Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Luke: Chapter 9].
Greek idiom. See on Matthew for "holes," "nests," "Son of man."
The idiom "where to lay his head" (\pou t•n kephal•n klin•i\) is
the same in both, the deliberative subjunctive retained in the
indirect question. "Jesus knows the measure of the scribe's
enthusiasm" (Plummer). The wandering life of Jesus explains this
statement.
9:59 {And he said unto another} (\eipen de pros heteron\). Mt
8:21 omits Christ's "Follow me" (\akolouthei moi\) and makes
this man a volunteer instead of responding to the appeal of
Jesus. There is no real opposition, of course. In Matthew's
account the man is apologetic as in Luke. Plummer calls him "one
of the casual disciples" of whom there are always too many. The
scribes knew how to give plausible reasons for not being active
disciples. {First} (\pr•ton\). One of the problems of life is the
relation of duties to each other, which comes first. The burial
of one's father was a sacred duty (Ge 25:9), but, as in the
case of Tobit 4:3, this scribe's father probably was still alive.
What the scribe apparently meant was that he could not leave his
father while still alive to follow Jesus around over the country.
9:60 {Leave the dead to bury their own dead} (\aphes tous nekrous
thapsai tous heaut•n nekrous\). This paradox occurs so in Mt
8:22. The explanation is that the spiritually dead can bury the
literally dead. For such a quick change in the use of the same
words see Joh 5:21-29 (spiritual resurrection from sin in Joh
5:21-27, bodily resurrection from the grave, Joh 5:28,29) and
Joh 11:25f. The harshness of this proverb to the scribe
probably is due to the fact that he was manifestly using his aged
father as an excuse for not giving Christ active service. {But go
thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God} (\su de apelth•n
diaggelle t•n basileian tou theou\). The scribe's duty is put
sharply (\But do thou, su de\). Christ called him to preach, and
he was using pious phrases about his father as a pretext. Many a
preacher has had to face a similar delicate problem of duty to
father, mother, brothers, sisters and the call to preach. This
was a clear case. Jesus will help any man called to preach to see
his duty. Certainly Jesus does not advocate renunciation of
family duties on the part of preachers.
9:61 {And another also said} (\eipen de kai heteros\). A
volunteer like the first. This third case is given by Luke alone,
though the incident may also come from the same Logia as the
other two. \Heteros\ does not here mean one of a "different" sort
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