John Gill Commentary


John Gill Commentary
"Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth." — Luke 12:33 (ASV)
Sell that you have, and give alms
Since they had a kingdom bequeathed them by their heavenly Father, they should be so far from indulging an anxious care about food and raiment, that when there was a call in providence for it, and rather than the poor should go without a supply, it became them to sell their houses and lands, and whatever possessions they had, and relieve them; and so they did not long after; for some of those who sold their estates, and brought the money to the apostles, (Acts 4:34Acts 4:35) , might be now present; and the more readily and cheerfully do what they did, remembering these words of Christ:
provide yourselves bags which wax not old ;
as do the bags of misers: their bag is, (bwqn rwru) , "a bag pierced through", or that has a hole in it, which lets the money out as it is put in, (Haggai 1:6) and which the Targum renders by, (atraml) , "for a curse"; as money hoarded up in bags by covetous persons generally is: Christ would have his followers put their money up in other bags; not in such which rot through age, or are worn out, and are full of holes through use; but into the hands and bellies of the poor, the fruit and reward of which will always abide;
a treasure in the heavens that fails not :
whereas treasure on earth does, being either taken away from the possessors of it by various ways, or they from that:
where no thief approaches ;
can come near to steal it away, which is often the case here on earth:
neither moth corrupts ;
as it does the best of garments, wore by men: but the robes of glory and immortality can never be corrupted: (See Gill on Matthew 6:20).