John Gill Commentary Luke 2:35

"yea and a sword shall pierce through thine own soul; that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed." — Luke 2:35 (ASV)

Yea, a sword shall pierce through your own soul also
Meaning either the sword, "or spear of scandal", as the Arabic version renders it; so the calumny, and reproach of the tongues of men, is compared to a sharp sword, (Psalms 57:4) and such the virgin might meet with on account of her conception in an unmarried state, which might greatly wound her soul; or else the sorrows she met with on account of her son: as he was a man of sorrows, so was she a woman of sorrows, from his cradle to his cross; and his sorrows, like so many darts, or javelins, rebounded from him to her, and pierced her soul through; as when Herod sought his life, (Matthew 2:13Matthew 2:14) when she had lost him for a whole day, (Luke 2:48) and when he was frequently exposed to danger among the spiteful and malicious Jews; but never more than when she stood at his cross, and saw him, in his agonies, extended on the tree, bleeding, gasping, and dying, (John 19:25) .

Some think this refers to martyrdom, which she was to suffer by the sword, of which the Scripture is silent, Epiphanius, an ancient writer, seems to hint at it ^F14 .

That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed ;
that is, all this offence was to be taken at Christ, and he to be spoken against; and all these afflictions, reproaches, and persecutions, he and his were to endure for this end; that the secret thoughts of men might be discovered, and they be known to be what they were, whether hypocrites, or good men, foes or friends of Christ:

so on the one hand, what were the Scribes and Pharisees, who talked of a Messiah, and pretended to righteousness and holiness, and yet when the Messiah came, rejected him, and so all such who followed Christ with worldly views, and expected a temporal kingdom, but left him when they found it otherwise, and Judas, one of his disciples; and, on the other hand, who were sincere and hearty? as the rest of his disciples, Joseph of Arimathea, and others, who abode by him, notwithstanding the cross; and the same use have all persecutions, errors, and heresies, the opposition and contradiction of men in every shape now, and the same end is answered; wicked men, and hypocrites, are known to be what they are; and good men are made manifest; and what each think of Christ and his Gospel, is discovered hereby; see (1 Corinthians 11:19) .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Contr. Haeres. 72.