Luke 13:28

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28, 29) There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.—See Notes on Matthew 8:11-12; but notice, as an interesting variation, the addition of the “prophets” to the names of the three patriarchs.

Benson Commentary

Luke 13:28-30. There shall be weeping, &c. — Here he repeats what he had said when he commended the centurion’s faith. See on Matthew 8:11-12. As if he said, How little soever you may now regard it, the awful word, Depart from me, &c., will wound you to the heart, and throw you into agonies of everlasting despair, attended with the bitterest weeping and gnashing of teeth — For madness and rage; when you shall see Abraham, &c. — Your holy ancestors; and all the prophets — Of the succeeding ages; in the kingdom of God — Actually possessed of God’s kingdom of glory; and shall find yourselves thrust out — Rejected and excluded with just contempt and indignation. And they shall come from the east, &c. — From the most distant heathen lands; and shall sit down in the kingdom of God — In rejoicing and admiring multitudes, to partake of the heavenly banquet with your pious ancestors, while you are utterly and for ever excluded from it. Here, therefore, as well as in Matthew, our Lord plainly affirms that many others, besides Jews, shall be saved. And there are last — There are many who are now last in point of religious advantages, that shall then be first in honour and happiness; and there are first, &c. — Many who now appear first in the enjoyment of privileges, which, on account of the abuse thereof, shall be last — Shall appear as the most infamous and miserable of mankind. See on Matthew 19:30; Matthew 20:16.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:23-30 Our Saviour came to guide men's consciences, not to gratify their curiosity. Ask not, How many shall be saved? But, Shall I be one of them? Not, What shall become of such and such? But, What shall I do, and what will become of me? Strive to enter in at the strait gate. This is directed to each of us; it is, Strive ye. All that will be saved, must enter in at the strait gate, must undergo a change of the whole man. Those that would enter in, must strive to enter. Here are awakening considerations, to enforce this exhortation. Oh that we may be all awakened by them! They answer the question, Are there few that shall be saved? But let none despond either as to themselves or others, for there are last who shall be first, and first who shall be last. If we reach heaven, we shall meet many there whom we little thought to meet, and miss many whom we expected to find.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 8:11-12.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28, 29. (See Mt 8:11, 12). Also see on [1663]Mt 13:42.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 28,29. We have the same Matthew 8:11,12, only he saith only from the east and west: See Poole on "Matthew 8:11", See Poole on "Matthew 8:12".

Weeping and gnashing of teeth, are usual expressions by which the pains of the damned are expressed, especially by the evangelist Matthew, Matthew 8:12 Matthew 13:42,50 22:13 24:51 25:30. One cause of this vexation of spirit, expressed under this notion, is the Jews’ sight of the rest and happiness that their relations, nay, some to whom they upon earth were enemies, should enjoy in heaven; nay, which some which were heathens should enjoy there; whereas they, who took themselves to be the only church, and to have the same right to the kingdom of heaven that children have to the inheritances of their fathers, should be cast out, as having no portion there.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,.... See Gill on Matthew 8:12. This will be upon hearing the above sentence and character, "depart from me", &c. and will be increased,

when ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: whose offspring they were, and to whom they stood related according to the flesh; and of descent, from whom they boasted, and even trusted in it, thinking themselves the favourites of heaven, and expecting to be admitted into the kingdom of God, on account of it: sad will be the disappointment of such persons; a being born of religious parents, will neither give right unto, nor meetness for eternal glory; regeneration is not of blood:

and all the prophets in the kingdom of God; whose prophecies were transmitted to them, and whose books they had in their hands, and read; and who desired to see and hear what they did, and which they now plead, and yet they did not enjoy, but were nevertheless happy: and

you yourselves thrust out: with indignation and contempt, with shame and "ignominy", as the Persic version adds; not suffered to go in with them, though their sons and successors; but bid to depart, and ordered to be for ever separated from them, as only fit company for devils and damned spirits.

Geneva Study Bible

{8} There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

(8) The casting off of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles is foretold.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 13:28-29. Comp. on Matthew 8:11 f. The words of Jesus.

ἐκεῖ] there, in the place to which ye shall thus be turned away. For the most part it is understood temporally, ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ Euthymius Zigabenus. Rarely thus in the classical writers (Soph. Phil. 394; Bornemann, Schol. p. 90 f.), but never (yet comp. ἐκεῖθεν, Acts 13:21) in the New Testament; and here the context points definitely by ἀπόστητε ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ to the well-known locality, as, moreover, the standing type of this formula sanctioned by use (Matthew 13:42; Matthew 13:50; Matthew 22:13; Matthew 24:51; Matthew 25:30) with ἐκεῖ leads one to think only of that locality.

ὅταν ὄψησθε] What contrasts! They saw the patriarchs and prophets established in the kingdom, but in themselves experience the sense of being cast out, and instead of them come heathens from the east and west, etc. On the subjunctive form ὄψησθε, see Buttmann, Neut. Gr. p. 31 [E. T. 36].

Ἀβρ. κ. Ἰσ. κ. Ἰακώβ] Comp. Matthew 8:11. The Marcionite reading πάντας τοὺς δικαίους is an intentional removal of the patriarchs (Volkmar, comp, Zeller, Apostelg. p. 17). It was not original, so that the canonical reading cannot be said to have been introduced in accordance with Matt. l.c., or in opposition to Marcion’s views (Hilgenfeld, Baur).

ἐκβαλλομ. ἔξω] agrees with the figure, although the persons concerned are not admitted at all; for they are members of the family, and as such, i.e. as originally belonging to the theocratic community of the patriarchs and prophets, they are by their rejection practically ἐκβαλλόμενοι ἔξω. The present tense is justifiable, since the ὁρᾶν κ.τ.λ. at the time of the ἔσται ἡ κλαυθμός will be already past. Hence: if ye shall have seen yourselves as such, become (not are) the cast out. After they shall have seen this measure carried out, they shall be in hell, where there shall be weeping, etc.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 13:28-30. Concluding reflections.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. weeping and gnashing of teeth] The signs respectively of anguish and of rage (Acts 7:54).

Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob] Marcion, always anxious to disown the Old Testament, altered this into “all the just.”

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 13:28. Ἐκεῖ, there) in that place, to which ye shall be commanded to depart. [See that thou dost in due time reflect on that a “terror of the Lord,” lest hereafter thou shouldest in actual fact be forced to know it by bitter experience.—V. g.]—ὄψησθε) when ye shall see, but not taste [their blessedness]. A sight full of misery. See ch. Luke 16:23. The ungodly, on the contrary, shall be a festive sight to the saints:[132] Isaiah 66:23-24.—Ἀβραὰμ, Abraham) The patriarchs and all the prophets looked to Christ; and whosoever do not follow their faith, shall not recline at the heavenly feast with them.—πάντας, all) All the prophets were saints. The Jews used to boast themselves of these, though their fathers had rejected them. There is here, as also in Luke 13:29, a softening down of the apprehension which the ‘fewness’ of the saved might create: see Luke 13:23.—βασιλείᾳ, the kingdom) Luke 13:29.—ἐκβαλλομένους, persons who are being cast out) The Present. The weeping shall forthwith begin.

[132] “They shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me, for their worm shall not die,” etc. Their will shall be so entirely one with God’s, that they shall rejoice in the destruction and punishment of God’s enemies; Revelation 14:10, at the end, Luke 11:17-18, Luke 15:3-4, Luke 18:20.—ED. and TRANSL.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. No less than six times is this terrible formula, which expresses the intensest form of anguish, found in St. Matthew's Gospel. St. Luke only gives us the account of one occasion on which they were spoken. They indicate, as far as merely earthly words and symbols can, the utter misery of those unhappy ones who find themselves shut out from the kingdom in the world to come. "Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob." In his revision of St. Luke's Gospel, Marcion, the famous Gnostic heretic, in place of these names, which he strikes out, inserts "all the just." He did this with a view to lower the value of the Old Testament records. Luke 13:28