Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 17:23
And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after [them,] nor follow [them.]
23 . See here; or, see there ] A vivid description of the perpetual Messianic excitements, which finally ceased in the days of Barcochba and the Rabbi Akibha. We find a similar warning in Luk 21:8. See Jos. Antt. Luk 20:8; B. J. 11. 13, Luk 6:5; Tac. Hist. v. 13. With the whole passage compare Mat 24:23-41.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And they shall say … – Many false Christs, according to Josephus, appeared about that time, attempting to lead away the people. See the notes at Mat 24:23-27.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 23. And they shall say] Or, And IF they shall say. Two MSS., the Syriac and Armenian, have , IF.
See here] KM, sixteen others, and the later Syriac, have , Behold the Christ is here. This is undoubtedly the meaning of the place. See Clarke on Mt 24:23.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
See Poole on “Mat 24:23“, See Poole on “Mat 24:27“. You will (saith our Saviour) have a great many false Christs and false prophets arise, and foolish credulous people will be deceived by them, and come and tell you, Lo, yonder is the Messiah, or, Lo, he is in another place; but believe them not. So it is in Mar 13:21. Follow them not, saith Luke. The Son of man shall have his day, a day when he will come in a glorious manner to judge the quick and the dead; but it will come upon the world like lightning, that suddenly shineth from one part of heaven to another, so as no man can foretell it, or observe the motion of it. Some do think that by
the day of the Son of man here was meant the spreading of his gospel; but certainly it is a strained sense, nor was the spreading of that a thing so sudden, but more gradually and observably accomplished.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. they shall say, See here . . .go not, &c.a warning to all so-called expositors ofprophecy and their followers, who cry, Lo there and see here, everytime that war breaks out or revolutions occur.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they shall say unto you, see here, or see there,…. That is, there is Christ; and in two of Beza’s exemplars, the word Christ is added as in Mt 24:23 from whence it seems to be transcribed: and the sense is, it shall be said by one or another; Christ is in such a place, or he is in such a place, and he will quickly appear, and deliver the people of the Jews out of all their distresses and calamities by the Romans,
Go not after them nor follow [them]: the last clause, “nor follow them”, is left out in the Syriac and Persic versions; the meaning is, give no credit to them; as if Christ was come again in person, and was in such a place, do not go along with them, where they direct, as into the desert, or into the secret chambers; for to follow them will be very dangerous, of bad consequence, as well as vain and fruitless; see Ac 5:36.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Go not away nor follow after them ( ). Westcott and Hort bracket . Note aorist subjunctive with in prohibition, ingressive aorist. Do not rush after those who set times and places for the second advent. The Messiah was already present in the first advent (verse 21) though the Pharisees did not know it.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And they shall say to you,” (kai erousin humin) “And they will say to you all,” they of the lost world, at the approach of my return, Act 1:11.
2) “See here; or, see there;” (ekei idou hode) “Behold here, or behold out there, he is,” as false Christs or Messiahs shall arise among you, Mat 24:23-27; And as some shall cry, “this is it,” every time a war breaks out or an earthquake comes.
3) “Go not after them, nor follow them.” (me apelthete mede dioksete) “Do not go away nor follow such a rumor,” for my return shall be sudden, recognized by all of you, my church, as children of light, doing my work, as I commanded you, 1Th 5:1-6; Dan 12:10; Mar 13:34-35; Heb 9:28.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(23) See here; or, see there.See Note on Mat. 24:23. The words are all but identical, but the difference in the context and the occasion should be noticed as another illustration of that reproduction of the same forms of thought and language to which attention has so often been called.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. See here; or, see there These local Messiahs starting up in different places, or rumored to have started up, will prove false. To the Pharisees, the contrast above was between the kingdom without and the kingdom within; the contrast now is between the Messiah from the earth and the Messiah from heaven. See notes on Mat 24:23-27.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And they will say to you, ‘Lo, there!’ ‘Lo, here!’ Go not away, nor follow after them,”
Nor are they to be deceived by any who claim to be reintroducing those days and claiming that they are again setting up ‘the days of the Messiah’ in this physical world. For when He does return it will not be ‘here’ or ‘there’. Thus such people must not be heeded. Compare the similar phraseology in Luk 21:8, ‘Take heed that you are not led astray, for many will come in My Name saying, ‘I am the one’, and ‘the time is at hand’. Do not go after them.’ So any earthly claimants to Messiahship are to be rejected out of hand, for the final conclusion to the days of the Son of Man will not be introduced in that way. It will not be something earthly. In the chiasmus this warning is the central point. Central to all, He is saying that He is warning them not to be taken in by false claimants to Messiahship, and that it is a warning that must be heeded. They must recognise that what is now in mind in the future is not some small earthly series of events, but God’s mighty working from Heaven. The future Kingly Rule of God is to be heavenly not earthly.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 17:23. And they shall say to you, &c. “They, that is, the Jews, who, after having rejected me, shall long for the appearance of the Messiah, (Luk 17:22.) and eagerly listen to every pretender who shall assume that character.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Luk 17:23-24 . See on Mat 24:23-27 .
. . .] on the occasion of the appearance of false Messiahs. A locality of fixed limits, moreover (comp. Luk 17:21 ), does not characterize the solemn appearing of the kingdom.
] namely: is the Messiah!
. .] a climax: Go not forth, nor follow after ( sectamini ), to wit, those of whom this is asserted.
Luk 17:24 . The lightning which lightens ; comp. similar expressions in Lobeck, Paral . p. 503.
] Supply . See Bos, Ellips. ed. Schaefer, pp. 560, 562; Winer, p. 522 [E. T. 740]: flashing out from the one region under the heaven (which expands under the heaven, with an accusative) lightens even to the other (opposite one [220] ).
] in such a manner of appearance as manifests itself in a moment and universally.
[220] What Lange reads into the passage, “from the old world to the new,” is not there at all. Comp. Mat 24:27 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them , nor follow them .
Ver. 23. See Mat 24:23 ; Mar 13:21 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
23. . . ] ‘Ye shall not see one; therefore do not run after false reports of my coming.’ A warning to all so-called expositors, and followers of expositors, of prophecy, who cry and , every time that war breaks out, or revolutions occur.
See on these verses, 23, 24, Mat 24:23-27 and notes.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 17:23 . , : cf. the more graphic version in Mat 24:26 , and notes thereon. , do not follow them, give no heed to them.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
See. Same as “Lo” in Luk 17:21.
go not = go not forth.
not. Greek. me. App-105.
nor. Greek. mede.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
23. . .] Ye shall not see one;-therefore do not run after false reports of my coming. A warning to all so-called expositors, and followers of expositors, of prophecy, who cry and , every time that war breaks out, or revolutions occur.
See on these verses, 23, 24, Mat 24:23-27 and notes.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 17:23. ) they shall say [See, or Lo, here, or Lo there], the reverse of what happens in the case of the kingdom of God, Luk 17:21 [in the case of which they shall not say, Lo here, or Lo there]. But it is thus that they speak in the papacy, which affixes peculiar grace to particular places. The text is especially treating of the Apostolic age.-, Lo [See]) Here He is: viz. the Son of man, i.e. Jesus Christ. It is not the false Christs and their followers who are meant; but those who do not with truth point out the true Messiah.- , do not go away) in the simple sense.- , do not follow) with ardour. Often undue eagerness impels one towards an object, to which true reason does not guide.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Luk 17:21, Luk 21:8, Mat 24:23-26, Mar 13:21-23
Reciprocal: Luk 17:20 – observation Joh 7:34 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
Some would take advantage of the disturbances to declare it to be the approach of Christ in his second coming.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 17:23. And they shall say to you. In this state of longing they would be in danger of being deceived by false tokens; comp. Mat 24:23-27. The same danger has always existed.
Lo there! Lo here. This is the correct reading. The reference is to the place of our Lords Second Advent, about which (as well as the time) many busy themselves.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
WARNING AGAINST IMPOSTORS
Luk 17:23-24. And they will say to you, Lo here! lo there! Go not away, neither pursue them; for as the lightning, shining from the region under heaven, flashes out to that which is under heaven, so shall the Son of man be in His day. Jesus knew that impostors were going to rise, and they did. Theudas, Simon Magus, Marchochab, and many others, did rise in that generation. So Jesus is warning them against these impostors who are going to rise, claiming to be Christ, and lead many after them, doomed to destruction. Now He gives a clear and unmistakable manifestation of His own coming, amply sufficient to fortify all of His disciples, in all coming ages, against imposture. So you see that when our Lord returns to the earth, a great light, like lightning, will flash athwart the firmament, girdling the globe with its splendor and glory, pouting its sweeping illuminations into every land and nation, so that every eye shall behold Him. (Rev 1:7) There is no reason why the disciples of the Lord should ever run after impostors, because the revelation of our Lords return will be so demonstrative that none can fail to find it out; and with the light of this Scripture before us, we can actually know that it is none other than the splendor radiating out from the glorified Savior, whose visible person will quickly appear to all the earth.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
17:23 {9} And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after [them], nor follow [them].
(9) Christ forewarns us that false Christs will come, and that his glory will suddenly be spread far and wide through the world after the shame of the cross is put out and extinguished.