(40) Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without . .?--The question is peculiar to St. Luke, and implies a latent parabolic application of the previous words. Outward, positive ceremonial law, ordering the cleansing of the outside of the cup and of the platter, the eternal moral law requiring truth in the inward parts,--these had, to say the least, the same Maker, and one was not to be neglected for the other.

11:37-54 We should all look to our hearts, that they may be cleansed and new-created; and while we attend to the great things of the law and of the gospel, we must not neglect the smallest matter God has appointed. When any wait to catch something out of our mouths, that they may insnare us, O Lord, give us thy prudence and thy patience, and disappoint their evil purposes. Furnish us with such meekness and patience that we may glory in reproaches, for Christ's sake, and that thy Holy Spirit may rest upon us.Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without,.... That is, made clean that which is without, or the outside of the cup and platter;

make that which is within also? does not he make the inside clean likewise? whoever washes a cup or platter, but washes and makes clean the inside, as well as the outside? and so ye who are so very careful to have your cups and platters clean, should be as careful what you put in them, that they are clean also; not only that they are clean according to the law, in a ceremonial sense, but in a moral sense, that they are honestly and lawfully got. The word, rendered "made" and "make", answers to the Hebrew word which sometimes signifies to beautify and adorn, and to cleanse, and remove away filth, as by paring nails, and washing the feet; so in Deuteronomy 21:12 it is said of a captive woman that a man takes into his house for his wife, among other things, "she shall make her nails"; that is, "pare" them, as we render it, and remove the filth from them. Again, in 2 Samuel 19:24 it is said of Mephibosheth, that from the day king David departed, he had not, "made his feet"; that is, as the Targum renders it, , "he had not washed his feet"; and so other Jewish interpreters understand it, either of his having not washed his feet, much less his whole body (w), or of not having pared his nails (x); and so the Vulgate Latin renders it, that he came to meet the king "with unwashen feet"; which may serve to illustrate and confirm the sense before given: though interpreters generally understand this of God, as the maker of the soul, as well as of the body; and therefore the purity of the former should be regarded, as well as that of the latter.

(w) R. David Kimchi and Rabbenu Isaiah in loc. Vid Jarchi in ib. (x) R. Levi ben Gersom in ib.