Luke 17:36

Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:20-37 The kingdom of God was among the Jews, or rather within some of them. It was a spiritual kingdom, set up in the heart by the power of Divine grace. Observe how it had been with sinners formerly, and in what state the judgments of God, which they had been warned of, found them. Here is shown what a dreadful surprise this destruction will be to the secure and sensual. Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. When Christ came to destroy the Jewish nation by the Roman armies, that nation was found in such a state of false security as is here spoken of. In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, sinners will be found altogether regardless; for in like manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, and remember not their latter end. But wherever the wicked are, who are marked for eternal ruin, they shall be found by the judgments of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 24:40-41.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

34. two in one bed—the prepared and unprepared mingled in closest intercourse together in the ordinary walks and fellowships of life, when the moment of severance arrives. Awful truth! realized before the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Christians found themselves forced by their Lord's directions (Lu 21:21) at once and for ever away from their old associates; but most of all when the second coming of Christ shall burst upon a heedless world.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 17:34"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Two men shall be in the field,.... At work there, tilling the ground, or sowing the seed in it, or reaping the corn; which of them soever was the work of the field, at the time of Jerusalem's destruction:

the one shall be taken, and the other left: the circumstances attending these several, instances show, that they cannot be considered as expressive of the use and effect of the preaching of the Gospel, that being the savour of life unto life to some, and the savour of death unto death to others, some being effectually called by it, and others being left to die in their sins; since these men and women are said to be either in a bed asleep, or on a couch feasting, or grinding in a mill, or at work in the field, and so not in proper places, and at leisure to hear the Gospel preached. The whole verse is left out in the Ethiopic version, and in some Greek copies; though it is in the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions, and in the Complutensian edition, and in some ancient copies, as Beza observes.

Geneva Study Bible

Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

36. Two men shall be in the field] This verse is of more than doubtful authenticity in this place, being omitted by nearly all the important MSS. It is probably interpolated from Matthew 24:40.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 17:36. Δύο ἔσονται ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ, κ.τ.λ.) Very ancient authorities exhibit this versicle in Luke also, as well as in Matt. (Luke 24:40). Moreover, that it was not transferred here from Matthew, is evident from the difference of the words in Luke, as compared with those in Matthew, as also from the different order of the versicles in each Evangelist. [This is the reason for the change of the opinion which is found in the larger Ed. For both the margin of the Ed. 2 and of the Vers. Germ., following the example of the Gnomon, receive that clause concerning the two men in the field.—E. B.] Matthew has two paragraphs, viz. the one concerning the field, and that concerning the grinding at the mill: Luke adds a third, concerning the two men in one bed: just as on another occasion Matthew has two paragraphs concerning ‘following’ Jesus Christ, ch. Luke 8:19-20; to which Luke adds a third, ch. Luke 9:61-62 [“Let me first go bid them farewell which are at home—No man having put his hand to the plough,” etc.]. So likewise the former Evangelist has two paragraphs or clauses, viz. concerning ‘bread,’ and concerning “a fish,” ch. Luke 7:9-10 : the latter Evangelist adds a third, viz. that concerning an ‘egg’, ch. Luke 11:12.[194]

[194] Dabc Vulg. Syr. support Luke 17:36 here in Luke 17. But ABQ, and most Uncial MSS. and Memph. Version, omit it.—E. and T.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 36 is wanting in nearly all the oldest authorities. It was subsequently inserted in this place by copyists from Matthew 24:40 - a passage in which much of the imagery here used was repeated by the Master. In one important feature this discourse differs from that delivered at Jerusalem a little later, and reported at length by St. Matthew in his twenty-fourth chapter. There is no reference here (in St. Luke) to the siege of Jerusalem; the whole teaching is purely teleological, and deals exclusively with what will take place at the close of this age. Luke 17:36