Luke 19:39

And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(39) And some of the Pharisees.—The comparative brevity of St. Luke’s description is more than compensated by the interest of the two narratives that follow, and which are found in his Gospel only. The section of the Pharisees that spoke was probably that which had all along more or less acknowledged our Lord as a “Master” (i.e., Teacher or Rabbi), and were willing to give Him what they thought a fair share of respect as such. To go beyond that, to receive Him as the promised “He that cometh,” as “the king of Israel, the Christ,” seemed to them but the wild frenzy of the disciples, which the Master ought to check.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:28-40 Christ has dominion over all creatures, and may use them as he pleases. He has all men's hearts both under his eye and in his hand. Christ's triumphs, and his disciples' joyful praises, vex proud Pharisees, who are enemies to him and to his kingdom. But Christ, as he despises the contempt of the proud, so he accepts the praises of the humble. Pharisees would silence the praises of Christ, but they cannot; for as God can out of stones raise up children unto Abraham, and turn the stony heart to himself, so he can bring praise out of the mouths of children. And what will be the feelings of men when the Lord returns in glory to judge the world!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 21:1-16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

38. Blessed be the King, &c.—Mark (Mr 11:9, 10) more fully, "Hosanna," that is, "Save now," the words of Ps 118:25, which were understood to refer to Messiah; and so they add, "to the Son of David, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord (Ps 118:26), Hosanna in the highest." This was the very loftiest style in which He could be saluted as the promised Deliverer.

peace, &c.—(See on [1702]Lu 2:13, 14).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 39,40. How peevish were these wretched Pharisees, to envy our Saviour this little triumph, of coming into the city upon an ass’s colt, with garments under him instead of a saddle, or any stately furniture and trappings, and attended by a company of poor people throwing their garments and boughs of trees in the way! Yet these they would have silenced. Our Saviour’s reply,

If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out, seemeth to have been a proverbial speech used amongst them, to signify a thing which could not be. This day was accomplished God’s decree in that particular passage of providence, concerning our Saviour, which could not be defeated.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude,.... Who had placed themselves there, to watch and observe what was said, and done, that they might have something to reproach Christ with, expose him for, or bring as a charge against him:

said unto him, master, rebuke thy disciples: not being able to bear such high encomiums of Jesus, and such open and public declarations of his being the Messiah; and would insinuate, that it was blasphemy in them to say what they did, and pride and vanity in him to allow of it; and that the consequence might be sedition, and tumult; and therefore it became him to check such a disorderly, noisy, evil, and dangerous practice.

Geneva Study Bible

{8} And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.

(8) When those linger who ought to preach and set forth the kingdom of God the most, he will extraordinarily raise up others in spite of them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 19:39 ff. Peculiar to Luke, and as far as Luke 19:44 taken from tradition.

ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου] from out of the multitude, among whom they found themselves.

ἐπιτίμησον] rebuke (this crying).

σιωπήσουσιν] (see the critical remarks) indicative after ἐάν, so that the meaning of ἄν clings wholly to the conditioning particle, and does not affect the verb: if these become silent. See Klotz, ad Devar. p. 474.

οἱ λίθοι κράξ.] The sense is: this outbreak of the divine praise is not to be restrained. Comp. Habakkuk 2:11; Servius, ad Virg. Ecl. v. 28; Chagiga, f. 16. 1 : “Ne dicas: quis testabitur contra me? Lapides domus ejus … testabuntur contra eum.” See also the passages in Wetstein.

Luke 19:41. ἐπʼ αὐτήν] over it, comp. Luke 23:28. The direction of the weeping to its object; in the classical writers with a simple accusative, also with ἐπί τινι (Revelation 18:11). Observe, further, the audible weeping of Jesus at the view of Jerusalem, not the silent δακρύειν as at the grave of Lazarus, John 11:35.

εἰ ἔγνως κ.τ.λ.] if only thou hadst known and, indeed, in this thy day, what belongs to thy salvation! Pathetic aposiopesis, and consequently an expression of the fruitlessness of the wish; comp. on Luke 22:42, and on John 6:62; Buttmann, Neut. Gr. p. 339 [E. T. 396]. Euthymius Zigabenus aptly says: εἰώθασι γὰρ οἱ κλαίοντες ἐπικόπτεσθαι τοὺς λόγους ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ πάθους σφοδρότητος. What served for the salvation of Jerusalem was the reception of Jesus as the Messiah.

καὶ σύ] as my μαθηταί.

καί γε] et quidem. See on Acts 2:18.

ἐν τῇ ἡμ. σου] i.e. in this day given to thee for thy deliverance. Comp. τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς σου, Luke 19:44; Psalm 118:24.

νῦν δέ] as, however, now the circumstances actually are, but thus; often thus since Homer after conditional clauses (John 8:40; 1 Corinthians 12:20).

ἐκρύβη] by divine decree; see John 12:37 ff.; Romans 11:7 f.

Luke 19:43. ὅτι ἥξουσιν κ.τ.λ.] ὅτι on does not introduce what has been concealed (this is rather τὰ πρὸς εἰρήνην σου), but it brings a prophetic confirmation of the νῦν δὲ κ.τ.λ. that has just been said: for there shall come (not tarry), etc. The certainty of this miserable future proves that what serves for thy salvation has become veiled from thine eyes. Following Lachmann, only a comma is to be placed before ὅτι. In what follows, observe the solemn five-fold repetition of καί in the affecting unperiodic discourse. The first takes the place of ὅτε (Luke 17:22, Luke 23:44; Romans 2:16; John 4:21; and see on Mark 15:25).

χάρακα] masculine: a palisaded wall, Polyb. i. 29. 3, viii. 34. 3, x. 39. 1, xviii. 1. 1. On χάρακα βάλλειν, see Plut. Aem. P. 17, Marcell. 18. As a feminine, it is limited by the grammarians to the signification of vine-prop, but see Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 61 f.

σοι] Comp. Xen. Mem. ii. 1. 14 : ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐρύματα περιβάλλονται. According to Herod. i. 163, and elsewhere, σέ might also be used. In the Jewish war the rampart was actually erected (hence Schenkel considers this point as vaticinium ex eventu), burnt up by the Jews, and replaced by Titus with a wall. See Joseph. v. 6. 2, v. 12. 2 ff.

συνέξουσι] keep close, see on Php 1:23.

Luke 19:44. ἐδαφιοῦσί σε] they shall level thee (Polyb. vi. 33. 6), i.e. make thee like to the ground. Comp. Amos 9:14; also κατασκάπτειν εἰς ἔδαφος, Thuc. iv. 109. 1. Comp. 3:68. 2. The following κ. τὰ τέκνα σ. ἐν σοί is added by a zeugma, so that now ἐδαφίζω has the signification, frequent in the LXX., to dash on the ground (Hosea 14:1; Nahum 3:10; Psalm 137:9). The children of the city are its inhabitants, Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34; Galatians 4:25. The city is figuratively regarded as a mother, hence τὰ τέκνα are not to be understood (Kuinoel) of the actual children (infantes).

τὸν καιρ. τ. ἐπισκ. σου] the time of the solicitude concerning thee, when God interested Himself for thee by means of the offer of the Messianic salvation through me. Comp. 1 Peter 2:12; Proverbs 29:13; Job 29:4; Wis 2:10; Wis 3:7; Sir 18:19; 3Ma 5:42, and thereon Grimm, ἐπισκοπή in itself is a vox media, and in the LXX. and Apocrypha (Wis 14:11; Wis 19:15

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 19:39-44. Pharisces murmur and Jesus weeps, peculiar to Lk.—ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου, from within the crowd, or on account of the crowd and what they had been saying = prae turba as in Luke 19:3. Loesner cites from Philo instances of the use of ἀπὸ in this sense (but in reference to Luke 19:3).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

39. Master, rebuke thy disciples] St Matthew puts into the mouth of “the Chief Priests and scribes” the ruder interpellation, “Hearest thou what these say?”

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 19:39. Φαρισαίων, of the Pharisees) Unseasonable interrupters. [Whatever is not common, and of an every-day kind, seems an excess to inflated and envious hypocrisy; but the Divine power knows of no opponent that can check it.—Harm., p. 445.]

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 39, 40. - And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. These Pharisees were probably some of that great and influential sect who had all along listened with respect and attention to the Master, looking upon him as a most able and powerful Rabbi, but refusing to entertain any of the growing Messianic conceptions respecting his person. Godet graphically paints the scene in his suggestion that the words, "Rebuke thy disciples," were accompanied with an irritated and anxious look towards the frowning citadel of Antonia, where the Roman garrison of Jerusalem lay. It was there in full view of Jesus and the crowds. The anxious look seemed to say that the Romans were on the watch for any signs of disaffection on the part of the hated and suspected Jews. The answer of Jesus, continues the same writer, has a terrible majesty. "If I could silence all these," looking round on the impassioned faces of the multitude as they waved their palm branches in homage to their King, "the very stones on the ground would cry aloud." This striking imagery was a memory of our Lord of the prophecy of Habakkuk: "The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it" (Habakkuk 2:11). Luke 19:39