Luke 10:40 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Luke 10:40
But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular
her
αὐτῇautēa
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular feminine
therefore
οὖνoun
G3767
(adverbially) certainly · conjunction
that
ἵναina
G2443
compare G3588 (ὁ)) · conjunction
help
συναντιλάβηται.¶sunantilabētai
G4878
to take hold of opposite together · verb — second aorist middle deponent subjunctive, 3rd person singular
me
μοίmoí
G3427
to me
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: f…
Luke 12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
Matthew 16:22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Jonah 4:1-4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
Matthew 14:15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that…
Mark 3:21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
Luke 9:55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Luke 10:38–end
We may observe in this story,
I. The entertainment which Martha gave to Christ and his disciples at her house, Luk 10:38. Observe,
1. Christ's coming to the village where Martha lived: As they went (Christ and his disciples together), he and they with him entered into a certain village. This village was Bethany, nigh to Jerusalem, whither Christ was now going up, and he took this in his way. Note (1.) Our Lord Jesus went about doing good (Act 10:38), scattering his benign beams and influences as the true light of the world. (2.) Wherever Christ went his disciples went along with him. (3.) Christ honoured the country-villages with his presence and favour, and not the great and populous cities…
cumbered--"distracted."
came to him--"presented herself before Him," as from another apartment, in which her sister had "left her to serve (or make preparation) alone."
carest thou not . . . my sister, &c.--"Lord, here am I with everything to do, and this sister of mine will not lay a hand to anything; thus I miss something from Thy lips, and Thou from our hands."
bid her, &c.--She presumes not to stop Christ's teaching by calling her sister away, and thus leaving Him without His one auditor, nor did she hope perhaps to succeed if she had tried.
Adam Clarke on Luke 10:40
Martha was cumbered - Περιεσπατο, perplexed, from περι, about, and σπαω, I draw. She was harassed with different cares and employments at the same time; one drawing one way, and another, another: a proper description of a worldly mind. But in Martha's favor it may be justly said, that all her anxiety was to provide suitable and timely entertainment for our Lord and his disciples; for this is the sense in which the word διακονιαν, serving, should be taken. And we should not, on the merest supposition, attribute earthly-mindedness to a woman whose character stands unimpeachable in the Gospel; and who, by entertaining Christ and his disciples, and providing liberally for them, gave the highest…
When certain brethren have received God, they will not be anxious about much service, nor ask for those things which are not in their hands, and are beyond their needs. For every where and in every thing that which is superfluous is burdensome. For it begets weariness in those who are wishing to bestow it, while the guests feel that they are the cause of trouble.
And she stood and said: Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her therefore to help me. He speaks from the perspective of those who, still ignorant of divine contemplation, consider that the work of brotherly love alone is pleasing to God, and therefore think that all who wish to be devoted to Christ should be bound to this. And it is well described that Martha stood while Mary sat beside the feet of the Lord, because the active life toils in laborious struggle, while the contemplative life, with the tumults of vices pacified, enjoys the desired repose of the mind in Christ.
(Const. Mon. c. 1.) Now every work and word of our Saviour is a rule of piety and virtue. For to this end did He put on our body, that as much as we can we might imitate His conversation. (in reg. fus. int. 19.) It is foolish also to take food for the support of the body, and thereby in return to hurt the body, and to hinder it in the performance of the divine command. If then a poor man come, let him receive a model and example of moderation in food, and let us not prepare our own tables for their sakes, who wish to live luxuriously. For the life of the Christian is uniform, ever tending to one object, namely, the glory of God. But the life of those who are without is manifold and vacillating, changed about at will. And how in truth canst thou, when thou settest thy table before thy brother with profusion of meats, and for the pleasure of feasting sake, accuse him of luxury, and revile him as a glutton, censuring his indulgence in that which thou thyself affordest him? Our Lord did not commend Martha when busied about much serving.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Martha — Bitterness, the sister of Lazarus and Mary, and probably the eldest of the family, who all resided at Bethany (Luke 10:38, 40, 41; John 11:1-39). From the residence being called “her house,” some…
Mary, Sister Of Lazarus — She and her sister Martha appear in (Luke 10:40) as receiving Christ in their house. Mary sat listening eagerly for every word that fell from the divine Teacher. She had chosen that good part, the…
Bethany · Mary, Martha, and Lazarus dwell at — Mary, Martha, and Lazarus dwell at
Care · .Martha — .Martha
Entertainments · Served often by members of the family — Served often by members of the family
Friendship · .Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, with Jesus — .Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, with Jesus
Martha · Ministers to Jesus — Ministers to Jesus
Murmuring · 7:10; — 7:10;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Luke 10:40
But Martha was cumbered about much serving,.... "Or was drawn off", from hearing the word, from attending on Christ; being taken up in providing for him, and those that came with him; in dressing food, or in ordering her servants, how she would have every thing done, and in overlooking them, that every thing was done in proper order; so that she had a great deal of business upon her head and hands, which distracted her thoughts, or took them off of divine things, and put her in great hurry and concern. The Ethiopic version renders it, "Martha laboured in preparing many things for him"; making a large and sumptuous entertainment: and the Persic version, which is rather a comment than a transl…
Luke 10:38-42
Luke 10:38-42
38. And it happened, while they were traveling, that he entered into a certain village; and a certain woman, called Martha, received him into her house. 39. And she had a sister called Mary, who also, sitting at the feet of Jesus, heard his word. 40. And Martha was cumbered about much serving; who stood, and said, Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore assist me. 41. And Jesus answering said to her, Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and distressed about many things. 42 But one thing is necessary: Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her.
38. And it happened that he entered into a certain vil…
Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing: Hospitality was valued highly, and Martha was fulfilling the expected role of a woman. She was frustrated that Mary was not.
