Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Luke 12:20
(20) But God said unto him.—The bold anthropomorphic language seems intended to suggest the thought not only that death came suddenly, but that the man felt that it came from God as the chastisement of his folly.Thy soul shall be required.—Literally, they require thy soul of thee. The idiom, as in Luke 12:48, and Luke 14:35, is impersonal, and does not require us to supply any definite nominative. We may compare “that when ye fail, they may receive you . . .” (Luke 16:9) as a possibly analogous... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Luke 12:19
(19) Eat, drink, and be merry.—The words remind us of St. Paul’s “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32), and may possibly have suggested them. There is, however, a suggestive difference in the context. Extremes meet, and the life of self-indulgence may spring either from an undue expectation of a lengthened life, or from unduly dwelling on the fact of its shortness, without taking into account the judgment that comes after it. The latter, as in the “carpe diem” of... read more