“Puts his hand to the plow and looks back”
Luke 9:62
Figure of speechSettledJesus
No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A generic warning about commitment.
The cultural key
The Palestinian scratch-plow was light wood, guided with one hand while the other drove the ox with a goad. Keeping the furrow straight, and the blade in the shifting, stony soil, demanded eyes fixed forward every second; glance back and the furrow wanders instantly. The saying answers a man who asked to first say farewell to his family, deliberately echoing Elisha, who asked the same of Elijah and was allowed (1 Kings 19:19–21, a scene that itself involves plowing).
Recovered meaning
Where Elijah permitted the backward look, Jesus claims a call that outranks even the prophets' precedent. Kingdom work is furrow work: it can only be done facing forward.
Parallels: 1 Kings 19:19–21