Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent, [1886], at sacred-texts.com
Luke Chapter 4
Was led
So Matthew. Mark says, "The Spirit driveth, (ὲκβάλλει) or thrusteth him forth.
By the Spirit (ἐν τῷ πνεύματι)
The American Revisers render in the spirit, indicating the sphere rather than the impulse of his action.
Into the wilderness
The A. V. has followed the reading εἰς into. The proper reading is ἐν, in. He was not only impelled into the wilderness, but guided in the wilderness by the Spirit.
Forty days
This should be joined with the preceding words, indicating the duration of his stay in the wilderness, not of his temptation, as A. V., being forty days tempted. Read as Rev., in the wilderness during forty days.
The devil
See on Mat 4:1.
He did eat nothing
Mark does not mention the fast. Matthew uses the word νηστεύσας, having fasted, which, throughout the New Testament, is used of abstinence for religious purposes; a ritual act accompanying seasons of prayer.
This stone
Matthew, these stones.
Bread (ἄρτος)
Lit., a loaf. See on Mat 4:3. Matthew has the plural loaves.
It is written
See on Mat 4:4.
By bread ( ἐπ' ἄρτῳ)
Lit., "on bread," implying dependence. Compare, by every word (ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι, Mat 4:4).
The world
See on Luk 2:1.
In a moment of time (ἐν στιγμῇ χρόνου)
Peculiar to Luke. Στιγμή is literally a mark made by a pointed instrument, a dot: hence a point of time. Only here in New Testament. Compare στίγματα, brand-marks, Gal 6:17. Tynd., in the twinkling of an eye.
Note the emphatic position of the pronouns: "To thee will I give - for to me it hath been delivered: thou, therefore, if thou wilt worship," etc. Luke, in his narrative, enlarges upon Matthew. Compare Mat 4:9.
Serve
See on Luk 1:74.
He brought (ἤγαγεν)
Rev., led. See on παραλαμβάνει, taketh, Mat 4:5.
Pinnacle of the temple
See on Mat 4:5.
Down from hence
Matthew has down only.
To keep (διαφυλάξαι)
Only here in New Testament. Better as Rev., guard. See on Pe1 1:4 :. The preposition implies close, careful guarding. The phrase, to guard thee, is wanting in Matthew.
In their hands (ἐπὶ χειρῶν)
Rev., correctly, on. See on Mat 4:6.
It is said
For Matthew's it is written, Mat 4:7. Luke omits Matthew's again. See Mat 4:7.
Had ended all the temptation
Peculiar to Luke. The verb συντελέσας, from σύν, together, and τελέω, to accomplish, means to bring to one end together; hence to bring to an end utterly. Better therefore as Rev., completed. The temptations formed a complete cycle, so that it could afterward be said of Jesus that "he was in all points tried like as we are" (Heb 4:15).
All the temptation (πάντα πειρασμὸν)
Incorrect. Rev., rightly, every temptation. So Wyc., Every temptation ended.
For a season (ἄχρι καιροῦ)
Peculiar to Luke. More strictly, until a convenient time; since Satan meant to assail him again, as he did in the person of Peter (Mar 8:33); by the Pharisees (Joh 8:40 sq.); and at Gethsemane. See Luk 22:53.
He taught (αὐτὸς ἐδίδασκεν)
Lit., "he himself taught," verifying the favorable reports about himself in person. The imperfect tense denotes a course of teaching.
Nazareth
With the article; that Nazareth where he had been brought up.
Stood up
Not as a sign that he wished to expound, but being summoned by the superintendent of the synagogue.
To read (ἀναγνῶναι)
Usually in New Testament of public reading. After the liturgical services which introduced the worship of the synagogue, the "minister" took a roll of the law from the ark, removed its case and wrappings, and then called upon some one to read. On the Sabbaths, at least seven persons were called on successively to read portions of the law, none of them consisting of less than three verses. After the law followed a section from the prophets, which was succeeded immediately by a discourse. It was this section which Jesus read and expounded. See Act 13:15; Neh 8:5, Neh 8:8. For a detailed account of the synagogue-worship, see Edersheim, "Life and Times of Jesus," i., 4:30 sq.
The book (βιβλίον)
A diminutive of βίβλος, the inner bark of the papyrus, used for writing. Hence a roll. The word is also used to denote a division of a work, and is therefore appropriate here to mark the writings of a single prophet as related to the whole body of the prophetic writings.
Opened (ἀναπτύξας)
Lit., unrolled. Both this and the simple verb πτύσσω, to close (Luk 4:20), occur only once in the New Testament. The former word was used in medical language of the opening out of various parts of the body, and the latter of the rolling up of bandages. The use of these terms by Luke the physician is the more significant from the fact that elsewhere in the New Testament ἀνοίγω is used for the opening of a book (Rev 5:2-5; Rev 10:2, Rev 10:8; Rev 20:12); and εἰλίσσω, for rolling it up (Rev 6:14).
Found
As if by chance: reading at the place where the roll opened of itself, and trusting to divine guidance.
Was written (ἦν γεγραμμένον)
Lit., was having been written; i.e., stood written.
Anointed
See on Christ, Mat 1:1.
To preach good tidings
See on Gospel, Superscription of Matthew.
To the poor (πτωχοῖς)
See on Mat 5:3.
To heal the broken-hearted
The best texts omit. So Rev.
To preach (κηρύξαι)
Better as Rev., proclaim, as a herald. See on Pe2 2:5.
To the captives (αἰχμαλώτοις)
From αἰχμή, a spear-point, and ἁλίσκομαι, to be taken or conquered. Hence, properly, of prisoners of war. Compare Isa 42:7 : "To bring out captives from the prison, and those who sit in darkness from the house of restraint." The allusion is to Israel, both as captive exiles and as prisoners of Satan in spiritual bondage. Wyc. has caytifs, which formerly signified captives.
To set at liberty (ἀποστεῖλαι)
Lit., to send away in discharge. Inserted from the Sept. of Isaiah 58:6. See on Luk 3:3, and Jam 5:15.
Them that are bruised (τεθραυσμένοις)
Lit., broken in pieces. Only here in New Testament. Wyc., to deliver broken men into remission. The same Hebrew word is used in Isa 42:3 : "a crushed reed shall he not break," which the Septuagint translates by τεθλασμένον, a word which does not occur in the New Testament. In the citation of this latter passage (Mat 12:20, on which see) the word for bruised is συντρίβω, which the Septuagint uses for break.
To preach (Rev., proclaim) the acceptable year of the Lord
As on the first day of the year of Jubilee, when the priests went through the land proclaiming, with sound of trumpet, the blessings of the opening year (Lev 25:8-17). Note Lev 4:10, where liberty is to be proclaimed to all in that year. Wyc., the year of the Lord pleasant. A literal interpretation of the word year gave rise among some of the Christian fathers to the theory that our Lord's ministry lasted but a single year.
He closed (πτύξας)
See on Luk 4:17.
Minister (ὑπηρέτῃ)
See on Mat 5:25. Lit., as Rev., attendant. Minister is likely to be misunderstood as referring to the president of the congregation, who, as the teaching elder, would have addressed the people if Jesus had not done so. It means the attendant who had charge of the sacred rolls. He was a salaried officer, a kind of chapel-clerk.
Sat down
As about to teach; that being the habitual position of a Jewish teacher.
Were fastened (ἦσαν ἀτενίζοντες)
The participle and finite verb denoting continuous, steadfast attention. The verb, from τείνω, to stretch, denotes fixed attention. Indeed, the word attention itself, etymologically considered, conveys the same idea.
He began
Not necessarily denoting his first words, but indicating a solemn and weighty opening.
Bare him witness
Compare Luk 4:14. They confirmed the reports which had been circulated about him. Note the imperfect tense. There was a continuous stream of admiring comment. Similarly, were wondering.
At the gracious words (λόγοις τῆς χάριτος)
Literally and correctly, as Rev., words of grace. See on Luk 1:30.
Is not (οὐχὶ)
Expecting an affirmative answer.
Surely (πάντως)
Lit., by all means. Rev., doubtless,
Proverb (παραβολὴν)
Rev., parable. See on Mat 13:3. Wyc., likeness.
Physician, heal thyself
A saying which Luke alone records, and which would forcibly appeal to him as a physician. Galen speaks of a physician who should have cured himself before he attempted to attend patients. The same appeal was addressed to Christ on the cross (Mat 27:40, Mat 27:42).
A great famine was throughout all the land (ἐγένετο λιμὸς μέγας ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν)
More literally and correctly, as Rev., there came (or arose) a great famine over all the land.
Lepers
Wyc. renders meselis, the middle-English word for a leper, and derived from misellus, a diminutive of the Latin miser, wretched.
The brow (ὀφρύος)
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 applied to kills. Thus Hippocrates, describing a deadly fever, says, "The eyebrows seem to hang over," the same word which Homer uses of a rock. So Aretaeus, describing the appearance of the eyebrows in elephantiasis, depicts them as προβλῆτες, projecting, and όχθώδεις, 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 (κατακρημνίσαι)
Only here in New Testament, and in the Septuagint only in 2 Chronicles 25:12.
Taught (ἠν διδάσκων)
Correctly, as Rev., was teaching. The finite verb and participle denoting continuance.
On the Sabbath-days (τοῖς σάββασιν)
Rev., day. The word is often used in the plural form for the single day, as in Luk 4:16; probably after the analogy of plural names of festivals, as τὰ ἄζυμα, the feast of unleavened bread; τὰ γενέσια, the birth-day; or perhaps following the Aramaic plural.
They were astonished (ἐξεπλήσσοντο)
See on Mat 7:28.
A spirit of an unclean devil
Where the rendering should be demon. This is the only case in which Luke adds to that word the epithet unclean.
What have we to do with thee (τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί)?
Lit., what is there to us and to thee? i.e., what have we in common? So Wyc.
Hold thy peace (φιμώθητι)
Lit., be muzzled or gagged. See on Mat 22:12.
Had thrown (ῥῖψαν)
Used in connection with disease by Luke only, and only here. In medical language, of convulsions, fits, etc.
Hurt him not (μηδὲν βλάψαν αὐτόν)
Lit., in no possible way. Mark omits this detail, which a physician would be careful to note. Βλάπτειν, to injure, occurs but twice in New Testament - here and Mar 16:18. It is common in medical language, opposed to ὠφφελεῖν, to benefit, as of medicines or diet hurting or benefiting.
They were all amazed (ἐγένετο θάμβος ἐπὶ πάντες)
Lit., as Rev., amazement came upon all. Θάμβος, amazement, is used by Luke only. The kindred verb, θαμβέομαι, to be amazed, occurs only once in Luke (Act 9:6), and three times in Mark; while Mark alone has the strong compound ἐκθαμβέω, to be greatly amazed (Mar 9:15).
The fame (ἦχος)
Lit., noise. Rev., rumor. Only here, Luk 21:25, where the correct reading is ἤχους, the roaring, and Act 2:2. Heb 12:19 is a quotation from the Septuagint. It is the word used in Act 2:2 of the mighty rushing wind at Pentecost. Mark uses ἀκοὴ, in its earlier sense of a report. The same word occurs in Luke, but always in the sense in which medical writers employed it - hearing or the ears. See Luk 7:1; Act 17:20; Act 28:26. Ἦχος, was the medical term for sound in the ears or head. Hippocrates uses both words together: "the ears (ἀκοαὶ) are full of sound (ἤχου);" and Aretaeus of the noise of the sea, as Luk 21:25.
Taken (συνεχομένη)
Rev., holden. So Wyc. See on Mat 4:24. The word is used nine times by Luke, and only three times elsewhere. Paul uses it of the constraining of Christ's love (Co2 5:14), and of being in a strait (Phi 1:23). In Act 28:8, it is joined with fever, as here, and is a common medical term in the same sense.
A great fever (πυρετῷ μεγάλῳ)
Another mark of the physician. The epithet great is peculiar to Luke. The ancient physicians distinguished fevers into great and small.
He stood over her
As a physician might do. Peculiar to Luke.
Rebuked
Peculiar to Luke.
When the sun was setting
The people brought their sick at that hour, not only because of the coolness, but because it was the end of the Sabbath, and carrying a sick person was regarded as work. See Joh 5:10.
Diseases (νόσοις)
See on Mat 4:23. Wyc., Sick men with divers languishings.
Laid his hands on
Peculiar to Luke.
Every one
"Implying the solicitude and indefatigableness of this miraculous ministry of love" (Meyer).
Crying out (κραυγάζοντα)
The inarticulate demoniac scream.
Saying
The articulate utterance.
Mr. Hobart ("Medical Language of St. Luke") remarks that the medical bias of Luke may be seen from the words he abstains from using as well as from those he does use in respect of disease. Thus he never uses μαλακία for sickness, as Matthew does (Mat 4:23; Mat 9:35; Mat 10:1), since this word is never so used in medical language, but is confined to the meaning of delicacy, effeminacy. So, too, he never uses βασανίζειν, to torment, of sickness, as Matthew does (Mat 8:6), as it is never so used in medical language, the word there meaning to examine some part of the body or some medical question.
Sought after (ἐπεζήτουν)
Imperfect tense: were seeking.
Came unto him (ἦλθον ἕως αὐτοῦ)
Stronger than came to; for ἕως is even up to, showing that they did not discontinue their search until they found him. Mark's narrative here is fuller and more graphic.