BURKITT : | Lu 2:1-7 | Lu 2:8-12 | Lu 2:13-14 | Lu 2:15-20 | Lu 2:21 | Lu 2:22-24 | Lu 2:25-28 | Lu 2:29-33 | | Lu 2:34-35 | Lu 2:36-38 | Lu 2:39-40 | Lu 2:41-42 | Lu 2:43-45 | Lu 2:46-47 | Lu 2:48 | Lu 2:49 | Lu 2:50-52 | KJV
Reference
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 2:34-35 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Two things are here observed, Simeon’s blessing, and Simeon’s prediction; he blessed them: that is, the parents and the child Jesus: not authoritatively, but prophetically, declaring how God would bless them.
His prediction is twofold,
1. Concerning Christ.
2. Concerning his mother.
Concerning Christ, Simeon declares, that he should be for the rise of many in Israel: namely, all such as should embrace and obey his doctrine, and imitate and follow his example: and for the fall of others; that is, shall bring punishment and ruin upon all obdurate and impenitent sinners: and a sign to be spoken against: that is, he shall be as a mark for obstinate sinners to set themselves against.
Christ himself, when here in the world, was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, to the men of the world, enduring the contradiction of sinners against himself, both the virulence of their tongues, and the violence of their hands.
Doubtless, God’s first design in sending his Son into the world was, that through him the world might be saved, Joh 3:16 But to such persons, whose minds had no relish for spiritual things, he became accidentally a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.
Secondly, concerning the mother of Christ, Simeon declares that the sight of her son’s bitter sufferings would, like a sword, pierce her heart; for though he might be born, yet should he not die, without the pains of his mother; as if the throes suffered by other women at the birth were reserved for her to endure at the death of her son. The sufferings of the holy Jesus on the cross, were as a sword or dagger at the heart of the Holy Virgin, and she suffered with him both as a tender mother, and as a sympathizing member of his body: yea, suffered martyrdom after him, saith Epiphanius.