Luke 12:21. And is not rich towards God.— There is a force and propriety in the phrase εις θεον, here rendered towards God, which our language will not exactly express; it represents God as a depositary, in whose hands the good man has lodged his treasure, and who has as it were made himself accountable for it in another and better world. See Proverbs 19:17. read more
13. Master, c.—that is, "Great Preacher of righteousness, help there is need of Thee in this rapacious world; here am I the victim of injustice, and that from my own brother, who withholds from me my rightful share of the inheritance that has fallen to us." In this most inopportune intrusion upon the solemnities of our Lord's teaching, there is a mixture of the absurd and the irreverent, the one, however, occasioning the other. The man had not the least idea that his case was not of as urgent a... read more
14. Man, c.—Contrast this style of address with "my friends," ( :-). who, &c.—a question literally repudiating the office which Moses assumed ( :-). The influence of religious teachers in the external relations of life has ever been immense, when only the INDIRECT effect of their teaching but whenever they intermeddle DIRECTLY with secular and political matters, the spell of that influence is broken. read more
15. unto them—the multitude around Him (Luke 12:1). of covetousness—The best copies have "all," that is, "every kind of covetousness"; because as this was one of the more plausible forms of it, so He would strike at once at the root of the evil. a man's life, &c.—a singularly weighty maxim, and not less so because its meaning and its truth are equally evident. read more
16-19. a certain rich man, &c.—Why is this man called a "fool?" ( :-) (1) Because he deemed a life of secure and abundant earthly enjoyment the summit of human felicity. (2) Because, possessing the means of this, through prosperity in his calling, he flattered himself that he had a long lease of such enjoyment, and nothing to do but give himself up to it. Nothing else is laid to his charge. read more
20, 21. this night, &c.—This sudden cutting short of his career is designed to express not only the folly of building securely upon the future, but of throwing one's whole soul into what may at any moment be gone. "Thy soul shall be required of thee" is put in opposition to his own treatment of it, "I will say to my soul, Soul," &c. whose shall those things be, &c.—Compare Psalms 39:6, "He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them." read more
21. So is he, c.—Such is a picture of his folly here, and of its awful issue. and is not rich toward God—lives to amass and enjoy riches which terminate on self, but as to the riches of God's favor, which is life ( :-), of "precious" faith (2 Peter 1:1 James 2:5), of good works (James 2:5- :), of wisdom which is better than rubies (James 2:5- :) —lives and dies a beggar! read more
D. The instruction of the disciples in view of Jesus’ rejection 12:1-13:17Teaching of the disciples continues as primary in this part of the third Gospel (Luke 9:51 to Luke 19:10). Jesus’ words to them at the beginning of the present section (Luke 12:1 to Luke 13:17) broadened to include the crowds toward the end."The coming judgment and the need for proper preparation are the threads that tie all of chapter 12 together." [Note: M. Bailey, p. 129.] read more
Evidently the person who made this request viewed Jesus as an ethical authority ("teacher," Gr. didaskale, cf. Luke 7:40) that his brother would respect. His request appears to have been strictly materialistic with no spiritual overtones. The man voiced a legitimate concern. The request provided the setting for the teaching that followed. read more
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Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Luke 12:20
Luke 12:20. Shall be required of thee:— It is in the original απαιτουσιν, they shall require; which Elsner thinks alludes to the messengers sent to fetch away the soul; and he produces a remarkable and well-known passage from Plato to prove that Socrates thought this the office of a spirit superior to men. Others, to preserve the literal meaning of the words, suppose, that thieves broke into this man's house, and robbed him of his life, together with his riches; but it is most probable that,... read more