Luke 20:18

20:18 Jesus expanded the stone metaphor (20:17) with allusions to Isa 8:14-15 and Dan 2:34, 44-45. Although Israel rejected him, Jesus was the foundation for the new people of God, and he inaugurated a Kingdom that would last forever.

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

Luk 20:18. Ἐκεῖνον) that great stone, of which the prediction had been given long ago in the Psalm.

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

Luk 20:18 points out the bearing of the turn in the fortunes of the “Stone” on the fate of those who rejected Him. The thought is based on Dan 2:35 . It is not in Mk., and it is a doubtful reading in Mt. It may have been a comment on the oracle from the Psalter suggested to believing minds by the tragic fate of the Jews. They first stumbled on the stone, then the stone fell on them with crushing judicial effect.

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

Verse 18. Grind him to powder.] See Clarke on Mt 21:44.

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

(18) Whosoever shall fall upon that stone.—See Note on Mat_21:44. The verse, which is omitted by many of the best MSS. in St. Matthew, is found in all MSS. of St. Luke. If we were to receive it, on this evidence, as belonging strictly to the latter Gospel only, the Greek word for “bruised” might take its place among those classical, or perhaps quasi-medical, terms characteristic of St. Luke. (See Note on Luk_20:12, and Introduction.)

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

18. shall fall upon that stone] as the Jews did from the first, 1Co_1:23. See Isa_8:14-15.

shall be broken] Literally, “shall be sorely bruised.”

it shall fall] as it did on the finally impenitent Jews after Christ’s Ascension.

it will grind him to powder] Literally, “it shall winnow him” (Jer_31:10), with obvious reference to the great Image which ‘the stone cut without hands’ smote and broke to pieces, so that its fragments became “like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor, and the wind carried them away,” Dan_2:35.

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.

And they watched him,.... What he said, and what he did, and where he went, that they might take an advantage against him, or know where he was, to send to him, as they should think fit, and take the best opportunity of so doing. The Syriac and Persic versions leave out this clause:

and sent forth spies which should feign themselves just men: of virtue and religion, conscientious men, that would do nothing but what was just and right, and were desirous of being exactly informed of the truth of things, that they might act right in every punctilio:

that might take hold of his words; improve them, and form a charge upon them, of sedition and treason:

that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor; the Roman governor, and by him be put to death. These men were some of them the disciples of the Pharisees, and others were Herodians; see Mat 22:16.

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

Fall upon. That is, whosoever sins against God, yet believes, will be spared by God for a short time to repent, though he kills his own soul by mortal sin: but, upon whomsoever it shall fall, that is, he who denies Christ, and continues on hardened in his sin, upon him the fury of God shall fall, and he shall be utterly destroyed. It will grind him to powder, like the dust which the wind driveth from the face of the earth. (Psalm i.) (Ven. Bede)

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).

Contact and conflict with Christ.

There is one thing which, as a stone or rock, Christ is willing and waiting to be to us; there is that also which, in spite of his own desire concerning us, we may compel him to be to us.

I THE ROCK ON WHICH WE MAY BUILD.

1. Christ desires to be as the Corner-stone or Foundation-stone on which the whole structure of our character and of our destiny is resting.

2. If we exercise a living faith in him, we shall find him to be all this to us.

(1) Building on him, our confidence in the forgiving love of God will be well grounded and our peace of mind will be secure;

(2) building on him, our character will be strong and saintly, our life will be useful and noble;

(3) resting on him, our souls will be sustained in hours of trial;

(4) abiding in him, we shall have peace at the last.

II THE ROCK AGAINST WHICH WE ARE BRUISED OR EVEN BROKEN, We cannot come, in any sense or degree, into conflict with Christ without being injured by the act.

1. To turn from him is to deprive ourselves of the best; it is to rob ourselves of the highest motives to rectitude and spiritual worth, of the deepest springs of goodness and of beauty, of the heavenliest influences that can breathe upon the soul, of the purest and most elevating joys that can fill the heart, of the noblest activities that can occupy and crown our life.

2. To reject him, whether by deliberate and determined refusal or by a foolish and guilty procrastination, is to do conscious wrong to ourselves; it is to injure our conscience, to weaken our will, to suffer constant spiritual deterioration, to be moving along that downward slope which ends in darkness of mind and in self-despair.

3. To disobey the commandments of Christ is to come into collision with those laws of God which are also laws of our spiritual nature, any and every infraction of which is attended with inward and serious injury; e.g. to hate our brother without a cause, to look with lustful eye, to love our own life rather than the cause of God and righteousness, this is to suffer harm and damage to the spirit.

4. To work against Christ and his gospel is to be constructing that which will be destroyed, is to be delving and building on the sand with the tide coming in which will wash everything away. In no way can we take up an attitude of resistance to Jesus Christ without "wronging our own soul;" it may be by a cruel renunciation of all that is best, or it may be by incurring the judgment which must fall and does tan upon folly and sin.

III THE ROCK WHICH MAY CRUSH US IN ITS FALL. "On whomsoever it shall fall," etc. The snow-drift and the glacier are magnificent objects on which to gaze; but how terrible is the descending, destructive avalanche! It is simply inevitable that the brightest light should cast the deepest shade; that fullest privilege and most abounding opportunity should, in the case of the guilty, end in deepest condemnation and severest penalty. (Joh_3:19 Heb_6:4-8 Php_3:18, 19) "When God arises to judgment," when the rock of Divine dissatisfaction falls, when the "wrath of the Lamb" is revealed, then must there be made known what God intends by "everlasting destruction from his presence." All that is meant by that we do not know: we may well resolve that, by timely penitence and loving faith, we will never learn by the teaching of our own experience. C.

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

Matt. xxi, 45.

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

18. πεσὼν ἐπ’ ἐκεῖνον τὸν λίθον. As the Jews did from the first, 1Co 1:23. See Isa 8:14-15.

συνθλασθήσεται. ‘Shall be sorely bruised.’ The verb is poetic.

ἂν πέση. As it did on the finally impenitent Jews after Christ’s Ascension.

λικμήσει αὐτόν. ‘It shall winnow him’ (Jer 31:10), with obvious reference to the great Image which ‘the stone cut without hands’ smote and broke to pieces, so that its fragments became “like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors, and the wind carried them away,” Dan 2:35. See Mat 21:44.

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.

18. πᾶς ὁ πεσὼν … αὐτόν . These words are not in Mk. and are of somewhat doubtful authority in Mat 21:44, where they are omitted by D 33, or b d e ff12 Syr-Sin., Orig. But the characteristic πᾶς is in any case peculiar to Lk. The first half of the saying seems to be an adaptation of Isa 8:14, and the second half an adaptation of Dan 2:34, Dan 2:35, Dan 2:44. Christ is a stumblingblock to some (2:34), and they suffer heavily for their shortsightedness. They not only lose the blessing which is offered, but what they reject works their overthrow.

συνθλασθήσεται . “Shall be shattered”; confringetur (Lat Vet, Beza), conquassabitur (Vlug.), wird zerschellen (Luth.). But in Mat 21:44 Vulg. has confringetur. The verb occurs nowhere else in N.T., but the act, is found in LXX (Psa 57:7; Mic 3:3), and several times as v.l.

ἐφʼ ὅν δʼ ἃν πέσῃ . Note the impressive change of construction. In the first case the man is the chief agent; in the second the stone. And the main thought now is simply λίθος: the metaphor of κεφαλή γωνίας is dropped. A chief corner-stone would not be likely either to trip up a person or to fall on him.

λικμήσει αὐτόν. The rendering “grind to powder,” which all English. Versions from Tyn. to AV. give (Rhem. “breake to pouder”), follows the comminuet of Vulg. (in Mt. conteret), but is without authority. Not only in classical authors (Hom. Xen. Plut. Lucian.), but also in LXX, it means “to winnow chaff from gain,” from λικμός, “a winnowing fan.” In Rth 3:2, λικμᾷ τὸν ἅλωνα τῶν κριθῶν, and Ecclus. 5:9, μὴ λίκμα ἐν παντὶ ἀνέμῳ, the meaning is indisputable. Hence “to blow away like chaff, sweep out of sight or out of existence”: ἀναλήμψεται δὲ αὐτὸν καύσων καὶ ἀπελεύσεται, καὶ λικνήσει αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτοῦ (Job 27:21); καὶ πόρῥω αὐτὸν διώξεται ὦς χνοῦν ἀχύρου λικμώντων ἀπέναντι ἀνέμου (Isa 17:13); ὁ λικυμήσαν τὸν Ἰσραὴλ συννάξει αὐτόν (Jer 31:10); καὶ λικμήσω ἐν πᾶσιν τοῦς ἔθνεσιν τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ὃν τρόπον λικμᾶται ἐν τῷ λικμῷ (Amo 9:9). Dan 2:44 is important, as being the probable source of the saying: there, while in LXX we read πατάξει καὶ ἀφανίσει, Theodotion has λεπτυνεῖ καὶ λικμήσει, showing that λικμήσει = ἀφανίσει. Comp. Theod. ἐγένετο ὡσεὶ κονιορτὸς ἀποʼ ἅλωνος θερινῆς, καὶ ἐξῆρεν τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ πνεεύματος, καὶ τόπος οὐχ εὑρέθη αὐτοῖς (Dan 2:35). “Scatter him as chaff,” therefore, is the meaning. When a heavy mass falls, what is pulverized by the blow is scattered by the rush of air. The Commovet illum of Cod. Palat. (e) looks like an attempt to preserve the right idea. Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 225.

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

Shall be broken [συνθλασθησεται] . Rev., rightly, broken to pieces. See on Mt 21:44.

Grind him to powder [λικμησει] . See on Mt 21:44.

20 - 26. Compare Mt 22:15 - 22; Mr 12:13 - 17.

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