Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 17:15
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
15 . one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back ] The healing took place when they had shewn, by starting on their way to fulfil the command of Jesus, that they had faith. The Samaritan was on his way to his own priests at Gerizim.
with a loud voice ] Some see in this an implied contrast to the harsh, husky voice of his leprous condition; but this is unlikely.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
One of them … – This man, sensible of the power of God and grateful for his mercies, returned to express his gratitude to God for his goodness. Instead of obeying at once the letter of the command, he first expressed his thanks to God and to his Great Benefactor. There is no evidence, however, that he did not, after he had given thanks to God, and had poured out his joy at the feet of Jesus, go to the priest as he was directed; indeed, he could not have been restored to society without doing it; but he first poured out his thanks to God, and gave him praise for his wonderful recovery. The first duty of sinners, after they have been forgiven and have the hope of eternal life, is to prostrate themselves at the feet of their Great Benefactor, and to consecrate themselves to his service. Then let them go and show to others the evidence that they are cleansed. Let them go and mingle, like a restored leper, with their families and friends, and show by the purity and holiness of their lives how great is the mercy that has cleansed them.
He was a Samaritan – See the notes at Mat 10:5. This rendered his conduct more remarkable and striking in the sight of the Jews. They considered the Samaritans as especially wicked, and themselves as especially holy. This example showed them, like the parable of the good Samaritan, that in this they were mistaken: and one design of this seems to have been to break down the opposition between the Jews and Samaritans, and to bring the former to more charitable judgments respecting the latter.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, &c.] It seems that he did not wait to go first to the priest, but turned immediately back, and gave public praise to the kind hand from which he had received his cure.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is most probable that this leper first showed himself to the priest, according to the commandment and the direction of our Saviour, and then returned to give our Saviour thanks. Some think that this glorifying God here mentioned, and his giving thanks to Christ, signify the same thing. I doubt it, because nothing appeareth from this story sufficient to convince us that he looked upon Christ as God; nay, it doth not appear that his faith was risen so high as to believe him the Messiah, the Son of David; they speak to him only under the notion of Jesus, Master, Luk 17:13. It is plain they believed him at least to be a great prophet, sent from God, and clothed with a power from God. I choose rather therefore to interpret his falling down on his face at his feet, as a humble posture of reverence, which those nations did often use to compliment their superiors by, even as a posture of adoration; and that his glorifying God was a praising of him as the principal efficient cause of his healing, and his giving thanks to Christ a civil respect paid to Christ as Gods instrument in the case. The evangelist addeth, and he was a Samaritan. Christ calls him a stranger, Luk 17:18 a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, as all the Samaritans were.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed…. When he felt perfect soundness in his body, and perceived that he was restored to his health, and saw with his eyes that the leprosy was gone from him, which must be visible enough:
turned back; either immediately, before he went to the priests; or afterwards, came back to Jesus, when he bad been with them:
and with a loud voice glorified God; Jesus Christ, who is truly God, and whose proper divinity might be seen in this miracle; see 2Ki 5:7 or God the Father, through Christ, and for his sake, by ascribing his cure to his power, and by returning thanks for it, and acknowledging with gratitude, Christ to be the author of it; which he did, with as loud a voice, as he cried to him for mercy; that all might know the miracle that was wrought, and join in giving glory to Christ: and it was but one of them that did so; gratitude is a rare thing, it is found but in few; unthankfulness cleaves to most persons; it is the general character of men to be unthankful and unholy; multitudes, even all men, share in the providential goodness of God, yet few take notice of, and are thankful for it; God is therefore said to be good, to the unthankful and to the evil, Lu 6:35. Few there are who are of Jacob’s spirit, that judge themselves unworthy of the least of mercies, and are heartily thankful for every favour: and this the leper did, when he was sensible that he was healed; no man will seek after a cure, till he sees, or is sensible of his sickness and his wound; and when he does, he will inquire after, and make use of the proper means of healing; and when he has got a cure, he is, or at least ought to be, thankful for it: and so it is in spiritual things, the whole need not a physician, or see no need of the physician, Christ; but those who are sick, and sensible of the sickness of sin, do; and when they perceive that their diseases are healed, and their sins forgiven, then they call upon their souls, and all within them, to bless the Lord, who has done this for them: and it becomes such who are cured of the leprosy of sin, to glorify God; not only with their mouths, by bringing their offering and sacrifice of praise to him, as the leper by the law was obliged to bring his offering, at the time of his cleansing; but by deeds also, with their bodies, and with their spirits; by a holy, humble, and spiritual conversation before men, signified by the leper’s washing himself, and clothes, and shaving off all his hair; and by attending on the word and ordinances, by a professed subjection to the Gospel of Christ, signified by the blood being put upon the tip of the right ear of the leper, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot,
Le 14:14.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed,” (eis de eks auton) “Then one out them,” out of the band of ten leprous men. (idon hoti iathe) “Perceiving that he was cured,” or completely healed. Each saw his own cure, for himself, Joh 20:30-31.
2) “Turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,” (hupestrepsen meta phones megales doksazon ton theon) “Returned with a great (strong and clear) voice glorifying or praising God,” He returned to the one who had healed him to thank him, to express gratitude to him first, before he went to the priest for examination, and a free ticket back into fellowship of normal society. Divine mercy had been shown through Christ, so why should he not return to thank Him, before going on to the priest? Psa 30:1-2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15. And one of them, etc. It is uncertain if he returned when they were halfway, and Luke’s words appear to imply this; but I think it more probable, that it was not till he had heard the decision of the priests that he returned to give thanks. He must have obtained permission from the priests to return to the ordinary intercourse of life; and he had no right to neglect the command of Christ, and to defraud the temple of God of a sacrifice. Some will perhaps be better pleased with a different conjecture, that as soon as he saw that he was cleansed, and before he applied to the priests for a testimony, he was seized with a devout and holy zeal, and returned to the Author of the cure, so as to commence his sacrifice with thanksgiving. The words of Christ contain an expostulation with the whole nation; for it is by way of reproach that he draws a comparison between one stranger and many Jews, because it was customary with them to swallow up God’s favors without any feeling of piety. And this was the reason why Christ gained hardly any reputation among them by miracles so numerous and so splendid. Let us learn that this complaint is brought generally against all of us, if we do not at least repay the divine favors by the duty of gratitude.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) Turned back, and with a loud voice.The words imply that the work of healing was not accomplished till the company of lepers were at least out of sight.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. One of them All are glad; but one is both glad and grateful. The thoughts of his benefactor so fill his heart as to drive the priests from his mind. The others will visit the priests to make sure of the result; but whether they ever see their Saviour or not is the least of their concern. Full well they know, as well as the returning Samaritan, that, while they are going to Jerusalem, Jesus will be upon his journey, and slight will be their chance of offering their worship for his mercy.
Glorified God The cleansing extended even to his heart. Both soul and body were regenerated, one from sin, and the other from the most terrible emblem of sin.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, with a loud voice glorifying God, and he fell on his face at his feet, giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan.’
But one of the men had not gone with the others. He was a Samaritan and would seek out his own priests. But as soon as he became aware that healing had taken place and that his skin disease had gone, he was so grateful that he forgot about seeking out the priest. And immediately turning back, and glorifying God with a loud voice, he came to Jesus, and falling on his face before Him, he gave Him thanks. Now that he was healed all he could think of was to express his gratitude to the Master. And he was a Samaritan.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The grateful Samaritan:
v. 15. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
v. 16. and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks; and he was a Samaritan.
v. 17. And Jesus, answering, said, Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
v. 18. There are not found that returned to give glory to God save this stranger.
v. 19. And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. Ten lepers had shown faith; ten lepers had been healed. But out of that entire number only one felt the obligation of thankfulness. Only one, seeing what a miracle had been done in his case, felt the need of turning back and giving thanks to the Healer. This man sought the Lord, who was probably still in the village, meanwhile praising God loudly and with fully restored voice. And when he found Jesus, he fell down on his face before Him, at His feet, in complete surrender, signifying his willingness to be the Lord’s servant forever. And all the while his mouth poured forth words of thankfulness. And yet this man, who thus put to shame his former companions in misery, was a Samaritan. a member of the race which was despised by the Jews and Galileans. The incident made a deep impression upon Jesus. In a bitter cry over the ingratitude of the former lepers He said: Is it not that ten were cleansed? But the nine, where are they? Were there not found such as would turn back to give glory to God but only this stranger, this man of a different race, and one that is ordinarily looked down upon by the Jews? “That is the true worship of God, to come back, to praise God with a loud voice. That is the greatest work in heaven and earth, and also the only one which we may show God; for of the others He has no need, neither does He receive them: only to be loved and praised by us, that He likes… But that is terrible, that the Lord just knows that ten have been cleansed, a fact they had not reckoned with; and He does not hold His peace about it, but asks for them and seeks them: Where are the nine? O what a terror that will be when at that time they will feel the question and have to answer where they went when they did not give honor to God! We have all vowed in Baptism to follow Christ and His doctrine; no one has vowed to follow the Pope, bishops, and clerics. Thus Christ has altogether rejected and prohibited the doctrine of men. ” This question is a very important and serious one for all Christians. The gifts of God which we have received from Him through the means of grace during our whole life amount to far more than a cleansing from bodily leprosy. We have received, and are continually receiving, the riches of God’s unmerited love and mercy Sunday after Sunday, day by day. And yet we are very dilatory about the gratitude which we owe to Him in thoughts, words, and deeds. The Lord will think kindly of us for any show of appreciation, as He showed in this instance. For He dismissed the Samaritan with the words: Arise, go thy way; thy faith has healed and saved thee. Jesus does not refer to the faith of the others, which had been extinguished in the midst of their newly found happiness. He praises only the faith of him that. remained faithful. Those who forget His kindness He also forgets. Many a person has come to faith, had the beginning of faith in his heart, learned to pray in trouble, to trust in God for help; but later the same person, by base ingratitude, has suffocated the young plant of spiritual life. Faith for a time, followed by backsliding, results in the loss of faith and also of the mercy of God. Only lasting, grateful faith will provide lasting help and will save a person in body and soul.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
Ver. 15. And one of them ] It is ten to one if any return to give thanks. Men make prayer their refuge, but not their recompense. Hezekiah returned not according to his receipts.
And with a loud voice ] He was as earnest in praises as be had been in prayers. Our thanks should be larger and louder than our requests, because God prevents us with many mercies, and denies nothing; we have it either in money or money’s worth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15. ] The , and . . . . . . , set before us something immediate, and, I should be inclined to think, witnessed by the narrator.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 17:15 . . .: general statement, exact words not known, so also in report of thanksgiving to Jesus.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
with. Greek. meta. App-104.
God. App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15.] The , and . . . . . . , set before us something immediate, and, I should be inclined to think, witnessed by the narrator.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
[15. , with a loud voice) which was in itself a testimony to the fact of the cure having been performed, to the glory and praise of God. For it seems that the voice of lepers is ordinarily hoarse.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Luk 17:17, Luk 17:18, 2Ch 32:24-26, Psa 30:1, Psa 30:2, Psa 30:11, Psa 30:12, Psa 103:1-4, Psa 107:20-22, Psa 116:12-15, Psa 118:18, Psa 118:19, Isa 38:19-22, Joh 5:14, Joh 9:38
Reciprocal: Lev 14:3 – be healed 2Ki 5:15 – he returned 2Ch 24:22 – remembered Psa 50:15 – deliver Psa 103:2 – forget not Mat 8:3 – immediately Mat 9:8 – and Mat 9:18 – worshipped Mat 15:31 – and they Mar 2:12 – glorified Mar 5:18 – prayed Mar 14:35 – and fell Luk 5:25 – glorifying Luk 8:39 – and published Luk 8:47 – she declared Luk 18:43 – followed Act 3:8 – praising Rom 1:21 – they glorified
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
AT THE FEET OF JESUS
And one of them fell down on his face at His feet.
Luk 17:15-16
I. The place of forgiveness.We cannot tell the origin of sin. An enemy hath done this. All beyond that is a puzzle, an insoluble enigma. But we do know where forgiveness is found. We are sure it may be had for the asking at the feet of our Divine Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgiveness comes first, then holiness. Forgiveness is the starting-point: it is the porch of the Christian life.
II. The place of comfort.In Joh 11:21; Joh 11:32, we hear the two sisters utter the same words of unutterable grief. Sorrow is the same all the world over. It makes all hearts kin. But Mary fell at His feet. That is all we can do when our
sorrow lies too deep
For human ministry.
III. The place of teaching.Mary sat at Jesus feet, and heard His word (Luk 10:39). How many a prayer for teaching there is in Psalms 119! It would make a profitable Bible study to add them up. It reminds us of the yearning cry, Show us the Father. The saints longed to be taught of God. At last the Divine Teacher, the Hope of all the ages, came, and He said to His disciples, One is your Teacher (Mat 23:8, R.V.). He said, Learn of Me. He is not a Teacher, He is the Teacher. He can teach us what we ought to do, and what we must believe. The voice from heaven said, This is My beloved Son hear ye Him (Mat 17:5). You are to listen to Him. And when we listen to Him we shall no longer ask, Who shall be the greatest? but, Who shall take the lowest place?
IV. The place of praise.He fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks (Luk 17:16). David prayed three times a day. But he said, Seven times a day do I praise Thee (Psa 119:164). David knew something of a Divine Shepherd, very pitiful, and of tender mercy, but he had never seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If David gave thanks seven times a day, how often ought we to praise God?
Rev. F. Harper.
Illustration
As one grows older one understands what one has heard even from childhood upwards, that this world is a world of sorrow. Surely it is so! And strange it is that it should be in a world of a God of love. What words of sorrow are evermore going up from human lips and rending human hearts asunder! How many a parent is there who, as she looks back upon the little child, who has perhaps laid his burning brow upon her lap, is reminded of that pathetic story in our Bibles of the little boy coming home from the field in the harvest-time and crying, My head, my head. There is anotherperhaps a maidenwho will be left homeless, and who cries, My father, my father! and there is many a father whose son is taken away before him, and who cries with David of old, My son, my son! And there are others who think with a riven heart, My love, my love! and there is another who cries, My sin, my sin! But there is healing for all sorrow and all sin at the feet of our Lord.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
5
One of the lepers, all of whom were healed, showed his gratitude by returning to Jesus and attributing to the Lord the credit for his recovery.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 17:15. One of them, etc. The description is graphic, the healing took place immediately.
Turned back. They were still on their way to the priests.
With a loud voice. There may be an allusion to the clearness of voice resulting from the cure of his leprosy, since that disease would make the voice husky.
Glorifying God. Glorifying God and love to Jesus Christ are closely joined.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. All were healed, but only one was thankful; the cure is wrought upon the bodies of all, thankfulness if sound but in the heart of one: the will makes the difference in men, but he makes the difference in wills, who at first made the will. All these lepers were cured, all saw themselves cured; their sense was alike, their hearts were not alike.
Observe, 2. The person that made this return of thankfulness to Christ, He was a Samaritan: that is, none of the Jewish nation, but one that was a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel: neither place nor parentage can block up the way, or stop the current, of God’s free mercy, which reaches the unworthy and the ill-deserving.
Observe, 3. How singly he returns his thanks; he gets away from his fellows to make his acknowledgment: there are cases wherein singularity is not only lawful, but laudable; instead of sujecting ourselves to others; examples, it is sometimes our duty to resolve to set an example to others; for it is much better to go the right way alone, than to err with company.
Observe, 4. How speedily he returns his thanks: no sooner does he see his cure, but he hastes to acknowledge it: a noble pattern of thankfulness. What speed of retribution is here! Late payments of our thankfulness savor of ingratitude: it were happy for us christians, did we learn our duty of this Samaritan.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Luk 17:15-19. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed Was so affected, that, with a heart full of gratitude and joy, he immediately turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God Made a free and open acknowledgment of the signal mercy which he had received. Though he had kept at a distance from Jesus before, yet being sensible that he was now perfectly clean, he came near, that all might have an opportunity of beholding the miracles; and fell down on his face at his feet In the deepest humiliation, giving him thanks as the immediate author of his cure; and yet this man was a Samaritan One of that heretical nation, from which one would have expected less of any thing good than from the Jews, the professors of the true religion, and members of Gods visible church. Therefore, to make known the good disposition of the man, though he professed a false religion, and to intimate that the others, who had been more favoured with external privileges and advantages, ought to have showed as great a sense of piety and gratitude as he; Jesus said, Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? Why did they not return to give thanks? This intimates that ingratitude is a very common sin; of the many that receive mercy from God, there are but few, very few, that return to give thanks in a right manner; that render according to the benefits done unto them. There are not found to give glory to God, save this stranger , this alien Such, ever since the captivity, the Jews have considered the Samaritans. They call them Cuthites to this day. Thus many, who profess revealed religion, are outdone and quite shamed by some that are governed only by natural religion, and that not only in moral virtue, but in piety and devotion. The ingratitude of these Jewish lepers, now cured, will appear monstrous, if we consider that the malady from which they were delivered is in itself one of the most loathsome diseases incident to human nature, and a disease which, by the law of Moses, subjected them to greater hardships than any distemper whatsoever. But though the cure of this dreadful affliction was produced without the smallest pain or even trouble to the lepers, and so speedily that it was completed by the time they had got a little way off, as appears by the Samaritans finding Jesus where he left him, these Jews would not give themselves the trouble of returning to glorify God, by making the miracle public, nor to honour Jesus, by acknowledging the favour. Such were the people that gloried in their being holy, and insolently called the men of all other nations dogs. But their hypocrisy and presumption received a severe reprimand on this occasion. For our Lord, in his observations on their behaviour, plainly declared, that the outward profession of any religion, however true and excellent that religion may be in itself, is of no value before God in comparison of piety and inward holy dispositions. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The one leper who returned loudly gave God the glory for his healing. He thereby acknowledged that Jesus was God’s agent. His prostrate posture and his thanksgiving expressed his great gratitude to Jesus (cf. Luk 5:12; Luk 8:41; Luk 18:11; Luk 22:17; Luk 22:19; Act 5:10; Act 28:15). The fact that he was a Samaritan rather than a Jew is the key point in the incident. Luke’s mention of this fact set the stage for Jesus’ teaching that followed.