Neither be ye of doubtful mind - Or, in anxious suspense, μη μετεωριζεσθε . Raphelius gives several examples to prove that the meaning of the word is, to have the mind agitated with useless thoughts, and vain imaginations concerning food, raiment, and riches, accompanied with perpetual uncertainty. read more
The nations of the world seek after - Or, earnestly seek, επιζητει from επι above, over, and ζητεω , I seek; to seek one thing after another, to be continually and eagerly coveting. This is the employment of the nations of this world, utterly regardless of God and eternity! It is the essence of heathenism to live only for this life; and it is the property of Christianity to lead men to live here in reference to another and better world. Reader! how art thou living? Dr. Lightfoot... read more
Verse 29 Luke 12:29.And be not lifted on high (460) This clause corresponds to the last sentence in the passage taken from Matthew, Be not anxious about tomorrow Our Lord now charges them with another fault. When men wish to make arrangements in their own favor, they would willingly embrace five centuries. (461) The verb μετεωρίζεσθαι , which Luke employs, properly signifies to survey from a lofty situation, or, as we commonly say, to make long discourses: (462) for the intemperate desires of... read more
The Lord , after leaving the Pharisee ' s house , speaks at great length to a numerous crowd waiting for him , addressing his words principally to his own disciples. The foregoing scene ( Luke 11:1-54 .), when the Master addressed his bitter reproaches to the learned and cultivated of the great Pharisee party, took place in a private house belonging to an apparently wealthy member of this, the dominant class. The name of the large village or provincial town where all this... read more
Worldliness. To the earnest teacher nothing can be more irritating than a half-attentive attitude or a remark which indicates preoccupation of mind with other and inferior things. Think of Christ, towards the close of a day of controversy with the Pharisees, and in the midst of solemn speech as to the duty of a true man, invited on a sudden to decide in a family quarrel, to settle a dispute about some money or some acres of soil. We know nothing about the person who appealed to him ( Luke... read more
Anxiety or trustfulness? We read of "care-encumbered men;" and truly we see more than we could wish of them. As we look into the faces of those we meet daily, we are saddened with the thought that a great weight of care rests on our race as a heavy burden. And when we see, as we do, a few faces that wear the look of a sweet serenity born of holy trust in God, we ask—Is it necessary that such an oppressive burden should be borne by the children of men? Jesus Christ answers this question in... read more
Lessons from the fowls and lilies Our Lord, having related the parable against covetousness, or the selfish use of money, proceeds in the present section to show how foolish the anxious thought is about these temporal things. And here we have to— I. CONSIDER HOW POOR THE LIFE IS . WHICH LAKES EATING AND DRESSING THE CHIEF THOUGHT . ( Luke 12:22 , Luke 12:23 .) A man's life is intended to be much more assuredly than this; and yet are there not some who... read more
Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them … Consider the lilies … they toil not, they spin not: and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these . What a contrast between the life of the rich and prosperous landowner just related, whose whole heart and soul were concentrated on a toil which should procure him dainty food and costly raiment, and these fowls fed by God so abundantly,... read more
And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink . Again, after the moving, touching words we have been commenting on, does the Lord return to the pressing injunction with which he began his lessons to his disciples upon the parable of the "rich fool." Trouble not yourselves about your eating and drinking. This repeated insistence of the Master upon this point in the future lives of his disciples has evidently a deeper significance than a mere injunction to cast all their care on... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 12:28
Into the oven - See the note on Matthew 6:30 . read more