeon as much gold as he could carry about his body at once, in order to improve the king's liberality to the best advantage, he put on a very wide tunic, (κιθωνα μεγαν), leaving a great space in the Bosom, κολπον βαθυν, and drew on the largest buskins he could find. Being conducted to the treasury, he sat down on a great heap of gold, and first filled the buskins about his legs with as much gold as they could contain, and, having filled his whole Bosom, κολπον, loaded his hair with ingots, and put several pieces in his mouth, he walked out of the treasury, etc." What a ridiculous figure must this poor sinner have cut, thus heavy laden with gold, and the love of money! See many other examples in Kypke and Raphelius. See also [Psa 129:7]; [Pro 6:27]; [Pro 17:23]. [¶11] The same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again - The same words we find in the Jerusalem Targum on [Gen 38:26]. Our Lord therefore lays down a maxim which themselves allowed. ### Verse 39 [¶13] Can the blind lead the blind? - This appears to have been a general proverb, and to signify that a man cannot teach what he does not understand. This is strictly true in spiritual matters. A man who is not illuminated from above is utterly incapable of judging concerning spiritual things, and wholly unfit to be a guide to others. Is it possible that a person who is enveloped with the thickest darkness should dare either to judge of the state of others, or attempt to lead them in that path of which he is totally ignorant! If he do, must not his judgment be rashness, and his teaching folly? - and does he not endanger his own soul, and run the risk of falling into the ditch of perdition himself, together with the unhappy objects of his religious instruction? ### Verse 40 [¶15] Every one that is perfect - Or, thoroughly instructed, κατηρτισμενος: - from καταρτιζω, to adjust, adapt, knit together, restore, or put in joint. The noun is used by the Greek medical writers to signify the reducing a luxated or disjointed limb. It sometimes signifies to repair or mend, and in this sense it is applied to broken nets, [Mat 4:21]; [Mar 1:19]; but in this place, and in [Heb 13:21]; [2Tim 3:17], it means complete instruction and information. Every one who is thoroughly instructed in Divine things, who has his heart united to God, whose disordered tempers and passions are purified and restored to harmony and order; every one who has in him the mind that was in Christ, though he cannot be above, yet will be as, his teacher - holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. "The disciple who perfectly understands the rules and sees the example of his master, will think it his business to tread exactly in his steps, to do and suffer upon like occasions, as his master did: and so he will be like his master." Whitby. ### Verse 41 [¶17] And why beholdest thou the mote - See this explained on [Mat 7:3-5] (note). ### Verse 43 [¶19] Corrupt fruit - Καρπον σαπρον, literally, rotten fruit: but here it means, such fruit as is unfit for use. See on [Mat 7:17-20] (note). ### Verse 45 [¶21] A good man - See on [Mat 12:35] (note). ### Verse 46 [¶23] Lord, Lord - God judges of the heart, not by words, but by works. A good servant never disputes, speaks little, and always follows his work. Such a servant a real Christian is: such is a faithful minister, always intent either on the work of his own salvation, or that of his neighbor; speaking more to God than to men; and to these as in the presence of God. The tongue is fitly compared by one to a pump, which empties the heart, but neither fills nor cleanses it. The love of God is a hidden spring, which supplies the heart continually, and never permits it to be dry or unfruitful. Quesnel. ### Verse 47 [¶25] I will show you - Ὑποδειξω, I will show you plainly. I will enable you fully to comprehend my meaning on this subject by the following parable. See this word explained [Mat 3:7] (note). ### Verse 48 [¶27] He is like a man, etc. - See on [Mat 7:24-27] (note). ### Verse 49 [¶29] The ruin of that house was great - On this passage, father Quesnel, who was a most rigid predestinarian, makes the following judicious remark. "It is neither by the speculations of astrologers, nor by the Calvinian assurance of predestination, that we can discover what will be our portion for ever: but it is by the examination of our heart, and the consideration of our life, that we may in some measure prognosticate our eternal state. Without a holy heart and a holy life, all is ruinous in the hour of temptation, and in the day of wrath." To this may be added, He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the Witness in Himself: [1Jn 5:10]. [¶30] The subjects of this chapter have been so amply explained and enforced in the parallel places in Matthew, to which the reader has been already referred, that there appears to be no necessity to make any additional observations. ### Introduction [¶32] Christ heals the servant of a centurion, who is commended for his faith, [Luk 7:1-10]. Raises a widow's son to life at Nain, [Luk 7:11-17]. John Baptist hears of his fame, and sends two of his disciples to inquire whether he was the Christ, [Luk 7:18-23]. Christ's character of John, [Luk 7:24-30]. The obstinate blindness and capriciousness of the Jews, [Luk 7:31-35]. A Pharisee invites him to his house, where a woman anoints his head with oil, and washes his feet with her tears, [Luk 7:36-38]. The Pharisee is offended, [Luk 7:39]. Our Lord reproves him by a parable, and vindicates the woman, [Luk 7:40-46]; and pronounces her sins forgiven, [Luk 7:47-50]. ### Verse 2 [¶34] A certain centurion's servant - See this miracle explained on [Mat 8:5-13] (note). ### Verse 3 [¶36] Elders of the Jews - These were either magistrates in the place, or the elders of the synagogue which the centurion had built, [Luk 7:5]. He sent these, probably, because he was afraid to come to Christ himself, not being a Jew, either by nation or religion. In the parallel place in Matthew, he is represented as coming to Christ himself; but it is a usual form of speech in all nations, to attribute the act to a person which is done not by himself, but by his authority. ### Verse 5 [¶38] He loveth our nation - He is a warm friend to the Jews; and has given a full proof of his affection to them in building them a synagogue. This he had done at his own proper charges; having no doubt employed his own men in the work. ### Verse 10 [¶40] Found the servant whole - This cure was the effect of the faith, prayer, and humility of the centurion, through which the almighty energy of Jesus Christ was conveyed to the sick man. But these very graces in the centurion were the products of grace. It is God himself who, by the gifts of his mercy, disposes the soul to receive its cure; and nothing can contribute to the reception of his grace but what is the fruit of grace itself. The apostle says, The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, [Tit 2:11]. It should therefore be our concern, not to resist the operations of this grace: for though we cannot endue ourselves with by gracious disposition, yet we can quench the Spirit, by whose agency these are produced in the soul. The centurion had not received the grace of God in vain. ### Verse 11 [¶42] Nain - A small city of Galilee, in the tribe of Issachar. [¶43] According to Eusebius, it was two miles from Mount Tabor, southward; and near to Endor.