Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Matthew 19:1-30
Matthew 19:2 Goethe describes, in his autobiography, how Marie Antoinette passed through Strasburg on her way to Paris: 'Before the Queen's arrival, the very rational regulation was made that no deformed persons, cripples, or disgusting invalids, should show themselves on her route. People jested about this precaution, and I made a little poem in French upon the subject, in which I contrasted the advent of Christ, who seemed to wander through the world for the special sake of the sick and lame,... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Matthew 19:30
(30) Many that are first shall be last.—The words point obviously not only to the general fact of the ultimate reversal of human judgments, but to the individual case of which the disciples had made themselves the judges. They had seen one who stood high in his own estimate brought low by the test of the divine Teacher. They were flattering themselves that they, who had left all, and so could stand that test, were among the first in the hierarchy of the kingdom. For them too, unless their... read more