Luke 20:29
in Luke 20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a wife, but died childless.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died childless;
KJV
There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children.
⋯
This verse in Luke 20
Commentary
13 notes on this verseThere were therefore seven brethren,.... In the place where these Sadducees dwelt; or, however, that were known by them; at least they supposed such a case, and it might be fact: and the first took a wife, and died without children; son or daughter, and so had none to keep up his name, and to possess his inheritance.
This site's exposition
who say there is no resurrection
on Luke 20:27-30
Then some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to question Him, citing the law of Deuteronomy 25:5-6. Seven brothers marry the same woman in turn and each dies childless, a number chosen to make the case absurd. They mean to make the resurrection itself look ridiculous.
This site's exposition
Now there were seven brothers
Gill holds that the Sadducees either knew such brothers or supposed the case, and that it might have happened. Each brother marries and dies childless. Seven brothers push the case to its limit.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
The Sadducees were a particular sect of the Jews that did not believe in the resurrection. When the Sadducees posed this problem, the Jews were uncertain, hesitant and could not really answer it, because they assumed that flesh and blood could possess the kingdom of God, that is, the perishable could possess imperishability. Along comes Truth. The misguided and misguiding Sadducees questioned him and posed that problem to the Lord. The Lord, who knew what he was saying and who wished us to believe what we did not know, gives an answer by his divine authority which we are to hold by faith. The apostle, for his part, explained it to the extent that it was granted him. We must try to understand this as fully as we can.
Mystically, this woman is the synagogue, which had seven husbands, as it is said to the Samaritan, Thou hadst five husbands, (John 4:18.) because the Samaritan follows only the five books of Moses, the synagogue for the most part seven. And from none of them has she received the seed of an hereditary offspring, and so can have no part with her husbands in the resurrection, because she perverts the spiritual meaning of the precept into a carnal.
The Medieval Church3 voices
Therefore, there were seven brothers, and the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her, and he too died without children. And the third took her. Similarly, all seven, and they left no seed, and died. Last of all, the …
They devise this story in order to convict those of folly, who assert the resurrection of the dead. Hence they object a base fable, that they may deny the truth of the resurrection.
Or these seven brothers answer to the reprobate, who throughout the whole life of the world, which revolves in seven days, are fruitless in good works, and these being carried away by death one after another, at length the course of the evil world, as the barren woman, itself also passes away.
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, regarding the allegation of those introducing the case, it is added: Therefore there were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died without children. And the next took her, and he himself died without a son. And the third took her. Likewise …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The love in that world of love is all seraphic, and such as eclipses and loses the purest and most pleasing loves we entertain ourselves with in this world of sense. Where the body itself shall be a spiritual body, the delights of sense will all be banished; and where there is a perfection of holiness there is no occasion for marriage as a preservative from sin.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
We see in these verses — what an old thing unbelief is. We are told that "Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question." Even in the Jewish Church, the Church of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, the Church of Moses, and Samuel, and David, and the prophets — we find that there were bold, avowed, unblushing skeptics . If infidelity like this existed among God's people, the Jews — then what must have been the state of heathenism?
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
proposed
We see in these verses — what an old thing unbelief is. We are told that "Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question." Even in the Jewish Church, the Church of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, the Church of Moses, and Samuel, and David, and the prophets — we find that there were bold, avowed, unblushing skeptics . If infidelity like this existed among God's people, the Jews — then what must have been the state of heathenism? If these things existed in a green tree — what must have been the condition of the dry? We must never be surprised when we hear of infidels, deists, heretics and free-thinkers rising up in the Church, and drawing away disciples after them. We must not count it a rare and a strange thing. It is only one among many proofs, that man is a fallen and corrupt being. Since the day when the devil said to Eve "You shall not surely die" — and Eve believed him, there never has been lacking a constant succession of forms of unbelief. There is nothing new about any of the modern theories of infidelity. There is not one of them, which is not an old disease under a new name . They are all mushrooms which spring up spontaneously in the hot-bed of human nature. It is not in reality an astonishing thing that there should rise up so many who call in question the truth of the Bible. The marvel is rather, that in a fallen world — the sect of the Sadducees should be so small. Let us take comfort in the thought that in the long run of years, the truth will always prevail. Its advocates may often be feeble, and their arguments may appear to be very weak. But there is an inherent strength in the cause itself, which keeps it alive. Bold infidels like Julian, and Hobbes, and Hume, and Voltaire, and Paine — arise from time to time, and make a stir in the world. But they produce no lasting impression.
There were therefore seven brethren - See on Mat 22:23-33 (note).
The words behind it
11 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἑπτὰ | hepta | Seven | G2033 → | 86 times |
| οὖν | oun | therefore | G3767 → | 497 times |
| ἀδελφοὶ | adelphoi | brothers | G80 → | 343 times |
| ἦσαν· | esan | there were; | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ὁ | ho | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πρῶτος | protos | first | G4413 → | 152 times |
| λαβὼν | labon | having taken | G2983 → | 257 times |
| γυναῖκα | gunaika | a wife | G1135 → | 211 times |
| ἀπέθανεν | apethanen | died | G599 → | 110 times |
| ἄτεκνος, | ateknos | childless, | G815 → |
ἑπτὰSeven
heptaG2033 →86 times
οὖνtherefore
ounG3767 →497 times
ἀδελφοὶbrothers
adelphoiG80 →343 times
ἦσαν·there were;
esanG1510 →2333 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ὁthe
hoG3588 →19766 times
πρῶτοςfirst
protosG4413 →152 times
λαβὼνhaving taken
labonG2983 →257 times
γυναῖκαa wife
gunaikaG1135 →211 times
ἀπέθανενdied
apethanenG599 →110 times
ἄτεκνος,childless,
ateknosG815 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 22:30This is what the LORD says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 36:30
Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his body will be thrown out and exposed to heat by…
- Psalms 94:20
Can a corrupt throne be Your ally— one devising mischief by decree?
- Matthew 1:11–16
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
- 1 Chronicles 3:16–17
The successors of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, and Zedekiah.
- Luke 1:32–33
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,
- Jeremiah 36:30
Through
Leviticus 20:20If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered the nakedness of his uncle. They will bear their sin; they shall die childless.
it leads to
- Leviticus 18:14
You must not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations with her; she is your aunt.
- Psalms 109:13
May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.
- Luke 23:29
Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’
- Leviticus 18:14
Where this verse is studied
About Luke
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 362.18; Bede, On the Gospel of Luke; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 20; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.