Luke 4:29, commentary and pictures

The people of Nazareth rose up against Jesus, thrust Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built to cast Him down headlong and kill Him. The assault was violent and disorderly, as they seized Him from His place as speaker, hurried and pushed Him about, quarreled over how to silence Him, and some began casting stones. Unseen angels guarded Him and opened a way, so He passed calmly through their midst unharmed without using divine power for Himself, left Nazareth, and went to Capernaum and other places that would receive Him. The outbreak followed gracious words in which He announced Himself as the Anointed One and Messiah, but plain truth that exposed their unbelief and apostasy offended their pride, especially His reminder that Elias was sent only to the widow of Sarepta and only Naaman the Syrian was cleansed, showing God turning to Gentiles who lived up to light while Israel rejected it. He was preserved because His time had not yet come and His work was not finished, which warns that those once touched by the Spirit can admit doubt, shut out light, harden in unbelief under Satan's influence, and turn to violence against reproof, and teaches His servants to quietly withdraw from where truth is rejected and labor elsewhere rather than needlessly expose themselves.

Scene at Nazareth

The people rose up in rage at His words, thrust Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, intending to cast Him down headlong and kill Him. They drove Him from the synagogue to the edge of the hill and hurried Him to a steep precipice for that purpose. Their wrath was murderous enmity, stirred by unbelief and malice because they would not accept the humble Jesus as Messiah.

The attack was violent and disorderly, for they seized Him and tore Him from His elevated place as speaker. They hurried Him and pushed Him hither and thither, while they argued and quarreled among themselves over how to stop His voice entirely. Some even began casting stones in their murderous rage.

As they pressed around Him and disputed what to do, He passed through their midst and went on His way. He suddenly disappeared from them unharmed, and they knew not whither He had gone. He left Nazareth for Capernaum and other places where people would listen and receive His message, quietly leaving rather than retaliating.

Reasons for Attack

The violent outbreak came after words of grace that had touched hearts under the Spirit, when He announced Himself as the Anointed One and revealed Himself as the Messiah and the Son of God and testified of His work, which they first wondered at and then rejected. The rejection of the conviction that He was the Son of God turned wonder into a purpose to kill Him, and the rejection of His claim to be the Anointed One made them ready to throw Him from the precipice. They had first responded to His gracious words under the influence of the Spirit of God, but unbelief and doubts turned them to madness when He exposed their unfaithfulness.

He spoke plain truth that cut across their ideas and exposed their true condition, unbelief, unfaithfulness, spiritual apostasy, and lack of piety and loyalty to God. Truth did not languish on His tongue, and He had not received His instruction from the religious teachers of the nation, which enraged and offended them. Offended because they thought He had exposed their lack of piety and loyalty to God, they forcibly led Him to the edge of the hill to kill Him, revealing murderous enmity behind their religious claims.

The particular offense was His reminder that Elias was sent to none of the widows in Israel except the widow of Sarepta in Sidon and that none of the lepers in Israel was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. By this He warned that God had turned from those who rejected His light and had shown favor to Gentiles who lived up to the light they had received, declaring Gentiles no less favored by heaven and people of other nations more worthy of God's favor. Their anger at His words about God's mercy to a widow in Sidon and to Naaman the Syrian, and at His speaking of God's blessings to Gentiles, filled them with wrath to thrust Him out and cast Him down headlong.

Their motives were unbelief, pride, prejudice, offended national pride, hatred, malice, jealousy and stubbornness. That pride and unbelief blinded them to His divine character and to the light, mercy, healing and power He brought, and to the truth of His teaching. They saw Him only as a carpenter's son and would not accept the humble Jesus as the Messiah, and prejudice, pride and stubbornness turned them against divine influence.

Under Satan's influence working through the congregation, doubt and unbelief entered, and they shut out the light they had received. When He spoke truth that cut across their ideas the enemy took possession of them, so that those who first accepted testimony from God brushed it away and turned to falsehood and violence when reproved. Their attempt to cast Him away was part of the conflict between Christ and Satan, yielding to unbelief, malice and Satan's suggestions and following Satan's control toward furious opposition.

Rescue and Preservation

Unseen heavenly messengers attended Him on the brow of the hill and guarded His life against the rage of those who drove Him out of the city to cast Him down headlong. They hid Him from the mob, blinded and obscured their sight, opened a way through them, and led Him safely away unharmed and unnoticed to continue on His way. That protection met murderous wrath stirred by unbelief, malice, offended national pride and claims of piety, after gracious words under the Spirit had first touched hearts and then been shut out, turning the assault into part of the conflict between Christ and Satan. The same preserving care that rescued Him from the precipice is seen as the pattern for messengers afterward, when plain cutting truth kindles rage and a mob waylays the preacher as he leaves, yet angels lead him safely away because his work is not finished, as in the persecution of William Miller and those united with him.

He remained calm in the midst of the violent crowd and used no divine power for Himself and worked no miracle for His own escape. He was preserved because His hour had not yet come, His mission and work were not yet done, and He was guarded until the time for Him to be betrayed and to die. Thus He passed through those who intended to kill Him and went on to continue His mission elsewhere.

Their unbelief stood in the way of His doing mighty works among them and kept them from receiving His work. That unbelief broke out after His reminder that mercy had been shown to the widow of Sarepta in Sidon and to Naaman the Syrian rather than to many widows and lepers in Israel, and while they argued and quarreled He passed through their midst and went on His way.

Prophecy and Wider Pattern

Their rejection at Nazareth unconsciously fulfilled prophecy, even though He was the One to whom their sacrifices pointed and in whom their hope of eternal life was centered. The event proves that a prophet has no honor in his own country, for people are naturally reluctant to acknowledge wonderful development in one who lived unostentatiously among them and whom they intimately knew from childhood, while they may become excited over a stranger and an adventurer. It confirms that a faithful messenger of God could find no safety among backslidden Israel, for pride and unbelief harden people against truth and lead them to reject the messenger God sends, as when His warning that God had turned from those who rejected His light to favor Gentiles who lived up to the light they had received provoked hostility.

It stands as one instance in a life of persecution and insult endured through only three years of public labor: driven from Bethlehem by a jealous king, rejected at Nazareth and sought to be killed without cause, and condemned to death without cause at Jerusalem, followed by withdrawal with few faithful followers. That rejection came although His life was self-denial, benevolence, purity, suffering and devotion, ever touched by human woe, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb, feeding the hungry, comforting the sorrowful, walking on the sea and stilling it by a word, casting out devils who confessed Him Son of God, raising the dead, and holding thousands by wisdom. Yet He was unable to reach hearts blinded by prejudice and hatred who resolutely rejected the light.

His hostile rejection by His own townsmen who tried to take His life contrasts with His joyful welcome at Capernaum, where the people were astonished by His powerful teaching with authority. It shows the strength of Jewish prejudice while His work was confined to Palestine and directed to the Jewish nation in a small circumference rather than the surrounding heathen nations. Those heathen nations were not prepared for His work, and to have devoted His time to converting the Gentile world would have closed the door for bearing His message to the Jews, so after announcing Himself as the Anointed One to an unfavorable reception at Nazareth He left to seek more fruitful fields where ears would listen and hearts would receive His message.

His escape from being thrown from the hill by divine power became the example Judas expected to be repeated when Jesus was on trial. The same pattern was repeated when the counsel of God is plainly declared with cutting truths applied to hearers' hearts, as in the persecution of William Miller and those united with him. Then preachers and people join to oppose the heavenly message, ministers who will not accept it themselves hinder those who would receive it, falsehoods are circulated to injure influence, great rage is kindled, and as the preacher leaves he is waylaid by an angry mob seeking his life, while angels are sent to preserve him and lead him safely away because his work is not yet finished.

Warning and Example

The thrusting out to the brow of the hill to cast down headlong was rejection of the message God sends, not because it was error but from blindness, with closed eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, and darkened understanding that would not be convinced by manifestations of the Spirit of God. That blindness went to the dangerous point of calling the work of the Spirit of God the work of Satan, and of attributing Christ's work to Satan while closing against the Holy Spirit's work and resisting heaven's light with questioning and doubting. The wrath broke out when He said Elias was sent to none of the widows in Israel except the widow of Sarepta in Sidon and that none of the lepers in Israel was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.

Those who had first wondered at gracious words under the Spirit and accepted testimony from God can admit doubt and unbelief, brush it away, and drive away the Spirit. When truth cut across their ideas and exposed unfaithfulness and spiritual condition, the enemy took possession, and unbelief and doubts turned them to madness, falsehood and violence against reproof. They tore Him from His elevated place as speaker and hurried Him to the height on which their city was built to destroy Him by hurling Him from the precipice, opposing the truth they had once received and repeating the course of the Jews against Christ. Even persons touched by God's Spirit and witnessing His gracious influence can, when Satan controls the mind, be turned by prejudice, pride and stubbornness to furious opposition to Christ, following Satan's suggestions until only the guard of angels keeps the intended victim from being thrown down.

Refusing accepted truth can bring withdrawal of God's Spirit and leave people working under Satan's influence while claiming to serve God, for Satan's influence through the congregation raised doubts and led them to shut out the light they had received, making the attempt to cast Christ away part of the conflict between Christ and Satan. That history is to be kept in view as an exhibition of the result of hardening the heart in unbelief and pride, after hearts had responded to the power of the Holy Spirit under His reading and then became enraged to take the life of the Son of God. When unbelief enters it hardens the heart against truth, and it can seize on a small objection about His identity and testimony to His work as the Anointed One, despite the Spirit's witness, and turn people against divine light with unbelief and prejudice.

The first rejection hardened into pride and rebellion, and once the wrong course was taken pride, jealousy and self-righteousness kept them from admitting mistake. Even after time to repent and after His character and work became clearer through miracles and works no other person had done or could do, they remained unwilling to accept Him as Messiah and failed to give Him glory. Rebellion has a bewitching power, and many were drawn in by others' misrepresentation without understanding what they were doing or why they had been stirred up, and would not later repent. Blinded by Satan and prejudice to see Him only as a carpenter's son, they refused His explanation of the prophets' words about Himself.

The same act warns against rejecting Christ by rejecting the truth brought through His chosen messengers and refusing the light and messages He sends through them. A second opportunity to accept it must not be met with hardened hearts, prejudice and pride. Religious people in later times will likewise reject God's truth, even as the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus as God's Sent One, forced Him out of the synagogue intending to throw Him over the precipice outside the city, and unconsciously fulfilled prophecy though He was the One to whom their sacrifices pointed and in whom their hope of eternal life was centered. Understanding the lessons in God's Word is essential to eternal well-being and to fitness to teach others, and neglecting lessons of eternal consequence leaves teachers unfit to teach.

His quiet departure teaches His servants not to expose themselves unnecessarily to persecution nor to act recklessly, but to quietly remove from where truth is rejected and go elsewhere to speak words of life and continue working for salvation. When His message was rejected and His life endangered by the angry crowd, He did not retaliate but withdrew from their midst, leaving Nazareth for Capernaum where the people were astonished by His powerful teaching.