Luke 6:26 - Exposition

Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! Dean Plumptre, with great force, remarks that these words "open a wide question as to the worth of praise as a test of human conduct, and tend to a conclusion quite the reverse of that implied in the maxim, Vox populi, vox Dei. " So did their fathers to the false prophets. A good instance of this is found in 1 Kings 18:19 , where Queen Jezebel honours the false prophets. See, too, King Ahab's conduct to such men ( 1 Kings 22:1-53 .), and Jeremiah's bitter plaint respecting the popularity of these false men ( Jeremiah 5:31 ). At this point, according to St. Luke's report, the Master paused. It would seem as though he was fearful lest the awful woes foretold as the doom of the rich, the powerful, and the persecutor, should impart a too sombre hue to the thoughts which his followers would in coming days entertain of the world of men about them. He would have his own think of the circle outside the little world of believers with no bitter and revengeful thoughts, but rather with that Divine pity which he felt and showed to all poor fallen creatures. ' See now," the Master went on to say, " notwithstanding the wee which will one day fall on the selfish rich and great ones of earth, and to whom you, my people, will surely be objects of dislike and hate, while you and they are on earth together, the part you have to play with regard to these is steadily to return love for hate."