Luke 21:37

Luk_21:37-38

The Mount of Olives

Contemplations on Olivet

It will not be difficult to conceive how our Lord passed this sleepless night on the Mount of Olives.

I. NIGHT FOREBODINGS OVER THE DOOM OF THE CITY WHICH HAD REJECTED HIM. Can we wonder that His thoughts that night were sad? Meet the facts fully and attentively, of--

1. Christs grief over the apostate city.

2. Christs grief over the doomed city. He knew the inseparable connection between sinning against Christ and impending doom.

II. NIGHT REFLECTIONS UPON HIS PROPHECIES WHICH FORESHADOWED THE END. Desecration of the Holy City; slaughter and dispersion of Gods people; dire international struggles; decadence of faith, etc.

III. NIGHT ANTICIPATIONS OF THE CLOSING EVENTS OF HIS EARTHLY CAREER. He clearly read each incident of His nearing anguish, and He carefully confronted it all. Nothing could divert Him from His goal

IV. NIGHT PREPARATION FOR THE SURRENDER TO HIS NEARING DEATH.

1. Why this readiness to meet death? He would save others; not Himself.

2. For whom this readiness to die? For false friends and hating foes. (W. HJellie.)

Work and prayer

The life of the Lord Jesus on earth was a true human life; and it is only as we fully recognize this fact that we can find in it an example for our guidance. Here is a brief but instructive record of one important portion of His ministry on earth--itself a type of His whole course. The day was given to work--the evening to quiet rest, meditation, and prayer. Both were necessary to the fulfilment of His mission, and both arc essential to the completeness of our Christian character. Here are two elements of Christian excellence, apparently apposite, yet both must be blended in one who would attain to the fulness of the stature of a perfect man in Christ Jesus. Many have tried, are trying, to separate them. There have been ages, there are still individuals and parties in whom there is an excess of the devotional--an excess, because it is to the exclusion of the active part. Man can never pray too often or too earnestly; but if his whole ideas of religious duty be confined to the reading of so-called spiritual books, the attendance on the public worship of God, or the performance of certain acts of private devotion--if the whole time that is not spent thus is regarded as something removed from the sphere of religion--if the ordinary work of the world be looked on as something that is fitted to lower the tone of the soul, and to interfere with spiritual earnestness--if even active service for Christ be depreciated, then the true character of a Christian life is altogether forgotten. There is the opposite danger, and it is perhaps that into which we are most prone to fall. Ours is the age of activity--from every side come to the Christian calls for earnest labour, for the overthrow of error, for the enlightening of ignorance, for the diffusion of the Gospel, for the relief of suffering and poverty, for the advancement of the numberless institutions which seek the advancement of Christs kingdom. Demands of this character are incessant; and if obedience to them be the whole of our religion--if such engagements prevent heart-searching, God-seeking, quiet, meditation, and earnest prayer--ii they draw us away from that self-communion which is the true prelude to communion with God--if all is bustle, excitement, outward struggle, there is sure to be weakness.

I. It will not need much argument to prove that ACTIVE LABOURS FOR CHRIST ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF CHRISTIAN DUTY. The life of Christ is the model for all true human lives. In the perfection of His self-sacrifice, in His readiness for all kinds of service, in His eagerness to search out opportunities for blessing man, in His indifference to every motive or feeling that would have held Him back in His ministry of love--in the resolve so early announced, that He must be about His Fathers business, our great Master inspires and guides us. His own teachings indicate clearly that His followers are not to be recluses dwelling apart from their kind, but men taking their place in the worlds associations and movements, that they may affect them for good. They are the salt of the earth, and that salt must be applied to the mass which it is to season and preserve, else where were its value? Surely it argues no want of charity to say that all these pleas argue an absence of true love to Christ. Men complain of want of opportunities, want of adaptation, want of intellect, when their one grand deficiency is want of heart. Love will quicken languid feelings, multiply the few talents, ennoble that which else were mean, breathe courage into trembling hearts, and make the foolish wise to win souls. Difficulties that to sluggards seem insuperable, will but stimulate its ardour and reveal its strength.

II. THE CHRISTIAN MAN MUST HAVE HIS TIMES FOR RETIREMENT AND PRAYER. This is the other lesson taught by the brief record of the last week of our Lords ministry on earth. Now as the crisis draws near and the cross is in immediate prospect, still more does His spirit crave that retirement in which, with strong crying and tears, He can make His supplication to His heavenly Father. To us the spectacle is alike sublime and mysterious, yet full of instruction. The glories which belong to the God cannot make us forget that He has become in all respects like to us, and that as our elder brother He teaches us our need, and shows us where we must seek for strength and succour. For we, too, need our times of rest for meditation, self-examination, and prayer. Soul and body in this follow the same law. Science tells us, and experience confirms the truth, that food is not more needful for the body than rest. Want of sleep will exhaust and kill as well as want of food. So with the soul. Asleep in the full sense it ought never to be, but rest, cessation of conflict, labour, and trial, it does need. Constant excitement, unrelaxing toil, unceasing struggle, would have the same effect on it as on the body. We feel, in our bodily life, need for even more than the night of sleep. Who can tell the blessing to the world, even as a mere physical good, of the Christian Sabbath? Our Good Shepherd knows our need, and therefore He has still waters to which He leads His flock--waters of testings, where our spirits, exhausted by work or warfare, may find the refreshment they require. He calls us, therefore, to rest and prayer, that we may find the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Thus the earnest worker is prepared to be the most importunate pleader with God, and the fervent prayer, in its turn, fills the soul with the inspiration of a burning zeal and the confidence of an assured faith. (J. G. Rogers, B. A.)

.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 21:37-38. And in the day-time he was teaching in the temple — “His daily custom at this, and it may be at other passovers, was to spend the day in the city, most commonly in the temple, where he always found a great concourse of hearers, and in the evening to retire to the mount of Olives, where he lodged in the villages, or in the gardens, or in the open air among the trees. He chose to lodge at night in such places as these, that he might avoid falling into the hands of his enemies. For though they durst not attack him in the midst of his followers by day, they probably would have apprehended him during the silence and darkness of the night, had he lodged anywhere within the walls of the town. Accordingly they did not venture to lay hands on him, till Judas Iscariot, one of his own disciples, betrayed him to them, in the absence of the multitude, by conducting an armed band to the place of his retirement.” — Macknight. And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple — The evangelist does not say, that the people came and heard Jesus preach in the temple after this time, for Jesus himself had declared that he never was to preach to them any more, Mat 23:38-39. But having described in what manner our Lord spent his time at this passover, the evangelist adds, that his ministry sustained no damage by his leaving the city at night, because he did not fail to return every morning to the temple, and because a great number of people came thither early to be instructed by him, knowing that it was his custom to be there betimes. “How much happier,” says Dr. Doddridge, “were his disciples in these early lectures, than the slumbers of the morning would have made them on their beds! Let us not scruple to deny ourselves the indulgence of unnecessary sleep, that we may, morning after morning, place ourselves at his feet, and lose no opportunity of receiving the instructions of his word, and seeking those of his Spirit.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Conclusion (Luk_21:37-38)

37And in the daytime [τὰς ἡμέρας] he was teaching [or, was wont to teach] in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode [lodged] in the mount that is called the mount of Olives. 38And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him.9

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_21:37. And in the daytime He was wont to teach.—Luke does not at all mean that our Saviour even after the eschatological discourse continued to teach in the temple, but he simply sums up what had been wont to take place in the days immediately preceding; looking back therewith to Luk_20:1. This appears as well from the expression: ἦν διδάσκων, as from τὰς ἡμέρας, which in general refers to the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of the Passion-Week. The purpose is not therefore to state that our Lord delivered the eschatological discourse also in the temple, but only to indicate that so long as He continued in the temple He spoke there as a Teacher, and was listened to by the people with undiminished interest, so that He by no means saw Himself constrained to leave the sanctuary for want of hearers. However, the account of Luke must be complemented by that of the other Evangelists. In this way we know what Luke has already (Luk_21:5) caused us to conjecture, namely, that the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem was not delivered till after the leaving of the temple, while we become aware from Joh_12:36 that He after the departure from the temple hid Himself from the Jews (ἐκρὑβη), which undoubtedly appears to point to a seclusion of some hours, or very possibly of a whole day, before the beginning of the last conflict. If everything does not deceive us, then all took place in the Tuesday of the Passion-Week, which is stated Mat_21:20; Mat_26:5; Mar_11:20 to Mar_14:2; Luk_20:1 to Luk_21:36; so that we find no other day in the whole public life of our Lord, of which the Synoptics give us so rich an historical survey. The occurrence with the Greeks in the temple, Joh_12:20-36, may have taken place on the Monday. Over the Wednesday, the whole of which our Lord, as it appears, spent in Bethany, there is spread an impenetrable veil. We may suppose (with Lange) that He on this day made the wider circle of His followers acquainted with His approaching suffering. [The extreme difficulty which the apostles themselves, up to the very hour of our Lord’s arrest, had in admitting the idea of any such thing befalling Him, appears to render it exceedingly improbable that the wider circle of His disciples had any intimation of it beforehand, or at least any but the most general intimation; there is certainly not the least hint in any of the Gospels that they had.—C. C. S.] The conjecture (Wieseler) that Joh_12:44-50, is also to be considered as a part of an address which our Lord at this very time delivered as a final address to the people, appears to us less probable. These concluding phrases alter the general account, Joh_12:37-43, appear rather to bear a chrestomathical character, and to contain a freely-condensed summary of that which at all times, and especially in the last days, had been the main substance of the preaching of our Lord.

Luk_21:38. And all the people came early in the morning, ὤρθριζε πρὸς αὐτόν. De Wette: “Sought Him out eagerly.” According to LXX, Psa_78:34; Psa_63:2 et alib. Better in the sense of mane veniebat, see Luther, Vulgate, Meyer, and Ewald. Designation of the undiminished desire of the people, who could scarcely wait for the day in order to go again to Him, and who therewith, so long as they had not yet been wholly misled and blinded by the Pharisees, continually proved that they knew how to appreciate their Prophet. A few days afterwards we see all changed, see Luk_23:18. This statement of Luke is worthy of note on this account also, that it shows that the few last days which our Lord abode in the temple must have been very long days, on which therefore there could not have wanted time for so much as took place, for instance on the Tuesday. Tertullian’s translation therefore holds good, De luculo conveniebant; although it was a not very happy thought of Grotius, when he from this early hastening of so many hearers, drew the conclusion: apparet, non caruisse fructu monitum illud Christi: ὰγρμπνεῖτε. This pregnant admonition was certainly not fulfilled merely by so inadequate a proof of interest; besides, it had not even been addressed to the people, but specially to the Twelve.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. See on the Exegetical and Critical.

2. The imperturbable composure with which our Lord, so long as it pleased Him, held to the end the post assigned Him, and continued His daily usage of teaching, presents a striking contrast to the restlessness and perplexity of His enemies, which increases every moment. Here also the wisdom of the old word of Scripture, Pro_28:1; Isa_57:21, was revealed.

3. The undiminished result of the preaching of our Lord, in which He was able to rejoice even to the very last day, is a new argument for the voluntariness and unconstrainedness of His surrender to the might of His foes.

4. The secret of the unbroken energy which our Lord revealed even unto the last hour of His public life, is to be sought in the holy hours upon the Mount of Olives.

5. It is worthy of note that our Lord, so far as we know, on the last Tuesday and Wednesday of His public life, performs no more miracles; the time for that had already passed.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” Joh_9:5.—Our Lord does not leave the temple till it has become plain before all men’s eyes that He leaves it as Victor.—The hen does not become weary of calling her brood, even when she sees the eagles coming from afar.—The Mount of Olives, the sanctuary of the solitary prayer of our Lord.—The holy consecration to the agony of Gethsemane.—The high significance which the principal mountains of the Holy Land had in the history of the Life and Passion of the Lord. Behind Him there already lie the Mount of Temptation, where He overcame the Evil One; the Mount of the Beatitudes, where He as Teacher proclaimed the constitution of His kingdom; the Mount of the Transfiguration, where He in the distance beheld His suffering and His glory. Before Him yet lies the Mount of the Cross, where the most agonizing strife was to be striven; the Mount of the Manifestation (Mat_28:16), where the most glorious triumph was to be celebrated; the Mount of the Ascension, where the noblest crown was to be attained.—The final stillness before the final strife.—How remarkable, and yet how indecisive, the last undiminished interest of the people in the instruction of our Lord is.—The early and week-day preaching of the Lord.—Ora et labora.

Starke:—When the end of their life draws manifestly near, then especially must servants of God faithfully administer their function, and seek thus to conclude it worthily, 2Pe_1:13-14.—Christ’s servants must early and late serve the Lord, even to the end of their life, Act_13:36; Isa_40:31.—Labor for our neighbor’s salvation must be joined with prayer.—Quesnel:—Oh, how happy and blooming is the Church when a people hungering for God’s word has a faithful minister, who is even as hungry and eager to feed them therewith, 1Th_3:6; 1Th_3:10; Rom_1:11.—To neglect God’s worship and preaching for the sake of comfort and convenience, is not capable of being answered before God, Psa_42:4.—The love and the thronging of a people after God’s word encourage the zeal of the pastor; the zeal and diligence of the pastor encourage the people, 1Th_2:8-13; Pro_27:17.—Arndt:—Jesus’ threefold elevation: 1. The elevation of His body; 2. of His soul; 3. of His spirit. “If Jesus had need, in order to preserve to Himself freshness and vigor for His day’s work, now and then to collect Himself in stillness and prayer, we need it yet much more, and the unhappy ones who know no still hours in their life, know not at all how much they lack. Not in vain does the old proverb join labor and praying, to intimate thereby that prayer, though it is a labor, is at the same time an enjoyment, yea, an enjoyment of all enjoyments and the chief refreshment from labor, the chief consecration for labor. Verily, they have done most in their life that have prayed most, and very rich matter is therefore contained in the little rhyme: “Halt dich rein, acht dich klein, sei gern allein, mit Gott gemein!” [Keep thyself pure; esteem thyself of small account; love to be alone, together with God].

Footnotes:

[9]Luk_21:38.—After Luk_21:38 some cursive manuscripts have the Pericope de adultera, Joh_7:53 to Joh_8:11. On internal grounds the reception of this event into this connection is vindicated by Lange (Leben Jesu, ad locum). Comp. Lange on Matthew. In his work on the Gospel of John, ad locum, the author has modified this view.

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Section 1. (Luk 21:37-38; Luk 22:1-62.)

Anticipations.

Anticipations of the cross naturally fill now the short space of time which yet remains before it. He is a willing sacrifice; not taken unawares, but with the full consciousness of all that is to come upon Him. The disciples on the other hand, in spite of all His forewarnings of what would so profoundly affect their whole future, are still unprepared for it. He is occupied, therefore, here in setting it before them, with its consequences and lessons. We must wait, indeed, for John; to see how perfectly He does this; and how at this time His human heart overflows towards them with divine fulness. Luke, of all the synoptists, is nearest John; but here, on that very account, seems to be limited by him; while he is yet outside the sphere of the previous Gospels.

1. We see first how many consenting wills lead Him onward to the cross. The wicked wills of men; pursuing independently their wretched ends, are yet under the control of that divine will which in holiness and loving-mercy governs all. A suited preface this to that which follows. The first thing we are apt to see is man’s will, and that under the government of Satan; as it was here: and these things are just as truly to be owned, with all their consequences in responsibility and judgment, as if they were the whole truth, which they are so far from being. We may consider them by themselves, or as simply against the will of God; which in their wickedness they were. Yet the whole mystery of sacrifice in heathendom, coming into light in the Old Testament, and crowned with the glory of prophecy, guides on the course of human history to the Great Sacrifice which was to come. The Son of man goeth as it was determined; yet most freely following out the will of God; and now faith looks back in the memorial instituted by Himself, to this as the centre of the ages: the salvation of man, the manifestation of God.

(1) In the temple day by day, teaching as never man taught, the crowds hanging upon His lips, those who looked little below the surface might say with the priests themselves, "The world goes after Him. "But the more they feared, the more they were inflamed against Him, seeking His death.

An awful colleague appears: Satan; in Judas the "trafficker,"* ready to make merchandise of his Lord. And these all take their own way, follow their own will, as if God had none, or knew nothing. Yet Satan knows and trembles (Jas 2:19); and goes on as if he knew not: such is the infatuation of sin.

{*See p. 119.}

(2) The type-shadow of that in which they thus were to have their part was now brooding over them. Other eyes were watching it with what mingled feelings. It was the shadow upon the dial-piece of time which had now reached the decisive moment when it was to pass into the brightness which should illuminate all else. But how pass? Thank God, that is not any more a question. Follow where the man with the water goes in, and there you will find the place prepared which only He can fill. For the Old Testament leads thus to the New; the pitcher merely of water to where presently flow out the living streams in their fulness. This seems to be the meaning which we cannot doubt there must be in the sign given to the disciples here. Christ was going to the place already prepared for Him.

(3) When the hour is come, the Lord takes His place, and the apostles with Him. It is striking how many times more, compared with the other Gospels, the official title of the twelve is used in Luke. We might have expected this rather in Matthew; but there, as in Mark and John; it occurs but once, while Luke has it six times. And we can understand, I think, clearly why this is so, when we consider the evangelic character which Luke has throughout. The heart being filled, the going forth of the "good news" which had filled it necessarily follows. The recurrence of the word here is therefore the very opposite of officialism. It is love which calls to and qualifies for and necessitates the mission, -the overflowing of the heart of God towards men.

Here the Lord shows how His heart goes out. The strong Hebrew iteration most fittingly expresses it: "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer." He is closing, as the words following intimate, His earth-sojourn with them, and the old dispensation together. He closes it with honor, magnifying it by His celebration of it, while longing for the better thing beyond, its glorious fulfilment in the Kingdom of God. His suffering was the only way to this fulfilment, and itself the assurance, the fullest that could be given; of His longing after it.

He celebrates the old feast, therefore, before He institutes the new; in which He emphasizes, as none of the other Gospels do, its character as a remembrance. As the passover in its full meaning was anticipative, though a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt, the Supper, on the contrary, has its blessedness in being commemorative only. The work of which it speaks is done -complete for ever: the joy is to realize that it is finished. The work is central, closing the old, bringing in the new economy, the new covenant; displacing the temporal with the eternal.

The language used in Luke here is also characteristic in its evangelic appropriateness. "My blood shed for many" in Matthew and Mark both, is here "shed for you;" as the bread also is "My body which is given for you." The appropriation is here not by them, but to them. He would have them realize all the consolation -all the tenderness of it.

With a pang comes the realization that the hand of the traitor is with Him on the table. The Son of man was, indeed, going in the way determined; but that altered nothing as to the guilt of him who in his wickedness had set himself to accomplish what was the purpose of God. "Woe to that man," He says, "by whom the Son of man is betrayed."

But Luke touches this less than any other of the evangelists, and he only notices in a general way the questioning that arises among the disciples on account of the Lord’s words.

2. There follow what, I think, stand here together as lessons of the Cross; in which are plainly the roots of the Lord’s teaching. But the Cross is indeed, as has been said, the great central point of light in human history, and therefore the lesson of lessons: God and man alike displayed in it; God and man come together, man opposed, and reconciled. What have we not in the Cross? In a sense, all lessons are lessons of it; but here, it is with the Cross in view that they are given; and none the less that disciples show themselves even yet as knowing nothing of it. How much do we know of it yet? And is it the gilded cross of the church fane? or the bare and bloody cross of the Christ of the Gospels?

(1) The controversy among the disciples as to who was to be accounted the greatest among them is peculiar to Luke as to the form and place in which we find it here. But it is the echo of what we find elsewhere in Matthew and Mark, and the manifestation of a spirit which would naturally show itself upon other occasions. In the history of the Church, how terribly has it shown itself all through: of which Matthew also has given us Luke’s forewarning (24: 49). Whether it is given by Luke in the sequence of time or not, it is evident that we are to read it as here given: brought into plain; naked opposition to the spirit of Him who was now descending so manifestly to the lowest depths of His humiliation, -to that which, above all, our necessity and His love united to bring Him into. For them the Kingdom of God was still but as the kingdoms of the nations, and they knew not that the humbling oneself as a little child was the way of greatness in it. The Lord, as He had done before, reminds them of the essential difference between dignity among fallen men; and that where divine love ruled. The title of "benefactor," Euergetes, is that by which one of the Ptolemies is known in history, and was often bestowed upon the Roman emperor. But this flattery was not to be among His disciples; but the greater as the younger, and the leader as in the servant’s place. Who was the greater in men’s thoughts, the one who was at table or the one that served there? In Him what did they see? The Greatest was the One who served them all!

But on His part He was not unconscious of their faithful continuance with Him in His temptations at the hands of men and Satan throughout His ministry. They were thus shown to have after all another spirit than what their present contention would imply. Love had wrought in them also, and love would exalt them to a place in His Kingdom at His table, appointed to a kingdom as the Father had appointed Him, and to sit on thrones judging under Him the tribes of Israel. So far as rule is service, love may desire rule; and where need is, the love that serves does rule; while that which seeketh not its own can have a pleasure which it seeks, and as love, joy in love. Thus the table and the throne can be rewards in the Kingdom of God, looked for and sought after, while not departing from the Saviour’s rule. The way appointed for the Kingdom is the Cross, the sacrifice of love; and "if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him."

(2) In the next lesson there is shown a ministry which is not of love, and yet love reigns in it: the sifting of God’s wheat by a skilful, but not a friendly hand. "Satan has demanded to have you," says the Lord; "that he may sift you as wheat." It is in that character the accuser of the brethren, as with Job of old, would test their pretension; and he found that it was no light thing to be in Satan’s sieve. For Simon the Lord has to pray that his faith, sore tried as it is, may not fail; it is in danger, it would seem, of fatal lapse. Nay, he has really turned aside; he must be "turned back"; but then with a gain, for he is now able, spite of the weakness he has shown; to strengthen others: "when thou hast turned back, strengthen thy brethren."

Would it not seem as if, after all, Satan had nearly succeeded? too nearly, surely, for Peter to claim a victory. His faith has not altogether failed, but that is due only to the intercession of Another: he has in fact a terrible fall. What gain can there be in all this? how can he have learned how to strengthen others, -himself just proved so feeble! and what did Satan’s sieve accomplish? or did it accomplish anything? if not, why was it permitted?

All is answered by the fact of what faith is; and of where, being what it is, its strength is found. Faith is dependence upon another; self-distrust, the consciousness of inherent weakness, is therefore necessary to it. We see, then, how it would be possible for defeat to be a victory; how Satan’s sieve would then be that strange ministry of evil of which the Cross is the fullest example: for Simon the bringing him out of a strength which was but weakness, into a conscious weakness which would he strength, and in which his lesson learnt would enable him not only to stand himself, but to strengthen his brethren.

Thus all is plain; and in that which follows the Simon who needed this is unveiled to us. Honest, earnest, zealous -all that, -his "Lord, I am ready to go with thee both to prison and to death" displays the Simon whose faith in Christ needed to be strengthened by a fall. The end of this story is not yet reached; but the comforting assurance is read plainly in it that (as Paul proved it at a later day) the "messenger of Satan" may be God’s missionary too, to do His needed work in the souls of His own.

Yet, had he taken warning, Peter might have escaped, not without his lesson learnt, but by learning it from the lips of the Lord. That before cock-crowing he would thrice deny Him, might have been so accepted as the revelation of his weakness and danger as to save him from it, by delivering him from the need. Instead of this, he resisted the gracious Voice that would have shielded him from the evil; and the prophecy had to take effect. Even then there remained for him, when strength and pride were smitten down together, the comfort of the exhortation: "thou, when thou hast turned back, strengthen thy brethren."

(3) The Lord goes on to warn His disciples of the altered circumstances in which now they would find themselves. The cross was His definite rejection both by Israel and the world. He was submitting to it, and they must submit, and expect to find the full edge of its opposition. When He had sent them forth before, they had lacked nothing: He had effectually provided for them. Now, although His faithful love could not cease, yet they were to be permitted to feel the condition of things. Accordingly, they were to take with them what they had, and go armed, as in a hostile country: better have no garment than no sword. He uses the figurative language so common with Him, and by which He would exercise their hearts with regard to all His utterances; indeed, ours as well as theirs. Presently Peter is using his sword; appealing evidently to the words here, as so many have appealed since, only to find how sadly he had misinterpreted them. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal," says the apostle afterwards, "but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." The sword does not naturally symbolize mere defensive warfare; and the spiritual sword is the word of God alone. The true disciple will not meet the opposition of the world with a passive resistance merely, but with that which has power over the conscience and heart. If the world is in active opposition to Christ we are to be His soldiers; and that which is the food of mighty men furnishes at the same time for the battle-field. Thus no one can properly assimilate the bread of God, without becoming so far a champion.

The disciples did not understand it. "Lord, behold," they said, "here are two swords." He replied, "It is enough." For the present, it was of no use to press it further. When the Spirit of God should bring to their remembrance all that He had said to them, they would understand it better.

3. He goes out, as He was accustomed to the Mount of Olives, and we have now (more briefly than in the other Gospels,) the mystery of Gethsemane. We have already sought to show the character of the suffering there, so far as it is permitted to us to enter into it. The depths who can penetrate? The mysteries of His Person and of His work combine here to make us realize that "no one knoweth the Son but the Father," and the danger of any speculation as to these divine things. Luke, from the character of his Gospel, does not enter so fully into this suffering, for the same reason that the Cross itself does not exhibit the cup in its bitterness, as the previous Gospels do. And we must not mistake for this the physical effects upon Him which Luke alone describes. Even the significant name of the place, Gethsemane, the "oil-press," is not given here; and John makes no mention either of this or of the agony endured there. Each writer is divinely guided in what he gives or withholds, and the only evangelist who was one of the three selected by the Lord to watch with Him in that hour of agony is the only one who omits all notice of it.

Those who dwell most upon the bitterness of the "cup" that was before Him, are they who tell us of the hymn before their starting out. Luke, who dwells upon the effects for others, emphasizes by repetition the Lord’s warning, "Lest ye enter into temptation." But he does not speak of the selection of the special three to be with Him; a selection which shows, as in the transfiguration, the sanctuary character of that to which they are admitted. We do not hear the threefold repetition of the prayer, nor see Him prostrate on the ground as He utters it. The appearance of the angel also relieves the darkness. It is not the forsaking of the Cross, although His human frame is oppressed, and needing the ministry that He receives. We dare not say with some, that His soul required it. He was going out to that in which He would be absolutely alone, and where all the blessing of man; all the fulfilment of the divine counsels, would depend upon His ability to endure it all. Who could imagine an angel helping Him on to this?

But the body suffers, and presently the strain upon it is seen in the "sweat, as it were great drops of blood," that fall down upon the ground. Laborer for God and man as He is, His labor is a warfare also: the enemy is here, as He presently says to those who come to apprehend Him: "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." The Seed of the woman is planting His heel upon the head of the old serpent, but His heel is bruised in doing this. In the weakness of perfect Manhood He suffers, and conquers by suffering.

The darkness of the hour is on the disciples also. Coming back to them, He finds them sleeping for sorrow. And again He has to urge on them the peculiar character of that which they are meeting: "Rise and pray, that ye enter not into temptation."

4. Immediately a multitude are upon Him, headed by Judas, who, according to a preconcerted signal, draws near to kiss Him. Of all signs that could have been given, it was surely that of the most brazen; smooth-faced hypocrisy. The Lord shows His deep sense of the insult: "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?"

On the other hand the zeal of a disciple would do Him the wrong of defending Him. A sword is out and a servant of the high priest is smitten. The appeal they make to Him has evident reference to His own words: were they to arm themselves with swords without using them? But we must be in communion with Christ to use His word aright. Was He so weak as to need help at hands like theirs? He does not answer this as in Matthew, by any assertion of how the Father’s angels waited upon His will; but according to the manner of Luke puts forth His power in grace, and heals the wound. Yes, power He has; but now to lay down His life and take it again; they knew not yet the Cross as the symbol of fullest, widest, sweetest authority.

He turns to the multitudes, to appeal against their treatment of Him as a robber, when day by day He had been openly with them in the temple, and they had not laid hold of Him. They had waited for their hour and found it; darkness had favored them: alas, in reality that "power of darkness" which brooded over and swayed men’s minds. They knew not what they were doing, or whither they were going, because that darkness had blinded their eyes.

5. The multitude lead Him to the house of the high priest; but the first thing we are called to see there is the conclusion of that story of Simon Peter which we have already heard announced to him by the Lord. It is a brief one. He follows His Master into the place of His mock trial, hoping to escape notice amid the crowd that had swarmed in after Him; but thus obliged already to deny Him with his looks, if not his words. The rest soon follows. He is seen in the light of the enemy’s fire, at which he is warming himself. Accusation after accusation brings out denial. In the midst of it all, the crow of a cock startles him into remembrance, and he must have turned, spite of his danger, his eyes upon the well-known Figure, silent, patient, amid the rabble of His accusers. At that moment, "the Lord turned and looked upon Peter." How the eyes met! Then the whole horror of his position burst upon him. "He went out and wept bitterly."

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_21:37-38. The discourse, begun at Luk_20:1, with its varied scenes, is now closed. There is even now a general historical communication upon those last days of Jesus in Jerusalem, from which it is plain that according to Luke He still continued to teach in the temple. There is a difference from Matthew (comp. Mar_13:1), according to whom He is no longer in the temple when He delivers His eschatological discourse, and does not again set foot in it after Luk_23:39.

ἐλαιών] Thus to be accented in this place also. See on Luk_19:29.

ἐξερχόμενος] participle present, because ηὐλίζετο (with εἰς, comp. Tob_14:10) is conceived of in the sense of the direction: going out (from the temple into the open air) He went to His nightly abode on the Mount of Olives.

Luk_21:38. ὤρθριζε πρὸς αὐτόν] rose up early to resort to Him, to hear Him in the temple. Thus rightly Luther (comp. Vulgate), Erasmus, Beza, Bengel, and many others, including Lange, Ewald, Bleek, and as early as Tertullian and Theophylact. Others, including de Wette, have: there sought Him eagerly, following LXX. Ps. 77:34; Sir_4:12; Sir_6:36 (not Job_8:5). But the context, according to Luk_21:37, justifies only the above explanation, which, moreover, corresponds to the general classical usage of ὀρθρεύω (for which, according to Moeris, ὀρθρίζω is the Hellenistic form). See Theocritus, x. 58; Eurip. Tro. 182; Luc. Gall. i.; also the LXX. in Biel and Schleusner, sub voce ὀρθρίζω; 1Ma_4:52; 1Ma_6:33; 1Ma_11:67 (ὤρθρισαν τὸ πρωῒ εἰς τὸ πεδίον Νασώρ); Evang. Nicod. 15 (ὤρθρισαν … εἰς τὸν οἶκον Νικοδήμου). Comp. in general, Grimm on Wis_6:14.

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 21:37-38 . Concluding notice as to how Jesus spent His last days .

Luk 21:37 . ἐν τ . ἱερῷ διδάσκων , teaching in the temple. The statement covers all that is related in chapters 20, 21, including the Apocalyptic discourse = Jesus made the most of His short time for the spiritual instruction of the people. ηὐλίζετο , lodged, imperfect, because done night after night. Some ( e.g. , Godet and Farrar) think Jesus with the Twelve slept in the open air. The word might mean this, though in Mat 21:17 it appears to mean passed the night in a house in Bethany. εἰς τ . ὀ .: the use of εἰς is probably due to the influence of ἐξερχόμενος . But Tob 14:10 has a similar construction: μηκέτι αὐλισθῆτε εἰς Νινευῆ .

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

3. General View of the Situation: Luk 21:37-38.

The preceding discourse was delivered by Jesus on the Tuesday or Wednesday evening. Luke here characterizes our Lord’s mode of living during the last days of His life. Αὐλίζεσθαι: to pass the night in the open air. The use of the εἰς arises from the idea of motion contained in ἐζερχόμενος (Bleek).—4 Mnn. place here, after Luk 21:38, the account of the woman taken in adultery, which in a large number of documents is found Joh 7:53 to Joh 8:11. We can only see in this piece, in Luke as well as in John, an interpolation doubtless owing to some marginal note taken by a copyist from the Gospel of the Hebrews, and which in some MSS. had found its way into the text of the Gospel. As to the rest, this narrative would stand much better in Luke than in John. It has a close bond of connection with the contents of chap. xx (the snares laid for Jesus). And an event of this kind may have actually occurred in the two or three days which are summarily described in Luk 21:37-38.

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.

in the daytime--of this His last week.

abode in the mount--that is, at Bethany (Mat 21:17).

Next: Luke Chapter 22

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 37. And in the day time] Or, every day - τας ημερας. This probably relates to the four last days of his life already mentioned.

Abode in the mount] He taught all day in the temple, and withdrew every evening, and lodged in Bethany; a town at the foot, or on the declivity of the mount of Olives. See Clarke on Mt 21:17.

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

(37) In the day time . . . at night.—Literally, in the days . . . the nights, the words pointing to the mode in which the week was spent from the first day to the evening of the fifth.

Abode.—The word is better translated lodged in Mat_21:12. Strictly speaking, it meant to lodge, not in a room, but in the court-yard of a house; and so was used generally, in military language, for a “bivouac.” It would seem to have been chosen by both Evangelists (it does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament) to include the fact, implied in all four and definitely stated by St. John, that most of the nights were spent not in a house, but in the garden, or orchard, of Gethsemane (Joh_18:1-2).

That is called the mount of Olives.—Better, perhaps, here, as in Luk_19:29 (where see Note), that is called Olivet.

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

37, 38. How Jesus spent the last Public Days of His Ministry.

37. in the day time] Rather, during the days. The notice is retrospective, applying to Palm Sunday, and the Monday and Tuesday in Passion Week. After Tuesday evening He never entered the Temple again. Wednesday and Thursday were spent in absolute and unrecorded retirement, perhaps with His disciples in the house at Bethany, until Thursday evening when He went into Jerusalem again for the Last Supper.

at night] Rather, during the nights.

and abode] Literally, “used to bivouacit is very probable that He slept in the open air with His disciples, as is very common with Orientals. He would be safe on the slopes of Olivet, among the booths of the Galilaean pilgrims; see Luk_22:39; Joh_18:1-2.

in the mount] Literally, “into;” i.e. he went to, and stayed upon.

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.

37 And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.

Ver. 37. And in the day] So he divided his time between preaching and praying; as did also his apostles, Act 6:4. {See Trapp on "Act 6:4"}

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.

See the notes at Mat 21:17.

Came early in the morning - He returned early from the Mount of Olives, and taught in the temple. Our Saviour did not waste his mornings in idleness or sleep. He rose early and repaired to the temple. The people, also, flocked to the sanctuary to hear him. This example is at once an encouragement to early rising and to the early worship of God. It is a reproof of those who spend the part of the day best fitted for devotion in unnecessary sleep; and it shows the propriety, where it can be done, of assembling early in the morning for prayer and the worship of God. Early prayer-meetings have the countenance of the Saviour, and will be found to be eminently conducive to the promotion of religion. The whole example of Jesus goes to show the importance of beginning the day with God, and of lifting up the heart to him for direction, for the supply of our wants, and for preservation from temptation, before the mind is engrossed by the cares, and distracted by the perplexities, and led away by the temptations of this life. Commencing the day with God is like arresting evil at the fountain; prayer at any other time, without this, is an attempt to arrest it when it has swollen to a stream and rolls on like a torrent. Let the day be begun with God, and the work of piety is easy. Let the world have the ascendency in the morning, and it will be likely to have it also at noonday and at evening.

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

In the mount that is called Olivet. In this last week, Christ, after preaching in the day-time in the temple, when constantly in the evenings to pray in the garden of Gethsemani, as Judas knew very well. See Chap. xxii. ver. 39. (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 two verses our evangelist letteth us knew how Christ spent those few days which he had yet to live. In the day time he was in the temple preaching; in the evening he was on the mount of Olives praying; to teach all those, who as under shepherds derive from him, who is the true and chief Shepherd, how they should spend their time, preaching and praying. Though the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees, and the chief of the Jews, maligned and despised him, yet many of the people paid him a due respect, and

came early in the morning to hear him. In the world’s reception and entertainment of Christ, that of the apostle was verified, Not many rich, not many wise, &c.; but the poor of this world hath God chosen.

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

37. See note on Mat_21:17.

Mount of Olives—Probably at Bethany, which was on the eastern slope of that mount.

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

And in the daytime he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives. This brief picture of the last days of public work is retrospective. This was how our Lord spent "Palm Sunday" and the Monday and Tuesday of the last week. The prophetic discourse reported in this twenty-first chapter was, most probably, spoken on the afternoon of Tuesday. After Tuesday evening he never entered the temple as a public Teacher again. Wednesday and Thursday were spent in retirement. Thursday evening he returned to the city to eat the last Passover with his own.

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

Now by day - In the day time, he was teaching in the temple - This shows how our Lord employed his time after coming to Jerusalem: but it is not said, he was this day in the temple, and next morning the people came. It does not therefore by any means imply, that he came any more after this into the temple.

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

Our Lord had exhorted his disciples in the foregoing verses to diligence and prayer; here he sets an example of both before them. Busying himself in God’s service all the day, and at night spending much time in prayer; in the day-time he was in the temple preaching, in the evening he was on the Mount of Olives praying.

Lord, what an example of indefatigable zeal and diligence hast thou set before thy ministers and members! Oh that when our Master comes, we may be found working, our people watching, and both they and we waiting for the joyful coming of our Lord and Saviour! Amen.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [CVII. Finding the Fig-Tree Withered].

CVII. FINDING THE FIG-TREE WITHERED. (Road from Bethany to Jerusalem, Tuesday, April 4, A. D. 30.) aMATT. XXI. 20-22; bMARK XI. 19-25; cLUKE XXI. 37, 38.

c37 And every day he was teaching in the temple [he was there Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, but he seems to have spent Wednesday and Thursday in Bethany]; and every night { bevening he went forth out out of the city. cand lodged in the mount that is called Olivet. [As Bethany was on the Mount of Olives, this statement leaves us free to suppose that he spent his nights there, but it is not likely that he retired to any one house or place continuously, for had he done so the rulers could easily have ascertained his whereabouts and arrested him.] 38 And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, to hear him. [The enthusiasm of the triumphal entry did not die out in a day: Jesus was still the center of observation.] b20 And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots. [It was completely withered--dead root and branch. We have observed before, Jam_4:2, Jam_4:3), or which it is unwise for us to seek ( 2Co_12:7-9), nor must we selfishly run counter to the will of God ( Luk_22:42, 1Jo_5:14, 1Jo_5:15), nor must we expect that God shall perform a miracle for us, for miracles have ceased--in short, we [584] must pray to God in full remembrance of the relationship between us, we must consider that he is the Ruler and we his subjects, and are not to think for one moment that by faith we can alter this eternal, unchangeable relation. The disciples whom Jesus addressed were very soon to enter upon a task which would seem to them as difficult as the removal of mountains. The license and immorality of paganism, and the bigotry and prejudice of Judaism, would seem insurmountable obstacles in their pathway to success. They needed to be assured that the power of faith was superior to all these adverse forces, and that the judgments of God could accomplish in a moment changes which apparently could not be wrought out in the tedious course of years. As we to-day look back upon this promise of Christ we can see that the mountains then standing have, indeed, been removed; and that which seemed vigorous and flourishing has been blasted in a day.] b25 And whensoever ye stand [a customary attitude-- Luk_18:13] praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. [Forgiveness has already been enjoined (see pp. 253, 254). Here our Lord emphasizes the need of forgiveness because he had just performed a miracle of judgment, and he wished his disciples to understand that they must not exercise their miraculous gifts with a vengeful, unforgiving spirit. They must suffer evil and not retaliate with miracles of judgment.] [585]

[FFG 583-585]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

37. Lodged in the mount … of Olives. At Bethany, I suppose, on the eastern slope, until the night he was betrayed. See Matt. 21:17.

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:

This is the end of the part of the story that begins in Luke 20:1. These verses tell about ongoing action that continues after the main part of the story ends. (See: End of Story)

during the days he was teaching

"during the daytime he would teach" or "he would teach each day." The following verses tell about things that Jesus and the people did each day during the week before he died.

in the temple

Only priests were allowed in the temple. AT: "at the temple" or "in the temple courtyard" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

at night he went out

"at night he would go out of the city" or "he went out each night"

All of the people

The word "all" is probably an exaggeration to emphasize that the crowd was very large. AT: "A very large number of people in the city" or "Almost everyone in the city" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

came early in the morning

"would come early each morning"

to hear him

"to hear him teach"

translationWords

temple

Mount of Olives

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

[37. Τὰς ἡμέρας, [“in the day time”] during the days) This refers to the days immediately preceding: comp. ch. Luk 19:47 [“He taught daily in the temple”]. For the Saviour, Mat 23:39; Mat 24:1, left the temple: a fact which Luke sets down later, inasmuch as being connected closely (cohering) with ch. Luk 22:1-2 (The chief priests sought how they might kill Him, as in ch. Luk 19:47); although in Matthew and Mark somewhat of the discourse of Jesus is inserted between (His leaving the temple and His celebration of the Passover).—Harm., p. 482.]

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

37, 38. HOW JESUS SPENT THE LAST PUBLIC DAYS OF HIS MINISTRY

37. τὰς ἡμέρας. ‘During the days.’ The notice is retrospective, applying to Palm Sunday, and the Monday and Tuesday in Passion Week. After Tuesday evening He never entered the Temple again. Wednesday and Thursday were spent in absolute and unrecorded retirement, perhaps with His disciples in the house at Bethany, until Thursday evening when He went into Jerusalem again for the Last Supper.

τὰς δὲ νύκτας. ‘But during the nights.’

ηὐλίζετο. Literally, “used to bivouac;” it is very probable that He slept in the open air with His disciples, as is very common with Orientals. He would be safe on the slopes of Olivet, among the booths of the Galilaean pilgrims; see Luk 22:39; Joh 18:1-2.

εἰς τὸ ὄρος. Literally, “into;” i.e. he went to, and stayed upon (by the common brachylogy).

ἐλαιών. Olivetum. See on Luk 19:29. Substantives in ών are collectives, as ἀμπελών, a vineyard, &c.

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.

37, 38. General Description of the last Days of Christ’s Public Ministry.

37. τὰς ἡμέρας. “During the days.” From the other narratives we infer that this covers the day of the triumphal entry and the next two days. It is, therefore, retrospective, and is a repetition, with additional detail, of 19:47. The contrast with τὰς δὲ νύκτας, “but during the nights,” is obvious. It is not clear whether ἦν belongs to ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ or to διδάσκων, which probably ought to follow (א A C D L R X G Δ Λ Π) and not precede (B K) ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ.

ἐξερχονμενος ἡμλίζετο εἰς. “Leaving (the temple) He used to go and bivouac on” (4:23, 7:1, 9:61, 11:7). Comp. μηκέτι αὐλισθῆτε εἰς Νινευή (Tobit 14:10), ὑπὸ τοὺς κλάδους αὐτῆς αὐλισθήσεται (Ecclus. 14:26). On the M. of Olives He would be undisturbed (22:39). For καλούμενον see on 6:15, and for Ἐλαιων see on 19:29. It is not probable that εἰς τὸ ὄρος is to taken with ἐξερχονμενος, but the participle of motion has influenced the choice of preposition.

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

Abode [ηυλιζετο] . Only here and Mt 21:17.

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