SECT. cxvi. Luke Except we repent, we shall all perish. And Jesus, without making any remarks on the cause on which they were engaged, endeavoured, with his usual wisdom and piety, to lead XIII. 2. the minds of his hearers into some profitable reflections upon the event; and, in reply, said to them, Do you think that these Galileans were notorious sinners above all the rest of the Galileans, that they suffered such sad things as these, and 3 were cut off in so miserable a manner? If you do, you are very unfit to judge of the conduct of Providence: for, howsoever you may censure them, as shewn hereby to be the most enormous sinners, I tell you, No; you are not to conclude from hence, this was the case; but, except you repent, you shall all perish thus; vengeance will overtake you in your evil ways, and, in the desolating judgments, that will shortly come on your whole nation, the blood of many of you shall be mingled with your sacrifices. 2 And Jesus, an unto swering, said 3 I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen upon whom the tower Siloam fell, and slew them,think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Or, to instance in another unhappy case that has lately occurred, I mean that of those eigh-in teen men on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, do you think they were greater offenders than all the other inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they were thus providentially singled 5 out for destruction? I tell you, No; you would judge very rashly if you were in general but, except ye repent, to draw such conclusions; for the best of men may be involved with others in temporal calamitics: but remember what I told you before, that, b You shall all perish thus, woarlws año2.] Some content themselves with rendering it, You shall all perish as well as they; and possibly no more may be intended: yet the rendering I prefer appears to be more literal; and I the rather choose it, because (as Grotius, Tillotson, Whitby, and many others have observed) there was a remarkable resemblance between the fate of these Galileans and that of the whole Jewish nation; the flower of which was slain at Jerusalem by the Roman sword while they were assembled at one of their great festivals (see Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 9 (al. vii. 17), § 3, 4); and many thousands of them perished in the temple itself, and were (as their own historian represents it at large) literally buried under its ruins. Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 4 (al. vii. 10), § 6, & cap. 5 (al. vii, 11), § 3, 2. c On whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them.] From the fountain of Siloam, which was without the walls of Jerusalem, except 5.I tell you, Nay; yc a little stream flowed into the city (Isa. viii. 6), which was received in a kind of bason, which some have thought to be the same with the pool of Bethesda (see 2 Kings xx. 20. Neh. iii. 16. Isa. viii. 6. and John v. 2. ix. 7). Being near the temple, it is no wonder that many frequented it for purification; but the calamity occasioned by the fall of the neighbouring tower is not, that I can find, mentioned any where but here; probably it had happened at some late feast; and some of Christ's hearers might then have been at Jerusalem.-Erasmus indeed takes this Siloam to have been Shiloh, the place where the tabernacle was first settled (Josh. xviii. 1. Psal. xxviii. 60), but without sufficient reason; see Drusius, in loc.-This last instance might seem in some respects more to the purpose than the former, as there was no human interposition attending the death of these men; so that it seemed more immediately providential, than that of the Galileans whom Pilate had massacred. d These Christ delivers the parable of the barren fig-tree. ye shall all likewise except you repent, you shall all perish thus; you perish. 6 He spake also this none. 8 And he, answer ing, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this SECT. shall be pressed under the insupportable load of exvi. the Divine vengeance, and be destroyed un- Luke der the ruins of that holy city in which you XIII. 5. trust. And, in order to awaken them more effectually 6 parable: A certain man to such deep and serious repentance, he spake had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and this parable to them; There was a certain man he came and sought who had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and fruit thereon, and found he came, for several successive seasons, searching 7 Then said he unto for fruit upon it, but he found none. And at 7 the dresser of his vine- length, despairing of any better success, he said yard, Behold, these to the keeper of the vineyard, Behold, these three three years I come seeking fruit on this years together I have come to look for fruit upon fig-tree, and find none: this fig-tree, and still I find none; cut it down cut it down, why cum- therefore immediately, as a barren tree: for why bereth it the ground? does it thus cumber the ground, filling up the place of more profitable plants with its useless bulk, and drawing away nourishment from those that grow round it? But such was the concern g of the vine-dresser for its preservation, that he year also, till I shall said to him in reply, Sir, I desire thou wouldst dig about it, and dung let it alone this year also, till I shall dig up the ground about it, and lay dung to the root of it: 9 And if it bear And then perhaps it may bear fruit, and if so, 9 fruit, well: and if not, it is well, and thou preservest thy tree; but if not, after this thou shalt, if thou pleasest, cut it down, and I will say nothing farther to prevent it. By which parable our Lord did plainly represent to the Jews the Divine displeasure against them for having neglected the many opportunities they had enjoyed as planted in the vineyard of God's church (compare Isa. v. 1, 2. xxvii. 2, 3.) and in an awful manner intimated, that though they had hitherto, at his intercession, been spared, yet, if they continued unfruitful under the additional cultivation they were shortly to receive, on the descent of the Spirit, and the it : then after that thou shalt cut it down. These three years.] Many have supposed that these words allude to the time of Christ's personal ministry, which, as most have computed the chronology of the Neto Testament, had now lasted three years: but it is certain the patience of God bore with them much longer than another year Grotius therefore thinks it more probable, it may refer to the nature of a fig-tree, which, if it bear at all, generally begins to do it within three years after it is planted; but might to be sure be looked upon as barren, if it had disappointed the expectation of the was yet worse. e Perhaps it may bear fruit: x'av per wanan xaprov.] It is in the original some. thing of an abrupt way of speaking, of which Raphelius has produced many examples, (Annot. ex. Xen. p. 102, 103); but I think, the way of rendering the idiom I have here used, would suit it in most of those instances. f Under 10 Reflections on the guilt and danger of unfruitfulness. SECT the proposal of the gospel in its full extent and cxvi. evidence, they must expect nothing but speedy, irresistible and irrecoverable ruin, Luke XIII. 9. IMPROVEMENT. Ver. WHICH of us may not learn a lessen for himself from this in6 structive parable of the fig-tree? Have we not long been planted in God's vineyard, and favoured with the cultivation of his ordinances, yea, with the dews of his grace too; and yet how little fruit have we borne in proportion to those advantages? How long has he come seeking it in vain, while we have frustrated the most reasonable expectations, perhaps not only for three, but several of us for more than thirty years? Wonderful is it, that the dreadful sentence has not long since gone forth against us, Cut 8 them down, why cumber they the ground? We owe it to the intercession of our blessed Redeemer, the Great Keeper of the garden of God, that this has not long since been our case. Let us not be high minded, but fear! (Rom. xi. 20.) Let barren sinners reflect, 9 that this may be the last year, perhaps indeed the last month, or last day of their trial; for even now also is the ax laid to the root of the tree! (Mat. iii. 10.) And let them remember, that though there be hope of a tree, when it is cut down, that it may sprout again, (Job xiv. 7), vet, when the doom is executed on them, their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will go up like dust (Isa. v. 24); and every tree which brings not forth good fruit, will be hewn down, and cast into the fire. 2 Let such therefore meditate terror, when the judgments of God are abroad in the earth; and, when others are overwhelmed in ruin, let them not harshly censure the sufferers, as if they were 3,5 greater sinners than any others; but let them apply that salutary, though awful admonition to their own souls, repeating it again. and again, till they are pricked to the heart by it, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 1 Terrible indeed was the case of those, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, and of those who were dashed to pieces in a 4 moment by the fall of Siloam's tower: but infinitely more dreadful will be the condition of them, that fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. x. 31), especially of those deceivers, who, having surrounded his altars with the hypocritical forms of devotion, shall themselves be made the victims of his justice, and be crushed by the resistless weight of his almighty vengeance. f Under the additional cultivation, &c.] The extraordinary means used to bring them to repentance after the resurrection of Christ, by the effusion of his Spirit, and the preach SECT. ing of the apostles, might, with great propriety, be expressed by digging round the barren tree, and applying warm compost, or dung, to its roots. a Had Christ cures a crooked woman in the synagogue. SECT. CXVII. Christ cures a crooked woman in the synagogue, and vindicates his doing it on the sabbath day; and afterwards repeats the parables of the grain of mustard-seed, and of the leaven, Luke XIII. 10-22. LUKE XIII. 10. AND he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. there was a woman which had a spirit of in THUS LUKE XIII, 10. 11 SECT. cxvii. HUS our Lord went on in his journey through Galilee for a considerable time; and as he was teaching in one of the synagogues on Luke 11 And, behold, the sabbath-day, Behold there was present a XIII.11. poor disabled woman, who (as the Jews used commonly to express it, and was now actually the case) had been afflicted by a spirit of weaknessa no less than eighteen years, and was bowed together in so sad a manner that, from the time it first seized her, she was utterly unabletoraise herself upright, or to stand straight. firmity eighteen years, and was bowed toge ther, and could in no wise lift up herself, 12 And when Je sus saw her, he called unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. her to him, and said And Jesus seeing her, and intimately knowing 12 all the sad circumstances of her affliction, and the difficulty with which she was then come to attend the solemnities of Divine worship there, called her to him, and said to her, Woman, thou art loosed from that affliction, which thou hast long been under by reason of thy weakness and 13 And he laid his maladv. And, as he was speaking these words, 13 hands on her: and he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she immediately she was made straight, and was strengthened, and made straight; so that she glorified God, stood before them all in an erect posture, and moved with as much ease and freedom as if she had never been disabled: and, as was most reasonable, she in a very affectionate manner glorified God before the whole assembly; praising him for so signal and unexpected a favour, a Had been afflicted by a spirit of weak. ness.] It is very evident the Jews apprehended that all remarkable disorders of body proceeded from the operation of some malignant demon. Perhaps they might draw an argument from what is said of Satan's agency in the affliction of Job (chap. i. and ii.) and from Psal. xci. 6. (compare Septuag.) and 1 Sam. xvi. 14. They also considered Satan as having the power of Death. Heb. ii. 14.-And that, in some maladies, this was indeed the case, is intimated by our Lord's reply here, ver. 16. and by St. Paul's words, 1 Cor. v. 5. where he speaks of delivering an offender to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.VOL. VII. B and The topic is very judiciously handled by b Utterly unable to raise herself upright.] CA 11 Offence is taken at his healing on the sabbath. SECT. and declaring how long her illness had continucxvii. ed, and how desperate and incurable it was Luke thought. XIII.14. 15 14 And the ruler of the synagogue an unto the people, There But a ruler of the synagogue, instead of joining in acknowledgments of the Divine power swered with indignaand goodness displayed in that gracious action tion, because that Jeof our Lord, was moved with indignation, which sus had healed on the he endeavoured to disguise under the form of sabbath-day, and said piety and zeal; and, as if he only had been angry are six days in which because Jesus had healed her on the sabbath-day, he answered and said unto the people, There are six days on which the common work of human life must be done, on some of these therefore you may surely find time to come and be healed, and should not make these applications on the sabbath day, which you know is appropriated to the sacred purposes of religious rest and worship. men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath-day. 15 The Lord then doth not each one of on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass Then the Lord answered him with a just severity, and said, Thou hypocrite, who thus makest answered him, and thy pretended zeal for the honour of Divine in- said, Thou hypocrite, stitutions a specious cloak for thy malice against you me, art thou not self-condemned? Does not every from the stall, and lead one of you, even the Pharisees and rulers of sy him away to watering? nagogues among the rest, without any scruple or blame, loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead him away to drink on the sabbath-day, as well as on any other: though the work be more servile than what I have done, and the occasion 16 far less important? Now, if you have such a 16 And ought not regard to the thirst of one of your cattle, was this woman, being a it not much more apparently fit, that this good woman, who is a believing daughter of Abraham, C A ruler of the synagogue.] It is plain that there were several rulers of the same synagogue. (Compare Mark v. 22, Acts xii. 15. xviii 8 17.) And Dr. Lightfoot and Vitringa have observed that, in every town where there was a synagogue, there were at least ten men who were obliged constantly to attend on the public worship in it. Of these, three were called rulers, who presided in directing the wor ship, and judged of such little disputes and litigations as might be determined in the synagogue; but not without a reserve of appeal to the several superior courts. If of these three there was any one who had a distinguised authority, and might by way of eminence be called the ruler of the synagogue, it is strange the Jewish writers omit to mention it, which, so far as I can recollect, they never do, see Wolfius on this text, and Vitringa, Synog. Vet. p. 535. d Even the Pharisees and rulers of sy whom whom daughter of Abraham, Satan hath bound, nagogues among the rest.] Had not this been generally the case, the answer would not have been sufficient for conviction in the present circumstance. Perhaps this ruler might that very day have been performing such an office for one of his cattle with his own hands: I say, with his own hands; for it was by no means essential to his being a ruler of the synagogue that he should be a person of wealth or dignity in common life; though probably, in large and splendid cities (such, for instance, as Capernaum was,) such persons might generally be chosen.-Critics have collected passages from rabbinical writers, in which they allow it to be lawful to feed or water a beast on the sabbath-day. See Lightfoot's Hor. Heb. on this text; where he shews they were expressly allowed even to draw teater for their beasts; a much more laborious work than leading them to it. See also Wotton's Miscell. Vol. II. p. 41—46. |