“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?”
King James Version (KJV)
7:7 But ask - Pray for them, as well as for yourselves: in this there can be no such danger. Seek - Add your own diligent endeavours to your asking: and knock - Persevere importunately in that diligence. #Luke 11:9|.
7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth - Provided he ask aright, and ask what is agreeable to God's will.
7:11 To them that ask him - But on this condition, that ye follow the example of his goodness, by doing to all as ye would they should do to you. For this is the law and the prophets - This is the sum of all, exactly answering #Mt 5:17|. The whole is comprised in one word, Imitate the God of love. Thus far proceeds the doctrinal part of the sermon. In the next verse begins the exhortation to practise it.
Mt 7:9,10 If his son shall ask bread, will he give him a stone? The assurance of an answer to prayer is based on the fact that God is our Father. He treats his children as a good and wise earthly parent would. No kind parent would mock his child by answering his cry for bread with stones. Bread and fish were the chief articles of food of the Galilean peasant.