Luke 24:16

24:16 God kept them from recognizing him: The Greek uses a passive construction (they were kept from recognizing him) known as a “divine passive,” with God as the implied subject. God intentionally blinded their eyes until the moment of revelation, when Jesus broke bread with them (24:30-31; cp. 2 Kgs 6:17).

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

Luk 24:16. Ἐκρατοῦντο, were holden) The antithesis is in Luk 24:31, διηνοίχθησαν, their eyes were opened.

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

Luk 24:16 . ἐκρατοῦντο , their eyes were held , from recognising Him (here only in this sense). Instances of the use of the verb in this sense in reference to the bodily organs are given by Kypke. It is not necessary, with Meyer, to suppose any special Divine action or purpose to prevent knowledge of Jesus.

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

Were held back and stayed, God so appointing it, no doubt: and therefore his body was not invisible, but their eyes were dimmed.

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

Verse 16. Their eyes were holden] It does not appear that there was any thing supernatural here, for the reason why these persons (who were not apostles, see Lu 24:33) did not recollect our Lord is given by Mark, Mr 16:12, who says that Christ appeared to them in another form.

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

16. that they should not know him] Rather, recognise Him. There are two other instances of the same remarkable fact. Mary of Magdala did not recognise Him (Joh_20:14), nor the disciples on the Lake (Joh_21:4). The same thing is evidently implied in Luk_24:37 and in Mat_28:17; and it exactly accords with the clear indications that the Resurrection Body of our Lord was a Glorified Body of which the conditions transcended those of ordinary mortality. It is emphasized in Mar_16:12, where we are told that He was manifested in a different form from that which He had worn before.

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 one of them, whose name was Cleophas,.... Or Alphaeus, for it is the same name; he was one of the seventy disciples, and father of the Apostles James and Jude, and brother to Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Christ, as before observed:

answering, said unto him, art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? The Persic version reads, "in these two days": the sense that whereas he appeared to come from Jerusalem, that if he was only a stranger and a sojourner, and not a stated inhabitant there, he could not be ignorant of what had been done there a few days past; or if he was, that he must be the only stranger, and the only man, that was so; for the facts referred to were so notorious, that every one must know them, inhabitant or stranger.

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

16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

Ver. 16. But their eyes were held] Ut ulcus suum discipuli detegerent, ac pharmacum susciperent, saith Theophylact. That they may tell their own disease and receive healing.

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.

Their eyes were holden - This expression is used merely to denote that they did not “know” who he was. It does not appear that there was anything supernatural or miraculous in it, or that God used any power to blind them. It may easily be accounted for without any such supposition; for,

Jesus appeared “in another form” Mar 16:12 - that is, different from his “usual” appearance. They were not “expecting” to see him - indeed, they did not suppose that he was alive, and it required the strongest evidence to convince them that he was really risen from the dead.

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

But their eyes were held: either by our Saviour’s changing his features, or in what manner he pleased. (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).

God by his providence restrained their eyes, that though they saw a man, yet they could not discern who he was. We may learn from hence that the form or figure of Christ’s body after his resurrection was not changed. His body had the same dimensions, the same quantity, colour, and figure, and was in itself a proper object for human eyes; for otherwise there had been no need for their eyes to be held. From hence also we may learn the influence which God hath upon all our members and senses, and how much we depend upon God for a daily power to exercise our natural faculties. Our Lord had no mind that these two disciples should at first discern who he was, that he might draw out their following discourses, and from them take occasion to prove from Scripture the certainty of his resurrection. From this text we may gather, how hard the Lutherans are put to it to maintain the real presence of the body of Christ, wherever the sacrament of the Lord’s supper is administered; for this they must maintain, that although the body of Christ after his resurrection was the same that was crucified, and so obvious to sense, yet he had not only a power to make it insensible and invisible, which we grant, but that he hath also a power to multiply it, and make it in one and the same instant to be in so many places as his supper is administered in; and also that he willeth it at the same time to be imperceptible by any human senses in all those places: for it is apparent from hence, that it was not at all times imperceptible; it might at this time have been seen, had not the disciples eyes been held, that they could not know him.

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

16. Their eyes were holden—Restrained. Mark says that Jesus appeared to them in another form. It is thereby a nice question, whether the change was in the form of Jesus or in the eyes of the disciples. Some say both; making a superfluous amount of miracle. If their eyes were influenced, of course, optically speaking, Jesus would appear in another form; or the change of form may have holden their eyes.

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

But their eyes were holden, that they should not know him. So Mary Magdalene looked on and failed to recognize at first the Person of her adored Master. (Joh_20:15) So by the lake-shore, as he stood and spoke to the tired fishermen, they who had been so long with him knew him not. Some mysterious change had been wrought in the Person of the Lord. Between the Resurrection and the Ascension, men and women now looked on him without a gleam of recognition, now gazed on him knowing well that it was the Lord. "It is vain," writes Dr. Westcott, "to give any simply natural explanation of the failure of the disciples to recognize Christ. After the Resurrection he was known as he pleased, and not necessarily at once Till they who gazed on him were placed in something of spiritual harmony with the Lord, they could not recognize him." The two on their walk to Emmaus, and Mary Magdalene in the garden, were preoccupied with their sorrow. The fisher-disciples on the lake were preoccupied with their work, so that the vision of the Divine was obscured. The risen Christ will surely fulfil his own words, "The pure in heart, they shall see God" but only the pure in heart.

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

16. Their eyes were holden. This was their explanation of not knowing him. Mark says (16:12) that he was “in another form.”

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.

16. τοῦ μὴ ἐπιγνῶναι. ‘That they should not recognise Him.’ There are two other instances of the same remarkable fact. Mary of Magdala did not recognise Him (Joh 20:14), nor the disciples on the Lake (Joh 21:4). The same thing is evidently implied in Luk 24:37 and in Mat 28:17; and it exactly accords with the clear indications that the Resurrection Body of our Lord was a Glorified Body of which the conditions transcended those of ordinary mortality. Comp. Mar 16:12.

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

16. ἐκρατοῦντο. There is no need to assume a special act of will on the part of Christ, “who would no be seen by them till the time when He saw fit.” They were preoccupied and had no expectation of meeting Him, and there is good reason for believing that the risen Saviour had a glorified body which was not at once recognized. Comp. ἐν ἑτέρᾳ μορφῇ in the appendix to Mk. (16:12), the terror of the disciples (ver. 37), the mistake of Mary Magdalen (Joh 20:14, Joh 20:15), and the ignorance of the Apostles on the lake (Joh 21:4). But it is quite possible that the Evangelist understands the non-recognition of Jesus here and the recognition of Him afterwards (ver. 31) to be the results of Divine volition. For κρατεῖσθαι comp. Act 2:24. See on 18:34.

τοῦ μή. This may mean either “in order that they might not” or “so that they did not.” If the latter is adopted, the negative may be regarded as pleonastic. “Were holden from knowing” easily passes into “were holden so that they did not know,” or “were holden that they might not know.” Comp. κατέπαυσαν τοῦμὴ θύειν (Act 14:18) ; κωλῦσαι τοῦ μὴ βαπτισθῆναι (Act 10:47); οὐχ ὑτεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι (Act 20:27): see also Gen 16:2; Psa 34:14, etc. ; Win. 64:4. b, p. 409. For ἐπιγνῶναι comp. Act 12:14, Act 27:39.

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