---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Luke 11"
description: "CHAPTER 11   :-. THE DISCIPLES
TAUGHT TO PRAY. 1. one, &c.—struck with
either the matter or the manner of our Lord"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/luke/11"
---

CHAPTER 11

. THE DISCIPLES
TAUGHT TO PRAY.

**1. one,** &c.—struck with
either the matter or the manner of our Lord's prayers.
**as John,** &c.—From
this reference to John, it is possible that disciple had not heard
the Sermon on the Mount. Nothing of John's *inner* teaching (to
his own disciples) has been preserved to us, but we may be sure he
never taught his disciples to say, "Our Father."

**2-4.** (See on ).

**3. day by day,** &c.—an
extension of the petition in Matthew for "*this day's*"
supply, to every successive day's necessities. The closing doxology,
wanting here, is wanting also in all the best and most ancient copies
of Matthew's Gospel. Perhaps our Lord purposely left that part *open:*
and as the grand Jewish doxologies were ever resounding, and passed
immediately and naturally, in all their hallowed familiarity into the
Christian Church, probably this prayer was never used in the
Christian assemblies but in its present form, as we find it in
Matthew, while in Luke it has been allowed to stand as originally
uttered.

**2-4.** (See on ).

**5-8. at midnight . . . for a friend
is come**—The heat in warm countries makes evening preferable
to-day for travelling; but "midnight" is everywhere a most
*unseasonable* hour of call, and for that very reason it is here
selected.

**7. Trouble me not**—the *trouble*
making him insensible both to the urgency of the case and the claims
of friendship.
**I cannot**—without
exertion which he would not make.

**8. importunity**—The word is a
strong one—"shamelessness"; persisting in the face of all
that seemed reasonable, and refusing to take a denial.
**as many,** &c.—His
reluctance once overcome, all the claims of friendship and necessity
are felt to the full. The sense is obvious: If the churlish and
self-indulgent—deaf both to friendship and necessity—can after a
positive refusal, be won over, by sheer persistency, to do all that
is needed, *how much more* may the same determined perseverance
in prayer be expected to prevail with Him whose very nature is "rich
unto all that call upon Him" ().

**9-13.** (See on .)

**13. the Holy Spirit**—in Matthew
([Matthew 7:11](../../../kjv/matthew/7/11)), "good gifts";
the former, the Gift of gifts descending on the Church through
Christ, and comprehending the latter.
[Matthew 7:11](../../../kjv/matthew/7/11). BLIND AND
DUMB DEMONIAC
HEALED—CHARGE
OF BEING IN LEAGUE
WITH HELL, AND
REPLY—DEMAND
OF A SIGN, AND
REPLY.
(See on [Matthew 7:11](../../../kjv/matthew/7/11).)

**14. dumb**—blind also ().

**20. the finger of God**—"the
Spirit of God" ([Matthew 12:28](../../../kjv/matthew/12/28));
the former figuratively denoting the *power* of God, the latter
the *living Personal Agent* in every exercise of it.

**21, 22. strong man**—meaning
*Satan.*
**armed**—pointing to all
the subtle and varied methods by which he wields his dark power over
men.
**keepeth**—"guardeth."
**his palace**—*man*
whether viewed more largely or in individual souls—how significant
of what men are to Satan!
**in peace**—undisturbed,
secure in his possession.

**22. a stronger than he**—*Christ:*
Glorious title, in relation to Satan!
**come upon him and overcome
him**—sublimely expressing the Redeemer's approach, as the Seed
of the woman, to bruise the Serpent's head.
**taketh from him all his
armour**—"his panoply," "his complete armor."
Vain would be the victory, were not the *means of regaining* his
lost power wrested from him. It is this that completes the triumph
and ensures the final overthrow of his kingdom. The parable that
immediately follows () is just the *reverse of this.* (See on .) In the one case, Satan is *dislodged by Christ,*
and so finds, in all future assaults, the house *preoccupied;*
in the other, he merely goes out and comes in again, finding the
house "EMPTY"
([Matthew 12:44](../../../kjv/matthew/12/44)) of any rival, and
all ready to welcome him back. This explains the important saying
that comes in *between the two parables* ([Matthew 12:44](../../../kjv/matthew/12/44)). *Neutrality in religion there is none.* The absence
of positive attachment to Christ involves hostility to Him.

**23. gathereth . . .
scattereth**—referring probably to gleaners. The meaning seems to
be, Whatever in religion is disconnected from Christ comes to
nothing.

**27, 28. as he spake these things, a
. . . woman of the company**—of the multitude, the crowd. A
charming little incident and profoundly instructive. With true
womanly feeling, she envies the mother of such a wonderful Teacher.
Well, and higher and better than she had said as much before her
([Luke 1:28](../../../kjv/luke/1/28); [Luke 1:42](../../../kjv/luke/1/42));
and our Lord is far from condemning it. He only holds up—as
"*blessed rather*"—the hearers and keepers of God's
word; in other words, *the humblest real saint of God.* (See on
[Luke 1:42](../../../kjv/luke/1/42).) How utterly alien is
this sentiment from the teaching of the Church of Rome, which would
excommunicate any one of its members who dared to talk in the spirit
of this glorious saying! (Also see on [Luke 1:42](../../../kjv/luke/1/42).)

**29-32.** (See on .)

**33-36.** (See on ; .) But here is peculiarly vivid, expressing what pure, beautiful,
broad perceptions *the clarity of the inward eye* imparts.
. DENUNCIATION OF THE
PHARISEES.

**38. marvelled,** &c.—(See ).

**39-41. cup and platter**—remarkable
example of our Lord's way of drawing the most striking illustrations
of great truths from the most familiar objects and incidents of life.
**ravening**—rapacity.

**40. that which is without,**
&c.—that is, He to whom belongs the outer life, and right to
demand its subjection to Himself—is the inner man less His?

**41. give alms . . . and . . . all .
. . clean**—a principle of immense value. As the greed of these
hypocrites was one of the most prominent features of their character
([Luke 16:14](../../../kjv/luke/16/14); [Matthew 23:14](../../../kjv/matthew/23/14)),
our Lord bids them exemplify the opposite character, and then their
*outside,* ruled by this, would be beautiful in the eye of God,
and their meals would be eaten with clean hands, though never so
fouled with the business of this worky world. (See [Matthew 23:14](../../../kjv/matthew/23/14)).

**42. mint . . . rue,** c.—rounding
on [Leviticus 27:30](../../../kjv/leviticus/27/30), which they
interpreted rigidly. Our Lord purposely names the most trifling
products of the earth, as examples of what they punctiliously exacted
the tenth of.
**judgment and the love of
God**—in [Matthew 23:25](../../../kjv/matthew/23/25),
"judgment, mercy, and *faith.*" The reference is to
[Micah 6:6-8](../../../kjv/micah/6/6-8), whose third
element of all acceptable religion, "walking humbly with God,"
comprehends both "love" and "faith." (See on [Micah 6:6-33](../../../kjv/micah/6/6-33) [Micah 6:6-33](../../../kjv/micah/6/6-33)). The same
tendency to merge greater duties in less besets us still, *but it
is the characteristic of hypocrites.*
**these ought ye,** c.—There
is no need for one set of duties to jostle out another but of the
*greater,* our Lord says, "Ye *ought to have done*"
them; of the *lesser,* only "ye ought *not to leave them
undone.*"

**43. uppermost seats**—(See on ).
**greetings**—(See on ).

**44. appear not,** c.—As one
might unconsciously walk over a grave concealed from view, and thus
contract ceremonial defilement, so the plausible exterior of the
Pharisees kept people from perceiving the pollution they contracted
from coming in contact with such corrupt characters. (See [Psalms 5:9](../../../kjv/psalms/5/9)
[Romans 3:13](../../../kjv/romans/3/13); a different
illustration from [Matthew 23:27](../../../kjv/matthew/23/27)).

**46. burdens grievous,**
&c.—referring not so much to the irksomeness of the legal rites
(though they were irksome, ), as to the heartless rigor with which they were enforced,
and by men of shameless inconsistency.

**47, 48. ye build,** c.—Out of
pretended respect and honor, they repaired and beautified the
sepulchres of the prophets, and with whining hypocrisy said, "If
we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets," while all the
time they "were witnesses to themselves that they were the
children of them that killed the prophets" ([Matthew 23:29](../../../kjv/matthew/23/29)
[Matthew 23:30](../../../kjv/matthew/23/30)); convicting themselves
daily of as exact a resemblance in spirit and character to the very
classes over whose deeds they pretended to mourn, as child to parent.

**49-51. said the wisdom,** &c.—a
remarkable variation of the words in , "Behold *I* SEND."
As there seems plainly an allusion to ancient warnings of what God
would do with so incorrigible a people, so here Christ, stepping
majestically into the place of God, so to speak, says, "Now I am
going to carry all that out." *Could this be other than the
Lord of Israel in the flesh?*

**50. all . . . required of this
generation**—As it was only in the last generation of them that
"the iniquity of the Amorites was full" (), and then the abominations of ages were at once completely
and awfully avenged, so the iniquity of Israel was allowed to
accumulate from age to age till in that generation it came to the
full, and the whole collected vengeance of Heaven broke at once over
its devoted head. In the first French Revolution the same awful
principle was exemplified, and *Christendom has not done with it
yet.*
**prophets**—in the New
Testament sense ([Matthew 23:34](../../../kjv/matthew/23/34); see
[1 Corinthians 12:28](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/12/28)).

**51. blood of Zacharias**—Probably
the allusion is not to any recent murder, but to , as the *last recorded* and most suitable case for
illustration. And as Zacharias' last words were, "The Lord
*require it,*" so they are warned that "of that
generation it should be *required.*"

**52. key of knowledge**—not the
key to open knowledge, but knowledge, the only key to open heaven. In
[Matthew 23:13](../../../kjv/matthew/23/13), they are accused of
*shutting heaven;* here of *taking away the key,* which was
worse. A right knowledge of God's Word is eternal life ([Matthew 23:13](../../../kjv/matthew/23/13)); but this they took away from the people, substituting for
it their wretched traditions.

**53, 54.** Exceedingly vivid and
affecting. They were stung to the quick—and can we wonder?—yet
had not materials for the charge they were preparing against Him.
**provoke him,** &c.—"to
harass Him with questions."

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