translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: LUK

label: NET study note

text: This is an event that otherwise is unattested, though several events similar to it are noted in Josephus ( J. W. 2.9.2-4 [2.169-177]; Ant. 13.13.5 [13.372-73], 18.3.1-2 [18.55-62]; 18.4.1 [18.85-87]). It would have caused a major furor.


text: Jesus did not want his hearers to think that tragedy was necessarily a judgment on these people because they were worse sinners .


text: Jesus was stressing that all stand at risk of death, if they do not repent and receive life.


text: Unlike the previous event, when the tower in Siloam fell on them , it was an accident of fate. It raised the question, however, “Was this a judgment?”


text: Jesus’ point repeats v. 3 . The circumstances make no difference. All must deal with the reality of what death means.


text: The fig tree is a variation on the picture of a vine as representing the nation; see Isa 5:1-7 .


text: The elapsed time could be six years total since planting, since often a fig was given three years before one even started to look for fruit. The point in any case is that enough time had been given to expect fruit.


text: Such fig trees would deplete the soil , robbing it of nutrients needed by other trees and plants.


text: See the note on synagogues in 4:15 .


text: Woman was a polite form of address (see BDAG 208-9 s.v. γυνή ), similar to “Madam” or “Ma’am” used in English in different regions.


text: The healing took place immediately .


text: The irony is that Jesus’ “ work ” consisted of merely touching the woman. There is no sense of joy that eighteen years of suffering was reversed with his touch.


text: The charge here is hypocrisy, but it is only part one of the response. Various ancient laws detail what was allowed with cattle; see Mishnah, m. Shabbat 5; CD 11:5-6 .


text: Note that this is again a battle between Satan and God; see 11:18-23 .


text: Concerning all the wonderful things see Luke 7:16; 19:37 .


text: The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21 .


text: What is the kingdom of God like? Unlike or , where the kingdom parables tend to be all in one location in the narrative, Luke scatters his examples throughout the Gospel.


text: The mustard seed was noted for its tiny size.


text: Calling the mustard plant a tree is rhetorical hyperbole, since technically it is not one. This plant could be one of two types of mustard popular in Palestine and would be either 10 or 25 ft (3 or 7.5 m) tall.


text: The point of the parable seems to be that while the kingdom of God may appear to have insignificant and unnoticeable beginnings (i.e., in the ministry of Jesus), it will someday (i.e., at the second advent) be great and quite expansive. The kingdom, however, is not to be equated with the church, but rather the church is an expression of the kingdom. Also, there is important OT background in the image of the mustard seed that grew and became a tree : Ezek 17:22-24 pictures the reemergence of the Davidic house where people can find calm and shelter. Like the mustard seed, it would start out small but grow to significant size.


text: This measure was a saton, the Greek name for the Hebrew term “seah.” Three of these was a very large quantity of flour, since a saton is a little over 16 lbs (7 kg) of dry measure (or 13.13 liters). So this was over 47 lbs (21 kg) of flour total, enough to feed over a hundred people.


text: The warnings earlier in Jesus’ teaching have led to the question whether only a few will be saved.


text: For the imagery behind the statement “ I do not know where you come from ,” see Ps 138:6 ; Isa 63:16 ; Jer 1:5 ; Hos 5:3 .


text: This term refers to wide streets , and thus suggests the major streets of a city.


text: The issue is not familiarity (with Jesus’ teaching) or even shared activity (eating and drinking with him), but knowing Jesus. Those who do not know him, he will not know where they come from (i.e., will not acknowledge) at the judgment.


text: Weeping and gnashing of teeth is a figure for remorse and trauma, which occurs here because of exclusion from God’s promise.


text: Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. Jesus’ answer is that some who are expected to be there (many from Israel) will not be there, while others not expected to be present (from other nations) will be present. The question is not, “Will the saved be few?” (see v. 23 ), but “Will it be you?”


text: See the note on Pharisees in 5:17 .


text: Herod refers here to Herod Antipas. See the note on Herod Antipas in 3:1 .


text: That fox. This is not fundamentally a figure for cleverness as in modern western culture, but could indicate (1) an insignificant person ( Neh 4:3 ; 2 Esd 13:35 LXX); (2) a deceiver ( Song Rabbah 2.15.1 on 2:15 ); or someone destructive, a destroyer ( Ezek 13:4 ; Lam 5:18 ; 1 En. 89:10, 42-49, 55). Luke’s emphasis seems to be on destructiveness, since Herod killed John the Baptist, whom Luke calls “the greatest born of women” ( Luke 7:28 ) and later stands opposed to Jesus ( Acts 4:26-28 ). In addition, “a person who is designated a fox is an insignificant or base person. He lacks real power and dignity, using cunning deceit to achieve his aims” (H. W. Hoehner, Herod Antipas [SNTSMS], 347).


text: The third day is a figurative reference to being further on in time, not a reference to three days from now. Jesus is not even in Jerusalem yet, and the events of the last days in Jerusalem take a good week.


text: Death in Jerusalem is another key theme in Luke’s material: 7:16, 34; 24:19 ; Acts 3:22-23 . Notice that Jesus sees himself in the role of a prophet here. Jesus’ statement, it is impossible that a prophet should be killed outside Jerusalem , is filled with irony; Jesus, traveling about in Galilee (most likely), has nothing to fear from Herod; it is his own people living in the very center of Jewish religion and worship who present the greatest danger to his life. The underlying idea is that Jerusalem, though she stands at the very heart of the worship of God, often kills the prophets God sends to her (v. 34 ). In the end, Herod will be much less a threat than Jerusalem. map For location see Map5-B1 ; Map6-F3 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-F2 ; Map10-B3 ; JP1-F4 ; JP2-F4 ; JP3-F4 ; JP4-F4 .


text: The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.


text: How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.


text: Your house is forsaken. The language here is from Jer 12:7 and 22:5 . It recalls exilic judgment.


text: A quotation from Ps 118:26 . The judgment to come will not be lifted until the Lord returns. See Luke 19:41-44 .