Luke 7:12

7:12 A funeral procession: In Judaism, a large crowd of mourners and intense wailing signified great love for the deceased. Mourners were hired in some cases. • Widows were the most vulnerable members of society, and God had special concern for them (Exod 22:22; Deut 10:18; 27:19). This widow’s only son was her means of support and hope for the future; his death was a terrible loss (see Jer 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zech 12:10).

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

Luk 7:12. Ἐξεκομίζετο, was being carried forth) It is right that the dead should be carried forth for burial to places somewhat removed from the abodes of the living.—σὺν αὐτῇ, with her) Funeral rites and services were designed rather for the sake of the mourners than for the sake of the dead bodies.

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

Luk 7:12 . καὶ ἰδού , and lo! The καὶ introduces the apodosis, but is really superfluous; very Hebrew (Godet). ἐξεκομίζετο , was being carried out (here only in N. T.); ἐκφέρειν used in the classics (Act 5:6 ). Loesner cites examples of the use of this verb in the same sense, from Philo. μονογενὴς , χήρα : these words supply the pathos of the situation, depict the woe of the widowed mother, and by implication emphasise the benevolence of the miracle, always a matter of interest for Lk.

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

carried out--"was being carried out." Dead bodies, being ceremonially unclean, were not allowed to be buried within the cities (though the kings of David's house were buried m the city of David), and the funeral was usually on the same day as the death.

only son, &c.--affecting particulars, told with delightful simplicity.

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 12. Carried out] The Jews always buried their dead without the city, except those of the family of David. No burying places should be tolerated within cities or towns; much less in or about churches and chapels. This custom is excessively injurious to the inhabitants; and especially to those who frequent public worship in such chapels and churches. God, decency, and health forbid this shocking abomination.

On the impropriety of burying in towns, churches, and chapels, take the following testimonies: Extra urbem soliti sunt alii mortuos sepelire: Nos Christiani, eos non in urbes solum, sed et in TEMPLA recepimus, quo fit ut multi faetore nimis, fere exanimentur. SCHOETTGEN. "Others were accustomed to bury their dead without the city. We Christians not only bury them within our cities, but receive them even into our churches! Hence many nearly lose their lives through the noxious effluvia." "Both the Jews and other people had their burying places without the city: - Et certe ita postulat ratio publicae sanitatis, quae multum laedi solet aura sepulchrorum: - and this the health of the public requires, which is greatly injured by the effluvia from graves." - Rosenmuller. From long observation I can attest that churches and chapels situated in grave-yards, and those especially within whose walls the dead are interred, are perfectly unwholesome; and many, by attending such places, are shortening their passage to the house appointed for the living. What increases the iniquity of this abominable and deadly work is, that the burying grounds attached to many churches and chapels are made a source of private gain. The whole of this preposterous conduct is as indecorous and unhealthy as it is profane. Every man should know that the gas which is disengaged from putrid flesh, and particularly from a human body, is not only unfriendly to, but destructive of, animal life. Superstition first introduced a practice which self-interest and covetousness continue to maintain.

For a general improvement of all the circumstances of this miracle, see the end of the chapter.

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

(12) The only son of his mother, and she was a widow.—The two facts are obviously stated as enhancing the bitterness of the mother’s sorrow. The one prop of her life, the hope of her widowhood, had been taken from her. The burial, as was the invariable practice in the East, took place outside the city.

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

12. came nigh to the gate] All ordinary Jewish funerals are extramural. Nain is approached by a narrow rocky path, and it must have been at this spot that the two processions met. They were perhaps going to bury the dead youth in one of the rock-hewn sepulchres which are still visible on the hill side.

the only son of his mother] See on Luk_8:42, Luk_9:38.

much people of the city] Compare the public sympathy for the family of Bethany (Joh_11:19); and on the bitterness of mourning for an only child, see Jer_6:26; Zec_12:10; Amo_8:10.

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.

Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city,.... Of Naim:

behold: there was a dead man carried out; of the city; for they, used not to bury in cities, but in places without, and at some distance: the burying places of the Jews were not near, their cities (r); and they had different ways of carrying them out to be buried, according to their different ages: a child under a month old was carried out in the bosom of a person; if a full month old, in a little coffin, which they carried in their arms; one of a twelve month old was carried in a little coffin on the shoulder; and one of three years old on a bier or bed, (s) and so upwards; and in this manner was this corpse carried out: who was

the only son of his mother; hence the sorrow and mourning were the greater; see Zac 12:10

and she was a widow; and if she had been supported by her son, her loss was very considerable; and having neither husband, nor son, to do for her, her case was very affecting:

and much people of the city was with her; according to the age of persons was the company that attended them to the grave: if it was an infant, not a month old, it was buried by one woman, and two men, but not by one man, and two women; if a month old, by men and women; and whoever was carried out on a bier or bed, many mourned for him; and whoever was known to many, many accompanied him (t); and which was the case this dead man: he seems to have been well known and respected by the company that attended him to his grave; of these some were bearers, and these had their deputies, and these again theirs; for as they carried their dead a great way, they were obliged often to change their bearers; and of the company, some went before the bier, and others went after it (u): besides, what served to increase company at a funeral was, that it was looked upon as an act of kindness and mercy to follow a corpse to the grave (w); to which may be added, and what must always tend to increase the number at such a time, that, according to the Jewish canons (x).

"it was forbidden to do any work at the time a dead man was buried, even one of the common people.''

(r) T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 80. 2. Gloss. (s) T. Moed Katon, fol. 24. 1, 2. & Kiddashin, fol. 80. 2. Massech. Semachot, c. 3. sect. 2, 3. Maimon. Hilch. Ebel, c. 12. sect. 10, 11. (t) Ut in locis supra citatis. (u) Vid Misn. Beracot, c. 3. sect. 1. (w) Maimon. in Misn. Peah, c. 1. sect. 1. (x) Piske Tosaphot Megilla, art. 106. T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 27. 2.

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

12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

Ver. 12. There was a dead man] Though a young man. Our decrepit age both expects death and solicits it, but vigorous youth looks strangely upon that grim sergeant of God. Senibus mors in ianuis, adolescentibus in insidiis, ( Bern.) Death seizeth on old men, and lays wait for the youngest.

Carried out] sc. Out of the city, for without the gates were the burying places of old, for fear of annoyance by ill air. Hence harlots were called moechae bustuariae, sluts of the tombs, because they were thrust out of the city to play their pranks, where the dead were buried, as being dead while they lived. (Turneb. Advarsar.)

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.

The gate of the city - Cities were surrounded by walls, to defend them from their enemies. They were entered through “gates” placed at convenient distances from each other. In most cities it was not allowed to bury the dead within the walls; hence, they were carried to some convenient burial-place in the vicinity of the city.

A dead man carried out - A funeral procession. Anciently no Jews were buried within the walls of the city, except the kings and distinguished persons, 1Sa 28:3; 2Ki 21:18. The custom of burying within cities, and especially within the walls of churches or in their vicinity, had its origin among Christians very early; yet perhaps few customs are more deleterious to health than burials within large cities, especially within the walls of frequented buildings. The effluvia from dead bodies is excessively unwholesome. Burial-places should be in situations of retirement, far from the tread of the happy and busy world, where all the feelings may be still and calm, and where there can be no injury to health from the mouldering bodies of the dead.

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

The evangelist seems to relate this miracle, as if it had happened by mere accident; though, beyond a doubt, divine Providence disposed all things to increase the splendour of the miracle. Jesus Christ would not raise this young man to life before he was carried out to be buried, that he might meet him near the gates of the city, where the assembly of the people took place. Besides this, there were present both the multitude that followed Jesus, and the multitude that followed the corpse, to the end that all these might be eye-witnesses to the miracle, and many might praise God, as Ven. Bede remarks. It was very proper that Christ should work this miracle just as he was entering the city, that he might preach the gospel with better success, from the opinion they must form of him, after beholding so great a miracle, and so great a favour bestowed upon them. (Maldonatus) --- In a few words, the evangelist paints to life the affliction of this distressed widow parent: a mother and a widow, without the least hopes of children, deprived of him who was her only support, the life of her habitation, the source of all her maternal tenderness and satisfaction, now in the prime of health, the only branch of her succession, and the staff of her old age. (St. Gregory of Nyssa, de hominis opificio.)

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).

12. Came nigh to the gate. Like most Oriental towns it had walls and a gate. Just outside of the gate he met the funeral procession. The dead were always carried out of a Jewish city for burial. A dead man carried out. On a bier, the body covered by a cloth, but not in a coffin. The only son. Such a loss to a Jewish widow would be too great for consolation. See Jer. 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zech. 12:10.

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.

12. ἤγγισεν τῇ πύλῃ. All ordinary Jewish funerals are extramural. Nain is approached by a narrow rocky path, and it must have been at this spot that the two processions met. They were perhaps going to bury the dead youth in one of the rock-hewn sepulchres which are still visible on the hill side. The rocky path is one of the few definite spots in Palestine on which we know that our Lord had stood.

καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐξεκομίζετο. For the use of καὶ compare Luk 2:21. The uses of καὶ in the Gospels are modified by Aramaic idioms. Ἐκκομίζειν is used for the classical ἐκφέρειν, efferre.

μονογενὴς υἱὸς τῇ μητρί. The dative is here expressive of more tender feeling than the ordinary genitive would have been. It is the dative of advantage, and expresses the preciousness of the son to the mother. Comp. μονογενὴς τῷ πατρί, Tob 3:15. See Winer, p. 264. It is found also in classic Greek—μονογενὲς τέκνον πατρί, Aesch. Ag. 872. ἐόντα οἱ μουνογενέα, Hdt. VII. 221. See on Luk 8:42, Luk 9:38.

ὄχλος τῆς πόλεως ἱκανός. Compare the public sympathy for the family of Bethany (Joh 11:19); and on the bitterness of mourning for an only child, see Jer 6:26; Zec 12:10; Amo 8:10.

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.

12. ἐξεκ.] The Jews ordinarily buried outside the gates of their cities. The kings however of the house of David were buried in the city of David; and it was a denunciation on Jehoiakim that he should be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Jer 22:19. “One entrance alone Nain could have had; that which opens on the rough hill side in its downward slope to the plain. It must have been in this steep descent,” &c. Stanley, ut supra. The usage of μονογενής with a dative is classical: cf. Herod. vii. 221, τὸν δὲ παῖδα … ἐόντα οἱ μουνογενέα: Æsch. Agam. 872, μονογενὲς τέκνον πατρί.

αὕτ. χήρα] Some few cursive mss. read this in the dative (omg. ἦν), καὶ αὐτῇ χήρᾳ (see also the readg. of ): but even in this case it is more agreeable to Luke’s usage to take it as a nominative. See ch. 2:25, 36, and accentuate, as there, αὕτη.

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

12. καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐξεκομίζετο τεθνηκώς . “Behold there was being carried out a dead man.” Or, “there was being carried out dead the only son,” etc. The καί introduces the apodosis of ὡς δὲ ἤγγισε, and must be omitted in translation: ‘then” would be too strong. See on 5:12. The compound verb occurs here only in N. T. and nowhere in LXX. It is equivalent to ἐκφέρειν (Act 5:6, Act 5:9, Act 5:10) and efferre, and is used of carrying out to burial, Polyb. 35:6, 2; Plut. Agis, 21.; Cic. 42. In later Gk. ἐκκομιδή is used for ἐκφορά of burial. With τεθνηκώς comp. Joh 11:44.

μονογενὴς υἱὸς τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ. Comp. 8:42, 9:38; Heb 11:17; Jdg 11:34; Tobit 3:15, 8:17. Only in Jn. is μονογενής used of the Divine Sonship (1:14, 18, 3:16, 18; 1Jn 4:9).

καὶ αὐτὴ ἧν χήρα . The ἦν may safely be pronounced to be certainly genuine (א B C L S V Ξ, and most Versions). For αὐτή some editnors write αὕτη, and a few authorities have καὶ αὐτῇ χήρᾳ. The mourning of a widow for an only eon b typical for the extremity of grief: orba cum Flet unicum mater (Catull. 39:5). Comp. Jer 6:26; Amo 8:10; Zec 12:10; Pro 4:3.

ὄχλος τῆς πόλεως ἱκανός. Some of this multitude would be hired mourners, and musicians with flutes and cymbals. The mother would walk in front of the bier, and Jesus would naturally address her before touching it. This use of ἱκανός for “enough and to spare, much,” is specially freq. in Lk. (8:27, 32, 20:9, 22:38, 23:8, 9; Act 8:2, Act 8:9:23, 43, Act 8:11:24, Act 8:26, etc.). It is possibly colloquial: it occurs in Aristoph. Pax 354. See Kennedy, Sources of N.T. Grk. P. 79. D here has πολύς.

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

Carried out. The tombs were outside of the city.

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