Luke 7:33

33 John the Baptist came and did not eat bread or drink wine, and you say, 'He has a demon in him.'

Luke 7:33 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 7:33

For John the Baptist
Who is designed by the children that mourned in the above simile, with whom his character and conduct agree; he preached very mournful doctrine, delivered it in a very solemn and awful manner, and lived a very austere life, and fasted much, as did also his disciples. The word "Baptist" is here added by Luke, which Matthew has not, to distinguish him from others; and it may be, because he had just spoke of his baptism. The Persic version only reads, "the Baptist"; of him our Lord says, that he

came neither eating bread, nor drinking wine;
which were the common food and drink of men, but his diet were locusts and wild honey, and from this he often abstained; nor would he attend festivals and entertainments, or be free and sociable with men: "bread" and "wine" are here mentioned, which are not in Matthew:

and ye say, he hath a devil;
is mad, or melancholy; for madness and melancholy, or the hypochondriac disorder, was by them sometimes imputed to a diabolical possession, and influence, as the cause of it; and though these men pretended to great austerity of life, and frequent fastings, yet John was too abstemious for them, and they could not agree with his doctrine nor method of living; (See Gill on Matthew 12:18).

Luke 7:33 In-Context

31 Then Jesus said, "What shall I say about the people of this time? What are they like?

32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace, calling to one another and saying, 'We played music for you, but you did not dance; we sang a sad song, but you did not cry.'

33 John the Baptist came and did not eat bread or drink wine, and you say, 'He has a demon in him.'

34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look at him! He eats too much and drinks too much wine, and he is a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'

35 But wisdom is proved to be right by what it does."