Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 1:53
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
53. filled the hungry with good things ] “My servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry, &c.,” Isa 65:13; Isa 25:6; Psa 34:10, and the Beatitude Mat 5:6. (See Luk 18:14, the Publican and the Pharisee.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He hath filled the hungry with good things – This is a celebration of the general mercy of God. He hath daily fed the poor, the needy, and those who came to Him with humble hearts.
The rich he hath sent … – While the poor come to him for a supply of their daily wants, the rich come not that their necessities should be supplied, but come with lofty hearts, and insatiable desires that their riches may be increased. When this is the case, God not unfrequently not only withholds what they ask, but he takes their riches away by fire, or flood, or disappointments, and sends them away empty, Pro 23:5. It is better to be poor and go to God for our daily bread, than to be rich and forget our dependence on Him, and to seek only a great increase of our property.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 53. Filled the hungry – the rich he hath sent empty away.] God is here represented under the notion of a person of unbounded benevolence, who is daily feeding multitudes at his gates. The poor and the rich are equally dependent upon him; to the one he gives his affluence for a season, and to the other his daily bread. The poor man comes through a sense of his want to get his daily support, and God feeds him; the rich man comes through the lust of gain, to get more added to his abundance, and, God sends him empty away – not only gives him nothing more, but often deprives him of that which he has, because he has not improved it to the honour of the giver. There is an allusion here, as in several other parts of this song, to the case of Hannah and Peninah, as related 1Sa 1:2, c. 1Sa 2:1-10.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In this sentence the holy virgin celebrates the equity of God in the government of the world, proportioning men in some degrees one to another, that the rapacious qualities of some might not gain all to them, while, others have nothing. The notion of
hungry, speaketh persons in want, and craving a supply. The notion of
rich, signifieth persons that are full. God blesseth the poor, pitieth the needy, while he neglects greater persons. Some apply it to those whom Christ blesseth, Mat 5:3-11, who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and expound the rich of those who think they have no need of the righteousness of Christ. In this sense it is also true, but whether the virgin intended it here or not I know not.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
He hath filled the hungry with good things,…. Such as earnestly desired and longed after the coming of the Messiah, as good old Simeon, and Anna the prophetess; and those that looked for redemption in Israel, to whom she spake: and all such persons as heartily desire salvation by Christ, and breathe after the forgiveness of their sins through his blood, and thirst after his righteousness, and long for communion with him, and a greater knowledge of him, and more conformity to him, and pant after his word and ordinances; these are filled, sooner or later, with a sense of their interest in Christ, and his salvation; with a view of the full and free forgiveness of their sins, and with his righteousness they hunger after; and with every good thing they stand in need of, with joy and peace, with food and gladness, even to satisfaction; so that they can say with Jacob, they have enough, yea, all things; seeing Christ is theirs, and all things with him:
and the rich he hath sent empty away: not the rich in this world’s goods, though such who trust in their wealth, and boast of their riches, or do not make a proper use of them, God, in his providence, sometimes strips them of all, and turns them into the world naked and empty; much less the rich in grace, who are often the poor of the world; and who, though they seem to have nothing, yet possess all things, and are full: but such who are rich in their opinion, and in their own works; and trust in their righteousness, and despise others; these, as they come full of themselves to the throne of grace, as the Pharisee, are sent empty away; without any token of the love and favour of God, or any blessing from him: and as they come to ordinances in their own strength, and trust in the performance of them, they go away empty, as they came; these are dry breasts unto them, whilst they are full breasts of consolation to the poor in spirit, and to all meek and humble souls: and what is still worst of all, notwithstanding all their good works they boast of, and trust in, they will be sent away at the last judgment from the presence of Christ, as not known by him, and as workers of iniquity.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “He hath filled the hungry with good things;” (peinontas eneplesen agathon) “He has abundantly filled those continually hungry with genuinely good things,” even those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, Mat 5:6. As He fed Israel quail and manna in the desert, and His Son later fed the hungry with five loaves and two little fishes, Psa 24:10; Psa 78:23-29; Joh 5:9-14.
2) “And the rich he hath sent empty away.” (kai ploutountas eksapesteilen kenous) “And he has sent away rich ones (plutocrats) empty, the self-righteous and self-satisfied, as the rich barn builder, and the rich man who once lived in robes of royalty, but without gratitude toward God, Luk 12:16-21; Luk 16:19-31. Like an ox in a stall or a fat hog in a pen, is a rich man without God, Psa 49:20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(53) He hath filled the hungry.It is interesting to note the manner in which the song of the Virgin anticipates the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Plain as reported by St. Luke (Luk. 6:21). The words, like those of the beatitudes, have both their literal and their spiritual fulfilments. Both those who trusted in their earthly riches, and those who gloried in their fancied spiritual wealth, were sent empty away, while the hungry, those who craved for a higher blessedness, were filled with the peace and righteousness which they sought.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 1:53. He hath filled the hungry, &c. Both the poor and the rich are here beautifullyrepresented as waiting at God’s gate in the condition of beggars; the rich, in expectation to receive the honour of giving birth to the Messiah; the poor, in expectation, not of that blessing, but of such small favours as suited their condition. While they are thus waiting, God, by an exercise of his sovereignty, bestows the favour so much coveted by the rich, on a poor family, to its unspeakable satisfaction; and sends away the rich, disappointed, and discontented; for such is the force of the original word .
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
Ver. 53. He hath filled the hungry ] See Trapp on “ Mat 5:6 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 1:53. , He hath filled the hungry with good things) Psa 107:9, LXX. . To the 10th verse of the same psalm corresponds also the Song of Zacharias, Luk 1:79.-, He hath sent away) Though they might have seemed to be the nearest to God.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
filled: Luk 6:21, 1Sa 2:5, Psa 34:10, Psa 107:8, Psa 107:9, Psa 146:7, Eze 34:29, Mat 5:6, Joh 6:11-13, Joh 6:35, Jam 2:5, Rev 7:16, Rev 7:17
and: Luk 6:24, Luk 12:16-21, Luk 16:19-25, Luk 18:11-14, Luk 18:24, Luk 18:25, 1Co 1:26, 1Co 4:8, Jam 2:6, Jam 5:1-6, Rev 3:17, Rev 3:18
Reciprocal: Job 5:11 – set up Psa 9:18 – For the Psa 18:27 – save Psa 37:25 – nor his seed Psa 68:10 – thou Psa 107:36 – there he Psa 113:7 – raiseth Psa 132:15 – bless her provision Psa 145:19 – fulfil Isa 40:4 – valley Jer 31:25 – General Eze 17:24 – have brought Mat 14:20 – were Mat 15:37 – all Mar 8:8 – and were Luk 9:11 – healed Luk 14:12 – when Joh 6:12 – they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
These statements are figurative in form, but teach the same principles as those in the preceding verses.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 1:53. He hath filled the hungry with good things. Neither exclusively temporal, nor exclusively spiritual in its meaning. It is hard to divide the two, and no doubt all Gods merciful providing was in the mind of Mary.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
1:53 He hath filled the {a} hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
(a) Those that are brought to extreme poverty.