1 Peter 5:7

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Casting all your care upon him.—An adaptation of Psalm 55:22, according to the LXX. Anxiety implies not only some distrust of God’s providence, but also some kind of belief that we may be able to manage better for ourselves; therefore here, as in the Sermon on the Mount, we are exhorted, especially in time of danger, simply to do what we know we ought to do, and to be unheeding about the rest.

“Lord, it belongs not to my care

Whether I die or live.”

The confidence cannot be misplaced, for God is not forgetful of us. The play of words in the English does not represent anything in the original, where the two words for “care” are quite different.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:5-9 Humility preserves peace and order in all Christian churches and societies; pride disturbs them. Where God gives grace to be humble, he will give wisdom, faith, and holiness. To be humble, and subject to our reconciled God, will bring greater comfort to the soul than the gratification of pride and ambition. But it is to be in due time; not in thy fancied time, but God's own wisely appointed time. Does he wait, and wilt not thou? What difficulties will not the firm belief of his wisdom, power, and goodness get over! Then be humble under his hand. Cast all you care; personal cares, family cares, cares for the present, and cares for the future, for yourselves, for others, for the church, on God. These are burdensome, and often very sinful, when they arise from unbelief and distrust, when they torture and distract the mind, unfit us for duties, and hinder our delight in the service of God. The remedy is, to cast our care upon God, and leave every event to his wise and gracious disposal. Firm belief that the Divine will and counsels are right, calms the spirit of a man. Truly the godly too often forget this, and fret themselves to no purpose. Refer all to God's disposal. The golden mines of all spiritual comfort and good are wholly his, and the Spirit itself. Then, will he not furnish what is fit for us, if we humbly attend on him, and lay the care of providing for us, upon his wisdom and love? The whole design of Satan is to devour and destroy souls. He always is contriving whom he may insnare to eternal ruin. Our duty plainly is, to be sober; to govern both the outward and the inward man by the rules of temperance. To be vigilant; suspicious of constant danger from this spiritual enemy, watchful and diligent to prevent his designs. Be stedfast, or solid, by faith. A man cannot fight upon a quagmire, there is no standing without firm ground to tread upon; this faith alone furnishes. It lifts the soul to the firm advanced ground of the promises, and fixes it there. The consideration of what others suffer, is proper to encourage us to bear our share in any affliction; and in whatever form Satan assaults us, or by whatever means, we may know that our brethren experience the same.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Casting all your care upon him - Compare Psalm 55:22, from whence this passage was probably taken. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee; he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Compare, for a similar sentiment, Matthew 6:25-30. The meaning is, that we are to commit our whole cause to him. If we suffer heavy trials; if we lose our friends, health, or property; if we have arduous and responsible duties to perform; if we feel that we have no strength, and are in danger of being crushed by what is laid upon us, we may go and cast all upon the Lord; that is, we may look to him for grace and strength, and feel assured that he will enable us to sustain all that is laid upon us. The relief in the case will be as real, and as full of consolation, as if he took the burden and bore it himself. He will enable us to bear with ease what we supposed we could never have done; and the burden which he lays upon us will be light, Matthew 11:30. Compare the notes at Philippians 4:6-7.

For he careth for you - See the notes at Matthew 10:29-31. He is not like the gods worshipped by many of the pagan, who were supposed to be so exalted, and so distant, that they did not interest themselves in human affairs; but He condescends to regard the needs of the meanest of his creatures. It is one of the glorious attributes of the true God, that he can and will thus notice the needs of the mean as well as the mighty; and one of the richest of all consolations when we are afflicted, and are despised by the world, is the thought that we are not forgotten by our heavenly Father. He who remembers the falling sparrow, and who hears the young ravens when they cry, will not be unmindful of us. "Yet the Lord thinketh on me," was the consolation of David, when he felt that he was "poor and needy," Psalm 40:17. "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up," Psalm 27:10.

Compare Isaiah 49:15. What more can one wish than to be permitted to feel that the great and merciful Yahweh thinks on him? What are we - what have we done, that should be worthy of such condescension? Remember, poor, despised, afflicted child of God, that you will never be forgotten. Friends on earth, the great, the frivilous, the noble, the rich, may forget you; God never will. Remember that you will never be entirely neglected. Father, mother, neighbor, friend, those whom you have loved, and those to whom you have done good, may neglect you, but God never will. You may become poor, and they may pass by you; you may lose your office, and flatterers may no longer throng your path; your beauty may fade, and your admirers may leave you; you may grow old, and be infirm, and appear to be useless in the world, and no one may seem to care for you; but it is not thus with the God whom you serve. When he loves, he always loves; if he regarded you with favor when you were rich, he will not forget you when you are poor; he who watched over you with a parent's care in the bloom of youth, will not cast you off when you are "old and grey-headed," Psalm 71:18. If we are what we should be, we shall never be without a friend as long as there is a God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. Casting—once for all: so the Greek aorist.

care—"anxiety? The advantage flowing from humbling ourselves under God's hand (1Pe 5:6) is confident reliance on His goodness. Exemption from care goes along with humble submission to God.

careth for you—literally "respecting you." Care is a burden which faith casts off the man on his God. Compare Ps 22:10; 37:5; 55:22, to which Peter alludes; Lu 12:22, 37; Php 4:6.

careth—not so strong a Greek word as the previous Greek "anxiety."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Casting, as a burden, all your care upon him; your care for all sorts of things, even which concern this life, that care which will otherwise cut and divide your hearts, (as the Greek word in Matthew imports), and be grievous and tormenting to you.

For he careth for you; God concerns himself in the affairs of his servants, and in whatsoever befalls them, and takes diligent care that no good thing be wanting to them, Psalm 84:11 Philippians 4:6.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Casting all your care upon him,.... "Upon God": as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions read. The words are taken out of, or at least refer to Psalm 55:22, where, instead of "cast thy burden upon the Lord", the Septuagint have it, "cast thy care upon the Lord"; the care of the body, and of all the affairs of life, concerning which saints should not be anxiously thoughtful, but depend upon the providence of God, though in the diligent use of means, which is not forbidden, nor discouraged by this, or any such like exhortation; as also the care of the soul, and the spiritual and eternal welfare of it, which should be committed into the hands of Christ, on whom help is laid, and who is become the author of eternal salvation; nor should this slacken and make persons negligent in the use of means, for the good, comfort, and advantage of their souls:

for he careth for you; for the bodies of his people, and their outward concerns of life, for food and raiment for them, and for the preservation of them, who will not suffer them to want, nor withhold any good thing from them, or ever leave them and forsake them; and for their souls, for which he has made provision in his Son, and in the covenant of his grace has laid help upon a mighty Saviour; and who has obtained an eternal redemption for them, bestows his grace upon them, and gives every needful supply of it to them, and keeps them by his power through faith unto salvation.

Geneva Study Bible

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Peter 5:7 is closely connected with 1 Peter 5:6; hence the participle. The idea and expression are taken from Ps. 54:23, LXX. (ἐπίῤῥιψον ἐπὶ κύριον τὴν μέριμνάν σου καὶ αὐτός σε διαθρέψει), although somewhat altered; πᾶσαν τὴν μέριμναν ὑμῶν:[275] “your whole care;” the singular unites all individual cares together into one uniform whole. Hofmann, without reason, assumes that in this passage μέριμνα does not mean care itself, but the object which causes care. The context shows that the care specially meant here is that which is occasioned by the sufferings; cf. Matthew 6:25; Php 4:6.

ὅτι αὐτῷ κ.τ.λ.] “for He careth for you;” the same construction of the verb with περί occurs frequently in the N. T., e.g. John 10:13; ἐπʼ αὐτὸν, ὅτι αὐτῷ, “are intentionally brought together” (Wiesinger).

[275] Gerhard: “μέριμνα significat curam sollicitam et dubiam, quae mentem in partes divisas velut dividit, a μερίζειν τὸν νοῦν.”

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Peter 5:7. τὴν μέριμναν … αὐτὸν comes from Psalm 55:12, ἐπίριψον ἐπὶ Κύριον τὴν μέριμνάν σου, which is the source of part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:25 ff.).—ὅτι … ὑμῶν substituted for καὶ αὐτός σε διαθρέψει of Ps. l.c. in accordance with Jesus’ amplification and application of the metaphor. God cares for His flock as the hireling shepherd does not (οὐ μέλει αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν προβάτων, John 10:13).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you] The English version effaces a distinction in the Greek, the first word for “care” implying “distracting anxiety,” as in Matthew 13:22; Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14; Luke 21:34, the latter conveying the idea simply of the care that foresees and provides, as in Mark 4:38; John 10:13; John 12:6. The thought expressed is accordingly that our anxiety is to be swallowed up in our trust in the loving Providence of the Father. Here again we have a quotation somewhat altered from the LXX. version (Psalm 55:22), “Cast thy care upon the Lord and he shall nourish thee,” and in the warning against anxiety we may find an echo of the precepts against “taking thought” (where the Greek verb is formed from the same noun) in Matthew 6:25-34.

Bengel's Gnomen

1 Peter 5:7. Πᾶσον τὴν μέριμναν, all your anxiety) If the world depresses you, or if many things are wanting to you.—ἐπιῤῥίψαντες, casting) boldly. [Exemption from anxieties is pre-eminently accordant with humility.—V. g.] Psalm 55:22, Septuagint, ἐπίῤῥιψον ἐπὶ Κύριον τὴν μέριμνάν σου, καὶ αὐτός σε διαθρέψει, Cast thine anxiety upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. Casting, watch. There is a close agreement between these two duties, Luke 12:22; Luke 12:37; and Peter adds to each its own because. God provides: therefore do not be anxious. The devil seeks: therefore watch.—μέλει, there is a care) Not so strong a word as μέριμνα, anxiety.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - Casting all your care upon him; rather, all your anxiety μέριμνα. St. Peter is quoting, with slight alterations, the Septuagint Version of Psalm 55:22. We cast our anxiety upon God when we fulfill the Lord's commandment, "Take no thought [rather, 'be not anxious'], saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Fat. her knoweth that ye have need of all these things." God cares for us; therefore we must not be over-anxious, but trust in him. The participle is aorist, as if implying that we are to cast the whole burden of all our anxieties πᾶσαν τὴν μέριμναν ὑμῶν by one act of faith upon the Lord. For he careth for you. The Greek word is μέλει, quite different from the μέριμνα of the foregoing clause. The care which is forbidden is that anxiety about worldly things which harasses a man and distracts his mind, so that he cannot compose himself to prayer and holy meditation. God's care for us is calm, holy, thoughtful providence. He "knoweth that we have need of all these things;" and he maketh all things work together for good to his chosen, to them that love him. 1 Peter 5:7

Vincent's Word Studies

Casting (ἐπιῤῥίψαντες)

The aorist participle denoting an act once for all; throwing the whole life with its care on him.

All your care (πᾶσαν τήν μέριμναν)

The whole of your care. "Not every anxiety as it arises, for none will arise if this transferrence has been effectually made." Care. See on Matthew 6:25, take no thought. Rev., rightly, anxiety.

He careth (μέλει)

Meaning the watchful care of interest and affection. The sixth and seventh verses should be taken together: Humble yourselves and cast all your anxiety. Pride is at the root of most of our anxiety. To human pride it is humiliating to cast everything upon another and be cared for. See James 4:6, James 4:7.