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Matthew Henry's Commentary (c. 1700) on Luke 6:12-23
The Twelve Apostles Chosen.
12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray,
and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, he called unto
him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; 14
Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John,
Philip and Bartholomew, 15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphæus, and
Simon called Zelotes, 16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot,
which also was the traitor. 17 And he came down with them, and stood in the
plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of
all Judæa and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to
hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; 18 And they that were vexed with
unclean spirits: and they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to
touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
In these verses, we have our Lord Jesus in secret, in his family, and in public;
and in all three acting like himself.
I. In secret we have him praying to God, v. 12. This evangelist takes frequent
notice of Christ's retirements, to give us an example of secret prayer, by which
we must keep up our communion with God daily, and without which it is impossible
that the soul should prosper. In those days, when his enemies were filled with
madness against him, and were contriving what to do to him, he went out to pray;
that he might answer the type of David (Ps. cix. 4), For my love, they are my
adversaries; but I give myself unto prayer. Observe, 1. He was alone with God;
he went out into a mountain, to pray, where he might have no disturbance or
interruption given him; we are never less alone than when we are thus alone.
Whether there was any convenient place built upon this mountain, for devout
people to retire to for their private devotions, as some think, and that that
oratory, or place of prayer, is meant here by he proseuche tou theou, to me
seems very uncertain. He went into a mountain for privacy, and therefore,
probably, would not go to a place frequented by others. 2. He was long alone
with God: He continued all night in prayer. We think one half hour a great deal
to spend in the duties of the closet; but Christ continued a whole night in
meditation and secret prayer. We have a great deal of business at the throne of
grace, and we should take a great delight in communion with God, and by both
these we may be kept sometimes long at prayer.
II. In his family we have him nominating his immediate attendants, that should
be the constant auditors of his doctrine and eye-witnesses of his miracles, that
hereafter they might be sent forth as apostles, his messengers to the world, to
preach his gospel to it, and plant his church in it, v. 13. After he had
continued all night in prayer, one would have thought that, when it was day, he
should have reposed himself, and got some sleep. No, as soon as any body was
stirring, he called unto him his disciples. In serving God, our great care
should be, not to lose time, but to make the end of one good duty the beginning
of another. Ministers are to be ordained with prayer more than ordinarily
solemn. The number of the apostles was twelve. Their names are here recorded; it
is the third time that we have met with them, and in each of the three places
the order of them differs, to teach both ministers and Christians not to be nice
in precedency, not in giving it, much less in taking it, but to look upon it as
a thing not worth taking notice of; let it be as it lights. He that in Mark was
called Thaddeus, in Matthew Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, is here called
Judas the brother of James, the same that wrote the epistle of Jude. Simon, who
in Matthew and Mark was called the Canaanite, is here called Simon Zelotes,
perhaps for his great zeal in religion. Concerning these twelve here named we
have reason to say, as the queen of Sheba did of Solomon's servants, Happy are
thy men, and happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee,
and hear thy wisdom; never were men so privileged, and yet one of them had a
devil, and proved a traitor (v. 16); yet Christ, when he chose him, was not
deceived in him.
III. In public we have him preaching and healing, the two great works between
which he divided his time, v. 17. He came down with the twelve from the
mountain, and stood in the plain, ready to receive those that resorted to him;
and there were presently gathered about him, not only the company of his
disciples, who used to attend him, but also a great multitude of people, a mixed
multitude out of all Judea and Jerusalem. Though it was some scores of miles
from Jerusalem to that part of Galilee where Christ now was,—though at Jerusalem
they had abundance of famous rabbin, that had great names, and bore a mighty
sway,—yet they came to hear Christ. They came also from the sea-coast of Tyre
and Sidon. Though they who lived there were generally men of business, and
though they bordered upon Canaanites, yet there were some well affected to
Christ; such there were dispersed in all parts, here and there one. 1. They came
to hear him and he preached to them. Those that have not good preaching near
them had better travel far for it than be without it. It is worth while to go a
great way to hear the word of Christ, and to go out of the way of other business
for it. 2. They came to be cured by him, and he healed them. Some were troubled
in body, and some in mind; some had diseases, some had devils; but both the one
and the other, upon their application to Christ, were healed, for he has power
over diseases and devils (v. 17, 18), over the effects and over the causes. Nay,
it should seem, those who had no particular diseases to complain of yet found it
a great confirmation and renovation to their bodily health and vigour to partake
of the virtue that went out of him; for (v. 19) the whole multitude sought to
touch him, those that were in health as well as those that were sick, and they
were all, one way or other, the better for him: he healed them all; and who is
there that doth not need, upon some account or other, to be healed? There is a
fulness of grace in Christ, and healing virtue in him, and ready to go out from
him, that is enough for all, enough for each.
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for
yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be
filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 22 Blessed are ye,
when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company,
and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's
sake. 23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is
great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. 24
But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. 25 Woe
unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye
shall mourn and weep. 26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for
so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Here begins a practical discourse of Christ, which is continued to the end of
the chapter, most of which is found in the sermon upon the mount, Matt. v. and
vii.. Some think that this was preached at some other time and place, and there
are other instances of Christ's preaching the same things, or to the same
purport, at different times; but it is probable that this is only the
evangelist's abridgment of that sermon, and perhaps that in Matthew too is but
an abridgment; the beginning and the conclusion are much the same; and the story
of the cure of the centurion's servant follows presently upon it, both there and
here, but it is not material. In these verses, we have,
I. Blessings pronounced upon suffering saints, as happy people, though the world
pities them (v. 20): He lifted up his eyes upon his disciples, not only the
twelve, but the whole company of them (v. 17), and directed his discourse to
them; for, when he had healed the sick in the plain, he went up again to the
mountain, to preach. There he sat, as one having authority; thither they come to
him (Matt. v. 1), and to them he directed his discourse, to them he applied it,
and taught them to apply it to themselves. When he had laid it down for a truth,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, he added, Blessed are ye poor. All believers,
that take the precepts of the gospel to themselves, and live by them may take
the promises of the gospel to themselves and live upon them. And the
application, as it is here, seems especially designed to encourage the
disciples, with reference to the hardships and difficulties they were likely to
meet with, in following Christ.
1. "You are poor, you have left all to follow me, are content to live upon alms
with me, are never to expect any worldly preferment in my service. You must work
hard, and fare hard, as poor people do; but you are blessed in your poverty, it
shall be no prejudice at all to your happiness; nay, you are blessed for it, all
your losses shall be abundantly made up to you, for yours is the kingdom of God,
all the comforts and graces of his kingdom here and all the glories and joys of
his kingdom hereafter; yours it shall be, nay, yours it is." Christ's poor are
rich in faith, Jam. ii. 5.
2. "You hunger now (v. 21), you are not fed to the full as others are, you often
rise hungry, your commons are so short; or you are so intent upon your work that
you have not time to eat bread, you are glad of a few ears of corn for a meal's
meat; thus you hunger now in this world, but in the other world you shall be
filled, shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more."
3. "You weep now, are often in tears, tears of repentance, tears of sympathy;
you are of them that mourn in Zion. But blessed are you; your present sorrows
are no prejudices to your future joy, but preparatories for it: You shall laugh.
You have triumphs in reserve; you are but sowing in tears, and shall shortly
reap in joy," Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6. They that now sorrow after a godly sort are
treasuring up comforts for themselves, or, rather, God is treasuring up comforts
for them; and the day is coming when their mouth shall be filled with laughing
and their lips with rejoicing, Job viii. 21.
4. "You now undergo the world's ill will. You must expect all the base treatment
that a spiteful world can give you for Christ's sake, because you serve him and
his interests; you must expect that wicked men will hate you, because your
doctrine and life convict and condemn them; and those that have church-power in
their hands will separate you, will force you to separate yourselves, and then
excommunicate you for so doing, and lay you under the most ignominious censures.
They will pronounce anathemas against you, as scandalous and incorrigible
offenders. They will do this with all possible gravity and solemnity, and pomp
and pageantry of appeals to Heaven, to make the world believe, and almost you
yourselves too, that it is ratified in heaven. Thus will they endeavour to make
you odious to others and a terror to yourselves." This is supposed to be the
proper notion of aphorisosin hymas—they shall cast you out of their synagogues.
"And they that have not this power will not fail to show their malice, to the
utmost of their power; for they will reproach you, will charge you with the
blackest crimes, which you are perfectly innocent of, will fasten upon you the
blackest characters, which you do not deserve; they will cast out your name as
evil, your name as Christians, as apostles; they will do all they can to render
these names odious." This is the application of the eighth beatitude, Matt. v.
10-12.
"Such usage as this seems hard; but blessed are you when you are so used. It is
so far from depriving you of your happiness that it will greatly add to it. It
is an honour to you, as it is to a brave hero to be employed in the wars, in the
service of his prince; and therefore rejoice you in that day, and leap for joy,
v. 23. Do not only bear it, but triumph in it. For," (1.) "You are hereby highly
dignified in the kingdom of grace, for you are treated as the prophets were
before you, and therefore not only need not be ashamed of it, but may justly
rejoice in it, for it will be an evidence for you that you walk in the same
spirit, and in the same steps, are engaged in the same cause, and employed in
the same service, with them." (2.) "You will for this be abundantly recompensed
in the kingdom of glory; not only your services for Christ, but your sufferings
will come into the account: Your reward is great in heaven. Venture upon your
sufferings, in a full belief that the glory of heaven will abundantly
countervail all these hardships; so that, though you may be losers for Christ,
you shall not be losers by him in the end."
II. Woes denounced against prospering sinners as miserable people, though the
world envies them. These we had not in Matthew. It should seem, the best
exposition of these woes, compared with the foregoing blessings, is the parable
of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus had the blessedness of those that are poor,
and hunger, and weep, now, for in Abraham's bosom all the promises made to them
who did so were made good to him; but the rich man had the woes that follow
here, as he had the character of those on whom these woes are entailed.
1. Here is a woe to them that are rich, that is, that trust in riches, that have
abundance of this world's wealth, and, instead of serving God with it, serve
their lusts with it; woe to them, for they have received their consolation, that
which they placed their happiness in, and were willing to take up with for a
portion, v. 24. They in their life-time received their good things, which, in
their account, were the best things, and all the good things they are ever
likely to receive from God. "You that are rich are in temptation to set your
hearts upon a smiling world, and to say, Soul, take thine ease in the embraces
of it, This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell; and then woe unto you." (1.)
It is the folly of carnal worldlings that they make the things of this world
their consolation, which were intended only for their convenience. They please
themselves with them, pride themselves in them, and make them their heaven upon
earth; and to them the consolations of God are small, and of no account. (2.) It
is their misery that they are put off with them as their consolation. Let them
know it, to their terror, when they are parted from these things, there is an
end of all their comfort, a final end of it, and nothing remains to them but
everlasting misery and torment.
2. Here is a woe to them that are full (v. 25), that are fed to the full, and
have more than heart could wish (Ps. lxxiii. 7), that have their bellies filled
with the hid treasures of this world (Ps. xvii. 14), that, when they have
abundance of these, are full, and think they have enough, they need no more,
they desire no more, Rev. iii. 17. Now ye are full, now ye are rich, 1 Cor. iv.
8. They are full of themselves, without God and Christ. Woe to such, for they
shall hunger, they shall shortly be stripped and emptied of all the things they
are so proud of; and, when they shall have left behind them in the world all
those things which are their fulness, they shall carry away with them such
appetites and desires as the world they remove to will afford them no
gratifications of; for all the delights of sense, which they are now so full of,
will in hell be denied, and in heaven superseded.
3. Here is a woe to them that laugh now, that have always a disposition to be
merry, and always something to make merry with; that know no other joy than that
which is carnal and sensual, and know no other use of this world's good than
purely to indulge that carnal sensual joy that banishes sorrow, even godly
sorrow, from their minds, and are always entertaining themselves with the
laughter of the fool. Woe unto such, for it is but now, for a little time, that
they laugh; they shall mourn and weep shortly, shall mourn and weep eternally,
in a world where there is nothing but weeping and wailing, endless, easeless,
and remediless sorrow.
4. Here is a woe to them whom all men speak well of, that is, who make it their
great and only care to gain the praise and applause of men, who value themselves
upon that more than upon the favour of God and his acceptance (v. 26): "Woe unto
you; that is, it would be a bad sign that you were not faithful to your trust,
and to the souls of men, if you preached so as that nobody would be disgusted;
for your business is to tell people of their faults, and, if you do that as you
ought, you will get that ill will which never speaks well. The false prophets
indeed, that flattered your father in their wicked ways, that prophesied smooth
things to them, were caressed and spoken well of; and, if you be in like manner
cried up, you will be justly suspected to deal deceitfully as they did." We
should desire to have the approbation of those that are wise and good, and not
be indifferent to what people say of us; but, as we should despise the
reproaches, so we should also despise the praises, of the fools in Israel.
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