2 Corinthians 4:7 - Exposition

In earthen vessels. The glorious light which we have to show to the world is, like Gideon's torches, carried in earthen pitchers. The word skenos, vessel, is used in Mark 11:16 , and "vessels of earthenware" in Revelation 2:27 . St. Paul, in Acts 9:15 , is called "a vessel of election," whence Dante calls him lo vas d' elezione . Man can never be more than an earthen vessel, being frail and humble, and the metaphor specially suits an apostle of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:3-5 ; 2 Timothy 2:20 ). But when he takes the Word of life from the earthen pitcher and waves it in the air, it illuminates all on whom the light shines. No commentator seems to have seen the probable allusion to Gideon's pitchers. It is the "light," of which he has been speaking exclusively in the last verses, which constitutes the "treasure." Those who suppose that the "treasure" is gold or silver or something else of value, refer to Jeremiah 32:14 , and Herod., 3:103; Pers., 'Sat.,' Jeremiah 2:10 . The excellency ; literally, the excess or abundance . Of God, and not of us; rather, of God, and not from us .