Luke 12:7 Ulasan

In this chapter we have divers excellent discourses of our Saviour's upon various occasions, many of which are to the same purport with what we had in Matthew upon other the like occasions; for we may suppose that our Lord Jesus preached the same doctrines, and pressed the same duties, at several times, in several companies, and that one of the evangelists took them as he delivered them at one time and another at another time; and we need thus to have precept upon precept, line upon line. Here, I. Christ warns his disciples to take heed of hypocrisy, and of cowardice in professing Christianity and preaching the gospel (Luk 12:1-12). II. He gives a caution against covetousness, upon occasion of a covetous motion made to him, and illustrates that caution by a parable of a rich man suddenly cut off by death in the midst of his worldly projects and hopes (Luk 12:13-21). III. He encourages his disciples to cast all their care upon God, and to live easy in a dependence upon his providence, and exhorts them to make religion their main business (Luk 12:22-34). IV. He stirs them up to watchfulness for their Master's coming, from the consideration of the reward of those who are then found faithful, and the punishment of those who are found unfaithful (Luk 12:35-48). V. He bids them expect trouble and persecution (Luk 12:49-53). VI. He warns the people to observe and improve the day of their opportunities and to make their peace with God in time (Luk 12:54-59).

In the mean time,.... While Christ was discoursing with the Pharisees, and they were using him in the vilest manner, throwing out their invectives against him in order to draw off the people from him: when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people. There were "myriads" of them, as in the original text, and a myriad is ten thousand; the meaning is, that there were several thousands of them: insomuch that they trod one upon another; striving to get near to Christ, either to see his person, or to hear his discourses; and particularly, what he would say to the Pharisees, who had fallen upon him in so violent a manner: he began to say unto his disciples first of all; he directed his discourse not to the Pharisees, nor to the multitude, but to his disciples in the first place; at least, chiefly to them; for whom he had a regard, who were his dear friends, and were to be the preachers of his Gospel every where; and therefore it was proper that they should be aware of the dissembling arts of the Scribes and Pharisees, and have their minds fortified against approaching dangers, persecutions, and death itself: the last phrase, "first of all", is omitted in the Vulgate Latin version; and by all the Oriental versions, it is joined to the next clause, and read thus, "especially", or before all things, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy; expressed both in their doctrines, and in their lives; which carried a great show of piety and holiness, but was in appearance only: very aptly is hypocrisy in doctrine and manners, compared to leaven; which at first is small and little, but gradually increases and spreads itself, and lies hid and covered, and is not easily discerned, nor its influence and effects observed; but in time, it infects and corrupts the whole of men's principles and practices, and puffs and swells them up with a vain opinion of themselves; and when our Lord bids his disciples beware of it, his meaning not only is, that they take heed that they were not infected with it themselves, but that they were not imposed upon by the specious pretences of these artful and designing men.

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered,.... Not only their persons had passed under the hands of him that telleth them, who is the "Palmoni", or "wonderful numberer", as in the margin of Dan 8:13 and not only the several members of their bodies, or the more substantial parts of them, were written in the book of his purposes, according to which they were fashioned in time, but the more minute parts, and less to be regarded, were all told over, and kept in account; even the very hairs of their head, and not one of them could fall to the ground, any more than a sparrow; or be plucked off by men, without the knowledge and will of God; so careful is the providence of God, of all his people: fear not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows; for if the hairs of their heads are as much regarded as sparrows, their persons and their lives must be of more account, than an infinite number of them, nor are they to be mentioned with them.

(pluris estis) Now I ask the Arians, if God, as if disdaining to make all other things, made only His Son, but deputed all things to His Son; how is it that He extends His providence even to such trifling things as our hair, and the sparrows? For upon whatever things He exercises His providence, of these is He the Creator by His own word.

Our Lord then had instilled the virtue of simplicity, had awakened a courageous spirit. Their faith alone was wavering, and well did He strengthen it by adding with respect to things of less value, Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? and not one of them is forgotten before God. As if He said, If God forgets not the sparrows, how can He man? But perhaps some one will say, How is it that the Apostle says, Does the Lord care for oxen? (1 Cor. 9:9.) whereas an ox is of more value than a sparrow; but to care for is one thing, to have knowledge another. Or else; A good sparrow is one which nature has furnished with the power of flying; for nature has given us the grace of flying, pleasure has taken it away, which loads with meats the soul of the wicked, and moulds it towards the nature of a fleshly mass. The five senses of the body then, if they seek the food of earthly alloy, cannot fly back to the fruits of higher actions. A bad sparrow therefore is one which has lost its habit of flying through the fault of earthly grovelling; such are those sparrows which are sold for two farthings, namely, at the price of worldly luxury. For the enemy sets up his, as it were, captive slaves, at the very lowest price. But the Lord, being the fit judge of His own work, has redeemed at a great price us, His noble servants, whom He hath made in His own image. Lastly, the numbering of the hairs is not to be taken with reference to the act of reckoning, but to the capability of knowing. Yet they are well said to be numbered, because those things which we wish to preserve we number. If then such is the majesty of God, that a single sparrow or the number of our hair is not beside His knowledge, how unworthy is it to suppose that the Lord is either ignorant of the hearts of the faithful, or despises them so as to account them of less value. Hence He proceeds to conclude, Fear not then, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

When our Lord said, "not a hair," he was not thinking of length but of the number of hairs, as we see from these words, "The hairs of your head are numbered." I still think that nothing that was a natural part of the body should be lost. Ugly outgrowths, which have the purpose of reminding us of the penal condition of mortal life, will be integrated into the substance as a whole so that no deformity will appear in any one part. After all, a human artist can make a botch of a statue and then reshape it into beauty without a loss of any of his material. It is not a matter of chiseling away some paticular part that was ugly or out of proportion. He can break down and remold the same mass of material so that nothing but the blemish disappears. Of course, the omnipotent Artist can do this even better. There is no deformity of any human body, whether normal, exceptional or even monstrous, which he cannot so eliminate as to leave the total substance intact, while the ugliness disappears. Such outgrowths are not out of place among the other miseries of temporal existence, but they are incompatible with the happiness of the saints in the life to come.

To bestow yet another means of comfort on our minds, he forcibly added that five sparrows are scarcely perhaps worth a penny, and yet God does not forget even one of them. He also said that the separate hairs of your head are all numbered. Consider how great care he takes of those that love him. The Preserver of the universe extends his aid to things so worthless and descends to the smallest animals. How can he forget those who love him, especially when he takes so great care of them? He condescends to visit them, to know exactly each particular of their state, and even how many are the hairs of their heads.…Let us not doubt that with a rich hand he will give his grace to those who love him. He will not permit us to fall into temptation. If, by his wise purpose he permits us to be taken in the snare in order that we may gain glory by suffering, he will most assuredly grant us the power to bear it.

It is His care then diligently to know the life of the saints. Whence it follows, But the hairs of your heads are all numbered; by which He means, that of all things which relate to them He has most accurate knowledge, for the numbering manifests the minuteness of the care exercised. Now mystically, indeed, the head of a man is his understanding, but his hairs the thoughts, which are open to the eye of God.

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered, not actually in the act of counting, but understood in the capacity of knowledge. For God does not direct a watchful solicitude in tedious counting, but to whom all things are known, as if all things were numbered. Nevertheless, they are well said to be numbered, because we count the things we want to keep. Here he shows the immense providence of God towards men, and marks the ineffable affection that nothing of ours escapes God's notice, and that even small and trivial things spoken do not elude His knowledge. Those who deny the resurrection of the flesh deride ecclesiastical understanding in this place, as if we were to say that the same earthly matter, which becomes a corpse when the soul departs, is to be restored in the resurrection in such a way that the things which decay and are transformed into different shapes and forms of other things must necessarily return not only to the body from which they dissolved but also to the same parts of the body where they were. Otherwise, if the hair of the head returns, which frequent cutting has removed, if to the nails, which frequent trimming has taken off, it appears excessive and indecent to those who think about it, and thus the resurrection of the flesh does not present itself acceptably to those who do not believe. But just as if a statue of any soluble metal were either melted by fire or ground into powder or reduced to a mass, and the artist wished to restore it again from that quantity of material, it would make no difference to its integrity which particle of material is restored to which member of the statue, provided that all from which it was constituted is reconstituted: so God, wonderfully and ineffably the artist, from all that our flesh was constituted, will restore it with wonderful and ineffable speed, nor will it matter for its reconstitution whether hairs return to hairs and nails to nails, or whether whatever of them had perished is transformed into flesh and recalled to other parts of the body, with the providence of the artist ensuring that nothing indecent happens.

Therefore, do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Not 'you are many,' which pertains to the comparison of numbers, but 'you are worth more,' that is, you are of greater merit, dignity, and esteem before God than countless sparrows, whether bodies or kinds.

We must not read, Ye are more, which relates to the comparison of number, but ye are of more value, that is, of greater estimation in the sight of God.

On the contrary, I have such care for you that I know all your affairs down to the finest detail; for example, even your "hairs are numbered." Therefore, if I permit you to fall into temptation, I will undoubtedly also give you the strength to endure it (1 Cor. 10:13). And often, when I see someone weak, I do not even permit him to fall into temptation. For being watchful and knowing all things — and keeping account of even the most trifling matters — I arrange for each person what is fitting and beneficial. If you pay attention, you will find that in Scripture everything male that has reached the measure of maturity and is generally worthy of divine counting is numbered (Exod. 18:21; Num. 26:62). By "head" one must understand the Christ-pleasing life of each of the faithful, and by "hairs" its most particular deeds, by which the body is mortified, which are numbered by God and taken into consideration. For such deeds of yours are deemed worthy of God's regard. By the "five" sparrows some understand the five senses, which, being purchased for two assaria, that is, at the price of the Old and New Testaments, are not forgotten before God. For whoever tempers his senses and subjects them to reason, so that they are not useless for spiritual nourishment, that person is not forgotten before God.

Or, by the head of each of the faithful, you must understand a conversation meet for Christ, but by his hair, the works of bodily mortification which are numbered by God, and are worthy of the Divine regard.

Christ preaches to his disciples against hypocrisy; and against timidity in publishing the Gospel, Luk 12:1-5. Excites them to have confidence in Divine providence, Luk 12:6, Luk 12:7. Warns them against denying him, or betraying his cause, Luk 12:8, Luk 12:9. Of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, Luk 12:10. Promises direction and support in persecution, Luk 12:11, Luk 12:12. Warns the people against covetousness, Luk 12:13-15. Parable of the rich man who pulled down his granaries to build greater, Luk 12:16-21. Cautions against carking cares and anxieties, Luk 12:22-32. The necessity of living to God, and in reference to eternity, Luk 12:33-40. At the request of Peter, he farther explains the preceding discourse, Luk 12:41-48. The effects that should be produced by the preaching of the Gospel, Luk 12:49-53. The signs of the times, Luk 12:54-57. The necessity of being prepared to appear before the judgment seat of God, Luk 12:58, Luk 12:59.

Fear not therefore - Want of faith in the providence and goodness of God is the source of all human inquietudes and fears. He has undertaken to save and defend those to the uttermost who trust in him. His wisdom cannot be surprised, his power cannot be forced, his love cannot forget itself. Man distrusts God, and fears that he is forgotten by him, because he judges of God by himself; and he knows that he is apt to forget his Maker, and be unfaithful to him. See on Mat 10:29-31 (note).

WARNING AGAINST HYPOCRISY. (Luk 12:1-12) meantime--in close connection, probably, with the foregoing scene. Our Lord had been speaking out more plainly than ever before, as matters were coming to a head between Him and His enemies, and this seems to have suggested to His own mind the warning here. He had just Himself illustriously exemplified His own precepts. his disciples first of all--afterwards to "the multitudes" (Luk 12:54). covered--from the view.