Luke 4:20

20 And he rolled up the scroll [and] gave [it] back to the attendant [and] sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were looking intently at him.

Luke 4:20 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 4:20

And he closed the book
"Or rolled it up"; and so the high priest did, after he read in the book of the law, on the day of atonement, all that was necessary to be read, (hrwt rpo llwg) , "he rolled the book of the law", and put it in his bosom F6:

and he gave it again to the minister;
the Chazan F7, who was the minister, or servant of the congregation, who had the affairs of it upon him, to let in, and bring out, and to order all things; and particularly to take care of the book of the law, and the chest, or ark in which it was. If the same rule was observed giving and taking the book of any prophet, as the book of the law; then Christ gave it to the minister, and he received it with his right hand: for so it is said {h},

``he that gives the book of the law to his friend, may not give it but with the right hand; and he that receives it may not receive it but with the right hand; for so was the giving of it on Mount Sinai, according to ( Deuteronomy 33:2 ) .''

And sat down;
as was the manner of the Jews, when they taught, or preached; (See Gill on Matthew 5:1).

and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened
on him:
they looked very wistly at him, and were very attentive to what he should say, upon such a passage of Scripture, which they knew referred to the Messiah; and the rather, as they had known him formerly, and had heard that he was said to be the Messiah.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 Misn. Yoma, c. 7. sect. 1.
F7 Bartenora in Misn. Sota, c. 7. sect. 7.
F8 Massechet Sopherirn, c. 3. sect. 10.

Luke 4:20 In-Context

18 "The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because of which he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send out in freedom those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."
20 And he rolled up the scroll [and] gave [it] back to the attendant [and] sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were looking intently at him.
21 And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
22 And they were all speaking well of him, and were astonished at the gracious words that were coming out of his mouth. And they were saying, "Is this man not the son of Joseph?"

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("rolled up") has been translated as a finite verb
  • [b]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  • [c]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("gave ... back") has been translated as a finite verb
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.