Explanatory Notes upon the Old and New Testaments

1. All the publicans - That is, all who were in that place. It seems our Lord was in some town of Galilee of the Gentiles, from whence he afterward went to Jerusalem, chap. xvii, 11.

3. He spake - Three parables of the same import: for the sheep, the piece of silver, and the lost son, all declare (in direct contrariety to the Pharisees and scribes) in what manner God receiveth sinners.

4. Leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness - Where they used to feed: all uncultivated ground, like our commons, was by the Jews termed wilderness or desert. And go after - In recovering a lost soul, God as it were labours. May we not learn hence, that to let them alone who are in sin, is both unchristian and inhuman! Matt. xviii, 12.

7. Joy shall be - Solemn and festal joy, in heaven - First, in our blessed Lord himself, and then among the angels and spirits of just men, perhaps informed thereof by God himself, or by the angels who ministered to them. Over one sinner - One gross, open, notorious sinner, that repenteth - That is, thoroughly changed in heart and life; more than over ninety and nine just persons - Comparatively just, outwardly blameless: that need not such a repentance - For they need not, cannot repent of the sins which they never committed. The sum is, as a father peculiarly rejoices when an extravagant child, supposed to be utterly lost, comes to a thorough sense of his duty; or as any other person who has recovered what he had given up for gone, has a more sensible satisfaction in it, than in several other things equally valuable, but not in such danger: so do the angels in heaven peculiarly rejoice in the conversion of the most abandoned sinners. Yea, and God himself so readily forgives and receives them, that he may be represented as having part in the joy.

12. Give me the part of goods that falleth to me - See the root of all sin! A desire of disposing of ourselves; of independency on God!

13. He took a journey into a far country - Far from God: God was not in all his thoughts: And squandered away his substance - All the grace he had received.

14. He began to be in want - All his worldly pleasures failing, he grew conscious of his want of real good.

15. And he joined himself to a citizen of that country - Either the devil or one of his children, the genuine citizens of that country which is far from God. He sent him to feed swine - He employed him in the base drudgery of sin.

16. He would fain have filled his belly with the husks - He would fain have satisfied himself with worldly comforts. Vain, fruitless endeavour!

17. And coming to himself - For till then he was beside himself, as all men are, so long as they are without God in the world.

18. I will arise and go to my father - How accurately are the first steps of true repentance here pointed out! Against Heaven - Against God.

20. And he arose and came to his father - The moment he had resolved, he began to execute his resolution. While he was yet a great way off, his father saw him - Returning, starved, naked.

22. But the father said - Interrupting him before he had finished what he intended to say. So does God frequently cut an earnest confession short by a display of his pardoning love.

23. Let us be merry - Both here, and wherever else this word occurs, whether in the Old or New Testament, it implies nothing of levity, but a solid, serious, religious, heartfelt joy: indeed this was the ordinary meaning of the word two hundred years ago, when our translation was made.

25. The elder son seems to represent the Pharisees and scribes, mentioned chap. xv, 2.

27. Thy father hath killed the fatted calf - Perhaps he mentions this rather than the robe or ring, as having a nearer connection with the music and dancing.

28. He was angry, and would not go in - How natural to us is this kind of resentment!

29. Lo, so many years do I serve thee - So he was one of the instances mentioned ver. 7. How admirably therefore does this parable confirm that assertion! Yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends - Perhaps God does not usually give much joy to those who never felt the sorrows of repentance.

31. Thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine - This suggests a strong reason against murmuring at the indulgence shown to the greatest of sinners. As the father's receiving the younger son did not cause him to disinherit the elder; so God's receiving notorious sinners will be no loss to those who have always served him; neither will he raise these to a state of glory equal to that of those who have always served him, if they have, upon the whole, made a greater progress in inward as well as outward holiness.

32. This thy brother was dead, and is alive - A thousand of these delicate touches in the inspired writings escape an inattentive reader. In ver. 30, the elder son had unkindly and indecently said, This thy son. The father in his reply mildly reproves him, and tenderly says, This thy brother - Amazing intimation, that the best of men ought to account the worst sinners their brethren still; and should especially remember this relation, when they show any inclination to return. Our Lord in this whole parable shows, not only that the Jews had no cause to murmur at the reception of the Gentiles, (a point which did not at that time so directly fall under consideration,) but that if the Pharisees were indeed as good as they fancied themselves to be, still they had no reason to murmur at the kind treatment of any sincere penitent. Thus does he condemn them, even on their own principles, and so leaves them without excuse. We have in this parable a lively emblem of the condition and behaviour of sinners in their natural state. Thus, when enriched by the bounty of the great common Father, do they ungratefully run from him, ver. 12. Sensual pleasures are eagerly pursued, till they have squandered away all the grace of God, ver. 13. And while these continue, not a serious thought of God can find a place in their minds. And even when afflictions come upon them, ver. 14, still they will make hard shifts before they will let the grace of God, concurring with his providence, persuade them to think of a return, ver. 15, 16. When they see themselves naked, indigent, and undone, then they recover the exercise of their reason, ver. 17. Then they remember the blessings they have thrown away, and attend to the misery they have incurred. And hereupon they resolve to return to their father, and put the resolution immediately in practice, ver. 18, 19. Behold with wonder and pleasure the gracious reception they find from Divine, injured goodness! When such a prodigal comes to his father, he sees him afar off, ver. 20. He pities, meets, embraces him, and interrupts his acknowledgments with the tokens of his returning favour, ver. 21. He arrays him with the robe of a Redeemer's righteousness, with inward and outward holiness; adorns him with all his sanctifying graces, and honours him with the tokens of adopting love, ver. 22. And all this he does with unutterable delight, in that he who was lost is now found, ver. 23, 24. Let no elder brother murmur at this indulgence, but rather welcome the prodigal back into the family. And let those who have been thus received, wander no more, but emulate the strictest piety of those who for many years have served their heavenly Father, and not transgressed his commandments.

And he said also to his disciples - Not only to the scribes and Pharisees to whom he had hitherto been speaking, but to all the younger as well as the elder brethren: to the returning prodigals who were now his disciples. A certain rich man had a steward - Christ here teaches all that are now in favour with God, particularly pardoned penitents, to behave wisely in what is committed to them.

3. To beg I am ashamed - But not ashamed to cheat! This was likewise a sense of honour! "By men called honour, but by angels pride."

4. I know - That is, I am resolved, what to do.

8. And the Lord commended the unjust steward - Namely, in this respect, because he had used timely precaution: so that though the dishonesty of such a servant be detestable, yet his foresight, care, and contrivance, about the interests of this life, deserve our imitation, with regard to the more important affairs of another. The children of this world - Those who seek no other portion than this world: Are wiser - Not absolutely, for they are, one and all, egregious fools; but they are more consistent with themselves; they are truer to their principles; they more steadily pursue their end; they are wiser in their generation - That is, in their own way, than the children of light - The children of God, whose light shines on their hearts.

9. And I say to you - Be good stewards even of the lowest talents wherewith God hath intrusted you. Mammon means riches or money. It is termed the mammon of unrighteousness, because of the manner wherein it is commonly either procured or employed. Make yourselves friends of this, by doing all possible good, particularly to the children of God: that when ye fail, when your flesh and your heart faileth, when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved, those of them who have gone before may receive, may welcome you into the everlasting habitations.

10. And whether ye have more or less, see that ye be faithful as well as wise stewards. He that is faithful in what is meanest of all, worldly substance, is also faithful in things of a higher nature; and he that uses these lowest gifts unfaithfully, is likewise unfaithful in spiritual things.

11. Who will intrust you with the true riches? - How should God intrust you with spiritual and eternal, which alone are true riches?

12. If ye have not been faithful in that which was another's - None of these temporal things are yours: you are only stewards of them, not proprietors: God is the proprietor of all; he lodges them in your hands for a season: but still they are his property. Rich men, understand and consider this. If your steward uses any part of your estate (so called in the language of men) any farther or any otherwise than you direct, he is a knave: he has neither conscience nor honour. Neither have you either one or the other, if you use any part of that estate, which is in truth God's, not yours, any otherwise than he directs. That which is your own - Heaven, which when you have it, will be your own forever.

13. And you cannot be faithful to God, if you trim between God and the world, if you do not serve him alone. Matt. vi, 24.

15. And he said to them, Ye are they who justify yourselves before men - The sense of the whole passage is, that pride, wherewith you justify yourselves, feeds covetousness, derides the Gospel, ver. 14, and destroys the law, ver. 18. All which is illustrated by a terrible example. Ye justify yourselves before men - Ye think yourselves righteous, and persuade others to think you so.

16. The law and the prophets were in force until John: from that time the Gospel takes place; and humble upright men receive it with inexpressible earnestness. Matt. xi, 13.

17. Not that the Gospel at all destroys the law. Matt. v, 18.

18. But ye do; particularly in this notorious instance. Matt. v, 31; xix, 7.

19. There was a certain rich man - Very probably a Pharisee, and one that justified himself before men; a very honest, as well as honourable gentleman: though it was not proper to mention his name on this occasion: who was clothed in purple and fine linen - and doubtless esteemed on this account, (perhaps not only by those who sold it, but by most that knew him,) as encouraging trade, and acting according to his quality: And feasted splendidly every day - And consequently was esteemed yet more, for his generosity and hospitality in keeping so good a table.

20. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, (according to the Greek pronunciation) or Eleazer. By his name it may be conjectured, he was of no mean family, though it was thus reduced. There was no reason for our Lord to conceal his name, which probably was then well known. Theophylact observes, from the tradition of the Hebrews, that he lived at Jerusalem. Yea, the dogs also came and licked his sores - It seems this circumstance is recorded to show that all his ulcers lay bare, and were not closed or bound up.

22. And the beggar - Worn out with hunger, and pain, and want of all things, died: and was carried by angels (amazing change of the scene!) into Abraham's bosom - So the Jews styled paradise; the place where the souls of good men remain from death to the resurrection. The rich man also died, and was buried - Doubtless with pomp enough, though we do not read of his lying in state; that stupid, senseless pageantry, that shocking insult on a poor, putrefying carcass, was reserved for our enlightened age!

23. He seeth Abraham afar off - And yet knew him at that distance: and shall not Abraham's children, when they are together in paradise, know each other!

24. Father Abraham, have mercy on me - It cannot be denied, but here is one precedent in Scripture of praying to departed saints: but who is it that prays, and with what success? Will any, who considers this, be fond of copying after him?

25. But Abraham said, Son - According to the flesh. Is it not worthy of observation, that Abraham will not revile even a damned soul? and shall living men revile one another? Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things - Thou didst choose and accept of worldly things as thy good, thy happiness. And can any be at a loss to know why he was in torments? This damnable idolatry, had there been nothing more, was enough to sink him to the nethermost hell.

26. Beside this there is a great gulf fixed - Reader, to which side of it wilt thou go?

28. Lest they also come into this place - He might justly fear lest their reproaches should add to his own torment.

31. Neither will they be persuaded - Truly to repent: for this implies an entire change of heart: but a thousand apparitions cannot, effect this. God only can, applying his word.

1. It is impossible but offenses will come - And they ever did and do come chiefly by Pharisees, that is, men who trust in themselves that they are righteous, and despise others. Matt. xviii, 6; Mark ix, 42.

2. Little ones - Weak believers.

3. Take heed to yourselves - That ye neither offend others, nor be offended by others. Matt. xviii, 15.

4. If he sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day return, saying, I repent - That is, if he give sufficient proof that he does really repent, after having sinned ever so often, receive him just as if he had never sinned against thee. But this forgiveness is due only to real penitents. In a lower sense we are to forgive all, penitent or impenitent; (so as to bear them the sincerest good will, and to do them all the good we can;) and that not seven times only, but seventy times seven.

5. Lord, increase our faith - That we may thus forgive, and may neither offend nor be offended. Matt. xvii, 20.

6. And he said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed - If ye had the least measure of true faith, no instance of duty would be too hard for you. Ye would say to this sycamine tree - This seems to have been a kind of proverbial expression.

7. But which of you - But is it not meet that you should first obey, and then triumph? Though still with a deep sense of your utter unprofitableness.

9. Doth he thank that servant - Does he account himself obliged to him?

10. When ye have done all, say, We are unprofitable servants - For a man cannot profit God. Happy is he who Judges himself an unprofitable servant: miserable is he whom God pronounces such. But though we are unprofitable to him, our serving him is not unprofitable to us. For he is pleased to give by his grace a value to our good works, which in consequence of his promise entitles us to an eternal reward.

20. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation - With such outward pomp as draws the observation of every one.

21. Neither shall they say, Lo here, or lo there - This shall not be the language of those who are, or shall be sent by me, to declare the coming of my kingdom. For behold the kingdom of God is within or among you - Look not for it in distant times or remote places: it is now in the midst of you: it is come: it is present in the soul of every true believer: it is a spiritual kingdom, an internal principle. Wherever it exists, it exists in the heart.

22. Ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man - One day of mercy or one day wherein you might converse with me, as you do now.

23. They shall say, See, Christ is here, or there - Limiting his presence to this or that place. Matt. xxiv, 23.

24. So shall also the Son of man be - So swift, so wide, shall his appearing be: In his day - The last day.

26. The days of the Son of man - Those which immediately follow that which is eminently styled his day. Matt. xxiv, 37.

31. In that day - (Which will be the grand type of the last day) when ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies.

32. Remember Lot's wife - And escape with all speed, without ever looking behind you. Luke ix, 24; John xii, 25.

33. The sense of this and the following verses is, Yet as great as the danger will be, do not seek to save your life by violating your conscience: if you do, you will surely lose it: whereas if you should lose it for my sake, you shall be paid with life everlasting. But the most probable way of preserving it now, is to be always ready to give it up: a peculiar Providence shall then watch over you, and put a difference between you and other men.

37. Matt. xxiv, 28.

1. He spake a parable to them - This and the following parable warn us against two fatal extremes, with regard to prayer: the former against faintness and weariness, the latter against self confidence.

7. And shall not God - The most just Judge, vindicate his own elect - Preserve the Christians from all their adversaries, and in particular save them out of the general destruction, and avenge them of the Jews? Though he bear long with them - Though he does not immediately put an end, either to the wrongs of the wicked, or the sufferings of good men.

8. Yet when the Son of man cometh, will he find faith upon earth - Yet notwithstanding all the instances both of his long suffering and of his justice, whenever he shall remarkably appear, against their enemies in this age or in after ages, how few true believers will be found upon earth!

9. He spake this parable - Not to hypocrites; the Pharisee here mentioned was no hypocrite, no more than an outward adulterer: but he sincerely trusted in himself that he was righteous, and accordingly told God so, in the prayer which none but God heard.

12. I fast twice in the week - So did all the strict Pharisees: every Monday and Thursday. I give tithes of all that I possess - Many of them gave one full tenth of their income in tithes, and another tenth in alms, the sum of this plea is, I do no harm: I use all the means of grace: I do all the good I can.

13. The publican standing afar off - From the holy of holies, would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven - Touched with shame, which is more ingenuous than fear.

14. This man went down - From the hill on which the temple stood, justified rather than the other - That is, and not the other.

16. Calling them - Those that brought the children: of such is the kingdom of God - Such are subjects of the Messiah's kingdom. And such as these it properly belongs to.

20. Exod. xx, 12, &c.

22. Yet lackest thou one thing - Namely, to love God more than mammon. Our saviour knew his heart, and presently put him upon a trial which laid it open to the ruler himself. And to cure his love of the world, which could not in him be cured otherwise, Christ commanded him to sell all that he had. But he does not command us to do this; but to use all to the glory of God.

34. They understood none of these things - The literal meaning they could not but understand. But as they could not reconcile this to their preconceived opinion of the Messiah, they were utterly at a loss in what parabolical or figurative sense to take what he said concerning his sufferings; having their thoughts still taken up with the temporal kingdom.

1. He passed through Jericho - So that Zacchaeus must have lived near the end of the town: the tree was in the town itself. And he was rich - These words seem to refer to the discourse in the last chapter, ver. 24, particularly to ver. 27. Zacchiaeus is a proof, that it is possible by the power of God for even a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

2. The chief of the publicans - What we would term, commissioner of the customs. A very honourable as well as profitable place.

4. And running before - With great earnestness. He climbed up - Notwithstanding his quality: desire conquering honour and shame.

5. Jesus said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down - What a strange mixture of passions must Zacchaeus have now felt, hearing one speak, as knowing both his name and his heart!

7. They all murmured - All who were near: though most of them rather out of surprise than indignation.

8. And Zacchaeus stood - Showing by his posture, his deliberate, purpose and ready mind, and said, Behold, Lord, I give - I determine to do it immediately.

9. He also is a son of Abraham - A Jew born, and as such has a right to the first offer of salvation.

10. Matt. xviii, 11.

11. They thought the kingdom of God - A glorious temporal kingdom, would immediately appear.

12. He went into a far country to receive a kingdom - Christ went to heaven, to receive his sovereign power as wan, even all authority in heaven and earth. Matt. xxv, 14; Mark xiii, 34.

13. Trade till I come - To visit the nation, to destroy Jerusalem, to judge the world: or, in a more particular sense, to require thy soul of thee.

14. But his citizens - Such were those of Jerusalem, hated him, and sent an embassy after him - The word seems to imply, their sending ambassadors to a superior court, to enter their protest against his being admitted to the regal power. In such a solemn manner did the Jews protest, as it were, before God, that Christ should not reign over them: this man - So they call him in contempt.

15. When he was returned - In his glory.

23. With interest - Which does not appear to be contrary to any law of God or man. But this is no plea for usury, that is, the taking such interest as implies any degree of oppression or extortion.

25. They said - With admiration, not envy.

27. He went before - The foremost of the company, showing his readiness to suffer.

29. He drew nigh to the place where the borders of Bethphage and Bethany met, which was at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Matt. xxi, 1; Mark xi, 1.

37. The whole multitude began to praise God - Speaking at once, as it seems, from a Divine impulse, words which most of them did not understand.

38. Peace in heaven - God being reconciled to man.

39. Rebuke thy disciples - Paying thee this immoderate honour.

40. If these should hold their peace, the stones, which lie before you, would cry out - That is, God would raise up some still more unlikely instruments to declare his praise. For the power of God will not return empty.

42. O that thou hadst known, at least in this thy day - After thou hast neglected so many. Thy day - The day wherein God still offers thee his blessings.

43. Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee around - All this was exactly performed by Titus, the Roman general.

44. And thy children within thee - All the Jews were at that time gathered together, it being the time of the passover. They shall not leave in thee one stone upon another - Only three towers were left standing for a time, to show the former strength and magnificence of the place. But these likewise were afterward levelled with the ground.

46. Isaiah lvi, 7.

9. A long time - It was a long time from the entrance of the Israelites into Canaan to the birth of Christ. Matt. xxi, 33; Mark xii, 1.

16. He will destroy these husbandmen - Probably he pointed to the scribes, chief priests, and elders: who allowed, he will miserably destroy those wicked men, Matt. xxi, 41; but could not bear that this should be applied to themselves. They might also mean, God forbid that we should be guilty of such a crime as your parable seems to charge us with, namely, rejecting and killing the heir. Our saviour answers, But yet will ye do it, as is prophesied of you.

17. He looked on them - To sharpen their attention. Psalm cxviii, 22.

18. Matt. xxi, 45.

20. Just men - Men of a tender conscience. To take hold of his discourse - If he answered as they hoped he would. Matt. xxii, 16; Mark xii, 12.

21. Thou speakest - In private, and teachest - In public.

24. Show me a penny - A Roman penny, which was the money that was usually paid on that occasion.

26. They could not take hold of his words before the people - As they did afterward before the sanhedrim, in the absence of the people, chap. xxii, 67.

28. Deut. xxv, 5.

34. The children of this world - The inhabitants of earth, marry and are given in marriage - As being all subject to the law of mortality; so that the species is in need of being continually repaired.

35. But they who obtain that world - Which they enter into, before the resurrection of the dead.

36. They are the children of God - In a more eminent sense when they rise again.

37. That the dead are raised, even Moses, as well as the other prophets showed, when he calleth - That is, when he recites the words which God spoke of himself, I am the God of Abraham, &c. It cannot properly be said, that God is the God of any who are totally perished. Exod. iii, 6.

38. He is not a God of the dead, or, there is no God of the dead - That is, tho term God implies such a relation, as cannot possibly subsist between him and the dead; who in the Sadducees' sense are extinguished spirits; who could neither worship him, nor receive good from him. So that all live to him - All who have him for their God, live to and enjoy him. This sentence is not an argument for what went before; but the proposition which was to be proved. And the consequence is apparently just. For as all the faithful are the children of Abraham, and the Divine promise of being a God to him and his seed is entailed upon them, it implies their continued existence and happiness in a future state as much as Abraham's. And as the body is an essential part of man, it implies both his resurrection and theirs; and so overthrows the entire scheme of the Sadducean doctrine.

40. They durst not ask him any question - The Sadducees durst not. One of the scribes did, presently after.

42. Psalm cx, 1.

46. Matt. xxiii, 5.

47. Matt. xxiii, 14.

1. He looked up - From those on whom his eyes were fixed before. Mark xii, 41.

5. Goodly stones - Such as no engines now in use could have brought, or even set upon each other. Some of them (as an eye witness who lately measured them writes) were forty - five cubits long, five high, and six broad; yet brought thither from another country. And gifts - Which persons delivered from imminent dangers had, in accomplishment of their vows, hung on the walls and pillars. The marble of the temple was so white, that it appeared like a mountain of snow at a distance. And the gilding of many parts made it, especially when the sun shone, a most splendid and beautiful spectacle. Matt. xxiv, 1; Mark xiii, 1.

8. I am the Christ; and the time is near - When I will deliver you from all your enemies. They are the words of the seducers.

9. Commotions - Intestine broils; civil wars.

11. Fearful sights and signs from heaven - Of which Josephus gives a circumstantial account.

12. Mark xiii, 9.

13. It shall turn to you for a testimony - Of your having delivered your own souls, and of their being without excuse.

16. Matt. x, 21.

18. Not a hair of your head - A proverbial expression, shall perish - Without the special providence of God. And then, not before the time, nor without a full reward.

19. In your patience possess ye your souls - Be calm and serene, masters of yourselves, and superior to all irrational and disquieting passions. By keeping the government of your spirits, you will both avoid much misery, and guard the better against all dangers.

21. Let them that are in the midst of it - Where Jerusalem stands (that is, they that are in Jerusalem) depart out of it, before their retreat is cut off by the uniting of the forces near the city, and let not them that are in the adjacent countries by any means enter into it.

22. And things which are written - Particularly in Daniel.

24. They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive - Eleven hundred thousand perished in the siege of Jerusalem, and above ninety thousand were sold for slaves. So terribly was this prophecy fulfilled! And Jerusalem shall be trodden by the Gentiles - That is, inhabited. So it was indeed. The land was sold, and no Jew suffered even to come within sight of Jerusalem. The very foundations of the city were ploughed up, and a heathen temple built where the temple of God had stood. The times of the Gentiles - That is, the times limited for their treading the city; which shall terminate in the full conversion of the Gentiles.

25. And there shall be - Before the great day, which was typified by the destruction of Jerusalem: signs - Different from those mentioned in ver. 11. Matt. xxiv, 29; Mark xiii, 24.

28. Now when these things - Mentioned ver. 8, 10, &c., begin to come to pass, look up with firm faith, and lift up your heads with joy: for your redemption out of many troubles draweth nigh, by God's destroying your implacable enemies.

29. Behold the fig tree and all the trees - Christ spake this in the spring, just before the passover; when all the trees were budding on the Mount of Olives, where they then were.

30. Ye know of yourselves - Though none teach you.

31. The kingdom of God is nigh - The destruction of the Jewish city, temple, and religion, to make way for the advancement of my kingdom.

32. Till all things be effected - All that has been spoken of the destruction of Jerusalem, to which the question, ver. 7, relates: and which is treated of from ver. 8-24.

34. Take heed, lest at any time your hearts be overloaded with gluttony and drunkenness - And was there need to warn the apostles themselves against such sins as these? Then surely there is reason to warn even strong Christians against the very grossest sins. Neither are we wise, if we think ourselves out of the reach of any sin: and so that day - Of judgment or of death, come upon you, even you that are not of this world-Unawares. Matt. xxiv, 42; Mark xiii, 33; Luke xii, 35.

35. That sit - Careless and at ease.

36. Watch ye therefore - This is the general conclusion of all that precedes. That ye may be counted worthy - This word sometimes signifies an honour conferred on a person, as when the apostles are said to be counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ, Acts v, 41. Sometimes meet or becoming: as when John the Baptist exhorts, to bring fruits worthy of repentance, chap. iii, 8. And so to be counted worthy to escape, is to have the honour of it, and to be fitted or prepared for it. To stand - With joy and triumph: not to fall before him as his enemies.

37. Now by day - In the day time, he was teaching in the temple - This shows how our Lord employed his time after coming to Jerusalem: but it is not said, he was this day in the temple, and next morning the people came. It does not therefore by any means imply, that he came any more after this into the temple.

38. And all the people came early in the morning to hear him - How much happier were his disciples in these early lectures, than the slumbers of the morning could have made them on their beds! Let us not scruple to deny ourselves the indulgence of unnecessary sleep, that we may morning after morning place ourselves at his feet, receiving the instructions of his word, and seeking those of his Spirit.