Luke 12:55

And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(55) There will be heat.—See Note on Matthew 20:12. The word rendered “heat” is probably used here as signifying the “burning wind,” the simoom, which, blowing over the desert, scorched and withered all that was green and fresh. (Comp. James 1:11, where it is rightly rendered “burning heat.”)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:54-59 Christ would have the people to be as wise in the concerns of their souls as they are in outward affairs. Let them hasten to obtain peace with God before it is too late. If any man has found that God has set himself against him concerning his sins, let him apply to him as God in Christ reconciling the world to himself. While we are alive, we are in the way, and now is our time.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 16:2-3.

South wind - To the south and southwest of Judea were situated Arabia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, all warm or hot regions, and consequently the air that came from those quarters was greatly heated.

How is it that ye do not discern this time! - You see a cloud rise, and predict a shower; a south wind, and expect heat. These are regular events. So you see my miracles; you hear my preaching; you have the predictions of me in the prophets; why do you not, in like manner, infer that "this is the time" when the Messiah should appear?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Lu 12:54-59. Not Discerning the Signs of the Time.

54. to the people—"the multitude," a word of special warning to the thoughtless crowd, before dismissing them. (See on [1653]Mt 16:2, 3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 12:54"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And when ye see the south wind blow,.... From the hot countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Arabia, which lay south of Judea:

ye say there will be heat; or hot sultry weather, scorching heat, which such a wind brings with it:

and it cometh to pass; generally speaking, as is asserted.

Geneva Study Bible

And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 12:55. καύσων, the sirocco, a hot wind from the desert, blighting vegetation (Jam 1:11), equally a matter of course.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

55. heat] Rather, a Simoom or scorching wind, because ‘the South wind’ in Palestine would blow from the desert.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 12:55. Νότον, south) See ch. Luke 13:29; Acts 27:13.—καύσων) καύσων sometimes is used to express the wind itself from the East. But in this passage the South Wind is a prognostic of the καύσων; therefore καύσων expresses the heat, which the wind coming from the regions situated at the equator used to occasion to the Jews.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 55. - And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will he heat; and it cometh to pass. To the south of Palestine lay the desert; when the wind blew from that direction, it was usually a time of heat and drought. Luke 12:55

Vincent's Word Studies

Heat (καύσων)

See on James 1:11; and Matthew 20:12.

Discern (δοκιμάζειν)

See on trial and tried, 1 Peter 1:7. It means here test or prove. You can test and prove the weather by your signs; but you cannot apply the proof which lies in the signs of the times. Rev., interpret, gives the idea. Wyc., prove.