Let your loins be girded about,.... With the girdle of truth, Ephesians 6:14 keeping close to the doctrines of the Gospel, abiding faithfully by them, even unto death: the allusion is either to the eating of the first passover, Exodus 12:11 or rather to servants, who, in these eastern countries, wore long garments; and therefore, when in business,...
And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord,.... Who either was at a wedding, or was the bridegroom himself; so be ye in a readiness, waiting for the coming of Christ, the bridegroom of the church: when he will return from the wedding, The Syriac version renders it, "from the house of feasting"; from any entertainment, or from the...
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord,.... The Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "their Lord", the master of them, or the Lord Jesus Christ: when he cometh shall find watching: for him, and not asleep. The Ethiopic version reads, "so doing, and watching"; girding up their loins, trimming their lamps, and waiting for their Lord's...
And if he shall come in the second watch,.... Of the night, that is, after nine o'clock, or any time between nine or twelve; for the second watch was from nine o'clock till twelve; and this was coming early from an entertainment, or a wedding, which were commonly kept in the night, and late; or come in the third watch, or after twelve o'clock, or...
And this know,.... The Ethiopic version reads, "this only know"; only take notice of this one thing, and it may be of some use to direct you in your conduct how to behave during the absence of your Lord, until the time he shall come again: that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come; that is, if the owner, or master...
Be ye therefore ready also,.... Not habitually, but actually, in the exercise of grace, and the discharge of duty, with loins girt, and lights burning. This may be understood either of a readiness to meet the Lord in the way of his judgments, and particularly the destruction of Jerusalem, which was to be in a few years; or of a preparation for...
Then Peter said unto him, Lord,.... The Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, "our Lord": speakest thou this parable: of the master at the wedding, and his servants waiting for him, or of the housekeeper watching that his house be not broken up, or both: unto us, or unto all? Peter was in doubt whether the above discourse was peculiarly...
And the Lord said, who then is that faithful and wise steward,.... Christ does not directly, and in express words, answer to Peter's question, but suggests, that though he intended it as a caution to all his people, and in it spoke to them all to be upon their watch and guard, Mr 13:37 yet that he had a special regard to them, his apostles, and...
Blessed is that servant,.... Who is faithful and wise, rules well, and discharges his trust with integrity, and disposes of the provisions of the house, in his hands, with great discretion and prudence: whom his Lord, when he cometh; to take vengeance on the wicked Jews, or by death, or at judgment: shall find so doing; behaving as a good ruler,...
Of a truth I say unto you,.... This, with Christ, was a strong way of asserting the truth of any thing; and the sense is, you may assure yourselves of it, this will certainly be the happy case of such servant: that he will make him ruler over all that he hath; as Joseph was made by Pharaoh. Such an one shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand...
But and if that servant say in his heart,.... Not the same servant before spoken of as a wise and faithful steward, that gives to all in the family the portion of meat in due season, and shall be found doing, and be made ruler over his master's goods but another, who also, as he, is made by his Lord ruler over his household, and is in a like post,...
The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him,.... For, not coming as was expected, he gives over looking, and concludes he will not come at all; in which he will find himself mistaken, for he will come in the very day which is appointed, though men know not of it, and do not look for it: and at an hour when he is not...
And that servant which knew his Lord's will,.... Not his secret, but his revealed will; the will of God, which lies in the declarations of his grace and mercy in the Gospel, and in the commands and ordinances expressed in his word; and which are the good, perfect, and acceptable will of God; the knowledge of which is necessary, in order to...
But he that knew not,.... His Lord's will; either not having the means of knowing it, as the Heathens; or through neglect of them, not attending to them, and making use of them, which is the case of many, where the Gospel revelation is: and did commit things worthy of stripes; or punishment; as the Gentiles, by sinning against the law, and light...
I am come to send fire on the earth,.... Meaning either the Gospel, which is as fire, that gives both light and heat, warms the hearts of God's people, and causes them to burn within them; though very distressing and torturing to wicked men; so the word of God is compared to fire, in Jeremiah 20:9. Or else zeal for it, and which would be opposed...
But I have a baptism to be baptized with,.... Not water baptism, for he had been baptized with that already; nor the baptism of the Spirit, which he had also received without measure; though the Ethiopic version reads it actively, "with which I shall baptize", referring doubtless to that; but the baptism of his sufferings is meant, which are...
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?.... To set up a temporal kingdom, in great pomp, and outward peace and tranquility? Christ came to make peace with God for men, and to give the Gospel of peace, and spiritual and eternal peace to men; but not external peace, especially that, which is not consistent with the preservation of truth: I...
For from henceforth there shall be five in one house,.... Which are the five following, mentioned in the next verse; the father and the son, the mother and the daughter, and her daughter-in-law, or son's wife; for the mother and mother-in-law are one and the same person, only standing in different relations; as a mother to her own daughter, and a...
The father shall be divided against the.... Shall oppose him, differ with him, and be alienated from him, and so the other relations as follow; [See comments on Matthew 10:35], [See comments on Matthew 10:36].
And he said also to the people,.... For what Christ had before said, were chiefly, if not solely, directed to his disciples; but now he turned himself to the innumerable multitude that were about him, and particularly addressed himself to the Scribes and Pharisees that were among them: when ye see a cloud rise out of the west; the watery vapours...