Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 4:25
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
25. many widows were in Israel ] So far from trying to flatter them, He tells them that His work is not to be for their special benefit or glorification, but that He had now passed far beyond the limitations of earthly relationships.
three years and six months ] Such was the Jewish tradition, as we see also in Jas 5:17 (comp. Dan 12:7; Rev 11:2-3; Rev 13:5). The book of Kings only mentions three years (1Ki 17:1; 1Ki 17:8-9; 1Ki 18:1-2), but in the “many days” it seems to imply more.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Of a truth – Truly, and therefore worthy of your credit. He calls attention to two cases where acknowledged prophets had so little honor in their own nation that they bestowed their favors on foreigners. So, says he, such is the want of faith in my own country, that I shall work no miracles here, but shall give the evidence of my divine mission to others.
In Israel – In the land of Israel, or Judea. It was therefore the more remarkable, since there were so many in his own country whom he might have helped, that the prophet should have gone to a pagan city and aided a poor widow there.
The days of Elias – The days of Elijah. See the account of this in 1 Kings 17:8-24.
Three years and six months – From 1Ki 18:1, 1Ki 18:45, it would seem that the rain fell on the third year – that is, at the end of the third year after the rain had ceased to fall at the usual time. There were two seasons of the year when rains fell in Judea – in October and April, called the early and latter rain; consequently there was an interval between them of six months. To the three years, therefore, when rain was withheld at the usual times, are to be added the previous six months, when no rain fell as a matter of course, and consequently three years and six months elapsed without rain.
A great famine – A great want of food, from long continued and distressing drought.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 25. In the days of Elias] See this history, 1Kg 17:1-9, compared with 1Kg 18:1-45. This was evidently a miraculous interference, as no rain fell for three years and six months, even in the rainy seasons. There were two of these in Judea, called the first and the latter rains; the first fell in October, the latter in April: the first prepared the ground for the seed, the latter ripened the harvest. As both these rains were withheld, consequently there was a great famine throughout all the land.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The two stories to which our Saviour refers are those 1Ki 17:9; 2Ki 5:14. But the question is what our Saviour intended to teach them by these stories, which made them so exceeding angry, as we shall find by and by. I answer, several things, none of which pleased them.
1. The freeness of Gods distinguishing grace. That God was not bound to give to all the same aid, and means of grace, that he gave some. This is a doctrine the world was never patient to hear. That God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. We would fain make God a debtor to us. Those of Nazareth think they had as good, if not a better, right to Christs miracles than those of Capernaum. I tell you, saith Christ, God is a Sovereign in his acts of grace, and acts freely, and I can do no miracles but where he will have them done.
2. That it is through the fault of men, it they receive not the benefits of Divine grace. If the Israelites would have entertained Elijah, he might have been sent to them, as well as to Sarepta. If the lepers in Israel would have sought out and come to Elisha they might have been healed. If you would have received me, and believed in me, you might have seen what those of Capernaum did; it is because of your contempt and unbelief that I can show you no miracles. If any say, If God had put it into the hearts of the widows in Israel, or the lepers there, they would also have entertained Elijah, and have sought out and came to Elisha: why did not God put it into their hearts? To this the answer is ready: Who art thou that disputest with God? Why doth the clay reply upon the potter? Even so, O Father, for so it pleaseth thee. However, the failures of the lepers in Israel, and the widows there, and of those in Nazareth, was in a great measure in their duty, as to things within their power to do by virtue of that common grace which God denieth to none: he might justly deny his special influences, while they neglected to make use of his more common influences.
3. That in every nation he that feared God, and wrought righteousness, was ever accepted of him. God had no respect to this country, or that country; he sent Elijah to do good to a Sidonian, and Elisha to do good to a Syrian, while he neglected the ungrateful and disobedient Israelites. Thus he also not obscurely hints, that for their unbelief, and rejection of, and disobedience to him, God would send his gospel to the Gentiles, and reject them, which came to pass within a few years after. None of all these were grateful sounds in the ears of the men of Nazareth. You ask me (saith our Saviour) why I do not such things here at Nazareth as I did at Capernaum. I was not sent to you. No; but were not they some of the lost sheep of Israel? Ah! but Christ was no more sent to all Israel, than Elias was sent to all the widows in Israel. He was sent to preach to them all, but for any special, signal favours, he was sent but to some, and those some were such as did not proudly reject and contemn him, but receive him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25-27. But I tell you,c.falling back for support on the well-known examples of Elijahand Elisha (Eliseus), whose miraculous power, passing by those whowere near, expended itself on those at a distance, yeaon heathens, “the two great prophets who stand at thecommencement of prophetic antiquity, and whose miracles strikinglyprefigured those of our Lord. As He intended like them to feed thepoor and cleanse the lepers, He points to these miracles of mercy,and not to the fire from heaven and the bears that torethe mockers” [STIER].
three years and six monthsSoJas 5:17, including perhaps thesix months after the last fall of rain, when there would belittle or none at any rate whereas in 1Ki18:1, which says the rain returned “in the third year,”that period is probably not reckoned.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But I tell you of a truth,…. Or in truth: it answers to
, a phrase often used by the Jewish writers o; and, which, they say p, wherever, and of whatsoever it is spoken, it signifies a tradition of Moses from Mount Sinai, and so that which is most true, sure, and firm, and to be depended on; and such is what our Lord hereafter delivers; yea, the word, , “truth”, or “of a truth”, and which is the same as “in truth”, is used by the Jews q, as , “the form of an oath”: so that these words of Christ are a strong asseveration, and amount to a solemn oath with respect to what follows:
many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias; or Elijah, the prophet; that is, there were many that were not only widows, but poor widows, and in very famishing circumstances in the land of Israel, when Elijah was the prophet of the Lord to that people:
and when the heaven was shut up three years and six months; so that no rain descended all that time: the same is observed by Jas 5:17 and though the space of time, in which there was no rain, is not so clear from the history of it in the book of Kings; yet, as this is fixed by Christ, and his apostle, and there is nothing in the history that contradicts it, it is to be received without scruple:
when great famine was throughout all the land of Israel; and which so long a drought must needs bring.
o Misn. Sabbat, c. 1. sect. 3. Trumot, c. 2. sect. 1. p T. Hieros. Sabbat, fol. 3. 2. & 12. 1. Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Trumot, c. 3. sect. 1. q T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 55. 1. & Gloss. in ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Three years and six months ( ). Accusative of duration of time without (doubtful). The same period is given in Jas 5:17, the popular Jewish way of speaking. In 1Ki 18:1 the rain is said to have come in the third year. But the famine probably lasted still longer.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
A great famine was throughout all the land [ ] . More literally and correctly, as Rev., there came (or arose) a great famine over all the land.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But I tell you of a truth,” (ep aletheias de lego humin) “Yet I tell you in basic truth,” I solemnly, truthfully affirm to and remind you all, as a matter that may be verified, from your Scriptures and your history.
2) “Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias,” (pollai cherai esan en tais hemerais Eliou en to Israel) “Many widows were (existed) in Israel in the days of Elias,” the miracle-working prophet of God on whom Elijah’s mantle fell.
3) “When the heaven was shut up three years, and six months,” (hote ekleisthe ho ouranos epi ete tria kai menas heks) “When the heaven was shut up over a period of three years and six months,” the first heaven where clouds of rain are formed, from which rain falls, certified Jas 5:17; The time appears to be inclusive of the time of Elijah’s flight to Zarephath, 1Ki 18:1.
4) “When great famine was throughout all the land;” (hos egeneto limos megas epi pasan ten gen) “When a great famine came upon and over all the land;” 1Ki 17:1-16; 1Ki 18:2. Here the famine is called, “a sore famine in Samaria,” among the Gentiles. The seeming discrepancy explained that the three years was after the Lord had sent Elijah on His way from Gilgal to Zarephath in Zidon, and it was after he arrived in Zarephath, also known as Sarepta, Obadiah Luk 4:20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
25. There were many widows After throwing back upon themselves the blame of their being deprived of miracles, he produces two examples to prove, that they ought not to think it strange, if God prefers strangers to the inhabitants of the country, and that they ought not to find fault with him for obeying the call of God, as was formerly done by Elijah and Elisha. He throws out an indirect hint as to their vanity and presumption, in entertaining a dislike of him, because he had been brought up among them. When there was a great famine for three years and a half, there were many widows in Israel, whose want of food Elijah was not commanded to relieve, but he was sent to a woman, who belonged to a foreign nation, Zidon, (1Kg 17:9.) In like manner, Elisha healed no lepers among his countrymen, but he healed Naaman, a Syrian, (2Kg 5:10.)
Though his reproofs strike the inhabitants of Nazareth with peculiar severity, yet he charges the whole nation with ingratitude, because, for a long period, almost all of them had proceeded to more shameful contempt of the Lord, in proportion as he had approached nearer to them. For how did it come about, that a woman, who was a foreigner, was preferred by God to all the Israelites, but because the prophet had been rejected by them, and compelled to seek refuge in a heathen land? And why did God choose that Naaman, a Syrian, should be healed by Elisha, but to put a disgrace on the nation of Israel? The meaning, therefore, is, that the same thing happens now as in former times, when God sends his power to a great distance among foreigners, because he is rejected by the inhabitants of the country.
Meanwhile, Christ intimates that, though he is despised by his countrymen, his glory is in no degree diminished: because God will still be able, to their shame and confusion, to dignify and exalt his Son, as he formerly gave honor to his prophets in the midst of the Gentiles. In this way the foolish glorying in the flesh is repressed, when we see the Lord rain, not only where and when he pleases, but in distant corners, to the neglect of that country which he had chosen for his residence. Hence, also, may be collected the general doctrine that we have no right to prescribe any rule to God in disposing his benefits, so as to prevent him from rejecting those who hold the highest rank, and conferring honor on the lowest and most contemptible; and that we are not at liberty to oppose him, when he entirely subverts that order, which would have approved itself to our judgment. Our attention is, no doubt, drawn to a contrast between Israel and the heathen nations: but still we ought to hold, that none are chosen, in preference to others, for their own excellence, but that it proceeds rather from the wonderful purpose of God, the height and depth of which, though the reason may be hidden from us, we are bound to acknowledge and adore.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
25. Many widows Jesus now illustrates his proverb, in the present case, with a couple of examples in which their countrymen rejected the prophets and were themselves rejected. The widows in Israel of old rejected Elijah and the God of Elijah; they were themselves overlooked, while the widow of Sarepta was selected and elected. The lepers of Israel rejected Elijah; they were themselves consequently rejected and reprobated, and Naaman the Syrian was elected through faith to physical salvation. Like the rejected widows and lepers of Israel were these Nazarenes. The election in all the instances is conditional, not arbitrary.
In both cases, Jesus selects his elect ones (as Luke’s Gentile Gospel hints) from among Gentiles. And this may have been part of the matter of offence. But the main ground was, that Jesus abated not a hair of his pretensions to pass a summary reprobation upon the Nazarenes for their evil hearts of unbelief.
Days of Elias Elias is the Greek form of the Old Testament name Elijah. Driven by the persecutions of Ahab, Elijah the Tishbite, by God’s command, took refuge with the widow of Zarephath or Sarepta. She was induced to supply his wants, and was rewarded of God.
Three years and six months The time of the cessation of rain is said, to have been the third year, and it does not appear at what time it commenced. Apparently it began some time earlier, which gave time for the additional six months. References to the period of three years and six months, apparently as a round number, not to be taken as exact, are several times found in the Scriptures, as in Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7; Rev 11:2-3; Rev 12:6-14. So also in Jas 5:17. Lightfoot adduces also more instances from the rabbinical writers. It is in fact the half of the sacred number Seven. See supplementary note to Luk 6:13. Sarepta, or Zarephath in the Old Testament, Sarafend at the present time, is a large inland village half way between Tyre and Sidon.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But of a truth I say to you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land, and to none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.’
In reply to them He first pointed out that in the period of the great famine in the time of Elijah when God was judging His people, Elijah had not been sent to widows among his own countrymen, but to a widow woman in Zarephath, in the land of Sidon. Following His proverb His point here was that Elijah too had not been welcomed in his own country. It thus illustrated why He too had been able to heal in Capernaum but not in Nazareth. In Capernaum they had flocked to Him. Here in Nazareth they had not stirred.
We must remember that Capernaum was on a busy trade route, and was by the Sea of Galilee, with boats coming in and out. Nazareth was a quiet little town situated in the hills. Thus Capernaum probably looked down on Nazareth, (‘that out of the way place’) and Nazareth probably bristled at Capernaum (‘those sophisticated upstarts’). They thus looked on each other as in a sense ‘foreigners’, (as is common with countryfolk) and this was probably what was in Jesus’ mind. (The parochial attitude of country folk was proverbial). But to a people already infuriated His words suggested that they were not as good as the Sidonians. They were thus not at all pleased.
Luke would, however, be delighted to include this saying, for it was an early indication to his Gentile readers that Jesus did not see Gentiles as excluded from God’s mercy.
‘Three years and six months.’ It would appear that this was the period of time for the famine recognised in their traditions (compare Jas 5:17). The famine would continue after the drought was over until new crops began to grow. It became recognised as a standard period of trial.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 4:25-26 . In order, however, to quote to you historical examples , in which the miraculous power of the prophets was put forth, not for countrymen, but for strangers , nay, for Gentiles, I assure you, etc. Jesus knew that here this sternness and open decisiveness on His part were not at all out of place, and that He need not hope to win His hearers; this is only confirmed by the later similar incident in Mat 13:54 ff.
. ] so also Jas 5:17 . But according to 1Ki 17:1 ; 1Ki 18:1 , the rain returned in the third year . Jesus, as also James (see Huther in loc .), follows, according to Luke, the Jewish tradition (Jalkut Schimoni on 1Ki 16 in Surenhusius , . p. 681), in which in general the number 3 (= of 7) in the measurement of time (especially a time of misfortune, according to Dan 12:7 ) had become time-honoured (Lightfoot, p. 756, 950; Otto, Spicileg . p. 142). It was arbitrary and unsatisfactory to reckon (before 1Ki 17:1 ), in addition to the three years, the naturally rainless six months preceding the rainy season (Benson on Jas 5:17 ; Wetstein, Wiesinger, and others; comp. also Lange, II. p. 547 f.), or to date the third year (Beza, Olshausen, Schegg) from the flight of Elias to Sarepta (1Ki 17:9 ).
. ] not the whole region (Beza), but the whole earth ; popularly hyperbolical.
On Sarepta, situated between Tyre and Sidon, and belonging to the territory of the latter, now the village of Surafend, see Robinson, Palestine , III. p. 690 ff.
] the name of the town of Sidon, as that in whose territory Sarepta lay.
] in Luk 15:14 is feminine , as it passed over from the Doric into the (Lobeck, ad Phryn . p. 188). But in this place the reading , approved by Valckenaer, is so weakly attested that it cannot be thought of.
] not sed (Beza, Kuinoel), but nisi ; see on Mat 12:4
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Ver. 25. Many widows were in Israel ] q.d. God hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, &c. He is a free agent, and may do with his own as he pleaseth. If the prophets, by the Spirit’s direction, healed and helped foreigners sooner than Israelites, what so great wonder that Christ did not for his own country that which he did for others?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25. ] Our Lord brings forward instances where the two greatest prophets in Israel were not directed to act in accordance with the proverb , ‘Physician heal thyself:’ but their miraculous powers exerted on those who were strangers to God’s inheritance.
. . . ] So also in Jas 5:17 ; but in 1Ki 18:1 we find that it was in the third year that the Lord commanded Elijah to shew himself to Ahab, for He would send rain on the earth. But it does not appear from what time this third year is reckoned, or at what time of the year, with reference to the usual former and latter rains, the drought caused by Elias’s prayer began (it apparently had begun some time before the prophet was sent to be miraculously sustained, as this very fact implies failure of the ordinary means of sustenance); and thus, without forming any further hypothesis, we have latitude enough given for the three and a half years, which seems to have been the exact time. This period is one often recurring in Jewish record and in prophecy: see Dan 7:25 ; Dan 12:7 ; Rev 11:2-3 ; Rev 12:6 ; Rev 12:14 ; Rev 13:5 . Lightfoot (ii. 123) produces more instances from the Rabbinical writers. “The period of three years and a half , = 42 months or 1260 days, had an ominous sound in the ears of an Israelite, being the time of this famine, and of the duration of the desolation of the temple under Antiochus.” Wordsw.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 4:25 . This verse begins, like Luk 4:24 , with a solemn asseveration. It contains the proper answer to Luk 4:23 . It has been suggested (J. Weiss) that Luk 4:22 ; Luk 4:24 have been interpolated from Mar 6:1-6 in the source Lk. here used. . . , three years and six months. The reference is to 1Ki 17:1 ; 1Ki 18:1 , where three years are mentioned. The recurrence of the same number, three and a half years, in Jas 5:17 seems to point to a traditional estimate of the period of drought, three and a half, the half of seven, the number symbolic of misfortune (Dan 12:7 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
of a truth = in (as in Luk 4:11) truth.
Elias = Elijah. See 1Ki 17:1, 1Ki 17:8, 1Ki 17:9; 1Ki 18:1. Jam 5:17.
the heaven. Singular with Art. See note on Mat 6:9, Mat 6:10. Rev 11:12, Rev 11:13; Rev 13:6.
three years and six months. An ominous period. Compare Dan 12:7. Rev 11:2, Rev 11:3; Rev 13:5; and App-89.
and six months. Not “a Jewish tradition”, but a well-known fact. See notes on 1Ki 17:1 and Luk 18:1.
when, &c. = and there arose.
throughout = over. Greek. epi. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
25.] Our Lord brings forward instances where the two greatest prophets in Israel were not directed to act in accordance with the proverb, Physician heal thyself: but their miraculous powers exerted on those who were strangers to Gods inheritance.
. . . ] So also in Jam 5:17;-but in 1Ki 18:1 we find that it was in the third year that the Lord commanded Elijah to shew himself to Ahab, for He would send rain on the earth. But it does not appear from what time this third year is reckoned,-or at what time of the year, with reference to the usual former and latter rains, the drought caused by Eliass prayer began (it apparently had begun some time before the prophet was sent to be miraculously sustained, as this very fact implies failure of the ordinary means of sustenance); and thus, without forming any further hypothesis, we have latitude enough given for the three and a half years, which seems to have been the exact time. This period is one often recurring in Jewish record and in prophecy: see Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7; Rev 11:2-3; Rev 12:6; Rev 12:14; Rev 13:5. Lightfoot (ii. 123) produces more instances from the Rabbinical writers. The period of three years and a half, = 42 months or 1260 days, had an ominous sound in the ears of an Israelite, being the time of this famine, and of the duration of the desolation of the temple under Antiochus. Wordsw.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 4:25. , I tell you) The Lord declares this testimony by the light of His omniscience: for Elijah and Elisha might have rendered aid to more widows and lepers, even though Holy Scripture did not record it [were it not that Jesus, by His omniscience, informs us here, that they did not do so].-, was shut up) As in Bible history, so in all other histories the notice taken of public punishments inflicted by God, famine, etc., forms a considerable part.- , for three years and six months) 1Ki 17:1, etc., Luk 18:1.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
many: Luk 10:21, Isa 55:8, Mat 20:15, Mar 7:26-29, Rom 9:15, Rom 9:20, Eph 1:9, Eph 1:11
when the: 1Ki 17:1, 1Ki 18:1, 1Ki 18:2, Elijah, Jam 5:17
Reciprocal: Gen 41:30 – seven years Lev 26:19 – make 2Sa 24:13 – seven 1Ki 8:35 – heaven 2Ki 4:38 – a dearth 2Ki 8:1 – seven years 1Ch 21:12 – three years’ famine 2Ch 6:26 – the heaven 2Ch 7:13 – If I shut up heaven Job 12:15 – Behold Mat 13:58 – General Luk 21:3 – Of Joh 16:7 – I tell Rev 11:6 – power
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5
This verse merely shows that the condition of dependency was very general in the days to which Jesus will soon refer in remarks about who was favored.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
[When the heavens were shut up three years and six months.] This number of three years and six months is much used both in the Holy Scriptures and in Jewish writings; concerning which we have more largely discoursed in another place. And although both in the one and the other it is not seldom used allusively only, yet in this place I can see no reason why it should not be taken according to the letter in its proper number, however indeed there will be no small difficulty to reduce it to its just account. That there was no rain for three years together, is evident enough from 1 Kings_17, etc.: but whence comes this addition of six months?
“Elijah said to Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word; If there shall be these years.” These words include three years at the least, because he saith, years in the plural; and not years in the dual.
And chapter 18 1 Kings_18, “The word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go shew thyself unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” In the third year; where then shall we find the six months?
I. Doubtless both our Saviour and his apostle St. James, chapter 5 verse 17 Jam 5:17; in adding six months do speak according to the known and received opinion of that nation; which is also done elsewhere sometimes in historical matters in the New Testament.
St. Stephen tells us, Act 7:16; that the bones of the twelve patriarchs were carried over from Egypt and buried in Sychem, when holy writ mentions only the bones and burial of Joseph: wherein he speaks according to the vulgar opinion of the nation.
Again, Luk 4:30, he tells us that Moses was forty years old when he fled into the land of Midian, and that he tarried there forty years more, when Moses himself mentions nothing of the circumstance: this he speaks agreeably to the opinion of the people.
II. Neither our Saviour nor St. James says that Elijah shut up the heavens three years and six months; but Christ tells us, “That the heaven was shut up in the days of Elias three years and six months”: and St. James, “That Elias prayed that it might not rain, and it rained not upon the earth by the space of three years and six months.”
May I therefore have leave to distinguish in this manner? Elijah shut up the heaven for three years, that there might be no rain, as in the Book of Kings: and there was no rain for three years and a half, as our Saviour and St. James relate.
III. The words of Menander in Josephus may help a little towards the untying this knot: Menander also makes mention of this drought in the acts of Ithobalus, king of Tyre, saying, There was no rain from the month of October to the month of October the year following.
It is true he shortens the space of this drought by making it continue but one year; but however, having placed the beginning of it in the month of October, he gives us a key that opens us a way into things more inward and secret.
IV. Consider the distinction of the former and the latter rain; Deu 11:14; Jer 5:24; Joe 2:23.
“The Rabbins deliver: the former is in the month Marchesvan; the latter in the month Nisan.”
The Targumist in Joe 2:23; “Who hath given you the first rain in season and the latter in the month Nisan.” See also our note upon Luk 2:8.
R. Solomon, upon Deuteronomy_11, differs a little; but we are not solicitous about the order, which should be the first, either that in the month Marchesvan, or that in the month Nisan: that which makes to our purpose is, that rains were at those stated times; and for the rest of the year generally there was no rain.
V. Those six months mentioned by our Saviour and St. James must be accounted before the beginning of the three years, and not tacked to the end of them, as is very evident from this, that it is said, “The third year Elijah shewed himself to Ahab,” etc.
In the beginning therefore of those three years we believe Elijah shut up heaven upon the approach of that time wherein the rains were wont to fall in the month of Marchesvan, and opened heaven again the same month at the end of three years. Nor is it nothing that Menander speaks of the drought; taking its beginning in the month October, which in part answers to the Jews’ Marchesvan; for consult that passage, chapter 18; “Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land unto all the fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive.” No one will say this search was made in the winter, but in the summer: not before or in the month Nisan, wherein the rains were wont to fall; for what hay or grass could be expected at that time? But when the year grew on to the summer, then was it a seasonable time to inquire after hay and grass. Reckon therefore the time of Ahab’s and Obadiah’s progress in this search: the time wherein Elijah and Obadiah meeting together, Ahab fell in with them: the time wherein the Israelites and the prophets of Baal were gathered together at mount Carmel; when Elijah sacrificed there, and the followers of Baal were killed: and certainly it will be more probable that the unlocking of the heavens and the fall of the rains happened in that usual and ordinary season, the month Marchesvan, than any other part of the year. Three years agone, in that month when the rains were expected, according to the common season of the year, Elijah shut heaven up that it should not rain; and now at the close of three years, when the season for those rains recurred, he unlocks the heavens and the rains fall abundantly.
VI. Now, go back from Marchesvan, the month wherein the prophet locked up heaven, to the month Nisan preceding, and those six months between, they were also without rain, according to the ordinary course of the year and climate. In the month Nisan it rained; the rest of the year to Marchesvan it was fair and held up: when that month came the rains were expected; but Elijah had shut the heavens up, and they remained shut up for the space of three years ensuing. So that though he did not shut up heaven above the space of three years, yet there was no rain for three years and six months.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Luk 4:25. But of a truth I say unto you. God had enabled the two greatest prophets in Israel to grant the greatest blessings to foreigners. Our Lord places Himself beside these prophets. His hearers would regard this as presumptuous. He implies that His course was also ordered by God, and thus gives a hint of Gods rejection of those rejecting Him. Even if the Nazarenes did not perceive this, as Jews they would dislike the reference to Divine favor shown to the Gentiles. This will account for their rage, and the whole occurrence, including the historical examples, is prophetic of the treatment He received at the hands of the Jewish nation. The boldness with which He adduces these unwelcome illustrations shows that He had already given up the hope of winning His hearers. Knowing His patience we may infer that their jealousy and hardness of heart was greater than the narrative itself has stated. He knew His audience because He had lived among them, as well as from His superhuman knowledge. On no theory of His Person, can He be accused of harshness.
Three years and six months. On this drought and famine in the days of Elijah, see 1 Kings 17-18, 1Ki 18:1, implies that the drought ended in the third year. Jas 5:17, agrees with the verse before us. This period of time (the half of seven years) was considered by the Jews a solemn and ominous one (comp. Dan 12:7), but that in this case the exact period is probably given. The third year (1Ki 18:1) is to be counted from the arrival of Elijah in Zarephath, where the drought had already prevailed for some time (1Ki 17:1-10).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here our Saviour by a double instance confirms what he had last told his countrymen at Nazareth, namely, that prophets are most despised by their own countrymen and acquaintance, and that strangers oft-times have more advantage by a prophet than his own people.
The first instance of this which our Saviour gives them, is in the days of Elias, though there were many widows then in his own nation, yet none of them were qualified to receive his miracles, but a stranger, a widow of Sarepta.
The second instance was in the days of Elisha; when though there were many lepers in and about the neighborhood, yet they being his countrymen, despised him, and none were qualified for a cure but Naaman the Syrian, a man of another country.
Thus the prophets of God, like some fishermen, catch least in their own pond, and do more good by their ministry among strangers, than among their own countrymen, kinsfolk, and near relations: No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Luk 4:25-27. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, &c. By putting them thus in mind of Elijahs miracle in behalf of the widow of Sarepta, a heathen inhabitant of a heathen city, in a time of famine, while many widows of Israel were suffered to starve; and of Elishas miracle on Naaman the Syrian leper, while many lepers in Israel remained uncleansed, he showed them both the sin and punishment of their ancestors, and left it to themselves to make the application. When the heaven was shut up, &c. Such a proof had they that God had sent him. Three years and six months In 1Ki 18:1, it is said, The word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year: namely, reckoning, not from the beginning of the drought, but from the time when he began to sojourn with the widow of Sarepta. A year of drought had preceded this, while he dwelt at the brook Cherith. So that the whole time of the drought was (as St. James likewise observes) three years and six months.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 25
According to the account here referred to, (1 Kings 17:8-18:1,) it was three years. The addition of the six months to the duration of the drought in this verse, and in James, (James 5:17,) is generally explained by including the ordinary dry season of those climates, which preceded the drought.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
4:25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the {h} land;
(h) Land of Israel; see Geneva (C) “Mr 15:33”.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus did not say that Elijah and Elisha went to Gentiles because the Jews rejected them but because God sent them there. God sent them there even though there were many needy people in Israel. Nevertheless Israel then was in an apostate condition. The three and one-half years was a period of divine judgment on Israel (cf. Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7; Rev 11:2-3; Rev 12:6; Rev 12:14; Rev 13:5). The implication of these two illustrations was that God had sent Jesus to Gentiles as well as to Jews. The Nazarenes, therefore, should not expect preferential treatment. Jesus ministered to Jews first, but He also ministered to Gentiles. These examples would have encouraged Luke’s original Gentile readers since they had a similar mission.
"This remark [of Jesus’] is strong for two reasons: (a) It compares the current era to one of the least spiritual periods in Israel’s history, and (b) it suggests that Gentiles, who were intensely disliked among the Jews, were more worthy of ministry than they were." [Note: Bock, Luke, p. 138.]