Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 17:31
In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
31. upon the housetop ] the common Oriental place for cool and quiet resort. See on Luk 12:3, Luk 5:19.
his stuff ] i.e. his furniture or goods:
“Therefore away to get our stuff aboard.”
Shaksp. Com. of Errors.
let him not come down to take it away
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the notes at Mat 24:17-18.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 31. He which shall be upon the housetop] See this explained on Mt 24:17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
These words seem to relate singly to the destruction of Jerusalem. See Poole on “Mat 24:17-18“, where we had the same. They only signify the certain ruin and destruction of the place, and are our Saviours counsel to his disciples, not to linger, or promise themselves any longer security there, notwithstanding what any false Christs or false prophets should plainly tell them, but to make as much haste away out of it as they possibly could.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31-33. to take it away . . .Remember, &c.a warning against that lingeringreluctance to part with present treasures which induces some toremain in a burning house, in hopes of saving this and that preciousarticle till consumed and buried in its ruins. The cases heresupposed, though different, are similar.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop,…. Either for diversion or devotion, when he shall hear that the Roman armies are approaching to Jerusalem, to besiege it:
and his stuff in the house; or “his vessels”, his goods and furniture; or his utensils, and instruments of trade and business:
let him not come down; the inner way of the house, from the top:
to take it away; with him in his flight, but let him descend by the steps, or ladder, on the outside of the house, and make his escape directly to Pella, or the mountains:
and he that is in the field; at work, and has laid down his clothes in some certain part of the field, or at home:
let him likewise not return back; to fetch them, but make the best of his way as he is; [See comments on Mt 24:17] and
[See comments on Mt 24:18].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Let him not go down ( ). Second aorist active imperative of with in a prohibition in the third person singular. The usual idiom here would be and the aorist subjunctive. See Mark 13:15; Matt 24:17 when these words occur in the great eschatological discussion concerning flight before the destruction of Jerusalem. Here the application is “absolute indifference to all worldly interests as the attitude of readiness for the Son of Man” (Plummer).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Goods. See on Mt 12:29.
On the house – top. See on Mt 24:17.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop,” (en ekeine te hemera hos estai epi tou domatos) “In that day the one who will be upon the roof,” where it was quiet, private, and cool. This warning is given with regards or view to soon coming destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of the Jews into all nations, which came with armored Roman force AD 70 under Tit of Thespasia, Mat 23:37-39; Luk 21:20-24.
2) “And his stuff in the house,” (kai ta skeue autou en te oikia) “And his goods in the residence,” his possessions inside the house.
3) “Let him not come down to take it away:” (me katabato arai auta) “Let him not (dare) come down to take them, to reclaim them,” or try to take them up and away, not even attempt to reenter the house lest he be trapped by murder-bent enemies. But let him escape by the outside flight of steps, Mat 24:17; Mar 13:15.
4) “And he that is in the field,” (kai ho en agro) “And the one who is in a field,” out on a farm, engaged in labor, Mat 24:18; Mar 13:6.
5) “Let him likewise not return back.” (homoios me epistrapsato eis ta opiso) “In a like manner let him not (risk) turning back to the things (goods) behind,” like Lot’s wife did, to meet death in disobedience; Not even look back to yearn for what is left behind, as also the children of Israel did for Egypt’s leeks, onions, and garlic, Num 11:5; Gen 19:26. “Remember Lot’s wife.” Luk 17:32.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(31) He which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff.Better, his goods, as in Mat. 12:29; Mar. 3:27. (See Notes on Mat. 24:17-18.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
31. Upon the housetop Of course this can be no description of any incident at the coming of Christ to judge the world. For from what is this owner of the stuff in the house supposed to flee? Certainly not from the judgment throne of Christ! It can, therefore, be no continuance of the same topic with that in Luk 17:26-30. And therefore, again, it must be referred to its proper place in the great discourse of which it seems to be a fugitive fragment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“In that day, he that shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away, and let him that is in the field similarly not return back.”
The first illustration of the urgency of these days is to picture it in terms of escaping from catastrophe without looking back. Then there will be no time in which to go down and pack, or remove furniture (a common picture of escaping refugees), there will be no time to return to the city from the countryside. All will happen immediately. The point is not the giving of advice on what to do, but in order to indicate the speed at which all will happen. There will simply not be time for anything. And there is also the suggestion that they were not to have their hearts set on earthly things to which their thoughts would instinctively turn when they recognised that the end of all things had come (as Lot’s wife did with Sodom). It is not a question of logical thinking, it is a question of what will spring into their minds at such a catastrophic moment.
Interestingly a similar picture is drawn of those who would be faced with the catastrophe which would face Jerusalem in 70 AD (Mar 12:14-18), a precursor of the final Judgment, words which Luke deliberately omits, possibly to avoid confusion.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Final warnings:
v. 31. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away; and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
v. 32. Remember Lot’s wife.
v. 33. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
v. 34. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
v. 35. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
v. 36. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
v. 37. And they answered and said unto Him, Where, Lord? And He said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. The thought which stands out from the Lord’s warning is this, that it will be too late to prepare for the Lord’s coming when His hour has come, when the Judgment bursts upon the world. The suddenness of the breaking of Judgment Day will take every person where he just happens to be at that time. A man will be up on the flat roof of the house. He will neither have, nor should he attempt to take, time to go down and get any instruments or possessions. A man will be out in the field. He also should not turn back behind him for anything of this world’s goods that he may have valued. As when an army of the enemy makes a sudden successful assault and only precipitate flight will save the inhabitants, he that turns back for money, clothes, or other goods is lost, so the person whose mind is still attached to the things of this world on the last day is beyond hope of salvation. The example of Lot’s wife should be before the minds of the believers at all times. Had she not turned behind her to satisfy her curiosity, she might have saved her soul with the rest. Her hesitation proved her destruction. See Mat 16:25; Mar 8:35; Luk 9:24. He that in the last emergency will have nothing in mind but the saving of this earthly life and the goods that are necessary for its preservation, will lose forever the true life in and with God; but he whose desires are free from all love for this world and what it has to offer, that has denied himself and all that this life might have given him, he will save his life, the life in God, his soul and its eternal salvation. Christ repeats this warning once more, with great emphasis. In that same night two men will be occupying the same bed, of whom one will be accepted and the other rejected. Two women will be grinding flour at the same mill; one will be accepted, the other will be rejected. Two men will be in the field; the one will be accepted, the other will be rejected. And the emphasis of the Lord was not without its effect upon the disciples. In awe and fear, they barely breathe the question: Where, Lord? Where will all this happen? And He told them: Where the dead body is, there will the eagles gather themselves together. The world, especially in the last days, will be, and today is, like a decaying carcass, whose stench rises up into the heavens. And judgment and destruction will come upon the entire spiritually dead and morally rotten human race. It is a strong, but fitting figure, revealing the world as it is, in its true condition, without a redeeming feature to recommend it in the sight of God.
Summary. Christ gives a lesson concerning offenses and forgiveness, heals the ten lepers, receiving the thanks of one, and gives a discourse concerning the kingdom of God and the coming to Judgment.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Luk 17:31-33 . At that day it is well to abandon all earthly possession, wherefore I call to your remembrance the example of Lot’s wife. Even the temporal life must be abandoned by him who wishes not to lose the life eternal.
. . . .] indicates certainly the undelayed flight with abandonment of earthly possession , but not, as at Mat 24:17 , Mar 13:15 , the flight in the destruction of Jerusalem, of which here there is no mention, but the flight for deliverance to the coming Messiah at the catastrophe which immediately precedes His Parousia , Mat 24:29-31 . Then nothing of temporal possession should any more fetter the interest. Hence de Wette is wrong in regarding (comp. Weiss) the expression as unsuitably occurring in this place.
. . ] see Bernhardy, p. 304.
Luk 17:32 . .] whose fate was the consequence of her looking back contrary to the injunction (Gen 19:26 ), which she would not have done if she had given up all attachment to the perishing possessions, and had only hastened to the divine deliverance. Comp. Wis 10:7 f.
Luk 17:33 . Comp. Luk 9:24 , and on Mat 10:39 ; Mar 8:35 .
] in the time of that final catastrophe .: in the decision at the Parousia
, to preserve alive , as Act 7:19 , and in the LXX. See Biel and Schleusner.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
Ver. 31. He which shall be on the housetop ] A hyperbolic expression, usual among the Jews, to denote matter of haste.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 17:31-34 . Sauve qui peut (Mat 24:17-18 ; Mar 13:15-16 ). The saying in Luk 17:31 is connected in Mt. and Mk. with the crisis of Jerusalem, to which in this discourse in Lk. there is no allusion. The connection in Mt. and Mk. seems the more appropriate, as a literal flight was then necessary.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
upon. Greek. epi. App-104.
housetop. Compare Luk 12:3; Luk 5:19.
stuff = vessels, or goods. Compare Mat 12:29. Eng. “stuff” is from Low Latin. stupa and O. Fr. estoffe. let him not, &c. This was repeated later on the Mount of Olives (Mat 24:17-20. Mar 13:14-16), come down. By the staircase outside.
back. Greek. eis ta opiso. To the things behind.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Luk 17:31. , in that day) that day, on which the kingdom of God shall come. The day of Jerusalem being besieged is meant: comp. Luk 17:34, note: a day which has many points (aspects under which it may be viewed) in common with the last day. Comp. Luk 17:22. After Jerusalem had been destroyed, Christianity was most freely propagated. See ch. Luk 21:28.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
he which: The flat-roofed eastern houses have stairs on the outside, by which a person may ascend and descend without coming into the house; and in walled cities they usually form continued terraces, from one end of the city to the other, terminating at the gates; so that one may pass along the tops of the houses and escape out of the city without coming down into the street. Job 2:4, Jer 45:5, Mat 6:25, Mat 16:26, Mat 24:17-21, Mar 13:14-16, Phi 3:7, Phi 3:8
Reciprocal: Gen 19:17 – look Gen 19:26 – looked Gen 45:20 – stuff 1Sa 20:38 – General Job 34:27 – turned Jer 48:6 – Flee Mar 13:15 – General Luk 9:62 – No Luk 21:21 – flee
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
In that day, etc., means the day of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 17:31. In that day. This has no reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, as Mat 24:16-18, but to the future coming of the Messiah. In that day, the same haste and abandonment of earthly possessions will be called for, which was required of Lot and his family (Gen 19:17). The catastrophe immediately preceding the coming of the Messiah, which is described in Mat 24:29-31, is here referred to. How far an actual physical flight is implied cannot, of course, be determined.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here our Saviour advises them, that when they shall see the judgments of God breaking out upon Jerusalem, that they make all possible speed to get out of it, as Lot and his family did out of Sodom; and to take heed of imitating Lot’s wife, who looking back became a pillar of salt, Gen 19:26
Where observe,
1. Her offence, She looked back.
2. The punishment of her offence, She became a pillar of salt.
Her offence in looking behind her was manifest disobedience to the divine command, which said, Look not behind thee; and proceeded either from carelessness or from covetousness, or from curiosity, or from compassion to those that she left behind her, and was undoubtedly the effect of great infidelity, she not believing the truth of what the angel had declared, as touching the certainty and suddenness of Sodom’s destruction. The punishment of her offence was exemplary, She became a pillar of salt: that is, a perpetual monument of divine severity for her infidelity and disobedience.
Where note,
1. The suddenness of her punishment: the justice of God surprises her in the very act of sin, with a present revenge.
2. The seeming disproportion between the punishment and the offence: her offence was a forbidden look. From whence carnal reason may plead, “Was it not sufficient for her to lose her eyes, but must she lose her life?” But the easiness and reasonableness of the command aggravated her disobedience; and though her punishment may seem severe, it was not unjust.
Now, says our Saviour, Remember Lot’s wife: that is, let her example caution all of you against unbelief, disobedience, worldy- mindedness, contempt of God’s threatenings, and lingerings after the forbidden society of lewd and wicked persons.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Luk 17:31-32. In that day (Which will be the grand type of the last day,) when ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies; he which shall be upon the house-top, let him not come down See on Mat 24:17-18; Mar 13:15. Remember Lots wife And escape with all speed, without ever looking behind you. See note on Gen 19:26.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vers. 31-37. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. 32. Remember Lot’s wife. 33. Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life, shall preserve it. 34. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. 35. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 36, 37. And they answered and said unto Him, Where, Lord? And He said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.
Here is the practical conclusion of the discourse. Jesus describes that disposition of mind which, in this last crisis, shall be the condition of salvation. The Lord passes with His heavenly retinue. He attracts all the inhabitants of the earth who are willing and ready to join Him; but it transpires in the twinkling of an eye. Whoever is not already loosened from earthly things, so as to haste away without hesitation, taking flight toward Him freely and joyously, remains behind. Thus precisely had Lot’s wife perished with the goods, from which she could not part. Agreeably to His habitual method, Jesus characterizes this disposition of mind by a series of external acts, in which it is concretely realized. The Revue de Thologie (passage quoted, p. 337) condemns Luke for here applying to the Parousia the counsel to flee, which has no meaning, except as applied to the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24). This accusation is false, for there is no mention of fleeing from one part of the earth to another, but of rising from the earth to the Lord, as He passes and disappears: Let him not come down (from the roof); but, forgetting all that is in the house, let him be ready to follow the Lord! So he who is in the fields is not to attempt to return home to carry upwards with him some object of value. The Lord is there; if any one belongs to Him, let him leave everything at once to accompany Him (Mat 24:18 : the labourer should not even return to seek his dress, which he laid aside to work). This saying, especially in the form of Matthew, evidently referred to the Parousia, which shall come suddenly, and not to the destruction of Jerusalem, which will be preceded by an armed invasion and a long war. Luke’s context is therefore preferable to Matthew’s.
Ver. 33. To save one’s life, by riveting it to some object with which it is identified, is the means of losing it, of being left behind with this perishing world; to give one’s life, by quitting everything at once, is the only means of saving it, by laying hold of the Lord who is passing. See on Luk 9:24. Jesus here substitutes for the phrase to save his life, the word , literally, to give it birth alive. The word is that by which the LXX. express the Piel and Hiphil of , H2649, to live. Here it is having the natural life born again, that it may be reproduced in the form of spiritual, glorified, eternal life. The absolute sacrifice of the natural life is the means of this transformation. Here is a word of unfathomable depth and of daily application.
At this time a selection will take place (Luk 17:34),a selection which will instantaneously break all earthly relations, even the most intimate, and from which there will arise a new grouping of humanity in two new families or societies, the taken and the left. , I tell you, announces something weighty. Bleek thinks, that as the subject under discussion is the return of the Lord as judge, to be taken is to perish, to be left is to escape. But the middle , to take to one’s self, to welcome as one’s own, can only have a favourable meaning (Joh 14:3). And St. Paul certainly understood the word in this sense; for it is probably not without relation to this saying that he teaches, 1Th 4:17, the taking up into the air of the believers who are alive at the return of Christ; it is the ascension of the disciples, as the complement of their Master’s. , to forsake, to leave behind, as Luk 13:35. The image of Luk 17:34 supposes that the Parousia takes place at night. Luk 17:35, on the contrary, supposes it happening during the day. It matters little. For one hemisphere it will be in the day; for the other, at night. The idea remains the same: whether he is sleeping, or whether he is working, man ought to be sufficiently disengaged to give himself over without delay to the Lord who draws him.
Handmills were used among the ancients. When the millstone was large, two persons turned it together.
Ver. 36, which is wanting in almost all the Mjj., is taken from the parallel passage in Matthew.
Thus the beings who shall have been most closely connected here below, shall, in the twinkling of an eye, be parted for ever.
The apostle’s question (Luk 17:37) is one of curiosity. Although Jesus had already answered it in Luk 17:24, He takes advantage of it to close the conversation by a declaration which applies it to the whole world. The natural phenomenon, described by Job 39:30, is used by Jesus to symbolize the universality of the judgment proclaimed. The carcase is humanity entirely secular, and destitute of the life of God (Luk 17:26-30; comp. Luk 9:60, Let the dead…). The eagles represent punishment alighting on such a society. There is no allusion in this figure to the Roman standards, for there is no reference in the preceding discourse to the destruction of Jerusalem. Comp. also Mat 24:28, where this saying applies exclusively to the Parousia. The eagle, properly so called, does not live in flocks, it is true, and does not feed on carrion. But , as well as , H5979, Pro 30:17, may (as Furrer shows, Bedeut. der Bibl. Geogr. p. 13) denote the great vulture (gyps fulvus), equal to the eagle in size and strength, which is seen in hundreds on the plain of Gennesareth. Some Fathers have applied the image of the body to Jesus glorified, and that of the eagles to the saints who shall accompany Him at His advent!
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
EXPEDITION
Luk 17:31-32. In that day, let him who shall be upon the housetop, and his goods in the house, not come down to take them; and he who is in the field, likewise not return back. Remember Lots wife. From these and many other clear affirmations of our Savior, we learn that He will come very suddenly, giving no time for any preparations after the great light shall flash athwart the sky, belting the globe with the splendors of His glory, and attracting the attention of all the people in the world. Every eye shall behold Him. (Rev 1:7) Lots wife, in the precipitate flight from burning Sodom, only looked back, and, as E. V. says, was turned to a pillar of salt. The R. V. is evidently the more correct, rendering it a monument of warning, as the presumption is she dropped dead in her tracks. That whole country gives every manifestation of volcanic influence. Where E. V. says, God rained on them fire and brimstone from heaven, the verb is impersonal, and properly rendered, It mined on them fire and brimstone, corroborating the hypothesis that these cities in the Vale of Siddim were destroyed by volcanic eruptions. In that case the brimstone gases are awfully suffocating. I tried them when I visited the crater of Mount Vesuvius. Hence there is quite a plausibility in the conclusion that the woman, halting and facing the scene, fell dead by suffocation of the sulfurous exhalations. As God rules the material world, with its oceans, seas, mineral resources, and volcanic fires, the hypothesis which imputes the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes is in perfect harmony with the Biblical history, imputing it directly to Divine intervention. The Dead Sea, which is about a thousand feet deep. doubtless occupied a much smaller area before the destruction of those cities, as now all authorities certify that the site of Sodom and Gomorrah is covered by the sea. Antecedently to that notable epoch, the Vale of Siddim, encompassing the Salt Sea, was exceedingly prosperous. Now, while the soil is immensely rich, it is all desert for the want of water, rains never falling there, and without an inhabitant except the roaming Bedouin. I have visited it twice, both times being under the necessity of hiring an armed escort. All this is a most striking and incontestable manifestation of the Divine retribution, which rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, not only burning the cities, but bursting up and consuming the great strata of bitumen and asphaltum by the heaving of earthquakes and the eruptions of volcanoes, changing the face of the entire country, consuming the foundation and reducing the surface, and thus letting in the thundering sea, whose rolling billows for these thirty-eight hundred years have passed over the streets where once thronged the precipitate multitudes of these mighty cities. Such was the impregnation of the waters by the excessive quantities of sulfur, bitumen, asphaltum, and other poisons, as to render them so buoyant that the human body will not sink, and so caustic that no animal can live in them. Since the destruction of those cities, that country, once the garden of the East, has been deserted by the rain-clouds till utter desolation has monopolized it these long, rolling centuries. Eze 47:1-12, tells us about the glorious redemption which awaits this wrath-smitten country in the coming millennium, when that great river, coming out of Jerusalem, shall course down the mountains into the Vale of Siddim, redeeming all of that desolate land, and transforming it into the garden of the Lord, and pouting into the Salt Sea, which has been denominated the Dead Sea ever since the calamitous visitation, healing its waters, so that they will be again occupied by vast quantities of valuable fishes, and the shore again dotted with thriving villages and populous cities, while the whole surrounding country shall again groan beneath the abundant harvests, the luscious semi-tropical fruits everywhere saluting the eye and gladdening the heart. The prophet says that the, grand restoration shall extend from Engedi which means the goat-spring a short distance below the, southern terminus of the Dead Sea, to Enrogel, which is a celebrated well in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, thus including the Vale of Siddim, encompassing the Dead Se and the wilderness of Judea, an arid desert, extending from the plain toward Jerusalem, within about a dozen miles of the city.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 31
Stuff; furniture and goods.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
17:31 {11} In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
(11) We must pay careful attention that neither distrust nor the enticements of this world, nor any consideration of friendship hinder us in the least way.