Luke 12:26

If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least.—The words are peculiar to St. Luke’s report. If no amount of anxious care can add one cubit to our stature or the measure of our days (see Notes on Matthew 6:27), how much less can we control all the myriad contingencies upon which the happiness of the future may depend!

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:22-40 Christ largely insisted upon this caution not to give way to disquieting, perplexing cares, Mt 6:25-34. The arguments here used are for our encouragement to cast our care upon God, which is the right way to get ease. As in our stature, so in our state, it is our wisdom to take it as it is. An eager, anxious pursuit of the things of this world, even necessary things, ill becomes the disciples of Christ. Fears must not prevail; when we frighten ourselves with thoughts of evil to come, and put ourselves upon needless cares how to avoid it. If we value the beauty of holiness, we shall not crave the luxuries of life. Let us then examine whether we belong to this little flock. Christ is our Master, and we are his servants; not only working servants, but waiting servants. We must be as men that wait for their lord, that sit up while he stays out late, to be ready to receive him. In this Christ alluded to his own ascension to heaven, his coming to call his people to him by death, and his return to judge the world. We are uncertain as to the time of his coming to us, we should therefore be always ready. If men thus take care of their houses, let us be thus wise for our souls. Be ye therefore ready also; as ready as the good man of the house would be, if he knew at what hour the thief would come.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 6:25-33.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25, 26. which of you, &c.—Corroding solicitude will not bring you the least of the things ye fret about, though it may double the evil of wanting them. And if not the least, why vex yourselves about things of more consequence?

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 12:22"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

If ye then be not able to do that which is least,.... As to make the smallest addition to a man's stature, or rather to add one moment to his days:

why take ye thought for the rest? which are much greater, as to preserve the body in its whole bulk, and all its parts, or for the feeding and clothing of it, or rather for the continuation and preservation of life to any length of time; for if it cannot be by all a man's care and solicitude lengthened out one moment longer than is the pleasure of God, how should it be by such anxiety continued for months and years?

Geneva Study Bible

If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 12:26. ἐλάχιστον: the application of this epithet to the act of adding a cubit ἐπὶ τὴν ἡλικίαν at first appears conclusive evidence that for Lk. at least ἡλικία must mean length of life: as to add a cubit to one’s stature is so great a thing that no one thinks of attempting it (Hahn, similarly Holtzmann, H. C.). But adding to one’s stature a cubit or an inch is of minimum importance as compared with lengthening our days. Yet it must be owned that Lk.’s ἐλάχιστον puts us off the track of the idea intended, if we take ἡλικία = stature. The point is, we cannot do what God has done for all mature persons: added a cubit at least to the stature of their childhood, and this is the greater thing, not the least, greater than giving us the means of life now that we have reached maturity. Vide notes on Mt.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 12:26. Οὔτε ἐλάχιστον, not even that which is least) The argument is drawn from the greater to the less in Luke 12:23. Now it is by an argument from the less to the greater that the truth is shown, that our anxieties are vain and driftless. To add a cubit to the stature of a man already born and in full strength, was regarded by Jesus as a thing the least difficult with God Almighty, and as even a less exertion of power than the remarkable increase of the five loaves, etc., ch. Luke 9:16. On the contrary, it is the greatest exhibition of power, that He has given us stature itself and strength of body, whereby the necessaries of life are obtained,—nay more, hath given us the soul along with the body: and year by year, and day by day, produces corn, wine, oil, spices, fruits, berries, vegetables, herbs, cows, sheep, wild beasts, birds, and fishes, and preserves and maintains the whole world of nature. These are the τῶν λοιπῶν, the rest, the other remaining things, which are much less in our power than the height of our stature: and yet they have a much closer connection with our sustenance than our stature has.

Luke 12:26