Luke 11:49

49 This is why in his wisdom God said, 'I will send prophets and apostles to them. They will kill some, and they will treat others cruelly.'

Luke 11:49 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 11:49

Therefore also said the wisdom of God
. The Syriac version only reads "wisdom"; by which seems to be meant not the perfection of God's wisdom: though it is usual with the Jews to represent the divine perfections as speaking, as the justice and mercy of God. They say F2, that

``when the holy blessed God sought to make Hezekiah the Messiah, and Sennacherib, Gog, and Magog, (Nydh tdym) , "the property of judgment", or "justice, said" before the holy, blessed God, Lord of the world''

and so the sense may be here, that the infinite wisdom of God said within himself, determined in his own breast, to do what follows. But I rather think that Christ is intended, who, as God, is the essential wisdom of God; and, as man and mediator, has the spirit of wisdom resting on him, and the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid in him; since this is said by Christ, ( Matthew 23:34 ) though the words here seem to be the words of the evangelist relating what Christ had said. Some have thought, that some book, under the name of "The Wisdom of God", is here cited, which had in it the following words,

I will send them prophets and apostles;
which, in Matthew, are called prophets, wise men, and Scribes; and by whom are meant the apostles of Christ, and the ministers of the Gospel. The Persic version reads, "lo, I send to you", as in ( Matthew 23:34 ) ,

and some of them they shall slay and persecute;
some of them they shall put to death, and others they shall persecute from one place to another; (See Gill on Matthew 23:34).


FOOTNOTES:

F2 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1. Vid. Targum in Eccl. x. 8. & in Lam. i. 1. & ii. 20.

Luke 11:49 In-Context

47 How terrible for you, because you build tombs for the prophets whom your ancestors killed!
48 And now you show that you approve of what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you build tombs for them!
49 This is why in his wisdom God said, 'I will send prophets and apostles to them. They will kill some, and they will treat others cruelly.'
50 So you who live now will be punished for the deaths of all the prophets who were killed since the beginning of the world --
51 from the killing of Abel to the killing of Zechariah, who died between the altar and the Temple. Yes, I tell you that you who are alive now will be punished for them all.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.