For joy that a man is born - Ανθρωπος is put here for a human creature, whether male or female; as homo among the Romans denoted either man or woman.

A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow,.... As was said she should have, Genesis 3:16; This is God's ordination and appointment for sin:

because her hour is come; is at hand; the fixed time in nature is up, and there is no avoiding it:

but as soon as she is delivered of the child; for though the sorrow is great, yet there is a deliverance, and she is saved in child bearing: when

she remembereth no more the anguish; the sharp pains she has endured in her travail;

for joy that a man is born into the world. Much such a way of speaking is used by the Jews (z), who observe,

"if a woman brings forth a male child, all is forgot, and she repents (i.e. of her impatience, or any unbecoming expression in the time of labour), , "for the joy of a man child".''

And our Lord seems to have respect to a prevailing notion among them, as well as many others, of the felicity of male children: it is a common saying with them (a),

"blessed is he whose children are males, and woe to him whose children are females:''

for they say (b),

"when , "that a man child comes into the world", peace comes into the world.''

Now our Lord, by this instance, illustrates the sorrow his disciples should have by his departure, and the joy that they should be possessed of upon his return to them; that as the pains of a woman in travail are very sharp and severe, and the distress of her mind, about the issue of things respecting herself and offspring, is very great, so would be the grief and trouble of the disciples on account of the death of their Lord and master: but as when a woman is safely delivered of a man child, she is so filled with joy, that her sorrow is remembered no more so should it be with them, when Christ should appear to them; all their trouble, concern, anxiety of mind, and fears, that attended them, would all vanish away, and they be distressed with them no more.

(z) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 98. 2.((a) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 65. 1. Kiddushin, fol. 82. 2. Bava Bathra, fol. 16. 2. Sanhedrin, fol. 100. 2.((b) T. Bab. Nidda, fol. 31. 2.

A woman (ἡ γυνὴ)

Literally, the woman. The generic article marking the woman as representing her sex: woman as such.

She is in travail

A common Old Testament image of sorrow issuing in joy. See Isaiah 21:3; Isaiah 26:17; Isaiah 66:7; Hosea 13:13; Micah 4:9, Micah 4:10.

The anguish (τῆς θλίψεως)

Commonly rendered affliction or tribulation in A.V. See on Matthew 13:21.

Joy (τὴν χαρὰν)

Properly, the joy which answers to the anguish.

A man (ἄνθρωπος)

See on John 1:30.

A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

Margin world

kosmos = mankind. See Scofield Note: "Mt 4:8".

16:16-22 It is good to consider how near our seasons of grace are to an end, that we may be quickened to improve them. But the sorrows of the disciples would soon be turned into joy; as those of a mother, at the sight of her infant. The Holy Spirit would be their Comforter, and neither men nor devils, neither sufferings in life nor in death, would ever deprive them of their joy. Believers have joy or sorrow, according to their sight of Christ, and the tokens of his presence. Sorrow is coming on the ungodly, which nothing can lessen; the believer is an heir to joy which no one can take away. Where now is the joy of the murderers of our Lord, and the sorrow of his friends?