Luke 11:54

Luk 11:54 really gives the key to the meaning of ἀποστοματίζειν (here only in N.T.).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(54) Laying wait for him.—The better MSS. give the verse in a somewhat simpler form, laying wait to catch something out of His mouth. The words throw light on the subsequent question about paying tribute to Cæsar (Mat_22:15-22; Mar_12:13-17), and show it to have been the acting out of a pre-concerted policy.

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

54. to catch] Literally, “to hunt.” They were members of a body of a sort of ‘commission of enquiry’ which had been sent from Jerusalem for this express purpose, Mar_12:13.

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.

54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

Ver. 54. Seeking to catch something] But there was no guile or gall found in his mouth, saith St Peter, intimating that they sought it.

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.

Laying wait for him - Or, rather, laying “snares” for him It means that they endeavored to entangle him in his talk; that they did as men do who catch birds - who lay snares, and deceive them, and take them unawares.

That they might accuse him - Before the Sanhedrin, or great council of the nation, and thus secure his being put to death.

From this we may learn:

1. That faithful reproofs must be expected to excite opposition and hatred. Though the “conscience” may be roused, and may testify against the man that is reproved, yet that does not prevent his hating the reproof and the reprover.

2. We see here the manner in which wicked people endeavor to escape the reproofs of conscience. Instead of repenting, they seek vengeance, and resolve to put the reprover to shame or to death.

3. We see the exceeding malignity which people have against the Lord Jesus. Well was it said that he was set for the fall of many in Israel, that thereby the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed! Luk 2:34-35. Men, now, are not by nature less opposed to Jesus than they were then.

4. We see the wisdom, purity, and firmness of the Saviour. To their souls he had been faithful. He had boldly reproved them for their sins. They sought his life. Multitudes of the artful and learned gathered around him, to endeavor to draw out something of which they might accuse him, yet in vain. Not a word fell from his lips of which they could accuse him. Everything that he said was calm, mild, peaceful, wise, and lovely. Even his cunning and bitter adversaries were always confounded, and retired in shame and confusion. Here, surely, must have been something more than man. None but “God manifest in the flesh” could have known all their designs, seen all their wickedness and their wiles, and escaped the cunning stratagems that were laid to confound and entangle him in his conversation.

5. The same infinitely wise Saviour can still meet and confound all his own enemies and those of his people, and deliver all his followers, as he did himself, from all the snares laid by a wicked world to lead them to sin and death.

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

54. There are many variations and glosses in this verse owing to its peculiarity.

The words καὶ ζητοῦντες are omitted in אBL, and also ἵνα κατηγορήσωσιν αὐτοῦ.

54. θηρεῦσαι. Literally, ‘to hunt.’ They were members of a sort of ‘commission of inquiry’ which had been sent from Jerusalem for this express purpose, Mar 12:13. They occupied the base position of inquisitors and heresy-hunters for the theologians and priests at Jerusalem.

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.

54. ἐνεδρ. αὐτόν] The accus. is Hellenistic, instead of the usual dative: so ἐνήδρευσαν τὰς παρθένους, Jos. Antt. v. 2. 12.

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

54. Confusion in the text still continues; but the true reading is not doubtful. WH. give this as a good instance of conflation the common reading being compounded of the original text and two early corruptions of it, Comp. 9:10, 12:18, 24:53.

(α) ἐνεδρεύοντες αὐτὸν θηρευσσαί τι ἐκ τους στόματος αὐτους. אa B L Boh. Aeth. Syr-Cur. (some omit αὐτόν).

(β) ζητουσντες ἀφορμήν τινα λαβεισν αὐτους ἵνα εὔρωσιν κατηγορησσαι αὐτους D, d Syr-Sin.?

ζητουσντες ἀφορμήν τινα λαβεισν ἵνα κατηγορήσωσιν αὐτους. Lat. Vet. (some omit αὐτους).

(δ) ἐνεδρεύοντες αὐτόν, ζητουστες θηρευσσαί τι ἐκ τους στόματος αὐτους, ἴνα κατηγορήσωσιν αὐτους. A C A G H K M U V G D D II, and with small vanations 10, all cursives, Vulg. etc. WH. 2. Introduction, P. 102.

ἐνεδρεύοντες. Elsewhere in N.T. only Act 23:21: comp. Deu 19:11; Pro 26:19; Wis. 2:12; Ecclus. 27:10, 28; Lam 4:19; Jos. Ant. v. 2. 12; in all which places it has, as here, the acc. instead of the usual dat.

θηρευσσαι1 Here only in N.T. Comp: Psa 58:4. Both this ord and ἐνεδρεύοντες are very graphic. Godet remarks that we have here une scène de violence peut-être unique dens la vie de Jésus: and huic vehementiæ suberat fraudulentia (Beng.). We infer from 12:1 that now the disciples are present.

It is possible that in Mat_23. what took place on this occasion is combined with what was said in the temple just before the Passion. Lk, gives only a very brief notice of the later denunciation (20:45-47 ; comp: Mat 23:1-7). But the fact that he gives two denunciations is against the theory that only one was uttered, which he assigns to one occasion and Mt. to another. It may, however, easily have happened that some of what was said an the first occasion has been transferred to the second, or vice versâ.

§ Found in Luke alone.

Herzog, Herzog’s Protestantische Real-Encyklopädie, 2nd edition.

D. Chr. Ant. Smith’s Dictionary of Christian Antiquities.

D D. Cod. Bezae, sæc. vi. Given by Beza to the University Library at Cambridge 1581. Greek and Latin. Contains the whole Gospel.

1 For the details of the evidence see Sanday, App. ad N.T. p. 119. In general it in א B L, Vulg. Arm, Orig. Tert., which omit the clauses in question; but אis on the other side with regard to γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, κ.τ.λ. Other authorities omit one or more of the clauses. Those which contain the clauses vary as to the wording of the first two. “Neither accident nor intention can adequately account for such clear evidence as there is in favour of so large an omission, if S. Luke’s Gospel had originally contained the clauses in question” (Hammond, Textual Criticism applied to N.T. p. 83, Oxford, 1890).

Vulg. Vulgate.

Syr Syriac.

Sin. Sinaitic.

1 There is evidence from Tertullian (Adv. Marc. iv. 26), from Gregory Nyssen (De Orat. Dom. ed. Krabinger, p. 60), and from an important cursive (Cod. Ev. 604 = 700 Gregory), elaborately edited by Hoskier (1890), that the lord’s Prayer in Lk. sometimes contained a petition for the gift of the Spirit, instead either of “Thy kingdom come” or of “Hallowed be Thy name.” In Gregory and Cod. Ev. 604 the petition runs thus: Ἐλθέτω τὸ πνεῦμά σου [τὸ ἄγιον] ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς καὶ καθαρισάτω ἡμᾶς; but in Gregory τὸ ἅγιον is doubtful. This addition may have been made when the Prayer was used at the laying on of hands, and thus have got into some texts of Lk. Chase in Texts & Studies, i. 3, p. 28. The ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς of D may have come from this addition. Comp. Zmuns komme dein Reich.

Wetst. Wetstein.

WH. Westcott and Hort.

AV. Authorized Version.

1 Gregory Nyssen goes so far as to make ὀ πειρασμός a name for the devil: ἄρα ὁ πειρασμός τε καὶ ὁ πονηρὸς ἕν τι καὶ κατὰ τὴν σημασίαν ἐστί (De Orat Dom. v., Migne, xliv. 1192). So also Nilus, the friend and pupil of Chrysos. tom: πειρασμὸς μὲν λέγεται καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος (Ep. l., Migne, lxxix. 573).

Aug. Augustine.

Treg. Tregelles.

Win. Winer, Grammar of N.T. Greek (the page refers to Moulton’s edition).

Lft. J. B. Lightfoot, * Notes on Epistles of S. Paul.

B B. Cod. Vaticanus, sæc. 4. In the Vatican Library certainly since 15331 (Batiffol, La Vaticane de Paul 3, etc., p. 86).

Beng. Bengel.

Aeth. Ethiopic.

D. B. Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, 2nd edition.

Luth. Luther.

Burton. Burton, N.T. Moods and Tenses.

1 The ἐγώ after εἰ δέ (D) or after Θεοῦ (B C L R) is of doubtful authority: in the one case it probably comes from ver. 19, in the other it may come from Mat 12:28.

RV. Revised Version.

Tyn. Tyndale.

1 See Gregory Nazianzen’s interpretation of “waterless places” as the unbaptized “dry of the divine stream” (Oration on Holy Baptism, xxxv.; Post Nicene, Library, vii. p. 373). For the application of the parallel to the Jews, the Christian Church, and individuals, see Alford on Mat 12:44.

L L. Cod. Regius Parisiensis, sæc. viii. National Library at Paris. Contains the whole Gospel.

Ξ̠Ξ. Cod. Zacynthius Rescriptus, sæc. viii. In the Library of the Brit. and For. Bible Soc. in London. Contains 1:1-9, 19-23, 27, 28, 30-32, 36-66, 1:77-2:19, 21, 22, 33-39, 3:5-8, 11-20, 4:1, 2, 6-20, 32-43, 5:17-36, 6:21-7:6, 11-37, 39-47, 8:4-21, 25-35, 43-50, 9:1-28, 32, 33, 35, 9:41-10:18, 21-40, 11:1, 2, 3, 4, 24-30, 31, 32, 33.

A A. Cod. Alexandrinus, sæc. v. Once in the Patriarchal Library at Alexandria; sent by Cyril Lucar as a present to Charles 1. in 1628, and now in the British Museum. Complete.

C

C. Cod. Ephraemi Rescriptus, sæc. 5. In the National Library at Paris. Contains the following portions of the Gospel: 1:2-2:5, 2:42-3:21, 4:25-6:4, 6:37-7:16, or 17, 8:28-12:3, 19:42-20:27, 21:21-22:19, 23:25-24:7, 24:46-53.

These four MSS. are parts of what were once complete Bibles, and are designated by the same letter throughout the LXX and N.T.

R R. Cod. Nitriensis Rescriptus, sæc. 8. Brought from a convent in the Nitrian desert about 1847, and now in the British Museum. Contains 1:1-13, 1:69-2:4, 16-27, 4:38-5:5, 5:25-6:8, 18-36, 39, 6:49-7:22, 44, 46, 47, 8:5-15, 8:25-9:1, 12-43, 10:3-16, 11:5-27, 12:4-15, 40-52, 13:26-14:1, 14:12-15:1, 15:13-16:16, 17:21-18:10, 18:22-20:20, 20:33-47, 21:12-22:15, 42-56, 22:71-23:11, 38-51. By a second hand 15:19-21.

Arm. Armenian.

אԠאc attributed to the beginning of sæc. 7. Two hands of about this date are sometimes distinguished as אca and אcb

Tisch. Tischendorf.

L. & T. Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.

1 Sanday inclines to the view that Mat 12:40 “is a gloss which formed no part of the original saying, but was introduced, very naturally though erroneously, the author of our present Gospel” (Bampton Lectures, 1893, p. 433). On the question whether Christ’s appeal to Jonah requires us to believe that the story of the whale is historical see Sanday’s Bampton Lectures, pp. 414-419; Gore’s Bampton Lectures, 1891, pp. 195-200; with the literature there quoted.

Euthym. Euthymius Zigabenus.

Jos. Josephus.

Cov. Coverdale.

Gen. Geneva.

Wic. Wiclif.

Rhem. Rheims (or Douay).

1 Comp. Seneca, Effugisse tenebras, bono lucis frui, non tenui visu clare prospicere, sed totum diem admittere.

1 We may get the same sense from the text of C D Γ and some cursives, which transpose ἔξωθεν and ἔσωθεν. So also from some Latin texts: nonne Qui fecit interiora et exteriora fecit (a), qui fecit quod intus est et quod foris est (c e)

2

Ergo miser trepidas, ne stercore fæda canino

Atria displiceant oculis venientis amici,

Ne perfusa lute sit porticus: et tamen une

Semodia scobis hæ emundat servulus unus.

Illud non agitas, ut sanctam filius omni

Adspiciat sine labe domum vitioque carentem (Juv. 14:64).

Grot. Grotius.

1 Vulg, has testificamini quod consentitis, and a few cursives read ὄτι συνευδοκεῖτε. Lat. texts vary greatly: quia consentitis (1), et consentitis (CT), consentitis (E), consentire (cil) consentientes (f), non consentientes (abq), non consentire (d) following μὴ συνευδοκεῖν (D).

2 See Ryle, Canon of O.T. p. 155; and for apparent quotations from Scripture which cannot be found in Scripture comp. Joh 7:38; 1Co 2:9; Eph 5:14.

אԠא Cod. Sinaiticus, sæc. iv. Brought by Tischendorf from the Convent of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai; now at St. Petersburg. Contains the whole Gospel complete.

X X. Cod. Monacensis, sæc. ix. In the University Library at Munich. Contains 1:1-37, 2:19-3:38, 4:21-10:37, 11:1-18:43, 20:46-24:53.

Boh. Bohairic.

Latt. Latin.

Cur. Curetonian.

אԠאa contemporary, or nearly so, and representing a second MS. of high value;

Lat. Vet. Vetus Latina.

G G. Cod. Harleianus, sæc. ix. In the British Museum. Contains considerable portions.

K K. Cod. Cyprius, sæc. ix. In the National Library at Paris. Contains the whole Gospel.

M M. Cod. Campianus, sæc. ix. In the National Library at Paris. Contains the whole Gospel.

U U. Cod. Nanianus, sæc. x. In the Library of St. Mark’s, Venice. Contains the whole Gospel.

1 Comp. Εἰπέ μοι, ὦ Σώκρατες, οὺκ αἰσχύνει, τηλικουστος ὤν, ὀνόματα θηρεύων καὶ ἐάν τις ἁμάρτῃ, ἔρμαιον τουστο ποιούμενος; (Plat. Gorg. 489 B).

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

Lying in wait - to catch [ενεδρευοντεςθηρευσαι] . Metaphors from hunting.

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