of God fell upon them for the full measure. In the judgments of God, no man is punished merely because he comes of a wicked generation. Hezekiah was one of the best kings of Judah. God blessed him in all things; and yet he was the son of the monster Ahaz. Josiah was the son of the fierce idolator Amon, "and like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses.”—II. Kings, XXIII. 24. When, therefore, we read of generations receiving the punishment of preceding generations, it must be taken in the sense that they commit the crimes of the preceding generations. Their forefathers treasured up the wrath of God, and they by their similar crimes fall heir to this inheritance. Moreover, we must bear in mind that the Lord is here speaking of temporal punishment. He is speaking of the national calamities that befell Jerusalem, its siege and destruction by the Romans. In such conception, the whole nation in all the stages of its history is considered as a moral person, who continues a sinful course until the cup is full, and God strikes. Thus before the Babylonian captivity, God sent many prophets to warn Israel to turn from its evil way. God waited through many wicked generations till the cup was full, and then the whole nation was involved in the ruin. There were just men in Judah, but they could not avert the fall of the nation. Of course, considered as individuals, men are only responsible to God for their personal guilt; but all the men of a nation are involved in the national calamity that comes in consequence of an evil general condition of society. Neither does this conflict with God's justice, for the good are safe in his hands; and although they pass through the temporal affliction, it is only a transition unto salvation, and to the reward of their righteousIn that better order of things, to which we are tending, the adjustment is rightly made.

ness.

The lawyers stood to the people in the relation of expounders of the Law. The common people looked to them to know the sense of God's message. By profession, they held the keys of the storehouse of divine knowledge. The greater the office entrusted to one, the greater the sin of unfaithfulness in that office. The lawyers of Israel were unfaithful to their high

trust. They should have led the people through the law to Christ; but instead of that, they closed the door of the storehouse of the knowledge of the Messiah both against themselves and against others. Their crime was not mere negligence; it was a positive malicious opposition to the greatest of truths. Their sin was twofold: they themselves rejected Christ, and they prevented others from finding him. Their sin is represented under the metaphor of a man having the key to some necessary store, who enters not in to use that which is within, nor allows any other one to enter.

The sectaries already cherished an intense hatred against Jesus. His present public rebuke of them served to increase this hatred; and they insidiously strove to draw from him some statement upon which they might formulate a charge against him.

LUKE XII. 1-12

I. In the mean time, when the many thousands of the multitude were gathered together, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all: Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

2. But there is nothing covered up, that shall not be revealed: and hid, that shall not be known.

3. Wherefore whatsoever ye have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light; and what ye have spoken in the ear in the inner chambers shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

4. And I say unto you my friends: Be not afraid of them who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

I. Ἐν οἷς ἐπισυναχθεισῶν τῶν μυριάδων τοῦ ὄχλου, ὥστε καταπατεῖν ἀλλήλους, ἤρξατο λέγειν πρὸς τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ πρῶτον: Προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ζύμης ἥτις ἐστὶν ὑπόκρισις τῶν Φαρισαίων.

2. Οὐδὲν δὲ συγκεκαλυμμένον ἐστὶν, ὃ οὐκ ἀποκαλυφθήσεται: καὶ κρυπτόν, ὃ οὐ γνωσθήσεται.

3. ̓Ανθ ̓ ὧν ὅσα ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ εἴπατε, ἐν τῷ φωτὶ ἀκουσθήσεται, καὶ ὃ πρὸς τὸ οὓς ἐλαλήσατε ἐν τοῖς ταμείοις, κηρυχθήσεται ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων.

4. Λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν τοῖς φίλοις μου: Μή φοβηθῆτε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτεινόντων τὸ σῶμα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα μὴ ἐχόντων περισσότερόν τι ποιῆσαι.

In the seventh verse ovv is omitted before poßeiode in the best authorities.

The present passage of Luke is in large part identical with Matthew, Χ. 26-33. Hence the exposition thereof has been

made in our Second Volume. The tenth verse has been treated in the commentary on Matthew, XII. 31-32 of the present Volume.

To explain the identity of these passages, and, at the same time, the diversity of their context in the two Evangelists, two theories are open to us. Either one identical discourse of Jesus has been differently ordered by the Evangelists: or Jesus. delivered substantially the same discourse on different occasions. Both theories are tenable, although the second seems the more probable.

What Jesus here says of the leaven of the Pharisees is identical with Matthew, XVI. 6, and has been explained in our Second Volume.

The term πρτov, first of all, here employed indicates that Jesus directed his discourse first to his disciples.

We believe that the present discourse of Jesus has the same sense as that which we have already treated in Matthew. The Apostles are being prepared for their mission, and are cautioned against the characteristic defect of the teachers of Israel. And then they are encouraged by the declaration that the message which they are to teach men is inevitable.

A full treatment of the first ten verses of the present passage has been given in the places indicated. The eleventh and twelfth verses correspond to Matthew, X. 17-20, and are explained in Volume Second.

LUKE XII. 13-21

13. And one out of the multitude said unto him: Master, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.

14. But he said unto him: Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?

15. And he said unto them: Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

13. Εἶπεν δέ τις ἐκ τοῦ ὄχλου αὐτῷ: Διδάσκαλε, εἰπὲ τῷ ἀδελφῷ μου μερίσασθαι μετ ̓ ἐμοῦ τὴν κλη ρονομίαν.

14 Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῷ: Αν O θρωπε, τίς με κατέστησεν κριτὴν ἢ μεριστὴν ἐπ ̓ ὑμᾶς;

15. Εἶπεν δὲ πρὸς αὐτούς: Ορᾶτε καὶ φυλάσσεσθε ἀπὸ πάτης πλεονεξίας: ὅτι οὐκ ἐν τῷ περισσεύειν τινὶ ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ ἐστὶν ἐκ τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ.

16. And he spoke a parable unto them, saying: The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

17. And he reasoned within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have not where to bestow my fruits?

18. And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my bars, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my corn and my goods.

19. And I will say unto my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry.

20. But God said unto him: Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

21.

16. Εἶπεν δὲ παραβολὴν πρὸς αὐτοὺς, λέγων: ̓Ανθρώπου τινὸς πλουσίου εὐφόρησεν ἡ χώρα.

17. Καὶ διελογίζετο ἐν αὐτῷ λέγων: Τί ποιήσω, ὅτι οὐκ ἔχω ποῦ συνάξω τοὺς καρπούς μου;

18. Καὶ εἶπεν: Τοῦτο ποιήσω : καθελώ μου τὰς ἀποθήκας, καὶ μείζονας οἰκοδομήσω, καὶ συνάξω ἐκεῖ πάντα τὸν σίτον, καὶ τὰ ἀγαθά μου.

19. Καὶ ἐρῶ τῇ ψυχῇ μου: Ψυχή, ἔχεις πολλὰ ἀγαθὰ κείμενα εἰς ἔτη πολλά: ἀναπαύου, φάγε, πίε, εὐφραίνου.

20. Εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός: "Αφρον, ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ τὴν ψυχήν σου αἰτοῦσιν ἀπὸ σοῦ: ἃ δὲ ἡτοίμασας, τίνι ἔσται;

21. Οὕτως ὁ θησαυρίζων αὐτῷ, καὶ μὴ εἰς Θεὸν πλουτῶν.

In the fourteenth verse N, B, D and L have κριτήν: others have δικαστήν. In the nineteenth verse the Vulgate has followed the reading τὰ γεννήματα, but the reading τὸν σῖτον is found in, B, L, X, et al. This latter reading has also the endorsement of the Sahidic, Coptic, Armenian, and Ethiopian versions.

This is the first recorded instance in the Lord's life on earth that he refused to grant an honest request. He had been asked to heal the sick, to give sight to the blind, even to raise the dead, and had never refused. There must therefore be some deep reason for his present refusal. And we find this reason in the fact that he was asked to mediate in a merely temporal affair.

In Deuteronomy it was established that the firstborn should receive a double portion of the father's estate. The