Luke 12:20

Luk 12:20. Εἶπε, said) if not by an express revelation, yet in His secret judgment: [Comp. Isa 57:11.]—ἄφρον, thou fool) This is put in contrast with his opinion of his own prudence, of which Luk 12:17, et seqq., treat.—νυκτὶ, this night) It is at night that most of the Divine addresses to men take place: it is at night that there occur many sudden deaths. [Job 27:20, “A tempest stealeth him away in the night.”]—ψυχὴν, soul) concerning which he had spoken so confidently in Luk 12:19.—ἀπαιτοῦσιν) They to whom the power of requiring the soul is given, require thine of thee:—they whom thou thyself knowest not, O rich man. An elliptical expression, as Rev 12:6. So 1Sa 3:9 in the Hebr., where the LXX, according to the Aldine copy, has the full expression, ἐὰν καλέσῃ ὁ καλῶν: comp. 2Sa 17:9.—[ἃ δὲ ἡτοίμασας, those possessions which thou hast acquired [provided]) Not seldom, if one is said to have acquired and left behind many thousands, we may be sure that he has bestowed on that object the greatest share of his vital energies.—V. g.]—τίνι, for whom, for whose advantage) The dative of profit (Dativus commodi). So Gen 45:20, ὑμῖν ἔσται. There are many things belonging to the rich, which, however, are not for the rich. The rich man knows not for whom they are about to be [who shall have the good of them, the enjoyment out of them]: at all events, they shall not be for the rich man himself.

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

Luk_12:20-21. Εἶπε κ.τ.λ.] is not to be converted into a decrevit (Kuinoel), etc. We have, indeed, no history; πλάττεται γὰρ ταῦτα ἡ παραβολή, Theophylact.

ταύτῃ] with emphasis.

ἀπαιτοῦσιν] the categoric plural (see on Mat_2:20), which therefore does not prevent our regarding God Himself as the author of what was done, although the subject is left undetermined. The thought of a robber and murderer (Paulus, Bornemann) is not to be allowed on account of Luk_12:21.

τίνι ἔσται] not to thee will it belong, but to others!

Luk_12:21. So, having incurred the loss of his happiness by the unexpected appearance of death, is he who collects treasure for himself (for his own possession and enjoyment), and is not rich in reference to God; i.e. is not rich in such wise that his wealth passes over to God (Rom_10:12), by his possession, namely, of treasures in heaven, which God saves up in order to impart them to the man when Messiahs kingdom shall be set up. See on Mat_5:12; Mat_6:20. Comp. 1Ti_6:19, and on Col_1:5. The πλουτεῖν εἰς θεόν (unless, however, εἰς is to be taken for ἐν, as Luther, Beza, Calovius, and others would have it) is substantially the same as ἔχειν θησαυροὺς ἐν οὐρανῷ (comp. Luk_12:33), and it is realized through δικαιοσύνη, and in the case of the rich man, especially through loving activity (Mat_19:21; Luk_16:9), such as Christ desires, Mat_6:2-4. It is not temporal possession of wealth which is applied in usum et honorem Dei (Majus, Elsner, Kypke, comp. Möller, Neue Ansichten, p. 201 ff.), but the higher ideal possession of wealth, the being rich in Messianic possessions laid up with God, and one day to be received from Him, which is wanting to the egoistic θησαυρίζων ἑαυτῷ. Against the former view, entertained by Majus and the rest, it is decisive that the negation of the being rich in relation to God (not of the becoming rich) is regarded as bound up with the selfish heaping up of treasure. This withal in opposition to Bornemann: qui quod dives est prosperoque in augendis divitiis successu utitur, sibi tribuit, non Deo.

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.

Luk 12:20 . εἶπε δὲ α ., but God said to him, through conscience at the death hour (Euthy.). ἀπαιτοῦσι , they ask thy life = thy life is asked. τίνι ἔσται , whose? Not thine at all events.

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

this night, &c.--This sudden cutting short of his career is designed to express not only the folly of building securely upon the future, but of throwing one's whole soul into what may at any moment be gone. "Thy soul shall be required of thee" is put in opposition to his own treatment of it, "I will say to my soul, Soul," &c.

whose shall those things be, &c.--Compare Psa 39:6, "He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. Thou fool!] To imagine that a man's comfort and peace can depend upon temporal things; or to suppose that these can satisfy the wishes of an immortal spirit!

This night] How awful was this saying! He had just made the necessary arrangements for the gratification of his sensual appetites; and, in the very night in which he had finally settled all his plans, his soul was called into the eternal world! What a dreadful awakening of a soul, long asleep in sin! He is now hurried into the presence of his Maker; none of his worldly goods can accompany him, and he has not a particle of heavenly treasure! There is a passage much like this in the book of Ecclesiasticus, 11:18, 19. There is that waxeth rich by his wariness and pinching, and this is the portion of his reward: Whereas he saith, I have found rest, and now will eat continually of my goods; and yet he knoweth not what time shall come upon him; and that he must leave those things to others, and die. We may easily see whence the above is borrowed.

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

(20) But God said unto him.—The bold anthropomorphic language seems intended to suggest the thought not only that death came suddenly, but that the man felt that it came from God as the chastisement of his folly.

Thy soul shall be required.—Literally, they require thy soul of thee. The idiom, as in Luk_12:48, and Luk_14:35, is impersonal, and does not require us to supply any definite nominative. We may compare “that when ye fail, they may receive you . . .” (Luk_16:9) as a possibly analogous instance; but see Note there.

Then whose shall those things be?—The words indicate one of the disturbing thoughts that vex the souls of the wealthy, “He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them” (Psa_39:6).

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

20. Thou fool] Literally, “Senseless]” 1Co_15:36.

this night] Compare the death of Nabal, 1Sa_25:36.

thy soul shall be required of thee] Rather, they demand thy soul of thee. Who are ‘they’? Some say God (Job_27:8), or His death- angels (Job_33:22), or robbers whom they suppose to attack the rich man on the night that his wealth has flowed in. There is however no definite pronoun, the phrase is impersonal, as often in Hebrew.

then whose shall those things be] “He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them,” Psa_39:6; Psa_49:16-17; comp. Psa_52:7 and Jas_4:13-15. St James seems to have been deeply impressed with this teaching.

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.

But God said unto him,.... He determined within himself he should die that night; for the time of a man's death, as well as of his birth, is fixed by God; or he sent the messenger of death, some disease or another, the language of which was, immediate death, or death in a very short time; or spoke to his conscience, and impressed it on his mind, that he should die that night, and not live:

thou fool: as he appeared to be, throughout the whole of his conduct:

this night thy soul shall be required of thee: which is of God's immediate formation, is immortal, of more worth than a world, and its loss is irreparable; and for which a man is accountable to God, the Father of spirits; and which he requires at a man's hands at death, which is here designed; and shows, that a man has no power over it to retain it, but must give it up when it is called for, even that very instant, "this night" which may refer to the time when covetous persons are employing their thoughts about their worldly goods, or when epicures and sensual persons are indulging themselves in luxury and intemperance; and to the condition the soul is in, being in the night and in darkness, and knows not whither it is going; and denotes its immediate remove, and the suddenness of divine wrath and vengeance; the Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions, agreeably to the Greek text, read the words, "this night do they require thy soul of thee"; or "out of thy body", as the Persic version reads: the Ethiopic version renders it, "they shall take thy soul from thee"; that is, the evil angels, the devils having a commission from God, shall demand thy soul; and as soon as ever it is separated from the body, shall seize upon it, and carry it to hell; just as the good angels carry the souls of the saints to heaven, Luk 16:22

Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? not his own, for he can carry nothing with him; nor does he know whose they will be, whether the persons he designed them for, or some others whom he abhorred, and would, if possible, have prevented their enjoyment of them; and should he have them for whom he intended them, he does not know how he will turn out, whether a wise man or a fool, or what use he will make of them.

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

20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

Ver. 20. Thou fool, this night, &c.] This rich fool, when, like a jay, he was pruning himself in the boughs, came tumbling down with the arrow in his side; his hourglass had run out, when he thought it to be but recently turned. He chopped into the earth before he was aware: like as one that, walking in a field covered with snow, falleth into a pit suddenly. He was shot as a bird with a bolt, while he gazed at the bow. And this may be any man’s case. Which made Austin say he would not for the gain of a world be an atheist for one half hour; because he knew not but God might in that time call him.

Then whose shall those things be? &c.] As thy friends are scrambling for thy goods, worms for thy body, so devils for thy soul. We read of Henry Beaufort, that rich and wretched cardinal, bishop of Winchester, and chancellor of England in the reign of King Henry VI, that perceiving he must needs die, he murmured that his riches could not reprieve him. Fie, quoth he, will not death be hired? will money do nothing? No; it is righteousness only that delivereth from death. (Fox, Martyrol.)

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.

Thou fool - If there is any supreme folly, it is this. As though riches could prolong life, or avert for a moment the approach of pain and death.

This night ... - What an awful sentence to a man who, as he thought, had got just ready to live and enjoy himself! In a single moment all his hopes were blasted, and his soul summoned to the bar of his long-forgotten God. So, many are surprised as suddenly and as unprepared. They are snatched from their pleasures, and hurried to a world where there is no pleasure, and where all their wealth cannot purchase one moment’s ease from the gnawings of the worm that never dies.

Shall be required of thee - Thou shalt be required to die, to go to God, and to give up your account.

Then whose ... - Whose they may be is of little consequence to the man that lost his soul to gain them; but they are often left to heirs that dissipate them much sooner than the father procured them, and thus they secure “their” ruin as well as his own. See Psa 39:6; Ecc 2:18-19.

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

20. God said—The man had had his say; there is now a higher Being who puts in a word.

Said—We are not told how God spoke, but certainly in such a way that even the fool understood him. Some think all God said was only in his decree or sovereign purpose; others that he so said by disease or dream. As the narrative is a parable, we understand that Jesus simply means to put God’s say in its true and terrible contrast with the fool’s speech to his soul.

Thou fool—In biblical language the true fool is the man who wants the moral sense; that is, the proper good sense in moral or religious matters.

This night—Not another day. Thy soul, which was to enjoy all this

life. Required of thee—As if it was a loan which is now to be paid back.

Whose shall those things be—thy heir will take the things in which thy life seemed to consist.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. The literal rendering of the Greek here is more solemn and impressive in its awful vagueness: This night they require thy soul of thee. Who are meant by they? Most likely the angels: not necessarily "avenging," as Trench would suggest; simply those angels whose special function it was to conduct the souls of the departed to their own place. So we read in the parable of Lazarus and Dives how angels carried the soul of Lazarus into Abraham"s bosom. On the words, "they require," Theophylact writes, "For, like pitiless exactors of tribute, terrible angels shall require thy soul from thee unwilling, and through love of life resisting. For from the righteous his soul is not required, but he commits it to God and the Father of spirits, pleased and rejoicing; nor finds it hard to lay it down, for the body lies upon it as a light burden. But the sinner who has enfleshed his soul, and embodied it, and made it earthy, has so prepared it to render its divulsion from the body most hard; wherefore it is said to be required of him, as a disobedient debtor that is delivered to exactors." Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? Our Lord here reproduced the thought contained in passages with which no doubt he had been familiar from his boyhood. "Yea, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool?". (Ecc_2:18, Ecc_2:19) "He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them". (Psa_39:6) The parallel in the apocryphal book, Ecc 11:18, Ecc 11:19, is very close.

Sudden death.

The parable which Jesus Christ delivered in rebuke of covetousness puts in striking and even startling form the facts on which God"s providence requires us to look. For we know

I THAT SUDDEN DEATH IS AN EVENT WHICH MAY OCCUR TO ANY ONE OF US. Human science has done much for us; and much in the direction of preserving and prolonging life. It has given to us a considerable knowledge of disease, and therefore an increased sense of danger. But it has not materially diminished the fact of a sudden and unanticipated end of our mortal life. It is probable that with the advance of civilization and the growing intricacies, complications, and obligations of human life, diseases of the heart have increased, and it is quite open to doubt whether sudden death is less frequent than it was. Certainly it is an ordinary rather than an extraordinary event. It is probable that these two words will be found at the head of at least one paragraph in any newspaper we may chance to be reading. Little as we realize it, it is a stern fact that it is quite possible that any man, enjoying the most robust health and in the midst of the most pressing and weighty duties, may be dead within the day on which we speak to him; that to this possibility there is absolutely no exception. Just now life may be to us and to those related to us of the greatest value; there may be a thousand reasons why, as it seems to us and to them, our life should be spared; and yet it may be of us that the word is passed in that realm where there is none to hinder, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee." It may be very trite, but it is most seriously true, that sudden death may come to any one of us.

II THAT SOME SUDDENNESS IN DEATH IS AN EXPERIENCE WE ARE ALL LIKELY TO SHARE. Few remarks are more often made than that death was "sudden at the last." Even the sick man thinks that he will live; that there are months, or at least weeks, before him. They who are clearly and even loudly admonished, either by serious illness or by advanced age, that their end is drawing on will think and talk of the days that are coming, of the things they will accomplish. It is usually with a start of surprise that the patient learns from his attendant that he must die. Such is our human nature that, even when death comes gradually and kindly, the Master"s words are applicable: "In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.

III THAT AMIDST HUMAN UNCERTAINTIES WE MAY HOLD FAST SOME DIVINE AND EVER-LIVING TRUTHS.

1. That it matters little whether our life be long or short, if only it be given to the service of Christ. Our Lord died a young man, and the term of his active public life is counted by months rather than by years; but what did he achieve!

2. That temporal success is not the true or the wise aim to set before the soul. There are far higher things we can do, and therefore should do; besides, our material achievements and possessions may be taken from our grasp at any hour.

3. That the right and wise course to take is to be ready for death whenever it may come. Readiness for death will secure us a true peace when the hour of trial arrives; it will also give us calmness of spirit, and therefore capacity for service and for pure enjoyment in the midst of life. C.

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

Thou fool - To think of satisfying thy soul with earthly goods! To depend on living many years! Yea, one day! They - The messengers of death, commissioned by God, require thy soul of thee!

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

20, 21. Thou fool. The still, small voice may have said this, as mortal disease attacked him. Men said that he was sagacious, wise; but God said, “Thou fool.” This night. Instead of having many years, this night he shall die, unprepared, and all his goods on which he set his heart be delivered over to others.

So is he that layeth up treasure for himself. He is guilty of folly in the eyes of God. Wisdom requires that we should lay up treasure in heaven.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus quotes how God responds to the rich man, as he finishes telling his parable.

tonight your soul is required of you

The "soul" refers to the life of a person. AT: "you will die tonight" or "I will take your life from you tonight" (See: Euphemism and Active or Passive)

the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

"who will own what you have stored up?" or "who will have what you prepared?" God uses a question to make the man realize that he would no longer possess those things. AT: "the things that you have prepared will belong to someone else!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

stores up treasure

"saves up valuable things"

is not rich toward God

has not used his time and possessions for the things that are important to God

translationWords

God

fool

soul

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

20. ἄφρων. Literally, ‘Senseless!’ 1Co 15:36. Comp. Luk 11:40. The nom. is used for the voc., comp. Luk 8:54.

ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτί. Compare the death of Nabal, 1Sa 25:36.

τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπαιτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ. ‘They demand thy soul of thee.’ Who are ‘they’? Some say God (Job 27:8), or His death-angels (Job 33:22), or robbers whom they suppose to attack the rich man on the night that his wealth has flowed in. There is however no definite pronoun, the phrase is impersonal, as often in Hebrew. It is the same “categoric plural” as in Luk 12:11 and Luk 16:9, Luk 23:31.

ἃ δὲ ἡτοίμασας, τίνι ἔσται; ‘But the things which thou preparedst, for whom shall they be?’ “He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them,” Psa 39:6; Psa 49:16-17; comp. Psa 52:7 and Jas 4:13-15. St James seems to have been deeply impressed with this teaching.

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.

20.] God said unto him,—perhaps it is meant, by some unmistakable judgment; but more likely, as occurring in a parable, the words are to be literally taken. By supposing merely a divine decree to be meant, without personal communication, as Grotius, Kuinoel, and Trench do, we lose the impressive part of the parable, where the man’s selfishness and folly is brought into immediate contact with the solemn truth of his approaching death, which certainly our Lord intends us to contemplate.

ἄφρων, opposed to his worldly prudence;—ταύτῃ τῇ ν. to the ἔτη πολλά;—the ψυχή in the one case, at its ease, eating, drinking, and making merry, to the ψυχή in the other, demanded, rendered up, judged.

αἰτοῦσιν, not strictly impersonal; there are those whose business it is, even the angels, the ministers of the divine purposes: see ch. 6:38 and note. The merely impersonal sense may be defended: cf. ver. 48: but this saying seems so solemn, as to require something more.

ἃ ἡτοίμασας, which thou madest ready; but not for thyself.

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

20. εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός. This is a parable, not history. It is futile to ask how God spoke to him. For Ἄφρων see on 9:40 and 24:5. The ταύτῇ τῇ νυκτί is placed first in emphatic contrast to the ἔτη πολλά. See Schanz, pp, 347, 348.

τὴν ψυχήν σου αἰτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ. “They are demanding thy soul of thee”: the present tense is very impressive. They do not demand it for themselves, and so we have act. and not mid. Comp. 2Co 11:20; and see the parallel lesson Wisd. 15:8. For the impersonal plural comp. vv. 11, 48, 6:38, 16:9, 23:31. There is no need to think of ἄγγελοι θανατηφόροι (Job 33:23), or of λῃσται (10:30).

ἂ δὲ ἡτοίμασας, τίνι ἔσται; Vulg. Rhem. and RV. preserve the telling order: quæ autem parasti cujus erunt? “And the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be?” Comp. Psa 39:6, 49:6; Ecc 2:18-23; Job 27:17-22. When not even his ψυχή is his own to dispose of, what will become of his ἀγαθά ?

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

Fool [αφρων] . Senseless. In Xenophon's "Memorabilia," Socrates, addressing Aristodemus, says, "Which do you take to be the more worthy of admiration, those who make images without sense [αφρονα] or motion, or those who make intelligent and active creations?" (1, 4, 4). Sometimes, also, in the sense of crazed, frantic, but never in New Testament.

Is required (ajpaitousin). Lit., they require; i e., the messengers of God. The indefiniteness is impressive.

Whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ? The Greek order puts that first which was uppermost in the rich man's thought - his accumulations : "and the things which thou hast provided (Rev., prepared), whose shall they be?" God does not say, "the things which thou hast or possessest." The whole question of the tenure of his property is opened for the rich man. He had said my fruits and my goods. Now his proprietorship is ignored. They are not his. Whose shall they be? He is to be dispossessed at once. Plato relates how Pluto complained to Zeus that the souls of the dead found their way to the wrong places, because the judged have their clothes on, and evil souls are clothed in fair bodies, so that the judges, who also have their clothes on and their souls veiled by their mortal part, are deceived. Zeus replies : "In the first place, I will deprive men of the foreknowledge of death which they now have. In the second place, they shall be entirely stripped before they are judged, for they shall be judged when they are dead; and the judge, too, shall be naked; that is to say, dead. He, with his naked soul, shall pierce into the other naked soul, and they shall die suddenly and be deprived of all their kindred, and leave their brave attire strewn upon the earth" (" Gorgias, " 523).

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