Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 12:19

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, [and] be merry.

19. I will say to my soul, Soul ] “What folly! Had thy soul been a sty, what else couldst thou have promised to it? Art thou so bestial, so ignorant of the soul’s goods, that thou pledgest it the foods of the flesh? And dost thou convey to thy soul, the things which the draught receiveth?” St Basil.

for many years ] “Boast not thyself of to morrow,” Pro 27:1.

take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry ] More energetically in the four words of the original, rest, eat, drink, enjoy. His motive is the same as that of the selfish and cynical Epicureans, who say, “Let us eat and drink;” but the reason he assigns is different. They snatch pleasure, “for to morrow we die” (1Co 15:32); he because he hopes to be “happy” for “many years.” For similar warnings see Jas 4:13-17;Jas 5:1-3; Ecc 11:9.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Much goods – Much property. Enough to last a long while, so that there is no need of anxiety or labor.

Take thine ease – Be free from care about the future. Have no anxiety about coming to want.

Eat, drink, and be merry – This was just the doctrine of the ancient Epicureans and atheists, and it is, alas! too often the doctrine of those who are rich. They think that all that is valuable in life is to eat, and drink, and be cheerful or merry. Hence, their chief anxiety is to obtain the delicacies of the season – the luxuries of the world; to secure the productions of every clime at any expense, and to be distinguished for splendid repasts and a magnificent style of living. What a portion is this for an immortal soul! What folly to think that all that a man lives for is to satisfy his sensual appetites; to forget that he has an intellect to be cultivated, a heart to be purified, a soul to be saved!

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 19. Soul, thou hast much goods] Great possessions are generally accompanied with pride, idleness, and luxury; and these are the greatest enemies to salvation. Moderate poverty, as one justly observes, is a great talent in order to salvation; but it is one which nobody desires.

Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.] This was exactly the creed of the ancient Atheists and Epicureans. Ede, bibe, lude; post mortem nulla voluptas. What a wretched portion for an immortal spirit! and yet those who know not God have no other, and many of them not even this.

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

And I will say to my soul,…. Himself, see

Ps 49:18 or to his sensual appetite, which he sought to indulge and gratify, for he was wholly a sensual and carnal man:

soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years: he foolishly promises himself a long life, when no man can boast of tomorrow, or knows what a day will bring forth; or can assure himself he shall live a day, an hour, or moment longer: and he also depended upon the safety of his goods, thus laid up; whereas his barns might be consumed by fire at once, or his goods be devoured by vermin, or plundered by thieves, and by various ways taken out of his hands; for riches are uncertain things, and make themselves wings and fly away:

take thine case, eat, drink, and be merry; spend thy life in ease, luxury, and mirth; put away the evil day far from thee: never trouble thyself about a future state, tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundantly; and thou hast enough to make thyself happy, and let nothing disturb thee, and give a loose to all sensual pleasures, and carnal joys. This is the language of epicure among the Jews, and is forbidden to be used, especially on fast days; for so it is said, i

“let not a man say I will go to my house, “and I will eat and drink”, (and say) , “peace to thee, O my soul”; if he does so, of him the Scripture says,

Isa 22:13 “Behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die—surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you, till ye die, &c.””

i T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 11. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Laid up for many years ( ). Not in D and some other Latin MSS. The man’s apostrophe to his “soul” () is thoroughly Epicurean, for his soul feeds on his goods. The asyndeton here (take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry) shows his eagerness. Note difference in tenses (, keep on resting, , eat at once, , drink thy fill, , keep on being merry), first and last presents, the other two aorists.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Soul [] . See on Mr 12:30.

Take thine ease. See on Mt 11:28.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And I will say to my soul,” (kai ero te psuche mou) “And I will advise my soul,” Pro 27:1; Ecc 11:9; 1Co 15:32; Jas 5:5, tell my soul-life, I’m my own captain, will do as I please, take care of myself, be my own god, Psa 14:1. I will get all I “can”, “can” all I ‘.can,” then sit on the “can”, not realizing that the lid would soon blow off, Heb 9:27.

2) “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years;” (psuche echeis polla agatha keimena eis ete polla) “Soul, (of me) you have or possess many goods laid up (sufficient) for many years,” you have it made at last; He trusted in “uncertain riches” which can not redeem the soul, 1Pe 1:18-19; 1Ti 6:9.

3) “Take thine ease,” (anapauou) “Take your rest,” or be at ease now, from now on. He placed his hope solely on perishing things, on poor stock, with diminishing dividends, 1Jn 2:17-19.

4) “Eat, drink, and be merry.” (This is the Epicurean philosophy of humanism.)

a) (phage) “you eat,” as you please, from now on, be full. Such does not satisfy the hungry, perishing, starving soul.

b) (pie) “you drink” as you please, from now on, to satisfy your belly and its thirst; yet only Christ, as the Bread and Water of life, satisfies the need of the soul, Joh 6:35.

c) (euphrainou) “You be glad,” or be jolly, from now on; live it up, for you have a plenty now, Ecc 11:9; 1Ti 6:17-19.

But the way of peace and gladness, neither a lost person nor a backslider can ever know, while carnally gluttonous and selfishly clinging to materialism as his only source of gladness or security. This man never found peace or gladness, as the prodigal son did not in the hog-pen, or until he returned to his father’s house, and found forgiveness for his sins, Luk 15:17-24; Isa 57:20-21.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

19. Take thine ease, eat, drink, enjoy thyself. When he exhorts himself to eat and drink, he no longer remembers that he is a man, but swells into pride by relying on his abundance. We daily perceive striking instances of this disdainful conduct (270) in irreligious men, who hold up the mass of their riches, as if it were nothing less than a brazen rampart against death. When he says, Eat, my soul, and enjoy thyself, there is an emphatic meaning in this Hebrew idiom; (271) for he addresses himself in such a manner as to imply, that he has all that is necessary for gratifying all his senses and all his desires.

(270) “ D’une telle mecognoissance et fierte;” — “of such ingratitude and pride.”

(271) “ En ceste locution Hebraique il y a une vehemence et proprie plus que les mots n’emportent de prime face;” — “in that Hebrew form of expression there is greater force and propriety than the words at first sight bear.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(19) Eat, drink, and be merry.The words remind us of St. Pauls Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die (1Co. 15:32), and may possibly have suggested them. There is, however, a suggestive difference in the context. Extremes meet, and the life of self-indulgence may spring either from an undue expectation of a lengthened life, or from unduly dwelling on the fact of its shortness, without taking into account the judgment that comes after it. The latter, as in the carpe diem of Horace (Odes, i. 11, 8), was the current language of popular Epicureanism; the former seems to have been more characteristic of a corrupt Judaism. (Comp. Jas. 4:13.) In acting on it the Jew with his far outlook, as he dreamt, into the future, was sinking to the level of the dissolute heathen, who was content to live in and for the present only.

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

19. Soul Neither he nor his soul has a thought of anything but the enjoyments he now enumerates.

Ease, eat, drink, and be merry Indolence, gluttony, drunkenness, and licentiousness; in these four things lie this man’s conception of life.

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