A PLAIN COMMENTARY ON The Four Holy Gospels, INTENDED CHIEFLY VOL. III.-PART II. ST. LUKE. CHAPTERS XIII.-XXIV. ASK FOR THE OLD PATHS, WHERE IS THE GOOD WAY, AND WALK JEREMIAH VI. 16. GRANT, O LORD, THAT IN READING THY WORD, I MAY NEVER Bishop Wilson. LONDON, JOHN HENRY PARKER. M DCCC LV. A PLAIN COMMENTARY ON THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER OF St. Luke's Gospel. 1 CHRIST preacheth repentance upon the punishment of the Galilæans, and others. 6 The fruitless fig-tree may not stand. 11 He healeth the crooked woman: 18 sheweth the powerful working of the Word in the hearts of His chosen, by the parable of the grain of Mustard seed, and of Leaven: 24 exhorteth to enter in at the strait gate, 31 and reproveth Herod and Jerusalem. XIII. THERE were present at that season some that told Him of the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Where our Blessed LORD was, when these tidings were brought to Him, does not appear: neither is the event known to which allusion is here made. But it accords very well with what we elsewhere read of the merciless disposition of Pilate, that he should have butchered certain Galilæans, (whether followers of Judas or Galilee, or not,) while they were in the very act of doing sacrifice at Jerusalem; so that the hideous spectacle was presented See Acts v. 37.-The massacre here recorded may also have been either the cause or the consequence of the quarrel recorded in St. Luke xxiii. 12. of human blood mingling with that of "bulls and goats," and polluting the Holy Place. Our SAVIOUR'S reply to the persons who brought Him this report, discloses what was the secret thought of their heart. They had put their own interpretation on the occurrence, and made up their minds that it was God's just punishment for Sin". 2 And JESUS answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they 3 suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. 4 Our SAVIOUR does not say that the calamity which had overtaken these Galilæans was not a punishment for Sin. He "contests not about that; but rather seems to agree to them so far, and draws that warning out of it. He only corrects the misconceit it seems they were in, in thrusting it too far off from themselves, and throwing it too heavy upon them that sacrificed." Doubtless, the connexion between Sin and Suffering is of the closest kind; but it is not in Man's power to trace that connexion in every particular instance: nor can he scarcely ever pretend to do so, without presumption.-Our LORD proceeds, Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower Consider St. John ix. 1 to 3: also Acts xxviii. 4. • Leighton. in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Rather, 'debtors above all men,'-for the word is not the same as in ver. 2. The expression is a remarkable one, implying that men are debtors to fulfil GoD's Law. The word seems to have been used with reference to the two concluding verses of the foregoing chapter d. I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, 5 ye shall all likewise perish. The people whom our SAVIOUR was addressing had described to Him a calamity where Man was the immediate agent. He reminds them of another fatal event of recent occurrence, which they would have called an accident,-namely, the unexpected falling of a tower in Jerusalem, (somewhere near the Pool of Siloam, probably,) whereby eighteen lives were lost. Shall there be evil in the City,' (asks the Prophet,) and the LORD hath not done it?' Both events, alike, had proceeded from GOD. He asks them therefore if they supposed that this also was a proof of greater wickedness in those eighteen 'above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?' 'I tell you, Nay;' He repeats. And thereby He reproves as many of our Consider also the following places, xviii. 23, 24. St. Luke vii. 21. d See St. Luke xii. 58, 59. -St. Matth. vi. 12: e Nehem. iii. 15. Amos iii. 6. St. John ix. 7. 11. Compare Is. viii. 6. |