Luke 20:46 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Luke 20:46
Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;
a sitting first (in the front row) · noun — accusative plural feminine
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
the synagogues
συναγωγαῖςsunagōgais
G4864
an assemblage of persons · noun — dative plural feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
the chief rooms
πρωτοκλισίαςprōtoklisias
G4411
a reclining first (in the place of honor) at the dinner… · noun — accusative plural feminine
at
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
feasts
δείπνοις,deipnois
G1173
dinner · noun — dative plural neuter
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
Mark 12:38-39 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
Luke 11:43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
Luke 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
Matthew 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Matthew 23:5-7 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Luke 12:1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began…
Philippians 2:3-5 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Luke 20:39–end
The scribes were students in the law, and expositors of it to the people, men in reputation for wisdom and honour, but the generality of them were enemies to Christ and his gospel. Now here we have some of them attending him, and four things we have in these verses concerning them, which we had before: -
I. We have them here commending the reply which Christ made to the Sadducees concerning the resurrection: Certain of the scribes said, Master, thou hast well said, Luk 20:39. Christ had the testimony of his adversaries that he said well; and therefore the scribes were his enemies because he would not conform to the traditions of the elders, but yet when he vindicated the fundamental practic…
Beware of the scribes - Take heed that ye be not seduced by those who should show you the way of salvation. See on Mat 23:4-14 (note).
1. How it can be supposed that the ancient Jewish Church had no distinct notion of the resurrection of the dead is to me truly surprising. The justice of God, so peculiarly conspicuous under the old covenant, might have led the people to infer that there must be a resurrection of the dead, if even the passage to which our Lord refers had not made a part of their law. As the body makes a part of the man, justice requires that not only they who are martyrs for the testimony of God, but also all those who have devoted their lives to his service, and died in his…
Beware of the Scribes,.... And also of the Pharisees; for they are joined together in Matthew:
which desire to walk in long robes: the rule for the length of a scholar's garment was this (a);
"his flesh must not appear under his garments, as the light linen garments, and the like, they make in Egypt; nor must his garments be drawn upon the ground, as the garments of proud men, but must reach to his heel, and his glove must reach the top of his fingers.''
According to this rule, the garments of the doctors were to be so long as to cover the whole body, even down to their heels, but were not to be any longer; and by this it appears their garments were very long; but they did not always go b…
The Church Fathers
He does not forbid those to sit first in the synagogue, or at the feast, to whom this dignity belongs by right, but He tells them to beware of those who love this unduly; denouncing not the distinction, but the love of it. Though the other also would not be free from blame, when the same men who wish to take part in the disputes in the market, desire also to be called masters in the synagogue. For two reasons we are bid to beware of those who seek after vain-glory, either lest we be led away by their pretences, supposing those things to be good which they do, or be inflamed with jealousy, desiring in vain to be praised for the good deeds which they pretend to.
When all the people were listening, he said to his disciples: Beware of the scribes who wish to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. To walk in stoles means to proceed to the public adorned in more distinguished garments. In which among other things, the rich man who feasted sumptuously every day is described as having sinned (Luke 16). However, it should be noted that he does not forbid those whose duty these things properly belong to, to be greeted in the forum, or to sit in the first places, or to recline at banquets; but rather, he teaches that those who, whether having them or not, unjustly love these things, are to be considered as reprobate by every faithful person, rightly censuring the mind and not the rank. Nonetheless, it is not without fault if those wish to engage in lawsuits in the forum, who desire to be called teachers in the Synagogue in the seat of Moses. Truly, we are commanded to beware of those desirous of vain glory for two reasons: first, so that we are not led astray by their pretense, thinking that what they do is good, and second, that we are not inflamed by emulation, foolishly rejoicing in being praised for the good things they pretend.
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
Apparel — In Old Testament times the distinction between male and female attire was not very marked. The statute forbidding men to wear female apparel (Deut. 22:5) referred especially to ornaments and…
Room — The references to “room” in (Matthew 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 14:7,8; 20:46) signify the highest place on the highest couch round the dinner or supper table—the “uppermost seat”, as it is more…
Garments · Worn long and flowing — Worn long and flowing
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Judgment · THE GENERAL — THE GENERAL
Pride · 4:1; — 4:1;
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).
Luke 20:41-44
Matthew
22:41-46
Mark 12:35-37
Luke 20:41-44
41. And when the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus asked them, 42. Saying, What think you of Christ? whose son is he? They say to him, David's. 43. He saith to them, How then doth David by the Spirit call him Lord, saying, 44. The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I have made thy enemies thy footstool? [79] 45. If David then calleth him Lord, how is he his son? 46. And no man could make any reply to him; [80] nor did any man from that day venture to put any more questions to him.
35. And Jesus answering said, while he was teaching in the temple, How do the scribes say that Christ is the son of David? 36. For David h…
Jesus continued on the offensive, warning against the hypocrisy and exploitation of the teachers of religious law. • respectful greetings . . . seats of honor: See study note on 11:43. • head table at banquets: See study notes on 5:30; 14:7.
