Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 4:29
And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
29. the brow of the hill whereon their city was built ] The ‘ whereon ’ refers to the hill not to the brow. Nazareth nestles under the southern slopes of the hill. The cliff down which they wished to hurl Him (because this was regarded as a form of ‘stoning,’ the legal punishment for blasphemy) was certainly not the so-called ‘Mount of Precipitation’ which is two miles distant, and therefore more than a sabbath day’s journey, but one of the rocky escarpments of the hill, and possibly that above the Maronite Church, which is about 40 feet high. This form of punishment is only mentioned in 2Ch 25:12; but in Phocis it was the punishment for sacrilege. (Philo.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The brow of the hill whereon … – The region in which Nazareth was is hilly, though Nazareth was situated between two hills, or in a vale among mountains. The place to which they led the Saviour is still shown, and is called the Mount of Precipitation. It is at a short distance to the south of Nazareth. See the notes at Mat 2:23.
Cast him down – This was the effect of a popular tumult. They had no legal right to take life on any occasion, and least of all in this furious and irregular manner. The whole transaction shows:
- That the character given of the Galileans elsewhere as being especially wicked was a just one.
- To what extremities the wickedness of the heart will lead people when it is acted out. And,
- That people are opposed to the truth, and that they would do anything, if not restrained, to manifest their opposition.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 29. The brow of the hill] Mr. Maundrel tells us that this is still called “the Mountain of the Precipitation, and is half a league southward of Nazareth. In going to it, you cross first over the vale in which Nazareth stands; and then going down two or three furlongs, in a narrow cleft between the rocks, you there clamber up a short but difficult way on the right hand; at the top of which you find a great stone standing on the brink of a precipice, which is said to be the very place where our Lord was destined to be thrown down by his enraged neighbours.” Maundrel’s Journey, p. 116. Edit. 5th. 1732.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
29. rose upbroke up theservice irreverently and rushed forth.
thrust himwithviolence, as a prisoner in their hands.
brow, c.Nazareth,though not built on the ridge of a hill, is in part surrounded by oneto the west, having several such precipices. (See 2Ch 25:122Ki 9:33.) It was a mode ofcapital punishment not unusual among the Romans and others. This wasthe first insult which the Son of God received, and it came from”them of His own household!” (Mt10:36).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And rose up,…. In great wrath, and, in a noisy and tumultuous manner, before the service was well over, and without being regularly dismissed:
and thrust him out of the city; first out of the synagogue, and then out of their city, as unworthy to be in it, though an inhabitant of it; and as if he had done something deserving of death; and therefore to be punished as a malefactor without the city:
and led him unto the brow of the hill; the edge of it, where it run out, and hung over the precipice:
whereon their city was built; so that it was a city upon an hill, and very visible, to which Christ may allude in Mt 5:14. That they might cast him down headlong; and break him to pieces: in this manner ten thousand Edomites were destroyed by the Jews, in the times of Amaziah, 2Ch 25:12 though this was not an usual way with the Jews of putting persons to death, as with some other nations u; their four capital punishments were stoning, strangling, burning, and killing with the sword w: nor did the inhabitants of Nazareth proceed in any judicial manner with Christ, but hurried him away, in order to destroy him, without any formal process, in the manner the zealots did; though to put any man to death, or to inflict any punishment on a person on the sabbath day, as this was, was contrary to their own canon, which runs thus x;
“they do not inflict punishment on the sabbath day, even though it is the punishment of an affirmative precept; they do not beat one that is guilty, nor put to death, as it is said, Ex 35:3 “ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day”: this is a caution to the sanhedrim, that they do not burn on the sabbath day he that is condemned to burning; and this is the law with respect to any one that is liable to the other punishments.”
But these men, without any regard to the place where they were, and the worship they were concerned in, and the day of the sabbath which then was, rise up in great wrath and fury, and without any show of justice, and in the most brutish and barbarous manner attempt to take away the life of Christ.
u Vid. Rycquium de Capitol. Born. c. 4. w Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 1. x Moses Kotseneis Mitzvot Tora, pr. neg. 67.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
They rose up and cast him forth ( ). Second aorist ingressive active participle and second aorist effective active indicative. A movement towards lynching Jesus.
Unto the brow of the hill ( ). Eyebrow (), in Homer, then any jutting prominence. Only here in the N.T. Hippocrates speaks of the eyebrow hanging over.
Was built (). Past perfect indicative, stood built.
That they might throw him down headlong ( ). Neat Greek idiom with for intended result, “so as to cast him down the precipice.” The infinitive alone can convey the same meaning (Matt 2:2; Matt 20:28; Luke 2:23). is an overhanging bank or precipice from , to hang. is down. The verb occurs in Xenophon, Demosthenes, LXX, Josephus. Here only in the N.T. At the southwest corner of the town of Nazareth such a cliff today exists overhanging the Maronite convent. Murder was in the hearts of the people. By pushing him over they hoped to escape technical guilt.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The brow [] . Only here in New Testament. Wyc., cope, which is originally cap or hood. The word is used in medical language both of the eyebrows and of other projections of the body. It would naturally occur to a physician, especially since the same epithets were applied to the appearance of the eyebrows in certain diseases as were appplied to hills. Thus Hippocrates, describing a deadly fever, says, “The eyebrows in elephantiasis, depicts them as problhtev, projecting, and ojcqwdeiv, like mounds. Stanley says :” Most readers probably from these words imagine a town built on the summit of a mountain, from which summit the intended precipitation was to take place. This is not the situation of Nazareth; yet its position is still in accordance with the narrative. It is built upon, that is, on the side of a mountain, but the brow is not beneath, but over the town, and such a cliff as is here implied is found in the abrupt face of a limestone rock about thirty or forty feet high, overhanging the Maronite convent at the southwest corner of the town ” (” Sinai and Palestine “).
Cast him down headlong [] . Only here in New Testament, and in the Septuagint only in 2Ch 25:12.
31 – 37. Compare Mr 1:21 – 28.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And rose up, and thrust him out of the city,” (kai anastatntes eksebalon auton ekso tes poleos) “And rising up from their synagogue reclining they sent him out of the city,” in a very unceremonious manner, of impulsive passions, an expression of their sensual wrath, resentment, and indignation, Joh 8:37; Joh 8:59; Joh 10:31; Joh 10:39. They irreverently broke up the service.
2) “And led him unto the brow of the hill,” (kai egagon auton eos ophruos tou orous) “And led him, in rejection, like a condemned criminal, to a brow or an eyebrow of the hill,” overlooking the city of Nazareth, toward Capernaum, Joh 1:11. This was the first open insult the our Lord, and it came from “His own household,” Mat 10:36.
3) “Whereon their city was built,” (eph’ ou he polis okodomento auton) “Upon which their city was built,” the city of Nazareth, now located in the shape of a cup, primarily on the lower slopes and valley to the South Luk 4:16.
MOUNT OF PRECIPITATION
One who visits Nazareth at this day will see how remarkably it answers to this description. It is built on precipitous slopes, and in several places we noted rocky steeps of forty or fifty feet. These are chiefly on the outer edge of the city, and would answer to ‘ this narrative. A Maronite church stands on one of these spots. The Latin monks, however, have located this event at the higher summit, called the Mount of Precipitation, about two miles South by East from the city. But the enraged people would scarcely walk two miles to vent their rage, if it could be done more immediately. Besides it is not on the brow of that hill that Nazareth is built. This kind of punishment was sometimes inflicted by law among the Romans.
-Jacobus
4)“That they might cast him down head long.” (hoste katakremnisai auton) “So that they might throw him down headfirst,” from a cliff or precipice overlooking the city, with premeditated desire and intent to kill him! Psa 37:12; Psa 37:32-33. Because they had not been given a sign, some immediate miraculous demonstration, in compliance with their skeptical demands, Luk 4:22-23; 1Co 1:22. And He had reminded men demanded, Isa 55:8-9. This was an ancient form of capital punishment among the Jews, 2Ch 25:12; 2Ki 9:33.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(29) The brow of the hill.See Notes on Luk. 1:26. The hill now shown as the Mount of Precipitation is about two miles from the city, and could hardly have been the place referred to. There is, however, a cliff about forty feet high close to the city.
That they might cast him down headlong.The Greek word implies casting down from a cliff or precipice. It was not a recognised Jewish punishment, as flinging from the Tarpeian rock was at Rome; but we have an instance of it as an improvised method of execution in Amaziahs treatment of the Edomite prisoners in 2Ch. 25:12. A multitude under the influence of fanaticism or anger is always fertile in expedients of this nature.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. Rose up From their seats in the synagogue. The phrase in the 28th verse, “when they heard these things,” implies that they interrupted him and broke off his discourse.
Thrust him out Expelled him; implying that he would have stayed.
Brow A precipitous projection. The term is taken from the brow of the human face. As Nazareth is a region of some fifteen hills, abounding in precipices, there are several which might have been suitable. The most striking of these is about two miles from the city, and is shown by the monks as the so-called “Mount of Precipitation.” The most judicious travellers reject this as being too far; and Dr. Thompson thinks that it was selected by the monks on account of its bold character and fine view over the plain of Esdraelon.
Cast him down headlong As the Romans used to cast criminals down the Tarpeian rock. Nazareth was built on the lower margin of the hill, and the mob took Jesus up to its summit, where there is a nearly perpendicular precipice, forty or fifty feet high, over which a plunge would in all probability be fatal. Thus this very spot where Jesus had been in his boyhood accustomed to survey the expansive prospect, reaching to the Mediterranean, was selected by his townsmen as the scene of his martyrdom at their hands.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Luk 4:29 . ] up to the lofty brink ( supercilium ) of the hill . See Duncan, Lex. Hom ., ed. Rost, p. 877, and Wetstein. This situation of Nazareth upon a hill ( ), i.e. hard by a hill , is still entirely in accordance with its present position, “the houses stand on the lower part of the slope of the western hill, which rises steep and high above them,” Robinson, Pal . III. p. 419. Especially near the present Maronite church the mountain wall descends right down from forty to fifty feet, [90] Robinson, l.c. p. 423; Ritter, Erdlc . XVI. p. 744.
] of what, as they figured to themselves the result was to be. See on Mat 24:24 ; Mat 27:1 ; comp. Luk 9:52 ; Luk 20:20 .
.] 2Ch 25:12 ; Dem. 446. 11; Josephus, Antt . ix. 9. 1.
[90] The place which is pointed out by tradition as the spot in question is at too great a distance from the town. See Robinson, l.c. , and Korte, Reisen , p. 215 ff.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Ver. 29. Thrust him out of the city ] As unworthy to tread on their pavement. And so mad they were, that they could neither stay till the business were brought to a judicial trial, nor forbear execution till the sabbath were over.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thrust = cast.
out = without, outside.
the brow = an overhanging brow. Greek. ophrus. Occurs only here in N.T. A medical word (compare Col 4:14), used of the eyebrows because of their hanging over. At Nazareth it is not beneath, but hangs over the town about forty feet. All the texts omit “the”.
that they might, &c. See App-23.
cast Him down headlong. Greek katakremnizo. Occurs only here in N.T., and in the Septuagint only in 2Ch 25:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
and thrust: Joh 8:37, Joh 8:40, Joh 8:59, Joh 15:24, Joh 15:25, Act 7:57, Act 7:58, Act 16:23, Act 16:24, Act 21:28-32
brow: or, edge
that: 2Ch 25:12, Psa 37:14, Psa 37:32, Psa 37:33
Reciprocal: Num 35:20 – if he thrust Hos 14:9 – but Mat 10:23 – when Joh 1:46 – Can Joh 10:39 – General Act 5:33 – they Act 21:30 – and they Heb 12:3 – contradiction
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Jesus did not resist their force until it was necessary to preserve his life. It was not time for him to die and hence he used his superior might to escape his enemies. However, he did not use force but escaped by a miraculous movement.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
[That they might cast him down headlong.] By what authority, or by what legal process could those of Nazareth do this? There was, indeed, a court of judicature consisting of three men, because a synagogue was there; but it was not in the power of that court to decree any thing in capital matters. It may be asked, whether that license that was permitted the zealots extended thus far: “He that steals the consecrated dishes and curseth by a conjurer” (that is, curseth God in the name of an idol), “and goes in to a heathen woman (that is, openly, as Zimri, Num 25:6), the zealots slay him. And the priest that ministers in his uncleanness, his brethren the priests beat out his brains with clubs.” But doth this license of the zealot belong to all persons upon all occasions? When Nathanael said, [Joh 1:46] “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” he does not seem there to reflect so much upon the smallness and insignificancy of the town, as the looseness and depravity of its manners.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Luk 4:29. And they rose up, tumultuously from their seats in the synagogue.
Cast him forth. Forced Him out, expelled Him.
Led him. That He was in their custody is evident
Unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built. Nazareth still answers to this description. The precipice was probably that behind the Maronite church at the present head of the town, and not the so-called Mount of Precipitation, which lies two miles from Nazareth.
Throw him down head-long. Compare the Tarpeian rock at Rome, from which the Roman mob cast unpopular persons.