Luke 1:51

1:51 His mighty arm personifies God’s mighty power (see Ps 98:1; Isa 40:10).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 1:51. Ἐποίησε κράτος—ἐξαπέστειλε κενοὺς, He hath showed strength—He hath sent empty away) God designed to do all these things through the Messiah, and the mother of the Latter was receiving an experimental proof of the fact in her own self.—ὑπερηφάνους, the proud) both those visible and those invisible [Satan, etc.] of this character.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_1:51 ff. Mary now sees the Messianic catastrophe, which God will bring about by means of her son, and she announces it prophetically as having already happened; for she bears in fact the accomplisher of it already in her womb, and thus the work of God, which He is to execute, is before her enlightened gaze already as good as completed; in that way she sees and describes it.

The catastrophe itself is the restoration of the state of things to the divine rightful order, the overthrow of the Gentiles and the exaltation of the deeply-oppressed theocratic people (comp. Luk_1:68; Luk_1:71; Luk_1:74); the former are set forth by the words ὑπερηφάνους, δυνάστας, πλουτοῦντας; the latter, by ταπεινούς and πεινῶντας. This intended concrete application of the general expressions is put beyond doubt by ἀντελάβετο Ἰσραὴλ κ.τ.λ., Luk_1:54 f.

ὑπερηφάνους] such as are arrogant in the thoughts of their heart; διανοίᾳ is the dative of more precise definition; and on the notion (thinking and willing as directed outwards), comp. Beck, Seelenl. p. 58; on καρδία as the centre of the spiritual and psychic life, Delitzsch, bibl. Psychol. p. 248 ff.; finally, in διεσκόρπ. the haughty are conceived of as congregated and keeping together; comp. Mat_26:31; Act_5:37; Psa_89:10. That through Christianity the proud were humbled (de Wette), is not the thought expressed by Mary, but a generalization of it, as is also the confusio diabolicae superbiae (Calovius and others), and the like. Comp. Sir_10:14 ff.

Luk_1:52. He has cast down rulers from thrones, does not apply to the demons and Pharisees (Theophylact), but to the Gentile holders of power. Comp. on the idea of the overthrow of thrones in the times of the Messiah, Wis_5:23; Enoch xxxviii. 4, and Dillmann thereon.

Luk_1:53. ἀγαθῶν] not merely means of subsistence (Valckenaer, Bornemann, de Wette), but earthly possessions in general, among which the means of subsistence are included. Comp. Luk_12:18 f. De Wette, moreover, is in error in saying (comp. Olshausen) that it is spiritual hunger and spiritual satisfying that are to be thought of, and that the rich are a type of the wise men of this world. The whole is to be taken literally; the idealizing is not warranted according to the context. Comp. Psa_34:11.

ἐξαπέστ. κενούς] So that they retain nothing of their possessions, and have received nothing from the Messiah. On the expression, comp. Luk_20:10 f.; Job_22:9; Jdt_10:11; Hom. Il. ii. 298, Od. xiii. 214.

For descriptions of the divine inversion of relations from the classical writers, see Wetstein and Bornemann.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 51-53. A much more strongly marked poetical parallelism characterizes this strophe. Mary here describes with a thrill of emotion, of which even her language partakes, the great Messianic revolution, the commencement of which she was beholding at that very time. In the choice God had made of two persons of such humble condition in life as herself and her cousin, she saw at a glance the great principle which would regulate the impending renewal of all things. It is to be a complete reversal of the human notions of greatness and meanness.

The poor and the hungry are evidently the Israelites fearing God of Luk 1:50. Such expressions cannot apply to Israel as a whole—to the proud Pharisees and rich Sadducees, for example. The line of demarcation which she draws in these words passes, therefore, not between the Jews and Gentiles, but between the pious Israelites and all that exalt themselves against God, whether in or beyond Israel. The proud, the mighty, and the rich, denote Herod and his court, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, as well as the foreign oppressors, Caesar and his armies, and all the powers of heathendom. The aorists of these three verses indicate, according to Bleek, the repetition of the act; so he translates them by the present. I rather think that to Mary’s eyes the catastrophe presents itself as already consummated in the act which God had just accomplished. Does not this act contain the principle of the rejection of all that is exalted in the world, and of the choice of whatever in human estimation is brought low? All these divine acts which are about to follow, one after another, will only be a further application of the same principle. They are virtually contained in that which Mary celebrates. Consequently the aorists are properly translated by the past.

The first proposition of Luk 1:51 applies to the righteous and wicked alike. Still the former of these two applications predominates (Luk 1:50). The arm is the symbol of force. The expression ποιεῖν κράτος, to make strength, is a Hebraism, עשָׂה†ָחיִל ׃ (ֹPsa 118:15). The LXX. translate it by ποιεῖν δύναμιν. If it was Luke who translated the Hebrew document into Greek, it is evident that he kept his version independent of the LXX.

The favour God shows to the righteous has its necessary counterpart in the overthrow of the wicked. This is the connection of the second proposition. The expression ὑπερηφάνους διανοίᾳ, proud in thought, answers to לֵבבּירֵי אַ(ִPsa 76:6); the LXX. translate this expression by ἀσύνετοι τῇ καρδίᾳ. The dative διανοίᾳ defines the adjective: “the proud in thought, who exalt themselves in their thoughts.” Mary represents all these as forming an opposing host to men that fear God; hence the expression scatter. With the reading διανοίας, ὑπερηφάνους is the epithet of the substantive, proud thoughts. This reading is evidently a mistake.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, an heaping up of words more than needed, which the Hebrews use very much, and the arm is taken for strength.

Even as the wind doth the chaff.

He hath scattered them, and the imagination of their hearts; or by and through the imagination of their own hearts: so that their wicked counsel turned to their own destruction.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 51. He hath showed strength] Or, He hath gained the victory, εποιησε κρατος. The word κρατος is used for victory, by Homer, Hesiod, Sophocles, Euripides, and others.

With his arm] Grotius has well observed, that God's efficacy is represented by his finger, his great power by his hand, and his omnipotence by his arm. The plague of lice was the finger of God, Ex 7:18. The plagues in general were wrought by his hand, Ex 3:20, And the destruction of Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea, which was effected by the omnipotence of God, is called the act of his arm, Ex 15:16.

He hath scattered] διεσκορπισεν, hath scattered abroad; as a whirlwind scatters dust and chaff.

The proud] Or haughty, υπερηφανους; from υπερ above, and φαινω I show - the haughty men, who wish to be noticed in preference to all others, and feel sovereign contempt for all but themselves. These God scatters abroad-instead of being in his sight, as in their own, the most excellent of the earth, he treats them as straw, stubble, chaff, and dust.

In the imagination of their hearts.] While they are forming their insolent, proud, and oppressive projects - laying their plans, and imagining that accomplishment and success are waiting at their right hand, the whirlwind of God's displeasure blows, and they and their machinations are dissipated together.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(51) He hath shewed strength.—Literally, He wrought strength. Here the parallelism with 1Sa_2:3 becomes very close. Of whom the speaker thought as among the “proud,” we cannot know. They may have been the potentates of the world in which she lived, Herod and the Emperor of Rome. They may have been the men of Jerusalem, who despised Galilee; or those of the other towns and villages of Galilee, who despised Nazareth; or, though less probably, those of Nazareth itself, who despised the carpenter and his betrothed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

51. with his arm] “Thou hast a mighty arm,” Psa_89:13. The nearest parallel to the remainder of the verse is Job_5:12.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He hath showed strength with his arm,.... Of almighty power, in the business of the incarnation, and in working out salvation for his people; which is done by his own arm, he being mighty to save, and travelling in the greatness of his strength; see Isa 63:1.

He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts; whom he always resists, and both in providence and grace, takes such methods, as tend to humble and confound them: here particularly, it may regard the proud and haughty Jews; who imagined nothing less, than that the Messiah would be born of one of the rich and noble families in Judea; that he would appear as a temporal prince, and set up a temporal kingdom in great state and splendour, and make them a free and flourishing people: when instead of this, he was to be born of a poor virgin, of whom they disdainfully say, is not his mother called Mary? who was of Nazareth in Galilee, of which it is said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? or any good thing out of Nazareth? A virgin betrothed to a carpenter, and her son of that business also, with which both were flouted; and because of this meanness, the Messiah was rejected by them; and thus were they scattered and confounded in their imaginations.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

Ver. 51. He hath showed strength, &c.] It appears by the whole frame of this holy song, that the blessed Virgin was well versed in the Scripture, which she here makes so much use of in sundry passages. She was eruditionis pietatis et modestiae delicium, as one speaketh of the Lady Jane Grey. She had by much reading made her bosom Bibliothecam Christi, Christ’s library, as a Father saith; and may seem to have been exercised in the good word of God from her infancy, as 2Ti 3:15, and as that sweet young gentlewoman, Mrs Elizabeth Wheatenhall, daughter of Mr Anthony Wheatenhall, of Tenterden, in Kent, deceased, who not yet being ten years old when she died, yea, before she was nine years old (not much above eight), could say all the New Testament by heart, and being asked where any words were, she would presently name book, chapter, and verse. One Mr Stoughton, a minister, writeth this upon his own knowledge and examination of her.

He hath scattered the proud] He by his strong arm hath so splitted them, that they shiver into pieces, διεσκορπισε; or hath made them as darts, which, being among the enemies, are lost; or hath hurled them hither and thither, as the wind doth the dust of the mountains.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hath showed strength with his arm - The “arm” is the symbol of strength. The expression in this and the subsequent verses has no particular reference to his mercy to Mary. From a contemplation of His goodness to her, she enlarges her views to a contemplation of His goodness and power in general, and to a celebration of the praises of God for all that he has done to all people. This is the nature of true piety. It does not terminate in thinking of God’s mercy toward ourselves. It thinks of others, and praises God that others also are made partakers of His mercy, and that His goodness is manifested to all His works.

He scattereth the proud - He hath often done it in time of battle and war. When the proud Assyrian, Egyptian, or Babylonian had come against the people of God, He had often scattered them and driven away their armies.

In the imagination of their hearts - Those who were lifted up or exalted in their own view. Those who “thought themselves” to be superior to other men.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The wise men of the Gentiles, the Pharisees and Scribes, were powerful; but these the Almighty cast down, and exalted those, who humbled themselves under his powerful hand. (1 Peter v.) The Jews were proud in their strength, but their incredulity brought on them their humiliation; whilst the low and mean among the Gentiles, have by faith ascended to the summit of perfection. (St. Cyril of Alexandria in St. Thomas Aquinas’ catena aurea.) (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In these verses the virgin celebrates both the power and justice of God, as she before had done his holiness, and his mercy and goodness. The strength of a man is much seen in the effects of his arm; hence God, who hath no such parts as we have, is yet spoken of as if he had an arm, by which no more is signified than a mighty power, by which he bringeth things to pass; Exo 15:16; Psa 89:13; 98:1; Isa 40:10; so in many other texts.

He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Jethro, Exo 18:11, knew that the Lord was above all gods, because in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.

The proud in Scripture often signifies wicked men, as the humble signifies good and holy men; but proud, in a strict sense, signifieth men that have a high opinion of themselves: now there is nothing that a proud man dealeth more proudly in, than in following the imaginations of his own heart. There (saith Mary) God scattereth them, turning their counsels into folly, and confounding them in their own imaginations.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats: thus he did by Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, &c.: he pulls down some, and sets up others. Promotion is not from the east, nor from the west.

And exalted them of low degree: this is God’s way; thus he exalted Moses, Joseph, Jacob, David. God thus showeth his mighty power and superintendency upon men’s affairs. He doth what he pleaseth with men, yet what he doth is infinitely wise, just, and good.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 51-53. He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath soattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. From adoration, Mary"s hymn proceeds to celebrate the mighty results effected by the Divine pity. As so often in thee prophetic strains, the speaker or writer speaks or writes as though the future had become the past; so Mary here describes the Messianic reversal of man"s conception of what is great and little, as though the unborn Babe had already lived and done his strange mighty work in the world. The "glorious arm" which, in old days, had wrought such mighty things for Israel, she recognized as belonging to the coming Deliverer (verse 51). His chosen instruments would be those of whom the world thought little, like herself. The proud and mighty would be put down; the men of low degree, and poor and humble, would be exalted. The hungry would be filled; and they who were rich only in this world"s goods would have no share in the new kingdom they would be sent empty away. How strangely had the virgin of Nazareth caught the thought, almost the very words, of the famous sermon her Divine Son, some thirty years later, preached on the mountainside near Gennesaret!

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He hath wrought strength with his arm - That is, he hath shown the exceeding greatness of his power. She speaks prophetically of those things as already done, which God was about to do by the Messiah. He hath scattered the proud - Visible and invisible.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

51. ἐποίησεν κράτος. A Hebraism. Psa 118:15, &c.

ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ. “Thou hast a mighty arm,” Psa 89:13. The nearest parallel to the remainder of the verse is Job 5:12.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

51-55.] These aorists express, not the habit of the past, but the consequences involved for the future in that which the Lord had done to her.

51.] The dative διανοίᾳ apparently expresses the realm in which the ὑπερηφανία is shewn. Bleek quotes from Symmachus, Psa 75:6, ὑπερήφανοι τῇ καρδίᾳ: but it is τὴν καρδίαν: the LXX however in the same place has ἀσύνετοι τῇ καρδίᾳ.

Ver. 55 is not rendered in the E. V. according to the construction; from Psa 97:3 it will be seen that μνησθῆναι ἐλέους τῷ Ἀβ. are to be joined together, and therefore καθὼς … ἡμῶν will be parenthetical. See Mic 7:20.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

51. Ἐποίησεν κράτος ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ, διεσκόρπισεν, κ.τ.λ. Beginning of the third strophe. The six aorists in it are variously explained. 1. They tell of things which the Divine power and holiness and mercy (vv. 49, 50) have already accomplished in the past. 2. According to the common prophetic usage, they speak of the future as already past, and tell of the effects to be produced by the Messiah as if they had been produced. 3. They are gnomic, and express God’s normal acts. We may set aside this last. It is very doubtful whether the aor. is ever used of what is normal or habitual (Win. xl. 5. b, 1, p. 346). Of the other two explanations, the second is to be preferred. It is more likely that Mary is thinking of the farreaching effects of the blessing conferred upon herself than of past events unconnected with that blessing. In either case the six aorists must be translated by the English perfect. They show that in this strophe, as in the second, we have a triplet. There it was God’s power, holiness, and mercy. Here it is the contrasts between proud and humble, high and low, rich and poor.

Both ἐποίησεν κράτος and ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ are Hebraisms. For the former comp. δεξιὰ Κυρίου ἐποίησεν δύναμιν (Psa 118:15). For βραχίων to express Divine power comp. Act 13:17 ; Joh 12:38 (from Isa 53:1); Psa 44:3, Psa 98:1, etc. The phrase ἐν χειρὶ κραταιᾷ καὶ ἐν βραχίονι ὑψηλῷ is frq). in LXX (Deu 4:34, Deu 5:15, Deu 6:21, Deu 26:8). This use of ἐν is in the main Hebraistic (22:49; Rev 6:8; Jdg 15:15, Jdg 15:20:16; 1Ki 12:18; Judith 6:12, 8:33). Win. xlviii. 3. d, p. 485.

ὑπερηφάνους διανοίᾳ καρδίας αὐτῶν. The dat. limits ὑπερηφάνους: they are proud and overweening in thought. In N.T. ὑπερήφανος is never “conspicuous above” others, but always in a bad sense, “looking down on” others (Jas 4:6; 1Pe 5:5; Rom 1:30; 2Ti 3:2. It is freq. in LXX. Comp. Ps. Sol. 2:35, κοιμίζων ὑπερηφάνους εἰς ἀπώλειαν αἰώνιον ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ; also 4:28. See Wsctt. on 1Jn 2:16, and Trench, Syn. xxix.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shewed strength [εποιησεν κρατος] . Lit., made strength. So Wyc., made might. A Hebrew form of expression. Compare Psa 118:15, Sept. : "The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly" (ejpoihse dunamin, made strength).

In the imagination [διανοια] . The faculty of thought, understanding, especially moral understanding. Wyc. refers the word here to God : with mind of his heart. Some prefer to render "by the imagination," thus making the proud the instrument of their own destruction. Compare 2Co 10:5.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.