Comentarios bíblicos

CHAPTER 3

Luke 3:2. Instead of ἐπὶ ἀρχιερέως, Elz. has ἐπʼ ἀρχιερέων, in opposition to decisive evidence.

Luke 3:4. λέγοντος] is wanting in B D L Δ א, min. Copt. Arm. Vulg. It. Or. Eus. Condemned by Griesb., deleted by Rinck, Lachm. Tisch.; taken from Matthew 3:3.

Luke 3:5. εὐθεῖαν] B D Ξ, min. Vulg. It. Or. Ir. have εὐθείας. So Lachm. and Tisch. A mechanical repetition from Luke 3:4. The verse bears no trace of its having been altered to agree with the LXX.

Luke 3:10. ποιήσομεν] ποιήσωμεν, which Griesb. has recommended, and Scholz, Lachm. Tisch. have adopted, is here and at Luke 3:12; Luke 3:14 decisively attested.

Luke 3:14. The arrangement τί ποιήσωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς is, with Lachm. and Tisch., to be adopted, following B C* L א, min. Syr. Ar. Vulg. Rd. 3 :Brix. Colb.; καὶ ἡμεῖς was omitted, because καί follows again,—an omission which, moreover, the analogy of Luke 3:10; Luke 3:12 readily suggested,—and was afterwards restored in the wrong place (before τί ποιήσ.).

πρὸς αὐτούς] Lachm. has αὐτοῖς, following B C* D L Ξ, min. Vulg. It. The Recepta is a repetition from Luke 3:13.

Luke 3:17. καὶ διακαθαριεῖ] Tisch. has διακαθᾶραι, as also afterwards κ. συναγαγεῖν, on too weak attestation.

Luke 3:19. After γυναικός, Elz. has Φιλίππου, in opposition to decisive evidence.

Luke 3:22. λέγουσαν] is wanting in B D L א, Copt. Vulg. codd. of It. Ambr. Condemned by Griesb. and Rinck, deleted by Lachm. Tisch. Taken from Matthew 3:17. Comp. on Luke 3:4.

σὺ εἶ … ηὐδόκησα] D, Cant. 3 :Verc. Colb. Corb.* Rd. Clem. Method. Hilar. ap., also codd. in Augustine, have υἱός μου εἶ σὺ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε. An old (Justin, c. Tryph. 88) Ebionitic (Epiphan. Haer. xxx. 13) addition, which, echoing the expression in Acts 13:33, found its way into the narrative, especially in the case of Luke.

Luke 3:23. Many various readings, which, however, are not so well attested as to warrant a departure from the Received text (Lachm. and Tisch. have adopted ὢν υἱός, ὡς ἐνομίζετο, and Tisch. has ἀρχόμ. after Ἰησοῦς).

Luke 3:23 ff. Many variations in the writing of the proper names.

Luke 3:33. τοῦ Ἀράμ] Tisch. has τοῦ Ἀδμεὶν τοῦ Ἀρνεί, following B L X Γ א, Copt. Syrp. So also Ewald. Rightly; the Recepta is a correction in accordance with Matthew 1:4; 1 Chronicles 2:9.

Luke 3:1-2. As, on the one hand, Matthew 3:1 introduces the appearance of the Baptist without any definite note of time, only with ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις; so, on the other, Luke (“the first writer who frames the Gospel history into the great history of the world by giving precise dates,” Ewald), in fulfilment of his intention, Luke 1:3, gives for that highly important starting-point of the proclamation of the Gospel (“hic quasi scena N. T. panditur,” Bengel) a date specified by a sixfold reference to the history of the period, so as to indicate the emperor at Rome and the governors of Palestine, as well as the high priest of the time; namely—(1) in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Augustus, who was succeeded by his step-son Tiberius, died on the 19th August 767, or the fourteenth year of the era of Dionysius. See Suetonius, Octav. 100. Accordingly, it might appear doubtful whether Luke reckons the year 767 or the year 768 as the first; similarly, as Tiberius became co-regent at the end of 764, or in January 765 (Tacit. Ann. i. 3; Sueton. Tib. 20 f.; Velleius Paterculus, ii. 121), whether Luke begins to reckon from the commencment of the co-regency (Ussher, Voss, Pagius, Clericus, Sepp, Lichtenstein, Tischendorf, and others), or of the sole-government. Since, however, no indication is added which would lead us away from the mode of reckoning the years of the emperors usual among the Romans, and followed even by Josephus,[65] we must abide by the view that the fifteenth year in the passage before us is the year from the 19th August 781 to the same date 782. See also Anger, zur Chronologie d. Lehramtes Christi, I., Leipzig 1848; Ideler, Chronol. I. p. 418. Authentication from coins; Saulcy, Athen. français. 1855, p. 639 f.—(2) When Pontius Pilate (see on Matthew 27:2) was procurator of Judaea. He held office from the end of 778, or beginning of 779, until 789, in which year he was recalled after an administration of ten years; Joseph. Antt. xviii. 4. 2.—(3) When Herod was tetrarch of Galilee. Herod Antipas (see on Matthew 2:22; Matthew 14:1); this crafty, unprincipled man of the world became tetrarch after the death of his father Herod the Great in 750, and remained so until his deposition in 792.—(4) When Philip his brother was tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis. This paternal prince (see Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 45 f.) became prince in 750, and his reign lasted till his death in 786 or 787, Joseph. Antt. xviii. 4. 6. His government extended also over Batanaea and Auranitis, Joseph. Antt. xvii. 11. 4, as that of Herod Antipas also took in Peraea. For information as to Ituraea, the north-eastern province of Palestine (Münter, de rebus Ituraeor. 1824), and as to the neighbouring Trachonitis between the Antilibanus and the Arabian mountain ranges, see Winer, Realwört.—(5) When Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene. See especially, Hug, Gutacht. I. p. 119 ff.; Ebrard, p. 180 ff.; Wieseler, p. 174 ff.; Schweizer in the Theol. Jahrb. 1847, p. 1 ff. (who treats the chronology of Luke very unfairly); Wieseler in Herzog’s Encykl. I. p. 64ff.; Lichtenstein, p. 131 ff.; Bleek in loc. The Lysanias, son of Ptolemaeus, known from Josephus, Antt. xv. 4. 1; Dio Cass. 49. 32, as having been murdered by Antony at the instigation of Cleopatra in 718, cannot here be meant, unless Luke has perpetrated a gross chronological blunder; which latter case, indeed, Strauss, Gfrörer, B. Bauer, Hilgenfeld take for granted; while Valesius, on Eus. H. E. i. 10; Michaelis, Paulus,[66] Schneckenburger in the Stud. u. Krit. 1833, p. 1064, would mend matters uncritically enough by omitting τετραρχοῦντος (which is never omitted in Luke, see Tischendorf); and the remaining expression: ΚΑῚ Τῆς ΛΥΣΑΝΊΟΥ ἈΒΙΛΗΝῆς some have attempted to construe, others to guess at the meaning. After the murder of that older Lysanias who is mentioned as ruler of (ΔΥΝΑΣΤΕΎΩΝ) Chalcis, between Lebanon and Antilibanus (Joseph. Antt. xiv. 7. 4), Antony presented a great part of his possessions to Cleopatra (see Wieseler, p. 179), and she leased them to Herod. Soon afterwards Zenodorus received the lease of the οἶκος τοῦ Λυσανίου (Joseph. Antt. xv. 10. 1; Bell. Jud. i. 20. 4); but Augustus in 724 compelled him to give up a portion of his lands to Herod (Joseph. as above), who after the death of Zenodorus in 734 obtained the rest also, Antt. xv. 10. 3. After Herod’s death a part of the οἴκου τοῦ Ζηνοδώρου passed over to Philip (Antt. xvii. 11. 4; Bell. Jud. ii. 6. 3). It is consequently not to be proved that no portion of the territory of that older Lysanias remained in his family. This is rather to be assumed (Casaubon, Krebs, Süskind the elder, Kuinoel, Süskind the younger in the Stud. u. Krit. 1836, p. 431 ff.; Winer, and others), if it is supposed that Abilene also belonged to the principality of that elder Lysanias. But this supposition is itself deficient in proof, since Josephus designates the territory of the elder Lysanias as Chalcis (see above), and expressly distinguishes the kingdom of a later Lysanias, which Caligula (Antt. xviii. 6. 10) and Claudius bestowed on Agrippa I. (Antt. xix. 5. 1, xx. 7. 1; Bell. ii. 11. 5, ii. 12. 8) from the region of Chalcis (Bell. ii. 12. 8). But since Abila is first mentioned as belonging to the tetrarchy of this later Lysanias (Antt. xix. 5. 1), and since the kingdom of the elder Lysanias is nowhere designated a tetrarchy, although probably the territory of that younger one is so named,[67] it must be assumed that Josephus, when he mentions Ἄβιλαν τὴν Λυσανίου (Antt. xix. 5. 1), and speaks of a tetrarchy of Lysanias (Antt. xx. 7. 1; comp. Bell. ii. 11. 5, ii. 12. 8), still designates the region in question after that older Lysanias; but that before 790, when Caligula became emperor, a tetrarchy of a later Lysanias existed to which Abila[68] belonged, doubtless as his residence, whereas it is quite another question whether this latter Lysanias was a descendant or a relation of that elder one (see Krebs, Obss. p. 112). Thus the statement of Luke, by comparison with Josephus, instead of being shown to be erroneous, is confirmed.[69]—(6) When Annas was high priest, and Caiaphas. Comp. Acts 4:6. The reigning high priest at that time was Joseph, named Caiaphas (see on Matthew 26:3), who had been appointed by Valerius Gratus, the predecessor of Pontius Pilate, Joseph. Antt. xviii. 2, 2. His father-in-law Annas held the office of high priest some years before, until Valerius Gratus became procurator, when the office was taken away from him by the new governor, and conferred first on Ismael, then on Eleazar (a son of Annas), then on Simon, and after that on Caiaphas. See Josephus, l.c. This last continued in office from about 770 till 788 or 789. But Annas retained withal very weighty influence (John 18:12 ff.), so that not only did he, as did every one who had been ἀρχιερεύς, continue to be called by the name, but, moreover, he also partially discharged the functions of high priest. In this way we explain the certainly inaccurate expression of Luke (in which Lange, L. J. II. 1, p. 165, finds a touch of irony, an element surely quite foreign to the simply chronological context), informing the reader who may not be acquainted with the actual state of the case, that Annas was primarily and properly high priest, and next to him Caiaphas also. But according to Acts 4:6, Luke himself must have had this view, so that it must be conceded as a result that this expression is erroneous,—an error which, as it sprang from the predominating influence of Annas, was the more easily possible in proportion to the distance at which Luke stood from that time in which the high priests had changed so frequently; while Annas (whose son-in-law and five sons besides filled the office, Joseph. Antt. xx. 9. 1) was accustomed to keep his hand on the helm. To agree with the actual historical relation, Luke would have been obliged to write: ἐπὶ ἀρχιερέως Καϊάφα καὶ Ἄννα. Arbitrary shifts have been resorted to, such as: that at that period the two might have exchanged annually in the administration of the office (Beza, Chemnitz, Selden, Calovius, Hug, Friedlieb, Archäol. d. Leidensgesch. p. 73 ff.); that Annas was vicar (סגן, Lightfoot, p. 744 f.) of the high priest (so Scaliger, Casaubon, Grotius, Lightfoot, Reland, Wolf, Kuinoel, and others, comp. de Wette), which, however, is shown to be erroneous by his name being placed first; that he is here represented as princeps Synedrii (נשיא, Lightfoot, p. 746). So Selden, Saubert, Hammond, and recently Wieseler, Chronol. Synopse, p. 186 ff., and in Herzog’s Encykl. I. p. 354. But as ἀρχιερεύς nowhere of itself means president of the Sanhedrim, but in every case nothing else than chief priest, it can in this place especially be taken only in this signification, since ΚΑῚ ΚΑΪΆΦΑ stands alongside. If Luke had intended to say: “under the president Annas and the high priest Caiaphas,” he could not have comprehended these distinct offices, as they were at that time actually distinguished (which Selden has abundantly proved), under the one term ἈΡΧΙΕΡΈΩς. Even in Luke 22:54, ἈΡΧΙΕΡ. is to be understood of Annas.

ἘΓΈΝΕΤΟ ῬῆΜΑ ΘΕΟῦ Κ.Τ.Λ.] Comp. Jeremiah 1:2; Isaiah 38:4 f. From this, as from the following ΚΑῚ ἮΛΘΕΝ Κ.Τ.Λ., Luke 3:3, it is plainly manifest that Luke by his chronological statements at Luke 3:1-2 intends to fix the date of nothing else than the calling and first appearance of John, not the year of the death of Jesus (Sanclemente and many of the Fathers, who, following Luke 4:19, comp. Isaiah 61:1 ff., erroneously ascribe to Jesus only one year of his official ministry), but also not of a second appearance of the Baptist and his imprisonment (Wieseler[70]), or of his beheading (Schegg). The mention of the imprisonment, Luke 3:19-20, is rather to be regarded only as a digression, as the continuance of the history proves (Luke 3:21). The first appearance of John, however, was important enough to have its chronology fixed, since it was regarded as the ἈΡΧῊ ΤΟῦ ΕὐΑΓΓΕΛΊΟΥ (Mark 1:1). It was the epoch of the commencement of the work of Jesus Himself (comp. Acts 1:22; Acts 10:37; Acts 13:24), and hence Luke, having arrived at this threshold of the Gospel history, Luke 3:22, when Jesus is baptized by John, makes at this point a preliminary pause, and closes the first section of the first division of his book with the genealogical register, Luke 3:23 ff., in order to relate next the Messianic ministry of Jesus, ch. 4 ff.

[65] Also Antt. xviii. 6. 10, where σχὼν αὐτὸς τὴν ἀρχήν does not refer back to an earlier co-regency of Tiberius, so that αὐτός would be equivalent to μόνος; but this αὐτός indicates simply a contrast betweeen him and Caius, who had been nominated his successor.

[66] In his Commentary. But in his Exeget. Handb. he acquiesces in the text as it stands, and forces upon it, contrary to the letter, the meaning: when Philip the tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis was also tetrarch over Abilene of Lysanias. Thus, indeed, the former old Lysanias would also here be meant.

[67] Of whom, therefore, we have to think even in respect of the Greek inscription which Pococke (Morgenl. II. § 177) found at Nebi Abel (the ancient Abila), and in which Lysanias is mentioned as tetrareh. Comp. Böckh, Inscr. 4521, 4523.

[68] It was situated in the region of the Lebanon, eighteen miles north from Damascus, and thirty-eight miles south from Heliopolis. Ptolem. v. 18; Anton. Itiner.; Ritter, Erdk. XV. p. 1060. To be distinguished from Abila in Decapolis, and other places of this name (Joseph, v. 1. 1; Bell. ii. 13. 2, iv. 7. 5).

[69] It is, however, altogether precarious with Lichtenstein, following Hofmann, to gather from the passage before us a proof that Luke did not write till after the destruction of Jerusalem, because, namely, after that crumbling to pieces of the Herodian territories, no further interest would be felt in discovering to whom Abilene belonged at the time of Tiberius. But why not? Not even a chronological interest?

[70] See in opposition to Wieseler, Ebrard, p. 187; Lichtenstein, p. 137 ff.

Luke 3:3. See on Matthew 3:1 f.; Mark 1:4.

περίχωρον τοῦ Ἰορδ.] Matthew and Mark have ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. There is no discrepancy; for the apparent discrepancy vanishes with ἦλθε in Luke, compared with the narrative of the baptism in Matthew and Mark.

Luke 3:4-6. See on Matthew 3:3. Luke continues the quotation of Isaiah 40:3 down to the end of Luke 3:5, following the LXX. freely. The appeal to this prophetic oracle was one of the commonplaces of the evangelic tradition in respect of the history of John, and betokens therefore, even in Luke, no special source; he only gives it—unless a Pauline purpose is to be attributed to his words (Holtzmann)—more fully than Matthew, Mark, and John (Luke 1:23).

In ὡς γέγραπται the same thing is implied that Matthew expresses by οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ῥηθείς.

φάραγξ] Ravine, Thuc. ii. 67. 4; Dem. 793. 6; Polyb. vii. 15. 8; Jdt 2:8. This and the following particulars were types of the moral obstacles which were to be removed by the repentance demanded by John for the restoration of the people well prepared for the reception of the Messiah (Luke 1:17). There is much arbitrary trifling on the part of the Fathers and others in interpreting[71] the particulars of this passage.

The futures are not imperative in force, but declare what will happen in consequence of the command, ἑτοιμάσατε κ.τ.λ. Καὶ ὄψεται κ.τ.λ. ought to have guarded against the taking the expressions imperatively.

On the use of the Cyrenaic (Herod. iv. 199) word ΒΟΥΝΌς, hill, in Greek, see Schweighäuser, Lex. Herod. I. p. 125 f.; Sturz, Dial. Al. p. 154; Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 356.

εἰς εὐθεῖαν] scil. ὁδόν. See Lobeck, Paralip. p. 363; Winer, p. 521 [E. T. 738 f.].

αἱ τραχεῖαι] scil. ὁδοί, from what follows, the rough, uneven ways.

λείας] smooth. Comp. Xen. Mem. iii. 10. 1 : τὰ τραχέα καὶ τὰ λεῖα.

τὸ σωτήρ. τ. Θεοῦ] See on Luke 2:30. It is an addition of the LXX. The salvation of God is the Messianic salvation which will appear in and with the advent of the Messiah before all eyes (ὄψεται πᾶσα σάρξ). As to ΠᾶΣΑ ΣΆΡΞ, all flesh, designating men according to their need of deliverance, and pointing to the universal destination of God’s salvation, see on Acts 2:16.

[71] Well says Grotius: “Nimirum est anxia eorum περιεργία, qui in dictis ἀλληγορουμένοις singulas partes minutatim excutiunt … cum satis sit in re tota comparationem intelligi.”

Luke 3:7-9. See on Matthew 3:7-10.

ὄχλοις] Kuinoel erroneously says: “Pharisaei et Sadducaei.” See rather on Matthew 3:7.[72]

ἐκπορ.] the present. The people are represented as still on their way.

ΟὖΝ] since otherwise you cannot escape the wrath to come.

ΚΑῚ ΜῊ ἌΡΞΗΣΘΕ Κ.Τ.Λ.] and begin not to think, do not allow yourselves to fancy! do not dispose yourselves to the thought! “Omnem excusationis etiam conatum praecidit,” Bengel. Bornemann explains as though the words were καὶ μὴ πάλιν (he likens it to the German expression, “das alte Lied anfangen”); and Fritzsche, ad Matth. p. 540, as if it meant καὶ μηδέ, ne quidem. Comp. also Bengel.

[72] The generalization proves nothing on behalf of Luke’s having been ignorant of our Matthew (Weiss). From such individual instances an easy argument is drawn, but with great uncertainty, especially as Luke knew and made use of a multitude of evangelistic sources of which we know nothing.

Luke 3:10-11. Special instructions on duty as far as Luke 3:14 peculiar to Luke, and taken from an unknown source.

οὖν] in pursuance of what was said Luke 3:7-9.

ποιήσωμεν] (see the critical remarks) is deliberative. On the question itself, comp. Acts 2:37; Acts 16:30.

μεταδότω] namely, a χιτών.

ὁ ἔχων βρώματα] not: “qui cibis abundat,” Kuinoel, following older commentators. The demand of the stern preacher of repentance is greater; it is that of self-denying love, as it is perfected from the mouth of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

Luke 3:12-13. Τελῶναι] See on Matthew 5:46.

παρὰ τὸ διατεταγμ. ὑμῖν] over and above what is prescribed to you (to demand in payment). See Winer, p. 215 [E. T. 300 f.]. The unrighteousness and the exactions of those who farmed the taxes are well known. See Paulus, Exeget. Handb. I. p. 353 f. On πράσσειν, to demand payment, to exact, see Blomfield, Gloss. ad Aesch. Pers. 482; Krüger, ad Xen. Anab. vii. 6. 17.

Luke 3:14. Στρατευόμενοι] those who were engaged in military service, an idea less extensive than στρατιῶται. See the passages in Wetstein. Historically, it is not to be more precisely defined. See references in regard to Jewish military service in Grotius. According to Michaelis, there were Thracians, Germans, and Galatians in the service of Herod in his war against Aretas; but this war was later, and certainly Jewish soldiers are meant. According to Ewald: soldiers who were chiefly engaged in police inspection, e.g. in connection with the customs.

καὶ ἡμεῖς] we also. They expect an injunction similar (καί) to that which the publicans received.

διασείειν] to do violence to, is used by later writers of exactions by threats and other kinds of annoyance (to lay under contribution), as concutere. Comp. 3Ma 7:21; see Wetstein, and Schneider, ad Xen. Mem. ii. 9. 1.

συκοφαντεῖν, in its primitive meaning, although no longer occurring in this sense, is to be a fig-shower. According to the usual view (yet see in general, Ast, ad Plat. Rep. p. 362; Westermann, ad Plut. Sol. 24), it was applied to one who denounced for punishment those who transgressed the prohibition of the export of figs from Attica. According to the actual usage, it means to denounce falsely, to traduce, and, as in this place, to be guilty of chicane. It is often thus used also in the Greek writers. See Rettig in the Stud. u. Krit. 1838, p. 775 ff.; Becker, Char. I. p. 289 ff. Πονηρὸν, πονηρὸν ὁ συκοφάντης ἀεὶ καὶ βάσκανον, Dem. 307. 23; Herbst, ad Xen. Symp. iv. 30, p. 79 f.