Luke 7:26

7:19-35 To his miracles in the kingdom of nature, Christ adds this in the kingdom of grace, To the poor the gospel is preached. It clearly pointed out the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, that the messenger he sent before him to prepare his way, did it by preaching repentance and reformation of heart and life. We have here the just blame of those who were not wrought upon by the ministry of John Baptist or of Jesus Christ himself. They made a jest of the methods God took to do them good. This is the ruin of multitudes; they are not serious in the concerns of their souls. Let us study to prove ourselves children of Wisdom, by attending the instructions of God's word, and adoring those mysteries and glad tidings which infidels and Pharisees deride and blaspheme.

But what went ye out for to see?.... What led your curiosity to go into the wilderness after him, since it could not be any of the above things? was it to see a prophet? which was the case; for John was a prophet, and was known to be one; and the fame of him, as such, drew vast numbers to see and hear him, there not having been a prophet among the Jews, for some hundreds of years: yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet; not that he was the prophet Moses did say should come; nor was he the priest that should arise with the "Urim" and "Thummim", that the "Tirshatha", Nehemiah spoke of; nor was he the king Messiah; but he was his forerunner, he saw him and baptized him, and so was greater than any of the prophets that went before him.

A prophet (προφήτην) The popular conception of a prophet is limited to his foretelling future events. This is indeed included in the term, but does not cover its meaning entirely. The word is from φημί, to speak, and πρό, before, in front of. This meaning of the preposition may have reference to time, viz., before, beforehand; or to place, viz., in front of, and so, publicly; and this latter meaning, in turn, easily runs into that of in behalf of; for. The prophet is, therefore, primarily, one who speaks standing before another, and thus forming a medium between him and the hearer. This sense runs naturally into that of instead of. Hence it is the technical term for the interpreter of a divine message. So Plato: "For this reason it is customary to appoint diviners or interpreters to be judges of the true inspiration. Some persons call them diviners, seers (μάντεις); they do not know that they are only repeaters of dark sayings and visions, and are not to be called diviners at all, but interpreters (προφῆται) of things divine" ("Timaeus," 72). Similarly of an advocate to speak for, or instead of one. The central idea of the word is, one to whom God reveals himself and through whom he speaks. The revelation may or may not relate to the future. The prophet is a forth-teller, not necessarily a foreteller. The essence of the prophetic character is immediate intercourse with God.

Verse 26. - But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet . The great Teacher proceeds in his discourse. From the scene and the surroundings - the reeds of the banks of Jordan - he went on to speak of the great Jordan preacher, so unlike, in spite of this one weak wavering hour, the reeds in the midst of which he preached. Jesus thus painted the grave, austere man, first in his stern enmity to the seductive magnificence of a court-life, then in his severe austerity as regards himself. Who, then, was he - this preacher to whom the people had resorted in such crowds to see and hear? Was he a prophet? was he one more of those men who in past ages had been the salt which preserved Israel from decay? Yes; that is what he was, that true great one - a prophet in the deepest, truest sense of the word. Ah! higher still, went on the Teacher, John was much more than a prophet. What then? and the by-standers marvelled; what more could he be? Was he, peradventure, the Messiah? Luke 7:26

Acts 22:2 . προσεφώνει : only in Luke and Paul, except Matthew 11:16 , cf. Matthew 6:13 ; Matt 7:32; Matthew 13:12 ; Matthew 23:20 , Matthew 21:40 , see Friedrich, p. 29, for the frequency of other compounds of φωνεῖν in Luke.— μᾶλλον παρ . ἡσυχ : the phrase is used similarly in Plut., Coriol. , 18, Dion Hal., ii., 32, and LXX, Job 34:29 ; on the fondness of St. Luke for σιγή , σιγᾶν , ἡσυχάζειν , and the characteristic way in which silence results from his words and speeches, or before or during the speech, see Friedrich, p. 26, cf. Luke 14:4 ; Luke 15:26 , Acts 11:18 ; Acts 15:12 , Acts 12:17 ; Acts 21:40 , and for ἡσυχάζειν , 1 Thessalonians 4:11 , Luke 14:4 , Acts 11:18 ; Acts 21:14 , so too παρέχειν with accusative of the thing offered by any one, Acts 19:24 , Acts 28:2 ( Acts 16:16 ). The verb is used only in Matthew 26:10 , and parallel, Mark 14:6 , except in Luke and Paul, Luke 6:29 ; Luke 7:4 ; Luke 11:7 ; Luke 18:5 , Acts 16:16 ; Acts 17:31 , and as above, and five times in St. Paul’s Epistles.