But know this; ἐκεῖνο δε Ì γινω ìσκετε: illud autem scitote (Vulgate); or, this ye know. The Lord draws particular attention to what he is going to say, which is a strange and startling truth in a parabolic form (see Luke 12:39, etc.
). The good man of the house; οἰκοδεσπο ìτης: the master of the house; paterfamilias (Vulgate). If … had known … he would have watched. The form of the sentence ( ει) with indicative in the protasis, and ἀ Ìν with indicative aorist in the apodosis) implies that the result did not happen.
The master may have made all secure as far as bolts and bars were concerned, but he did not keep awake, though he had reason to know that a thief was in the neighbourhood, and so was not ready to frustrate any attack made in an unsuspected manner.
To be broken up; διορυγῆναι: to be digged through; perfodi (Vulgate). Houses constructed of sun-dried bricks, mud, or loose stones, could be easily pierced and entered without forcing shuttered window or barred door (comp.
Job 24:16). The significance of the parable is easy to see. The householder is the disciple of Christ, the thief is Christ himself, who comes on the unwatchful when and where they expect him not. It is, indeed, a strange comparison, but one calculated to alarm the unwary, and to show the necessity of the caution enjoined.
Similar warnings are found elsewhere; e.g. 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:4; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3; Revelation 16:15. The exposition which regards the thief as the devil is not so suitable to the context.