Luk 23:27-31

Daughters of Jerusalem

The daughters of Jerusalem

I.

WHY DID THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM WEEP?

1. He was innocent. All they had heard about Him was favourable.

2. He was benevolent. His gifts were uncommon and priceless. Wherever He went, He left behind Him the footprint of mercy.

3. He was the hope of the people. The glory had departed; the land was under a curse, and the people groaned under the Roman yoke. But Jesus, although opposed to every public demonstration in His favour, had, by His teaching and example, aroused the public aspiration.

II. WHY DID JESUS REFUSE THEIR SYMPATHY?–Weep not for Me.

1. Weep not, My death is a necessity. It is not an accident, or the effect of unrestrained animosity, but the fulfilment of an old covenant, older than the earth or the heaven. Justice demands it before the prisoners of hope can come forth.

2. Weep not, I can bear it all. Hard as it may seem to bear the reproach as an evil-doer, and to suffer the enmity of those whom I have not offended, yet, my hearts desire is to suffer in the sinners room.

3. Weep not, tears will avail nothing now. The plea of the tear is the most effective. Had the appeal of the tear been made before Pilate, humanly speaking, the evidence might have been taken, and the prisoner acquitted, but then it was too late. Weeping did not make the cross lighter, or the pains of death any the less.

4. Weep not, the course I am to take will ultimately wipe away all tears. The sorrow of to-day will be exchanged for peace and joy hereafter. The death on the cross will remove sorrow from the heart of the penitent, and tears will cease to flow.

III. WHICH, THEN, IS THE RIGHT CHANNEL OF TEARS? Weep for yourselves and for your children. Sin is the cause of sorrow. (The Weekly Pulpit.)

Weep not for Me

I. Let us consider them as addressed to that part of the multitude WHO HAD BELIEVED IN HIS DIVINE MISSION, and submitted to His authority. Their sorrow for our Lord did not spring from the proper source. His truest disciples partook of the common misapprehensions of their countrymen about the nature of Messiahs kingdom. Yet sorrow was their proper mood of feeling. And why, my friends, should they have wept for themselves and their children, in looking upon the sufferings of their Lord?

1. We reply, because their sins occasioned Christs sufferings. It were well for us oftener to weep thus for ourselves.

2. They should have wept for themselves and their children, because they should no more hear Christs instructions.

II. ANOTHER CLASS, BESIDES TRUE BELIEVERS, MINGLED IN THE CROWD, WHICH ATTENDED CHRIST TOWARDS CALVARY. Let us consider the application of our text to them. It was the natural feelings, which prompt us to take part in any circumstances with the distressed, and which are pained, when innocence, or, at least, benevolence is oppressed, that caused their tears to pour down. Bight and worthy were these emotions, so far as they went; but they had deeper cause for sorrow than anything they thought of when they wept. They should have wept for themselves and for their children.

1. Because away from them were about to be taken the word of salvation, the admonitions and warnings of the Lord.

2. They should have wept for themselves and for their children, because this act by which Christ was taken away would speedily bring judgment upon their nation. To this our Lord had most express reference, as He showed by the language which follows the text. (S. Martin.)

Wherefore should I weep?

These words are especially noteworthy, because they constitute the last connected discourse of the Saviour before He died. All that He said afterwards was fragmentary and mainly of the nature of prayer. A sentence to John, and to His mother, and to the dying thief: just a word or two looking downward, but for the most part He uttered broken sentences, which flew upwards on the wings of strong desire.

I. He said to the weeping women, WEEP NOT. There are some cold, calculating expositors who make it out that our Lord reproved these women for weeping, and that there was something wrong in their sorrow–I think they call it the sentimental sympathy of these kind souls.Blame these women! No, bless them again and again. It was the one redeeming trait in the dread march along the Via Dolorosa; let it not be dreamed that Jesus could have censured those who wept for Him. These gentle women appear in a happy contrast to the chief priests, with their savage malice, and to the thoughtless multitude with their fierce cry of Crucify Him, crucify Him! They seem to me to have shown a noble courage in daring to express their sympathy with one whom everybody else hunted to death.

1. There can be nothing ill about the weeping of these women, and therefore let us proceed to say, first, that their sorrow was legitimate and well founded. It is little marvel that they should weep and bewail when they saw the innocent one about to die.

2. I think, too, that this weeping on the part of the women was a very hopeful emotion. It showed some tenderness of heart, and tenderness of heart, though it be but natural, may often serve as a groundwork upon which better and holier and more spiritual feelings may be placed.

3. Having said this much, we now add that on our Lords part such sorrow was fitly repressed; because after all, though naturally good, it is not more than natural, and falls short of spiritual excellence. It is no proof that you are truly saved, because you are moved to great emotions whenever you hear the details of the crucifixion, for the Bulgarian atrocities excited you equally as much. I think it good that you should be moved, as I have said before, but it is only naturally and not spiritually good. This feeling, too, may stand in the way of something a great deal better. Jesus would not have these women weep for one thing, because they were to weep for another thing which far more seriously demanded their weeping. Ye need not weep because Christ died one-tenth so much as because your sins rendered it necessary that He should die. To weep over a dying Saviour is to lament the remedy; it were wiser to bewail the disease.

II. Now we pass on from Weep not to WEEP. Though Jesus stops one channel for tears, He opens another and a wider one. Let us look to it.

1. First, when He said, Weep for yourselves He meant that they were to lament and bewail the sin which had brought Him where He was, seeing He had come to suffer for it; and He would have them weep because that sin would bring them and their children into yet deeper woe.

2. I beg you now to look again into the reason why our Lord bade them weep. It was, first, for their sin, but it was next for the impending punishment of their sins. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Weep for yourselves

One who knew Whitefield well, and attended his preaching more frequently, perhaps, than any other person, said he hardly ever knew him go through a sermon without weeping: his voice was often interrupted by his tears, which sometimes were so excessive as to stop him from proceeding for a few moments. You blame me for weeping, he would say; but how can I help it when you will not weep for yourselves, though your immortal souls are on the verge of destruction, and for aught you know, you are hearing your last sermon, and may never more have an opportunity to have Christ offered to you? (J. R. Andrews.)

The grace of tears

When Christ was bearing His cross, He saw some women with their children in their arms, and He said to them, Weep not for Me, weep for yourselves. Am I wrong in saying He is looking down at this congregation now and saying, Weep for yourselves? Yes, we will and must compassionate ourselves. The further from the heart religion is for some of you the better; and I dont wonder at it. I can apologize for you, for I know something of the disenchantment, humiliation, and bewildering experience which comes to a man when he is sent to pity himself. Let our prayer, believing brothers and sisters, be the prayer of St. Agustine: Lord Jesus give me the grace of tears. Those are the tears God will one day wipe away from our eyes–1,000 for one of them! (W. Whyte.)

What shall be done in the dry?

The green tree and the dry

A word in explanation. The green tree is Christ; the dry tree in the first judgment is the Jewish nation; and the dry tree in the last judgment is the unconverted world. By a green tree Christ does not mean a young and tender tree, but rather one full grown and flourishing. By the dry, He means a tree withered, worthless, and dead. With respect to the first judgment He may mean this: If the Romans so treat the innocent Jesus, how will they treat the guilty Jerusalem? or He may mean, If the Jews so punish Me, how will God punish them? With respect to the second judgment, He surely means–If God so bruise the innocent for the transgressions of others, how will He punish the guilty for their own iniquities? I will now, with Gods help, try to open up to you this solemn text. We bare here two trees: one green–the other dry. I will show you, first, the glory and destruction of the green tree; and then, the shame and end of the dry.

I. THE GLORY AND DESTRUCTION OF THE GREEN TREE. In meditating upon the glory of the green tree, we had better keep the substance of it and the shadow of it apart from each other. To do so, we will look first at the natural tree, and next at the Saviour, who is represented by it. In the midst of yonder wilderness, overrun with all manner of weeds and poisonous plants, there lies an humble patch of dry, bare ground. From the midst of the dry, barren ground, where nothing ever grew before, there rises up a young tree, tall and fair to look upon. Higher and higher it grows, until its shadow falls upon the tops of the loftiest trees around it; higher and higher, until all the trees in the wilderness are but weeds when compared with it. Now turn to the reality. Christ is that tree of God. In his birth, He grew out of ground that was barren. As a man, He grew in stature, and wisdom, and favour, and glory, until there was none such upon the face of the earth; until tie stood alone as the great tree of life in the midst of the perishing; until He bid fair to stretch forth His branches to the uttermost ends of the world. Look back to the green tree. How beautiful it is! It has no crooked boughs, or twisted branches. There are no worm eaten or withered leaves: every leaf is as fresh as when first unfolded from the bud. There are no weather-beaten, time-stained flowers: every flower is perfect. There are no bitter or rotten fruits: all its fruits are ripe and uninjured. From the lowest root to the highest leaf, it is without a fault. Behold in this some faint picture of Jesus. His birth was as pure as the creation of an angel. His childhood was as spotless as sunshine. His thoughts were as clear as the river of God. His heart was a well of love. His soul was a great deep of light. His life was unstained by the shadow of evil. He was the admiration of angels. He was the joy of God! Look back again to the green tree. Mark its promise. Leave that tree untouched, and what will it become? Will it not reach up to heaven, and spread till it overshadows the world? Who will it leave without a shelter? What diseases will it not cure? What hunger will it not satisfy? Will it not grow into a universal blessing? Behold in this the shadow of Jesus! Had He dwelt upon earth until now, what would He not have done for mankind! If in three years He healed such crowds of diseased persons, what multitudes would He have cured in eighteen centuries! Oh, when we think of it, the glory of that green tree of God! Wonderful, wonderful Jesus! how can we now turn from the brightness of Thy glory, to the gloom of Thy sorrow? Oh! who shall tell the tale of destruction? The axe and the flame from beneath, and the glittering arrows from above, stripped and rent, and levelled all Thy glory. Thou wast slain and buried off the face of the earth!

II. And now I pause; and turn from Christs cross to CHRISTS QUESTION–What shall be done in the dry? We have looked for a few moments atthe glory and destruction of the green tree. We turn to the shame and end of the dry. Look then, O unconverted man or woman, at that dry tree. It is springtime: thousands of plants around are putting forth green leaves; but not a leaf appears upon it. It is summer: the gardens are white, and many-coloured with flowers; but it stands as bare as it stood in spring. It is autumn: the orchards are golden and red with fruit; but it remains black and dead. Sinner I thou art that dry tree. Thousands around you are fruitful trees in the garden of God; they bring forth ripe faith, and tender love, and sweet hope, and mellow peace, and the fruits of joy and humility. God gathers their fruit in its season, and rewards them an hundredfold. But you are barren, without faith, without love, without hope, without peace, without joy, without humility; you stand unmindful alike of Gods commands, of Gods warnings, and of Gods forbearance–a withered cumberer of the ground. But the evil is still worse. You are taking up the room which others might occupy with advantage to the world, were you but removed. Look again, O unconverted man or woman, at that dry tree. The showers that soften the folded buds, and spread open the tender leaves of living trees in springtime, rain down upon it in abundance; but, alas; it only rots the more. The sunshine that ripens many a flower into fruit, and sweetens many a fruit into maturity, beams down upon it from day to day; but, alas! it only decays the faster. Sinner! thou art that dry tree. The gospel, which has softened many hard hearts, has made yours more callous. Gods mercies help to make you worse. Like the cross, the chief of all His gifts to you, they are the savour of death unto death. Before I conclude, I would give you all a word of warning, and a word of encouragement. Remember, O unconverted man or woman, that this fearful question, What shall be done in the dry? remains still unanswered. As certain as I see the sufferings of Jesus, I see the sufferings of the lost. I can doubt no more. Penitent, a word to thee. In my bitter text there is some sweetness for thee. Penitent, if they have done these things in the green tree, why should you die? If Jesus died, why should net you live? What if He died for you! (H. G. Guinness.)

The miseries of lost souls exceed those of Christ

I suppose He meant, If I, who am no rebel against Caesar, suffer so, how will those suffer whom the Romans take in actual rebellion at the siege of Jerusalem? And He meant next to say, If I who am perfectly innocent, must nevertheless be put to such a death as this, what will become of the guilty? If when fires are raging in the forest, the green trees full of sap and moisture crackle like stubble in the flame, how will the old dry trees burn, which are already rotten to the core and turned to touch-wood, and so prepared as fuel for the furnace. If Jesus suffers who hath no sin, but is full of the life of innocence, and the sap of holiness, how will they suffer who have long been dead in sin, and are rotten with iniquity? As Peter puts it in another place, For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be sayed, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Note well that the sufferings of our Lord, though in some respects far beyond all conceivable woes, have yet some points about them in which they differ with advantage from the miseries of lost souls. For, first, our Lord knew that He was innocent, and therefore His righteousness upheld Him. Whatever He suffered He knew that He deserved none of it: He had no stings of conscience, nor agonies of remorse. Now, the sting of future punishment will lie in the indisputable conviction that it is well deserved. The finally impenitent will be tormented by their own passions, which will rage within them like an inward hell; but our Lord had none of this. There was no evil in Him, no lusting after evil, no self-seeking, no rebellion of heart, no anger, or discontent. Pride, ambition, greed, malice, revenge, these are the fuel of hells fire. Mens selves, not devils, are their tormentors; their inward lusts are worms that never die, and fires that never can be quenched: there could be none of this in our Divine Lord. Again, lost souls hate God and love sin, but Christ ever loved God and hated sin. Now, to love evil is misery; when undisguised and rightly understood sin is hell. Our Lord Jesus knew that every pang He suffered was for the good of others: He endured cheerfully, because He saw that He was redeeming a multitude that no man can number from going down to the pit: but there is no redeeming power about the sufferings of the lost, they are not helping any one, nor achieving a benevolent design. The great God has good designs in their punishment, but they are strangers to any such a purpose. Our Lord had a reward before Him, because of which He endured the cross, despising the shame; but the finally condemned have no prospect of reward nor hope of rising from their doom. How can they expect either? He was full of hope, they are full of despair. It is finished was for Him, but there is no It is finished for them. Their sufferings, moreover, are self-caused, their sin was their own tie endured agonies because others had transgressed, and He willed to save them. They torment themselves with sin, to which they cleave, but it pleased the Father to bruise the Son, and the necessity for His bruising lay not in Himself, but in others. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 27. Bewailed and lamented him.] , Beat their breasts. See Clarke on Mt 11:17.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

What is in these verses is only found in this evangelist; but being part of what happened in the way, while our Saviour was leading to his cross, we have before opened what is here in Mat 27:32-34. They are another prophecy of the dreadful calamities which happened about forty years after this, at the destruction of Jerusalem.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

27-31. womennot the preciousGalilean women (Lu 23:49), butpart of the crowd.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And there followed him a great company of people,…. Not only of the common people, but of the principal inhabitants of the city; for among these were the chief priests, Scribes, and elders: some went for one thing, and some another; some pitying, and others mocking at him, and all to see the melancholy sight, Lu 23:48 as is usual at executions: and what might make the crowd the greater, was the number of people in the city, which were come from all parts to the passover; as also the fame and character of the person, who was going to suffer:

and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him; not that these were the same with the preficae of the Romans, or the of the Grecians; for though the Jews had their , or mourning women, who were hired to assist in mourning; by using mournful gestures, tones, and songs, see Jer 9:17, yet public mourning was not allowed for persons that were executed as malefactors; and therefore it is the more remarkable, that here, and in Lu 23:48 any public tokens of sorrow should be expressed: for,

“those that are executed by the sanhedrim,

, “they do not mourn for them”; but their near relations come and ask the peace of, or salute the witnesses, and they salute the judges, to show, that they have not any thing in their hearts against them, seeing they have passed a true sentence; but though they do not use mourning, lo, they grieve for them; for there is no grief but in the heart r.”

The reason why they did not mourn was, because their ignominy and death atoned for their crime s: but it seems, there was a difference between those that were put to death by the order of the Roman government, and those that were put to death by the sanhedrim:

“all that are put to death by the government, although they are executed by the order of the king, and the law gives power to slay them, lo, “they mourn for them”; and they do not restrain any thing from them, and their substance goes to the king, and they are buried in the sepulchres of their fathers; but all that are put to death by the sanhedrim, “they do not mourn for them”; but they grieve for them; for there is no grief but in the heart; and they are not buried with their fathers, till their flesh is consumed; and their substance goes to their heirs t.”

And since Christ was condemned to death by the Roman governor, hence it may be public mourning was allowed of, and might be done without notice; but these still were not the mourning women, but persons that followed on their own accord: some expressed their concern and sorrow through a natural tenderness of spirit, and from a principle of humanity, being grieved that so useful and innocent a person, as Christ appeared to be, should be put to such a cruel and shameful death; and others from a spirit of gratitude, they, or their friends, having received cures from him, being healed by him of sicknesses, or dispossessed of devils; and others from a spiritual, as well as natural affection for him; among whom were his own mother and his mother’s sister, and Mary Magdalene, and other women that followed him out of Galilee.

r Maimon. Hilch. Sanhedrin, c. 13. sect. 6. Vid. Misu. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect 4. s Jarchi & Bartenora in Misn. ib. t Maimon. Hilch. Ebel. c. 1. sect. 9.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Followed (). Imperfect active, was following. Verses 27-32 are peculiar to Luke.

Bewailed (). Imperfect middle of , to cut, smite, old and common verb. Direct middle, they were smiting themselves on the breast. “In the Gospels there is no instance of a woman being hostile to Christ” (Plummer). Luke’s Gospel is appropriately called the Gospel of Womanhood (Luke 1:39-56; Luke 2:36-38; Luke 7:11-15; Luke 7:37-50; Luke 8:1-3; Luke 10:38-42; Luke 11:27; Luke 13:11-16).

Lamented (). Imperfect active of , old verb from , to cry aloud, lament.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

THE CRUCIFIXION PROCEDURE, V. 27-38

1) “And there followed him,” (ekolouthei de auto) “Then there followed him,” followed Jesus up to Calvary, mentioned by Luke only.

2) “A great company of people,” (polu plethos tou laou) “A huge company of the people,” curious people, heart-burdened people, vengeance-bent people, a milling mass on the way to watch an execution.

3) “And of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.” (kai gunaikon hai ekoptonto kai ethrenoun auton) “And of women who lamented and mourned him,” were beating their breasts for Him. Not Galilaean women but women of Jerusalem, Luk 23:49. Some were likely His disciples.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Luk 23:27

. And there followed him. Although in public all the people, with one shout, had condemned Christ, yet we see that there were some who had not forgotten his doctrine and miracles; and thus, in the midst of that miserable dispersion, God reserved for himself a small remnant. And though the faith of those women was weak, yet it is probable that there was a hidden seed of piety, which afterwards in due time produced fruit. Yet their lamentation served to condemn the wicked and shocking cruelty of the men, who had conspired with the scribes and priests to put Christ to death But Luke’s design was different, namely, to inform us, that when the wickedness of men breaks out into unrestrained disorder, God does not indolently look on, to see what they are doing, but sits as a judge in heaven, to punish them soon for their unjust cruelty; and that we ought not to despise his vengeance, because he delays it till the proper time, but that we ought to dread it before he appears.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(27) A great company of people, and of women.Here, again, we come across a characteristic incident peculiar to St. Luke, and obviously derived from the devout women to whom we have traced so many facts which he alone records. (See Introduction.) Daughters of Jerusalem were there, as our Lords words showperhaps one of the sisterhoods which were formed in that city for mitigating the sufferings of condemned criminals by narcotic drinks (Deutsch. Remains, p. 38)and among these may have been Mary and Martha, but Luk. 23:49 implies the presence of women from Galilee also. The wailing was loud and bitter, for they, we may believe, had cherished, even more fondly than the disciples, the thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear (Luk. 19:11).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

140. LEADING FORTH OF JESUS TO THE CRUCIFIXION, Luk 23:26-33 .

See notes on Mat 27:32-34; Mar 15:21-23; Joh 19:17.

27-31. The touching incident here given is furnished by Luke alone.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

27. Company of women From the strong terms of sorrow used by Luke, bewailed and lamented him, it is evident that there was in this company much more than the vagabond sympathy of a crowd at an ordinary execution. They wept deeply for the sorrowful fate of the Just One. When Jesus made his triumphal entry a few days before, large crowds joined to form the honouring procession. During the subsequent trial at Jerusalem great had been the excitement in regard to him. The authorities, Jewish, Roman, and Galilean the Sanhedrim, Pilate, and Herod had been engaged in deciding his fate. Jesus, therefore, could have been no obscure character, and his crucifixion no obscure event. And there is reason to suppose that this company was largely composed of his true friends, many of whom may have shared in his triumphal entrance.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And there followed him a great crowd of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him.’

Inevitably as the procession moved along (the two insurrectionists were also in the procession bearing their own crosses – Luk 23:32) people gathered, and many would recognise in Him the prophet Whose teaching they had found so moving. We can only imagine their feelings towards Rome when they saw what Pilate had done to Him. At this stage they would never dream that it was the result of the activity of their own admired Rabbis. Others would feel sorrow for Him as they would feel sorrow for any Jew who had to suffer in this way. They had probably known about the executions that were due to take place, and would realise that this was one of them. Many women wailed and lamented. They would do this for any Jew who was in the same plight, including the two insurrectionists, but undoubtedly some would have recognised Him and be even more grieved.

Such executions as this were not rare, and would always be accompanied by weeping women, whose hearts went out to the sons of Israel who were suffering. It would be considered an act of merit, and some would be bearing wine which they would give to the men once hey had been crucified.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

DISCOURSE: 1584
CHRISTS ADDRESS TO THE WOMEN WHO LAMENTED HIM

Luk 23:27-31. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

ON a cursory view of the subject, it might be thought, that the enemies of Jesus, after having secured their chief object, began to relent; since, instead of obliging him in his debilitated state to bear his cross to the place of execution, (as was customary on such occasions,) they compelled another person to carry it for him. This however was only an additional instance of their malignity. They saw that, in consequence of his watching, and fasting, and diversified sufferings, he was ready to faint; and they began to fear, that he would die before he should reach the place; and consequently that they would be deprived of the satisfaction of making him a public spectacle upon the cross. Hence they spared him this fatigue, that he might be the more capable of suffering all the other miseries which they were about to inflict upon him. Far different was the disposition of Jesus towards them. This short interval he improved for the good of those who were around him. He saw many, and especially some women, making bitter lamentation on his account: and these he exhorted not to weep on his account, but on account of themselves and their children; since the evils reserved for them were both in extent and duration far more terrible than those which he now experienced.
In discoursing upon his words to them, we shall,

I.

Explain his counsel

[It is possible, that some of those whom he addressed were moved to pity him merely from a natural sense of humanity; whilst others were influenced both by faith and love. At all events, we are sure that he did not mean to forbid the exercise of sympathy and compassion; since it was his desire that these amiable qualities should characterize his followers in all ages. Love, in all its branches, was not only enjoined by him, but was distinguished by him as his commandment, which he imposed on all who professed themselves his Disciples [Note: Joh 15:12.]: from whence St. Paul calls it the law of Christ; bear ye one anothers burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ [Note: Gal 6:2.].

The prohibition was rather of a comparative kind; similar to that expression of the Prophet, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice; where sacrifice is not intended to be prohibited, but only to give way, when it should stand in competition with the exercise of mercy.
In this view there was abundant reason for the counsel which Christ now gave them. With respect to himself, they had no such great occasion to weep, because his sufferings were altogether voluntary: they were also now very near their termination; and they would issue both in his own exaltation to the right hand of God, and in the salvation of a ruined world. Hence, if rightly considered, his afflictions, though so exceeding grievous, were grounds rather of gratitude and joy than of regret and sorrow. But the afflictions which in due time would come on them, would be such as had not existed from the foundation of the world, nor ever would be equalled to the end of time. Happy as the Jewish women accounted themselves in having children, they would then congratulate the barren: and, desirous as men naturally are of life, they would wish even rocks and mountains to fall upon them, to put them out of their misery.
This prediction our blessed Lord confirms by a kind of proverb, in which he appeals to the very judgment of those whom he addressed: You see, says he, what they are doing to me, who have never given any just occasion of offence: judge then what shall be done to them, when they have filled up the measure of their iniquities, and rendered themselves, like dry wood, proper fuel for the wrath of God?
These then were the subjects to which he endeavoured to turn their minds, not so much for the purpose of augmenting their sorrow, as of giving it a right direction, and rendering it subservient to their eternal good; for, in proportion as they anticipated the judgments that awaited that wicked generation, they would become penitent themselves, and encourage penitence in others; and thus become instrumental in saving some who were now hardened in their iniquities.]
Having thus explained our Lords counsel to the lamenting women, we proceed to,

II.

Engraft some further counsel upon it

We might draw your attention to the example of Christ, who even in this hour of his deepest sorrows forgot, as it were, his own personal concerns, and was mindful only of the concerns of others [Note: Php 2:4.]. But we shall rather keep in view the subject-matter of his address: in reference to which we would say,

1.

Get your hearts impressed with the sufferings of Christ

[We have before observed, that our Lord did not mean to forbid this, but only to recommend in preference some other considerations, which, under their circumstances, were of more importance. It is true, that under any circumstances, the being affected with the relation of our Lords sufferings, just in the same way that we should be with any tragical story, will be of little avail. It is not such an impression therefore that we are anxious to produce. We wish you to consider, what was the end of those sufferings; and to behold in them, as in a mirror, your desert and danger, your hope and deliverance. Yes; you will do well to contemplate them in this view, till you weep and smite upon your breasts with even greater anguish than his compassionate attendants ever felt. This is the duty of every one amongst us; according to that declaration of the Prophet, They shall look on him whom they pierced, and shall mourn as one mourneth for his only son, and be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first-born [Note: Zec 12:10.]. Indeed, to attain this state of mind, should be the greatest object of our lives; since without it we can have no interest in him; and with it we can never perish. A humble, contrite, and believing view of Christ will infallibly transform us into his image, and bring us to the possession of his glory [Note: 2Co 3:18. Joh 6:40.].]

2.

Contemplate the probable issue of sin, even in this life

[It is in the future world that sin will receive its full reward. But it not unfrequently receives a tremendous recompence even here. How many have their health impaired, their fortunes injured, their reputation blasted, and their peace destroyed, by their own folly and wickedness! How many mothers have lived to see the child, which they once fondled with the tenderest affection, become a source of unutterable grief: insomuch that they have envied the wombs that never bare! And how many have so embittered their lives, that they have wished for death, and would have been glad to have a rock or mountain to crush them to atoms! There is not a town, or scarcely a village, that will not afford some instances of persons, who, from having ruined their health, their reputation, their fortune, or their peace, do not wish that they had never been born. What is it that makes suicide so common? You will almost invariably trace it to this source: the persons sins have made him so miserable, that life itself is become a burthen to him: so true is that repeated declaration of the prophet, The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest; whose waters cast up mire and dirt: there is no peace, saith God, to the wicked [Note: Isa 57:20-21.].

Such are the means by which God often punishes sin in this life. Not unfrequently it happens that the partners of our guilt are made the instruments of our punishment. Thus, in the history before us, the Romans were employed by the Jews in putting Jesus to death; and they were afterwards employed by God in punishing that whole nation, to an extent unparalleled in the annals of the world. Thus also it is often found, that those who have administered to our fraudulent gains or licentious pleasures, are the very persons through whom God visits our iniquity upon us.
Let then the connexion between sin and misery be considered: and learn, that in holiness alone is pleasure to be found without alloy.]

3.

Look forward with awe to the future judgment

[If the Jewish matrons were bidden to weep for themselves and their children, on account of the calamities that should be endured in the siege of Jerusalem, much more may every thoughtful person weep in the prospect of that day, when all shall stand at the judgment-seat of Christ. Then shall every man be recompensed according to his works. How they who have made light of sin in this world will feel in that day, we are informed by God himself; who assures us, that sinners of every rank, from the highest to the lowest, will cry to the rocks to fall upon them, and the hills to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb [Note: Rev 6:15-17.]. The inference which our Lord draws from his own sufferings, in reference to the Jewish nation, may with equal propriety be drawn from his peoples sufferings in reference to the world at large. They are, in their measure, persecuted like him; and if these things be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If judgment begin at the house of God, says the Apostle, what must the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God [Note: 1Pe 4:17-18.]? If those who are comparatively as a green tree are afflicted by God for the purging of their sins, what must not they expect, who, like a dry tree, are prepared for the punishment of their sins? Doubtless their misery will be inconceivably great, insomuch that they will curse their very existence, and wish that by any means they could bring it to a termination [Note: Rev 9:6.].

Brethren, know assuredly, that that day will come; and that repentance then will be too late. Then, not they only who crucified the Lord Jesus must give account of themselves to God, but those also who have crucified him afresh by continuing in sin [Note: Heb 6:6.]. Prepare ye then for that great account; and beg of God, that when he shall appear, ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless [Note: 2Pe 3:14.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

Ver. 27. Which also bewailed ] This was all they could do, and it was much they dared do it in so evil a time. In the reign of Tiberius, one Vitia was punished with death for that she had lamented Geminus her son, executed as friend to Sejanus. And because they could not accuse women for attempting against the State, their tears were criminal, saith Tacitus.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

27. ] These were not the women who had followed Him from Galilee, but the ordinary crowd collected in the streets on such occasions, and consisting, as is usually the case (and especially at an execution), principally of women . Their weeping appears to have been of that kind of well-meant sympathy which is excited by any affecting sight, such as that of an innocent person delivered to so cruel a death. This description need not of course exclude many who may have wept from deeper and more personal motives, as having heard Him teach, or received some benefit of healing from Him, or the like.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 23:27-31

27And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him. 28But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ 30Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Luk 23:27-31 This account is found only in Luke, who took special note of Jesus’ conversations with women.

Luk 23:27 “And following Him was a large crowd of the people” This probably refers to the pilgrims who were just awakening and realizing what had taken place in the early morning hours.

“women who were mourning and lamenting Him” This seems to refer to the women of Jerusalem, not to the women who accompanied the disciples (cf. Luk 23:49; Luk 23:55-56; Luk 18:13) because Jesus calls then “daughters of Jerusalem” (cf. Luk 23:28).

Luk 23:28 “stop weeping for Me” This is a present active imperative with the negative particle, which usually denotes stopping an act in process.

“but weep for yourselves and for your children” This is a present active imperative. It probably refers to the predicted fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (cf. Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). Because of the mob’s self-curse in Mat 27:25, it may refer to the spiritual and eschatological consequences of unbelief.

Luk 23:29 “‘For behold, the days are coming” This refers to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by Titus, but it may also foreshadow the eschatological Second Coming of Jesus in judgment.

“Blessed are the barren” This was strong irony for these Jewish women, for whom barrenness was seen as a curse from God.

Luk 23:30 This is a quote from Hos 10:8 addressed to rebellious Israel or perhaps an allusion to Isa 2:19, which is a context of judgment. This OT text is also quoted in Rev 6:16.

Luk 23:31 This apparently is a common proverb that in essence means “if they (i.e., Roman authorities) can treat me like this when I am innocent, then what will they do to you?”

“if” This is a first class conditional sentence, which is assumed to be true frm the author’s perspective or for his/her literary purposes.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

And there, &c.: verses: Luk 23:27-32, peculiar to Luke. company multitude.

bewailed and lamented = were beating their breasts and lamenting.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

27.] These were not the women who had followed Him from Galilee, but the ordinary crowd collected in the streets on such occasions, and consisting, as is usually the case (and especially at an execution), principally of women. Their weeping appears to have been of that kind of well-meant sympathy which is excited by any affecting sight, such as that of an innocent person delivered to so cruel a death. This description need not of course exclude many who may have wept from deeper and more personal motives, as having heard Him teach, or received some benefit of healing from Him, or the like.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 23:27. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

Their best Friend, the Healer of their sick, the Lover of their children, was about to be put to death, so they might well bewail and lament.

Luk 23:28-30. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave sack. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

Our Saviour looked forward to the terrible siege of Jerusalem, the most tragical of all human transactions. I think I do not exaggerate when I say that history contains nothing equal to it. It stands alone in the unutterable agony of men, women, and children in that dreadful time of suffering.

Luk 23:31. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

If the Christ of God is put to death even while the Jewish capital seems vigorous and flourishing, what shall be done when it is all dry and dead, and the Roman legions are round about the doomed city?

Luk 23:32. And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.

Every item of scorn was added to our Saviours death; and yet the Scriptures were thus literally fulfilled, for He was numbered with the transgressors.

Luk 23:33-34. And when they were come to the place, which, is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Do you hear the hammer fall? Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Do you see the bleeding hands and feet of Jesus? This is all that is extracted by that fearful pressure, nothing but words of pardoning love, a prayer for those who are killing him: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

Luk 23:35. And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

You know how mockery puts salt and vinegar into a wound. A man does not at any time like to be reviled; but when he is full of physical and mental anguish, and his heart is heavy within him, then ridicule is peculiarly full of acid to him.

Luk 23:36-37. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

These rough legionaries knew how to put their jests in the most cruel shape, and to press home their scoffs upon their suffering victim.

Luk 23:38. And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew,

These were the three languages that could be understood by all the people round about.

Luk 23:38. THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

And so be is, and so he shall be. He has never quitted the throne. The Son of David is still King of the Jews, though they continue to reject him; but the day shall come when they shall recognize and receive the Messiah. Then shall they look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Luk 23:39. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

Matthew and Mark speak of both the thieves as railing at Jesus. We must take their expressions as being literally correct; and if so, both the malefactors at first cast reproaches in Christs teeth.

Luk 23:40-41. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath, done nothing amiss.

Not only has he done nothing worthy of death, but he has done nothing improper, nothing out of place: This man hath done nothing amiss. The thief bears testimony to the perfect character of this wondrous Man, whom he nevertheless recognized to be divine, as we shall see in the next verse.

Luk 23:42-47. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou, comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with, a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now when the centurion, saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.

He was set there at the head of the guard, to watch the execution; and he could not help saying, as he observed the wonderful signs in heaven and earth, Certainly this was a righteous man.

Luk 23:48. And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.

What a change must have come over that ribald crowd! They had shouted, Crucify him; they had stood there, and mocked him; and now they are overcome with the sight, and they smite their breasts. Ah, dear friends, their grief did not come to much! Men may smite their breasts; but unless God smites their hearts, all the outward signs of a gracious work will come to nothing at all.

Luk 23:49. And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

Let these things be before your minds eye this evening, and think much of your crucified Lord, all you who are of his acquaintance, and who are numbered amongst his followers.

This exposition consisted of readings from Luk 23:27-49, and Mat 27:50-54.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Luk 23:27. , bewailed) either jointly under the emotion of the one common feeling, or even under the influence of peculiar affection. properly applies to the gestures:[256] refers to the lamentation, and weeping tone of voice.

[256] To smite ones self on the breast on account of some one, is the strict meaning; as the Latin, plangere.-E. and T.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

and of: Luk 23:55, Luk 8:2, Mat 27:55, Mar 15:40

Reciprocal: Psa 22:17 – look Isa 32:11 – be troubled Jer 9:20 – hear Nah 2:7 – doves Mat 27:33 – Golgotha Mar 15:22 – Golgotha Luk 23:49 – the women

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

7

These persons following toward the place of crucifixion were genuine sympathizers. They were not ashamed to be seen showing deep sentiments on behalf of Him, even to the extent of going with him to the place of shame. (See Heb 13:13.)

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Luk 23:27. A great number of the people. The ordinary crowd at an execution.

And of women. Such a crowd would be largely made up of women. These were not the Galilean women (Luk 23:49), but women of Jerusalem (Luk 23:28).

Bewailed and lamented him. This does not of itself indicate any real attachment to Him. It was the natural sympathy usual to the sex at such a time. Some among them may have wept from deeper motives, especially since our Lord spoke to them as He did. The later Jewish tradition that expressions of sympathy for a malefactor on the way to execution were unlawful, is not well enough sustained to prove that the conduct of the women was unexampled.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

There were four sorts of persons which attended our Saviour at his crucifixion; the executioners that tormented him, the Jews that mocked him, the spectators and lookers on, that marked him, and sympathizing friends which lamented him: these last Christ bespoke, Weep not for me, but for yourselves; that is, “Weep rather upon your own account than mine: reserve your sorrows for the calamities coming upon yourselves and your children.” It is very probable, that the tears and lamentations of many of these mourners were but the fruits of tender nature, not the effects of faith, and flowing from a principle of grace.

Learn thence, that melting affections and sorrows, even from the sense of Christ’s sufferings, are not infalible marks of grace. The history of Christ’s sufferings are very tragical and pathetical, and may melt ingenuous nature, where there is no renewed principle of grace. These motions of the affections may rather be a fit and mood, than the very frame and temper of the soul.

There are times and seasons when the roughest and most obdurate heart may be pensive and tender; but that is not is temper and frame, but only a fit, a pang, a transient passion. There is no inferring or concluding then a work of grace upon the heart, simply and barely from the movings or meltings of the affections. Nature will have its good moods, but grace is steady: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, says Christ.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

23:27 {8} And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

(8) The triumph of the wicked has a most horrible end.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The fate of the guilty predicted 23:27-31

Luke is the only evangelist who recorded this incident. He apparently did so because the fate of Jerusalem was one of his special interests. He had already recorded several warnings that Jesus had given to the people of Jerusalem (cf. Luk 11:49-51; Luk 13:1-5; Luk 13:34-35; Luk 19:41-44; Luk 21:20-24). If though innocent Jesus experienced such a fate as crucifixion, what could the Jews who had rejected their Messiah anticipate?

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Luke’s interest in Jesus’ concern for women surfaces again. They were mourning His fate and were evidently sympathizers rather than mockers (cf. Luk 7:32; Luk 8:52). Apparently they were residents of Jerusalem rather than women from Galilee who had been ministering to Jesus, since Jesus addressed them as daughters of Jerusalem. This is an Old Testament designation for the residents of Jerusalem that views them as typical Israelites (Mic 4:8; Zep 3:14; et al.). He urged them to mourn their own fate and the fate of their children more than His. They were weeping over the injustice of one man’s death, but He was grieving over the coming destruction of an entire nation.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)