Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 1:51
He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
51. with his arm ] “Thou hast a mighty arm,” Psa 89:13. The nearest parallel to the remainder of the verse is Job 5:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hath showed strength with his arm – The arm is the symbol of strength. The expression in this and the subsequent verses has no particular reference to his mercy to Mary. From a contemplation of His goodness to her, she enlarges her views to a contemplation of His goodness and power in general, and to a celebration of the praises of God for all that he has done to all people. This is the nature of true piety. It does not terminate in thinking of Gods mercy toward ourselves. It thinks of others, and praises God that others also are made partakers of His mercy, and that His goodness is manifested to all His works.
He scattereth the proud – He hath often done it in time of battle and war. When the proud Assyrian, Egyptian, or Babylonian had come against the people of God, He had often scattered them and driven away their armies.
In the imagination of their hearts – Those who were lifted up or exalted in their own view. Those who thought themselves to be superior to other men.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 51. He hath showed strength] Or, He hath gained the victory, . The word is used for victory, by Homer, Hesiod, Sophocles, Euripides, and others.
With his arm] Grotius has well observed, that God’s efficacy is represented by his finger, his great power by his hand, and his omnipotence by his arm. The plague of lice was the finger of God, Ex 7:18. The plagues in general were wrought by his hand, Ex 3:20, And the destruction of Pharaoh’s host in the Red Sea, which was effected by the omnipotence of God, is called the act of his arm, Ex 15:16.
He hath scattered] , hath scattered abroad; as a whirlwind scatters dust and chaff.
The proud] Or haughty, ; from above, and I show – the haughty men, who wish to be noticed in preference to all others, and feel sovereign contempt for all but themselves. These God scatters abroad-instead of being in his sight, as in their own, the most excellent of the earth, he treats them as straw, stubble, chaff, and dust.
In the imagination of their hearts.] While they are forming their insolent, proud, and oppressive projects – laying their plans, and imagining that accomplishment and success are waiting at their right hand, the whirlwind of God’s displeasure blows, and they and their machinations are dissipated together.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In these verses the virgin celebrates both the power and justice of God, as she before had done his holiness, and his mercy and goodness. The strength of a man is much seen in the effects of his arm; hence God, who hath no such parts as we have, is yet spoken of as if he had an arm, by which no more is signified than a mighty power, by which he bringeth things to pass; Exo 15:16; Psa 89:13; 98:1; Isa 40:10; so in many other texts.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Jethro, Exo 18:11, knew that the Lord was above all gods, because in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.
The proud in Scripture often signifies wicked men, as the humble signifies good and holy men; but proud, in a strict sense, signifieth men that have a high opinion of themselves: now there is nothing that a proud man dealeth more proudly in, than in following the imaginations of his own heart. There (saith Mary) God scattereth them, turning their counsels into folly, and confounding them in their own imaginations.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats: thus he did by Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, &c.: he pulls down some, and sets up others. Promotion is not from the east, nor from the west.
And exalted them of low degree: this is Gods way; thus he exalted Moses, Joseph, Jacob, David. God thus showeth his mighty power and superintendency upon mens affairs. He doth what he pleaseth with men, yet what he doth is infinitely wise, just, and good.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
He hath showed strength with his arm,…. Of almighty power, in the business of the incarnation, and in working out salvation for his people; which is done by his own arm, he being mighty to save, and travelling in the greatness of his strength; see
Isa 63:1.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts; whom he always resists, and both in providence and grace, takes such methods, as tend to humble and confound them: here particularly, it may regard the proud and haughty Jews; who imagined nothing less, than that the Messiah would be born of one of the rich and noble families in Judea; that he would appear as a temporal prince, and set up a temporal kingdom in great state and splendour, and make them a free and flourishing people: when instead of this, he was to be born of a poor virgin, of whom they disdainfully say, is not his mother called Mary? who was of Nazareth in Galilee, of which it is said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? or any good thing out of Nazareth? A virgin betrothed to a carpenter, and her son of that business also, with which both were flouted; and because of this meanness, the Messiah was rejected by them; and thus were they scattered and confounded in their imaginations.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Showed strength ( ). “Made might” (Wycliff). A Hebrew conception as in Ps 118:15. Plummer notes six aorist indicatives in this sentence (51-63), neither corresponding to our English idiom, which translates here by “hath” each time.
Imagination (). Intellectual insight, moral understanding.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Shewed strength [ ] . Lit., made strength. So Wyc., made might. A Hebrew form of expression. Compare Psa 118:15, Sept. : “The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly” (ejpoihse dunamin, made strength).
In the imagination [] . The faculty of thought, understanding, especially moral understanding. Wyc. refers the word here to God : with mind of his heart. Some prefer to render “by the imagination,” thus making the proud the instrument of their own destruction. Compare 2Co 10:5.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “He hath shewed strength with his arm;” (epoiesen kratos en brachioni autou) “He did might (demonstrated strength) with his arm,” that is with his strength, in all time regarding our people and His care for them, Psa 98:1-2; Psa 118:14-17.
2) “He hath scattered the proud,” (dieskorpisen huperephanous) “He scattered or dispersed those who were haughty,” Psa 33:10; 1Pe 5:5, even of our own people, those who were vain and proud in their disobedience to His laws, Pro 6:16; Pro 16:5; Pro 21:4.
3) “In the imagination of their hearts,” (disnoia kardias auton) “In the understanding of their heart,” Pro 6:17; For man’s heart of nature imagines evil continually, Gen 6:5; Gen 8:21; Deu 29:19; Jer 23:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
51. He hath done might This means, “he hath wrought powerfully.” The arm of God is contrasted with every other aid: as in Isaiah, “I looked, and there was none to help,” (Isa 63:5😉 “therefore,” says he elsewhere,
“
his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him,” (Isa 59:16.)
Mary therefore means: God rested satisfied with his own power, employed no companions in the work, called none to afford him aid. What immediately follows about the proud may be supposed to be added for one of two reasons: either because the proud gain nothing by endeavoring, like the giants of old, to oppose God; or, because God does not display the power of his arm for salvation, except in the case of the humble, while the proud, who arrogate much to themselves, are thrown down To this relates the exhortation of Peter,
“
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,” (1Pe 5:6.)
He hath scattered (56) the proud in the thought of their heart (57) This expression is worthy of notice: for as their pride and ambition are outrageous, as their covetousness is insatiable, they pile up their deliberations to form an immense heap, and, to say all in a single word, they build the tower of Babel, (Gen 11:9.) Not satisfied with having made one or another foolish attempt beyond their strength, or with their former schemes of mad presumption, they still add to their amount. When God has for a time looked down from heaven, in silent mockery, on their splendid preparations, he unexpectedly scatters the whole mass: just as when a building is overturned, and its parts, which had formerly been bound together by a strong and firm union, are widely scattered in every direction.
(56) διεσχόρπισεν,, he utterly discomfits, a metaphor derived from putting to flight a defeated enemy. The word not unfrequently occurs in the Septuagint, but very rarely in the classical writers; though one example is adduced by Kuinoel from Aelian, Var. Hist. 13:46 : τοὺς μέν διεσχόζπισεν, οὓς, (read τοὺς) δὲ ἀπέχτειενε. ” — Bloomfield’s Greek Testament.
(57) “ La ou nous avons rendu, Il a dissipe, le mot Grec signifie proprement, Il a escarte ou espars.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(51) He hath shewed strength.Literally, He wrought strength. Here the parallelism with 1Sa. 2:3 becomes very close. Of whom the speaker thought as among the proud, we cannot know. They may have been the potentates of the world in which she lived, Herod and the Emperor of Rome. They may have been the men of Jerusalem, who despised Galilee; or those of the other towns and villages of Galilee, who despised Nazareth; or, though less probably, those of Nazareth itself, who despised the carpenter and his betrothed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
He has showed strength with his arm,
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart.
He has put down princes from their thrones,
And has exalted those of low degree.
The hungry he has filled with good things;
And the rich he has sent empty away.
He has given help to Israel his servant,
That he might remember mercy,
(As he spoke to our fathers),
Toward Abraham and his seed for ever.
And how has God’s mercy been shown to all generations? The answer is, in what He has done for them in the past. He has revealed the mighty strength of His arm (Psa 136:12), He has scattered the proud and arrogant in the face of their high thoughts (Isa 29:20-21), He has removed princes from their thrones (1Sa 15:28). And in contrast He has exalted those of low degree (including herself), He has filled the hungry with good things, while turning away the rich. All verbs are in the aorist. She has read all these things in the Scriptures. God acts on behalf of those who call upon Him from their humble state and position.
Note that Mary is here talking of those who are godly. It is these who are primarily described in her Scriptures as being watched over in this way. She is not to be seen as a philanthropist with a world vision. What she has caught onto is that God is not One Who favours the rich and arrogant. He acts on behalf of those who are ‘poor’ and humble like she is. And He has given help to ‘Israel His servant’, which she looks on from the point of view of a teenage village girl.
Note with regard to the hungry and the rich the reversed situation. Ordinarily on earth it is the rich who are filled with good things, and it is the hungry who are turned away. But God turns such things on their heads. For the rich tend also to be the unbelieving and disobedient (Psa 39:6; Psa 49:6; Psa 52:7; Psa 73:12 etc.), and the poor those who respond to God and do His will. This is certainly the emphasis of the Psalms where the poor are regularly seen as synonymous with the godly (Psa 9:18; Psa 14:6; Psa 34:6; Psa 69:29; Psa 72:13; Psa 74:19; Psa 74:21; Psa 86:1; Psa 107:41; Psa 109:31; Psa 140:12).
Her world view is one based on her knowledge of the Scriptures, and her own experience of God’s goodness to her. She knows little of the wider political world. But she knows that in the end God brings about what is good, and she knows of many Bible stories which prove it. And she therefore knows that these are the things that Messiah will do. Once He is in control all selfishness and evil will be done away. In the words of Psa 37:11, the meek will inherit the earth.
We should note also in this her recognition of what type of Messiah is coming, not One Who will exalt the powerful but One Who will go to the meek and lowly. Not One Who will invite the rich to His table, but One Who will go to the poor and the maimed and the blind (Isa 29:18-19; Isa 35:5-6; Isa 61:1-2). He will be the Messiah of the people, the One Who does not break the bruised reed or extinguish the dimly burning wick (Isa 42:3).
‘He has given help to Israel His servant, that He might remember mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, toward Abraham and his seed for ever.’ Finally her thought turns from centring on God’s gracious and stern activity to His great promises of the past. She remembers how in the past He has helped His servant Israel, and she seeks that He will remember His mercy, promised to ‘our fathers’, to Abraham and his seed for ever. God had promised blessing to Abraham for his seed. Now God was fulfilling that blessing in the One who was coming, the One Who would be the Help of Israel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 1:51. He hath shewed strength, &c. It is an observation of Grotius, that God’s great power is represented by his finger; his greater, by his hand; and his greatest by his arm. The production of lice was the finger of God, Exo 8:19 and the other miracles in Egypt were done by his hand, Exo 3:20 but the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in the Red-Sea was brought to pass by his arm, Exo 15:16. Wherefore the virgin’s meaning is, that in this dispensation of his providence, God mightily manifested his sovereign power. He hath scattered the proud, &c. means theproudgreatwomen,whoindulgedmanyfondimaginationsconcerningthe honour that should accrue to them from giving birth to the Messiah. “He hath filled them with shame, to such a degree, that they have scattered and hid themselves;”in allusion to an army of cowards, who breaking their ranks run off in despair. See Eccl’us, Luk 10:15. Dr. Doddridge explains the passage, “He hath often dispersed the haughty sinners who exalt themselves against him, and confounded them in those schemes which were the most laboured imaginations of their own hearts.” These words, says he, are thus peculiarly applicable to the gospel, in which God doth not only cast down imaginations, and every high thing, 2Co 10:5 by the humbling scheme of his recovering grace, but hath remarkably confounded his most insolent enemies in their own most elaborate projects, and established his sacred cause by the violent attempts which they have made to suppress it. Compare Psa 2:1-3. The version of 1729 renders it, He hath confounded the proud by the devices of their own hearts.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Luk 1:51 ff. Mary now sees the Messianic catastrophe, which God will bring about by means of her son, and she announces it prophetically as having already happened; for she bears in fact the accomplisher of it already in her womb, and thus the work of God, which He is to execute, is before her enlightened gaze already as good as completed; in that way she sees and describes it.
The catastrophe itself is the restoration of the state of things to the divine rightful order, the overthrow of the Gentiles and the exaltation of the deeply-oppressed theocratic people (comp. Luk 1:68 ; Luk 1:71 ; Luk 1:74 ); the former are set forth by the words , , ; the latter, by and . This intended concrete application of the general expressions is put beyond doubt by . . ., Luk 1:54 f.
] such as are arrogant in the thoughts of their heart ; is the dative of more precise definition; and on the notion (thinking and willing as directed outwards), comp. Beck, Seelenl. p. 58; on as the centre of the spiritual and psychic life, Delitzsch, bibl. Psychol. p. 248 ff.; finally, in . the haughty are conceived of as congregated and keeping together; comp. Mat 26:31 ; Act 5:37 ; Psa 89:10 . “That through Christianity the proud were humbled” (de Wette), is not the thought expressed by Mary, but a generalization of it, as is also the “confusio diabolicae superbiae” (Calovius and others), and the like. Comp. Sir 10:14 ff.
Luk 1:52 . He has cast down rulers from thrones , does not apply to the demons and Pharisees (Theophylact), but to the Gentile holders of power. Comp. on the idea of the overthrow of thrones in the times of the Messiah, Wis 5:23 ; Enoch xxxviii. 4, and Dillmann thereon.
Luk 1:53 . ] not merely means of subsistence (Valckenaer, Bornemann, de Wette), but earthly possessions in general, among which the means of subsistence are included . Comp. Luk 12:18 f. De Wette, moreover, is in error in saying (comp. Olshausen) that it is spiritual hunger and spiritual satisfying that are to be thought of, and that the rich are a type of the wise men of this world . The whole is to be taken literally; the idealizing is not warranted according to the context. Comp. Psa 34:11 .
. ] So that they retain nothing of their possessions, and have received nothing from the Messiah. On the expression, comp. Luk 20:10 f.; Job 22:9 ; Jdt 10:11 ; Hom. Il. ii. 298, Od. xiii. 214.
For descriptions of the divine inversion of relations from the classical writers, see Wetstein and Bornemann.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
Ver. 51. He hath showed strength, &c. ] It appears by the whole frame of this holy song, that the blessed Virgin was well versed in the Scripture, which she here makes so much use of in sundry passages. She was eruditionis pietatis et modestiae delicium, as one speaketh of the Lady Jane Grey. She had by much reading made her bosom Bibliothecam Christi, Christ’s library, as a Father saith; and may seem to have been exercised in the good word of God from her infancy, as 2Ti 3:15 , and as that sweet young gentlewoman, Mrs Elizabeth Wheatenhall, daughter of Mr Anthony Wheatenhall, of Tenterden, in Kent, deceased, who not yet being ten years old when she died, yea, before she was nine years old (not much above eight), could say all the New Testament by heart, and being asked where any words were, she would presently name book, chapter, and verse. One Mr Stoughton, a minister, writeth this upon his own knowledge and examination of her.
He hath scattered the proud ] He by his strong arm hath so splitted them, that they shiver into pieces, ; or hath made them as darts, which, being among the enemies, are lost; or hath hurled them hither and thither, as the wind doth the dust of the mountains.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
51 55. ] These aorists express, not the habit of the past, but the consequences involved for the future in that which the Lord had done to her.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
51. ] The dative apparently expresses the realm in which the is shewn. Bleek quotes from Symmachus, Psa 75:6 , : but it is : the LXX however in the same place has .
Luk 1:55 is not rendered in the E. V. according to the construction; from Psa 97:3 it will be seen that . are to be joined together, and therefore will be parenthetical. See Mic 7:20 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
with. Greek. en. App-104.
His arm. Figure of speech Anthrapopatheia. App-6. Compare Isa 52:10; Isa 59:1, Isa 59:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
51-55.] These aorists express, not the habit of the past, but the consequences involved for the future in that which the Lord had done to her.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 1:51. – , He hath showed strength-He hath sent empty away) God designed to do all these things through the Messiah, and the mother of the Latter was receiving an experimental proof of the fact in her own self.-, the proud) both those visible and those invisible [Satan, etc.] of this character.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
showed: Exo 15:6, Exo 15:7, Exo 15:12, Exo 15:13, Deu 4:34, Psa 52:9, Psa 63:5, Psa 89:13, Psa 98:1, Psa 118:15, Isa 40:10, Isa 51:9, Isa 52:10, Isa 63:12, Rev 18:8
he hath scattered: Exo 15:9-11, Exo 18:11, 1Sa 2:3, 1Sa 2:4, 1Sa 2:9, 1Sa 2:10, Job 40:9-12, Psa 2:1-6, Psa 33:10, Psa 89:10, Isa 10:12-19, Jer 48:29, Jer 48:30, Dan 4:37, Dan 5:25-31, 1Pe 5:5
the imagination: Gen 6:5, Gen 8:21, Deu 29:19, Deu 29:20, Rom 1:21, 2Co 10:5
Reciprocal: Gen 11:4 – lest Gen 11:6 – imagined Gen 11:8 – Lord 1Sa 2:8 – the poor 1Ch 29:12 – riches Job 5:13 – taketh Psa 34:10 – lions Psa 59:11 – scatter Psa 76:5 – stouthearted Psa 138:6 – Though Pro 16:19 – to be Isa 26:6 – General Isa 30:30 – the lighting Isa 40:23 – General Jer 18:12 – we will walk Jer 49:15 – General Dan 2:21 – he removeth Dan 5:20 – when Oba 1:2 – General Zec 12:7 – save Mat 23:12 – General Luk 3:5 – valley Luk 14:11 – whosoever 1Co 4:8 – ye are full
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
Since we know that Elizabeth was enabled by the Spirit to speak with supernatural wisdom, we may properly conclude Mary to have been doing the same thing.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 1:51. He hath shewed strength. The past tense in this and the following verses, is used prophetically, according to the common usage of sacred Hebrew poetry. What the Lord has done for her leads her to sing thus of what He will do, as certain and accomplished.
In the imagination, or device. The original word does not necessarily imply something futile or fancied.
Their heart, the region where pride reigned.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vers. 51-53. A much more strongly marked poetical parallelism characterizes this strophe. Mary here describes with a thrill of emotion, of which even her language partakes, the great Messianic revolution, the commencement of which she was beholding at that very time. In the choice God had made of two persons of such humble condition in life as herself and her cousin, she saw at a glance the great principle which would regulate the impending renewal of all things. It is to be a complete reversal of the human notions of greatness and meanness.
The poor and the hungry are evidently the Israelites fearing God of Luk 1:50. Such expressions cannot apply to Israel as a wholeto the proud Pharisees and rich Sadducees, for example. The line of demarcation which she draws in these words passes, therefore, not between the Jews and Gentiles, but between the pious Israelites and all that exalt themselves against God, whether in or beyond Israel. The proud, the mighty, and the rich, denote Herod and his court, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, as well as the foreign oppressors, Caesar and his armies, and all the powers of heathendom. The aorists of these three verses indicate, according to Bleek, the repetition of the act; so he translates them by the present. I rather think that to Mary’s eyes the catastrophe presents itself as already consummated in the act which God had just accomplished. Does not this act contain the principle of the rejection of all that is exalted in the world, and of the choice of whatever in human estimation is brought low? All these divine acts which are about to follow, one after another, will only be a further application of the same principle. They are virtually contained in that which Mary celebrates. Consequently the aorists are properly translated by the past.
The first proposition of Luk 1:51 applies to the righteous and wicked alike. Still the former of these two applications predominates (Luk 1:50). The arm is the symbol of force. The expression , to make strength, is a Hebraism, (Psa 118:15). The LXX. translate it by . If it was Luke who translated the Hebrew document into Greek, it is evident that he kept his version independent of the LXX.
The favour God shows to the righteous has its necessary counterpart in the overthrow of the wicked. This is the connection of the second proposition. The expression , proud in thought, answers to (Psa 76:6); the LXX. translate this expression by . The dative defines the adjective: the proud in thought, who exalt themselves in their thoughts. Mary represents all these as forming an opposing host to men that fear God; hence the expression scatter. With the reading , is the epithet of the substantive, proud thoughts. This reading is evidently a mistake.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
1:51 He hath shewed strength with his {t} arm; he hath {u} scattered the proud in the {x} imagination of their hearts.
(t) Here many more words than necessary are used, which the Hebrews use very much: and “arm” here is taken for strength.
(u) Even as the wind does to the chaff.
(x) He has scattered them, and the imagination of their hearts; or, by and through the imagination of their own hearts; so that their wicked counsel turned to their own destruction.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The third strophe (Luk 1:51-53) reflects on God’s power in reversing certain social conditions. His favor to Israel is especially in view. God had dealt with Mary as He had dealt with His people (Psa 89:13; Psa 118:16). God had reversed their conditions politically (Luk 1:52) and socially (Luk 1:53). Jesus’ appearance and messianic reign would continue these divine works on a universal scale.
"Luke wrote more on the topic of wealth than any other New Testament writer." [Note: Bock, "A Theology . . .," p. 159. See his summary on pp. 159-60.]
"In the ancient world it was accepted that the rich would be well cared for. Poor people must expect to be hungry. But Mary sings of a God who is not bound by what men do. He turns human attitudes and orders of society upside down." [Note: Morris, p. 77.]