Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 11:29
And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet.
29. were gathered ] Rather, were densely gathering. See the notes at Mat 12:38-42. Luk 11:29-30
The sign, of Jonas the prophet–
The sign of the prophet Jonas
There is a peculiarity here which you ought carefully to consider.
A sign was asked by an evil generation, that if Jesus were truly the Christ, they might receive Him as their King, and give Him their allegiance; but the sign which is proffered, even the sign of the Resurrection, presupposed the perpetration of that crime, the prevention of which was the great object for which the sign was solicited. A sign, in short, is asked, which would prevent the rejection of Christ; a sign is proposed which would be no sign at all until He bad been rejected. The Jews must crucify the Christ in order to their obtaining the sign; whereas, they wanted the sign in order that they might be withheld from the crucifixion. Let us look into this matter. If, after all, an additional sign were to be given, why was such a sign selected as could have no existence until the crime had been perpetrated which it was the object of a sign to prevent? To this we reply, that it was not our Lords object to prevent the Jews from crucifying Him; but it was His object to leave them inexcusable in so doing; and therefore did He ply them with miracles which were fitted to convince all who had understanding, and with discourses which were adapted to move all who had hearts. He gave proof enough of the justice of His pretensions, for it was proof which prevailed to the bringing many to His side; but when asked to carry proof to that extreme point where it becomes absolutely irresistible, to crowd the landscape or the firmament with signs which should leave the beholders no option, but compel them to receive Him as Messiah, why, He was then solicited to a course not only inconsistent with the free agency of man, but counter to the work which had brought Him down as a sojourner to earth. And why marvel that Christ should have withheld that additional evidence which was not necessary to make His countrymen inexcusable, and which would directly have interfered with the completion of the scheme of redemption? Yes, you may say, but the question is not why Christ should have refused all additional signs; the answer to this is comparatively easy; but why, in consenting to give another sign, He should have selected just that one, the sign of a resurrection, which must necessarily have been ineffectual in withholding the Jews from the greatest of crimes, and which could not exist unless and until they had committed that crime? Does it not almost seem a mockery of the Pharisees, that when they asked a sign which might enable them to receive Jesus as the Christ, they were denied all but one, which they could only obtain by rejecting Him as the Christ. Remember, however, that sufficient evidence had been already vouchsafed; so that the Pharisees would have had no ground of complaint had the demand for further signs been met by unqualified refusal. And you are, moreover, probably quite wrong in speaking of the sign of the Resurrection as though it must necessarily have been too late to have been of service to the Jews, because undoubtedly too late to prevent His crucifixion. The crucifying Jesus did not fill up the measure of the guilt of the Jews; they did not touch the unpardonable sin, for they did not withstand the whole amount of evidence until they had refused to be convinced by the resurrection of Jesus and the miracles which evidenced the diffusion of the Spirit. It was indeed such a crime as had never been committed on the darkened stage of this fallen creation, that of putting to death as a malefactor the Being who went about doing good, and in whose actions there was the power as well as the loving-kindness of God. Yet–and there is no fact more glorious in the whole range of theology–yet the blood of the crucified made atonement for the crucifiers. Men had not sinned beyond the reach of mercy when they uttered the cry, Away with Him, away with Him; they had not blocked up against themselves the escape-path for eternity, when they buffeted the Mediator, and circled His forehead with thorns, and nailed Him to the cross, and reviled Him in His agonies. We will not indeed say that the Jews occupied so advantageous a moral position after as before they had crucified their King. They had resisted a vast body of evidence, and had therefore grown stronger in infidelity; they had perpetrated a most atrocious crime, and their consciences must have been scared in the perpetration; but if they had rendered themselves less accessible to the demonstrations of evidence, less susceptible of the remonstrances of righteousness, they had not rendered themselves one jot less the objects of the Mediators regards, nor thrown themselves beyond the reach of His extraordinary sacrifice. The blood upon their hands, whilst it cried for vengeance on them as murderers, cried also–and oh I the voice which spake of pardon was far louder and deeper than that which spake of wrath–cried for mercy on them as the objects of redemption. And if that eviland adulterous generation, moved by the sign of the Resurrection, overcome by that most stupendous of all miracles, the breaking forth in His own might of the Crucified One from the sepulchre–if they had discerned and acknowledged and bewailed their iniquity, and flocking round the despised Nazarene had offered Him with tears their allegiance, and besought of Him pardon, and bowed before Him as a prince and a Saviour, who questions that this generation, eminent in guilt, foremost in all that can make human nature infamous, would have gathered to itself the smiles and the succours of God, and that Jesus would have stood, the upholder of those who had scorned Him, and a life-giver to those who had slain Him? Call ye the sign of Jonas a sign which came too late, when the blood had just been shed which blotted out the sin of the world? Call ye it too late, when apostles were proclaiming to their unbelieving countrymen, Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you! Too late, when the publication of the gospel and the resurrection is to begin at Jerusalem, and the very men who with wicked hands had crucified and slain the Prince of Life are to be entreated to look in faith to a Saviour waiting to embrace them, ere the tidings of deliverance may be carried to the cities and the islands of the heathen? Oh 1 no: all the aspect of strangeness disappears from our text; in place of manifesting harshness, in place of giving a compliance of less worth than a refusal, Christ displayed wondrously the graciousness of His character, and showed a still mighty desire to win the Jews from infidelity, when in answer to a demand to show more signs to an evil generation He said, There shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas. You ask us to show that the sign of the Resurrection was in itself sufficient to work conviction in all fair inquirers, and we give you our reply by going back over the waste of long ages, and leading you to Nineveh, that exceeding great city, with its vast but impious population. We bid you mark how on a sudden the sounds of revelry are hushed, how all the business and all the pleasures of the stirring and luxurious metropolis come as in a moment to a stand, and how the great and the mean, the king in his palace and the nobles in their halls, and the poor in their hovels, as though shrinking from a wrath which rushed visibly on, bow themselves to the earth, and cry mightily for deliverance. And why is this? Hath God indeed come forth from the solitudes of eternity, and, riding the firmament in the chariot of His vengeance, hath He made bare His arm in the view of the Ninevites? Have angelic beings, withering the eyesight of those who dared gaze on their forms of fire, come down with the proclamation, that yet forty days and the proud city shall be a ruin? Nay, a foreigner with no attendants, a poor and unprotected stranger, a wanderer without a home and without a friend in the magnificent capital, this is the being at whose bidding the tide of a nations wickedness has been stayed in its flowings. This is the being whose voice, syllabling calamity, has put an arrest on the occupations and the joyousness of hundreds of thousands. Then this foreigner, this stranger, this wanderer, must have given striking evidence that he spake in Gods name: and you will allow, that if in any other case the like evidence be afforded, the effect wrought on the Ninevites clearly shows that it ought to prove convincing. But this evidence was the evidence of a resurrection. This prophet of disaster had been sepulchred three days and three nights in the depths of the waters, and then rose up uninjured from that strangest of tombs. This fact it is that the Ninevites knew; on this fact it was that they received Jonas as a prophet. The evidence, then, of the resurrection was sufficient, under the most unpromising circumstances, when it stood absolutely alone, and the parties to be convinced were the idolatrous and the profligate. It follows, therefore, that enough evidence is afforded, whenever the evidence of a resurrection is afforded. When assured that a particular evidence has overcome the infidelity of one people, I can be morally certain that it is not owing to deficiency of proof that the like evidence failed to overcome the infidelity of another people. There is a voice, then, in the history of Nineveh, which proclaims the Jews inexcusable in their unbelief. The voice of weeping and of wailing which issues from every house in that terrified capital is witness against the wickedness of the haughty Jerusalem. A nation clothed in sackcloth, and prostrating itself in spirit, and all because moved by the sign of a resurrection, this is our proof that the sign of a resurrection is powerful enough to test the pretensions of a prophet; and when, therefore, another nation resists the sign which has thus shown its strength, continuing in unbelief, though the messenger who declares himself authorized by God hath burst the bands of death and mastered the grave, we can be persuaded of this nation that its infidelity is not to be overcome by any evidence which consists with human accountability, and we are convinced that Christ did all that could be done for an evil and adulterous generation, when He promised them as the last in the long series of proofs the sign of Jonas the prophet; for as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. Well, then, might the Redeemer, when He had referred the scribes and the Pharisees to the sign of His resurrection–well might He conjure up the scenery of the last judgment, and represent the Ninevites as convicting the Jews and justifying their condemnation. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonas! and, behold, more than Jonas for this is the true rendering, not a greater than Jonas–behold, more than Jonas is here. The evidence granted to the Jews in the resurrection of Christ, in the preaching of the apostles and the gift of the Spirit, exceeded any that may be supposed to have been granted to the Ninevites in the preservation of Jonah. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
A word with those who wait for signs and wonders
Reading the Old Testament, we observe that the Lord in the olden time condescendingly gave signs to His servants, when He saw that it would be for their good. Doubtless if again there should come a necessity for signs to any of Gods servants, such tokens would be given them. If there should ever be a time when it was not possible for Christians to walk by faith alone, or when it would be more to the honour of God that their confidence should be somewhat assisted by marvels and tokens, then would God go out of the ordinary way once again and His people should receive miraculous seals. In no case is such a thing at all necessary under the gospel dispensation, which is so enriched with plainest evidence, that to add more would be to hold a candle to the sun, or pour water into the ocean. In addition to this first remark, let us add that signs have been given, and yet have not wrought faith in those who have seen them; and there is no necessary connection between seeing signs and believing that which the signs attest.
1. You seek what is quite unnecessary. What do you want a sign for? You want, you say, a token of Gods love. What token of Gods love to you can ever be wanted, now that He has given His only-begotten Son, first to live on earth, and then to die in pains extreme, the just for the unjust, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life! I blush for you, that you should ask any token of Gods love while Jesus Christ is before you, for herein is such love as nothing else can ever equal. What do you want a sign for? Why, to show, you say, that there is mercy for you. How do you need that? The very fact that you are alive shows how merciful God is!
2. You are also asking for useless signs. What evidence could there be now,, for instance, in mere dejection of spirit? You want to feel miserable you say: what evidence would that be of your salvation? It seems to me that you are like a man who would say that he would catch hold of a rope if he could sink so many fathoms deeper in the ocean, or that he would avail himself of a dispensary if his disease were so much worse. How strange that a rational man should talk thus! Despair is no help to faith. Sinful doubts cannot assist you to Christ; they may most effectually keep you from Him are you not also seeking most unreasonable things? To ask a sign from God when He pledges His word seems to me to be out of all reason. You are a beggar, remember, and we have an old proverb that beggars must not be choosers; above all, how dare a beggar demand a sign before he receive an alms?
1. My dear hearers, in the first place, you make God a liar. Is not this the testimony of the Holy Ghost, He that believeth not hath made God a liar?
2. In the next place, you insult Gods sovereignty. He has a right to give signs or not, as He wills; but you do, as it were, say, Thou shalt give me a sign or else I will be damned. I will not have Thy mercy if I cannot have it in my own way: great God, I will not be saved unless I can feel as I want to feel. O fling away this accursed pride of yours, and kiss His silver sceptre, and say, Lord, save me as Thou wilt. I believe, help Thou my unbelief.
3. I must tell you what is more, you are acting the part of an idolater. What does an idolater do? He says, I cannot believe in an unseen God; I must have a golden calf or an image, that I can see with my eyes and touch with my hand. You say just the same. You cannot believe Gods naked word, you demand something you can feel, something you can see. Sheer idolatry.
4. Do you not see, moreover, that you crucify the Saviour? Those who nailed His hands to the tree were not greater sinners, even if they were so great, as you are who say to Him, Bleeding Saviour, I believe that Thou hast died on the cross; I believe that Thy blood could cleanse sin, but I cannot trust Thee to do it; I have no confidence in Thee; I cannot, will not trust Thee. I trust my husband, but I cannot trust my Saviour; I trust my child, but I cannot trust my God; I trust my minister, but I cannot trust the Son of God exalted in the highest heavens. Why, this is crucifying Him–this is treating Him as a dog only should be treated.
The demand for a sign
When Christ was on earth He was again and again assailed by this cry, Show us a sign. What sign showest Thou? 1. Because there is a radical fault in the prayer itself. It originates, where it ought to follow; it prescribes, where it ought to accept. There is a thorough upsetting and subverting, in such prayer, of the relationship of man to his God. In such prayer man goes first, and God is to go after. Man says, I will give the law to my God–I will tell Him what He ought to do–and then, if He does that, I will have Him; not else. The very prayer ispresumption.
2. But again, Because the result thus reached is not the rest and the inheritance which God designs for us. A man who believes because he sees has not got at last the salvation which he came for. It is a poor inferior mechanical process altogether, this conviction by the help of signs.
3. We might add yet one other reason, and say, Because such proofs would hopelessly perplex and alienate the mind which expects the dealing of God to be uniform and consistent in all its provinces of operation. (Dean Vaughan.)
Verse 29. This is an evil generation] Or, This is a wicked race of men. See on Mt 12:38-42. See Poole on “Mat 12:38“, and following verses to Mat 12:42. Matthew saith, they were the Pharisees that came to him, desiring to see a sign from heaven: they did the same again, Mat 16:1. Christ was very ready to work miracles to encourage and confirm his hearers faith, but not to satisfy unbelievers curiosity. Instead therefore of showing them signs from heaven, he denounces the just judgment of God against them, for their not believing in him. See further the notes upon the aforementioned parallel texts. 29-32. (See on Mt12:39-42.) And when the people were gathered thick together,…. Upon this woman’s lifting up her voice, and saying the things she did; or rather to see what sign he would give, which some had desired Lu 11:16
he began to say, this is an evil generation. The Alexandrian copy, two copies of Beza’s, and the Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions read, “this generation is an evil generation”; and also it was an “adulterous one”, as is added in Mt 12:39
they seek a sign; for they had asked one of him, Lu 11:16
and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet; one like unto it: [See comments on Mt 12:39]
The Sign of the Prophet Jonah. 29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. Christ’s discourse in these verses shows two things:– I. What is the sign we may expect from God for the confirmation of our faith. The great and most convincing proof of Christ’s being sent of God, and which they were yet to wait for, after the many signs that had been given them, was the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Here is, 1. A reproof to the people for demanding other signs than what had already been given them in great plenty: The people were gathered thickly together (v. 29), a vast crowd of them, expecting not so much to have their consciences informed by the doctrine of Christ as to have their curiosity gratified by his miracles. Christ knew what brought such a multitude together; they came seeking a sign, they came to gaze, to have something to talk of when they went home; and it is an evil generation which nothing will awaken and convince, no, not the most sensible demonstrations of divine power and goodness. 2. A promise that yet there should be one sign more given them, different from any that had yet been given them, even the sign of Jonas the prophet, which in Matthew is explained as meaning the resurrection of Christ. As Jonas being cast into the sea, and lying there three days, and then coming up alive and preaching repentance to the Ninevites, was a sign to them, upon which they turned from their evil way, so shall the death and resurrection of Christ, and the preaching of his gospel immediately after to the Gentile world, be the last warning to the Jewish nation. If they be provoked to a holy jealousy by this, well and good; but, if this do not work upon them, let them look for nothing but utter ruin: The Son of Man shall be a sign to this generation (v. 30), a sign speaking to them, though a sign spoken against by them. 3. A warning to them to improve this sign; for it was at their peril if they did not. (1.) The queen of Sheba would rise up in judgment against them, and condemn their unbelief, v. 31. She was a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, and yet so readily gave credit to the report she heard of the glories of a king of Israel, that, notwithstanding the prejudices we are apt to conceive against foreigners, she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear his wisdom, not only to satisfy her curiosity, but to inform her mind, especially in the knowledge of the true God and his worship, which is upon record, to her honour; and, behold, a greater than Solomon in here, pleion Solomontos—more than a Solomon is here; that is, says Dr. Hammond, more of wisdom and more heavenly divine doctrine than ever was in all Solomon’s words or writings; and yet these wretched Jews will give no manner of regard to what Christ says to them, though he be in the midst of them. (2.) The Ninevites would rise up in judgment against them, and condemn their impenitency (v. 32): They repented at the preaching of Jonas; but here is preaching which far exceeds that of Jonas, is more powerful and awakening, and threatens a much sorer ruin than that of Nineveh, and yet none are startled by it, to turn from their evil way, as the Ninevites did. II. What is the sign that God expects from us for the evidencing of our faith, and that is the serious practice of that religion which we profess to believe, and a readiness to entertain all divine truths, when brought to us in their proper evidence. Now observe, 1. They had the light with all the advantage they could desire. For God, having lighted the candle of the gospel, did not put it in a secret place, or under a bushel; Christ did not preach in corners. The apostles were ordered to preach the gospel to every creature; and both Christ and his ministers, Wisdom and her maidens, cry in the chief places of concourse, v. 33. It is a great privilege that the light of the gospel is put on a candlestick, so that all that come in may see it, and may see by it where they are and whither they are going, and what is the true, and sure, and only way to happiness. 2. Having the light, their concern was to have the sight, or else to what purpose had they the light? Be the object ever so clear, if the organ be not right, we are never the better: The light of the body is the eye (v. 34), which receives the light of the candle when it is brought into the room. So the light of the soul is the understanding and judgment, and its power of discerning between good and evil, truth and falsehood. Now, according as this is, so the light of divine revelation is to us, and our benefit by it; it is a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. (1.) If this eye of the soul be single, if it see clear, see things as they are, and judge impartially concerning them, if it aim at truth only, and seek it for its own sake, and have not any sinister by–looks and intentions, the whole body, that is, the whole soul, is full of light, it receives and entertains the gospel, which will bring along with it into the soul both knowledge and joy. This denotes the same thing with that of the good ground, receiving the word and understanding it. If our understanding admits the gospel in its full light, it fills the soul, and it has enough to fill it. And if the soul be thus filled with the light of the gospel, having no part dark,–if all its powers and faculties be subjected to the government and influence of the gospel, and none left unsanctified,–then the whole soul shall be full of light, full of holiness and comfort. It was darkness itself, but now light in the Lord, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light, v. 36. Note, The gospel will come into those souls whose doors and windows are thrown open to receive it; and where it comes it will bring light with it. But, (2.) If the eye of the soul be evil,–if the judgment be bribed and biassed by the corrupt and vicious dispositions of the mind, by pride and envy, by the love of the world and sensual pleasures,–if the understanding be prejudiced against divine truths, and resolved not to admit them, though brought with ever so convincing an evidence,–it is no wonder that the whole body, the whole soul, should be full of darkness, v. 34. How can they have instruction, information, direction, or comfort, from the gospel, that wilfully shut their eyes against it? and what hope is there of such? what remedy for them? The inference hence therefore is, Take heed that the light which is in thee be not darkness, v. 35. Take heed that the eye of the mind be not blinded by partiality, and prejudice, and sinful aims. Be sincere in your enquiries after truth, and ready to receive it in the light, and love, and power of it; and not as the men of this generation to whom Christ preached, who never sincerely desired to know God’s will, nor designed to do it, and therefore no wonder that they walked on in darkness, wandered endlessly, and perished eternally.
Were gathering together unto him (). Genitive absolute present middle participle of , a rare verb, Plutarch and here only in the N.T., from and (a common enough verb). It means to throng together (, in throngs). Vivid picture of the crowds around Jesus. But the sign of Jonah ( ). Luke does not give here the burial and resurrection of Jesus of which Jonah’s experience in the big fish was a type (Mt 12:39ff.), but that is really implied (Plummer argues) by the use here of “shall be given” () and “shall be” (), for the resurrection of Jesus is still future. The preaching of Jesus ought to have been sign enough as in the case of Jonah, but the resurrection will be given. Luke’s report is much briefer and omits what is in Mt 12:41. Were gathered thick together [] . The present participle; and therefore, as Rev., were gathering together unto him, or upon him [] . Only here in New Testament. Evil. See on adulterous. Mt 12:39.
THE SIGN OF JONAS V. 29-32
1) “And when the people were gathered thick together,” (ton de ochlon epathroizomenon) “Then when the crowds pressed upon him,” crowded toward or upon Him.
2) “He began to. say,” (erksato legein) “He began to say,” and explain at length.
3) “This Is an evil generation:” (he genea aute genea ponera estin) “This is (exists as) a wicked generation,” an intensely wicked generation, Mat 12:39; Mat 16:4.
4) “They seek a sign;” (semeion zetei) “It seeks a sign,” and they, all of it, this generation do, as reflected, Mat 12:38; Mat 16:1-2; 1Co 1:23; Mar 8:11.
5) “And there shall no sign be given it,” (kai semeion ou dothesetai aute) “And not a sign will be given to it,” Mat 12:39; Mat 16:4.
6) “But the sign of Jonas the prophet.” (ei me to semeion Iona) “Except the particular sign of Jonah,” who was a prophet, Mat 12:39-40; Mat 16:4; Mar 8:11.
Butlers Comments
SECTION 3
Phenomenalism (Luk. 11:29-36)
29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be to this generation. 31The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
33 No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel, but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light. 34Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. 35Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. 36If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.
Luk. 11:29-32 Disbelief: We have to go back to Luk. 11:16 for the reason behind the request for a sign from heaven. Their motive as stated there was to test Jesus. They were unsatisfied with His messianic claims because He was not backing them with the signs they had already decided were messianic. They may have been attempting to trap Jesus into some further display of compassion or teaching which would be in opposition to the traditions of the rabbis. Rabbinical tradition characterized the advent of the Jewish Messiah as a time of great warfare upon the Gentiles and great material prosperity for the Jews. The Apocalypse of Baruch says that the time of the Messiah would usher in an inexhaustible supply of manna to feed the Jews until the end of time. The Psalms of Solomon say the Messiah will purge Jerusalem of the heathen . . . break the pride of sinners like so many pots . . . and gather the holy nation and lead it with justice, in peace and equality, Jesus was not showing signs of being a Messiah-Avenger or Messiah-Provider (except for the feeding of the 5000), so the request for a sign from heaven was born out of hostility for Jesus failure to meet their materialistic expectations. Jesus had given numerous signs of His deity already, but they were not concerned with deity. Jesus tried to persuade them that He was the exact fulfillment of their own Prophets as to the Messiah, but they were not interested in Gods word. Their demand for a sign from heaven in the face of all the other signs which Jesus had already given was graphic proof that they were attempting to dictate to God the basis upon which they would accept Jesus as their Messiah. This is why Jesus called them an evil and adulterous generation. God gives plenty of evidence to substantiate His word. When man demands more than God has decreed is necessary, it is a sin that provokes the wrath of God (cf. Exo. 17:7; Num. 14:11; Deu. 18:18-22; Mat. 16:3; 1Co. 10:9; Heb. 3:10). It is rebellion against God to ask for more signs than God has declared sufficient. Jesus did many more signs than those recorded in the gospel records (Joh. 20:30-31), but enough are recorded that any man who wants to believe may have sufficient evidence to substantiate Christs claims. The clamor for miraculous gifts was what Paul tried to correct in the Corinthian church. Christ had given the Corinthian church sufficient miraculous gifts and the people were sinning in clamoring for more.
The sign of Jonah was Jonahs miraculous preservation from death in the belly of the great fish. This was the evidence by which Jonahs message was authenticated and the basis upon which Nineveh believed and repented. Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh that (a) the God of Israel is the God of all men; (b) Jehovahs will must be obeyed; (c) Jehovah wants all men to be saved; (d) Jehovah will deliver all who will repent. The one great sign Jesus will give to that generation (and to the whole world) is His miraculous resurrection from death itself. Jesus will not be merely preserved from death; He will be brought back to life again after dying.
Some, by dogmatically wresting the scriptures, have divided believers over the question whether Jesus was literally three days and three nights in the tomb before His resurrection or not (cf. Mat. 12:40). We do not believe it is necessary to insist that Jesus was literally three days and three nights in the tomb for the following reasons: (a) if Jesus was to be in the tomb 72 full hours He should have predicted His resurrection on the fourth day, but He never did; (b) it is good Hebrew idiom to say day when only a part of a day is meant (cf. Gen. 42:17-18; Est. 4:15-17; Est. 5:1; 1Ki. 12:5; 1Ki. 12:12, etc.); (c) prophetic signs are to be interpreted in the light of their actual fulfillment when at all possible; (d) His enemies understood Him to mean less than 72 hours (cf. Mat. 27:62-64); (e) Luke names the days involved in His intermentPreparation (Friday), Sabbath (Saturday), First day (Sunday) (cf. Luk. 23:54 to Luk. 24:1). Jesus prophecy that He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth was fulfilled since He was there part of Friday, all day Saturday, and part of Sunday. That was the way His disciples would understand it then and that is the way we are to understand it now.
The queen of the South was undoubtedly the Queen of Sheba from the southern-most tip of the Arabian peninsula. She visited Palestine in the days of Solomon (cf. 1Ki. 10:1 ff.; 2Ch. 9:1 ff.) because she had heard of the wisdom of Solomon but did not believe it. When she put him to the test she became convinced and paid homage to his wisdom. Whether she became a believer in Jehovah or not we do not know, but her homage to Solomon was tacit admission that the kings wisdom came from his God. Jesus points out that One greater than Solomon is in the midst of these peoplenamely, the Messiah, and they do not acknowledge His wisdom. Therefore, the queen of the South will arise in the judgment and condemn the evil generation of Jesus.
The men of Ninevah will also arise at the judgment with that generation and condemn it. They repented at the preaching of Jonah while One greater than Jonah preached to that generation. The moral axiom Jesus posits is this; According to the light against which you have sinned, you will be judged! What is even more significant, that generation will soon have the ultimate, final and most powerful sign God is ever going to give the world to produce repentanceJesus resurrection from the dead. That sign will be Gods perfect call to repent, (Act. 17:30-31) and if they do not heed that there is only perfect wrath to be received. What Jesus said to that generation applies even more emphatically to each succeeding generation. We have, in addition to His teachings, His deeds and His resurrection, all the centuries of history in which millions of people have validated Christs claims by the power of His Spirit living in them. This is why unbelief is evil!
Luk. 11:33-36 Darkness: There are two different lamps in this text. The first lamp is Jesus deity (confirmed by His miracles and later by His resurrection). Jesus who casts out demons is the Light of the World. Yet that generation wanted to accuse Him of doing works of darkness (being in league with Satan). Jesus had just proved logically that He was fighting and defeating darkness. When His resurrection occurred it would prove empirically that He was light. He brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Jesus pleads with them to search their own souls, recognized their own immoral thinking, because no one lights a lamp in order to put it under a bushel. They keep asking for a sign (light) from Him; He is giving the most brilliant light (signs) possibleHe is certainly not spreading darkness. The darkness is in them.
The second lamp is mans moral perceptivenessmens capacity to know and distinguish truth from falsehood, light from darkness. The writer of Proverbs said, The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts (Pro. 20:27). Just like the physical eye lets in light to guide the body, so the spirit and mind of man lets in truth to guide the inner man, (cf. also 1Co. 2:11). The Greek word haplous is translated sound in Luk. 11:34. In some versions it is translated single or clear in the NASV. The fundamental meaning of haplous seems to be sincerity, simplicity, clarity. The sound eye is one that focuses totally and sharply on a single objectit does not give double vision nor does it divide its focus. This is true of the spirit of manthe mind of man. The inner man will be what he focuses his mind on. And if his focus is double or divided, he will be a divided man. If the eye of the soul focuses on falsehood and darkness then the whole inner man will be dark. Those clamoring for signs from Jesus had their hearts and minds focused on a materialistic kingdom. When Jesus declared that was not the essence of Gods kingdom, they would not let the light of His truth illuminate their inner being because their eye had let in the darkness.
The reality of the Christian experience does not consist in outward, spectacular fleshly things which the worldly-minded evaluate as real. Signs and things which excite the emotions and satisfy the carnal cravings of pride and ambition have nothing to do with the kingdom of God. His kingdom is not of this world; it consists of things that have to do with inner beingfaith, love, truth, righteousness. But alas, even our own generation still seeks after signs.
Appleburys Comments
Seeking a Sign Luk. 11:29-36 And when the multitudes were gathering together unto him, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation: it seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah. 30 For even as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
33 No man, when he hath lighted a lamp, putteth it in a cellar, neither under the bushel, but on the stand, that they which enter in may see the light. 34 The lamp of thy body is thine eye: when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when it is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35 Look therefore whether the light that is in thee be not darkness. 36 If therefore thy whole body be full of light, having no part dark, it shall be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining doth give thee light.
Comments
it seeketh after a sign.Jesus called that generation evil because it was seeking after a sign. See Pauls comment on this attitude of the Jews in 1Co. 1:22-25. It was not wrong to want genuine proof before accepting even the word of Christ; the wrong lay in the fact that sign after sign had already been given and still they refused to believe. They wanted some sign from heaven, but they said His miracles were of the devil.
the sign of Jonah.A sign is a mark that points out the distinction between persons or things. It may be the exhibition of divine power used to establish the claims of Gods messengers. See Joh. 20:30-31. Jesus explained the sign of Jonah by saying that Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites. The experience he had before coming to Ninevah marked him as a prophet of God. Because of it, they believed the thing he was preaching about the destruction of Ninevah.
But as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Mat. 12:40). His resurrection was to be the sign that would mark Him as The Prophet (Act. 3:22-26).
a greater than Solomon is here.more correctly, something greater than Solomon. The queen of the South, the queen of Sheba, came to see the wisdom of Solomon (1Ki. 10:1-7; 1Ki. 3:10-28). In the Judgment, she would condemn that generation, because they were privileged to see something greater than the wisdom of Solomon. That was the wisdom of Christ. Paul calls Him wisdom from God and says that in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Col. 2:3; 1Co. 1:30).
a greater than Jonah.that is, something greater than Jonah had offered as evidence to cause the men of Ninevah to believe. That something was the resurrection of Christ. When Jonah preached judgment to Ninevah, the men of Ninevah repented, that is, changed their minds about the thing he preached. That repentance was expressed by sitting in sackcloth and ashes and turning away from their evil ways. The generation to which Jesus preached should have changed their minds about judgment. Instead of saying that they were Abrahams children and assuming that nothing could ever happen to them, they should have been aware that they were like trees ready to be cut down and burned. On the Day of Pentecost, three thousand of them did repent and get themselves baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins (Act. 2:38).
No man, when he hath lighted a lamp.The parable of The Lamp illustrates the meaning of Jesus words about signs. He did not come to leave people in the dark about Himself. He was about to light the lamp of truth about Himself by His resurrection.
The eye is like a lighted lamp that is placed where people can see. But that evil generation was not willing to see the light of evidence in His miracles that proved Him to be the Son of God. They only saw evil; He cast out the dumb demon, but they only saw the power of Beelzebub. The light of the resurrection is the last great proof to lead men to believe in Him as Lord (Rom. 10:9-10).
(29-32) This is an evil generation: they seek a sign.See Notes on Mat. 12:38-42. The words here spoken are clearly an answer to the demand for a sign in Luk. 11:16. In St. Matthew the demand and the answer appear in close sequence.
The variations in St. Luke are (1) the omission of the explanation of the manner in which the sign of the prophet Jonah was to be fulfilled by the three days and three nights in the heart of the earth; (2) the position of the reference to the queen of the south, as coming between the sign of Jonah and the rising of the men of Nineveh. In other respects the agreement is more than usually complete.
43. THE SEEKING FOR A SIGN, Luk 11:29-32 .
Mat 12:38-45 ‘And when the crowds were gathering together to him, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. And there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah.” ’
We are not told what initially prompted these words before the gathering crowds, probably a further request for a sign. But Luke does not mention it again for it has already been mentioned in Luk 11:16 (in a context where a comprehensive sign is given). Jesus was constantly being pressed to give signs by those who refused to believe the signs and wonders that they saw. But here He describes such requests as coming from an evil heart. If they cannot believe the signs that are revealed before them already then no sign will convince them, for these are the signs of the presence of the Kingly Rule of God. God will therefore at present give no further sign than He has already given them. For any further sign they must be content with ‘the sign of Jonah’. But what was ‘the sign of Jonah?’
When we hear the mention of Jonah’s name there immediately springs to our minds his experience of being swallowed by a great fish. The same applied to Jesus’ listeners. Otherwise why had He, from among all the prophets, selected Jonah?
Jesus Condemnation Of Those Who Seek Signs (11:29-32).
The passage now takes up the reference to those who sought a sign in Luk 11:16, and within the chiastic analysis of the whole Section parallels the woes on the evangelised cities that have rejected Jesus’ message in Luk 10:12-15. The basic lesson is that because a greater Wisdom Teacher and Prophet is here as contrasted with Solomon and Jonah, those who hear Jesus and seek signs because of unbelief will in the Judgment suffer under the condemnation of those who heard and responded to them.
Note how this connects back to what has gone before, and with what follows. He has brought the word of God for them to keep (Luk 11:28). He has come bringing the Kingly Rule of God and Tomorrow’s bread. He has come offering the Holy Spirit. He has come proclaiming the word of life (Luk 10:25-28). Along with the casting out of evil spirits He has come to minister God’s word as it has never been ministered before (Luk 11:31-32, compare how the word and the casting out of evil spirits regularly go together – Luk 4:18; Luk 9:1; Luk 9:6; Mar 1:27; Mar 6:12-13). And He has come to bring light into the world, separating light from darkness (Luk 11:33-36) and to confound the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees (Luk 11:37-52). He is the greatest teacher of them all.
We may analyse it as follows:
a When the crowds were gathering together to Him, He began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. And there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah (Luk 11:29).
b For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will also the Son of man be to this generation” (Luk 11:30).
a “The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and will condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, a greater than Jonah is here” (Luk 11:31-32).
It will be noted that ‘a’ speaks of the prophet Jonah and in the parallel we have a double example of those who responded, those who responded because of Jonah and the one who responded because of Solomon (this is the necessary dual witness before the Judgment throne). Central in ‘b’ is the fact that the Son of Man is a sign to this generation.
A Warning to the Jews.
v. 29. And when the people were gathered thick together, He began to say, This is an evil generation; they seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonas the Prophet.
v. 30. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation.
v. 31. The queen of the South shall rise up in the Judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
v. 32. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the Judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
The altercation with the Pharisees and scribes after the healing of the dumb demoniac had drawn a large crowd, and, as always under such circumstances, the crowd was quickly augmented and enlarged. And so Jesus took the opportunity of speaking to them all, taking His cue from the request that some of them wanted to see a sign from heaven. The entire generation, the whole race of the people that were here represented, were evil, wicked, far from knowing wherein true morality consists. They sought a sign, but they should not receive any in the sense which they had in mind. Only the sign of the Prophet Jonah would be set before them, just as the sign of the brazen serpent was placed before the children of Israel in the wilderness. The resurrection of Jesus is the one great sign from heaven before the people of all times. See Mat 12:38-42. Altogether, in his whole ministry, Jonah had been a sign to the inhabitants of Nineveh, as a preacher of righteousness unto salvation. And so Jesus was a sign to the people of His generation and times, proclaiming before them all the coming of the kingdom of God through faith in His ministry and work. But the results would not even measure up to those of Jonah, a fact which would redound to their own condemnation. For in the Judgment, on the day when God will judge the quick and the dead, the queen of the South, the rich and powerful queen that had come to visit Solomon, would appear with them, as their accuser, before the throne of the Judge. For she, for the sake of hearing the wisdom of a mere man, came from the extreme ends of the earth, 1Ki 10:1; but here, in the person of Jesus, stood one that was far greater than the ancient king, whose wisdom was immeasurably greater than that of Solomon. Instead of having people come to Him for the words of eternal life, He was obliged to go out and seek the people. And the queen of Sheba would be joined by the men of Nineveh, who would also arise to condemn this generation on the Bay of Judgment; for when Jonah preached his sermon of repentance to them, they gave heed and turned from the error of their ways. And here, in the person of Jesus, was a greater man than Jonah, Jonah’s God and Lord, in fact.
Luk 11:29-32 . See on Mat 12:39-42 . Jesus now, down to Luk 11:36 , turns His attention to the dismissal of those who had craved from Him a (Luk 11:16 ).
] He first began this portion of His address when the crowds were still assembling thither, i.e. were assembling in still greater numbers ( .), comp. Plut. Anton . 44. But it is arbitrary to regard this introductory notice of the assembling of the people as deduced by Luke himself from the condemnation of the entire generation (Weizscker).
Luk 11:30 . Comp. Mat 16:4 . Jonah was for the Ninevites a sign (divinely sent) by means of his personal destiny, . Jesus became for that generation a sign (divinely sent, and that as Messiah) likewise by His personal destiny, , Euthymius Zigabenus. In opposition to those who interpret the sign of Jonah only of Christ’s word (as even Schenkel and Weizscker, p. 431), see on Mat 12:40 , Remark. The sign of Jonah belongs entirely to the future ( ).
Luk 11:31 f. does not stand in a wrong order (de Wette), although the order in Matthew is probably the original, while that in Luke is arranged chronologically and by way of climax.
. . .] she will appear with the men , etc., brings into greater prominence the woman’s condemning example.
] without an article: Men of Nineveh .
2. A Sign for the Eye and an Eye for the Sign (Luk 11:29-36)
(Comp. Mat 12:38-42; Mat 6:22-23.)
29And when the people were gathered [gathering] thick together, he began to say, This [generation7] is an evil generation: they seek [it seeks] a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas [Jonah] the prophet [om., the prophet8]. 30For as Jonas [Jonah] was [became] a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater [, neuter; lit., something more] than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas 33[Jonah]; and, behold, a greater than Jonas [ ] is here. [And] No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a [the] bushel,but on a [the] candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34The light of the body is the [thine9] eye: therefore when thine eye is single [sound], thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil [diseased], thy body also is full of darkness. 35Take heed therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness 36If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a [the] candle [with its brilliancy, ; om., the bright-shining] doth give thee light.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk 11:29. He began to say.The occasion for this discourse of rebuke on the part of the Saviour Luke has already, Luk 11:16, communicated at the same time with the judgment of the Pharisees. Matthew keeps the two elements, Luk 12:24; Luk 12:38, more exactly apart, arranging them chronologically. According to his account it is principally Pharisees and Scribes who desire to see the sign from heaven, in whom, however, the Saviour, with the most perfect right, views the legitimate representatives of the whole evil and adulterous generation of His contemporaries. According to Luke they are indeed than those who had before spoken, yet by no means animated with a better spirit. They will tempt Jesus () in that they laid for Him a snare, indirectly support their humiliated and castigated friends, and desire something of Him which He could not refuse them without exciting much remark. If we are not disposed by the sign from heaven to understand an actual revelation of the Shekinah, they have at all events some kind of cosmic phenomenon in mind, either an eclipse of the sun or moon, or a meteor, or something of the sort, which, however, must be so far different from the other miracles of our Lord as this, that it was to be performed, not on men who surrounded Him, but on objects which were apparently elevated above Him, and was therefore to strike the eye so much the more strongly. Perhaps they find occasion for this inquiry in the definite assurance of the Saviour that He cast out demons , at which they in a hypocritical tone declared themselves ready to acknowledge Him as soon as He should have given them an incontestable proof of His heavenly mission. It is in this case much easier to understand that the Saviour, agreeably to His principle, performed no sign before them, since He found in them not the slightest receptivity for the moral impression of His miracles: comp. Mat 13:58.
There shall no sign be given it.This whole answer of the Saviour breathes, besides righteous displeasure, a heavenly composure and wisdom: for it gave all to whom the truth was dear, plainly to understand that His refusal to give a sign was perfectly just, and besides that only conditional, and finally, that it was only temporary.
The sign of Jonah.The briefer expression of Luke must be explained by the more developed statement of the language of our Lord in Matt. Luk 12:40, of whose genuineness and exactness there is no occasion whatever to doubt. The reference of the sign of Jonah merely to the preaching and manifestation of the Saviour in Paulus, Schleiermacher, Neander, a. o., needs no refutation. Lange. Had the Saviour wished to refer to that alone, He would then have had to express Himself more exactly, and to say: As Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites, so is also the Son of man for this generation. The itself points to the future. As Jonah from the belly of the fish had come forth, to appear to the Ninevites, so should the risen Jesus be for His contemporaries a sign, but not from heaven; from the depth of the earth shall this sign be given, but yet it should serve for their condemnation. The parallel consists in this, that Jonah goes down into the fishs belly, and after three days abode therein, comes again out of the same, while Christ descends into the heart of the earth, Sheol (Meyer), and also after the same time again gloriously appears. And if we must also, according to Jonah 2, conceive the prophet as living in the belly of the fish, this takes nothing from the general correctness of the comparison. As respects, however, the difficulty as to the designation of time, a does not need always to endure just twenty-four full hours. See 1Sa 30:12-13, and in the Talmud Hieros. it is expressly stated: Day and night make together a period (), and the part of such an one is as the whole. Comp. Stier, R. J. II., p. 53.
Luk 11:31. The Queen of the South.Comp. Lange on Mat 12:42. Less precisely has Luke placed the comparison with Solomon before that with Jonah and the Ninevites, because then the beautiful climax of the discourse is lost. The Queen of Sheba had given yet greater proofs of faith and exhibited yet more interest than the Ninevites, who believed on the word spoken in their immediate vicinity; for out of distant lands had she come to hear the wisdom of Solomon, while the Jews contemned what they could find in their immediate neighborhood, and yet there was more here than Solomon!
More than Solomon.In order to feel the power of this comparison, in which the wisdom of Solomon is to be kept carefully in mind as the tertium comparationis, we must not only realize to ourselves what is written in the Old Testament regarding Solomon, but also especially what tradition had added to this, in reference to his magic words, his ring, his knowledge of the secrets of the spiritual world, &c, in consequence of which Solomon stood in almost unearthly glory before the eyes of the contemporaries of Jesus. [The simple reference to the scriptural account of Solomon appears quite sufficient, without supposing our Saviour to have taken any account of the superstitious fables respecting Him.C. C. S.]
Luk 11:32. The men of Nineveh.It cannot be stated with certainty whether Jonah made to the Ninevites any intimation of the miracle that had happened to him or not. But even supposing he did not, the contrast is then so much the stronger. The Ninevites believed Jonah upon his word, without knowing anything of the miracle. The Jews, on the other hand, had not only heard the preaching of Jesus, but also afterwards an account of His resurrection, and yet they believed not. In no case, therefore, is the judgment here uttered by Jesus too hard.
Luk 11:33. And no man.Course of thought: I am more than Jonah (Luk 11:32); but in order to know this one does not (as you do) put the light under a bushel. Unquestionably Jesus, according to Luke, appears to wish to denounce the insincerity of His adversaries (De Wette). Comp. Mat 5:15; Luk 8:16. , that is, in a vault, a cellar, the familiar crypta of ancient buildings and churches. See Meyer, ad loc.
Luk 11:34. When thine eye is sound.Comp. Mat 6:22-23. If the light is to be permitted to shine brightly before the eyes of others upon the candlestick, then it is above all things necessary to preserve to ones self the light of his own power of perception undarkened and bright. Respecting the inner eye, see Lange on the parallel passage in Matthew. There appears to be indicated by this an immediate original consciousness of God, to which also Paul, Act 17:27, alludes. It appears, therefore, that according to the doctrine of the Saviour, the organ exists even in fallen man by which revealed truth can be viewed, and it may be said that here, as also in Mat 13:12, the general law is stated according to which an increase of the inner light and of the spiritual life takes place in man. If we assume that Luke communicates this saying of the Saviour in its exact historical connection, then especially must we not leave out of view that Jesus here speaks of the people (Luk 11:29), but not exclusively of His disciples, so that by the eye and the light of which here He speaks, we must understand, not anything specifically Christian, but something generically human.
Luk 11:35. Take heed, therefore.Only in Luke does the admonition appear in this definite form. The same thought is uttered in the in Matthew. The Saviour fears that the here-indicated darkening is already found in part in His hearers, and warns them therefore to look to it that it do not become a total darkening.
Luk 11:36. If thy whole body therefore. This saying also only Luke has preserved. The appearance of a weak tautology, of which expositors complain, is best avoided if in the protasis we let the emphasis fall upon , in the apodosis upon , , … The sense is then this: Only when thy body is wholly illumined, without having even an obscure corner left therein, will it become so bright and clear as if the full brilliancy of a bright lamp illumined thee; in other words, thou wilt be placed in a normal condition of light.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. It is from a Christologico-psychological point of view noticeable how it is the repelling of the charge of diabolical agency, which disposes and occasions the Lord to give forth one of the most elevated expressions of His self-consciousness, in that He places Himself far above Jonah and Solomon. As this comparison gives proof of His true humanity, it at the same time places the superhuman in His activity in the brightest light. 3. The craving for wonders is a diseased condition of soul, which can never be satisfied, and which, therefore, is combated by the Saviour with all His might. Comp. Joh 4:48. And so much the stronger opposition did He present to this temptation since it was in its deepest ground a Satanic one, and really a repetition of the request that He should perform a miracle of display. Comp. Luk 4:9-10. The Saviour could so much the less satisfy the demand of His contemporaries, as these were wholly wanting in the holy sense of light [Lichtsinn] which had animated the Ninevites in reference to Jonah and the Queen of the South in reference to Solomon.
4. It is manifestly here expressed that the truth revealed to man in the Gospel stands, not as something entirely foreign, over against and outside of him, but as related to the inmost constitution and the highest receptivity of his nature, as the eye and the light are, as it were, made for one another. Here holds good the beautiful expression of Goethe: Wr nicht das Auge sonnenhaft, wie knnten wir das Licht erblicken, &c. [Were not the eye akin to the sun, how could we behold the light?] And the Christian hymn, Heilge Einfalt, Gnadenwunder. [Holy simplicity, miracle of grace.]
5. So can and should the receptivity of light in the spiritual sense (reason, feeling, and conscience) be cherished and kindled to the light of life and of the body. The essence of the care of the same is the simplicity, that is, the completeness, concentration, and consistency of the inner life. For this light-sense the word of God now necessarily becomes the inner light of life, which gradually drives out even from the corporal and sensual sphere of life all elements of obscuration, all fragments of the old night, till the whole being of the man, even his exterior, is not only illumined, but also diffuses light, a clear, beautiful, and consecrated beam of God. Lange. Tell her of things that no gross ear may hear,
Till oft converse with Heavenly habitant The unpolluted temple of the mind,
And turns it by degrees to the souls essence,
Till all be made immortal.Comus.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Outward hearing of the word joined with inward enmity and perverted designs.The unappeasable greediness for ever greater and greater wonders.The request for a sign from Heaven an indirect proof of the reality of the other signs on earth.The resurrection of the Lord the highest sign of His Messianic dignity.Jonah and the Son of man: 1. What advantage the former appears to have over the latter; 2. wherein both stand on a level; 3. wherein the latter infinitely excels the former.More than Solomon is here. We consider in reference to this saying: 1. How strange it sounds; 2. how true it Isaiah 3. of what moment it continues to be.The wisdom of the Saviour and the wisdom of Solomon: the first had: 1. A higher originality (Joh 6:46); 2. a wider extent (Joh 6:68); 3. a more salutary purpose (Mat 5:48) than the latter.The different grades of the damnableness of sin: 1. Penitent heathen rise up against unbelieving Jews; 2. Jews longing for salvation against hypocritical nominal Christians.The greater the privilege the heavier the responsibility.The brightest light is lost when it is either: 1. Set under a bushel, or 2. viewed with diseased eyes.As the light for the eye and the eye for the light, so are Christ and man made for one another.The hopeless condition of the man in whom the inner light is wholly darkened; it is darkness: 1. In him; 2. around him; 3. above him.The single eye and the illumined body, the diseased eye and the darkened body.What must there be in man if he will rightly understand and esteem revealed truth? Comp. Joh 7:17.Between truth and man there exists the same inner relation as between the light and the eye.
Starke:Brentius:In the work of salvation God does nothing new for any man: the matter proceeds in the way once shown in the Holy Scriptures.Cramer:The Old and the New Testament explain one another clearly.Hedinger:Terrible is it that the poor yet right-minded heathen, the blind people who yet have striven after virtue, shall herein condemn many Christians.The doctrine of the last judgment is a fundamental article of the Christian religion, and must therefore be often urged with great earnestness.Bibl. Wirt:Christian preachers should be in an exceptional manner a light in the Lord.Man needs that his soul should be filled with the divine light if he will do the works of light.Enter diligently into thine heart and be for its enlightenment and amendment unweariedly concerned. Psa 139:23-24. The condition of a man before, in, and after, conversion may be well compared with the night, with the break of day, and with day itself.
Heubner:Christ must hare accounted the history of Jonah a true history, for, a. He would not have compared Himself with a fabulous hero; b. nor could the Ninevites, if their repentance after Jonahs preaching is a mere fable, judge the Jews of that time.Every converted man is for the unconverted that know him a judging, condemning example.How often do people run and study for the sake of earthly wisdom, while Christs wisdom, so near at hand, is despised; men have a disgust at it, and deify the wisdom of the dust.
Footnotes:
[7]Luk 11:29.According to the reading approved by Tischendorf on preponderating grounds: . [Supported also by Cod. Sin.]
[8]Luk 11:29.Rec.: , taken from the parallel passage in Matthew. [Omitted also by Cod. Sin.]
[9]Luk 11:34.Rec.: Mat 6:22 is, however, decidedly supported and already approved by Griesbach. [Supported also by Cod. Sin.]
(29) And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. (30) For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. (31) The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgement with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon: and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. (32) The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgement with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas: and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. (33) No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light (34) The light of the body is the eye; therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness, (35) Take heed therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. (36) If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
Our Lord’s discourse in this place, illustrated as it is by those beautiful histories of the Queen of the South, and the Men of Nineveh, deserves our awakened attention. Jesus plainly shows that his Gospel, in his own open and free preaching of it, became a candle placed most conveniently for giving light, and not obscurely hid. But such was the prejudice of darkened nature, that the very light arising out of it, like the vicious humours of the body, only tended to render it indistinct. Both the Queen of the South, and the Men of Nineveh, must alike arise to condemn the generation before whom Christ preached. For the former came from a vast distance to hear the mere wisdom of a man; but they passed by in their own streets with contempt, and staid not to hear the wisdom of the Son of God. And the latter fell down in sorrow and sackcloth, at the preaching of Jonas, from a single sermon; whereas, the repeated discourses of Jesus were utterly disregarded by them, and despised.
29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
Ver. 29. Were gathered thick together ] All on a heap, , either to see a sign, or to hear what he would say to the motion.
29. ] This is now in answer to those who sought of Him a sign from Heaven.
. . perhaps in expectation, as He paused in His discourse, that the sign was now about to be shewn: see notes on Matt. for the main subject.
Here we have one part of the sign of Jonas brought out, which is not touched on in Matt., viz. his preaching after his resurrection to the Ninevites, announcing for that would necessarily be involved in that preaching the wonderful judgment of God in bringing him there, and thus making his own deliverance , that he might preach to them, a sign to that people; which sign ( Luk 11:32 ) they received, and repented; but a greater than Jonas, shewing and preaching a greater sign by far, this generation shall reject.
Luk 11:29-32 . The sign of Jonah (Mat 12:38-42 ). . . , the crowds thronging to Him. The heading for the following discourse has been anticipated in Luk 11:16 ; , instead of Mt.’s scribes and Pharisees, asking a sign. In Lk.’s narrative Jesus answers their question in presence of a gathering crowd supposed to be referred to in the expression . occurs here only in N.T. , etc., this generation is an evil generation; said in reference to the crowd supposed to sympathise with and share the religious characteristics of their leaders. The epithet (Mat 12:39 ) is omitted as liable to be misunderstood by non-Hebrew readers.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 11:29-32
29As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. 30For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
Luk 11:29 “this generation is a wicked generation” The Matthew parallel (cf. Luk 12:38-42) calls them “an evil and adulterous generation,” which Luke’s Gentile readers would not have understood in its OT connotation (i.e., faithless, idolatrous, e.g., Exo 34:15-16; Deu 31:16; Jdg 2:17; Jdg 8:27; Eze 6:9; Eze 23:30; Hos 3:1; Hos 4:12; Hos 9:1). This verse may refer to Luk 11:16.
“it seeks a sign”In Mar 8:11-12 Jesus refuses to give a sign! Both Matthew and Luke record Jesus as alluding to the sign of the prophet Jonah.
1. Matthew to his being in the great fish three days (i.e., Jesus’ resurrection)
2. Luke to his preaching on Nineveh repenting (i.e., what the crowd should do)
They had heard Jesus’ teachings and had seen the healings and the exorcisms performed by Him, but they wanted some ultimate sign to convince them to believe on Him. This is exactly the temptation of Mat 4:5-7, to which Jesus would not succumb. However, in reality, He had given them sign after sign, but they would not or could not see!
“yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah” The Matthew parallel (Mat 12:38-42) emphasizes Jonah in the great fish three days as Jesus was three days in the grave (Hades). We must remember that this is three days by Jewish reckoning, not three twenty-four hour periods. Any part of a day, which for them was evening to evening (cf. Genesis 1), was reckoned as a full day. Jesus’ allusion to Jonah confirms the historicity of the prophet Jonah (as does 2Ki 14:25). It is precisely the experience in the great fish that was used as the analogy. Also, Jonah’s preaching resulted in the salvation of Gentiles (Luke’s target audience was Gentiles).
Luke emphasizes the repentance of Nineveh at Jonah’s preaching. In Luke Jesus is calling for the crowds’ repentance in light of His teachings and miracles as the OT sign they sought (cf. Luk 11:32).
Luk 11:30 It was Jonah’s preaching which God used to cause ancient Nineveh, the capital of the evil and cruel Assyria (Israel’s enemy), to repent. The Matthew parallel uses Jonah in the great fish for three days and Jesus in the earth three days as the sign.
Luk 11:31 “The Queen of the South” This refers to the visit of the Queen of Sheba (a Gentile) to hear Solomon’s wisdom recorded in 1 Kings 10 and 2 Chronicles 9.
“something greater than Solomon is here” What a tremendous self-affirmation and the self-understanding of this carpenter of Nazareth. He saw himself as having greater wisdom (i.e., “something”) than Solomon (cf. Luk 11:49; Luk 11:52).
Jesus, in His dialogs with different groups, clearly asserts that He is “greater than”
1. the temple, Mat 12:6; Mat 12:8
2. Jonah, Mat 12:41; Luk 11:31
3. greater than Solomon, Mat 12:42; Luk 11:32
4. greater than Jacob, Joh 4:12
5. greater than John the Baptist, Joh 5:36
6. greater than Abraham, Joh 8:53
This is either the rambling of a mad man or the witness of incarnate deity! Each hearer/reader must decide.
Luk 11:32 “men of Nineveh” This is obviously the generic use of “men” as people.
“something greater than Jonah is here” Notice again “something.” Jesus’ wisdom and message are greater than any OT wisdom and message. Jonah’s message caused a pagan nation to repent. Jesus’ message is greater than Jonah’s, but these religious leaders will not repent and believe. Their condemnation is far worse because the message they heard was so superior!
And when, &c. Luk 11:29-36 peculiar to Luke.
were gathered = were gathering. Occurs only here.
This, &c. See note on Mat 11:18.
evil. Greek. poneros. App-128. Compare Mat 12:34.
sign. Greek. semeion. App-176.
Jonas = Jonah. See notes on p. 1247.
29.] This is now in answer to those who sought of Him a sign from Heaven.
. . perhaps in expectation, as He paused in His discourse, that the sign was now about to be shewn:-see notes on Matt. for the main subject.
Here we have one part of the sign of Jonas brought out, which is not touched on in Matt., viz. his preaching after his resurrection to the Ninevites, announcing-for that would necessarily be involved in that preaching-the wonderful judgment of God in bringing him there,-and thus making his own deliverance, that he might preach to them, a sign to that people; which sign (Luk 11:32) they received, and repented;-but a greater than Jonas, shewing and preaching a greater sign by far, this generation shall reject.
Luk 11:29. , but when crowds [the multitudes]) This took place at the same time. Comp. Luk 11:37, at the beginning.-[, were rushing in upon Him [were gathered thick together, Engl. Vers.]) to see whether a sign was about to follow from heaven. See Luk 11:16.-V. g.]
Responsibility According To — Luk 11:29-36
And when the people were gathered thick together. He began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye, therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, die whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light- Luk 11:29-36.
We are taught throughout the Word of God that our responsibility depends upon the light that God graciously gives us. The other day a young soldier wrote me from far-off New Guinea. He said, I never in my life realized the true condition of the heathen until I got down here in New Guinea. He told me that he had gone out among the raw heathen who had never heard of Christ or known anything about the gospel. He said it is awfully hard to believe that these men are going to be lost because of their ignorance. I cant understand it. Have you anything that would help to cast light on this problem? he asked. One can turn only to the Word of God for light; there is none to be found anywhere else. In the book of Job (Job 34:23) we read definitely that God will not lay upon any man more than is right. In the day of judgment He will deal righteously. We are taught that, To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. In the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans we read that paganism is not a step upward in the evolution of religion as many try to make it appear, but it is a definite declension. It is a degradation; it is a condition into which men have fallen, because of having turned away from the light which they once had. Man did not begin as a pagan, reaching up out of the darkness and seeking after God. He began with a full, clear revelation of God. In the beginning all men had the truth of the one living God. But many do not like to face that knowledge today; they do not like to realize that they have to do with God and that He is infinitely holy and righteous. This was so in the past ages when men turned away from the truth because they did not like to retain the knowledge of God.
In that first chapter of Romans we get the expressions, God gave them up and God gave them over, four times. Why? Because they gave Him up; they turned away from Him. They refused to walk in the light He had given them, and so He gave them up to darkness. But even today, although men are in darkness, everyone has a conscience. Every man knows something of right and wrong. His own conscience tells him he should love his fellowmen; that he should be pure, and kind, and true. But instead of that, men turn away from God and become impure, unkind, and untruthful; and all the time their consciences are convicting them of wrongdoing. In the day of judgment God is going to deal with men according to the light they have had and the light they have rejected. He will not cast the heathen into hell-fire simply because they never knew and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ when nobody carried the message to them; but the heathen are lost because of their own sin, because of their own wickedness, the vileness of which they are guilty. Thank God, the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. That is where our responsibility comes in. We are to go to them and tell them how they may be saved. But let us suppose there is a heathen man living in darkness who wants to know the right way, who wants to be right before God; then I dare to say and believe that God will make Himself responsible to give him light enough to be saved. We may be sure that God will never allow a man to be lost who desires to be saved; He will give him light in some way or another.
But we at home need to be concerned about ourselves. We who have heard the gospel and have had the knowledge of Christ, we who know what our responsibility is, who have heard it all through the years, yet have done nothing about it! When our Lord Jesus was here on earth, those to whom the revelation of the Old Testament had been given came to Him wanting to see a sign from Him. They had a sign. They had the Bible. They should have known who Jesus was; they should have known when the Messiah was to come, and where He was to be born, and what kind of personality He would be. Though professing to believe the Bible, they did not search the Scriptures to find out whether or not Christ was the Son of God. They said, rather, We would see a sign from heaven, a sign to gratify their curiosity.
I can remember when I was a lad, deeply concerned about my own soul, I read in my Bible of angels appearing to men, and I went to my room, closed the door and said, O God, if You will only send an angel to me to reveal things to me I will be saved. But no angel appeared, and I am glad of it now. Instead of sending an angel He sent me back to His Word, and not long after, through the Word, I was saved. Just as these Jews came to Jesus seeking a sign, so many in our generation seek a sign. It is the evidence of our unbelief and unwillingness to rest on His simple promise. Jesus said, There shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet, for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. In other words, the sign that was to be given was that of our Lords resurrection from the dead. Alas, many people still come seeking for a sign, refusing to believe in the risen Saviour in the face of the evidence of the empty tomb. He said that the Queen of the South, that is, of Sheba, who came to hear the famous Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, shall rise up in the day of judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Shebas queen dwelt a long way from Jerusalem, but she had a hungry heart, and she was anxious to know the truth of God. She had heard that there was a great king in Jerusalem to whom great wisdom had been given, and who knew the true God and would be able to answer her questions and solve her problems. So she, at great cost to herself, came to Jerusalem, and when she met Solomon and communed with him, she was so stirred that she said, The half hath not been told me. The Lord Jesus said in the day of judgment Shebas queen will rise up against the men and women who have had every opportunity to know God, to know the truth, to know Christ, and yet they do not avail themselves of their privileges. In the day of judgment, if you who are living in a Christian land, go on as you are, you who have heard the gospel read and expounded from babyhood and yet have never opened your heart to Jesus Christ-if you go into eternity like that, how terrible it will be when you see standing beside the Son of God, the Queen of Sheba who gave so much to hear the truth. She will point her finger at you and say, If only I had lived when you lived and had your opportunities how gladly would I have availed myself of them. It is a terrible mistake to sin against the light that God gives us.
Then our Lord Jesus said to the self-righteous Jews, that in the day of judgment, The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold, a greater than Jonas is here. Many men reject the story of Jonas, and some who even stand at the sacred desk in our churches would cast out this story as false; but our Lord Jesus, God manifested in the flesh, said that as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Thus He has placed His seal of authority upon that little Old Testament book which has been rejected and ridiculed by agnostics throughout the centuries. Jesus knew Jonas, and Jesus knew the men of Nineveh, and it is recorded that the men of Nineveh repented. Think of facing the men of Nineveh and having them look at you and say, You had so many privileges and opportunities and yet you spurned them. We believed the first message from God that we ever heard. We believed the first time a prophet came to proclaim the divine truth, and God had mercy on us and saved us; but you have heard the Word expounded over and over again, and you turned away because of your love for the world. You were more concerned about gratifying your natural desires on earth than about obtaining a holy home in heaven. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented, and you have repented not. God grant that you may repent today and say to Him, I have heard the Word so many times. I have had so much light; yet I have gone far from it; I have walked in darkness. Now I come confessing my sins and trusting Thy Son.
When we receive light then we are responsible to pass it on to others. Our Saviour gave the parable of the lighted candle, No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. If I have received light from heaven I am not to hide my light under a bed or a bushel or in a secret place. I am not to allow anything in my domestic life or in mgr business to hinder me from shining for God. Wherever I am and whatever my circumstances, I am responsible to pass on to others the light which He has given to me. Let us face this very seriously, my Christian brethren and sisters. Are we allowing anything in our behavior which is dimming the light? How about our next-door neighbors? Do they believe in our Christian profession, or is our light so hidden that they cannot see it, and do not even know that we are Christians?
I once knew a man who was going away for the summer to cut timber, and expected to be back in the fall. I said to him, You will find yourself among the ungodly, and may the Lord help you to stand firm in your testimony. He said he would be all right. He came back after three months. I said, I am g]ad to see you. How did you get along this summer; did you find any other Christians there? He said, I was the only one, but I did not have any difficulty with the unsaved men. As a matter-of-fact, I managed to keep it so quiet that no one ever found out that I was a Christian. That is hiding your light, and that is the very thing the Lord tells us we are not to do. If I know Christ as my Saviour, instead of keeping quiet about it I am to speak for Him, speaking not only with my lips but with my life as well. If lips and life do not agree, the testimony will not amount to much.
The Saviour uses another beautiful illustration: The light of the body is the eye. Therefore when my eye is single (single really means sound), that is, when it is healthy, the whole body is full of light. My feet do not have any eyes, but my feet know where to go if I have sound eyes; my hands do not have eyes, but my hands know how to perform aright if I have sound eyes. If I have sound eyes my whole body is full of light. On the other hand, if my eye is evil, that is, if the eye is diseased, then the whole body is full of darkness. When my eye is diseased I cannot see where to go, and I do not know how to use my hands; I need someone to direct me all the time. As Christians we are to have a single, or sound, eye. We will keep our eyes fixed on Christ when the eye is sound.
When my eyes are fixed on Jesus
I lose sight of all beside;
So enchained my spirits vision,
Gazing at the Crucified.
When I am occupied with Him I have no difficulty finding my way through this world and doing that which He would have me do, but I need to be careful lest something come to spoil my eyesight. It is so easy to fall into habits that lead to moral darkness, or take up with things that will darken the spiritual eyesight. Give attention to Gods Word; cultivate the desire to read the Word of God. Nothing will kill the desire to read the Word of God so much as the habit of reading the trashy literature that prevails in so many places today. You cannot get spiritual light in this manner. People say, I read my Bible, but I do not get much out of it. The reason is that the eye is not sound; it has become dull, partially blinded and occupied with things that are opposed to the truth of God and the Holy Spirit who dwells within you. If, on the other hand, your eye be sound then your whole body will be sound, having no part darkness. So our blessed Lord stresses firmly the importance of walking in the light that He gives. Think of the responsibility of those who have already come to God in Christ, to pass that light on to others, and to so live before God that they will always have clear vision themselves to do what the Lord would have them do. If you have not received the light of life, if you have never trusted Christ as your Saviour, oh, I warn you, be careful! All men by nature are in darkness, but there is something worse than that. When you refuse the light that is offered you the darkness becomes far more serious than that darkness in which you were born. We read, Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. That is wilful darkness. If men persist in going on in darkness, turning their backs to the light, the day may come when God will give them up to judicial darkness. In Jer 13:16 we read, Give glory onto the Lord your God before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. If you persist in loving darkness rather than light God may some day say, If you want the darkness you may have it, and you will enter into the darkness forever. That is the doom of those who have refused the light- eternal darkness!
when: Luk 12:1, Luk 14:25, Luk 14:26
This is: Luk 11:50, Luk 9:41, Isa 57:3, Isa 57:4, Mat 3:7, Mat 23:34-36, Mar 8:38, Joh 8:44, Act 7:51, Act 7:52
they: Mat 12:38, Mat 12:39, Mat 16:1-4, Mar 8:11, Mar 8:12, Joh 2:18, Joh 6:30, 1Co 1:22
Reciprocal: 2Ki 20:9 – This sign Eze 24:24 – Ezekiel Jon 1:1 – Jonah Mat 16:4 – but
ASKING FOR A SIGN
This is an evil generation: they seek a sign.
Luk 11:29
We see here the desperate unbelief of the Jews in our Lords time. We are told that though they gathered thick together to hear Christ preach, they still professed to be waiting for a sign. They pretended to want more evidence before they believed.
I. Unbelief in this world.Our Lord declares that the Queen of Sheba and the men of Nineveh would put the Jews to shame at the last day. The Queen of Sheba had such faith that she travelled a vast distance in order to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Yet Solomon, with all his wisdom, was an erring and imperfect king. The Ninevites had such faith that they believed the message which Jonah brought from God, and repented. Yet even Jonah was a weak and unstable prophet. The Jews of our Lords time had far higher light and infinitely clearer teachings than either Solomon or Jonah could supply. They had amongst them the King of kings, the Prophet greater than Moses. Yet the Jews neither repented nor believed! Let it never surprise us to see unbelief abounding, both in the Church and in the world.
II. Judgment in the world to come.We should observe, also, in these verses, how our Lord Jesus Christ testifies to the truth of a resurrection and a life to come. He speaks of the Queen of the South, whose name and dwelling-place are now alike unknown to us. He says she shall rise up in the judgment. He speaks of the men of Nineveh, a people who have passed away from the face of the earth. He says of them also, they shall rise up. There is something very solemn and instructive in the language which our Lord here uses. It reminds us that this world is not all, and that the life which man lives in the body on earth is not the only life of which we ought to think. The kings and queens of olden time are all to live again one day, and to stand before the bar of God. We shall yet see them face to face.
Bishop J. C. Ryle.
Illustrations
(1) So far from wondering that there have been men like Hobbes, and Payne, and Rousseau, and Voltaire, we ought rather to wonder that such men have been so few. So far from marvelling that the vast majority of professing Christians remain unaffected and unmoved by the preaching of the Gospel, we ought to marvel that any around us believe at all. Why should we wonder to see that old disease, which began with Adam and Eve, infecting all their children? Why should we expect to see more faith among men and women now than was seen in our Lords time? The enormous amount of unbelief and hardness on every side may well grieve and pain us. But it ought not to cause surprise.
(2) Let it be noted, that both in Luk 11:31 and in the end of the following verses, the Greek word translated a greater, is literally a greater thing. It is not improbable that the thing referred to is the sign. There is one here who is a sign of far greater moment than either Jonah or Solomon. Let it be observed, that the point in which the Queen of the South surpassed the Jews of our Lords time and put them to shame, was faith. She had faith enough to come a long journey to hear a wise man. The Jews, on the other hand, had the wisdom of God actually in the midst of them, preaching and teaching for three years, and yet they would not believe. Let it be observed, that the point in which the Ninevites surpassed the Jews and put them to shame, was repentance. They had among them for a short time a prophet, and a very weak and erring prophet too. Yet they repented and turned to God. The Jews had among them the mightiest and most faithful preacher that ever warned a people, and yet they would not repent.
9
Because it was an evil generation, Jesus refused to perform any miracle at the time. However, he was willing to stake his reputation as a true prophet on an event yet to come.
Luk 11:29. When the multitudes, etc. Possibly in expectation of the sign; but the controversy with the Pharisees was a prolonged one, which would attract an increasing crowd.
The sign which the Pharisees here desired of our Saviour, was a miracle wrought by him. Now our Saviour, though he was very ready to work miracles to encourage and confirm his hearers’ faith, yet not to satisfy the unbelieving Pharisees’ curiosity: and accordingly he tells them, they should have no other sign than that of his resurrection, which Jonas was a type of.
Next he threatens them for their obstinacy and infidelity, which he aggravates from the example of the queen of the south, and the men of Nineveh.
From thence learn, that the sins of infidelity and impenitency are exceedingly heightened, and their guilt aggravated, from the means afforded by God to bring men to faith and obedience. The sin of the Pharisees was infinitely greater in rejecting the evidence of Christ’s miracles, than the sin of the Ninevites would have been in refusing to hearken to Jonas’s ministry; therefore the Ninevites shall condemn the Pharisees.
Luk 11:29-32. When the people were gathered thick together. It seems, on this occasion, the multitude gathered round him in a great crowd, and pressed upon him, in expectation that he was going to show them the sign from heaven which some of them had required from him. But he repulsed them, by telling them that they were an evil race of men, who discovered a very perverse disposition, in seeking signs after so many miracles had been wrought by him; for which reason no greater sign should be given them than those they were daily beholding, except the sign of the Prophet Jonas. See notes on Mat 12:38-42. They repented at the preaching of Jonas But it was only for a season. Afterward they relapsed into wickedness, till (after about forty years) they were destroyed. It is remarkable, that in this also the comparison held. God reprieved the Jews for about forty years: but they still advanced in wickedness, till, having filled up their measure, they were destroyed with an utter destruction.
4 th. Luk 11:29-36. The Second Discourse.
This is the answer of Jesus to the demand which was addressed to Him to work a miracle proceeding from heaven (Luk 11:16). Strauss does not think that Jesus could have reverted to so secondary a question after the extremely grave charge with which He had been assailed. We have already pointed out the relation which exists between those two subjects. The miracle proceeding from heaven was claimed from Jesus as the only means He had of clearing Himself from the suspicion of complicity with Satan. In the first part of His reply, Jesus speaks of the only sign of the kind which shall be granted to the nation (Luk 11:29-32); in the second, of the entire sufficiency of this sign in the case of every one who has the eye of his soul open to behold it (Luk 11:33-36).
Vers. 29-32. The Sign from Heaven.And when the people thronged together, He began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas. 30. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 31. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. 32. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
During the previous scene, a crowd, growing more and more numerous, had gathered; and it is before it that Jesus gives the following testimony against the national unbelief. In the , wicked, there is an allusion to the diabolical spirit which had dictated the call for a sign (, Luk 11:16).
The point of comparison between Jonas and Jesus, according to Luke, appears at first sight to be only the fact of their preaching, while in Mat 12:39-40 it is evidently the miraculous deliverance of the one and the resurrection of the other. M. Colani concludes from this difference that Matthew has materialized the comparison which Jesus gave forth in a purely moral sense (Luke). But it must not be forgotten that Jesus says in Luke, as well as in Matthew: The Son of man shall be () a sign, by which He cannot denote His present preaching and appearance, the Fut. necessarily referring to an event yet to come,an event which can be no other than the entirely exceptional miracle of His resurrection. They ask of Jesus a sign , proceeding from heaven, Luk 11:16. His resurrection, in which no human agency intervenes, and in which divine power appears alone, fully satisfies, and only satisfies, this demand. This is the feature which Peter asserts in Act 2:24; Act 2:32; Act 3:15, etc.: God hath raised up Jesus. In Joh 2:19, Jesus replies to a similar demand by announcing the same event. The thought in Luke and Matthew is therefore exactly the same: It was as one who had miraculously escaped from death that Jonas presented himself before the Ninevites, summoning them to anticipate the danger which threatened them; it is as the risen One that I (by my messengers) shall proclaim salvation to the men of this generation. Which of the two texts is it which reproduces the answer of our Lord most exactly? But our passage may be parallel with Mat 16:4, where the form is that of Luke. As to the words of Mat 12:39-40, they must be authentic. No one would have put into the mouth of Jesus the expression, three days and three nights, when Jesus had actually remained in the tomb only one day and two nights.
But how shall this sign, and this preaching which will accompany it, be received? It is to this new thought that Luk 11:31-32 refer. Of the two examples which Jesus quotes, Matthew puts that of the Ninevites first, that of the queen of Sheba second. Luke reverses the order. Here again it is easy to perceive the superiority of Luke’s text. 1. Matthew’s order has been determined by the natural tendency to bring the example of the Ninevites into immediate proximity with what Jesus has been saying of Jonah 2. Luke’s order presents an admirable gradation: while the wisdom of Solomon sufficed to attract the queen of Sheba from such a distance, Israel demands that to the infinitely higher wisdom of Jesus there should be added a sign from heaven. This is serious enough. But matters will be still worse: while the heathen of Nineveh were converted by the voice of Jonas escaped from death, Israel, at the sight of Jesus raised from the dead, shall not be converted.
Comp. as to the Queen of the South, 1Ki 10:1 et seq. Seba seems to have been a part of Arabia-Felix, the modern Yemen. , shall rise up from her tomb on the day of the great awakening, at the same time as the Jews (, with, not against), so that the blindness of the latter shall appear in full light, contrasted with the earnestness and docility of the heathen queen. The word , the men of this generation, certainly indicates a contrast with her female sex. Indeed, this term , men, does not reappear in the following example, where this generation is not compared with a woman. Perhaps the choice of the first instance was suggested to Jesus by the incident which had just taken place, Luk 11:27-28.
The word , Luk 11:32, shall rise up, denotes a more advanced degree of life than (shall awake). These dead are not rising from their tombs, like the queen of Sheba; they are already in their place before the tribunal as accusing witnesses. How dramatic is everything in the speech of Jesus! and what variety is there in the smallest details of His descriptions!
Vers. 33-36. The Spiritual Eye.No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under the bushel, but on the candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy whole body is full of darkness. 35. Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36. If thy whole body, therefore, be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
Christ,such is the sign from heaven whose light God will diffuse over the world. He is the lamp which gives light to the house. God has not lighted it to allow it to be banished to an obscure corner; He will put it on a candlestick, that it may shine before the eyes of all; and this He will do by means of the resurrection. , a place out of view, under a bed, e.g., (Luk 8:16). , not a bushel, but the bushel; there is but one in the house, which serves in turn as a measure, a dish, or a lantern.
But it is with this sign in relation to our soul, as with a lamp relatively to our body, Luk 11:34. To the light which shines without there must be a corresponding organ in the individual fitted to receive it, and which is thus, as it were, the lamp within. On the state of this organ depends the more or less of light which we receive from the external luminary, and which we actually enjoy. In the body this organ, which by means of the external light forms the light of the whole body, the hand, the foot, etc., is the eye; everything, therefore, depends on the state of this organ. For the soul it is
Jesus does not say what, He leaves us to guessthe heart, ; comp. Mat 6:21-22. The understanding, the will, the whole spiritual being, is illuminated by the divine light which the heart admits. With every motion in the way of righteousness there is a discharge of light over the whole soul. , single, and hence in this place,which is in its original, normal state; , corrupted, and hence diseased, in the meaning of the phrase to be ill. If the Jews were right in heart, they would see the divine sign put before their eyes as easily as the Queen of the South and the Ninevites perceived the less brilliant sign placed before them; but their heart is perverse: that organ is diseased; and hence the sign shines, and will shine, in vain before their view. The light without will not become light in them.
Ver. 35. It is supremely important, therefore, for every one to watch with the greatest care over the state of this precious organ. If the eye is not enlightened, what member of the body will be so? The foot and hand will act in the darkness of night. So with the faculties of the soul when the heart is perverted from good.
Ver. 36. But what a contrast to this condition is formed by that of a being who opens his heart fully to the truth, his spiritual eye to the brightness of the lamp which has been lighted by God Himself! To avoid the tautology which the two members of the verse seem to present, we need only put the emphasis differently in the two propositions: in the first on , whole; and in the second on , full of light, connecting this word immediately with the following as its commentary: full of light as when…The very position of the words forbids any other grammatical explanation; and it leads us to this meaning: When, through the fact of the clearness of thine eye, thy whole body shall be penetrated with light, without there being in thee the least trace of darkness, then the phenomenon which will be wrought in thee will resemble what takes place on thy body when it is placed in the rays of a luminous focus. Jesus means, that from the inward part of a perfectly sanctified man there rays forth a splendour which glorifies the external man, as when he is shone upon from without. It is glory as the result of holiness. The phenomenon described here by Jesus is no other than that which was realized in Himself on the occasion of His transfiguration, and which He now applies to all believers. Passages such as 2Co 3:18 and Rom 8:29 will always be the best commentary on this sublime declaration, which Luke alone has preserved to us, and which forms so perfect a conclusion to this discourse.
Bleek having missed the meaning of this saying, and of the piece generally, accuses Luke of having placed it here without ground, and prefers the setting which it has in Matthew, in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, immediately after the maxim: Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Undoubtedly this context of Matthew proves, as we have recognised, that the eye of the soul, according to the view of Jesus, is the heart. But what disturbs the purity of that organ is not merely avarice, as would appear from the context of Matthew 6. It is sin in general, perversity of heart hostile to the light; and this more general application is precisely that which we find in Luke. This passage has been placed in the Sermon on the Mount, like so many others, rather because of the association of ideas than from historical reminiscence. The context of Luke, from Luk 11:14 to Luk 11:36, is without fault. On the one side the accusation and demand made by the enemies of Jesus, Luk 11:15-16, on the other the enthusiastic exclamation of the believing woman, Luk 11:27-28, furnish Jesus with the starting-points for His two contrasted descriptions,that of growing blindness which terminates in midnight darkness, and that of gradual illumination which leads to perfect glory. We may, after this, estimate the justness of Holtzmann’s judgment: It is impossible to connect this passage about light, in a simple and natural way, with the discourse respecting Jonas.
Luk 11:29-32. The Sign of Jonah (Mat 12:38-42*).Lk. omits the reference to the fish.
Verse 29
Seek a sign. See Luke 11:16.
3. The sign of Jonah 11:29-32 (cf. Matthew 12:38-42; Mark 8:11-12)
This teaching responded to the request of Jesus’ critics for a sign (Luk 11:16; cf. Mat 16:1-4). It is the second main part of His answer to these opponents.
Luke’s reference to the crowds increasing ties this verse in with the previous incident involving the criticism of His miracles (Luk 11:14-26). Jonah himself was the sign of impending judgment to the Ninevites. His supernatural appearance and preaching triggered widespread repentance. Likewise the supernatural appearance and preaching of Jesus and the repentance that accompanied it signified impending judgment. The difference was that the positive response to Jonah’s ministry, by Gentiles no less, postponed God’s judgment. The negative response to Jesus’ ministry did nothing to postpone God’s judgment on Israel. This judgment consisted of the postponement of the kingdom and the destruction of Jerusalem. The rejection of Jesus’ preaching was even more serious because miracles accompanied it. The title "Son of Man" presents Jesus as superior to Jonah.
Luke did not mention Jesus’ reference to Jonah’s three days and nights in the great fish, though that would be a sign that Jesus had come from God after the Resurrection (cf. Mat 12:40).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
I. I shall ask your attention while I DESCRIBE THE PERSONS who are an evil generation that seek after a sign. We have among us many individuals who are aware that they are sinners, and are conscious of their guiltiness to such an extent as to be very uneasy as to their condition. They clearly perceive that sin will be punished by the Great Judge, and they are much afraid of the wrath to come. They anxiously desire, moreover, to find salvation; and, having long listened to the gospel, they are not ignorant of the way in which salvation is obtained; they understand the gospel in the letter of it to the highest degree. They are not unbelievers in any of the doctrines of the gospel; but illogical as their state is, they still remain unbelievers, with all this belief about them, and justify their remaining in unbelief by telling you that if they felt this, or if they saw that, or if this happened, or if the other thing occurred, then they would believe in Jesus, but not until then. They make different demands. There are some, and these are generally the most uneducated, who expect to experience remarkable dreams or to behold singular visions. Others we have met with, who suppose that in order to being saved they must feel some very peculiar physical sensation. Now you must not look for this. You must not put physical contortions or sensations as a test before the Lord, and say you will not believe in Him otherwise. These I hope are rare cases, but in very frequent instances I have met with people who will not believe in Jesus Christ to the salvation of their souls because they have not felt wretched enough. They have read in certain books of holy men who, when they were seeking a Saviour, were broken in pieces under the ponderous hammer of the law. They turn to such biographies, and they find the subjects of them uttering language similar to the book of Job, or to the words of Jeremy in the Lamentations. Ah! poor demented one, to desire misery, and to make your own wretchedness, and even your own unbelieving and wicked thoughts of God to be a kind of preparation for faith in Jesus Christ! It is a most insanely wicked thing, and yet many, many, many persist in unbelief because they think they are not wretched enough. Running to the other extreme, I have met with others who would not simply trust Christ because they were not happy enough. They have heard of the Christians joys, and the peace, like a river, that evermore abideth, and they have said, If I could get this peace, if this deep calm ruled in my spirit, then I could believe. As much as to say, If I saw the wheat full grown in the fields of my soul, then I would begin to sow, whereas the sowing must precede the reaping. I have met with some who would not believe in Christ because they could not pray eloquently. Oh, they have said, if I could pray like So-and-So, to whom we have listened with the greatest pleasure at the prayer-meeting, then I could put my trust in Christ, and there would be some hope for me! I have known others who must feel precisely like certain eminent saints have felt many years after their conversion, or else they cannot believe that they are saved. They will reach down the life of some holy man who had mastered his passions by long years of mortification, who had come to live near to God, and whose life was the heavenly life on earth, and they will mentally vow, I must be just like this man, say they, or else I cannot believe in Jesus. They say, in fact, to the Heavenly Physician, I am sick and ready to die, but, Good Physician, Thou must make me as strong as Samson at once and on the spot, or else I will not receive Thy medicine, just as if the perfect spiritual cure of the soul were not a lifelong work of grace.
II. I shall now, secondly, SHOW THE FOLLY OF SUCH CONDUCT. YOU are seeking a sign, one of these which I have described, or some other.
III. I shall now want a few minutes more, and your very serious attention, while I now LAY BARE YOUR SINS, your grievous sins.
IV. YOUR DANGER In danger of death: you admit that, and now suppose you die in the state you are in. Why, you are almost saved; you are awakened, you are aroused, you have many good desires, but a man who is only almost saved will be altogether damned. There was a householder who almost bolted his door at night, but the thief came in; a prisoner was condemned to be hanged, and was almost pardoned, but he hung on the gallows; a ship was almost saved from shipwreck, but she went to the bottom with all hands on board; a fire was almost extinguished, but it consumed a city; a man almost decided remains to perish in the flames of hell. So is it with you; except you believe, all these things which you possess of good desire and emotion, shall be of no service to you at all, for he that believeth not shall be damned. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
And there was an offer accompanying it. Show us this, and we will see and believe. If a man says to the holy and merciful Saviour, There is one proof which would satisfy me–which of us would not say, Surely Christ will grant it? Even if the thing asked he unreasonable, yet surely Christ will not be extreme to mark it–He will do what even prejudice asks–the end is good, and the means to it at least not evil. It is a natural question–we must not leave it without a word in answer–Why was Christ displeased, why is God silent, when this is the prayer? And I think we shall say–
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Scripture
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2. The sign of the prophet Jonah is essentially the great sign which the Saviour, even in the beginning of His ministry, had intimated to the hostile , Joh 2:19-21. Thus, therefore, does the Saviour in Jerusalem and Galilee, over against similar opposers, and now, after the lapse of a year, remain fully consistent with Himself.
[And in clear dream and solemn vision
Begins to cast a beam on th outward shape,
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
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Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)