Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 8:16

"And no man, when he hath lighted a lamp, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but putteth it on a stand, that they that enter in may see the light." — Luke 8:16 (ASV)

No man, when he hath lighted a candle.: Better, a lamp; and for “a candlestick,” the lampstand. See Notes on Matthew 5:15 and Mark 4:21. In Saint Matthew, the proverb comes into the Sermon on the Mount; in Saint Mark, it occupies a position analogous to the one it has here, and this agreement favours the view that it was actually spoken in connection with the interpretation of the parable, as a special application of what had previously been stated generally.

Note Saint Luke’s more general term, “a vessel,” instead of “the bushel,” as in Saint Matthew and Saint Mark, and the somewhat wider range of the lamp’s illuminating power, not only to those who are in the house, but to those also who are in the act of entering into it. We may, perhaps, venture to connect the choice of the latter phrase with Saint Luke’s personal experience as a convert from heathenism. As such, he had been among those who entered into the house; and as he did so, he had seen the light of the lamp which the Apostles of Christ had lighted.