Luke 5:19

And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) With his couch.—The Greek word is the diminutive of the word translated “bed” in Luke 5:18, and is used, apparently, as St. Mark uses the Latin grabatum, to show how it was that the process described was possible.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:17-26 How many are there in our assemblies, where the gospel is preached, who do not sit under the word, but sit by! It is to them as a tale that is told them, not as a message that is sent to them. Observe the duties taught and recommended to us by the history of the paralytic. In applying to Christ, we must be very pressing and urgent; that is an evidence of faith, and is very pleasing to Christ, and prevailing with him. Give us, Lord, the same kind of faith with respect to thy ability and willingness to heal our souls. Give us to desire the pardon of sin more than any earthly blessing, or life itself. Enable us to believe thy power to forgive sins; then will our souls cheerfully arise and go where thou pleasest.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The tiling - See the notes at Matthew 9:1-7.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. housetop—the flat roof.

through the tiling … before Jesus—(See on [1575]Mr 2:2).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 5:18"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And when they could not find by what way,.... As by the door, or in at a window of the house:

they might bring him in; to Jesus, in the house:

because of the multitude; which was about the door, and all the fore part of the house:

they went upon the housetop; by a ladder, or pair of stairs, which usually were on the outside of houses; See Gill on Matthew 24:17 the houses of the Jews being flat roofed:

and let him down through the tiling with his couch, into the midst before Jesus; that is, they untiled the roof, or took away the tiles which were about the trap door, or passage, into the inside of the house; and so making it wider, let down the man upon his couch, or bed, into the middle of the room and of the people, just before Jesus, where he was sitting; See Gill on Mark 2:4.

Geneva Study Bible

And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 5:19. ποίας (διὰ ποίας ὁδοῦ), by what way.—σ. τ. κλινιδίῳ: dim. of κλίνη (Luke 5:18, here only in N. T.). Lk. avoids Mk.’s κράββατος, though apparently following him as to the substance of the story.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. they went upon the housetop] A very easy thing to do because there was in most houses an outside staircase to the roof, Matthew 24:17. Eastern houses are often only one storey high, and when they are built on rising ground, the roof is often nearly on a level with the street above. Our Lord may have been teaching in the “upper room” of the house, which was usually the largest and quietest. 2 Kings 4:10; Acts 1:13; Acts 9:37.

let him down through the tiling] St Mark says they uncovered the roof where he was, and digging it up, let down ‘the pallet.’ Clearly then two operations seem to have been necessary: (i) to remove the tiles, and (ii) to dig through some mud partition. But the description is too vague to enable us to understand the details. Sceptical writers have raised difficulties about it in order to discredit the whole narrative (comp. Cic. Php 2:18, “per tegulas demitterere”), but the making of an aperture in the roof is an everyday matter in the East (Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 358), and is here alluded to, not because it was strange, but to illustrate the active, and as it were nobly impatient, faith of the man and the bearers.

with his couch] klinidion, ‘little bed,’ probably a mere mat or mattress. It means the same as St Mark’s krabbaton, but that being a semi-Latin word (grabatum) would be more comprehensible to the Roman readers of St Mark than to the Greek readers of St Luke.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 5:19. Ποίας, by what kind of way [sc. διὰ π. ὁδοῦ]) An Ellipsis the same as in ch. Luke 19:4, ἐκείνης; and in Acts 9:2, τῆς ὁδοῦ ὄντας. Comp. Lamb. Bos on the Ellipsis of the Preposition, διά. Others [as the Rec. Text] read διὰ ποίας;[56] others, διὰ ποίας ὁδοῦ; others otherwise.

[56] There are none of the oldest authorities for the reading διὰ ποίας. ABCD read ποίας: bc Vulg. “quâ parte.”—ED. and TRANSL.

Luke 5:19

Vincent's Word Studies

Tiles

Wyc. has sclattis, elates.

Couch (κλινιδίῳ)

Luke uses four words for the beds o the sick: κλίνη, as Luke 5:18, the general word for a bed or couch; κράββατος, (Acts 5:15; Acts 9:33), a rude pallet (see on Mark 2:4); κλινίδιον, a small couch or litter, as here, a couch so light that a woman could lift and carry it away. Thus, in the "Lysistrata" of Aristophanes, 916, Myrrine says: "Come now, let me carry our couch" (κλινίδιον). The fourth term, κλινάριον (Acts 5:15), cannot be accurately distinguished from the last. The last two are peculiar to Luke.

Into the midst before Jesus

See on Mark 2:4.