Bible Commentaries

CHAPTER 8

Luke 8:3. Instead of αὐτῷ Scholz and Tisch. have αὐτοῖς, on preponderating evidence. The singular more readily occurred to the transcribers, partly because ἦσαν τεθεραπευμ. had gone before, partly by reminiscences of Matthew 27:55; Mark 15:41.

Instead of ἀπό we must read, with Lachm. and Tisch., on decisive evidence, ἐκ.

Luke 8:8. Elz. has ἐπί. But εἰς has decisive attestation.

Luke 8:9. λέγοντες] is wanting in B D L R ξ א, min. Syr. Perss. Copt. Arm. Vulg. It. Suspected by Griesb., rejected by Wassenb. and Schulz, deleted by Lachm. and Tisch. But the oratio obliqua was the cause rather of its omission than of its addition.

Luke 8:16. ἐπιτίθησιν] Lachm. and Tisch. have τίθησιν. See on Mark 4:21.

Luke 8:17. οὐ γνωσθήσεται] Lachm. and Tisch. have οὐ μὴ γνωσθῇ, in accordance with B L ξ א, 33. An alteration for the sake of the following ἔλθῃ.

Luke 8:20. λεγόντων] is wanting in B D L δ ξ א, min. vss., also Vulg. It. Bas. Deleted by Lachm. and Tisch. It is to be maintained; the looseness of construction occasioned in some authorities its simple omission, in others the substitution of ὅτι, as read by Tischendorf.

Luke 8:26. γαδαρηνῶν] Lachm. and Tisch. [Tisch. 8 has γεργεσηνῶν], following B C? D, Vulg. It, have γερασηνῶν. L X א, min. vss. Epiph. have γεργεσηνῶν. See on Matt.

Luke 8:29. Instead of παρήγγειλε we must read, with Lachm. and Tisch., παρήγελλεν, on decisive evidence.

Luke 8:31. παρεκάλει] παρεκάλουν (Lachm. Tisch.), although strongly attested, is an alteration to suit the connection and following the parallels.

Luke 8:32. βοσκομένων] Lachm. has βοσκομένη, in accordance with B D K U א, min. Syr. Aeth. Verc. From the parallels.

παρεκάλουν] Lachm. and Tisch. have παρεκάλεσαν, in accordance with B C* L ξ, min. In Matthew the former, in Mark the latter reading. The evidence is not decisive, but probably the imperfect is from Matthew, as it is only in that Gospel that the reading is without variation.

Luke 8:33. Instead of εἰσῆλθεν, εἰσῆλθον is decisively attested (Lachm. Tisch.).

Luke 8:34. γεγενημένον] With Griesb. Scholz, Lachm. Tisch., who follow decisive evidence, read γεγονός.

ἀπελθόντες] which Elz. has before ἀπήγγ., is condemned on decisive evidence.

Luke 8:36. καί] is not found in B C D L P X א, min. Syr. Pers.P Copt. Arm. Slav. It. Condemned by Griesb., deleted by Lachm. But as it might be dispensed with, and, moreover, as it is not read in Mark 5:16, it came easily to disappear.

Luke 8:37. ἠρώτησαν] Lachm. has ἠρώτησεν, in accordance with A B C K M P χ א, min. Verc. An emendation.

Luke 8:41. αὐτός] Lachm. has οὗτος, in accordance with B D R, min. Copt. Brix. Verc. Goth. The Recepta is to be maintained; the reference of αὐτός was not perceived.

Luke 8:42. ἐν δὲ τῷ ὑπάγειν] Lachm. and Tisch. [Tisch. 8 has ἐν δὲ τῷ ὑπάγειν] read καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ πορεύεσθαι, but only on the authority of C D* P, Vulg. also, It. Marcion. The Recepta is to be adhered to in consideration of the preponderance of evidence in its favour, and because the frequently used πορεύεσθαι would be more readily imported than ὑπάγειν.

Luke 8:43. ὑπʼ] Lachm. and Tisch. have ἀπʼ, in accordance with A B R ξ 254. The Recepta is a correction, instead of which 69 has παρʼ.

Luke 8:45. Instead of σὺν αὐτῷ Elz. Scholz have μετʼ αὐτοῦ, in opposition to decisive evidence (in B, min. and a few vss. the words καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ are wanting altogether).

κ. λέγεις· τίς ὁ ἁψ. μ.] is, with Tisch., following B L א, min. Copt. Sah. Arm., to be deleted. Taken from Mark, on the basis of Luke 8:45.

Luke 8:48. θάρσει] An addition from Matthew; deleted by Lachm., Tisch.

Luke 8:49. Instead of μή Lachm. Tisch. have μηκέτι, in accordance with B D א, Syr.p (marked with an asterisk), Cant. This μηκέτι, in consequence of Mark 5:35 ( τί ἔτι), was written in the margin by way of gloss, and was afterwards taken in, sometimes alongside of μή (thus B: μὴ μηκέτι), sometimes instead of it.

Luke 8:51. Instead of ἐλθών (Griesb. Scholz, Lachm. Tisch.) Elz. has εἰσελθών, in accordance with B D V, min. Copt. Aeth. This latter is to be restored; the simple form is from Matthew 9:23, Mark 5:38, and was the more welcome as distinguished from the following εἰσελθεῖν (“et cum venisset domum, non permisit intrare,” etc., Vulg.).

οὐδένα] Lachm. and Tisch. have τινὰ σὺν αὐτῷ, upon sufficient evidence, οὐδένα is from Mark 5:37.

Luke 8:52. οὐκ] B C D F L X δ א, min. vss. have οὐ γάρ. Commended by Griesb., adopted by Lachm. and Tisch. [Tisch. 8 has οὐκ]. From Matthew 9:24, whence also in many authorities τὸ κοράσιον is imported after ἀπέθ.

Luke 8:54. ἐκβαλὼν ἔξω πάντ. καί] is wanting in B D L X א, min. Vulg. It. Syr.cur Ambr. Bede. Suspected by Griesb., deleted by Lachm. and Tisch. If the words had been genuine, they would hardly, as recording a detail of the narrative made familiar by Matthew and Mark, have been omitted here.

ἐγείρου] with B C D X א 1, 33, ἔγειρε is in this place also (comp. Luke 5:23 f., Luke 6:8) to be written. So Lachm. and Tisch. [Tisch. 8 has ἐγείρου. Comp. on Matthew 9:5.

Luke 8:1-3. A general historical statement in regard to the continued official teaching in Galilee, and the ministry of women connected therewith.

ἐν τῷ καθεξ] Comp. Luke 7:11.

καὶ αὐτός] καί is that which carries forward the narrative after ἐγένετο (see on Luke 5:12), and αὐτός prepares the way for the mention of the followers of Jesus ( καὶ οἱ δώδεκα κ. τ. λ.).

κατὰ πόλιν.] as Luke 8:4.

΄αγδ.] see on Matthew 27:56. She is neither the woman that anointed Jesus, Luke 7:37, nor the sister of Lazarus.

ἀφʼ ἧς δαιμόν. ἑπτὰ ἐξεληλ.] Comp. Mark 16:9. A simultaneous possession by seven devils is to be conceived of, so far similar to the condition of the possessed man at Gadara, Luke 8:30. Comp., even at so early a period, Tertullian, De Anim. 25. Lange, L. J. II. 1, p. 292, rationalizes:¹¹³ “a convert whom Jesus had rescued from the heavy curse of sin.” Comp. also Hengstenberg on John, II. p. 206, according to whom she was “an emancipated woman” who found in Christ the tranquillizing of the tumult of her emotional nature. The express τεθεραπευμέναι, healed, should certainly have guarded against this view.

ἐπιτρόπου] Matthew 20:8. He had probably been a steward, and she was his widow. She is also named at Luke 24:10.

ἡρώδου] Probably Antipas, because without any distinguishing limitation. Neither Joanna nor Susanna is known in any other relation.

διηκόνουν] with means of living and other kinds of necessaries, Matthew 27:55.

Luke 8:4-15. See on Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20. The sequence of events between the message of the Baptist and this parabolic discourse is in Matthew wholly different.

συνίοντος δέ] whilst, however, a great crowd of people came together, also of those who, city by city, drew near to Him. τῶν κ. τ. λ. depends on ὄχλου πολλοῦ, and καί, also, shows that this ὄχλος πολύς, besides others (such, namely, as were dwelling there), consisted also of those who, city by city, i.e. by cities, etc. “Ex quavis urbe erat cohors aliqua,” Bengel.

ἐπιπορεύεσθαι, not: to journey after (Rettig in the Stud. u. Krit. 1838, p. 486), but to journey thither, to draw towards. Comp. Baruch 6:62; Polyb. iv. 9. 2. Nowhere else in the New Testament; in the Greek writers it is usually found with an accusative of place, in the sense of peragrare terram, and the like.

διὰ παραβ.] by means of a parable. Luke has the parable itself as brief and as little of the pictorial as possible (see especially Luke 8:6; Luke 8:8); the original representation of the Logia (which Weiss finds in Luke) has already faded away.

Luke 8:5. The collocation ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι τὸν σπόρον has somewhat of simple solemnity and earnestness.

μέν] καί follows in Luke 8:6. See on Mark 9:12.

καὶ κατεπατ.] not inappropriate, since the discourse is certainly of the footpath (in opposition to de Wette), but an incidental detail not intended for exposition (Luke 8:12).

Luke 8:7. ἐν μέσῳ] The result of the ἔπεσεν. See on Matthew 10:16; and Krüger, ad Dion. Hal. Hist. p. 302.

συμφυεῖσαι] “una cum herba segetis,” Erasmus.

Luke 8:9-11. τίς … αὕτη] namely, κατὰ τὴν ἑρμηνειαν, Euthymius Zigabenus.

τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς ἐν παραβ.] but to the rest the mysteries of the kingdom of God are given in parables, that they, etc. What follows, viz. ἵνα βλέποντες μὴ βλέπωσι κ. τ. λ., is the contrast to γυῶναι.

ἔστι δὲ αὕτη ἡ παραβολή] but what follows is the parable (according to its meaning).

οἱ δὲ παρὰ τὴν ὁδόν] to complete this expression understand σπαρέντες, which is to be borrowed from the foregoing ὁ σπόρος. But since, according to Luke 8:11, the seed is the Gospel, a quite fitting form into which to put the exposition would perhaps have been τὸ δὲ παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τούτων ἐστίν, οἳ κ. τ. λ. Luke 8:14-15 come nearer to such a logically exact mode of expression.

Luke 8:13. Those, however, (sown) upon the rock are they who, when they shall have heard, receive the word with joy; and these, indeed, have no root, who for a while believe, etc.

Luke 8:14. But that which fell among the thorns, these are they who have heard, and, going away among cares, etc., they are choked. The οὗτοι (instead of τοῦτο) is attracted from what follows (Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 2. 42), as also at Luke 8:15.

ὑπὸ μεριμνῶν κ. τ. λ.] a modal limitation to πορευόμενοι, so that ὑπό marks the accompanying relations, in this case the impulse, under which their πορεύεσθαι, that is, their movement therefrom (that is, their further life-guidance), proceeds, Bornemann in loc.; Bernhardy, p. 268; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 881. The connecting of these words with συμπνίγ. (Theophylact, Castalio, Beza, Elsner, Zeger, Bengel, Kuinoel, de Wette, Ewald, Schegg, and others) has against it the fact that without some qualifying phrase πορευόμενοι, would not be a picturesque (de Wette), but an unmeaning addition, into which the interpreters were the first to introduce anything characteristic, as Beza, Eisner, Wolf, Valckenaer: digressi ab audito verbo, and Majus, Wetstein, Kuinoel, and others: sensim ac paulatim (following the supposed meaning of הלךְ, 2 Samuel 3:1, and elsewhere). Comp. Ewald, “more and more.”

τοῦ βίου] belongs to all the three particulars mentioned. Temporal cares (not merely with reference to the poor, but in general), temporal riches, and temporal pleasures are the conditioning circumstances to which their interest is enchained, and among which their πορεύεσθαι proceeds.

συμπνίγονται] the same which at Luke 8:7 was expressed actively: αἱ ἄκανθαι ἀνέπνιξαν αὐτό. Hence συμπνίγονται is passive; not: they choke (what was heard), but: they are choked. That which holds good of the seed as a type of the teaching is asserted of the men in whose hearts the efficacy of the teaching amounts to nothing. This want of precision is the result of the fact that the hearers referred to were themselves marked out as the seed among the thorns.

κ. οὐ τελεσφ consequence of the συμπνίγ., they do not bring to maturity, there occurs in their case no bringing to maturity. Examples in Wetstein and Kypke.

Luke 8:15. τὸ δὲ ἐν τ. κ. γῇ] sc. πεσόν, Luke 8:14.

ἐν καρδίᾳ κ. τ. λ.] belongs to κατέχουσι (keep fast, see on 1 Corinthians 11:2), and ἀκούσαντες τὸν λόγ. is a qualifying clause inserted parenthetically.

καλῇ κ. ἁγαθῇ] in the truly moral meaning (comp. Matthew 7:17), not according to the Greek idea of εὐγένεια denoted by καλὸς κἀγαθός (Welcker, Theogn. Proleg. p. xxiv. ff.; Maetzner, ad Antiph. p. 137; Stallbaum, ad Plat. Rep. 8, p. 569 A). But the heart is morally beautiful and good just by means of the purifying efficacy of the word that is heard, John 15:3.

ἐν ὑπομονῇ] perseveringly. Comp. Romans 2:7. A contrast is found in ἀφίστανται, Luke 8:13. Bengel well says: “est robur animi spe bona sustentatum,” and that therein lies the “summa Christianismi.”

Luke 8:16-18. See on Mark 4:21-25; Matthew 5:15; Matthew 10:26; Matthew 13:12. The connection in Luke is substantially the same as in Mark: But if by such explanations as I have now given upon your question (Luke 8:9) I kindle a light for you, you must also let the same shine further, etc. (see on Mark 4:21), and thence follows your obligation ( βλέπετε οὖν, Luke 8:18) to listen aright to my teaching. On the repeated occurrence of this saying the remark of Euthymius Zigabenus is sufficient: εἰκὸς δὲ, κατὰ διαφόρους καιροὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα τὸν χριστὸν εἰπεῖν.

Luke 8:17. καὶ εἰς φαν. ἔλθῃ] a change in the idea. By the future γνωσθήσεται that which is to come is simply asserted as coming to pass; but by the subjunctive ( ἔλθῃ) it is in such a way asserted that it leads one to expect it out of the present, and that without ἄν, because it is not conceived of as dependent on a conditioning circumstance (Klotz, ad Devar. p. 158 f.): There is nothing hidden which shall not be known and is not bound to come to publicity. Comp. on the latter clause, Plato, Gorgias, p. 480 C: εἰς τὸ φανερὸν ἄγειν τὸ ἀδίκημα; Thucyd. i. 6. 3, 23. 5.

Luke 8:18. πῶς] χρὴ γὰρ σπουδαίως κ. ἐπιμελῶς … ἀκροᾶσθαι, Euthymius Zigabenus.

ὃς γὰρ ἄν ἔχῃ κ. τ. λ.] a ground of encouragement. The meaning of the proverbial sayings in this connection is as in Mark 4:25, not as in Matthew 13:12.

ὃ δοκεῖ ἔχειν] even what he fancies he possesses: it is not the liability to loss, but the self-delusion about possession, the fanciful presumption of possession, that is expressed; the μὴ ἔχειν, in fact, occurs when the knowledge has not actually been made a man’s own; a man believes he has it, and the slight insight which he regards as its possession is again lost. It is not reproach against the apostles (Baur, Hilgenfeld), but warning that is conveyed in the form of a general principle. In Luke 19:26 the expression with δοκεῖ would have been inappropriate. But even here the mere ὃ ἔχει, as in Mark 4:25, would have been not only allowable, but even more significant. The δοκεῖ κ. τ. λ. already shows the influence of later reflection.

Luke 8:19-21. See on Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35. Luke has the section in accordance with Mark, but in a shortened form,¹¹⁴ without anything to indicate chronological sequence or connection of subject, and he gives it a different position.

Luke 8:20. λεγόντων] by its being said. See Winer, p. 519 [E. T. 736]; Bernhardy, p. 481; Borenemann, Schol. p. 53.

Luke 8:21. οὗτοι] my mother and my brethren are those who, etc.

Luke 8:22-25. See on Matthew 8:18; Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41. In Luke there is no precise note of time, but the voyage is the same; abridged from Mark.

Luke 8:23 f. ἀφυπνοῦν] which means to wake up (therefore equivalent to ἀφυπνίζεσθαι), and also (as in this case) to fall asleep (consequently equivalent to καθυπνοῦν¹¹⁵), belongs to the late and corrupt Greek. Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 224.

κατέβη] from the high, ground down to the lake. Comp. Polyb. xxx. 14. 6 : λαίλαπός τινος ἐκπεπτωκυΐας εἰς αὐτούς.

συνεπληροῦντο] What happened to the ship is said of the sailors. Examples in Kypke, I. p. 248. Observe the imperfects in relation to the preceding aorist.

διήγειραν] they awoke him (Matthew 1:24); but subsequently ἐγερθείς: having arisen (Matthew 2:14).

Luke 8:25. ἐφοβήθ.] the disciples, as Mark 4:41.

The first καί is: even.

Luke 8:26-39. See on Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20. Luke follows Mark freely.

κατέπλ.] they arrived. See Wetstein.

Luke 8:27. ἐκ τῆς πόλεως] does not belong to ὑπήντησεν, but to ἀνήρ τις, alongside of which it stands. To connect the clause with ὑπήντησεν would not be contradictory to ἐν οἰκίᾳ … μνήμασιν, but would require the presupposition, not presented in the text, that the demoniac had just rushed out of the city.

Luke 8:28. μὴ με βασαν] as at Mark 5:7.

Luke 8:29. παρήγγελλεν] not in the sense of the pluperfect, but like ἔλεγεν, Mark 5:8.

Nothing is to be put in a parenthesis.

πολλοῖς γὰρ χρόνοις κ. τ. λ.] To account for the command of Jesus the description of his frightful condition is given: for during a long time it had fared with him as follows. Comp. Romans 16:25; Acts 8:11; John 2:20; Herodian, Luke 1:6. 24 : οὐ πολλῷ χρόνῳ; Plut. Thes. vi.: χρόνοις πολλοῖς ὕστερον. See generally, Bernhardy, p. 81; Fritzsche, ad Rom. I. p. xl. In opposition to usage, Erasmus and Grotius render the words: often. So also Valckenaer.

συνηρπάκει] may mean: it had hurried him along with it (Acts 6:12; Acts 19:29; Acts 27:15, and very frequently in the classical writers), but also: it had (absolutely and entirely, συν) seized him (Ar. Lys. 437; 4 Maccabees 5:3). It is usually taken in the latter sense. But the former is the more certain of the two according to the usage of Luke, corresponds better with its use elsewhere, and likewise agrees perfectly with the connection. For ἐδεσμεῖτο κ. τ. λ. then relates what was accustomed to be done with the sufferer in order to prevent this tearing and dragging by the demon; observe the imperfect, he was (accustomed to be) chained, etc.

Luke 8:31. αὐτοῖς] as Mark 5:10, from the standpoint of the consciousness of the several demons possessing the man.

ἄβυσσον] abyss, i.e. Hades (Romans 10:7). The context teaches that in particular Gehenna is meant (comp. Revelation 9:1 f., Luke 11:7, Luke 20:3). The demons know and dread their place of punishment. Mark is different and more original; in opposition to Baur, Markusevang. p. 42.

Luke 8:33. ἀπεπνίγη] of choking by drowning, Dem. 833, pen.; Raphel, Polyb. p. 199; Wakefield, Silv. Crit. II. p. 75. Even Hug (Gutacht. II. p. 17 f.) attempts to justify the destruction of the swine in a way which can only remind us of the maxim, “qui excusat, accusat.”—.Luke 8:35. ἐξῆλθον] the people from the city and from the farms.

παρὰ τ. πόδας] as a scholar with his teacher. The whole of this description, indeed, and the subsequent prohibition, Luke 8:39, is intended, according to Baur, Evang. p. 430 f., to set forth the demoniac as a representative of the converted heathen world.

Luke 8:36. καὶ οἱ ἰδόντες] the disciples and others who had seen it together. The καί places these in contrast even with the people who came thither and found the cure accomplished, and to whom the eye-witnesses also of the proceeding narrated it.

Luke 8:38. ἐδέετο] See on this Ionic form, which, however, was also frequent among Attic writers, Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 220; Schaefer, ad Greg. Cor. p. 431; Krüger, ad Xen. Anab. viii. 4. 8. The reading ἐδεῖτο (B L) is a correction, and ἐδεεῖτο (A P, Lachmann) is a transcriber’s mistake for this correction. Luke 8:39. πόλιν] Gadara, Luke 8:27. Mark, certainly with greater accuracy, has ἐν τῇ δεκαπόλει.

Luke 8:40-56. See on Matthew 9:1; Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43. In Matthew the sequence is different. The narrative of Luke, indeed, is not dependent on that of Mark, but has it in view, without, however, on the whole attaining to its clearness and vividness.

ἀπεδέξατο] is usually understood of a joyous reception ( ὡς εὐεργέτην καὶ σωτῆρα, Euthymius Zigabenus); but quite arbitrarily. Comp. Acts 15:4. The narrative says simply: that on His return the crowd received Him (comp. Luke 9:11), because all had been in expectation of His coming back; so that thus immediately His ministry was again put in requisition.

Luke 8:41. καὶ αὐτός] and He, after mention of the name comes the personal position. Comp. Luke 19:2.

ἀπέθνησκεν] died (imperfect), i.e. was dying, not: “obierat, absente mortuamque ignorante patre” (Fritzsche, ad Matt. p. 348). That the death had not yet taken place is indicated, Bernhardy, p. 373; Wyttenbach, ad Plat. Phaed. p. 142 ff.

συνέπνιγον] a vivid picture: they stifled Him; in point of fact the same as συνέθλιβον, Mark 5:24.

Luke 8:43. προσαναλώσασα] when she even in addition (over and above her suffering) had expended, Dem. 460. 2, 1025. 20; Plat. Prot. p. 311 D.

ἰατροῖς] on physicians. As to ὅλον τ. βίον, comp. Mark 12:44.

Luke 8:45. ὁ πέτρος μὲν ᾤετο περὶ ἁπλῆς ἐπαφῆς λέγειν τὸν χριστὸν … αὐτὸς δὲ οὐ περὶ τοιαύτης ἔλεγεν, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῆς γενομένης ἐκ πίστεως, Euthymius Zigabenus.

Luke 8:49. τις παρὰ τοῦ ἀγχ.] i.e. one of his dependants. Comp. on Mark 3:21.

τέθνηκεν] placed first for emphasis: she is dead. On the distinction from ἀπέθνησκεν, Luke 8:42, comp. Plat. Phaed. p. 64 A: ἀποθνήσκειν τε καὶ τεθνάναι.

Luke 8:51. εἰσελθεῖν] into the chamber of death.

Luke 8:52 relates to the bewailing crowd assembled in the house (not in the death-chamber), with whom occurred this conversation, Luke 8:52 f., while Jesus and those named at Luke 8:51 were passing into the chamber where the dead body lay. Among those who laughed, the three disciples are as little intended to be reckoned¹¹⁶ in Luke as in Mark, whom he follows.

ἐκόπτοντο αὐτήν] a well-known custom, to express one’s grief by beating on one’s breast. As to the construction of κόπτεσθαι (also τύπτεσθαι) and plangere with an accusative of the object (Luke 23:27) on whose account one beats oneself, see Heyne, Obss. ad Tibull. i. 7. 28, p. 71.

Luke 8:55. ἐπέστρεψε κ. τ. λ.] purposely narrates the reanimation of one that was actually dead,¹¹⁷ whose spirit had departed. In Acts 20:10 also this idea is found.

παρήγγ. αὐτοῖς κ. τ. λ.] following Mark 5:43.